tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38477464861249071692024-03-19T03:32:51.247-04:00EurAmericanTransatlantic Politics & CultureEurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-79430327003968906762014-02-17T18:24:00.000-05:002014-02-17T18:54:03.367-05:00Rethinking Transatlanticism: Toward a New Transatlantic Narrative<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This just in: a policy paper I helped write has earned an Honorable Mention in the <a href="http://brussels.gmfus.org/about-the-forum/young-writers-award/">Young Writers Award</a> of the <a href="http://brussels.gmfus.org/">Brussels Forum</a>, organized by the <a href="http://www.gmfus.org/">German Marshall Fund</a>. The competition included over 80 other papers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Co-created with EU affairs professional Christofer Berg, the paper, titled "Rethinking Transatlanticism: Toward a New Transatlantic Narrative," offers a set of policy objectives to address the opportunities (and risks) of tomorrow's transatlantic agenda. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'll spare you the details, but here is the rough sketch of the piece's content and message:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"When Harry Met Sally: A Policy Partnership with Great Promise"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Gone with the Wind: How Cooperation Risks Being Undermined" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Back to the Future: Creating a Common Narrative for Transatlanticism"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The Magnificent Seven: Concrete Actions to Renew the Transatlantic Narrative"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This last section offers seven bullet-style policy recommendations for the furtherance of a new and enhanced transatlantic narrative to carry a like-minded West into the 21st century. They are:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" - Encourage the transatlantic media landscape"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />" - Avoid speaking to Americans and Europeans as though they were from different planets, along 'Mars vs. Venus' lines"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" - Ride the wave of new technology by embracing social networks like Facebook and Twitter"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" - Create a story for a “modern transatlanticism” through rhetoric"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" - Lift up people that can be the ‘faces of transatlanticism' "</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" - Bring people together" through exchange programs, young leaders conferences, etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" - Connect the dots. Show that how we cooperate on trade, defense, and diplomacy is part of a wider common vision"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So, happy reading. The full paper is available <a href="http://brussels.gmfus.org/files/2014/02/Rethinking-Transatlanticism-Towards-a-New-Transatlantic-Narrative.pdf">here</a>. </span><br />
<br />EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-15277307342775865332014-02-01T19:28:00.001-05:002014-02-01T19:35:37.610-05:00TTIP: Cautious optimism despite resistance in CongressMy <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/commentary/cautious-optimism-proposed-transatlantic-trade-and-investment">latest op-ed</a> goes over some of the politicking around the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, which could provide a historical boost to the economic ties that bind the U.S. and Europe.<br />
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But that's only if TTIP passes. President Obama spent some time on the trade agenda in this week's State of the Union address. Yet the very next day, leaders of his own party, including Harry Reid, the House of Representatives' Majority Leader, came out against it. The op-ed's subtitle (which I did not write) points the finger at conservative Members of Congress and thought leaders, but <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0acee79c-89a2-11e3-8829-00144feab7de.html#axzz2s7OiTR3o">many in the Democratic party</a> have opposed the bill on grounds that it will threaten labor and environmental interests, among other concerns. <br />
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What's at stake is an intermediary piece of legislation whose passage would open the doors of opportunity for TTIP, as well as for a U.S.-Asian trade deal that is also in the works. Called the Trade Promotion Authority, or "Fast Track" for short, the new framework would guarantee expedient passage so that TTIP could move more easily through Congress. The problem is, more expedient means no amending the bill. Some American lawmakers are loath to grant this kind of carte blanche to Fast Track, while if they don't, Europeans will not likely negotiate in good faith. And why would they? If anything they agree might be subject to change by Washington, wouldn't you hedge your bets, too?<br />
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Here are a few of the reasons I see a mandate for cautious optimism in forthcoming TTIP processes on the U.S. side:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Hailed by some as potentially the largest trade agreement in history,
TTIP would reduce trade barriers by enacting a non-tariff paradigm in
which myriad public- and private-sector players could spur growth,
create jobs, and do business in markets previously inaccessible. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"TTIP’s promises have not won all hearts, however. Detractors see the
deal as a menace to their own interests, even to national sovereignty.
TTIP could also fail on purely procedural grounds: given recent
resistance to legislation on the “Fast Track” Trade Promotion Authority
(TPA) framework, the US Congress inspires only mild confidence.</blockquote>
...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Strategically, the potential benefit is just as strong: TTIP would
establish a Western-oriented economic system of consequence, push the
fallout of the 2008 financial crisis decisively into the past and
provide the most unified transatlantic response to global competition in
decades. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Yet, detractors pose significant obstacles to the deal’s passage.
TTIP’s opponents hail from a broad spectrum of interest groups and
experts, some of whom warn against any compromise of national
sovereignty. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Instead, organizations like the Heritage Foundation <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/12/%20transatlantic-trade-and-investment-partnership-ttip-pitfalls-and-promises">vouch for</a>
“mutual recognition rather than regulatory harmonization,” which would
rule out the possibility of a “transatlantic managed market” seen as
detrimental to US economic and political autonomy. Likewise, advocates
for labor unions, farm subsidies and intellectual property stipulations
have each expressed reservations that threaten a comprehensive
transatlantic trade program.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Hurdles in the US Congress could also pose challenges, which means
international-level concerns may be moot if the United States fails to
rally consensus at home. A bipartisan group in the US House of
Representatives has voiced opposition to new TPA legislation, saying
they are not being consulted adequately on the negotiations underway,
and that a new TPA might deny Congress its constitutional right to
review trade agreements. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"In December 2013, 194 House members from the same group signed a
letter to President Obama expressing their view that “Fast Track is
simply not appropriate for 21st century agreements and must be
replaced.” If the number of members of Congress opposed to TTIP should
grow, odds for the deal’s passage will shrink proportionally."</blockquote>
<br />
Here's hoping. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /></blockquote>
EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-18855495559834347572014-01-23T21:36:00.001-05:002014-01-23T21:51:06.960-05:00Sweet EU Data Viz in Spanish? No Problemo<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've just discovered <a href="http://geografiainfinita.com/">GeografiaInfinita.com</a>, a pretty sweet place to window-shop for data visualization and maps, like the one below on youth unemployment. Light blue equals jobs, and dark blue equals fewer jobs. And who cares if the site is in Spanish? Looks like site founder Gonzalo Prieto is on to something universal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://geografiainfinita.com/2013/12/12/12-mapas-para-entender-mejor-la-union-europea/">This page</a> features "Twelve Maps to Better Understand the European Union." (At least, that's what I think it says.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvw5n8TANtFvXTrDFKE1UavnW2csckyxGXMWjYcUNkf1f0rolMUKgc8x5XhtZa_ULHiqao_tgo-0YrGeZWMKWd3lNlv1muZTBEpjdAEC8jIH5XQsniWxFZIAb11nJwd1M-X0ZFgi0tik/s1600/DESEMPLEOJUVENIL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvw5n8TANtFvXTrDFKE1UavnW2csckyxGXMWjYcUNkf1f0rolMUKgc8x5XhtZa_ULHiqao_tgo-0YrGeZWMKWd3lNlv1muZTBEpjdAEC8jIH5XQsniWxFZIAb11nJwd1M-X0ZFgi0tik/s1600/DESEMPLEOJUVENIL.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Also check out the 25 or so most connected Twitter users among global foreign affairs leaders, within and beyond the EU. This map is on Prieto's site, but it originally came from Burson Marsteller's <a href="http://twiplomacy.com/">Twiplomacy</a> practice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ej_sQ-PDhpiO2Ak1sa7J9I07uVX7VlEdvQN7TJuIGTosyvKSCoKe1CR9RDntwcP4fWrAyTAoD1P4n9UGXWKECoHOwidT4NXcuoDkdKwmH45w6G-GoP2toXdsoWsJhvC0yQ5FbWVqTPU/s1600/IMAGEN1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ej_sQ-PDhpiO2Ak1sa7J9I07uVX7VlEdvQN7TJuIGTosyvKSCoKe1CR9RDntwcP4fWrAyTAoD1P4n9UGXWKECoHOwidT4NXcuoDkdKwmH45w6G-GoP2toXdsoWsJhvC0yQ5FbWVqTPU/s1600/IMAGEN1.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-44218922015571814012014-01-20T22:25:00.002-05:002014-01-20T22:27:32.134-05:00U.S. to the EU: Here's Looking at You, Kid<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just a few comparisons between the Old and New Worlds: on <a href="http://one-europe.info/why-are-european-universities-lagging-behind-american-ones">quality of universities</a> (apparently, OneEurope thinks U.S. schools are way better than European ones), and an uber-general piece from CafeBabel, "<a href="http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/politics/article/what-do-americans-think-about-europe.html">What Do Americans Think About Europe</a>?" Despite its gaping generality, it does feature this sort-of redeeming map of U.S. stereotypes of Europe.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixriv811bEujgonLiMFWfDyxwF4fW3U-kLgXkYq1lDUckNTuAeiV03biux0kA_-dDwl21edy2s3uWp_F1p4G4fChWCUTWagfihaTMYjQpPRHI3noAiUzI3HMVmFcIyUN73w-t0UFSIDfU/s1600/US_stereotypes_Europe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixriv811bEujgonLiMFWfDyxwF4fW3U-kLgXkYq1lDUckNTuAeiV03biux0kA_-dDwl21edy2s3uWp_F1p4G4fChWCUTWagfihaTMYjQpPRHI3noAiUzI3HMVmFcIyUN73w-t0UFSIDfU/s1600/US_stereotypes_Europe.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-42482510757503794292014-01-20T21:27:00.001-05:002014-01-20T21:29:21.885-05:00EU's "Public Sphere" is Taking Shape<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In spite of everything, Europe may be gelling, after all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jcm.org.uk/blog/2014/01/is-there-now-a-european-public-sphere/comment-page-1/#comment-110101">Nosemonkey</a> has suggested that the EU may be developing a public sphere, solidifying a pan-European public opinion, even after events like the euro crisis, global financial tumult, and the rise of euroskeptic parties across Europe threaten to shake the still-fresh institutions trying to establish a robust European project. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The blog's creator, James Clive-Matthews, defends the right of euroskeptics to freely speak their minds against the European Union's advances -- and all that, as a part of the European marketplace of ideas, through which engagement from ordinary citizens is essential. Even, it turns out, if those who count among the most engaged are those most opposed to the project's advancement. What an ironic picture of civic duty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hats off to you, then, Nosemonkey -- and to the euroskeptics who prove the vibrancy of the democratic ideal playing out through the passionate discussions to which they contribute. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://tonylbxl.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/mapping-the-eu-digital-public-spheres/">This post</a> maps the growing EU public sphere in digital form -- thanks, Tony Lockett.</span>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-71399890197704937002013-10-07T21:10:00.002-04:002013-10-07T21:20:13.707-04:00Bright and Dim Spots on Europe's Periphery<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The last week has been marked by some good, some bad, and some downright absurd news items in the European enlargement and foreign policy dossiers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Economist described Vladimir Putin as deserving "<a href="http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21587260-russian-intransigence-has-helped-ukraines-integration-europe-looking-west">the highest medal of Ukraine</a>," in a claim that the Russian leader has done more to rally the Ukrainian political elite toward a westward outlook than any other figure. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Radek Sikorski, the prime minister of Poland, agrees. "“Ukraine is on the final lap, and it must double its efforts and finish
off the job…we’ve done it, so can you,” he said in a conference at Yalta recently. The historical poignancy of that statement, made in the same city that witnessed the 1945 decision to carve up much of the European continent, was likely lost on no one there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The EUObserver cited Mr. Sikorski last week as a <a href="http://euobserver.com/institutional/121651">potential next-in-line</a> for Catherine Ashton's job as EU foreign policy chief. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ukraine's westward shift seems not a moment too soon: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/putin-pressures-former-soviet-republics-to-join-his-economic-union/2013/09/29/d169d736-2610-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html">Russia has been exerting pressure</a> on its former satellites to join its economic union, along with Bulgaria and Moldova. Armenia has already caved, with recent announcements confirming it will look to Moscow for energy support. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So, a little good, a little bad. The <a href="http://euobserver.com/justice/121681">absurd</a> comes from the government of Italy, newly entrusted to Prime Minister Enrico Letta awarded citizenship posthumously to some of the African migrants who died in the capsizing of their boat near Lampedusa. The survivors, meanwhile, still hold illegal status. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The world's strivers hoping to migrate to Europe must be wondering, on the road to a better life and European-style prosperity, do they have to die to earn it? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-68208840869902595752013-09-14T13:47:00.002-04:002013-09-14T13:52:35.711-04:00Back to Bipolar: Syria Dominated by American, Russian Positions<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The frenzy of diplomatic and media activity around the August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria has produced two, and only two, approaches. The Russians have opposed the idea of airstrikes, which until this week was President Obama's frontrunning policy option. Global opinion has largely opposed it, while John Kerry's off-the-cuff remark about orchestrating a chemical weapons seizure has now become the U.S. administration's official goal in the matter. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Prior to this week's about-face from the State Department and the White House, EurAmerican was intrigued to see just how bipolar the world seemed on the Syrian dossier. Observers from California to Caracas were forced to make a choice between the two positions set by the U.S. and Russia. The American position, initially for what Sec. Kerry dubbed an "unbelievably small" aerial intervention, brought to mind the mistakes of the Iraq War. President Obama tried, with little success, to assuage the fears of the American public and anti-airstrike partisans worldwide. President Vladimir Putin led an obstructionist charge from the UN Security Council, providing an alternative an cynical option to let the bloodshed in Syria continue. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What were the world's other options? Were there other options, floated by the European Union, China, the BRICS? If there were any, they didn't penetrate the international media space, and they haven't stuck to the wall since.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The world may be less bipolar than during the Cold War, but judging by the last several weeks, few other powers edged in to provide a third way through the diplomatic gridlock. Action is needed urgently. What hangs in the balance is a swelling refugee crisis in every one of Syria's neighbor countries, as well as the credibility of national administrations in the U.S., Europe, and international organizations like the UN. And that doesn't mention the justice owed to the 110,000 Syrians killed so far. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Wall Street Journal published this morning a <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323595004579069452022413522.html?mod=WSJEurope_hpp_LEFTTopStories">menu of opinions</a> from thought leaders on the Syria crisis. The one bearing the sharpest tone came from Josef Joffe, a Europe specialist at the Hoover Institution. He makes the case for continuing a vigorous exercise of American power abroad, especially as it concerns the comparative reticence of the next-most powerful Western forces to curb bloodshed in places like Syria. Mr. Joffe makes historical and modern connections to Europe that bear repeating: </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"In Europe, Clausewitz is either dying (Britain and France) or dead
(Germany and the rest). Recall the famous counsel of the Prussian
general: "War is the continuation of policy with other means"—that is,
with force. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Germany, the loser of two world wars, cut this seamless web in 1945,
followed by all those former warrior nations from Spain to Sweden. Force
as tool of statecraft? Heaven forfend! Europe shall be an "empire of
peace." Britain and France, ex-imperial powers both, are going down the
same road. David Cameron
was trashed by Parliament when he asked for a war resolution on Syria.
France's François Hollande would suffer the same fate if he went to the
National Assembly. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="U100300926046EVG"></a></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"In his heart, Mr. Obama also would
like to ditch Clausewitz, as he signaled in his Tuesday speech. He would
like to turn the U.S. into an XXL medium-power. He wants to unshoulder
the burden of global leadership and to drag the U.S. out of harm's way.
As in Europe, his priority is welfare rather than
warfare—"nation-building at home." If it has to be force, it must be on
the cheap—"limited" and "narrow." Mr. Obama is probably as grateful as
Mr. Assad for the reprieve cooked up by the Russians, who want to save
the despot at all cost. Ms. Merkel and Messrs. Cameron and Hollande are
delighted as well. There is now no shame in hanging back. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="U100300926046CJH"></a></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"There is just one problem, and it is
bigger than to strike or not. Or to extract well-hidden chemical weapons
from a war zone the size of Oklahoma. The U.S. is not an XXL
medium-power but the housekeeper of the world. If it outsources the job,
there is nobody else—not Europe, Russia or China. And the vandals are
watching."</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EurAmerican agrees. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-38971560669688866412013-04-01T19:55:00.002-04:002013-04-01T19:56:31.287-04:00Russia and Religion<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">... After a year without posting, EurAmerican is back. I thought I'd share a pair of interesting posts on religious news in Russia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/world/europe/cossacks-are-back-in-russia-may-the-hills-tremble.html">Cossacks</a> are again inspiring awe, fear, and obedience to the law in southwestern Russia. Are they pushing to far, as some are calling for ethnic "filters" against Muslims and other ethnic minorities? A great photo diary that accompanies this piece, both courtesy of the New York Times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Economist reports on religious freedom in the former Soviet Union, where hopes for greater religious toleration in a post-Communist era have <a href="http://www.economist.com/">dimmed</a>. The Orthodox church enjoys only 2 to 3 percent of regular attendance by the Russian populace, says reporter and author Geraldine Fagan.</span>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-42116858742051986832012-03-02T09:47:00.003-05:002012-03-02T09:47:33.375-05:00Serbia becomes newest EU candidate<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The EU has named Serbia its most recent candidate for membership, France24 <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20120301-kosovo-serbia-european-union-membership-war-balkans">reports</a>. In a summit in Brussels on March 2, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy called the step "a remarkable achievement." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now will come the real work, according to many observers, which will involve stubborn disagreements on the country's relationship with Kosovo, and over lingering feelings from the international community toward Serbia. The new candidate was largely seen as a pariah state, responsible for much of the bloodshed in the Balkan region throughout the 1990s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The EU is gradually dismantling the Balkans-shaped bomb lying right
next to it,” said Daniel Korski, a senior-level analyst at the
European Council on Foreign Relations in London.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now for a tone change: check out <a href="http://www.ethnotraveler.com/2012/02/the-foreignness-of-the-next-thing/">my story on a day spent in Belgrade</a>, the Serbian capital, published this week on the travel website <a href="http://ethnotraveler.com/">Ethnotraveler.com</a>. Here's an excerpt:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Petar poured juice into two green glasses and sat down across from me
on the couch. I worked up the nerve to ask him about the wars of the
1990s, whether Serbia’s bloody past was having any bearing on his life
now.<br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">“It has a daily effect,” Petar said. “I still think about it all the
time. Everyone does. Time has passed, my generation is now working and
starting families, but it’s part of our lives, as if it were still
happening. Now, for example, when I have money, I ask myself, ‘Should I
buy groceries? Should I save it? Or can I buy this television, this
computer program, get my car fixed?’ This type of thinking comes from
war.” </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He said it made no sense to brood over the past. “Sadness turns to anger,” he continued, “and anger ruins your life.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I couldn’t believe his candor, his eloquence. I wanted to express my
gratitude but just then his cell phone beeped. It was a text message
from his girlfriend. “She wants to meet you,” he said. “I have an idea.” </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Petar told me to shower and take some medicine for my stomach. In the
meanwhile he made sandwiches. He called his girlfriend back and made
arrangements for us to pick her up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Before we headed out the door, he turned to me. “One other thing
about the future,” he said, “about this after-war life we’re living
here. We Serbians, we have this crazy will, this crazy will, and when we
want to do something, no matter how long it takes or how hard it is we
do it. Look at Novak Djokovic.” </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“The tennis player?” </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Twenty-one years old and top three in the world,” he said. “No fancy
facilities, no amazing coach, just that crazy Serbian will. Know that.
That’s Serbia too.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Did you like this story? Hate it? Let me know in the comments section. Watch this space for more excerpts from this story and others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-318825059553320242012-01-31T20:54:00.004-05:002012-01-31T20:54:42.371-05:00Youth unemployment exceeds 30 percent in eight member states<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Whoa! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nothing to add here, just a <a href="http://euobserver.com/1016/115088">title</a> I thought was as worthy of sharing as it is frightening. From EUobserver: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Youth unemployment rates surpass 30 percent in Greece, Ireland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain, the European Commission
said on Tuesday (31 January). Eurostat figures show that in December
2011, the youth unemployment rate was 22.1 percent in the EU27 up from
21.0 percent in 2010."</span></blockquote>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-26641092342170856802012-01-30T10:03:00.005-05:002012-01-30T10:03:57.630-05:00Merkel to Go to Bat for Sarkozy Campaign?<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">From <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20120130-sarkozy-under-fire-plans-economy-vat-tax-hike-presidential-election">this morning's France24</a>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Sarkozy’s German-inspired reforms are likely to please Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who is believed to have offered to lend her support to
Sarkozy’s re-election bid.</span> </blockquote>
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</span><span style="font-size: large;">Merkel and Sarkozy were nicknamed ‘Merkozy’ for their close relationship and joint efforts to tackle the Eurozone crisis. </span></blockquote>
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</span><span style="font-size: large;">FRANCE 24’s International Affairs Editor Douglas Herbert said: “I
think he is very happy to have Merkel’s support but it works both ways.” </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Sarkozy is someone she thinks she can trust to keep Europe on the right path.”<strong><br />
</strong></span></blockquote>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-37438492859374465052012-01-30T10:01:00.001-05:002012-01-30T10:04:05.145-05:00A "Budget Commissioner" for Greece?<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This just in from the Wall Street Journal: Germany's Wolfgang Schauble is part of a group involved with the resolution of the Euro crisis that suggests the EU appoint a "budget commissioner" for Greece. The effort would aim to secure trustworthiness--and, ultimately, a way out--for the seemingly never-ending circles made around finally coming to a eurozone currency crisis fix. From the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203920204577191002602753994.html?mod=WSJ_hp_us_mostpop_read">article</a>: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Europe is "prepared to support Greece" with the new loan package, Mr.
Schäuble said, but he warned: "Unless Greece implements the necessary
decisions and doesn't just announce them…there's no amount of money that
can solve the problem."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The remarks came as German officials last week floated the radical
idea of appointing a European "budget commissioner" with veto powers
over Greece's spending, partially suspending Greece's national
sovereignty over its budget, in return for aid."</span></blockquote>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-46454307902631397362012-01-28T20:01:00.000-05:002012-01-28T20:01:02.769-05:00Graphic: How the EU Gets and Spends Its Money<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">More great infographics from the Guardian. See "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jan/26/eu-budget-european-union-spending">Where does the European Union get its money from – and how does it spend it?</a>", part of the newspaper's new "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/europa">Europa</a>" venture with several other leading European dailies. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUappCCnqFW9aPfT9oUCNWW6ys0oWVmZUI8ypFhf3d-qPo9Rv7DtMVAnjHMCQBSGIFBxYkSGZCbIDMhgqG_WYcglwXZRGSDiRpstbt2Rt4m5N2o2NOAst-4Co6bsrB-CCPMAAmm247cA/s1600/EU27_Money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUappCCnqFW9aPfT9oUCNWW6ys0oWVmZUI8ypFhf3d-qPo9Rv7DtMVAnjHMCQBSGIFBxYkSGZCbIDMhgqG_WYcglwXZRGSDiRpstbt2Rt4m5N2o2NOAst-4Co6bsrB-CCPMAAmm247cA/s400/EU27_Money.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-38876016168694097992012-01-28T19:47:00.002-05:002012-01-28T19:48:16.051-05:00Megacities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">... And we're back! EurAmerican has been dormant these last few, but here's something I couldn't help but share. "The Rise of the Megacities" is a new study published by the Guardian, detailing global trends on cities and the signs that urban life will be the prevailing mode of living for the 21st century. Article <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/21/rise-megacity-live">here</a>, zoomable graphic <a href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/01/21/urban2.jpg">here</a>.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSugOCpnrisBjtIEKDDmnWQSJmU_YD56CAzh6j-yNYZVgDe0gNoN15GL3blIAAWXYgQ19xeXm_3dWpvBhkqzqrabI49d4IJtPHPLBllErphKy1K70MyadX1NlTee1q1eIpXRjYD8GVl7U/s1600/urban2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSugOCpnrisBjtIEKDDmnWQSJmU_YD56CAzh6j-yNYZVgDe0gNoN15GL3blIAAWXYgQ19xeXm_3dWpvBhkqzqrabI49d4IJtPHPLBllErphKy1K70MyadX1NlTee1q1eIpXRjYD8GVl7U/s400/urban2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also check out the online newspaper I'm involved with, the European Daily, whose "<a href="http://europeandaily.com/abroad/">Abroad</a>" page features my latest editorial wizardry. Enjoy!</span><br />
</div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-29244055648861046472011-10-29T12:22:00.000-04:002011-10-29T13:05:26.822-04:00Repeat and Recycle: Is Romney Giving Neocons a "Second Chance?"<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB9Gu_GSSTUq_YTJUFmE-9vjTZYwS4dHr2Rxdjsdj14ST46ql74GTPNhwXCaZchswVcY2UnHWJTkyrIgEdAbIp9qmjNy0IiZATw-p2XCxoqNzzK44sUrZL-LJEuNI_6mGA41IZV3GWbw/s1600/mitt_romney1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB9Gu_GSSTUq_YTJUFmE-9vjTZYwS4dHr2Rxdjsdj14ST46ql74GTPNhwXCaZchswVcY2UnHWJTkyrIgEdAbIp9qmjNy0IiZATw-p2XCxoqNzzK44sUrZL-LJEuNI_6mGA41IZV3GWbw/s1600/mitt_romney1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I just found this post and, though it's a hoary-bearded three weeks old, I find it interesting enough to dust off and shamelessly re-hash in a way that would be acceptable in no other time than our own: the Retweet Generation. So: For those Europeans (or interested others) out there who want to know what the leading Republican candidate's foreign policy might look like, check out the Atlantic Review's <a href="http://atlanticreview.org/archives/1512-Romneys-Foreign-Policy-Team.html">post on Mitt Romney's foreign policy team</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Most controversial is the preponderance of George W. Bush administration veterans that comprise the list, including marquee names such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff">Michael Chertoff</a>, <a href="http://www.sais-jhu.edu/faculty/directory/bios/c/cohen.htm">Eliot Cohen</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan">Robert Kagan</a>, to list just three. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Liberal US commentator Rachel Maddow titled her response as: "Romney Gives Bush Neocons A Second Chance," but Joerg Wolf, the Atlantic Review's author, is less excited by the news, re-quoting Washington think tanker James Joyner who said of the announcement, "</span><span style="font-size: large;">like Romney himself, it's not particularly exciting. Nor, thankfully, is it frightening."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wolf concludes with this, highlighting the figures responsible for the Europe dossier:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"</span><span style="font-size: large;">Nile Gardiner from Heritage is co-chair for Europe. The other co-chair is Kristen Silverberg, Chief Operating Officer at Vorbeck Materials; Ambassador to the European Union (2008-2009). I wish he would have advisors with a bit more experience. I can think of a few such think tankers in Washington.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"What do you think? To whom should the Republican presidential candidates turn to for advice on Europe, or on foreign policy in general? Which think tankers or former officials would make the best national security and foreign policy advisors for a Republican president?"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">EurAmerican has kind of a thing for neoconservatism, in a hot-and-cold, critical-distance sort of way. See past post include the one <a href="http://euramerican.blogspot.com/2011/03/neoconservatism-and-arab-revolutions.html" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As on the Atlantic Review site, comments are welcome here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-42165250077125069142011-10-29T11:18:00.000-04:002011-10-29T12:03:34.991-04:00Euro Summit: Chinese Help and Italian Trouble<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Economist just published <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/10/euro-zone-crisis-4">this post</a> on the element of this week's eurozone summit that would involve Chinese cash as a part of the currency zone's recapitalization plan. Ever instructive, the article lays out the China factor in some of the magazine's trademark economics-in-layman's-terms. I didn't know, for example, that the EU is China's biggest trading partner. Given all the hub-bub stateside, wouldn't most Americans assume that position was enjoyed (or maligned) by the United States? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yet the piece's author makes an effort to signal that the appeal for Chinese cash is neither revolutionary nor a particularly important change in the status quo. He takes a longer-term view on the EU-Chinese relationship, which of course bears direct influence on the American role between the two. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"<span lang="EN-GB">Grand political bargains between China and Europe—money in return for more representation at the IMF, or market-economy status—seem wildly improbable. These prizes will eventually come anyway; and weak though parts of Europe are, the EU cannot be seen to trade them too nakedly. Bargaining of this sort would also require both parties to change their positions markedly. China is keen not to be seen as a source of “dumb money”, but requiring big political concessions in return for cash is a pretty clear signal that this is not a commercially attractive investment. As for the euro zone, it can hardly claim that senior Spanish and Italian debt is now safe for institutional investors if it has to horse-trade too hard to get China on board."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And further along the pessimism spectrum is the Wall Street Journal, which, true to form, has <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203554104577003401844568884.html?mod=WSJEurope_hpp_LEFTTopStories">expressed</a> typical euro-skepticism on the summit's results and bemoaned the plan's lack of detail and the risks that remain for U.S. companies and stakeholders. Though the European Financial Stability Facility will "backstop" troubled eurozone countries against default, the paper says, this week's decisions fall short of the muscular moves called for by experts and do relatively little to stem fears of a backslide toward recession in Europe and worldwide. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Both articles signal the lingering dangers of the tenuous Italian situation, where fractious politics in Silvio Berlusconi's government has dimmed hopes for any kind of meaningful action against the euro's woes. Italy is heavily in debt and, as the third-largest economy on the euro, its future determines that of a host of other dependent nations both in and outside the monetary bloc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and ICAP</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Though the chart refers to Italy only, its title -- "Brief Relief" -- sounds just as appropriate for the whole of the eurozone for the many observers that continue to be concerned about the currency's immediate and middle-term prospects. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-30253770262786217342011-10-08T16:37:00.000-04:002011-10-08T16:37:14.860-04:00Update: European Daily<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All apologies for a lapse in activity at EurAmerican. Just a heads-up, I'll be contributing to the European citizen newspaper <a href="http://europeandaily.com/">European Daily</a>, specifically to the "Abroad" section, on a regular basis. You can check out my work for the Sunday page <a href="http://europeandaily.com/abroad/">here</a>.</span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-67693227437425082912011-08-29T12:38:00.005-04:002011-08-29T13:24:41.591-04:00Mixed Feelings on Mid-Crisis EU<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Behind the euro crisis is a crisis of confidence, felt differently but to similarly intense degrees throughout the Continent. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Northern countries have been feeling taken advantage of, with the common refrain echoing a feeling that the southern EU countries have spent with abandon the considerable benefits received from their neighbors. But "<a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/spain/110815/spain-sours-the-eu">the feeling is mutual</a>," reports Global Post, and in the case of Spain, many feel they have exchanged cash for compromised protections of rights, crisis-time mismanagement, sacrifice of national sovereignty, and kowtowing by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero toward demanding eurocrats in Brussels. </span><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nobel laureate Robert Mundell <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/en/euro-finance/economists-reckon-euro-zone-survive-news-507145">said</a> on August 26, "<span id="articleText">I don't think the euro is on the verge of collapsing."</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="articleText">Alan Greenspan, the former head of the US Federal Reserve, <a href="http://euobserver.com/9/113397">said</a> on August 24, "</span>The euro is breaking down."</span></div><span id="articleText"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Eschewing with the "United States of Europe" idea, Romanian Mircea Cărtărescu favors a union centered around the "<a href="http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/889201-why-hamlet-no-euro-federalist">European mind</a>" and a federation "not solely focused on the issue of economic survival." He says: </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Present-day Europe relates to the United States as Athens once did to ancient Rome. And although at one point Athens sought to emulate Rome, I can see no reason why modern Europe should seek to emulate the United States."</span></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">German ex-foreign minister Joschka Fischer <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,783043,00.html">counters</a> that "we need to work toward the United States of Europe now." </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In Estonia, a slightly but definitely more optimistic note can be heard in the public opinion of the country's lot as it relates to the EU, again <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/110826/baltic-economy-european-union-estonia-latvia-lithuania">reported</a> by Global Post. Says Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“I remember the days when the counters of the shops in Tallinn were empty and the people were starving. The economy more or less had to be rebuilt from scratch... If you had asked people on Aug. 20, 1991 whether in 20 years “Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would be seen as economic success stories in Europe, would be full members of NATO, full members of the European Union,” Bildt asked, “if anyone had said yes, that person would have been seen as a fairly likely candidate for lunacy.”</span></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But such a public, party-line voice is bound to be tempered by ordinary citizens, in this case from Tallinn, the Estonian capital:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Nineteen-year-old Katrina Ulbeerte, bopping along with her younger sister, laughs when asked what she knew about Soviet times before she was born. In American slang, she said her parents have told her that life then was difficult. “They told about special lessons about, like, communists and, like, all kinds of military stuff. I’m happy I don’t have to go work in a factory!” </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> "But 55-year-old Ieva Inauska, who couldn’t speak English but conveyed her thoughts quite clearly in broken German and hand gestures, doesn’t see much of a change. “Soviet Union? Bah. European Union? Bah. The European Union bureaucracy is even bigger than the Soviet Union’s!” And, she indicated, she preferred the latter."</span></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-59371327534163126472011-08-19T21:13:00.001-04:002011-08-19T21:14:03.467-04:00EU, Texas Economics: Language, Money, Mobility<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Wall Street Journal compares, of all things, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903639404576516450597398930.html?mod=djemEurAnalysis_h">EU economics to Texan ones</a>:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Arguably, the heart of the euro zone's problem isn't a matter of culture or governance or remaining barriers to trade in goods. Rather, it's the huge hurdle that has always existed: Europe's multiplicity of languages. The fact that few Greeks or Portuguese have enough German to take on professional or even semi-skilled jobs in Germany removes the sort of safety valve that properly integrated federations rely on. </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">A case in point is the <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2302010/">Texan economic miracle</a>, the subject of considerable debate in the U.S. right now. Texan politicians make strong claims for the state's performance relative to the rest of the U.S. during the recovery. Doubters point to the fact that Texan unemployment remains high. </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">But a close reading of the data by Matthias Shapiro on his Political Math blog <a href="http://www.politicalmathblog.com/">highlights something very interesting</a>. Texan unemployment belies the strength of the state's economy because it has had considerable population growth during the past couple of years. Texas's strong employment growth has inspired people to flock to the state—so much so that the actual proportion out of work hasn't come down as fast as it might have done otherwise. </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Since the start of the recession in December 2007, Texas's labor force has grown by 6%, astonishingly quickly for such a large state—more than twice as fast as the next-fastest state. When people are hit by hard economic times in one part of the U.S., they pack their bags and move to where the jobs are. The same doesn't happen in Europe. </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">For instance, the economically active population in Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, has shrunk by about half a percentage point during the same time Texas has boomed. This is why Germany's unemployment rate has fallen much faster than that of Texas even as unemployment remains at stratospheric levels in countries like Spain. </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Even in the years before the financial crisis, immigration to Germany from other European Union countries was equivalent to only about 0.4% of Germany's population, and most of that in the form of cheap labor from neighboring Poland. </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Because it's harder for people from poorer euro-zone countries to move to the core, where there are jobs, fiscal transfers are crucial to address imbalances between the economies. But there's currently very little scope for these in Europe. EU spending as a percentage of GDP is less than a tenth of the U.S. federal government's.</span></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-12334103636543161972011-08-18T17:52:00.002-04:002011-08-18T17:57:38.887-04:00Consummate Citizens: Turks Defend Turf in London Riots<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thought I'd break the silence with my first post in way-too-long with this unusual piece on <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/08/201181042453833564.html?utm_source=Al+Jazeera+English+List&utm_campaign=808c2ef440-Newsletter&utm_medium=email">Turkish shopowners taking matters into their own hands</a> during the London riots. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Al-Jazeera reports a groundswell of local action against the looting and lawlessness currently plaguing London. With PM David Cameron pondering curfews and many in Europe wondering whether the unrest will spread to the Continent -- endemic of the same recession-related problems of unemployment and ever-tighter strains from austerity -- in the coming days. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Interviewees expressed a surprising common theme of pro-Turkish sentiment, specifically concerning the question of the integration of Turkish-descended European citizens and, by extension, Turkey's accession into the European Union. The best bits of the Al-Jazeera piece are below.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Our local shopkeeper refused to close. He said 'we are Turkish' as explanation," said one post. Another added: "Reports of heroic scenes on Dalston High Street. Turkish families lining the streets to oppose riots. What great Londoners." </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Another, along similar lines, read: "Upper Dalston looks busier than a Saturday night with all the Turks on patrol! Thanks for Keeping Dalston safe!" followed by: "Who needs riot police when you’ve got Turkish shop owners." </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">One posting characterised the showdown between the Turkish restaurateurs and their masked adversaries as "baklavas versus balaclavas," while another summed up prevailing sentiments with "Say what you will about letting Turkey getting in the EU, they’re there when we need them." </span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps extrapolating the policing skills of London's Turks somewhat implausibly to the level of international diplomacy, one post mused: "If only Turkey can bring to Syria in the next few days what they've brought to Dalston and London in the last few." </span></blockquote><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /></span>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-25633388652459233872011-07-10T16:37:00.005-04:002011-07-10T17:23:25.983-04:00German Mothers and Gendernomics<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The IHT journalist Katrin Bennhold provides her latest work on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/world/europe/29iht-FFgermany29.html?_r=1&ref=global-home">mothers in the German workforce</a> -- or rather, their absence. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Only 14 percent of one-child mothers return to full-time work once the baby is born, she notes, and a mere 6 percent of mothers stay full-time after two children. In a culture still defined (tragically, says Bennhold) by the old adage of “<i>kinder, küche, kirche</i>” -- or “children, kitchen, church” -- women too often stand at the losing end of professional prosperity and the leadership roles available to their male counterparts in what is, despite the ongoing eurozone crisis, one of the world's wealthiest nations. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The gender disparity is not for lack of effort by German women. Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is pointed to as a prominent counter-example when women push for greater equality in the work world. And one of Merkel's cabinet members, Ursula von der Layen, has advocated paternity leave and a quota system for female presence on corporate executive boards.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Laws help change mentalities," she has said. Adding heft to the German debate from outside, EU vice president Viviane Reding has written to all companies of Germany's DAX stock market, urging increased female visibility in their boards or else risking EU-wide quotas. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One angle Bennhold mentions -- then leaves disappointingly unexplored -- is the comparison to corporate gender profiles in the United States. Despite the stark contrast between state funding for daycare and other child-oriented services, U.S. boardrooms boast a much greater parity of skirts to suits than Germany can. Behind even such traditionally male-dominated countries as <a href="http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1102/land-of-the-rising-son/flat.html">China</a>, Germany scores a paltry two percent of females on executive committees. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcnqgwqsTXMHDkJaEVwlmigNhGMIIwgK4-P5S0EGWNwgQF2GdeVa32kSz_797A2HdeS2aahoWwUwcGlWhD10_toJVNPdAYptd1_76KHynDSy0lHPT3TW0NzPxrpeHmY3aCFwjNSayFrw/s1600/0629-iht-webFFGERMANY-popup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcnqgwqsTXMHDkJaEVwlmigNhGMIIwgK4-P5S0EGWNwgQF2GdeVa32kSz_797A2HdeS2aahoWwUwcGlWhD10_toJVNPdAYptd1_76KHynDSy0lHPT3TW0NzPxrpeHmY3aCFwjNSayFrw/s400/0629-iht-webFFGERMANY-popup.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Courtesy New York Times</span></span></td></tr>
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And Bennhold leaves another, more provocative question well wide of her report's scope: what are the social effects on German women who, seeing how steep the ramp is for career and family, forego child-rearing altogether? The author alludes to the consequences, perhaps unwittingly: </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"One of the countries in most need of female talent — at 1.39 the German birthrate is among the lowest in Europe and labor shortages in skilled technical professions are already 150,000..." </span></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The reader is left to wonder what may be revealed by deeper study on what economic, social and emotional effects are wrought on a society that statistically seems anti-family.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">EurAmerican has examined Bennhold's work previously, on <a href="http://euramerican.blogspot.com/2010/10/france-its-women-their-children-paean.html">French mothers</a> and the conditions particular to their role in a neighboring and similarly male-driven culture to that of her native Germany. In each, she interviews a broad sample of feminists and ordinary women.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">She would make her good reports better if she practiced her own lesson of gender equality -- by balancing her perspective with more male voices, and considered them in working toward the common goals of not only gender equality, but maximum opportunity, competitiveness and, I dare say, liberty for all.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">UPDATE: Progress on the gender front? French think-tanker Dominique Moisi argues that European women may be the continent's best bet for "<a href="http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2011/july/a-europe-of-women-/71531.aspx">agents of change</a>," while the EU Parliament <a href="http://euobserver.com/9/32598">backed a non-binding agreement</a> on July 7 to strengthen obligations for female representation on EU-area executive boards.</span><br />
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</span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-27484384844957134182011-07-04T14:23:00.006-04:002011-07-04T14:46:36.940-04:00Flags and the Fourth of July<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qgHzBes7Jm634kTTp5SaN46SO1r7VaC-hJeZpaZjqFDvyzV2yL9CFRVZ0ukDa-rH5uWAfRNEGv_g6a_3Plw4iYlPqWFE1-zXYGEFD4x1v_H4Bzr2-VjtAAGTNF_j29XgjRavY7HYKy0/s1600/1264.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qgHzBes7Jm634kTTp5SaN46SO1r7VaC-hJeZpaZjqFDvyzV2yL9CFRVZ0ukDa-rH5uWAfRNEGv_g6a_3Plw4iYlPqWFE1-zXYGEFD4x1v_H4Bzr2-VjtAAGTNF_j29XgjRavY7HYKy0/s400/1264.gif" width="271" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Happy Fourth, y'all!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Pew Research Center has found that fully <a href="http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=1264">three-quarters of Americans display the Unites States flag</a> in some form or another, be it in their home, at work, on their cars (ie, bumper stickers) or on their clothing. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The poll, measured along partisan lines, reveals a range between 67 percent of flag-showing among liberals and 87 percent among conservatives. In other words, the range runs between strong and really strong. One can hardly imagine the contrast were a similar poll to be conducted in Europe...</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a related video, <a href="http://www.good.is/">Good Magazine</a> explains its view on "What's Great About America" -- in just over a minute. </span><br />
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</span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-88606788912469393032011-06-08T22:55:00.004-04:002011-06-08T23:05:57.283-04:00Obama's Poland Jaunt: Low Marks Overall<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1YVNRwpOZFOEhUrL6yl3vfluWA6PWrhyphenhyphenA3cE15hqKtElP8FaqHc5lvS6xNYbSdXB73haE8qrhtCXnAme1jgK1JMKmjeXIcpeFWLWCv9SUMyzb1R2uNTNAcGkRd7GqLDQue91B86MFro/s1600/Obama_Poland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1YVNRwpOZFOEhUrL6yl3vfluWA6PWrhyphenhyphenA3cE15hqKtElP8FaqHc5lvS6xNYbSdXB73haE8qrhtCXnAme1jgK1JMKmjeXIcpeFWLWCv9SUMyzb1R2uNTNAcGkRd7GqLDQue91B86MFro/s1600/Obama_Poland.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">See <a href="http://www.atlantic-community.org/index/Open_Think_Tank_Article/Style_Trumps_Substance_on_Obama%27s_Poland_Visit">the latest op-ed published by yours truly</a> at <a href="http://atlantic-community.org/">atlantic-community.org</a> on US President Barack Obama's recent trip to Europe and specifically his jaunt in Poland. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Obama started strong just by virtue of being in Europe, and stopping in Poland helped provide a badly needed shot in the arm for US public diplomacy and strategic relations in the former Communist bloc. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But he flailed on Israel -- a poignant subject for Poland, the home of Auschwitz, in which masses of Jews perished at the hands of the Nazis -- offering a dubious "I will always be there for Israel" in response to a question from a concerned Polish Jew. Obama's statement would have been more convincing if he hadn't just been snubbed big-time during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, who called Obama's plan to return to Israel's 1967 borders "indefensible." </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nor did Obama do much better on the military dossier. He highlighted plans to house a squadron of US fighter jets in Poland in 2013, which did generate some positive echo in the national and regional press. Yet the US squadron's presence in the country would have been more significant had these same arrangements not been already scheduled, well in advance of the President's trip.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">For these reasons and more, Obama's European tour was more style than substance. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-66877741213597548892011-06-06T23:23:00.001-04:002011-06-06T23:28:33.403-04:00After Mladic, the Serbian March to EU Accession<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPv-ki3DYrGw-C8qwaGMERK1yw8SFvrujIBa4qY-ZEA4Tog__9BM3sDM1APLIkqGPN_63oDhsI9vt7l9nTFlrdaClJtmTG4RisfQWGFg6x_n6ZtsKOYnllfSEMVLmITg9oROFkZIbg0Gg/s1600/Ratko+Mladic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPv-ki3DYrGw-C8qwaGMERK1yw8SFvrujIBa4qY-ZEA4Tog__9BM3sDM1APLIkqGPN_63oDhsI9vt7l9nTFlrdaClJtmTG4RisfQWGFg6x_n6ZtsKOYnllfSEMVLmITg9oROFkZIbg0Gg/s1600/Ratko+Mladic.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a telling gesture following the recent arrest of Bosnian Serb and </span><span style="font-size: large;">former </span><span style="font-size: large;">general Ratko Mladic on allegations of war crimes, the EEAS' chief Lady Catherine Ashton <a href="http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/the-saviour-of-sarajevo-/71251.aspx">announced</a> June 1 that Danish diplomat Peter Sørensen will assume the long-empty post of EU ambassador to Bosnia. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The nomination came amid a flurry of EU musical chairs, and early indicators suggest the choice is largely disappointing to a broad range of European diplomats and dignitaries.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">European Voice reported that Ashton claimed, “I can think of no one better qualified to take over this enhanced role of head of delegation,” which was met with "the sound of spluttering in London and Berlin." </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In more positive news, EV echos the recent press rumoring that Mladic's arrest will now open -- some would say pry -- <a href="http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/tadic-revives-serbia-s-hopes-for-eu-entry/71234.aspx">the doors open toward EU accession</a>. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yet <a href="http://euobserver.com/9/32432">some insist</a> that Mladic's arrest and subsequent <a href="http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief-cover/688381-mladic-transferred-hague">extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague</a>, Netherlands is "is not enough to achieve reconciliation in the Western Balkans," according to EUobserver.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i></i>Ivan Vejvoda of the German Marshall Fund calls on the court to tend to "<a href="http://blog.gmfus.org/2011/06/finishing-unfinished-business-in-the-balkans/">unfinished business</a>" left from the Bosnian conflict, in which ethnic and religious conflict erupted into violent conflict in the middle and late 1990s.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3847746486124907169.post-7842093387907817622011-05-28T11:54:00.003-04:002011-05-28T12:00:20.761-04:00Language, Culture and Policy<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A pair of posts on language in Europe offer the latest on one of the less purely political (but nonetheless, structural) elements of EU integration. One <a href="http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/french-lessons-for-the-eu/71195.aspx">defends French language</a>, lamenting its diminution and the negative effect this has on francophone clout in EU affairs:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"The choice of language has wide repercussions... If a meeting is held solely in English, the follow-up report must be written in near-perfect English and so the responsibility will go, he says, to an English-speaking expert rather than a French-speaking one. Or had it been agreed that the European patent would only be in English (as opposed to English, French and German, as is currently proposed), the influence of a British approach and English jurisdiction would have been greater..."</span></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Also see a <a href="http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/blog/646041-culture-part-europeans-life">recent video interview</a> from Presseurop of Androulla Vassiliou, the EU Commissioner for Education, Culture and Multilingualism (how different these Europeans are -- the US government would never budget for a "language tsar" of any iteration.) In contrast with the first speaker above, Vassiliou seems to suggest that one should not take on a stiff resistance to learning other languages, because language learning constitutes "learning the culture of others" and serves as a "very good means of communication," as well as the considerable economic implications of language, and culture more broadly, within EU economic affairs. Vassiliou claims that the European cultural products sector (television, film, etc.) grosses more than the European auto industry... Can anyone verify this?</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/QoOYWuuuMFM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>EurAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260712902100509913noreply@blogger.com0