FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

Le Monde headlines 'Asia takes the full brunt of the oil shock' and draws the pool's broadest panorama. The article details country by country: Bangladesh with its gas station queues and black market networks, Sri Lanka and Nepal barely recovered from Covid and citizen revolts, Pakistan and its 170 million people fragile since the Hasina regime fell in 2024. India sees its manufacturing activity fall to a four-year low. Bangladesh requested a $2 billion emergency loan from the IMF. France 24 separately covers the partial Hormuz reopening -- an analyst declares 'we're heading toward Iranian control of the strait.' The CMA CGM passage is covered as a French diplomatic success. France reads the Asian energy crisis through a dual prism: empathy for vulnerable countries (post-colonial heritage converted to solidarity) and confirmation that France's bilateral negotiation strategy with Iran works -- the CMA CGM container ship crossed Hormuz, American ships did not.