NATO Toothless in Georgia Situation?
Charles Krauthammer has a scathing column this morning excoriating NATO for its weak response to the Georgia crisis. He observes that NATO's recent statement on the matter is "almost comically evenhanded." It's not until paragraph six that NATO, a 26-nation alliance with 900 million people and nearly half of world GDP, unsheathes its mighty sword, boldly declaring "Russian military action" -- ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 22, 2008 07:06
Russia Orders Georgia ‘Cease-Fire’
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has ordered what the press is describing as a "cease-fire" in Georgia. Given that he is not withdrawing Russian forces and is going to keep killing Georgian troops in South Ossetia in violation of international law, however, that term doesn't quite seem to fit. NYT: The president said Russia had achieved its military goals during five days ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 12, 2008 08:14
Obama Running Away with European Vote
Barack Obama would easily win the presidency if the citizens of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom were doing the voting rather than Americans, Gallup reports. Unless I've missed something, Europeans aren't eligible to vote in our elections. These surveys nonetheless provide interesting insights into how different cultures view things. Gallup's Zsolt Nyiri, Frank Newport, and Jeffrey Jones provide ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 23, 2008 12:07
G8 and EU Growing Pains
Two articles cited in today's Small Wars Journal roundup have almost nothing to do with wars, small or otherwise, but are nonetheless interesting in showing the state of flux of some key international institutions. Steven Erlanger reports on a bold attempt to forge a "Union of the Mediterranean" which would be something of a minor league for the European Union. Perhaps the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 7, 2008 08:49
Iranian Nukes Breakthrough? (Updated)
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his gang of mullahs are said to be "seriously considering" the latest EU 5+1 proposals on resolving the international standoff on the Iranian nuclear program and are telling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to pipe down. Warren Strobel: Iran's senior diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran was seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 2, 2008 07:12
Freedom to Offend an American Exceptionalism
Adam Liptak reminds us that free speech rights are much more extensive in the United States than in most of the developed world. He cites the ongoing suit against Canada's MacLean's magazine and the numerous judgments against Brigitte Bardot in France, both for speech that offended Muslims. “In much of the developed world, one uses racial epithets at one’s ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 12, 2008 11:45
Barack Obama: Unilateralist?
Oliver Kamm makes a rather surprising criticism of Barack Obama: The problem with Obama is that he evinces little interest in the role of America's European allies. There is a paradox here. Obama makes much (as he did in a long essay in Foreign Affairs last year) of the need to "rebuild our ties to our allies in Europe and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 6, 2008 07:57
Europe’s Middle Class Stagnant
The Middle Class is disappearing, the NYT reports. In Europe. The European dream is under assault, as the wave of inflation sweeping the globe mixes with this continent’s long-stagnant wages. Families that once enjoyed Europe’s vaunted quality of life are pinching pennies to buy necessities, and cutting back on extras like movies and vacations abroad. Potentially more disturbing — especially to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 2, 2008 06:12
France Outlaws Inciting Extreme Thinness
French lawmakers have passed a bill that would outlaw inciting thin behavior, thus obviating the old rule that one can't be too rich or too thin. The French parliament's lower house adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone — including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites — to publicly incite extreme thinness. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 15, 2008 10:26
Hillary’s Healthcare Fairy Tale
Senator Clinton has been telling a nice story during her campaign about a woman who was pregnant, who didn't have health care, was denied service at a hospital, her fetus was still born and the woman ultimately died of complications. Only one little problem, it is not true. Yes the woman was pregnant. Yes, her fetus was ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 14, 2008 08:19
