Under the cover of night, small boats depart from the Libyan coastline, headed toward sanctuary in Italy. Packed onto rickety vessels and often bought and traded by armed gangs, thousands of migrants and refugees face grueling challenges on the...
A blue passport can get you far. The leatherbound booklet denotes association with the ‘New World’ and grants access to an unprecedentedly high degree of global mobility and embassy protection — unless the passport reads “Republique D’H...
In February 2025, Taiwan’s coast guard noticed something unusual in the Taiwan Strait. A Togolese-flagged cargo ship, the Hong Tai 58, had slowed near a submarine cable route connecting Taiwan to the Penghu Islands. Officers repeatedly attempted to...
Europe has not experienced a major war in the last six decades. Today a European civil war, with the ensuing international spillover, is simply unthinkable. That we take this for granted is extraordinary, given that for centuries Europeans have been ...
Europe has not experienced a major war in the last six decades. Today a European civil war, with the ensuing international spillover, is simply unthinkable. That we take this for granted is extraordinary, given that for centuries Europeans have been ...
Last week, I wrote about how the Western media focuses disproportionately on negative news out of the Middle East, drawing attention to violence and sectarianism, and ultimately perpetuating American fears of the region and its people. Today, I will ...
Last week, I wrote about how the Western media focuses disproportionately on negative news out of the Middle East, drawing attention to violence and sectarianism, and ultimately perpetuating American fears of the region and its people. Today, I will ...
Last week, Spain introduced an additional €40bn austerity policy in face continuing recession, unemployment, and violent separatist cries of the Catalonia and Basque region. One should not forget, however, that Spain’s public debt, which hovers a...
Last week, Spain introduced an additional €40bn austerity policy in face continuing recession, unemployment, and violent separatist cries of the Catalonia and Basque region. One should not forget, however, that Spain’s public debt, which hovers a...
My tour of European austerity’s next stop is Germany. However, I have criticized austerity without putting it into context. I have simply assumed it is a bad thing, and avoided entering a discussion on what austerity is and does. This is unfair. So...
My tour of European austerity’s next stop is Germany. However, I have criticized austerity without putting it into context. I have simply assumed it is a bad thing, and avoided entering a discussion on what austerity is and does. This is unfair. So...
Remember that YouTube video, the anti-Islam film trailer that sparked riots in countries with large Muslim populations across the world? The 14-minute clip that caused hundreds of casualties in mob demonstrations because it insulted Muhammad, the Pro...
Remember that YouTube video, the anti-Islam film trailer that sparked riots in countries with large Muslim populations across the world? The 14-minute clip that caused hundreds of casualties in mob demonstrations because it insulted Muhammad, the Pro...
I’m beginning to think all posts on Europe should fall into the category interesting times, partly in honor of Eric Hobsbawm. Our last piece of interesting news from the past month is the French budget for 2013. François Hollande’s initiation in...
I’m beginning to think all posts on Europe should fall into the category interesting times, partly in honor of Eric Hobsbawm. Our last piece of interesting news from the past month is the French budget for 2013. François Hollande’s initiation in...
I meant to begin with a post on European Structural Funds. Structural Funds and regulation are the stereotypically dull issues European integration used to be about. Brussels bureaucrats bickering over the optimal way of manufacturing and getting rid...
I meant to begin with a post on European Structural Funds. Structural Funds and regulation are the stereotypically dull issues European integration used to be about. Brussels bureaucrats bickering over the optimal way of manufacturing and getting rid...
Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, classmate of Sr. Romney, has outdone himself. In what is now a legendarily cavalier portrait of recklessly reductive thinking on the topic of nuclear threat, Bibi holds a graphic poster of a simplistic bomb with...
Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, classmate of Sr. Romney, has outdone himself. In what is now a legendarily cavalier portrait of recklessly reductive thinking on the topic of nuclear threat, Bibi holds a graphic poster of a simplistic bomb with...
“The first thing the government does in an election year,” former Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou admitted in 2009, “is to pull the tax collectors off the streets.” I think this statement has a lot to say about Greek debt, and ...
“The first thing the government does in an election year,” former Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou admitted in 2009, “is to pull the tax collectors off the streets.” I think this statement has a lot to say about Greek debt, and ...
A famous essay by Sir Isaiah Berlin begins with the following quote: There is a line among the fragments of the Greek poet Archilochus which says: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” I am not about to assess the u...
A famous essay by Sir Isaiah Berlin begins with the following quote: There is a line among the fragments of the Greek poet Archilochus which says: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” I am not about to assess the u...
September has come and Europe’s politicians are finally in their offices, back from the annual August recess. Back to the rescue. We’re only half way through the month, but so much has been done and said over the past few days. True, European lea...
September has come and Europe’s politicians are finally in their offices, back from the annual August recess. Back to the rescue. We’re only half way through the month, but so much has been done and said over the past few days. True, European lea...
I lived in India for all of my life and I still don’t understand the political climate of my country. Sure it’s a democracy–but how is it still a democracy? Democratic Theory states that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a deeply hierarch...
I lived in India for all of my life and I still don’t understand the political climate of my country. Sure it’s a democracy–but how is it still a democracy? Democratic Theory states that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a deeply hierarch...