‘The Middle East [is] descending further into chaos by the day,’ Akram Belkaïd wrote last July, after Washington and Tel Aviv’s first attack on Iran. The military fury unleashed on 28 February confirmed Belkaïd’s observation, and disrupted the global balance of power. The driving forces behind this conflict — the radicalisation of Israeli society, the collapse of international law and the docility of Europe — have deep roots. This month, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez called for a renewal of the rules governing international cooperation.

To dive into the stories behind this month’s news — and understand the intricate forces at play in the betrayal and resurgence of the British left, France’s far-right violence and China’s generational divide — read ‘the longer view’ each month. Our entire archive is available, online, to subscribers.