Section: European Voice (EU)
The big Polish-German chill
WARSAW — Times may be changing Poland’s foreign policy. If the opinion polls are correct, the right-wing Law and Justice party will take power in October 25 parliamentary elections, and the most immediate consequences may be felt in Warsaw’s relationships abroad. Nowhere more so than with Germany, Poland’s leading foreign ally...
American traitor, Israeli hero
The U.S. government’s announcement that Jonathan Pollard will soon gain his release from prison is cause for celebration in Israel, and understandably so. There, Pollard is considered a patriot and hero. By engaging in espionage on Israel’s behalf, he placed himself at great risk. Once caught, he endured considerable punishment — 30...
Jon Stewart’s secret White House visits
Jon Stewart slipped unnoticed into the White House in the midst of the October 2011 budget fight, summoned to an Oval Office coffee with President Barack Obama that he jokingly told his escort felt like being called into the principal’s office. In February 2014, Obama again requested Stewart make the trip from Manhattan to the White House,...
Hungary’s rising right wing
Whatever one thinks of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party, Fidesz, their immediate political challengers look much scarier. The second most popular party in the country, Jobbik — the “Movement for a Better Hungary” — is an extreme-right group, with friendly ties to the Kremlin, as well as to the regime in Iran. Jobbik has a...
From Russia, with thrust
Sanctions by the U.S. and European Union have left Russian President Vladimir Putin strapped for cash, but he’s still got a summer surprise up his sleeve — and it won’t come cheap. Putin has reportedly amassed more than 50,000 troops on the Russia-Ukraine border and is sending a large amount of heavy armor and artillery back to the...
Europe’s Russia denial
Though it still seems counterintuitive to many, the risk of war in Europe has not been this high since the end of the Cold War. Nor have the leaders of Europe’s largest powers been in this much denial about Vladimir Putin’s political objective — the restoration of Russia’s sphere of influence — or how quickly the war in Ukraine...
Schengen visas for Ukrainians
Ukrainians traveling west this summer still need visas. Kiev had hoped that the EU would scrap the requirement at the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga in May, but Brussels balked. “We are not creating a fortress,” said Fabrice Leggeri, executive director of Frontex, the Warsaw-based EU border agency. He’s right. The border is not closed,...
Europe’s new Iron Curtain
SHEHYNI, Ukraine — Ukrainians call it the kordon, the border. With most EU countries reluctant to anger Russia by offering Ukraine even the distant prospect of membership, the border is here to stay, cutting off the volatile ex-Soviet east from the prosperous EU west. The implications for Ukraine are devastating. For Ukrainians, one road into the...
Africa’s disappointment with Obama
Beneath the ecstatic welcome President Barack Obama will receive when he arrives in his father’s homeland of Kenya on Friday is a lingering sense of disappointment. More than the first black president, he’s the first African-American U.S. president, and that’s accentuated a frustration among many Africans — and some Americans —...
12 people who ruined Labour
LONDON — As Labour lurches toward its leadership election, a mere seven weeks away, here we name the 12 guilty men — well actually, 11 men and one woman — who between them should take responsibility for Labour’s disastrous election rout and subsequent nervous breakdown. David Miliband Brother of the failed leader, Ed, he could have been...
