Archive for Europe / International
The Arab Spring, social media and lessons for future revolutionaries
“The longer you can look back, the further you can look forward”. So said Winston Churchill, explaining the practical application of history to forecasting. That is why those seeking to understand the causes as well as possible implications of the Arab Spring and Egyptian revolution of 2011 can learn much from the previous Egyptian revolution [...]
Call on Russia to support a strong UN resolution on Syria
Good to see Amnesty International putting pressure on the Russian government over its threats to block a meaningful UN Security Council resolution on Syria. Amnesty is calling on Russian to support a resolution that at the very least would: impose an arms embargo on Syria freeze the assets of President al-Assad and other individuals suspected [...]
Diana Wallis’s resignation statement (UPDATED)
Earlier today, Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis announced her resignation from the European Parliament, effective 31 January. Her statement is in full below, but reading between the lines and adding in what I’ve heard from party sources it looks like the BBC story over disagreements related to the elections for European Parliament posts are right. [...]
It’s like tying up a dog with a string of sausages
This lovely parallel was used earlier in the week to illustrate a tremendous story of courage – the multilateral intervention force sent into Guatemala. A force of lawyers and law enforcers rather than the military, for a change. Read about it here.
Twist in Presidential race as leading candidate accused of authorising arms deal kickbacks
Much as I love the details of the Iowa caucuses, they aren’t really the Presidential race political news which should be catching the British news headlines at the moment. Yes, they’re fun and engrossing but they’re also mostly irrelevant – the winner of the Iowa caucus frequently does not get their own party’s nomination (and [...]
Good news from the International Criminal Court
A good justice system both dispenses justice and is seen to do so. That makes the appointment of Gambian Fatou Bensouda as the International Criminal Court’s new Chief Prosecutor particularly welcome. Bensouda is the first African to hold the post of Chief Prosecutor, an important step in helping the ICC maintain the confidence of African [...]
For once, some good news about the European economies
Good news about the economic situation across Europe has been in short supply recently, but there has been one piece of good news this week. One which, moreover, shows politicians learning the lessons from the 1930s (although quite what some of the right lessons are is a somewhat controversial topic). In the 1930s, depression caused [...]
Nick Clegg: good news, bad news
First, the good news for Nick Clegg, courtesy of page 17 of today’s The Times. Clegg’s line on last week’s summit failure is that he agreed the initial negotiating position with David Cameron, but Cameron then messed up in the the talks themselves (abetted by some of the Treasury’s civil servants also messing up, if [...]
Europe: good news, but not big news
Into my inbox yesterday came an email from London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford, welcoming a sensible new decision which the European Parliament has made that will give the public better information and – thanks to that better flow of information – make the relevant market work more efficiently. Just the sort of good news that [...]
Nick Clegg on why he was absent from the Euro statement
In case you missed it on last night’s news here is Nick Clegg explaining his view on the Euro summit and why he wasn’t in the Commons for David Cameron’s statement: And from the weekend, here are the highlights of Nick Clegg’s interview with Andrew Marr, followed by my own views. BONUS FEATURE: A huge [...]
