Why are children becoming extremists? — Focus on Europe – DW – 06/19/2025

06/19/2025
June 19, 2025
Why are young people being drawn to right-wing extremism? In Germany, politically motivated crimes are on the rise. Plus: In the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, stylish apartments are being built in underprivileged areas, and residents feel left behind.

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LeMonde

an hour ago

• LeMonde

The Heritage Foundation sets its sights on Europe

Behind the thick velvet curtains of the Cercle de l'Union Interalliée, a lavish Parisian club on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, a high-profile political reception was taking place, just a stone's throw from the Elysée presidential palace. Ties were mandatory for the guests who, on the evening of May 26, gathered to soak up "the future of conservatism in France and in the West," as promised by the invitation card. The host was an American, unknown to the French public, who holds a piece of the United States' destiny in his hands. Kevin Roberts presides over the powerful Heritage Foundation, the most influential conservative think tank in the orbit of Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement. It paved the way for Donald Trump's return to power by providing him with the highly radical Project 2025, the unofficial blueprint for his term in office. Bald, wearing a pin of Heritage's Liberty Bell-inspired logo on his jacket, Roberts, 50, displayed the articulateness of a university professor. Born in southern Louisiana, he has been one of the most zealous ideologues of Trump's second presidency, determined to "burn" everything – he has a penchant for radical metaphors – in order to reshape America into a nationalist and reactionary version of itself. Since 2021, he has led the Heritage Foundation and its 350 employees. The historian by training earns nearly $1 million a year in this role. He is a regular at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's residence, and has developed a genuine friendship with JD Vance, the 40-year-old nationalist-Catholic vice president, who is idolized by the far right on both sides of the Atlantic. Roberts is above all one of the unofficial envoys for a major objective of Trump's second term: weaving a network with "civilizational allies in Europe," as the US State Department put it in a strategic memo published on May 27. The document mentions the Trump team's intent to promote their vision of a "shared cultural heritage," stretching from Paris to Warsaw. At the end of May, Roberts traveled to France for the first time, with that very goal in mind.

The Star

18 hours ago

• The Star

Kung Fu's kinetic action meets the beautiful game

The video game Rematch isn't soccer as seen on television or EA Sports FC . The camera sits low, centred behind one player, not the familiar broadcast angle from the bleachers. The ball is easily lost as it flies overhead or hides beneath a crush of bodies. Its online multiplayer matches, played in three-, four- and five-player teams, feel closer to the amateur soccer games played by millions worldwide. And unlike in other soccer video games, Rematch players are fully autonomous. There is no artificial intelligence to assist passes or control teammates. A fresh approach to soccer feels long overdue at a time when the creativity in sports games chiefly lies in the efforts to encourage impulse in-game purchases. Rematch's creative director, Pierre Tarno, considers innovation an existential necessity for independent studios during economically challenging times. Advancing players look to evade or bait defenders with tricks, feints, changes of direction and acceleration. 'The only way to stand out and survive,' he said, 'is to make a game that's very good quality and original.' Tarno and three fellow Ubisoft employees founded the Parisian studio Sloclap in 2015, and it has built a reputation for unusually exacting action games. Its breakout title, the kung fu brawler Sifu (2022), sold 4 million copies thanks to a dancelike combat system inspired by the dynamic fight scenes and reactive environments of Jackie Chan movies. The same kung fu cinema techniques, including freeze frames and camera shakes on impact, give Rematch 's animation satisfying kinetic force as players crash into one another or shoot the ball with fierce power. Its online multiplayer matches, played in three-, four- and five-player teams, feel closer to the amateur soccer games played by millions worldwide ' EA Sports FC is a football simulation,' Tarno said. 'We are a football player simulation.' One-on-one soccer duels in Rematch demonstrate their martial arts pedigree. Advancing players look to evade or bait defenders with tricks, feints, changes of direction and acceleration. Defenders strafe from side to side to bar their path, block potential shots and find a window to seize the ball. These showdowns invert conventional combat. Tarno believes that in soccer, attackers are actually defenders protecting the ball; the defender is an attacker intent on dispossessing the opponent by force. Flying cars with wild pinball physics are worlds away from Rematch's precise human shooting and passing. Alongside aim, technique and impeccable timing, soccer is a game of movement. Tarno sees similarities to astronomy's notoriously complex three-body problem. 'The expression that came to mind was the 10-body problem,' he said. 'The ball has a gravitational pull on players. But players also have a gravitational pull or repulsion toward each other.' These ripple effects reflect soccer's tactical complexity. Players anticipate second- and third-order effects, developing the game sense or vision to know when to run forward to pull opponents out of position, or when to track back to stifle a counterattack. During prerelease betas, teams learned to punish misplays or tricksters who overuse Neymar's trademark rainbow flick – lifting the ball over opponents with a backheel. That skill set is one shared with Rocket League (2015), but Tarno rejects direct comparison with the extremely popular game. Flying cars with wild pinball physics are worlds away from Rematch 's precise human shooting and passing. Soccer's primary act is firing a projectile, so Rematch always features a crosshair; in one sense, it's a bulletless third-person shooter. When Sloclap held an esports tournament, Call of Duty sharpshooters triumphed over Rocket League and EA Sports FC experts. Despite the cries for innovation, annual sports titles still hold a captive audience. Challengers like Rematch – which was released this week for the PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S – will not dent EA Sports FC 's market share, said Emmanuel Rosier, the director of market analysis at the strategy firm Newzoo. Soccer's primary act is firing a projectile, so Rematch always features a crosshair; in one sense, it's a bulletless third-person shooter. But it may be possible to find players in other genres. Rematch can afford creative flourishes unavailable to games that rely on licenses, and its focus on team-oriented multiplayer games can support an esports player base, Rosier said. These factors, he said, create 'a bigger addressable market than realistic soccer games.' Sloclap does grapple with real soccer archetypes, such as the opportunistic goalhanger who will not defend, or attackers whose attempts to channel prime Cristiano Ronaldo derail each attack with overconfident trickery. 'There's a risk players will hug the ball and try to be the hero, role-play their favourite 'Blue Lock' character, try to dribble past everyone and fail miserably at doing so, which can frustrate teammates,' said Tarno, referring to a soccer manga. When Sloclap held an esports tournament, Call of Duty sharpshooters triumphed over Rocket League and EA Sports FC experts. But he has found that giving defenders the advantage has discouraged such nuisances while encouraging team play and short passing. During prerelease betas, teams learned to punish misplays or tricksters who overuse Neymar's trademark rainbow flick – lifting the ball over opponents with a backheel. 'You'll find players who try and rainbow flick their way out of everything, but it seems to be happening less and less,' Tarno said. 'The drive people have to play the hero is not greater than the drive people have to win.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Epoch Times

a day ago

• Epoch Times

‘Sargent and Paris' at the Met

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was the most lauded portraitist of his day. At the height of his career, he painted the crème de la crème of society: Gilded Age titans of industry, American dollar princesses, and aristocratic Edwardian beauties. The foundations of his artistic practice can be traced to his time in Paris, where he arrived in 1874 at age 18 and stayed for a decade. He drew inspiration from his teacher, contemporary painters, a varied social circle of creatives and patrons, and art history. 'Sargent and Paris,' a special exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on view through Aug. 3, 2025, explores this productive, essential period of his work. The show culminates in a presentation of Sargent's pivotal painting 'Madame X,' but the exhibition's ingenuity is that it places the artwork in the context of his rich, early Parisian portraits. Training in Paris