Foreign Policy Blogs

Europe

Georgia's other IDPs

Not even 30 km outside of Tbilisi and the first road sign to Sukhumi, Abkhazia’s de-facto capital, is a reminder of a legacy and war that continues to haunt the imaginations of IDPs who wish to return home and Georgians who wish to reintegrate the break away region. It is a sign of a conflict […]

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The future of the EU: one conclusion leads to another

The future of the EU: one conclusion leads to another

I was really glad to read this Opinion piece by Andrew Moravcsik,  Director of the European Union Program at Princeton in this week’s Newsweek, as it draws a neat conclusion on some of the stories I’ve brought up in this Blog over the last number of months. My very first blog for the FPA was […]

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Online shopping – the EU enters the market.

Online shopping – the EU enters the market.

The EU has started to take the issue of online shopping seriously recently given that a 2006 study estimated 56% of Europeans shopped online. It’s a multi-million (or maybe billion?) Euro market so it’s not surprising that the EU’s actions have attracted the attention of interested parties. As I noted in February Karl Lagerfeld came […]

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Is China trying to screw the EU?

Is this WTO complaint taken by China against the EU regarding the importation of screws the first sign of an increasingly aggrssive Chinese attitude towards the EU regarding trade? With China being the only major economy with postive economic growth, it is less likely to kowtow to the rules of its trading partners.

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How hope and fear define Americans & Europeans

How hope and fear define Americans & Europeans

Is Europe suffering from a hope-defict? Dominique Moisi a visiting professor at Harvard thinks so and he outlines (in the Brussels beltway premier Newspaper the European Voice) that this may delay Europe’s revovery from economic crisis. Citizens of the US, on the other hand, he believes suffer from an excess of individual fear of how […]

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A FRENCH politician says the EU & US need to work together!

A FRENCH politician says the EU & US need to work together!

When the French Finance Minister says that the EU needs to cooperate with the US,  that’s when you know the economic crisis is really devestating! Perhaps that’s a bit unfair to the French, as Ms. Christine Lagarde in part of the most pro-US Government  in French history, under Americophile President Sarkozy. But it would also be unfair to […]

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Does Europe

As Jon Stewart of the Daily Show said, the unwritten understanding between the US  & Europe during the US elections was: We elect Obama, you love us again. A survey today in the Wall Street Journal shows that though this has generally true, the view of Europeans regarding the dominance of US culture is somewhat more nuanced. For example almost […]

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EU creates "enabling environment" for accepting Guantanamo detainees

The secretariat of the European Council (the meeting of all the EU Heads of Government) on Monday released this  factsheet on how it is creating an “enabling environment” for EU Memebr-States if they accept former Guantanamo detainees. In it’s own words it is for detainees that are “cleared for release” and “expressed their will to be resettled within the EU” […]

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Ten Months On

The BBC reports today from South Ossetia that not much has been done for the South Ossetians whose homes were destroyed or damaged in last August’s war.  The Georgian minority long ago fled or were forced out.  The South Ossetians are left totally dependent on their protectors in Moscow — who were quick ten months  […]

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Guantanamo argument moves to Europe

AFP is reporting that Europe & the US will shortly issue a joint declaration on the closure of Guantanamo which will stress the fundamental values of both in order to encourage the Europeans to help out in closing Guantanamo.  As I blogged before, EU governments are currently considering whether to accept inmates and get President Obama out […]

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18 days to go to biggest ever transnational election

18 days to go to biggest ever transnational election

On 5th June, voters from 27 EU countries will begin voting on who they wish to represent them in the European Parliament, it is the largest number of countries ever to vote for the only democratically elected transnational Institution in the world . Global Post have a very interesting Article on why the elections matter. The EU […]

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The EU's spectrum of opportunites

The EU's spectrum of opportunites

The EU is currently deciding how to advise EU governments on how to divide a very nice and potentially valuable present. It is the airwaves that are currently used to broadcast analogue television, but which will be free when digital television becomes the norm in the next years. The “digital dividend”, as it is called, is the […]

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EU may fine Intel €1 billion+

On Wednesday, The European Commission will unveil the amount it will fine the computer chip maker Intel, for what the Commission believes, are serious breaches of antitrust law. It paid computer-manufacturers not to install it the chips of its rival, AMD. There is speculation that an eye-watering sum will be levied on Intel, according to Bloomberg, […]

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EU proposes global Internet governance.

Yesterday, in a video podcast, the European Commissioner for Information Society, Commissioner Reding called for ICANN to be restructured. ICANN is the entity that basically governs the internet, it decides the endings of web-addresses (eg. .com, .be) and it under the notional auspices of the US governmnet. European anxiety about this arose when teh proposed .xxx […]

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European Elections show complexity of the EU.

European Elections show complexity of the EU.

An excellent, view here of the European Parlaiment Elections and voter’s unenthusiatic reaction towards them. The skilled author, Timothy Garton Ash suffers, however, from having only a national view of the  importance of the elections. At European level, the elections are vital and, given the current state of economic collapse, could influence many global policies, potentially for centuries. The nation-centric view […]

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