This story shows what is wrong with ‘EU Foreign Policy’. As previously posted, in dealing with difficult problems a thematic, sustained and firm approach can bring positive results. Especially if it is thematic, sustained and firm. In this case the EU responds reasonably firmly to terrible killings by the Uzbekistan […]
Iain Dale urges his vast army of fans to read Total Politics Issue 2 – and one article in particular. Indeed.
Anglican Bishops have been marching against world poverty – then tucking in to a worthy feast. Hypocrites! When Pope Benedict XVI visited Krakow in 2006 the Polish authorities were determined to prevent any unseemly scenes of drunkenness among the vast crowds thronging to see him. So alcohol sales were banned in […]
Responding to my earlier posting about Craig Murray flying the flag on his car before presenting his credentials, a reader helpfully points us to some detailed guidance on the issue: https://flagspot.net/flags/xf-dipl.html. Thus: The only still-relevant mention of flag usage by diplomats is Article 20 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on […]
I suspect that few readers of this Blog have ever heard of Jovan Divjak. Here he is. The point being that while we think about Karadzic and Mladic and all the horrors they helped create, let’s remember one true Bosnian, born as a Serb in Belgrade, who fought against them […]
EU Referendum do a number on a judgement by the European Court of Justice which sets a precedent for thousands of other couples residing in Ireland and, more widely [and] better defines the rights of EU states to manage their own immigration policies. Under the EU directive on free movement of […]
Are international tribunals for war crimes suspects a Good Idea? And if so, are they being Done Well? If not, does that mean that the Idea is in fact not so Good? Two excellent pieces on these themes: one by John Lloyd, the other by Bill Montgomery. It goes without […]
One version is here. Some speeches are good for what they say. Others for how they make people feel. This speech said more or less nothing, but reads nicely now and no doubt sounded good on the day. Or maybe not? This paragraph caught my eye: This is the moment […]
Back to Craig Murray’s Murder in Samarkand – off with his family to Tashkent (Chapter 3). Uzbekistan was one of the fifteen Soviet republics to become independent in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Craig offers a few paragraphs on the history of ‘Uzbek independence’, without saying anything about what […]
One of the things we all need to do is spend our inherited capital wisely, not blow it on trivial consumption. Alas we humans have been squandering like billy-oh the inherited richness of global oil and gas reserves created millions of years ago by decaying forests. It turns out that […]
