- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Trump demonizes migrants in dark, misleading speech
- X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Comoros shock Tunisia, Salah, Mbeumo strike in AFCON qualifiers
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
- Undav brace sends Germany to victory against Bosnia
- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- Ecuador's last mountain iceman dies at 80
- Milton leaves at least 16 dead, millions without power in Florida
- Senegal set to announce breakaway development agenda: PM
- UN says 2 peacekeepers wounded in south Lebanon explosions
- Injury-hit Australia thrash 'embarrassing' Pakistan at Women's T20 World Cup
- Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being
- Israel says fired at 'immediate threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- New US coach Pochettino hails Pulisic but worries over workload
- Brazil orders closure of 2,000 betting sites
- UK govt urged to raise pro-democracy tycoon's case with China
- Sculptor Lalanne's animal creations sell for $59 mn
- From Tesla to Trump: Behind Musk's giant leap into politics
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- Supercharged hurricanes trigger 'perfect storm' for disinformation
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Djokovic proves staying power as he progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Sheffield Utd boss Wilder 'numb' after Baldock death
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- Fans immerse themselves in Marina Abramovic's first China exhibition
- Israel says conducting review after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Djokovic 'overwhelmed' after 'greatest rival' Nadal's retirement
- Zelensky in Berlin says hopes war with Russia will end next year
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Djokovic proves staying power as progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Hurricane Milton leaves at least 16 dead as Florida cleans up
- Britain face 'ultimate challenge' in America's Cup duel with New Zealand
- Lebanon calls for 'immediate' ceasefire in Israel-Hezbollah war
- Nihon Hidankyo: Japan's A-bomb survivors awarded Nobel
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Boat captain rescued clinging to cooler in Gulf of Mexico after storm Milton
- Tears, warnings after Japan atomic survivors group win Nobel
Russia, West in long-term rivalry: top French general
Russia's invasion of Ukraine did not go according to initial Kremlin plans, but the West must brace for a long-term rivalry with Moscow that risks going beyond the current conflict, France's top general has said.
General Thierry Burkhard, the overall chief of staff for the French armed forces, told AFP in an interview that Europe needed to re-arm and strengthen its own unity for what will be a period of "long competition" with Russia.
President "Vladimir Putin has said it himself: We are not just talking about Ukraine but the Baltic States, Poland, Hungary," Burkhard said in the joint interview with the New York Times in Estonia, where French troops are deployed as part of NATO forces.
"We must be well aware that the Russians have a long-term strategy," he added, pointing to the emphasis Moscow has placed on developing specialised capacities, including hypersonic weapons.
"They are engaged an informational struggle and they have put the West under a form of energy dependency. Our lack of freedom of action comes from being in this spider's web put in place by Russia."
But he emphasised that Russia's assault against Ukraine, had "not gone as planned" and that the initial aim had been to topple Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who remains in power.
"This will impose a pause on the Russian long-term strategy," he said.
"Europe must take advantage of this to reorganise and also build its long-term strategy, planning for the day after the Ukrainian war. We must re-arm, strengthen cohesion and put ourselves in a position to be competitors with the Russians," he said.
Burkhard also emphasised that as a nuclear-armed permanent UN Security Council member Russia is "not going to disappear" and that while seeking to weaken the country the West may also need to rebuild a "security architecture" with Moscow.
- 'Army of lies' -
He described phase one of the war as a "failure" for Russia marked by scenes that were "stunning" for military observers, such a column of 60 tanks at a standstill.
Phase two of the war, Burkhard argued, was marked by Russia regrouping and the conflict is now in a third phase with Russia seeking to seize control of Ukraine's Donbas region.
Unlike in the first phase, Russia's military deployment is "coherent" with 80-90 percent of their forces in the Donbas compared with 20 percent in the first phase, he said.
Burkhard said that Russia's shortcomings in the first phase of the war had shown the importance of high morale, a domain where the Ukrainians has clearly won.
"They have an army that is defending its country and a country that is supporting its army. This is something that is built, it is not something that is made the day the war starts," he said.
"The Russian army is the army of lies. People lied saying that the Ukrainian army would not fight, that the Russian forces were ready for war, that the leaders knew how to command."
Ukraine had also won the information war while Russia had also fallen short in high-intensify warfare for which its troops were not trained despite their superiority in numbers.
The conflict has "shown the importance of training, which is costly and difficult," he said.
F.Schneider--AMWN