BRUSSELS: The Arab Spring entered a new phase with the collapse of the Qaddafi regime, but it is still far too soon to pronounce North Africa stabilized. International peacekeeping arrangements may yet be needed in a Libya riven by ethnic and (...)
BRUSSELS: It took eight years of ill-tempered political wrangling to create the European Union's new diplomatic service, but its fate — and that of its chief, Catherine Ashton — may well be decided over the next few weeks. The Union's failure so far (...)
BRUSSELS: The only clear thing to come out of the recent European Union-China summit was the scale of the EU's fallen reputation. From being the world's most widely admired political experiment and enjoying widespread respect and a degree of (...)
BRUSSELS: The Haitian earthquake has made two things horrifically clear: security challenges are not only man-made, and military forces are often a vital part of humanitarian aid. This is a timely reminder, because security and defense are now the (...)
Whoever steps into Europe's new top job as President of the European Council will set the mold. If it is someone of worldwide renown, the presidency will immediately be established as a post of global importance. But if its first occupant is not a (...)
BRUSSELS: It is time for José Manuel Barroso to start selling himself. His chances of being re-appointed as President of the European Commission depend on the case he makes.
Until the global financial crisis broke, Barroso looked fairly certain (...)
The EU has no coherent strategy on many issues. It has only sketchy economic policies toward Russia; ambitions, but no game plan, to become a player in the Middle East; and, despite its original leadership on the Kyoto Protocol, no successor program (...)
BRUSSELS - What will it mean to be European 25 years from now? Unlike the United States, whose history as a "melting pot has given Americans a truly multi-ethnic character, native Europeans are becoming an endangered species. Europe badly needs (...)
America's riveting presidential election campaign may be garnering all the headlines, but a leadership struggle is also underway in Europe. Right now, all eyes are on the undeclared frontrunners to become the first appointed president of the (...)
China's "face may be its Achilles' Heel. As it basks in its new status as an economic superpower - the dragon that is outpacing Asia's tigers as well as the donkeys of the West - China is mistakenly downplaying its own serious structural (...)
As the European Union prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome later this month, the EU is widely perceived to be on its knees. European integration is felt to have somehow met its Waterloo in 2005, when referendums in France (...)