In The News

Targeting Turkey: How Germany Spies on Its Friends

Nikolaus Blome, Hubert Gude, Sven Röbel, Jörg Schindler and Fidelius Schmid August 20, 2014
Germany has been a leading critic of the widespread US National Security Agency surveillance program, yet the country has also done its share of spying on friends and allies, including former and current secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry as well as Turkey. The intended target for the US officials was Islamic terrorists, but “intelligence sources now say that US office holders...

Will Erdoğan’s Victory Mark Rise of Illiberal Democracy?

Hakan Altinay August 7, 2014
An easy victory projected for Recep Tayip Erdoğan as first president of Turkey elected by popular vote baffles critics in the West. Steady improvements in the Turkish economy throughout his 11 years as prime minister trump ongoing complaints about an authoritarian style, explains Hakan Altinay, director of the European School of Politics in Istanbul. “While Erdoğan's sympathizers would say...

Clashes With Russia Point to Globalization's End

Mark Leonard August 7, 2014
Russia hopes to wield control over bordering states like Ukraine and block them from close ties with the United States and the European Union. The US and EU countered Russia’s military intervention in eastern Ukraine with sanctions and Russia responded by targeting McDonald’s restaurants as unsanitary. Unraveling symbols of cooperation could be the undoing of globalization, and trade can be used...

Anti-Semitism Rises in Europe Amid Israel-Gaza Conflict

Melissa Eddy August 5, 2014
As Israel and Hamas continue to exchange fire, anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, reports Melissa Eddy for the New York Times. “[E]ven as the police have clamped down on demonstrators, banning slogans that target Jews instead of Israeli policies, a spike in violence has spread fear among Jews, not only in Germany but also in other European countries,” Eddy reports. France has prohibited some...

Wakeup Call for Europe

Philippe Legrain August 5, 2014
Europe has squandered its potential with crushing debt, declining living standards, high unemployment and little innovation. “Europe isn’t just falling further behind the United States; it also faces ever-greater competition from China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Korea and other emerging economies – not just in lower-end manufacturing but also in higher-tech sectors,” writes economist...

The World Cannot Afford a Cold War

Nayan Chanda August 4, 2014
Europe and the United States regard Russia as a pariah since the downing of a Malaysian passenger airliner and support of insurgents in eastern Ukraine. A new Cold War could be in the making: “Far from the ideological struggle between two nuclear-armed rivals of the last century, it would represent a battle of political will between a democratic alliance of 28 European countries and the US on one...

Dempsey: US Military Dusting Off Decades-Old “Readiness” Plans for Russia

Lee Ferran July 25, 2014
Tensions are running high between the United States and Russia over the latter’s intervention in Ukraine, lending support to a separatist movement that likely destroyed a passenger jet. Europe is not joining the United States in sanctions on Russia, and Russia is trying to build a solid wall resisting European and NATO influence around its borders and even former Soviet satellite states. But...