Europe
October 21, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The Czech Republic’s parliamentary election represented yet another rebellion against Europe’s political elites. The winning party, ANO, is considered centrist and won nearly 30% of the vote. Its leader, Andrej Babis, is a billionaire and has been described as a Czech Donald Trump. The Associated Press reports: The centrist ANO movement led by populist Andrej Babis decisively won the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election Saturday in a vote that shifted the
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August 19, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Once again, Europe has been struck by Islamic terrorism. In Barcelona, a van plowed into a crowd on one of the city’s most popular streets, Las Ramblas, killing 13 people and wounding more than 100. The driver of the van escaped. Shortly thereafter in Cambrils, a short distance south of Barcelona, five terrorists went on a second spree, killing one person and wounding dozens more in a vehicle attack before
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July 31, 2017 — John Hinderaker
During the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron didn’t impress me. He seemed like the mother country’s version of Justin Trudeau. But earlier this month, he scandalized proper opinion in the EU with some straight talk about Africa: At a G20 summit press conference in Hamburg on July 8, French President Emmanuel Macron answered a call for an African “Marshall Plan” from a Cote d’Ivoire journalist. Macron’s stern, clear-eyed rebuff to
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July 29, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump has decided not to veto the Russia sanctions legislation passed by Congress. The decision was probably an easy one inasmuch as (1) a veto would easily have been overridden, resulting in embarrassment for the president and (2) it would have added fuel to Trump-Russia connection stories. Naturally, Russia is angry about the sanctions. Europe is also unhappy, which is ironic because some European leaders have criticized Trump for
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July 26, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
How long ago was it that President Trump gave his speech in Poland? To me, it seems like months, so much having happened since. Actually it was less than three weeks. The speech was excellent, a high point of the Trump presidency in my view. Our friend Grant Starrett wrote about it in this op-ed for the Tennessean. Grant pointed out that Trump’s speech, which identified the “fundamental question of
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July 16, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
What should we make of last week’s love fest in Paris between President Trump and French President Macron? On the surface, it was improbable. In the French election just a few months ago, Trump seemed more favorably disposed towards Marine Le Pen than towards Macron. And Trump did the unthinkable, from the French perspective, when he withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. Macron responded by attempting to ridicule
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July 9, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
James McPherson, writing in the Washington Examiner, makes a remarkable observation: the leaders of Europe have no children. France’s Emmanuel Macron has none. Same with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British prime minister Theresa May, Italian prime minister Paolo Gentilon, Holland’s Mark Rutte, Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon, and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission. Sweden’s prime minister Stefan Lofven has no biological children. The prime minister of Luxembourg is also childless.
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July 9, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The Independent reports that France will ban gasoline-powered vehicles by 2040. The Independent is foolish enough to think that this is good news: France plans to ban all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, the country’s new environment minister has announced. Nicolas Hulot made the announcement as he unveiled a series of measures as part of newly elected President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to make the country carbon neutral by 2050.
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July 9, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Emmanuel Macron, the 39 year old president of France who has been in office for a few months, declared yesterday that “our world has never been so divided.” At the end of the G-20 summit, Macron intoned: “Centrifugal forces have never been so powerful; our common goods have never been so threatened.” I don’t know what Macron’s 64 year-old wife taught him when she was his high school teacher, but
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July 6, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump’s visit to Poland — a great U.S. ally and a nation with strong personal links to ours — has become the latest pretext for Trump bashing by the U.S. media. The Washington Post (paper edition) tells us, darkly, that Trump “shares ideological affinities” with Poland’s right-wing ruling party. In particular, he shares its aversion to immigration by Muslims and its combative relationship with the press. The Post also
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June 30, 2017 — Steven Hayward
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
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June 25, 2017 — Scott Johnson
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
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June 5, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Some say the Europeans have been slow to make changes to combat the rise of Islamist terrorism. But it’s not true that the EU has been unresponsive. According to the Washington Post, after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, France pushed the European Union to enact even tougher anti-gun policies than the stringent ones already in place. The European Commission initially proposed a complete ban on the sale of weapons
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June 3, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Here is another contender for most over-the-top reaction to President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord. Francois Hoisbourg, described as a French defense expert who advised President Macron during his campaign, said: We have just witnessed President Trump putting an end to European-American relations. Something must have been lost in translation — sanity. Insane though it may be, the Washington Post, in a story by Michael
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April 12, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Paul wrote last night about an apparent terrorist attack on a bus that was driving the Borussia Dortmund soccer team to a quarterfinal European Champions League soccer match against Monaco. Three pipe bombs were placed along the bus’s route, loaded with projectiles to kill and maim as many people as possible. The bombs went off, but miraculously no one was killed, and only one Dortmund player was injured. German authorities
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April 8, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Great Britain has controlled Gibraltar since 1713, but Spain wants it back. Seizing on Brexit as an excuse, the Spanish government has started exerting pressure on the Rock. For example, it is imposing Schwengen controls at the border, where 10,000 Spaniards commute every day: But Gibraltar has no intention of giving in. Gibraltar has a new mayor; the Gibraltar Chronicle reports: New mayor Kaiane Lopez broke records yesterday as both
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February 20, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
European leaders (at least those from “old Europe”) have declined to take the Trump administration’s anti-Russia, pro-NATO statements seriously, but this is not the case in Russia. The Washington Post reports that “in Moscow, euphoria over Trump evaporates” as “Russian politicians, journalists and others express dismay” that “the White House puts daylight between itself and the Kremlin.” (These are the headlines of the Post’s story in the print edition) The
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