Section: European Voice (EU)
Russia’s plot against the West
When Angela Merkel meets with Donald Trump on Friday, she won’t just be representing Germany. She’ll be bringing all the hopes and anxieties of an anxious continent—one whose fears have been stoked by the fervor sweeping from Amsterdam to Rome, Paris to Berlin. It’s no exaggeration to say that this...
The leader of the free world meets Donald Trump
This time the media hype surrounding a White House meeting is no wild exaggeration. When President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel finally get together on Friday, the leaders of the West’s two most powerful countries are sure to come off more like an odd couple than two close allies chewing over plans for some joint...
Europe, keep an eye on Minsk
When Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko imposed a “social parasite” tax in 2015, he assumed — in normal populist dictatorial fashion — that a $245 fine on those who worked for less than six months a year would be a popular move. What he didn’t expect was that ordinary citizens would, instead, show solidarity...
Latvia’s fortress think tank
RIGA, Latvia — For a think tank, StratCom, NATO’s Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, with its piked gate and guardhouse, looks more like a fortress. During the Soviet era, the institute’s martial-looking headquarters on Kalniciema Street was a Red Army recruitment center. Today, StratCom is on the front lines...
What Merkel wants from Trump
BERLIN — “We need each other.†That, in a nutshell, will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s not-so-subtle message to U.S. President Donald Trump when the two meet in the White House Friday. Forget all the talk about a showdown in the Oval Office. Merkel, whatever her personal views of Trump,...
Trump rejects push to oust national security aide
President Donald Trump has overruled a decision by his national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, to sideline a key intelligence operative who fell out of favor with some at the Central Intelligence Agency, two sources told POLITICO. On Friday, McMaster told the National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence...
Trump’s Jekyll and Hyde Foreign Policy
“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel of 1886, tells the story of the seemingly virtuous Dr. Henry Jekyll who drinks a serum that transforms him into Mr. Edward Hyde so he is free to indulge his vices without fear of discovery. Donald Trump was elected as the Mr. Hyde of American foreign policy,...
Brussels brings Gazprom to heel, for now
Gazprom is set to escape an EU antitrust probe without a fine under a deal announced Monday, but only after making sweeping concessions that just a few years ago would have seemed unimaginable. By settling, Russia dropped its long-held position that, as a Kremlin-controlled company, Gazprom could not be subjected to EU competition rules....
Brussels brings Gazprom to heel, for now
Gazprom is set to escape an EU antitrust probe without a fine under a deal announced Monday, but only after making sweeping concessions that just a few years ago would have seemed unimaginable. By settling, Russia dropped its long-held position that, as a Kremlin-controlled company, Gazprom could not be subjected to EU competition rules....
Ukraine’s fight against fake news goes global
Countering Kremlin disinformation is one area where Kiev has the upper hand. …read more Source: European...
