All posts tagged: Latvian

No ‘business as usual’ with US: Latvian PM – POLITICO

No ‘business as usual’ with US: Latvian PM – POLITICO

The remarks reflect a growing consensus across Europe that the Greenland episode — the worst in a long line of feuds between allies sparked by Trump since his return to the White House — has put an unprecedented strain on transatlantic ties.  On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Munich adopted a warmer tone, stressing that Washington would not be the “caretakers of the West’s managed decline” but insisted he wanted to “revitalize an old friendship” with Europe. Many Europeans greeted Rubio’s comments with caution, noting that the Trump administration’s ideological underpinnings haven’t changed. Siliņa said he showed that “Europe and the U.S. stand together for a stronger, safer, and more prosperous future” but added that “the world is different now.”  That means both sides have to set the rules on “how Europe will deal with the U.S. and the U.S. with Europe,” she added. If Europe is to become more decisive, that means rethinking onerous procedures that require all 27 often fractious countries to come to an agreement. That’s already starting to …

Inside the turbulent Latvian shoot of Assayas’s film

Inside the turbulent Latvian shoot of Assayas’s film

Arras, a medium-sized city in northern France, on a November evening in 2025. Despite the cold settling, a line had formed in the center of town. The 900 moviegoers were the lucky ones; they would be the first in France to see Olivier Assayas’s latest film, screened at the Arras Film Festival. The Wizard of the Kremlin, which depicts Vladimir Putin and one of his advisers, was billed by organizers as “a gripping geopolitical thriller where fiction takes hold of reality.” British actor Jude Law plays the Russian president in this big-budget production, made with a €23 million budget. “A film in English, shot in Latvia, with American and Latvian actors and a French crew, aimed primarily at a French audience,” summarized Olivier Assayas as he introduced it to the public. The director, who did not respond to Le Monde‘s requests for an interview, alluded to the obstacle-filled journey of his feature film, from its source of inspiration – a sometimes controversial book – to the filming itself, a curious Franco-Russian tale set against a …