Robert D. Kaplan, Wall Street Journal
Europe thus now finds itself facing an unhappy historical irony: The decades in which it was able to develop its high ideals of universal human rights, including the right of the distressed to seek havens in Europe, was made possible, it is now clear, by the oppressive regimes that once held sway on its periphery. The Arab world was slammed shut for decades by prison states whose dictator-wardens kept their people in order. Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Assad family in Syria... Читать дальше...
Jan Techau, Carnegie Europe
The European Union of tomorrow will be defined by more integrated foreign policy, the end of the euro, a more complete single market, and more realpolitik.
J. Tobin, Commentary
While one should be careful not to exaggerate the danger, the frequency of attacks on Jews is discouraging and enough to impact the mentality of a community that understands that Europe is changing.
D'Ancona, Eve. Standard
Compare Tony Blair, the lanky, goofy new MP of 1983 to the trim, tanned war leader of the Nineties. George W Bush came from an East Coast family but reinvented himself as a cowboy Governor of Texas and two-term President.
Conrad Black, National Post
Ideological disputes were practically always just common or garden struggles for power and did not enjoy much public attention or concern until they became mass reigns of terror rooting out and brutalizing vast numbers of the unoffending, in the Stalinist tradition. President Xi Jinping is making a forceful attempt to silence dissent within the Communist Party with disciplinary rules that have led to the firings of a variety of ostensibly powerful and non-political... Читать дальше...
Uri Friedman, The Atlantic
What makes these statements notable is subtle, and in part a function of omission. First, notice the subdued yet serious way Jokowi describes the impact of the attacks: They disrupted public security. They disturbed the peace. The government’s response is characterized as a policing matter. He stresses that Indonesians shouldn’t be spooked and that the situation is under control. He focuses on counteracting the primary goal of terrorism—to terrorize the broader population, to mess with people’s heads. Читать дальше...
Gordon Chang, Daily Beast
Tsai’s DPP has won the presidency before, in 2000 and 2004. The victor then, Chen Shui-bian, disappointed supporters in large measure because the Kuomintang, also known as the KMT, retained control of the legislature and frustrated his initiatives. This time, it appears the KMT, which now holds 65 seats, will lose its commanding position in the Legislative Yuan.
Jochen Bittner, New York Times
If Willkommenskultur, the welcoming culture, was the word of the year for 2015, this year’s leading candidate should be Ehrlichkeitskultur, the honesty culture. Cologne has been the catalyst: It shows that we must talk more frankly, yet not less responsibly, about immigration.
F. Hakura, Chat. House
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tends to blame outsiders for Turkey’s growing litany of problems rather than government policy. He identifies Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Washington’s reticence to deepening involvement in Syria as the reason for the existence of ISIS. He has narrowed the Kurdish issue in Turkey to simply PKK militancy. He has even gone as far as to claim that the elusive 'interest rate lobby' and an ill-defined 'higher mind' are responsible for Turkey’s internal and external predicaments.
Vuving, Diplomat
But there are some very significant differences between the Vietnamese and American systems. In the United States, the president is elected by members of the Electoral College who are in turn elected by millions of voters. In Vietnam, it is the delegates of the National Congress who elect the Central Committee, which then elects the Party general secretary (the country’s supreme leader) and the Politburo members (the country’s collective leadership). But even the congress delegates will have very limited choices. Читать дальше...
Jonathan Katz, NYT Magazine
Deportations and violence have driven tens of thousands of people of Haitian descent from their homes in the Dominican Republic — while the world is silent.
J. Schuster, WC
For the first time, German politicians are talking straight. What we are now witnessing is nothing less than the beginning of a reversal in Germany's entire approach to refugee policy.
Josh Horwitz, Quartz
Tsai, 59, earned a law degree from Cornell and a PhD from the London School of Economics, and taught law in Taiwan before entering politics in the 1990s, and making a failed presidential run in 2008. She will become Taiwan’s first female president, and arguably the most powerful woman in the Chinese-speaking world.
Ivar Arpi, Spectator
Taharrush gamea is a modern evil, and it’s being imported into Europe.
Kevin Sullivan, RealClearWorld
The United States would no doubt prefer that Saudi Arabia remain a viable ally in the Mideast, and a partner in the long war against radicalism and terrorism, especially as the United States looks to reduce its footprint in the region following nearly a decade of war and military occupation in Iraq. The Obama administration's pursuit of rapprochement with Tehran has rattled Riyadh, however, pushing the Kingdom to engage in somewhat reckless behavior both at home and abroad.
