Debate
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Stemgewicht
Toen de Europese democratieën ontstonden in de negentiende eeuw in de toen ‘nieuwe’ natiestaten, kenden ze aanvankelijk geen algemeen kiesrecht, maar ‘censuskiesrecht’. Bezitlozen maar ook vrouwen waren uitgesloten. Wij vinden dat niet normaal, maar toen vond men dat alleszins verdedigbaar. Het kiesrecht kreeg je eigenlijk in ruil voor het betalen van belasting, je ‘contributie’ aan…
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Wroeten in de achtertuin
Politiek in de EU wordt steeds Europeser, zo laten de verkiezingen voor het Europese Parlement zien. Maar even buiten de grens van de EU wordt politiek juist minder Europees. Landen op de westelijke Balkan en de Caucasus lijken zich van de EU af te wenden, concludeert Dimitar Bechev van Carnegie Europe. Afgelopen weekend won de…
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Matter of Worldview
That, as Urgant and Pozner claim in the attached piece, “the West” would have promised at the breakup of the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand eastward is a myth. Simply because NATO or “the West” has nothing to say about it. Individual member states unanimously decide who can and cannot join NATO, and…
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About the Russian soul
Tucker Carlson’s visit to Russia some time back (early February 2024) was very illuminating – not so much because of Vladimir Putin’s condescending lecture to the former Fox News host, in which he used selective history and lies to justify his war on Ukraine, but because of a telling and tragic juxtaposition that followed. Over…
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The Underwater Cabaret (May 5)
From Engelsberg Ideas: On August 22, 1943, the first issue of a strange new magazine appeared in Enschede. The Underwater Cabaret took the form of a small booklet measuring about 13.5 x 10.5 cm. The cover was a collage of photographs cut from newspapers and magazines; the contents consisted of 18 hand-stitched pages of handwritten…
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Prewar times
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned (Politico, March 29) that Europe is in a “pre-war era” but still has a “long way to go” before it is ready to face the threat ahead. “I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept of the past,” Tusk said in an interview with…
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Europe’s grand strategy
From: Engelsberg Ideas. Featured image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/2017-04-02_Pulse_of_Europe_Cologne_-1597.jpg In 1953, Dwight Eisenhower had just been inaugurated as the 34th president of the United States when, in the Soviet Union, Stalin’s 29-year rule ended with his death on March 5. Eisenhower strongly believed in the illuminating qualities of energetic debates. He wanted the brightest minds in the United…
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Colonial ghost
From Politico: Belgium’s attempts to face its brutal colonial past continue to run into problems. After two years of work by a parliamentary committee, a report was produced earlier this year, along with political recommendations for the next steps the country should take. But the full report and recommendations have not been made public. The…
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From the lounges to the cinemas
From: Politico: How French are intellectualizing the war on woke. About once a month, the cream of a specific section of French society meets at Le Laboratoire de la République, a think tank in central Paris, to warn against what it sees as a dangerous and divisive import. The events organized by the Laboratoire do…
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Chris Aalberts’ blog on the EU
From Chris Aalberts blog, always very worthwhile! Here he discusses some recently published books in the context of the upcoming election to the European Parliament: “It’s time again for the five-year stream of books on the EU. European Parliament elections are in June. This is traditionally the time for Europe experts to publish books that…
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EU: A marriage of convenience
NOS News Survey: EU useful but not loved The Dutch see the added value of the European Union in addressing a number of cross-border problems. Only 18 percent favor a “nexit,” a departure from the EU. But there is no love for the Union, partly because of a lack of trust in the integrity of…
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Europe, without America
With Trump’s possible return to power, the Europeans are reconsidering their strategic autonomy. Could a “Weimar triangle” be the solution? Europeans eagerly watched the Republican primaries in the United States, hoping and looking for signs that Donald Trump would not become the next GOP presidential candidate, let alone the next president. But with each primary…