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For nearly three weeks in November, France quietly staged its largest-ever joint military drill in the Middle East, sending more than a thousand personnel to the United Arab Emirates for a high-intensity exercise that says as much about politics as it does about tactics. Gulf 25, a desert war game with serious intent The operation,

The message landed in my inbox just after breakfast: “Have you seen the polar vortex charts?” I hadn’t, so I clicked, thinking it would be another routine winter update. On the screen, a swirling mass of purple and blue exploded across the top of the planet, arrows stretching like rubber bands pulled to breaking point.