In The News

Catalan Leaders Guilty of Sedition: El País

Reyes Rincón, Óscar Lóopez-Fonseca and Jeúus García October 16, 2019
Catalan separatists – including a party leader, former speaker of the Catalan parliament, former ministers and cabinet members – were sentenced to 9 to 13 years in prison by the Spanish Supreme Court for an attempt to break from Spain in October 2017. “The court has found that there were “undeniable acts of violence” in Catalonia in the fall of 2017, but that these were not severe enough to...

Fantasy of a Global Britain: New Statesman

Robert Saunders October 10, 2019
Brexit will bring immense changes, and citizens who depend on trade or diplomatic relationships feel betrayed, explains historian Robert Saunders for New Statesman. Both sides in the debate have relied on selective historic details. The notion of a “global Britain,” is one example, but history suggests that Britain was small without its colonies. Saunders describes how Enoch Powell and other...

Negative Interest Rates in Europe: DW

Uwe Hessler October 5, 2019
Low and negative interest rates keep loans flowing. Europe tries to stimulate its economies with low rates, and some banks charge customers who keep large amounts in their accounts. Governments or individuals can take out an individual €1000 loan and repay only €995, while savers receive no interest at all, explains Uwe Hessler for Deutsche Welle. “A negative deposit rate is intended to encourage...

Boris Johnson Needs an Election: Scotsman

Paris Gourtsoyannis September 28, 2019
Political leaders with extreme views struggle to reach compromise and attract broad consensus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists the UK will leave the European Union without or without a deal. The Supreme Court ruled that Johnson unlawfully applied prorogation, suspending parliament for five weeks until just before the October 31 deadline. Members returned to session. Voters approved leaving...

US Whistleblower’s Complaint on Trump

September 27, 2019
A declassified and redacted version of a whistleblower’s complaint on US President Donald Trump has been released. “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election,” the complaint begins. “This...

Zelensky-Trump Meet on UN Sidelines: Kyiv Post

Bermét Talant September 26, 2019
Expect global leaders to apply caution in interactions with the United States. Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine since May, spoke with US President Donald Trump by telephone in July, shortly after the president had suspended an aid payment. Details of the call, possibly connected to a whistleblower’s complaint about Trump, have galvanized global attention. Speaker of the House of...

Obsession With Ukraine: New York Times

Kenneth P. Vogel, Julian E. Barnes, Maggie Haberman and Sharon LaFraniere September 26, 2019
US interest in Ukraine focuses on the country’s shared border with Russia, the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea soon after a puppet’s departure in 2014, and interference in the country’s eastern section. US President Donald Trump’s emphasizes other priorities, including improved relations with Russia, according to a non-verbatim transcript of a July telephone call between Trump and...