Section: European Voice (EU)
The trouble with Finland’s treble coalition
HELSINKI — There was a coup in Finland earlier this month. A media coup, that is. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced, on the eve of parliament’s new term, that he would open up one of his homes to Syrian refugees. Since Sipilä remains modest, quiet and a rather unknown quantity to many Finns, it was something of a surprise to see him...
Spare a thought for Hungary
The feverish rancor and self-loathing among Europeans over the migrant crisis should alert us to a potential catastrophe that would eclipse even the Syrian boat people’s suffering: the danger of instability within Europe itself. Under constant pressure from recurrent crises — the great recession, Ukraine, Greece, Islamist terror — the...
Why Merkel changed her mind
BERLIN — Angela Merkel’s abrupt decision to reinstate controls on Germany’s border with Austria followed a hectic weekend during which the chancellor faced intense pressure from state and local officials expected to house and feed the growing wave of asylum seekers heading to the country. Their message to the German leader: genug,...
Orban’s police state
With refugees skirting a razor-wire fence to enter the country, overflowing the Keleti station in Budapest, forced into closed migrant camps and hiking in desperation along the highways to Vienna, the Hungarian government’s brutal treatment of migrants has been on display for all to see. It is about to get much worse. According to a law...
An Estonian recipe for asylum reform
TALINN — Europe is facing the biggest asylum crises since World War II, and it is here to stay. Finding a way out is not so much about fair burden-sharing, but about a political willingness to adjust the existing asylum system. It also demands a much more active and creative pursuit of a common foreign and security policy. None of the conflicts...
Why Russia Still Loves Putin
It’s a weekday afternoon in Kostroma, a drowsy provincial center 250 miles northeast of Moscow, and something is stirring in a quiet apartment yard on the city outskirts. Upbeat instrumental music is pouring out of a sound system, summoning residents—most of them military families—down for a campaign stop by Ilya Yashin, an opposition...
Trump bashes Obama before Ukrainian audience
Donald Trump took his campaign global on Friday, speaking via video link to a pro-European Ukrainian conference in Kyiv, and used the occasion to bash President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. “Our president is not strong, and he is not doing what he should be doing for the Ukraine,” Trump said, referring to the country in a way that...
Tensions flare over Russia-Ukraine gas deal
Senior EU energy official Maroš Sefčovič will attempt to jumpstart talks Friday with Russia on reopening gas deliveries to Ukraine, but the chances of a quick breakthrough appear remote. The challenge is that Russia’s Gazprom wants to keep selling gas to Ukraine — the cash is welcomed as the Russian economy contracts — but for political...
Quasi-communist Corbyn
LONDON — On September 12, Jeremy Corbyn will almost certainly be elected as leader of the Labour Party. That still feels like a bizarre sentence to write. Not only is his presumed victory completely unexpected, but it will push Britain’s main opposition party further to the left than at any time for 30 years. A party that used to idolize...
The Pakistani prince of Kiev
KIEV — On September 19 next week, the Kyiv Post will complete 20 years of existence, 20 years in which this tenacious newsweekly with a print circulation of little more than 15,000 has consistently scrapped and punched above its weight. This is in part because it publishes in English, making it the source of first resort for news on Ukraine for...
