Tag: european union

Europe Divided Over Palestinian State

BERLIN — Divisions that have surfaced within the European Union over recognition of the Palestinian Authority as an independent and sovereign state are unlikely to be resolved ahead of a crucial vote in the United Nations next week. A two-state settlement is part of the long-term official EU line on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But while … Continue reading “Europe Divided Over Palestinian State”

Between Libya and the Deep Blue Sea

RAS AJDIR, Tunisia — NATO’s five-month bombing campaign in Libya, run under the guise of protecting civilians, is also killing victims fleeing the conflict, directly and indirectly. Since the start of Libya’s Arab Spring and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air campaign against Muammar Gadhafi’s regime, more than 1,800 men, women, and children have … Continue reading “Between Libya and the Deep Blue Sea”

Israel’s European Friends Get Active

BRUSSELS – The pro-Israel lobby is seeking to increase its influence among members of Europe’s parliaments by offering them an expenses-paid trip to the Middle East. Brochures circulated in several elected assemblies invite their representatives to take part in a visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, organized by the group European Friends of … Continue reading “Israel’s European Friends Get Active”

US Could Be Alone as Europe Turns Inward

The relationship between Western Europe and the colonies that became the United States was complicated from the beginning, when the North American settlements were mere appendages of the European powers, and were drawn into their conflicts – King William III’s and Queen Anne’s wars, the French and Indian war involving the Iroquois, and then the … Continue reading “US Could Be Alone as Europe Turns Inward”

How the EU Keeps Its Peace

SIENA, Italy – The latest in a series of meetings on reform in the function of the European Union, sponsored by the Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies, concluded here last week at the splendid restored palazzo of Nobel Prize-winning Canadian economist Robert Mundell. The meeting of nearly 40 EU academic analysts and non-academic … Continue reading “How the EU Keeps Its Peace”

What Next for NATO?

The European Union doesn’t know where it stands at this moment. NATO thinks it knows and is gambling. Has the EU a future, or has disintegration set in? The behavior of the Germans under the conservative Merkel government is taken by many to signal that the end, if not nigh, is foreordained. Germany in this … Continue reading “What Next for NATO?”

EU Selling Torture Equipment

BRUSSELS – Equipment designed for torturing prisoners is still being exported from European Union (EU) countries despite a four-year-old ban on such trade, according to a new report by Amnesty International. The human rights group has found that companies active in several of the EU’s 27 states have exploited loopholes in controls aimed at putting … Continue reading “EU Selling Torture Equipment”

Israel and EU Clash Over Settlements

RAMALLAH – The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s concern over an "unusually harsh statement" by the European Commission over Israel’s settlement policy indicates a growing unease between Israel and the EU. The European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the EU, said that Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank was strangling the Palestinian economy and forcing … Continue reading “Israel and EU Clash Over Settlements”