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The misunderstood Herr Selmayr
The demonization of Martin Selmayr has gone too far. He is barely a week into his new job as secretary-general of the European Commission and already he is the subject of a witch-hunt. As chief of...
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A tale of two Italies
MILAN — Italy has been split in half. In the north, the March 4 election painted the electoral map dark blue: the color of the right-wing coalition dominated by the far-right League. In the south,...
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There’s a new secretary of state. Who cares?
Rex Tillerson’s sudden departure as secretary of state — alongside that of Gary Cohn last week as head of the National Economic Council — removes from the White House two of the only remaining...
View ArticleWho do I call if I want to call the US?
ROME — Henry Kissinger, the quintessential realist, once provocatively asked “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” Last week, Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, reassured the world...
View ArticleThe value of French secularism
One of the problems of Anglophone attempts to read France’s sécularisme through its English false cognate is the conflation of two very different projects. Where American secularism has mainly been...
View ArticleWill Italian populism save Europe?
PARIS — Italy’s recent election campaign was a wasted opportunity to debate the country’s relationship with Europe. The result of the vote is likely to push the issue to the top of the agenda. For the...
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Why Robert Fico had to go
BRATISLAVA — The morning of February 26, Slovakians woke up to a harsh reality. We live in a country where a journalist can be murdered and our government fails to take responsibility. My first...
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May’s toothless tough talk on Russia
RIGA — Never mind the talk of a new Cold War between Moscow and the West. A year from now, when the poisoning on British soil of a former Russian spy is yesterday’s news, it’s likely to be business as...
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Slovakia, still the ‘black hole’ of Europe
BRATISLAVA — Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once described Slovakia as the “black hole of Europe.” It was 1997: The son of then president Michal Kováč had been abducted and a key...
View ArticleThis time Putin has gone too far
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to expel 40 percent of the diplomatic staff of the Russian embassy is not just different in scale to previous responses to the Kremlin’s behavior,...
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Tillerson was a disaster for the state department. Can Pompeo do better?
Rex Tillerson may be the most unpopular secretary of state in the history of the State Department. When President Donald Trump fired him on Tuesday, Tillerson was in the midst of implementing a massive...
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Sorry Britain, the EU won’t break ranks over post-Brexit trade
Theresa May has finally spelled out some of the “hard facts” of Brexit, but she’s still holding out hope for that seemingly impossible sweetheart deal: market access as close as possible to the U.K.’s...
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Europe, don’t let China divide and conquer
BERLIN — European leaders are toying with a risky idea: reducing the flow of structural funds to Hungary and other EU members who challenge key norms of liberal democracies. Not only would this...
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Are you ready for the World Cup of shame?
NEW YORK — There is a reason why autocrats aggressively seek to host mega sporting events. They offer publicity and a veneer of respectability — two things Russia is desperately in the market for. In...
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Theresa May could be the Churchill of our time
LONDON — Theresa May’s role is a lonely one. Embattled at home, having lost her parliamentary majority, the British Prime Minster has few people she can trust and consult. As she leads her country...
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Molenbeek was Loubna Lafquiri’s home, too
Mohamed El Bachiri, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, grew up in Molenbeek, the majority Muslim Brussels neighborhood that became notorious as the home base of a deadly terror cell after attacks in 2015...
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It’s time for the EU to get real
BERLIN — Europe doesn’t need any more lofty speeches. What it needs is a stiff dose of pragmatism. It’s important to remember that in a time of growing mistrust toward the European Union and its...
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Brexit: A managed surrender
Forget red lines, bellicose declarations and rhetoric about the United Kingdom taking back control — Brexit so far has been a process of managed surrender. British officials acknowledge that Prime...
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Tending Mussolini’s forest
ANTRODOCO, Italy — When Vincenzo Castrucci leaves his house every morning, the first thing he sees is the snow-capped tip of Mount Giano, dominated by one of Italy’s most spectacular fascist monuments....
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The latest in Big Tech: Censorship
When I worked at Google, I was proud to promote one of the company’s innovative products. It wasn’t the tech giant’s magical search engine. Nor was it its efficient Android mobile phone operating...
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