European Union
Brexit: British people vote with their feet
With Prime Minister Teresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal rejected this week by the House of Commons, the future of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union remains as…
Brexit deal debate reveals dark side to EU diplomacy
The saving grace of a nasty divorce is durable insight into the true values of the parties involved. And so, with Brexit.
The Withdrawal Agreement – which has triggered rancorous…
Brexit: the Northern Ireland conundrum
Seamus Heaney, the late Irish poet and playwright, once (half-) joked that “anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can’t be too optimistic”.
Optimism in Northern Ireland is…
Directions to the Brexit? “I wouldn’t start from here.”
It’s an old joke: a couple from the city get lost in the countryside and ask a farmer for directions back to town. “Oh, I wouldn’t start from here,” the farmer replies with a grin…
Europe: Merkel, May, and Moscovici
Underlining the continuing chaos in Europe, it has not been a good week for Germany, the UK, or Italy. The end of the tunnel looks far away, and unrelentingly dark.
In…
European companies driven out of Iran
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is considering a review of Australia’s support for the Iran nuclear deal. The news comes after US President Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal…
Not (yet?) a European Army
The headline “Armed force of 10,000 to patrol borders” recently featured from the European Union about Frontex is not quite what it appears to be. It does not herald the…
French choreography in the Pacific
French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Australia was a frank success, although some observers were puzzled after he raised the idea of a “Paris–New Delhi–Canberra”…
Sea cables in a thawing Arctic
China has made a significant foray into the Arctic with the creation of a data “silk road”. Strongly supported by a newfound closeness with Russia, preliminary planning of a…
The unending nightmare for Germany’s Social Democrats
Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) is having a political nightmare from which it is unable to awake.
Wounded by the experience of four years as junior governing…