PATRICK LAWRENCE: Russia’s Red Line
It is absolutely necessary that Moscow holds the line for the sake of a new security order in Europe and a sustainably stable world order in our time. “They must understand,” Sergei Lavrov said in one of his many public…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Empire’s Last Stand
The origins of the first Cold War have been hopelessly blurred in the histories. We can watch this time. It is occurring before our eyes. In the early months of 1947, President Harry Truman and Dean Acheson, his secretary…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Failed American Experiment
Here comes the front edge of a new era, one in which America finally falls off its horse, its global standing properly diminished. “The American experiment” is a familiar phrase among us. When we reference it, we do so fully…
A Circle in the Darkness: Post-War Europe
Diana Johnstone’s newly-published memoir offers an incisive, gritty, politically alert, and expansive account of post-war Europe, reports Patrick Lawrence in this interview with the author. Diana Johnstone first sojourned in Paris during the early postwar years, as France and the…
Trump and allies approach World War III in Syria, on literally no evidence
How much do we really know about the alleged chemical attack in Syria? Almost nothing. Has anyone noticed? “… to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack…” Do we all understand what is gravely wrong with this phrase?…
If France Elects Le Pen, Another Country Will Have Been Scared Stupid
The French, along with the rest of Europe, were on the edges of their seats before the American elections last autumn: Who will it be—a right-wing populist disrupter or a centrist favoring liberal economics, open borders, global institutions, and a…
Europe’s Big Choice on How to Beat Militant Islam
We’re now “post-Paris” exactly as we were “post-9.11” 13 autumns ago. And Europeans face the same vital question Americans did then: Militant Islam manifests itself as a crisis in our societies. How will we weight civil liberties and security in…
After Charlie Hebdo, There’s One Good Way Forward
There is only one way to honor the victims of political or ideological violence properly. We give meaning to meaningless tragedy by turning it to positive purpose. This is the task in response to the horrors inflicted on Parisians last…
Post-Austerity Europe Gropes for a Game Plan
In Spain, King Juan Carlos proposes to give up his 136–foot yacht (although there is bickering over who should get it). In France, President Francois Hollande just raised $390,000 by selling 1,200 bottles of wine from the Élysée Palace cellars…
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The New Iron Curtain
The Ukraine crisis proves to be Europe’s crucible and Europe proves a profound disappointment. We have read a great deal about a new Cold War since the U.S. cultivated the coup of February 2014 in Ukraine and the nation was…