Section: European Voice (EU)
Putin’s foreign legion
The New York Times praises the efficiency of Vladimir Putin’s military modernization on daily display over the skies of Syria. No big surprise here. The Soviet Union showed that a totalitarian state can concentrate its limited resources on the military, weak economy or not. The Times article, however, misses the point that Putin’s...
Poroshenko: Hold Russia accountable for MH17
Russia should be held responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, although Ukraine could have done more to prevent the disaster by closing its airspace, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Sunday. In an interview on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, Poroshenko said Russia should “absolutely” be held accountable for the...
Momentum builds for a united energy front
The energy union, the flagship project of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, is starting to take shape — transforming from a nebulous theory into an actual policy that aims to tie Europe’s energy markets together. “It is possible to trade fruits or cars freely across borders but it is still impossible to send energy freely...
Commercial interests conflict with Brussels’ gas plans
The European Commission’s effort to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas is clashing with commercial and national interests, which are causing problems for Brussels’ gas diversification plans. Gazprom’s recent partnership with five West European companies to expand the Nord Stream pipeline — running under the Baltic...
The (sometimes) righteous underground
Understanding of the Polish Underground’s wartime record was overwhelmingly negative. Holocaust survivor testimony and scholarly studies argued that partisans of the Home Army — those clandestine forces in Nazi-occupied Poland loyal to the Polish government-in-exile — were just as dangerous to Jews as were the Nazis. And the specific cases...
Cameron sideshow at the summit
Under pressure from fellow European leaders to spell out his reform demands ahead of a U.K. referendum on EU membership, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday he is ready to reveal them — next month. Cameron said before a summit in Brussels that he would “quicken the pace” of talks, which started during the summer at a technical...
Carter: U.S. will take ‘all necessary steps’ to counter Russia
Defense Secretary Ash Carter delivered a sharp warning to Russia on Wednesday, calling its airstrikes in Syria a “misguided strategy” that will “inflame and prolong” the civil war and vowing that Washington would not stand idly by amid a series of destabilizing Russian military moves on several continents. Carter, who began his government career...
Insiders: EU failing on migration
A poor European response to an unprecedented influx of migrants is stirring an extremist backlash, according to participants in POLITICO’s Transatlantic Caucus, who urged EU leaders to take stronger, long-term measures to address the crisis at this week’s summit in Brussels. The continuing tide of new arrivals — 710,000 have been...
Transatlantic Caucus participants: October 2015
Joaquín Almunia, Former Vice President and European Commissioner for Competition, European Commission, Brussels; Former Leader of the Opposition and Minister of Employment, Madrid Maria Asenius, Head of Cabinet, Office of Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, European Commission, Brussels Petras Aštrvičius, Vice Chair of Group of the Alliance of...
Some countries cracking down too hard on Islamists, State Dept. says
In a bid to counter Islamists who terrorize minority faiths, some governments around the world are going too far and themselves damaging the cause of religious freedom, while others aren’t doing nearly enough, a new U.S. report warns. The latest International Religious Freedom Report, released Wednesday, comes as fears grow about the fate...
