John Kampfner

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Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, left, with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, following a meeting in Budapest, Hungary, 16 January 2024. Photograph: Szilárd Koszticsák/EPA

EuropaUnión Europea,

A few years after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, known as the “velvet divorce”, the newly independent Slovakian state to the south was already a cause of concern. The US secretary of state at the time, Madeleine Albright, called it “the black hole” of Europe.

Eventually, in 2004 Slovakia joined the EU and Nato. The assumption then in the west was that the country, finally, had a settled identity and a settled set of alliances.

Then came Robert Fico, a prototype populist. He was an early embracer of identity politics: the good men and women of toil in the small towns and villages versus the metropolitan elite in Bratislava, the capital, with their imported ideas.…  Seguir leyendo »

An employee of the public health care makes noise with a cooking pot as she takes part in a protest rally during a warning strike in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 13, 2023. THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images

EuropaUnión Europea

The German word mitmachen has no exact English translation because the concept sits uncomfortably in the Anglo-Saxon mindset. It’s a verb that means “to get involved” or “do your bit”, and it depends on a sense of communitarianism, something deemed to be lacking in more individualistic societies.

The so-called economic miracle that defined postwar Germany was based in the concept of mutual responsibility. The army of family-run small- and medium-sized businesses, the fabled Mittelstand, was usually based in small- and medium-sized towns. The chief executive would sponsor the local soccer club or youth orchestra, helping out with community events on a Saturday morning.…  Seguir leyendo »

Posters showing candidates in the presidential election in Helsinki, Finland, 17 January 2024. Photograph: Mauri Ratilainen/EPA

EuropaUnión Europea

In 1905, in the Finnish city of Tampere, Vladimir Lenin met Joseph Stalin for the first time. They and two dozen or so revolutionaries began to map out plans to overthrow the tsar and bring down the Russian empire. The story is vividly chronicled in Tampere’s Lenin Museum, a venue that thousands of Soviet citizens used to descend on each year, in official groups; in these different times, it is seen as something of an embarrassment by the city authorities.

Since the collapse of Soviet communism in 1991, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Finland’s accession to Nato in 2023, the museum has successively changed its exhibits.…  Seguir leyendo »

A float featuring U.S. President Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen of Front National, Geert Wilders of Partij voor de Vrijheid and Adolf Hitler drives in the annual Rose Monday parade on February 27, 2017 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

Internacional

From Taiwan and Finland in January to Croatia and Ghana in December, one of the largest combined electorates in history will vote for new governments in 2024. This should be a cause of celebration and a vindication of the power of the ballot box. Yet this coming year is likely to see one of the starkest erosions of liberal democracy since the end of the Cold War. At their worst, the overall results could end up as a bloodbath or, marginally less bleakly, as a series of setbacks.

At first glance, the stats are impressive. Forty national elections will take place, representing 41 percent of the world’s population and 42 percent of its gross domestic product.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Left party’s Sahra Wagenknecht. Photograph: Clemens Bilan/EPA

EuropaUnión Europea,

The Germans have a term for what holds them together: Wehrhafte Demokratie. It roughly translates as fortified democracy, but that does not fully render its meaning. In essence, it refers to the idea that the state has the right to act against those who threaten the liberal democratic order.

Another guarantor of German stability was the postwar constitutional settlement that founded three Volksparteien, big-tent “citizens’ parties” operating along carefully regulated parameters, encompassing centre-left, centre and centre-right. None would enjoy absolute power, which required coalitions, compromise and consensus at national and regional levels. As a further safety net, parties with less than 5% of the vote couldn’t join parliament, excluding fringe groups.…  Seguir leyendo »

Olaf Scholz waits for the start of a TV interview ahead of the upcoming 2021 federal elections in Berlin on August 15, 2021.

EuropaUnión Europea

It might be a slight exaggeration to say that the future of progressive politics in Europe rests on the shoulders of one man. It would be no exaggeration to say that this man bears few characteristics of a potential savior.

Olaf Scholz took office as postwar Germany’s ninth chancellor in December 2021 by saying as little of note as possible. During the election campaign of that year, he stood and watched as his two rivals from the conservative Christian Democratic Union and the Greens repeatedly ran into trouble.

The man who rose without trace then faced the task of cobbling together a coalition, a regular ritual of German politics, except this time he was required to forge an alliance of not two but three parties—his own Social Democrats; the Greens; and the liberal party, the Free Democrats (FDP).…  Seguir leyendo »

Rishi Sunak leaving Conservative party headquarters in London after being announced as the winner of the party leadership contest on October 24, 2022. Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images.

Europa

After all the theatricality and derision over the UK’s political process in the last few months, Rishi Sunak may well be eventually judged on terms set by one of his predecessors. The new prime minister will, declared Theresa May, provide the ‘calm, competent, pragmatic leadership our country needs at this deeply challenging time’.

In his first statement on winning the Conservative MPs ballot following the withdrawal of first Boris Johnson and then Penny Mordaunt, Sunak set out his priorities – to ‘fix’ the economy, unite his party, and ‘deliver’ for the country.

The first two are to a large degree measurable, the latter is a matter of opinion.…  Seguir leyendo »

10 Downing Street in London, United Kingdom as seen on 05 September 2022 as Liz Truss was announced as the UK's next prime minister. Photo: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

Europa

It says something of the UK that the incoming prime minister has ordered a rewrite of British foreign policy barely 18 months after the last one was published.

Liz Truss, who has become the fourth prime minister in Downing Street in six turbulent years, is not prone to risk aversion or offering bland reassurances. She made clear during the campaign for the Conservative leadership that she wants the 2021 Integrated Review redrawn with a far greater focus on combating the ‘growing malign influence’ of Russia and China. She has also pledged to increase defence spending from its current 2.1 per cent of GDP, to 2.7 per cent, and then to 3 per cent by 2030, which will include more support for the intelligence services and cyber security, a further £10 billion overall at a time when public finances are in dire straits.…  Seguir leyendo »

UK prime minister Boris Johnson returns inside 10 Downing Street after announcing his resignation on July 7, 2022 in London, England. Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images.

Europa

The UK prime minister’s detractors – old and new, sincere and opportunist – have been comparing his refusal to go with that of former US president Donald Trump. Far-fetched as that might be, one clear similarity is that even his closest allies were raising the alarm by the end.

What changed in Boris Johnson’s case was not his behaviour, but a belated view that it was more a liability than a virtue as Conservative MPs began to see the damage he was wreaking on Britain’s politics, stability – and their own prospects of re-election.

Crucially, with the world facing a series of crises of ever-increasing intensity and frequency, what difference will the departure of this most bombastic of leaders make?…  Seguir leyendo »

UK prime minister Boris Johnson speaks in front of a live video feed with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Tate Modern in London, England during the Ukrainian embassy's 'Brave' event. Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images.

Europa, , , ,

‘The UK stands with Ukraine’ blares the message on the home page. ‘Find out how you can help,’ it adds. This is not a charity appeal but the UK government’s microsite proclaiming its assistance in repelling the Russian invasion.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson positioned himself as ‘leading the way’ in helping Ukraine, and was the first world leader to state Vladimir Putin ‘must fail’. In her recent Mansion House speech, UK foreign secretary Liz Truss raised the bar further by saying the UK will ‘keep going further and faster to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine’.

Context is the key to understanding why the UK’s approach has been so bullish, namely that Johnson and his ministers seek every opportunity to demonstrate how Brexit enables the UK to act more nimbly.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalOrden Mundial

El cambio climático es la prueba definitiva de si es posible que los países puedan hacer dos cosas contrarias al mismo tiempo, es decir, competir por el dominio a nivel mundial y colaborase entre ellos para salvar el mundo. Si Estados Unidos y China no pueden trabajar juntos en este tema, no podrán trabajar juntos en ningún otro tema. Juntas estas dos potencias son responsables de más del 40% de las emisiones de dióxido de carbono.

Por lo tanto, a muchos les preocupa que no se logre ningún avance significativo en la reducción de emisiones si no se cuenta con la cooperación sino-estadounidense.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial,

To the left of the altar of St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street is a tableau, a commemoration of journalists who have suffered in the exercise of their duty. That might sound a somewhat portentous way of describing the trade but it has never been more vital or more dangerous. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 34 have been killed so far in 2018 in retaliation for their work, double the previous year.

The montage in the church remembers the courage of journalists over many years. Some murders dominate the headlines, such as that of the Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, gunned down in 2006 for revealing too much about the war in Chechnya, or most recently the dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

As Iraq plunges towards civil war, it is worth remembering the dreams of those who thought they were building a better place.

Emma Sky was one of them. Although opposed to the 2003 invasion, the British academic decided to put her experience of the region to use in the country’s reconstruction, serving first in the Coalition Provisional Authority, the temporary governing body installed following the US-led invasion, and then as governor of Kirkuk, one of the towns at the heart of the present rebellion by the rampant Sunni militia.

“Iraqis had suffered for a decade under sanctions,” she told me a year ago for a radio programme marking the 10th anniversary of the war.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, , , ,

At 7.30pm on December 25 1991, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin and the white, red and blue tricolour of Russia was raised in its place. There was no ceremony, only a mix of bewilderment, excitement for some and alarm for others. I drove from Red Square a few miles down the road to the home of Lev Kerbel, the USSR’s most decorated sculptor. Just about every giant Lenin or Marx worth its marble around the world was his creation. I had got to know him well, and it seemed appropriate that, on the day the Soviet Union died, I should go and see a man born on the day of the Bolshevik revolution.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa,

I remember in the late 1990s driving around the "bad lands" of south Armagh. The border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic was porous. I had read enough about the gun-running and the terrorist groups operating in the area, but what struck me most were the houses, the cars and the satellite dishes.

Back in Belfast, a UK government minister explained. Part of the tactic over the years, he said, was to make the warring sides more comfortable. The more they had to lose personally, the less they would be prone to fight.

Many around the world cite Northern Ireland as the model attempt at conflict resolution.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

As Turkey threatens reprisals for bombings that have left up to 50 dead, Syria's war is already sucking in the wider Middle East. But the one country on which all sides would previously rely for leadership is paralysed with indecision.

The most striking aspect of the Syrian imbroglio, as I have discovered on a visit to neighbouring Lebanon, is that this may be the first conflict of the post-superpower era. The United States does not know what it wants. And even if it did, it seems fearful to use the means at its disposal to engineer it.

A year ago, when I was last in Beirut, people said Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, had, perhaps, three months to hang on; now he looks much more entrenched.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesNuevas Tecnologías

In horror movies, the scariest moments usually come from the monster you can't see. So the same goes for real life, or at least online life. Over the past few years, largely out of sight, governments have been clawing back freedoms on the internet, turning an invention that was designed to emancipate the individual into a tool for surveillance and control. In the next few months, this process is set to be enshrined internationally, amid plans to put cyberspace under the authority of a largely secretive and obscure UN agency.

If this succeeds, this will be an important boost to states' plans to censor the web and to use it to monitor citizens.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente PróximoEuropaUnión Europea, , ,

This much we knew already: Tony Blair's administration is riddled with double standards and hypocrisy in its international dealings. But Lord Goldsmith's announcement that the Serious Fraud Office was calling off its investigation into alleged corruption involving BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia dragged matters to an all-time low.The explanations given are startling. Goldsmith has form in being flexible with the law and the truth - as with his legal advice in advance of Iraq. He said the following, to a near-empty House of Lords on Thursday evening as the media's attention was on the police questioning of the prime minister and the report on Diana's death: "It has been necessary to balance the need to maintain the rule of law against the wider public interest."…  Seguir leyendo »