In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
Given the seemingly relentless flow of news over the last several months, a perception no doubt augmented by the whiplash nature of today’s 280-character policy making process, the recent events in Spain have generally been relegated to the sidelines of political and foreign affairs discussions. Impending trade wars, immigration crises on multiple continents, and a […]
Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious plans to reform eurozone institutions received a further setback when German chancellor Angela Merkel toed her party’s line and rejected some of his bolder proposals when the two met in Berlin last week. Merkel’s stance makes it unlikely that any meaningful structural reform of eurozone institutions will be agreed upon at the […]
The transition agreement between the UK and EU means that although the UK will officially leave the EU in March 2019, it will still remain in the customs union and single market for another 21 months. The deal was struck after several concessions by the UK, indicating the government’s willingness to sacrifice regaining full sovereignty […]
The outcome of the Brexit vote is a harbinger of a pivoting away from the globalization process and the strengthening of supranational institutions.
While the UK is prepared to experiment with its political and economic system, sudden, drastic changes are not welcomed: a gradualist approach is preferred.
The Causeway Bay Bookstore incident and Beijing’s response has posed a serious challenge to Sweden’s “human rights diplomacy.”
The best argument against Brexit is that one cannot fully tell what the effects of the UK leaving the EU would be as no member state has ever left the union before. However, there is certainly the feeling that the EU and UK would go through a messy divorce.
By choosing the European route instead of the bilateral one to negotiate its trading relationship with Beijing the UK maximizes its leverage with both its European partners and China, which is useful for a medium-sized ex-colonial power.
Marine Le Pen is a savvier speaker than her firebrand father, but the National Front still embodies a xenophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic movement that seeks to lead France out of Europe and back down the road of narrow-minded populism.
China’s economy is slowing down. What does that mean for Germany?
Slender forms in decadently jeweled red and gold glide across the stage. Delicate white flower petals cling to dark hair and long limbs grab the air in soft waves. This traditional dance marked a stunning welcome to the mid-November commencement of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOG) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The ceremony provided a much needed moment of glitz and […]
The snowball effect of the Snowden revelations is finally picking up. Between the revelations of the National Security Agency eavesdropping on Merkel’s cellphone and massive collection of European citizens’ emails and phone calls (as demonstrated by the illustration below), Europeans are furious and have been asking questions to a reluctant Obama administration. US Secretary of […]
Metal surrenders to the heat, slinking away to dust. The remnants, lumped on the floor, are loomed over by an audience of intelligence agents — dispatched to watch the burn and all too pleased with the task – and journalists confounded by the absurdity of the scene. As if ripped from the old celluloid of […]
Traveling across France earlier this summer, I went back to one of my favorite childhood locations, le Chambon-sur-Lignon, in the middle of France, Haute-Loire. In between catching up with relatives and grand-parents, I had the time to go visit a new museum, lieu de mémoire, that received national attention at its grand opening earlier on in June […]