Ian Bateson

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del autor incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de diciembre de 2006. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

A demonstrator in Berlin protests anti-coronavirus measures on March 28. (John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images)

EuropaUnión Europea, ,

In Germany, politics is supposed to be dull. Everything about the system — its carefully calibrated federalism, support for the European Union and emphasis on coalitions and consensus — is calculated to keep public life as stable as possible. Under normal conditions it works well enough — even if it often puts outsiders to sleep.

But then came the pandemic. Covid-19 has upended the country in ways that no pundit could have ever predicted. Infection rates are soaring. The government is sitting on an unused pile of millions of vaccines as Germans clamor for shots. Corruption scandals are popping up in the ruling party, the Christian Democrats, like holes spouting water in a sinking ship.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

In July 2014, I went to Donetsk, a separatist-controlled region in eastern Ukraine, to cover the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. It was a dangerous place at the time. The Ukrainian military and the rebels were shelling each other, and temperamental men with Kalashnikovs who had been known to kidnap journalists were everywhere.

Like many foreign reporters, I was there to relay what was happening to the remains of the downed flight’s 298 passengers and crew members. Before I went to the crash site, I obtained accreditation from the separatists. This did not guarantee that I would be safe, but it was the only way to get past the armed checkpoints.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

If Norbert Hofer wins the Austrian presidential election on Sunday, it will mark the end of Vienna’s strategy for containing the far right.

For years, Austria’s two major parties forged a coalition to keep the far right out of power. Across Western Europe, whenever a far-right party or candidate threatened to break the traditional political balance of power, more mainstream political parties joined together to keep them in check. This time, that may not be enough

Worse yet, all the years of keeping the far right on the margins of national politics may only have succeeded in helping it grow stronger.…  Seguir leyendo »