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Everyone knows that at the Mont Saint-Michel, the tide rises faster than a galloping horse. North Korea created an even faster horse: Chollima. Today, it is doing ten times better with Mallima.
In the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, drones are well known for their military uses, whether for surveillance or air strikes. They have even won literary acclaim, with the recent publication of a thriller by an author writing under the pseudonym Doa, whose title, “Pukhtu primo” is a clear allusion to this part of the world.
One image associated with North Korea is the never-ending avenues of Pyongyang stretching into the distance, empty of cars, serving merely as decoration.
One of a diplomat’s missions is to try to understand the country to which they have been posted, so once the Ministry had confirmed that I was to be sent to Hong Kong back in 2005, I headed for the mine of information that is the Quai d’Orsay library...
"Lorris, are you up to date with your vaccinations?" “Perfect", said the boss. “You’re off to Bamako on a press relations backup mission. Our colleagues need you in Mali!”
Ever since the closure of our embassy in Mogadishu in 1991, the French Embassy in Nairobi has been responsible for Somalian affairs. This is my 32nd mission to the country, so I have quite a few memories of it by now.
The little town of Istalif is located about fifty kilometers north of Kabul. The idyllic appearance of the village and its verdant gardens hide the cracks that we were soon to discover.
“The Business Directorate has only 70 staff members, so each of you make up 1/70th of our total brainpower. And we need you all running at full steam!”.
