Montenegro has not followed the line of most EU countries and recognised its neighbour Kosovo as an independent state. Why not? Because doing so is "not high on its list of priorities": Everyone understands our positive distanced and considered views on Kosovo independence. Odd, that. Positive? Hard to say – […]
This is a sharp account of one serious Russian view on Russian energy issues: Mr Chubais has spent the past 10 years masterminding the break-up of UES, the Russian electricity monopoly, which will cease to exist next week after selling off its generators in the biggest liberalisation of Vladimir Putin’s presidency. His […]
Back from Brussels, hearing lots of theories about whether the Lisbon Treaty is dead, alive or in some sort of suspended animation. The core options appear to be these: brutalise/bribe the Irish into submitting mainly via various ‘Declarations’ aimed at meeting most of their identifiable concerns, allowing a further and […]
The problem with making speeches is that quite a lot of things have been said before. So do you strive to say something new? Or do you ‘borrow’ ideas from others..?
If you have been beaten up by someone for nearly fifty years, does that ‘cloud your judgment’ about the beater? But however clear-eyed Lithuania’s decison-makers claim to be about today’s Russia, many seem myopic about their own country’s past. Anger over 48 years of Soviet occupation clouds their judgment about […]
France’s President Sarkozy warns that without the Lisbon Treaty there can be no more EU enlargement. A magnificent example of the mysterious mirror-world of EU negotiating. France of course does not want any more EU enlargement, especially if it includes Turkey. See eg lots of Parliamentary haggling in France over […]
Should the EU’s atom-sized sanctions on Cuba be lifted? Why not? They do not matter, as they are a Silly Noise unattached to a policy. The debate of course is not about whether these sanctions make a difference, symbolic or otherwise. It rather is about whether the EU should have […]
As the UN warns of mass starvation in Zimbabwe the time has come to stop talking about the ‘Zimbabwe elections’ as if they were/are elections. What we are seeing are the deranged throes of a violent gang around and including Mugabe aimed at staying in power at any cost to […]
Battle is being joined on what happens next with the Lisbon Treaty following the irish No. The Irish are saying that there can be no quick solutions. The French and Germans are calling for everyone other than the Irish to ratify. The Czechs are saying that the Treaty is dead. […]
Let’s look a bit more closely at Will Hutton’s arguments on the EU Treaty as published yesterday in the Observer. He denounces ‘Eurosceptic’ celebrations at the Irish vote as a farrago of lies and disinformation. OK. Let’s proceed. WH v CC. WH: The reality is that Ireland’s ‘no’ voters have […]
