In The News

Attacks in Denmark, France Stoke Fears of Rising Anti-Semitism in Europe

Beenish Ahmed March 30, 2015
Anti-Semitic crimes are on the rise in Europe for 2015. Anti-Semitism in Europe may have contributed to a rise in emigration to Israel. In 2014, 7,000 Jews left France for Israel. In the same year, immigration to Israel worldwide increased 32 percent from the previous year, reports Beenish Ahmed for ThinkProgress. In February, a Jewish guard was murdered at a Copenhagen synagogue after the murder...

Divided Europe Mired in Crises

Chris Miller March 17, 2015
For a few short decades, Europe was viewed as a model for human rights and economic security. Many Europeans were eager for the continent to become an influential geopolitical actor, acting independently of the United States, notes Chris Miller, a Yale doctoral candidate and research associate at the Hoover Institution. But polarization within the Union and the institutional failure to address a...

The Grexit Dilemma: What Would Happen if Greece Leaves the Euro Zone?

Nikolaus Blome, Martin Hesse, Alexander Neubacher, Christian Reiermann, Michael Sauga, Christoph Schult and Alexander Smoltczyk March 10, 2015
Europe cannot agree on more bailouts for Greece, and since electing a new leftist government, Greece is failing to offer a plan on how it will repay its heavy debt, reports an article in Spiegel Online. This opens the possibility of the nation’s exit from the European Union: “Greece's creditors … will not just have to reach agreement with Athens on interest rates and payback periods, but...

Boris Nemtsov: Liberal Martyr

March 3, 2015
The political atmosphere and debate in Russia is increasingly one-sided, and those who challenge Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian ways can expect a spew of aggressive, hateful, unchecked comments Boris Nemtsov was one of the few Russian politicians courageous enough to criticize Putin, and he was assassinated while walking near the well-guarded Kremlin. “Given the level of security in the vicinity...

Putin’s European Fifth Column

Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Gérard Roland and Edward Walker February 27, 2015
Putin rejects EU or NATO membership for neighboring states for Russia. “Indeed, the existence of a European model continues to guide and encourage those pursuing transparent, democratic governance in many post-communist countries,” explain three professors with the University of California at Berkeley in an essay for Project Syndicate. Russia’s intimidating authoritarianism has little appeal, and...

Norway Muslims Encircle Synagogue to Support Jews

Kjetil Malkenes Hovland February 25, 2015
A group of young Muslims formed a symbolic ring in front of an Oslo synagogue to protest anti-Semitism, extremism and violence conducted in the name of Islam. The Jewish rabbi expressed gratitude. “Our common God is everywhere in the world, but most of all God is where rings are formed and bridges are built between people,” the rabbi said to the crowd, according to the report by Kjetil Malkenes...

Russian Hearts, Minds and Refrigerators

Gideon Rachman February 19, 2015
Polls expose divisions among Russians over their government’s intervention in Ukraine: there is a nationalistic streak with 44 percent viewing Americans as the enemy, but also a practical side, with 19 percent suggesting Ukraine belongs to Russia, down from near 50 percent a year ago, reports Gideon Rachman for the Financial Times. Many observers do not expect a ceasefire to last. How far Russia...