In The News

Bloomberg: EU Wants Members to Respect Values or Take Pay Cut

Leonid Berehidsky May 4, 2018
The European Union represents values as much as much as trade, political or economic relationships – and its staff proposes reducing budgets of member states that weaken the rule of law and tolerate corruption. The European Commission has proposed a $1.3 trillion budget that would “make it more difficult for nationalist governments to use the union’s money to garner voter loyalty,” explains...

Eurasianet: Armenia’s Diaspora Clout

Grigor Atanesian April 30, 2018
The Armenian diaspora supported protests in Yerevan against Serzh Sargsyan, president since 2008. ”Since protests in Yerevan began on April 13, rallies in solidarity took place in the global centers of the Armenian diaspora,” reports Grigor Atanesian for Eurasianet. “In the diaspora, support for the protests was far from universal, however, and some of the biggest diaspora organizations kept...

Foreign Affairs: Reflexive Hostility to Russia Harms US Interests

Emma Ashford April 25, 2018
Many US leaders automatically adopt a tough stance on Russia to counter the US president’s reticence: “bipartisan enmity toward Russia has pushed even Trump, whose rhetoric on the country often vacillates between open hostility and admiration, to adopt reflexively hawkish policies, from purposeless sanctions to nuclear saber rattling,” notes Emma Ashford for Foreign Affairs. She encourages...

BBC: Finland’s Basic Income Trial Falls Flat

Laurence Peter April 24, 2018
Populations grow yet automation and productivity reduce job numbers and security. To reduce poverty, governments consider guaranteeing a universal income for their citizens. Finland launched a pilot program in 2017, when the unemployment rate exceeded 9 percent, for 2000 unemployed people selected randomly to receive monthly payments of $685 per month. Results are expected in 2019, but the...

Business Insider: Two Winners Emerge After US Rift Over Russia

Sonam Sheth and Eliza Relman April 19, 2018
With evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, global audiences pay attention to US policies and messages on the subject. The Trump administration had made plans for a new round of sanctions for Russia after a suspected chemical attack in Syria. US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the sanctions without knowing that Donald Trump had reversed the...

Stratfor: Security Implications of Brexit

Julian Lindley-French April 11, 2018
Much of the concern and discussions on Brexit centers around politics and trade, but security is another priority, maintains Julian Lindley-French. European security depends on close cooperation, especially on intelligence-gathering. “Britain's security, and by extension that of Europe, will be profoundly weakened if the former is not also fully plugged into the latter,” Lindley-French...

Spiegel: EU Mulls Funding Cuts for Eastern Europe

Markus Becker, Peter Müller, Christoph Schult and Jan Puhl April 10, 2018
Europe’s largest and most powerful economies maintain that values embracing human rights and the rule of law have enhanced European prosperity. So it’s understandable that the Germany, France and others do not want to subsidize Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and other states that skirt the rule of law, refuse to support refugees and engage in corruption enriching a few individuals in power rather than...