Section: European Voice (EU)
Putin ignores virus, shows off military might ahead of crucial vote
MOSCOW — Russia held a massive World War II victory parade on Wednesday despite the coronavirus pandemic, setting a patriotic tone ahead of a national vote that could keep Vladimir Putin in power until 2036. The annual May 9 parade of troops and tanks across Red Square — this year celebrating 75 years since the USSR’s defeat of Nazi Germany...
US court takes no immediate action on John Bolton book
WASHINGTON — A federal judge denied on Saturday the Trump administration’s request to block the release of John Bolton’s memoir, noting that the former national security adviser’s book had already been “printed, bound and shipped across the country.” U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said the Justice Department’s...
Trump asked China for help getting reelected, Bolton book claims
U.S. President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for domestic political help to boost his electoral prospects in the midst of the two leaders’ trade war last summer, according to the bombshell account of former national security adviser John Bolton in his forthcoming memoir. According to an excerpt of the memoir, published in...
Transatlantic blues as Pompeo holds EU talks
Transatlantic relations are seemingly so bad, even speaking English didn’t help EU foreign ministers get their message across to Donald Trump’s top diplomat. After leading a 90-minute videoconference Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — during which they discussed a range of topics they disagree on — EU foreign policy...
Tension on the agenda when Pompeo meets EU foreign ministers
It takes two to tango. That’s the polite reply U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is likely to get when he meets EU foreign ministers on Monday for an hour and a half of virtual discussion, in which he is expected to request support for Washington’s confrontations with Beijing. For the Europeans, who have watched President Donald...
EU lawmakers propose taking China to court over Hong Kong security law
The European Parliament is next week set to vote in favor of taking China to the International Court of Justice over its decision to adopt a controversial national security law in Hong Kong. In a draft resolution, the Parliament “strongly criticizes the adoption of the national security law on Hong Kong by the National Peoples’ Congress”...
Borrell has ‘serious concern’ over US sanctions against International Criminal Court
Donald Trump’s decision to authorize sanctions against the International Criminal Court is “a matter of serious concern,” the EU’s top diplomat said. The U.S. president on Thursday issued an executive order authorizing sanctions against ICC employees involved in an investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in...
Israel: The annexation nation
Paul Taylor, a contributing editor at POLITICO, writes the “Europe At Large” column. PARIS — Too much history, not enough geography. British philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s aphorism about the plight of the Jews explains why Zionists fought to build a state on the land where their distant forebears dwelled in Biblical times. But Israel may be...
Trump orders large withdrawal of US forces from Germany
Perhaps only Donald Trump could turn a withdrawal of troops into an act of aggression. The U.S. president has directed the Pentagon to reduce sharply the number of U.S. military forces stationed in Germany, where a heavy presence of GIs has long served as a symbol of Washington’s commitment to protecting its European allies. The White House...
With Haftar in retreat, France hedges its bets in Libya
PARIS — The collapse of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar’s offensive against the capital Tripoli thanks to Turkish military intervention has exposed Europe’s inability to shape the conflict at its borders and left France trying to hedge its bets. On Friday, Haftar suffered his most significant defeat since the beginning of his military...
