Section: European Voice (EU)
Croatia, Albania ask NATO to revise Kosovo peacekeeping mission
The governments of Croatia and Albania asked NATO to revise plans for its peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, arguing that nationalist rhetoric by Serbian politicians threatens to destabilize the region, Reuters reported Thursday. In a letter to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Croatian Defense Minister Damir KrstiÄević and his Albanian...
James Mattis gives NATO spending ultimatum
On his first visit to NATO headquarters, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Tuesday delivered a blunt warning to America’s allies, telling them they must increase military spending or the United States will pull back from its commitment to the transatlantic bloc. Noting that his predecessor, Robert M. Gates, had called for...
James Mattis calls NATO ‘my second home’
Arriving in Brussels at a time of turbulence and uncertainty over the future of transatlantic relations, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday called NATO “my second home” and reiterated President Donald Trump’s support for the alliance. “Thank you very much for the warm welcome back to my second home,” Mattis said during a brief...
Wolves in nationalist clothing
LONDON — Nationalists versus globalists. Traditionalists versus multiculturalists. The “left behind” versus the elites. If the likes of Donald Trump, Brexit leaders and the European right are to be believed, these binary battle lines — ideological boundaries as clear as those of the Cold War — are what divide...
Flynn’s ouster leads to more chaos in Trump world
The resignation of U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn did little to calm the chaos at the White House, where staff spent Tuesday scrambling to deflect blame for the rising scandal about Flynn’s contacts with Russian officials — including who knew what about the conversations and when. Other ongoing controversies...
White House: Trump has been ‘incredibly tough on Russia’
The Trump administration will take a tough stance on Russia even as it seeks to work with the country on some issues, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Tuesday. The comments come after Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, resigned Monday night after revelations that he misled Vice President Mike Pence...
The end of Pax Americana
The chaos of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first weeks in office have reinforced the impression that the U.S. can no longer wield power effectively. This means we are entering uncharted territory. What will happen if the world begins to believe America is withdrawing from the international stage? The answer is unlikely to be pleasingÂ...
Geert Wilders’ American connections
AMSTERDAM — Geert Wilders is approaching the Dutch election bolstered by the shock victory of a like-minded campaign in the United States, and with something of his worldview reflected in Donald Trump’s White House. Trump’s order barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States...
How Russia became the leader of the global Christian right
In early April 2014, as the post-Cold War order roiled in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula — the first forced annexation in Europe since the Second World War — Pat Buchanan asked a question. Taking to the column-inches at Townhall, Buchanan wondered aloud:...
Donald, meet Vladimir: Slovenia acts as matchmaker
BERLIN — High-stakes diplomacy isn’t the first thing one associates with Slovenia, but President Borut Pahor might be about to change that. With a Slovene-born first lady in the U.S. and close relations with both Moscow and Berlin, the leader of the small Alpine nation is maneuvering his country to play a bigger role on...
