The often repeated refrain “we don’t want to be in another cold war” is nonsense - we are in one. And Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is a much more dangerous opponent than dozy old former head of state Leonid Brezhnev. However, the latest demonstration of this truth in Georgia is only a week old, [...]

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The old continent could once offer itself as the model for a new world. No longer: the EU’s universalism is crashing against rising global states (China, India) and forces (religion, nationalism). The response to Ireland’s referendum is a foretaste of serious political crisis to come, says Ivan Krastev.
There is something unreal and profoundly disturbing about [...]

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A mere two years ago, the British author and thinker Mark Leonard published a book titled “Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century.” Today, one wonders to what degree Europe will even participate in the 21st century. It’s not just the deadly blow struck by Ireland’s rejection Thursday of the Lisbon Treaty reorganizing the European [...]

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Delegates from 111 nations agreed Wednesday a landmark treaty to ban cluster bombs, Ireland’s foreign ministry said, in a deal that lacks the backing of major producers and stockpilers of the lethal weapons. After 10 days of painstaking negotiations at Croke Park stadium in Dublin, diplomats agreed the wording of a wide-ranging pact to outlaw [...]

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