This past week’s big and still developing story is the sharp escalation of confrontation on the Korean peninsula. But Russia, which has made itself a key actor to many current global dramas, from the French elections to the civil war in Libya, is not a part of it.

Given that Russia borders North Korea—the distance from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to Vladivostok is shorter than to Pyongyang—this abstention is rather surprising.

Perhaps most upsetting for the Kremlin is that the main format for managing the North Korean crisis was established at the recent meeting in Mar-a-Lago between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping – and Beijing has shown no inclination to discuss these matters with its “strategic partner” Moscow (Republic.ru, April 21).

Putin has not seen Xi since last November and has not spoken with him on the phone for months; neither Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev nor Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have had any recent contacts with their Chinese counterparts.

The fact is, Putin is being left out in the cold by Washington, Beijing, and most everyone else.  Ever since Trump took his pants down in Syria, he doesn’t seem so important anymore.

If you want to know the likely result of France’s presidential election runoff 10 days from now (May 7), just look at how the markets responded. The euro and the French markets both jumped dramatically.

And this has nothing to do with the underlying strength of the sclerotic, unionized, statist, overtaxed, unproductive French economy or, indeed, with the future of the doomed euro.

It was simply a case of the status quo breathing a sigh of relief that it was going to be business as usual, after all: Emmanuel Macron, the de facto Establishment candidate is now pretty much a shoo-in for the French presidency; his rival, Marine Le Pen doesn’t stand a prayer – of that the Establishment will make sure.

That is, Emmanuel Macron is going to win this presidency because it was decided long ago by France’s Establishment that he was the least-worst option of the candidates available.

The fact that he is a hollow man – a slippery, snake-oil-salesman with a winning smile and nice suits – who will do almost nothing seriously to address France’s massive social and economic problems is a help, not a hindrance.

Emmanuel Macron, you see, is the left-leaning French Establishment’s Manchurian Candidate – the French Obama.  The parallels will astound you.

The Le Pen challenge of 2017 is dead. Emmanuel Macron will have no trouble erecting a ‘cordon sanitaire’ to keep her Front National at bay in round two of the French elections on May 7.

The existential threat hanging over Europe’s monetary union has for now been lifted. Markets have instantly pocketed the reprieve. The spread between French 10-year bonds and German Bunds has dropped to ‘pre-populism’ levels of just over 40 basis points.

The celebration may be short-lived. “France is going to be very difficult to govern,” observes Eric Dor from the IESEG school of management in Lille.  You can’t put it more mildly than that.

“The National Assembly [French Parliament] may be badly Balkanized and nobody knows whether Macron will have a working majority. The fear is that France could lose another five years,” he says.  Just five years?  How about forever?

Livonia, Michigan is known as Little Palestine. The Detroit suburb is famous for its anti-Israel meetings. You could go hear Mustafa Barghouthi, Omar Barghouti and Ali Abunimah without taking a long drive.

It’s also known for its shady doctors.

Dr. Murtaza Hussain was busted for letting unlicensed employees diagnose patients and write prescriptions. Dr. Waseem Alam and Dr. Hatem Ataya pleaded guilty in the nation’s largest Medicare fraud case totaling $712 million in false billings centering on Shahid Tahir, Muhammad Tariq and Manavar Javed’s Livonia medical firms.

But what was going on at one Livonia clinic was far worse than the theft of millions. Anyone passing by at the right time could hear the screams of little girls.

We think of horrors like Female Genital Mutilation as a terrible thing that happens over “there.”  Now, as American towns and cities are reshaped by Moslem migration, “there” is now right here. The terrible practice has come to America.

The Great Barrier Reef is dead. It has ceased to be, expired and gone to meet its maker, kicked the bucket, shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and gone to join the bleedin’ choir invisible. It is an Ex Great Barrier Reef.

Well, at least it is if you believe the left-wing media such as the Guardian or the New York Times, which claims that the reef is at “terminal stage” because of damage allegedly caused by “climate change.”

Lots of eco loons have been rending their garments and throwing their (recyclable, organic, gluten-free) toys out of the pram in horror at this hideous disaster.

But it’s OK.  The Great Barrier Reef isn’t in the remotest danger.  Here’s why.