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 . '/' . substr('9780679763871',-6,3) . '/' . '9780679763871' . '.jpg'; ?>)
By Orville Schell and David Shambaugh
By Mark Pagel
$14.78
$40
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“Unfortunately, today we are looking evil directly in the eye,” an emotional Mikheil Saakashvili said Friday after he signed a cease-fire agreement to end his country’s eight-day showdown with Russia. The Georgian president declared that other European nations ignored clear signs of impending conflict last spring and he hinted that trouble could also be in store for other countries.
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With the worst timing imaginable, the U.S. and Poland announced a missile shield deal on Thursday, which prompted a Russian general to strut like a peacock and threaten to punish the land of pirogi. The proposed missile shield has been a go-to irritant for President Bush to use on old friend Vladimir Putin, and for an obvious reason: It works.
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By Joe Conason — The discovery that John McCain’s remarks on Georgia were derived from Wikipedia is, to put it politely, disturbing and even depressing—but not surprising.
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AP photo / Georgy Abdaladze
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Early Wednesday morning, Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili agreed to a plan to stop the fighting that flared up Friday. However, the crisis isn’t over and the terms of the agreement aren’t all clear.
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AP photo / Alex Brandon
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By Bill Boyarsky — After enduring the silly debate over who injected race into the presidential campaign, let’s look at some recent numbers that indicate how Barack Obama could win this close election.
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It’s not clear whether those were Germans or backpackers chanting “yes we can” in Berlin, but Barack Obama’s speech was a big hit with the crowd, which responded warmly to his call for global unity. The candidate himself cracked up after a line about his father herding goats got a huge cheer.
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By William Pfaff — France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy is often dismissed for his flamboyance, but he has quite remarkable accomplishments, including some reforms long sought by the left.
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AP photo / Jae C. Hong
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By Bill Boyarsky — The adoring media coverage of Barack Obama’s international tour is masking the reality that, whether he wins or loses, we’re almost certain to be stuck in Iraq for a long time, thanks to the legacy of George Bush.
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By William Pfaff — The relationship among the three principal centers of world power of the past half-century is now at the edge of fundamental change.
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Flickr / Sami Keinanen
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As a symbolic gesture, the European Union has lifted sanctions against Cuba. The United States was irked by the decision, which had no practical effect since the sanctions have been suspended for years.
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By Ellen Goodman — It all began with a case in France, but the uproar has resonance in the United States too.
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany —
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Was World War II necessary? In an exercise in literary hygiene, a distinguished historian casts a skeptical eye at an acclaimed novelist’s revisionist take on the “Good War.”
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White House / Sheahlah Craighead
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With the concession of his main rival, conservative media mogul Silvio Berlusconi is set to take up a third term as Italy’s prime minister. Although a divisive and controversial figure, Berlusconi offered “An affectionate kiss to all Italians” over the news.
Posted on Apr 14, 2008
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany —
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to speak before the Israeli Knesset to underscore her country’s strong ties with Israel, but at least one aspect of her visit is already causing controversy. Merkel will address the Israeli parliament in German.
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Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, a 23-year-old Afghan student, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy because of an article he downloaded from the Internet. The verdict has aroused outrage around the world, and top U.S. and European officials have spoken with the Afghan government. However, some worry that international pressure could back Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the nation’s religious fundamentalists into a corner and therefore ensure that the execution is carried out.
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Petar Pismestrovic, Kleine Zeitung, Austria
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Kosovo’s declaration of independence has prompted both condemnation and cheers from world leaders. Whether in the U.N. Security Council or the European Union, global opinion is divided. In particular, the declaration has served as a flashpoint for tension between the United States and Russia, an ugly reenactment of the kind of jockeying for influence that was supposed to have been buried with the Cold War.
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By Timothy Snyder — One of the great crimes of the 20th century—the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi-occupied Soviet territories—is all but forgotten. “The Unknown Black Book” helps us remember.
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bfs-zh.ch
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Vladimir Putin isn’t taking the expansion of NATO and a planned missile shield lightly. The Russian president told his people: “It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world. ... It is not our fault, because we did not start it.” Flush with oil money, Russia is planning to beef up and flaunt its military capabilities in response.
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Societe Generale
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How did a 31-year-old low-level bank trader with limited access lose five times as much money as the worst rogue trader ever? That’s the question European authorities and Societe Generale, France’s second-largest bank, are trying to answer.
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Four far-right European political parties have allied with each other, hoping to form a European Union umbrella party opposed to “Islamization” and immigration. Europeans, you see, will never give up their welfare states, so conservatives there spend much of their time bashing immigrants. Unlike America, where xenophobia is, though popular, something of a passing fancy.
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany —
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report investigates who is benefiting from record oil prices and whether there’s more to the Saudi king’s European tour than meets the eye.
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Aside from fatty foods that are somehow good for you, a laissez-faire attitude toward religion and a decidedly more relaxed approach to reproduction, the biggest cultural difference between Europe and the United States could be Europeans’ general disdain for the death penalty. Lest we forget that all 27 European Union states have abolished the practice, the entire continent has taken a day to reflect upon the barbarity of execution.
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sciam.com
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Portugal is the latest European country to pick up on a growing trend of favoring therapy over jail for possession and use of small amounts of illegal drugs. Critics of the new law worry that Portugal will become a hot spot for foreign drug users, but supporters believe the law will shift the focus of the government’s anti-drug efforts from users to traffickers and will give addicts a better chance to get clean.
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By Robert Fisk — The conflict in Lebanon ended a year ago last week. The Independent’s Robert Fisk reflects on the human misery and destruction inflicted on the country—and on how lucky he is to be alive after more than 30 years of reporting from some of the most dangerous places in the world.
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Extreme weather is rolling across Europe, bringing suffering and death. While the north has had to cope with heavy rainfall and flooding, an estimated 500 people were killed in Hungary alone last week by a heat wave that has spread across the southeast.
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By Zuade Kaufman The French didn’t invent the wheel, but with their latest urban project they’re reinventing how it’ll be used in their beloved capital. On July 15, Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and other green-minded Parisians were on hand at the launching of the “Velib’ ” program, which makes some 10,600 public-use bicycles available at 750 stations throughout the world’s most visited city.
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nytimes.com
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At a rock concert in Zagreb, Croatia, this weekend, a young generation of concert-goers displayed a disturbing nostalgia for fascism. Thousands of fans responded to rock star Marko Perkovic by giving the Nazi salute and shouting slogans from WWII.
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OK, so perhaps we were a bit slow on the uptake here, but it appears that ostensibly clean-and-sober President Bush enjoyed a beer with a few colleagues whilst in Europe for the G-8 summit last week, as this BBC clip shows. Whatever it is, it’s a heady brew—watch as Bush pours a bit too quickly and it froths onto the table.
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By Eugene Robinson — George W. Bush, Hero of Albania! At least there’s one place in the world where they show the Decider some love.
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A new report from the Council of Europe accuses Poland and Romania of housing secret CIA prisons, and also blames Germany and Italy for blocking investigation into the matter. The report’s author says his sources are limited, but “well placed” and even “implicated” in abuses. The CIA said the document was “distorted” but did not categorically deny its accusations.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reached a compromise with George W. Bush over climate change. The G-8 nations will work toward a replacement for the Kyoto treaty and a 50 percent cut in emissions by the year 2050. But in a concession to Bush, the goals will be nonbinding.
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More than 300 of Italy’s life-sentence prisoners have signed a letter asking the Italian president to reinstate the death penalty and change their sentences. Italy is one of the world’s leading opponents of execution and even allows prisoners serving life sentences conditional release after years of good behavior. But the inmates who signed the letter seem to feel that life behind bars is not worth living.
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Newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made something of a splash with his new cabinet. Seven of the government’s 15 ministers will be women. Bernard Kouchner, the socialist founder of Doctors Without Borders, will serve as the conservative government’s foreign minister. Justice Minister Rachida Dati is France’s first senior cabinet official with an ethnic minority background.
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The heads of Northern Ireland’s main Protestant and Catholic political parties have joined together in an historic power-sharing government. Ian Paisley, leader of an anti-Catholic church, and Martin McGuinness, formerly of the IRA, will lead the new government. Both men have spent time in prison for their extremist roles in the conflict.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Is Europe moving right? Is the democratic left in trouble? The decisive victory of Nicolas Sarkozy over Socialist Segolene Royal in France’s presidential elections on Sunday was the most recent example of the battering that moderate-left parties are taking from the forces of globalization and discontent over immigration.
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AP Photo/Pewee Flomuku
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World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz’s job may hang in the balance after a panel made up of almost a third of the bank’s board members found him guilty of inappropriately pulling professional strings and lining up a hefty pay raise for his girlfriend, Shaha Ali Riza, two years ago.
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interet-general.info
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Socialist candidate Segolene Royal has conceded to conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, the next president of France. In his acceptance speech, Sarkozy promised to unite a divided nation and urged Washington to address climate change more aggressively.
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Turkey’s leading presidential candidate has Islamist roots, a cause for concern among the country’s many secularists. The Turkish military has even weighed in on the issue, saying the armed forces were troubled by the election and would display their “positions and attitudes” as “a staunch defender of secularism” at the appropriate time.
Posted on Apr 27, 2007
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates was dispatched to Russia on Monday to smooth over relations with Vladimir Putin, who is upset over U.S. plans to locate missile defense sites in Europe. Russia has repeatedly voiced its opposition to such plans, and Monday’s meeting between Gates and his counterpart was no exception.
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wikipedia.org
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France has experienced its highest voter turnout in nearly 50 years, with right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist Segolene Royal, pictured, headed for a runoff. If she wins, Royal will be France’s first woman president, but she took in fewer votes than Sarkozy.
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The news that the Treasury will once again sheepishly release a small batch of dollar coins raises the question: Why are Americans so hung up on paper money when countries like Britain and Canada have enjoyed the benefits of coinage for years? Don’t scoff—the Government Accountability Office estimates potential savings at $500 to $747.5 million annually.
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A State Department official said the U.S. will not extradite 26 suspected CIA agents to Italy, where they are accused of carrying out “extraordinary rendition.” Legal adviser John Bellinger added a veiled threat, saying further legal action in Europe would hamper “intelligence cooperation.”
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An Italian judge has decided to go forward with the first criminal trial of extraordinary rendition. Twenty-six Americans and five Italians—including the former head of military intelligence—have been indicted and ordered to stand trial for the abduction of an Egyptian cleric who was detained and allegedly tortured in Cairo.
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wikipedia.org
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Newly released documents show that Anne Frank’s father attempted to move the family to the United States, but he was not granted a visa. Otto Frank was granted a Cuban visa, but the order was canceled after Germany declared war on the U.S.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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The European Union is about to unveil plans to further criminalize anti-environmental behavior, allowing the courts to imprison violators responsible for negligent pollution, among other crimes. The policy change demonstrates the growing power of the European Commission over member states.
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Truthdigger of the Week: Sen. Angus King
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