Joe Biden, or “the false promise of a more humane immigration policy”

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On the front page of the press, indignation in the United States after the publication of a photo of a Haitian migrant, violently arrested by an immigration officer.

According to The Washington Post, this striking photo, signed Paul Ratje, was taken Sunday, on the banks of the Rio Grande, in Texas, near the Mexican border – a snapshot in which every detail is “evocative and revealing”, according to the newspaper: anger on the face of the officer, the bag of food in the migrant’s hand, the isolation of the place where the scene occurred. “It is impossible to ignore the historical echoes … suggested by (this photo) of a white officer apprehending a black man on the run,” said The Washington Post. The newspaper accuses Joe Biden of being primarily responsible for the influx, in recent weeks, of some 14,000 Haitians to the border between Mexico and the United States: “These migrants did not arrive by accident. What drove many of them to the border was the false promise (that the) new president, publicly committed to a more humane approach (to immigration), would relax the draconian policies of the previous Administration ” . “A large number of these migrants had lived for years in South America, after having fled their country, struck by a devastating earthquake in 2010”, recalls the newspaper.

Joe Biden, who is due to speak during the day, in New York, before the United Nations General Assembly. According to The Guardian, his speech will aim to convince member states that “America is back”. A promise which risks however to come up against “the hostility of China, the open rupture with France (by the cancellation of the contract on the sale of French submarines to Australia) and the general skepticism, as for to its commitment to multilateralism ”. A skepticism fueled, in particular, by disagreements over the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

France had suffered a first disappointment both commercial and diplomatic, with the choice of Switzerland to opt for American military aircraft F-35, rather than the French Rafale, to renew its fleet. The weather sees in this choice the manifestation of the “new global strategic puzzle” which is in the process of being put in place. An evolution illustrated, again, by the renunciation of Australia to buy the French submarines, according to the newspaper – which regrets to see the European Union, “divided on its autonomous defense”, and “to toil more and more to fit ”into this new global puzzle. The weather refers to “the urgent need for a common strategic compass”, failing which the EU risks finding itself “confined to humiliating powerlessness”.

The Swiss press, already nostalgic for the Merkel era. The German Chancellor will leave her post after the legislative elections next Sunday. “How beautiful life was under Merkel! With this chancellor, we didn’t have to worry too much about it. Growth has been exceptional for sixteen years. “Mutti” was able to reassure the Germans during the most serious crises. They had the feeling of being in good hands, protected by a chancellor in whom they trusted, above all suspicion ”, sighs The Geneva Tribune, who notes, however, that the results of Sunday’s legislative elections are likely to be so tight, and the formation of the future government so long and difficult, that “Merkel could still remain in office until Christmas, before knowing her successor” .

In France, the daily Release also takes stock of his 16 years in power. If the newspaper notes that the Chancellor still enjoys “incredible popularity” today, it also believes that Angela Merkel has not initiated “the reforms necessary to modernize her country” – in particular in the digital sector, the climate, public transport, energy transition, hence a rather “mixed” record, according to Libé. From its relations with the various French presidents, to immigration, via the east-west divide, the newspaper covers the 16 years of power of the one who has become “a model” for a whole generation of women, while demonstrating , for its part, “a relative disinterest” for feminism – a question dear to the editorial staff of Release, which does not prevent the newspaper from addressing the very essential question, right ?, Angela Merkel’s wardrobe, over the years. Did Libé write such a paper on Gherard Schröder’s costumes at the end of his term? We doubt it. Angela Merkel being a woman, it is clearly justified to talk about rags and review her successive tailors. What does it matter that the newspaper writes that the Chancellor, by opting for the uniform jacket-pants, hoped (thus) to avoid the remarks on his look ”, or quotes the German leader, calling to order a journalist who to her noted that she had worn the same dress twice, several years apart, stating that her “mission” was “to serve the German people, not to do a fashion show”.

We do not leave each other on this. Nothing like a good little unusual news item, to forget the sexist papers. British daily The Guardian reports the arrest, near the city of Auckland, New Zealand, of two men accused of having engaged in traffic not trivial, after the police found in their trunk an incredible amount of bags filled with chunks of deep-fat fried chicken from a fast-food restaurant chain, as well as the modest sum of $ 100,000. A jackpot made thanks to the delivery of this haute cuisine to the inhabitants of Auckland, confined since August and deprived, what a disaster, the right to go to restaurants, and even to have their meals delivered. Fortunately for them, these restrictions will be eased from this evening. The inhabitants of Auckland will therefore once again be able to indulge, legally, their passion for junk food …

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