Section: European Voice (EU)
NATO’s Germany hatefest
WASHINGTON — Mission unaccomplished. NATO leaders converged on the American capital to celebrate the alliance’s 70th anniversary this week determined not to let the gathering devolve into recriminations over burden-sharing and other disagreements. U.S. President Donald Trump had other plans. And as usual when it comes to NATO, they involved...
Ukraine contenders set for drug-tested debate in national stadium
In Ukraine, politics really is a pissing contest. President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday agreed to take a drug test before a debate in the Olympic Stadium in Kiev with his rival for the top job, comedian Vladimir Zelenskiy, Radio Free Europe reported. Zelenskiy, who plays the president in a television show called “Servant of the People,” a...
Wolfgang Ischinger: ‘We’re walking backward’
Few people have lived the ups and downs of the transatlantic relationship like Wolfgang Ischinger. A veteran diplomat, Ischinger joined Germany’s Foreign Office in 1975, embarking on a career that would culminate in senior roles on both sides of the Atlantic, both as an ambassador and state secretary. He arrived in Washington as German...
NATO chief calls for confronting Russian aggression in speech to US Congress
WASHINGTON — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday called on the defense alliance to stay united against an increasingly assertive Russia. In rare remarks to a joint session of Congress to commemorate the 70th anniversary of NATO’s founding, Stoltenberg pushed back on U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticisms of the...
NATO at 70: Where next?
As member nations gather to celebrate NATO’s 70th anniversary this week, POLITICO asked experts to forecast what the military alliance will look like 10 years from now. How should it spend its growing resources? What new technologies are needed to counter Russian aggression? What threats must NATO prepare for that are not being discussed...
NATO aims for more birthday, less bash, in Trump’s Washington
It’s party time for NATO — and not just because the alliance celebrates its 70th birthday in Washington this week. U.S President Donald Trump, convinced of his success in pushing allies to spend more on defense, has stopped bludgeoning NATO and hinting that he wants to quit. Instead, he has almost — almost — become a cheerleader. The...
No joke: Comedian to win first round in Ukraine’s presidential election
KIEV — Comedian Vladimir Zelenskiy looked set to edge out President Petro Poroshenko in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election Sunday, setting the stage for a decisive run-off between the two in three weeks. Zelenskiy, a political upstart who had never run for public office before, finished first with 30.4 percent of the vote,...
Ukraine’s unenviable choice
KHARKIV, Ukraine – An oligarch, a comedian or a political has-been. Ukrainians will head to the polls on Sunday to choose a president in an election that is less about hope than what locals call the “lesser evil.” The trio of candidates — incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire businessman who built a chocolate empire; Volodymyr...
NATO allies extend Stoltenberg’s term as secretary-general
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is not obsolete. The 29 allied countries on Thursday extended Stoltenberg’s term as NATO’s top political official for two more years, until Sept. 30, 2022, ensuring a measure of stability at a time of tension in transatlantic relations and apprehension over Russia’s military assertiveness....
In presidential vote, Ukraine looks east
Since Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, political power in the country has always shifted between the Ukrainian-speaking, western part of the country and the Russian-speaking east. Then Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and kicked off a brutal war in eastern Ukraine later that year. After that, it seemed,...
