Think of Gibraltar as a whimsical footnote to last week’s abrupt abdication by Britain from “punching above its weight” for half a century in its post-empire world. Even as the mother of parliaments has barred its government from joining an…
Serbia’s Metamorphosis: From “Bandit” to “Decent”
There are many things you could say about the European Union-brokered agreement on broad principles that the Serbian and Kosovar foes struck at long last this past weekend. That it is historic—the definitive end to the nasty Balkan wars of…
Cyprus Crisis: An Island of Reinvention
Cyprus has reinvented itself a dozen times—six times before the 12th-century Crusaders arrived, three times before the 16th-century Ottoman warriors defeated the Venetians, and twice since Britain gave up its bridge to eastern empire in 1960. There’s no reason why…
Don’t Let a Good Euro Crisis Go to Waste
The euro zone is in its second recession since 2009 and isn’t likely to pick up growth until next year. Unemployment is over 26 percent and youth employment over 55 percent in Greece and Spain. Protests have erupted in the…
Europe Tames its Far Right
Europeans are slowly managing to ring-fence their xenophobic right. In their own ways, Norway, Switzerland, and the Netherlands are all defying the fears that Europe’s worst financial and economic crisis in eight decades might again provoke a catastrophic political slide…