European Decline

The Power Line Show, Ep. 126: Henry Olson on the EU and Australian Elections

Featured image Just in time for the start of your Memorial Day weekend, an early edition of our podcast. I’ve decided that “populism” is when the wrong person or party wins a democratic election. Certainly the way the media and liberal elites have reacted to the Liberal Party’s upset win in Australia bears this out (keep in mind that the Liberal Party in Australia is the conservative party, but what do you »

With Howie Carr on Elizabeth Warren and the State of the Union

Featured image A number of people commented that they enjoyed my appearance on Howie Carr’s radio show yesterday. Howie is one of America’s great radio hosts, and it is always a fun conversation. With yesterday’s news featuring Elizabeth Warren’s latest pratfall and the State of the Union, there was plenty of material. So I thought some of our readers might enjoy it. The audio below is of the whole hour; my appearance »

Well Houellebecq That!

Featured image You may have to go all the way back to the late 20th century to recall an article in Harper’s magazine that was worth reading, but the current issue features an article from the controversial French novelist Michel Houellebecq that defends Donald Trump (“Donald Trump Is a Good President“) in ways that will drive just about everybody out of their minds. Houellebecq is the author of, among other works, a »

Europe on a Knife Edge

Featured image A few hours from now British Prime Minister Theresa May will face a no confidence vote from her own party, and as of this moment I’d bet she will lose the vote and be ousted. Whether this will lead to a general No Confidence vote of the entire House of Commons, which would result in an immediate general election, is harder to forecast. Much will depend on whether the Tory »

Europe: Things Fall Apart

Featured image German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hanging on by her fingernails in Germany right now, as the backlash against migrants reached a critical mass in recent weeks. The cabinet minister who confronted Merkel and forced immigration concessions, Horst Seehofer of the “conservative” CSU party based chiefly in Bavaria, has seen his own poll ratings collapse in the aftermath of the political crisis. But this is just as likely to be the »

Getting Italy wrong

Featured image “The real challenge that the populist coalition in Italy poses to the EU is one of policy, not of democracy.” So writes Angelos Chryssogelos of Chatham House. I think the same can be said of populism in most Western democracies, but let’s keep the focus on Italy. What are the policy challenges that the populist coalition there poses to the EU? There are two: the economy and migration. Chryssogelos explains: »

The German Question, Again

Featured image As noted here a few days ago, Chancellor Angela Merkel is having trouble putting together a coalition government in Germany following a terrible showing in the last election. The German result was similar to the recent French election in one respect: it represents a repudiation of the main ruling parties. There is one big difference: while the French economy continues to stagnate, the German economy is arguably the best in »

The German Question, Again

Featured image It is a truism of economics and political science that “institutions matter.” Just ask Hillary Clinton about the electoral college, for example. Right now we are seeing an object lesson in the hazards of institutional design of parliamentary government playing out in Germany. Angela Merkel is the Theresa May of the continent, a person who ought to be fatally weakened by the election result. Check out this chart of the »

The Outlook from “New Europe”

Featured image SOFIA, Bulgaria, June 30—What the heck, I may as well get my Rebecca West on and file an old-fashioned “foreign correspondent” story from the the Balkans, where I’m visiting for several days that have included a seminar for graduate students and young professionals at New Bulgarian University, and yesterday a “strategic briefing” for business and political leaders, about which more in a moment. One of my favorite ledes from Whittaker »

Strange death of Europe

Featured image Douglas Murray (@DouglasKMurray on Twitter) is associate editor of Britain’s Spectator and a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute. He is a prolific columnist. Gatestone has compiled his columns for the institute here. Murray’s new book is The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. It is a book full of portents and warnings for us. Murray launched his book with a lecture at the Heritage Foundation last week posted »

If You Brexit, You Own It

Featured image Forget all the attention on Trump and trade and China and Trump smashing china and China dealing a trump and all that. It is possible that the most salient event of the next few years will be the breakup, or least dramatic restructuring, of the European Union. Now that British PM Theresa May has pronounced that Britain proceed to a “clean break” or “hard Brexit,” attention will begin to shift »

Trumpism in International Context

Featured image Back at the end of June, I shared the insights of French political philosopher Pierre Manent about the significance of Brexit (which he was for). Yesterday, the good folks at First Things posted a translation of a recent interview Manent gave to the Italian newspaper Il Foglio about the lessons of the recent Islamist attack on the French church. There’s one especially arresting question and answer that sounds like it »

The European Union: What Went Wrong

Featured image The migrant crisis is thought to be the chief precipitating event behind the shocking UK Brexit vote outcome, along with the general sense that the European Union and its ever expanding bureaucracy and high-handed intrusiveness is becoming intolerable. But remember that the decision to hold a referendum in Britain was made three years ago, after several years of agitation by EU critics, who are not limited to just the UK. »

Brexit: The Gift That Will Keep on Giving

Featured image We’ve already had plenty of coverage here about the elite left’s unhinged whingeing about the Brexit vote, and I predict the Brexit vote will become for Europolitans what the sainted Citizens United decision is for lefties here in the U.S—a source of perpetual rage and blame for everything that bothers them about human existence in the 21st century. I had thought that the scare campaign would succeed, and indeed between »

The Runup to Brexit

Featured image I’m on the road the last half of this week, though I shall be checking in later on likely with some Power Line “minicasts” with notable thinkers attending the same conference where I’m turning up. Suffice it to say in one sentence that tomorrow’s Brexit vote in Britain is one of the most important political events of the last generation, as this is no ordinary referendum election. Late polls show »

Brexit: What Would Thatcher Do?

Featured image The Brexit vote in the UK next week is one of the most important political events of this era, and I’ll be watching it closely. Here we like to say, “What would Reagan do?” I’m not sure whether the parallel question is asked in Britain: “What would Thatcher do?” She was a Euroskeptic, and likely would be in favor of voting “Yes” on the Brexit referendum. Here’s her famous short »

Brexit, The Movie

Featured image I’ve been meaning to spend some time here talking about the “Brexit” vote coming up in the U.K. next month. It is the single most important political event in postwar Europe. Lots to say about this, but for anyone who doesn’t grasp that the Trump phenomenon is not limited to our shores, note that in Austria today, the election for the mostly ceremonial post of president is in a virtual »