Shifting Sands of Power and Prestige
In the ever-changing theater of global affairs, recent developments serve as poignant reminders of the fragile balance between diplomacy, ambition, and legacy. France’s expulsion of 12 Algerian officials underscores the volatility of post-colonial relationships still marred by suspicion and unresolved tensions. Meanwhile, a surprising pivot from a Trump-era envoy demanding Iran dismantle its nuclear program hints at renewed hawkish undertones amidst shifting U.S. foreign policy. On a brighter stage, the grace of former Masters champion Justin Rose lent depth to Rory McIlroy’s historic win, merging respect and rivalry in a rare harmony that sport so seldom captures. In politics and play, the world continues to evolve unpredictably, powerfully, and unapologetically.
France expels 12 Algerian officials as row over alleged kidnapping escalates
France has expelled 12 Algerian consular and diplomatic officials and recalled its ambassador in Algiers, the French presidency said on Tuesday, in a retaliatory measure as a spat escalates between the two countries.
“The Algerian authorities are responsible for the sudden degradation of our bilateral relations,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office said.Algiers has been protesting against France’s detention of an Algerian consular agent suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an Algerian opposition activist. France later said Algeria had expelled 12 of its diplomatic staff.
France’s relations with its former colony have long been complicated, but took a turn for the worse last year when Macron supported Morocco’s position over that of Algeria over the disputed Western Sahara region.
Last week the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, had said that ties between the two countries were returning to normal.
The activist and influencer Amir Boukhors is a critic of the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and has more than 1 million subscribers on TikTok, where he posts as Amir DZ.
He has lived in France since 2016 and was granted political asylum in 2023. Algeria has issued nine international arrest warrants against him on accusations of fraud and terrorism, but France refuses to extradite him.
In April 2024, Boukhors was snatched outside his home in Val-de-Marne, south of Paris, telling France 2 television in a later interview that he was handcuffed and bundled into a car by four men wearing police armbands. He claimed he was drugged and held in a “container” for more than 24 hours before being released at 3am. “I fell into a trap,” he said.Three men were arrested and put under investigation on Friday for the “kidnap, holding and arbitrary detention” of Boukhors. France’s national anti-terrorist prosecutor confirmed that one of the men arrested worked for the Algerian consulate at Créteil, south-east of Paris.
Algeria has denied the official’s involvement in the kidnapping.
In a separate source of tension between the countries, Macron has also called on Algeria to release Boualem Sansal, a 75-year-old writer sentenced to five years in prison for “undermining the integrity” of the country.
Trump envoy demands Iran eliminate nuclear programme in apparent U-turn
Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has announced Iran must totally eliminate its nuclear programme, seeming to reverse the policy he had articulated on Fox News only 12 hours earlier that would have allowed Iran to enrich uranium at a low level for civilian use.
The switch to a more hardline policy is likely to make it much harder for the US to reach a negotiated agreement with Tehran, bringing back the threat of an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.In a further switch, it was agreed that the next round of indirect US-Iran talks, due to start on Saturday, will continue to be in Oman and the venue would not switch to Italy as proposed by the US.
In a statement posted to social media on Tuesday Witkoff said: “A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal. Any final arrangement must set in place a framework for peace, stability and prosperity in the Middle East – meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponisation program. It is imperative for the world that we create a tough fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do.”
The previous day on Fox News, the special envoy had said “the conversation with the Iranians” would concern uranium enrichment at 3.67 % for civil nuclear purposes.
“In some circumstances they are enriching at 60% and at others at 20%. That cannot be,” he said. “You do not need to run, as they claim, a civil nuclear programme where you are enriching past 3.67%. This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment programme and then ultimately verification on weaponisation – that includes the type of missiles they have stockpiled there and the trigger for a bomb.”Witkoff’s two positions are hard to reconcile – unless he is trying to distinguish between an interim deal that reduces Iranian uranium enrichment to civilian levels and a final agreement that eliminates its nuclear programme entirely.
It also possible Trump has faced a backlash from Iran hawks who warned that Witkoff’s negotiating stance was largely re-establishing the nuclear deal Barack Obama had agreed with Iran in 2015, from which Trump withdrew the US in 2018 saying it was unenforceable.
Witkoff’s apparent volte face may also be seen as another example of chaotic foreign policymaking, in which the administration battles behind the president’s back and he either does not focus on the policy details or does not understand the choices he is allowing to be made on his behalf.
Witkoff, a man with no diplomatic experience and charged with producing diplomatic breakthroughs in Gaza, Ukraine and Iran, has never tried to portray himself as anything than Trump’s messenger. He would have thought the proposals he aired in the weekend talks in Oman and on Fox News were those of the president.Iran has repeatedly demanded the right to maintain a civil nuclear programme, meaning the latest iteration of US thinking will cause consternation in Tehran and could strengthen hardliners, who maintain the US cannot be trusted.
A rare consensus had broken out in Tehran that the talks between Witkoff and the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, could result in some US sanctions being lifted as part of the most positive development in relations between Iran and the US in a decade.
The head of the UN nuclear inspectorate, Rafael Grossi, is due to visit Iran this week to see if progress can be made on improving his inspectors’ access to Iran’s nuclear sites.
Grace of Masters nearly man Justin Rose enhanced McIlroy’s historic win
short putt on the 6th, that wayward chip on 12, that sliced drive on 15, or whatever it was that cost them their shot at winning the 2025 Masters.
While Rory McIlroy can enjoy what was, everyone else in the field is wondering what might have been. Justin Rose will feel it most. Rose, the antagonist in Rory’s story, scored 65, 71, 75, 66 – the last of them, he said, “a bogey away from being the greatest round I’ve ever played”.The second shots in the playoff summed it up. Rose’s was pretty near perfect in the circumstances and landed 15 feet from the pin. McIlroy landed just beyond it, caught the slope, rolled back down and around, past Rose’s ball and finished up 5ft from the cup. Sometimes good just isn’t good enough. “Yeah, it hurts,” Rose said. “What are you going to do about it, though?”
He was the first to hug McIlroy close in the moments after he had made the winning putt. “Listen,” he told him, “I was glad I was here on this green to witness you win the career grand slam.”
Rose has now written himself into the story of the tournament, it will be impossible to tell the history of the Masters without mentioning him. He has finished runner-up three times, losing two playoffs. Both times, he was second-best to two of the most popular Masters champions, Sergio García, who won his first major after 21 years of trying here, in 2017, and now McIlroy, who completed the career grand slam.
Any other year, the European fans would have been thrilled when Rose holed that 20ft putt on 18 to tie the lead, but not this one. Rose understood. “We saw part of history today,” he said. “It’s a momentous day in golf.”
Rose made a little of it. He is the first to have led the field through the first two days of competition on three occasions and is in the extraordinary position of having been top of the Masters leaderboard after 18, 36, 54, and 72 holes, twice, without winning it.When he was young he assumed the game would get easier with age, but, if anything, he is working harder at it now than ever. “But the reason I’m willing to put in that work is for these moments, like the standing ovation on 18 when I finished. I took a moment just soaking that in. That was a nice moment because it was still what might be, what could be. One day, I won’t be competing this way at this tournament. So for now, the hard work is worth it.”
McIlroy said: “He’s a great champion. He has displayed so much grace throughout his career. I remember watching the playoff in ’17 when he went up against Sergio and that didn’t quite go his way, either. But he’s had a phenomenal record around here and I feel for him because he’s been so close, and he’s a good friend, and …”
McIlroy knows the disappointment better than most and stopped to swallow a lump in his throat. “Yeah, hopefully he has a few more opportunities.”
