Europe
August 10, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Breitbart reviews polling on next year’s EU parliamentary elections, which suggests significant conservative gains across the continent: Polling has projected populist and conservative-leaning blocs to make significant gains in the next European Union parliamentary elections, as support for centrist parties wanes in the wake of growing discontent over failures on immigration and the green agenda. Those are the two issues that dominate European politics: both wide-open immigration and “green” energy
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August 8, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The following story was related to me by a former Governor of Minnesota, who was of Norwegian descent. A number of years ago, a Norwegian dignitary (the Prime Minister, I think) visited Minnesota. Talking to our governor, the Prime Minister tut-tutted about Minnesota’s crime rate, saying that there was much less crime in Norway. Minnesota’s governor replied, “We don’t have a crime problem with our Norwegians, either.” That anecdote came
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July 29, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Politics in the Netherlands have been increasingly contentious of late. The most recent coalition government fell earlier this month, and now Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag has not only resigned her post, but says she might be leaving the country. This article in the London Times illustrates how liberal elites see themselves and their opponents. But if you read between the lines, reality begins to glimmer through. Just two years ago,
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July 24, 2023 — Steven Hayward
The Spanish election ended in a stalemate, and not much may change. But the AP seems to be worried that Spain is very close to re-establishing Francoist fascism, at least going from this chart showing the breakdown of the parties. Notice an asymmetry? For the media, the right is always “right & far right.” The left is always “left & center-left.” No such thing as a far-left, or center-right, exists
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July 23, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Spain is holding a national election today, and polls indicate right of center parties are in the lead. We should start getting results fairly soon. We’ll update this post as we get some actual vote counts and exit polls. In the meantime, cosmopolitan election-watcher extraordinaire Henry Olsen has a handy guide on Twitter to Spain’s political landscape you may wish to take in: Happy Spanish Election Day! Yes, today Spain
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July 22, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I suppose America’s work ethic peaked in the late 19th century and has declined somewhat since then. Still, compared with Europeans, Americans are considered hard-working. Thus the Telegraph headlines: “How hard-working US is getting rich while the UK struggles on benefits.” The world’s biggest economy has pulled ahead of the UK and the rest of Europe on an array of economic measures since the financial crisis of 2008. What began
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July 15, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Telegraph reports on Spain, where a right-wing coalition is expected to take power in the upcoming election. Among the conservatives’ leaders is Isabel Díaz Ayuso, whom we wrote about here. But it isn’t just Spain: As Brexit Britain veers to the Left, weighing up voting for Sir Keir in the next election, the EU appears to be heading in the opposite direction. Italy, Finland and Greece have all recently
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June 28, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Let’s go with a couple of maps today instead of charts and graphs or tables. First up, while Britain’s Tory Party appears heading for an electoral wipeout at the next general election—the first since their historic sweep in 2019—chiefly because the Tories have governed as though their cabinet positions were inhabited by alien body snatchers from Planet Labour, over on the continent, right- or populist-leaning parties continue to gain ground
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May 15, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Thirty-two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Poland is fast becoming one of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in Europe. Daniel Johnson reports in the Telegraph: On a visit to Wrocław a fortnight ago, the zloty dropped: Poland is rapidly becoming the new central European superpower. *** [N]owhere else in the Soviet empire did people’s power prevail so triumphantly as in Poland. The land of lost causes
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April 10, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Following six hours of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to a Politico reporter and two French journalists aboard COTAM Unité, France’s Air Force One this weekend. He discussed his concept of “strategic autonomy for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a third superpower.” Specifically, Macron said Europe’s “greatest risk” is getting “caught up in crises that are not ours,” such as a potential conflict
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March 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I must lead a sheltered life not to have heard of Eva Vlaardingerbroek. I only learned of Ms. V. this morning from reading Taki Theodoracopulos’s enticingly headlined Spectator column “My lunch with a Dutch blonde bombshell.” It is published in the March 25 number of the Spectator’s UK magazine under the somewhat blander headline “The lost art of lunching.” Having met Ms. V. for lunch, Taki reports that he immediately
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March 17, 2023 — John Hinderaker
We have written (here and here) about the Dutch government’s war on its own people. In service to the mythical god of global warming, the Netherlands is driving its farmers out of business. Which is not only bad for the farmers, it is bad for the Dutch economy, since that country is the number two exporter of food products in the world. Not to mention that it is bad for
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February 27, 2023 — John Hinderaker
We are fans of Italy’s new, populist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Now it appears that a similar figure is rising in Spain: Madrid’s President, Isabel Díaz Ayuso: Fresh from freeing Madrid from lockdown, Isabel Díaz Ayuso is waging a war on woke and seeking to turn Madrid into the “Florida of Europe” in a campaign that could ultimately lead to her becoming Spain’s first female prime minister. The “Florida of
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December 26, 2022 — John Hinderaker
In general, political apologies are worse than useless. The Left can never be appeased, and an apology just leads to more demands, often of a financial nature. But the case of Belgium tests that principle: Why Belgium Won’t Apologize For Its Savagery In Congo: Belgium’s king has vetoed an apology for his country’s savage colonial past in central Africa, raising the ghost of his ancestor Leopold II whose reign of
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November 13, 2022 — John Hinderaker
The NATO alliance seems stronger in light of events in Ukraine and Russia. But economic competition and security may be something else. The Telegraph headlines: “Europe has picked a side in the new Cold War – China.” In the new Cold War economy, trade will be restricted, technology fenced off, and intellectual property fiercely protected. Manufacturing capabilities will be built up, and supply chains brought closer to home to ensure
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November 11, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Last week we noted that European inflation is running higher than U.S. inflation, and today news out of London that the British economy is officially in recession. It also appears that recession is already under way in continental Europe, at least in their all-important manufacturing sector, which is swooning toward 2009 and COVID shutdown levels. This may be more on account of the insane energy policies and incipient shortages, but
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November 6, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Yes indeed I am presently en route to Europe for a number of meetings in several different undisclosed locations to plot and scheme against the left, though my podcast co-conspirators John Yoo and Lucretia and I will surface briefly for a podcast recorded on location in Milan early next week. I do have one public event, however. I know Power Line has a handful of readers in Budapest, because one
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