Section: European Voice (EU)
Dutch voters overwhelmingly reject agreement with Ukraine: poll
A majority of Dutch voters is opposed to the Netherlands’ ratification of the European Union’s association agreement with Ukraine, a new poll ahead of an April 6 referendum on the issue showed Saturday. The poll, conducted by the Dutch public broadcaster’s program EenVandaag, is the first barometer on the April 6 vote. It found...
5 targets for the Dutch EU presidency to succeed
Without wanting to overburden the Dutch policy makers who are presiding the EU Council during the first six months of this year, here are five specific targets they are very well capable of achieving: 1) Protect Schengen’s external borders Following the tightening of Danish border controls with Germany, hours after Sweden imposed similar...
‘We caved’
On a late July day this past summer, a roar filled the sky over Cairo. It was the sound of Barack Obama’s capitulation to a dictator. Eight new American fighter jets, freshly delivered from Washington, swooped low over the city, F-16s flying in formation. As they banked hard over the city’s center, they trailed plumes of red, white...
Google translation error turns ‘Russia’ into ‘Mordor’
Google says it has fixed a bug in its translation software that converted “Russian Federation” into “Mordor,” a fictional region in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy that has the nickname “Land of Shadow” and is home to the evil Sauron. The automated translation tool also turned “Russians” into “occupiers” while “Sergei Lavrov” — Russia’s...
Coca-Cola map mix-up angers Russia and Ukraine
A New Year’s greeting from Coca-Cola has managed the rare feat of uniting Russia and Ukraine, in anger. The soft drinks giant posted a message to its customers on VK, a Russian social media site, featuring a map of Russia that did not include Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014. After a stream of complaints, the firm republished the...
How six words divided the EU and Israel
Israel’s U.S. ambassador sent gift boxes for the 2015 holiday season containing wine, olive oil, body cream, and halva — and a defiant note calling out the European Union. The products came from what the international community considers to be occupied territories, and Ambassador Ron Dermer was determined to make a blunt point about the...
How Barack will juggle Bibi, Vlad and Hillary
Bibi Netanyahu is waiting him out. Vladimir Putin may try to test him. And Hillary Clinton is keeping a wary eye on him. As he enters the final year of his presidency, Barack Obama will find his foreign policy complicated in new ways by the clock ticking down to his last day in office. White House officials have studied up on the foreign...
2015, an awful year for Europe’s free media
LONDON — It was a terrible year for journalists in Europe. Attacks by Islamic militants, unjustified arrests, assaults, harassment, threats and tougher legal restrictions made it harder for editors, reporters and photographers to hold the powerful to account across the region this year, according to media organizations and NGOs. Hopes that...
Obama’s 2016 world tour
President Barack Obama will be making good use out of Air Force One while he still can. Obama has asked aides to set a busy international travel schedule for him in his final year, with “half a dozen” trips already in the works and more potentially coming together. The travel will be aimed at cementing a foreign policy legacy he hopes will...
Lavrov: Most EU leaders think confrontation a mistake
European leaders are less hostile to Russia over Ukraine than they are letting on, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “Sometimes there is a contradiction between what they say on the podium and what they tell you tête-à-tête, when no one else hears them,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Zvezda television channel, broadcast Monday....
