Section: European Voice (EU)
When Donald Trump brought Miss Universe to Moscow
On June 18, 2013 Donald Trump had some exciting news: he would soon be whisking dozens of the world’s most beautiful women to Russia. “The Miss Universe Pageant will be broadcast live from MOSCOW, RUSSIA on November 9th,” Trump tweeted that day, referring to the beauty pageant he owned at the time. “A big deal that will bring our countries...
IMF chief: Nothing positive for UK from Brexit
LONDON — Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned on Friday that a Brexit would be undoubtedly negative for the U.K. economy. “We have on occasions been wrong,” she said. “But on the negative consequences of a vote to leave, we have done our homework and there isn’t anything positive to be expected out...
UK referendum: Campaign scorecard
The week the gloves came off. With local and regional elections out the way, Westminster threw itself into the referendum campaign and both sides got personal. David Cameron and Boris Johnson traded blows Monday, the Leave campaign went to war with itself Wednesday, and former Tory leader and Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith launched an astonishing...
Garry Kasparov to Britain: Don’t give Vladimir Putin a Brexit
Brexit is a chance for Vladimir Putin to further his strategy to divide and conquer Europe, Russian chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov wrote in an opinion piece Friday. Writing in The Guardian, Kasparov said the Russian president’s goal “is to weaken the institutions, including NATO and the EU, that could thwart his...
Spain’s happy indignants
MADRID — Sunday May 15, 2011 was the day Jon Aguirre Such felt the full impact of the new protest movement taking over the Spanish capital. As a spokesman for what would soon become known as “15-M,” or los indignados, the 26-year-old architecture student from the Basque Country climbed onto the back of a truck and took the microphone. Thousands...
London is the world’s billionaire capital
LONDON — The British capital is also the world’s billionaire capital, according to research published on Thursday. The city has the highest concentration of multi-millionaires globally with 4,400 “super-rich” residents with net assets worth over £20.7 million (€26.7 million) which does not include the value of their main house,...
Spain and Portugal at risk of EU sanctions over national budgets
The European Commission is mulling possible fines for Spain and Portugal for failing to meet EU national budgetary targets. One source from within the room in Tuesday’s college of commissioners’ meeting in Strasbourg confirmed to POLITICO on Wednesday that there was a debate but said no decisions were taken. There was, however, “a...
Sweden urged to boost alliances but avoid NATO
STOCKHOLM — Sweden should consider closer cooperation with the U.S. military but not go as far as joining NATO, according to a government-commissioned report to be released this summer. Concern about Russian aggression in Ukraine has forced Stockholm to reconsider the 200-year-old policy of neutrality in armed conflicts, but the left-leaning...
Moscow wary of TTIP talks, description as ‘economic NATO’
The effort to strike a transatlantic trade pact this year isn’t just occupying political leaders in Washington, Brussels, Paris and Berlin.It’s also being eyed warily in Moscow, where Russian officials see the potential deal as a threat. The Russian suspicion is easy to understand: While fights over French cheese, U.S. procurement...
Why Middle Eastern leaders are talking to Putin, not Obama
The United States has significantly more military capability in the Middle East today than Russia — America has 35,000 troops and hundreds of aircraft; the Russians roughly 2,000 troops and, perhaps, 50 aircraft — and yet Middle Eastern leaders are making pilgrimages to Moscow to see Vladimir Putin these days, not rushing to Washington. Two weeks...
