: :inin Kyiv (EET)

Section: EU

The Trumputin trap
Jan19

The Trumputin trap

Donald Trump is an avowed admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sees himself as a brilliant dealmaker. As he settles in following his inauguration, the newly seated U.S. president will likely be tempted to seek a grand bargain with the Kremlin to transform sour relations between Washington and Moscow into cooperation in the...

Key moments from Obama’s final news conference
Jan18

Key moments from Obama’s final news conference

President Barack Obama strolled into the tightly packed White House briefing room Wednesday, a day after his controversial commutation of Chelsea Manning and less than two days before he will depart 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for the final time as America’s commander in chief. Below are the highlights: Obama took a jab at the incoming...

Pentagon chief to Trump: Don’t expect Russian thaw
Jan18

Pentagon chief to Trump: Don’t expect Russian thaw

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has some parting advice for Donald Trump as the president-elect tries to improve relations with Russia: Don’t get your hopes up. Trump is likely to find exceedingly few areas where Washington and Moscow’s interests still align, the outgoing Pentagon chief told POLITICO on Tuesday. And it may be most...

Why Is Trump picking on Merkel?
Jan17

Why Is Trump picking on Merkel?

LONDON — After Senate confirmation, it looks like the next task for the incoming administration’s secretaries of state and defense, Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis, is destined to be damage control. That’s because of the fallout here in Europe from President-elect Donald Trump’s unusual commentary on...

Trump to Europe: Drop dead
Jan17

Trump to Europe: Drop dead

EDINBURGH — It is, remarkably, no exaggeration to say that almost everyone in Europe awaits the presidency of Donald Trump with a sense of dread. Almost everyone, that is, save for the resurgent parties of the populist far-right who see, in Trump, an example they dearly wish to emulate. The European mainstream, however, shrinks from Trump as it...

Make internationalism great again
Jan16

Make internationalism great again

WASHINGTON — Across the West, nationalism has been appropriated by political forces that are isolationist, illiberal, and protectionist. For proponents of open societies, this poses a problem. In election after election, voters have demonstrated that when asked to pick between abstract internationalism and allegiance to their...

Biden urges Trump to support Ukraine
Jan16

Biden urges Trump to support Ukraine

The Donald Trump administration should be a strong supporter and partner of Ukraine, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on a visit to Kiev Monday. Asked if he had received any assurances that Trump would place a similar priority on Ukraine as Barack Obama had done, Biden said “hope springs eternal.” During his last official overseas visit,...

Marine Le Pen wins ‘Putin’s champion’ award
Jan16

Marine Le Pen wins ‘Putin’s champion’ award

The leader of France’s far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, was named the inaugural “Putin’s champion” by the European Values think tank Monday. The tongue-in-cheek award will be given to the Western public figure who best exhibits “friendliness and appeasement” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy every...

Donald Trump: I’ll start off trusting Putin
Jan16

Donald Trump: I’ll start off trusting Putin

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will invite British Prime Minister Theresa May to visit him “right after” his inauguration and will strike a “fair” trade agreement with the U.K. “very quickly,” he told The Times in an interview published Sunday. Brexit “is going to end up being a great thing” and other countries will follow the...

Why Russia loves the idea of California seceding
Jan15

Why Russia loves the idea of California seceding

On a sunny late September day, a trio of tourists gathered on Moscow’s Red Square. Well-dressed, carrying a Russian flag, the visitors bunched in front of the Kremlin’s walls to snap a selfie. Like so many others before, the man taking the photo, Louis Marinelli, took to his Twitter account, and shared the shot for the...