Trump’s Blunders on NATO and Russia Make Our European Allies Cringe
If you thought Donald Trump’s foreign policy positions were politically calculated toss-offs, think again. The interview he gave The Times of London last week put the world on notice: The views Trump expressed as he campaigned last year—notably on NATO,…
Europe’s Deal with Greece Nearly Splits the Eurozone
Leaders of the eurozone nations put Greeks and other Europeans on urgent notice at a hastily called summit in Brussels late Sunday evening: The group worked through the night and agreed to a new $100 billion bailout with serious reforms…
Germany’s New Policy Plan Puts the US on Catch Up
It takes a strong nation, as opposed to one that’s merely powerful to rethink the way it conducts its foreign relations. Germany now proves the point, and Americans should sit up straight and take a long look. This is nothing…
Saving Ukraine: Why the IMF’s Bailout May not Work
Could last week’s ceasefire in Ukraine, announced in Minsk Thursday after 17 hours of negotiation, have been any more dramatic? The German and French leaders, who presided in the Belarus capital, leapt into 11th hour action when Washington disclosed it…
Europe Faces Anti-Austerity Mutiny as Crisis Looms
The running theme at the meeting of European Union leaders in Milan last week was, “The toolbox is empty. Nobody knows what to do next to get Europe’s economies out of the ditch.” News reports from Milan correspondents told a…
How Obama Lost Friends in Europe and Influence Globally
Bad comes to worse in the Obama administration’s ties with Europe. Obama’s trans-Atlantic crisis is less dramatic than his other foreign policy failures: Syria, Egypt, the Mideast, China. But the implications of this debacle could prove profoundly significant—politically and diplomatically,…
The Dark Cloud over Europe’s Nascent Recovery
Europe seems to be right on time—for once. The comforting consensus a year ago was that the crisis gripping the European Union since 2009 would begin to fade in the third quarter of this year. And here we are: •…
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…
Europe’s New Path: Austerity with a Human Face
It did not take long for those flying the flag of fiscal austerity in Europe to turn tail. A week ago in this space I asserted that it was the beginning of the end for the “austerians.” I was too…
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…