Section: European Voice (EU)
How the Great War could reign on Trump’s parade
Many of President Donald Trump’s critics fear he will start World War III. But he may bring good news for devotees of World War I. This coming Veterans Day, the weekend selected for Trump’s $30 million military parade, is also the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War on November 11, 1918. That’s the...
Mueller: Rick Gates spoke to person with Russian spy ties in late 2016
Rick Gates, a senior official on President Donald Trump’s campaign, was in contact in September and October 2016 with an associate that the FBI assessed had ongoing ties to Russia’s intelligence services, special counsel Robert Mueller said in a new court filing. In a federal court filing Tuesday, Mueller described the associate of...
How will Trump punish Russia next?
In national security, punishing people can be an art form. Figuring out the right tool to use—and how high to raise the volume in response to bad behavior—takes a lot of careful thought and analysis about what really matters to your target and what your own end goal is. The U.S. announcement—which followed similar announcements from several other...
Russia: Who’s expelling diplomats (and who isn’t)
Sixteen EU members and the United States were among 20 countries that on Monday announced they were kicking out Russian diplomats. The decision follows last week’s EU summit, during which leaders concluded that there was “no plausible alternative explanation” other than Russia was responsible for the poisoning of a former spy and his...
May: More than 100 Russian intelligence officers expelled from 18 countries
More than 100 Russian intelligence officers are to be expelled from 18 countries in response to the Salisbury chemical attack, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday. Speaking to MPs in the House of Commons, May said that the U.K., EU countries, the U.S., Canada and Ukraine had “sent a message that we will not tolerate Russia’s...
Battle of leaks as Hungarian campaign heats up
For Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the stakes of next month’s general election just got a lot higher. A spate of corruption allegations and new questions over whether his government had a role in leaking recordings of civil society leaders mean a surprise loss could translate into years spent behind bars. With less than two weeks to go before...
Tusk: 14 EU countries expel Russian diplomats
Fourteen EU countries joined with the United States and other allies to expel Russian diplomats on Monday in response to a nerve agent attack in Salibsury, England. European Council President Donald Tusk announced the coordinated expulsions at a meeting of EU leaders in Varna, Bulgaria. At the same time, Tusk expressed condolences for a shopping...
‘It’s very difficult to overestimate the potential danger John Bolton could put us in’
John Bolton has advocated for war with Iran and North Korea. He loathes the United Nations, disdains international law and still thinks the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq was the right idea. He’s a China skeptic and a Russia hawk who, as one former colleague from the Bush administration put it to me the other day, never met a military option he...
Thousands rally for Moldova to become part of Romania
Tens of thousands rallied in the Moldovan capital of Chișinău on Sunday in support of the tiny former Soviet country becoming part of Romania. The demonstrators, whose numbers reached 100,000, according to organizers, adopted a statement calling on the Moldovan and Romanian parliaments to receive their representatives and asked Romanian lawmakers...
6 spats between Tusk and Juncker
This week’s virtual fisticuffs between European Council President Donald Tusk and his counterpart from across the road — the European Commission’s Jean-Claude Juncker — over how the EU handles Russian President Vladimir Putin is the latest of many fights between Brussels’ most famous high-level sparring partners. Here’s a...
