The United States, by all indications, will soon become a belligerent in Syria’s civil war. The Syrian government‘s alleged use of chemical weapons to kill hundreds crossed a redline that U.S. President Barack Obama claimed a year ago would be the game changer, and the game for Washington, London, and Paris has clearly changed. Yet […]
There is a new German question. It is this: Can Europe’s most powerful country lead the way in building both a sustainable, internationally competitive eurozone and a strong, internationally credible European Union? Germany’s difficulties in responding convincingly to this challenge are partly the result of earlier German questions and the solutions found to them. Read […]
France has just announced that, basically, it’s a democracy. By which I mean the French cannot insult their president any more…The United States, on the other hand, has just announced that it’s basically seriously reconsidering whether or not it’s a democracy. Read Here – WorldAffairsJournal
On July 8, 29 countries—the U.S. plus 28 countries of the EU—will begin negotiating The Biggest Trade Deal Ever. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will affect 30 percent of global commerce, eliminate $10.5 billion in tariffs, and boost trade by an estimated $280 billion a year. Read Here – Businessweek
For years, European leaders have been trying to put a stop to the debt crisis that is tearing Southern Europe apart. It might be time to change strategy since little progress has been made. Read Here – Der Spiegel
More than a century and a half after it was published, Alexis de Tocqueville’s “The Old Regime and the Revolution” has become an unlikely best-seller in China. Wang Qishan, China’s anti-corruption czar, is reportedly among the senior leaders obsessed with what he sees as the book’s cautionary message: that increasing prosperity and piecemeal political reform didn’t protect France’s pre-revolutionary regime […]
Since Greece’s insolvent-grade financials first came to light, Europe has consistently and reliably emanated ripples of distress across the Atlantic. Recall the mini-panic of 2011, with its big selloffs in global markets. And periodic fears about the endearingly named PIIGS—Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain—sneezing their malaise onto France and beyond. Then there’s the latest bank-run-that-wasn’t out […]
Once, when asked for his opinion of Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill mused: “If I regard de Gaulle as a great man? He is selfish, he is arrogant, he believes he is the center of the world. He . . . You are quite right. He is a great man.” Churchill knew whereof he spoke: During […]
We’re rapidly closing in on the centennial of the outbreak of World War I. The Great War is like an ugly bug. You want to look away but are too fascinated to. It appears as though all of the European belligerents underwent a kind of inversion experience that turned the rational calculus of war on […]
The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers. The official U.N. tally showed 154 votes in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions, though diplomats […]
looking beyond borders 