Eline Schaart, Politico EU
Move over, Geert Wilders. Thierry Baudet is the fresh face of Dutch populism.
Robert Peston, Spectator
Here are the reasons why there must be and cannot be a general election. First, the drivers of a general election: 1) Tomorrow, MPs will start the process of identifying, via so-called indicative
Balzs Jarbik et al, Carnegie Europe
Ukraine votes for a president on March 31. Will the pro-Western incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, win? Or will he lose to his old foe, Yulia Tymoshenko, or wild card Volodymyr Zelenskiy?
B. de Graaf, UU
"Motives don't come in pre-fab packages. Perpetrators are complex, the context is heated", says Beatrice De Graaf terrorism expert in newspaper NRC.
Ross Clark, Spectator
Without the issue of the Irish backstop, it is reasonably safe to assume the UK would be leaving the EU on Friday with a withdrawal agreement. The government would not be falling apart and businesses
Sarah Hoyt, PJ Media
The coastal elites risk being stung by the Yellow Jackets in this country.
Nargis Kassenova, Project Syndicate
The resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only president that independent Kazakhstan has ever had, marks a critical juncture for the country. Nazarbayev came to power at a time of profound and unexpected change, and his semi-departure could have equally unpredictable consequences.
David Miliband, NS
Britain's political trauma is acute but its symptoms are not unique. Around the world the foundations of liberal societies are being shaken. Economic inequalities have become unsustainable. There is a backlash against social reform and representative democracy is under assault. Authoritarian regimes are on the march and liberal capitalism is in retreat. Britain's tragedy is that Brexit reflects these trends and then supercharges them. Famed for pragmatic reform, creative solutions and global engagement... Читать дальше...
Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
And while the issues are distinctive in each country, events in one country often spill across borders by changing the political mood elsewhere. Britain's vote to leave the EU in 2016 was influenced by the German refugee crisis of 2015. The most radical wing of the Leave campaign in Britain has taken to wearing the yellow vests of the anti-Macron protesters in France. The move to stage an independence referendum in Catalonia took inspiration from the referendum staged in Scotland in 2014.
Ted Galen Carpenter, Nat'l Int.
Hajnalka Vincze, FPRI
France and Germany recently decided to share the presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and jointly do the agenda-setting and public communication tasks it involves, over the next two months. What could be an important symbol appears, however, more like a smokescreen to conceal the two partners' skirmishes
Michael Hart, Geo. Mon.
Just days after dialogue faltered in Hanoi, a huge 350kg US-made war-era bomb was unearthed 400km further south in the central province of Quang Binh, as a family dug foundations for their new house. The live air-dropped bomb, discovered close to the busy national highway 1A, was one of the largest found in recent years. The area was evacuated and the bomb later safely defused by demining experts. While deaths or injuries were avoided, the find is a stark reminder of the lingering risk from US bombs.
Kristi Raik, European Council on Foreign Relations
As the political climate in Estonia grows increasingly polarised, the radical right-wing EKRE party may enter a governing coalition for the first time.
Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg View
Looking for external enemies is counterproductive for both Russia and the U.S.
Mark Galeotti, Moscow Times
Opinion The Mueller report is unlikely to make any real impact on U.S.-Russian relations.
Stratfor Worldview
Rym Momtaz, Politico EU
France lands 30B aviation deal with Beijing.
Dennis Blair & Christopher Rodeman, Proceedings
Japan's new National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG) calls for more attention to areas such as space, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum. Critical reaction to the NDPG in Japan, however, has centered around the decision to convert two Izumo-class helicopter destroyers into multirole aircraft carriers from which short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft can be operated. To that end, the NDPG also lays out a plan to purchase 42... Читать дальше...
Lara Seligman, Foreign Policy
American military officials in the Pacific worry that U.S. and Chinese interests could collide in the island democracy.
