There have been some welcomed comparisons published over the last few weeks focusing on elections and the possible political future of countries and regions as a whole. While some regions can be considered too diverse to compare properly to each other, Europe and Latin America share some political, cultural and structural similarities, albeit applied in very […]
Foreign policy education has been said to be lacking in the modern curriculum. While not as fascinating as it was during the Cold War era, and perhaps dragged out to the point of frustration during regional wars since 1991, error is policy approaches have created serious consequences. Recently the United States was able to have […]
The United States and France have always had a symbiotic relationship, as much as people today would not acknowledge it or recognise it. The French Navy supported the Americans in their revolution against the British in the founding of the United States, and continued to be a model of progressive government in the formation of […]
On June 10, 2021, the president of France Emmanuel Macron announced the end of operation Barkhane in the Sahel region. It will be finished by the first quarter of 2022 in order to reconfigure French military engagement in Africa. More details appeared after a virtual video summit with the leaders of the G5 Sahel (Mali, […]
Brazil is unique in Latin America as much as it is unique in the world. When working in Washington DC many years ago, the largest events were always the ones where the voice of Brazil was present via their Ambassador to the US. While Latin American allies of the US were often seen as almost […]
In my city, we had one of the first internationally known populist leaders in our city government. He won because his main challenger was seen as a part of a corrupt regional government that were far from allergic to scandals. His personal life was complicated and tragic, with the man himself succumbing to cancer after […]
It is an anachronism in today’s society that anyone in a developed country would rightly claim that there is no path to warm shelter, food and employment for most in a community. But the effect of added taxes in a policy to reduce carbon emissions is exactly what lead a father in Ontario, Canada to […]
With the arrival of operational F-35s to some of the nations that had bought into the program over a decade ago comes a persistent movement against the Joint Strike Fighter program. Some countries have taken a political position on the F-35, and with their future NATO commitments being examined and redesigned based on how they […]
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 […]
Regional power struggles and maritime security are at the heart of new security agreements between France and India. India is especially worried about being geopolitically isolated by China, and is seeking to expand its presence in the Indian Ocean. Between 10 and 14 March, India and France signed a series of agreements to strengthen their […]
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 […]
Thousands demonstrated against President Emmanuel Macron’s labour law reforms in September. With the President’s popularity in decline, the French government will face a new set of challenges in the first months of 2018. In late September, the freshly elected government led by Emmanuel Macron faced its first street protests when thousands demonstrated against controversial reforms to France’s […]
A man paints over the logo of the Cambodia National Rescue Party at its headquarters in Phnom Penh. Photo: Getty Images. In the days following the dissolution of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), I headed to Phnom Penh to witness the changes on the ground since my last visit over two years ago. On […]
Since 2006 and peaking after 2008, several employee suicides took place after the privatization of France Telecom. Now part of international telecommunications giant Orange, sixty France Telecom employees committed suicide over a three year period as cut backs destabilized that company and developed into what could be described as a toxic work environment. In 2016 […]
