In The News

Germany's "Project Cleanup" Could Deport Hundreds of Radical Muslims

Markus Deggerich February 1, 2005
With the passage of a tougher immigration law, Germany is waging its own kind of pre-emptive strike in the war against terror: It will now have the ability to deport people suspected of possibly committing a terrorist act in the future. The burden of proof for deportation will employ a lower standard than the current one. As one government official said, "The fact that someone spent time...

Read My Ears

Thomas L. Friedman January 27, 2005
As President Bush prepares for his visit to Europe next month, he faces widespread criticism across the continent. In this New York Times op-ed, Thomas Friedman writes that Bush has one good option if he wants to truly mend relations: He should talk less and listen more. Most Europeans believe that Bush does not take their opinions seriously enough. According to Friedman, Bush could change...

Militant Imams Under Scrutiny Across Europe

Lowell Bergman January 25, 2005
On Sunday, German police arrested a man they accused of recruiting for the Iraqi insurgency. The police are confident that larger networks of recruitment and smuggling to Iraq will soon be discovered in Germany. Across Europe, security forces - often working with the United States - are stepping up arrests and surveillance of militant Muslims, in the belief that recruitment from Europe to Iraq is...

G8 "Must Lead Climate Control"

Matthew Tempest January 25, 2005
With much of Europe angered by President Bush's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, Prime Minister Tony Blair will go over the president's head this week to appeal directly to US business leaders. The chief executives of most of the biggest corporations in the world - some of them notorious polluters - will be meeting this week at the World Economic Forum in...

Putin's Wary Reconciliation

Liliana Proskuryakova January 24, 2005
Although the newly elected Ukraine president Victor Yushchenko arrived in Moscow today in a gesture of reconciliation, Russia's ill-disguised attempt to defeat him in the election has left a bad taste in the mouth. It has not only soured relations between these two historically close partners giving rise to anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine, but also further complicated Russia's...

On Screen, Tackling Europe's New Reality

Alan Riding January 19, 2005
In Germany, the popularity of a movie about Turks living in Hamburg may signal a new national multiculturalism. Film has played a similar role in other European countries, making ostracized immigrants sympathetic to those who'd ignored or hated them. "Head-On", directed by Fatih Akin, is not the first Turkish-German movie to be made, but it is the first to find such sweeping...

Russia Faces Foreign Policy Debate for 2005

Igor Torbakov January 18, 2005
The Ukraine elections debacle was the most recent Russian foreign policy misstep. And according to this EurasiaNet commentary, the Kremlin now faces some important policy decisions. As its influence throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia wanes, the Putin administration may be losing the battle for regional influence – and its primary competitor is the West. Experts, however, disagree as to...