In The News

Eastern Germany to Stay Aboard EU Subsidy Train

Carola Schlagheck May 9, 2003
Economic integration on a scale the size of Europe is not easily accomplished. A plan to bring in another 10 member states expands the possibilities for regional cooperation, but it has also threatened to harm the economy of the former East Germany. After some deliberation, the European Commission agreed this week to continue subsidizing eastern Germany for the next few years, even though...

In the Absence of Will

Ibrahim Nafie May 9, 2003
The rapid success of the US in the Iraq War shocked many in the Arab world, says this article in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly. But what are the lessons to be learned? Commentator Ibrahim Nafi writes that Arab unity cannot emerge by simply updating old agreements. What's required, he says, is genuine, active engagement with the needs of Arab people as a whole, and that must start with...

Europe Plan on Chemicals Seen as Threat to U.S. Exports

Elizabeth Becker May 8, 2003
With the issue of labeling genetically modified food still roiling trade negotiations between the US and European Union a new friction has emerged over trade in chemicals. The latest European requirement that companies undertake testing the effect of chemicals on humans before they export may affect $20 billion worth of American export. The Bush administration says the proposal amounts to...

Please Pass the Parma Ham

May 6, 2003
This New York Times editorial argues that of all the issues separating the Old and New Worlds, a food fight just seems silly. The EU's push – through the World Trade Organization – for increased protection of geographical indicators is being opposed by the US and other countries. Feta cheese, the EU's argument goes, is really Greek and should be protected as a Greek trademark....

Europe's Identity Crisis

Steven Erlanger May 5, 2003
Europe's left wing has given the right a boost. Popular liberal fears of Americanization and "coca-colonization" have fostered the belief that individual cultures are in danger of extinction. And France's extreme right is exploiting this pervasive anxiety in the current presidential elections. Though Jacques Chirac is sure to win ultimately, the neo-fascist Jean-Marie Le...

European Foreign Envoys Discuss Iraq and Use of Force

Anthee Carassava May 4, 2003
At a recent meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Greece, the discussions focused on the resumption of diplomatic missions to Iraq and the design of a European security strategy. The proposed European Security Strategy document will be "a common threat assessment on issues ranging from weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, to refugee flows and regional crises." The...

Why the Security Council Failed

Michael J. Glennon May 1, 2003
The UN was weak and irrelevant long before the divisive US-led war on Iraq made this painfully obvious, International Law scholar Michael Glennon maintains. He explains that Iraq is more a symptom of UN structural problems and changes in its geopolitical environment than a cause.. The UN was created to preside over a multi-polar world and now finds itself dealing with an unrivalled US hegemony...