The country that leads the clean energy economy will lead the global economy. We’ve heard some version of that story a number of times from President Obama, whether it be in his State of the Union address or trying to sell the stimulus at wind and solar manufacturing plants across the country. Countries like Spain and Germany are leading the race in the clean energy; as President Obama says, “they’re making real investments in renewable energy.” But what’s at the finish line? If Spain and Germany provide any indication, it’s a …
The proposed €110 billion ($140 billion) Greek rescue package announced on Sunday may well not survive the week. Watching public sector workers storming the Acropolis in protest at proposed government spending cuts and tax increases, raises the question of whether the Greek Government itself can survive. Eurozone countries have agreed to provide €80 billion in emergency loans over the next three years for Greece, with the rest coming from the IMF. In exchange for avoiding bankruptcy (at least for the next couple of months), Greece has agreed to pass a …
The social and political drama that played out across Eastern Europe in the decade before the fall of the Berlin Wall had a profound spiritual dimension. From the time of John Paul II’s visit to his Polish homeland in 1979 to November 9, 1989, what historians have called a “revolution of conscience” occurred that led to the collapse of communism with little loss of life – the combined result of President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policies of peace through strength and the Pope’s relentless messages of spiritual …
The tentative nuclear deal that the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) reportedly has reached with Iran has been widely hailed as a success for the Obama Administration’s engagement policy. For example, today a Washington Post article described the deal as “providing a major boost for the Obama administration as it seeks to engage the Islamic republic.” But a closer look at the negotiations gives strong reasons for concern. First of all, the focus on helping Iran to refuel its research reactor in Tehran …
Members of Congress like to play games and they like to spend money. What better analogy to use to describe Congress’s proposed green energy policies than the Price is Right? As Congress seeks to implement policy that would create green jobs by mandating renewable energy projects, three cautionary European tales suggest the U.S. should take a second look at cap and trade and renewable energy mandates. We’ll take you through a Price Is Right showcase style tour of three failed renewable energy initiative. Our first stop takes us to Germany …
The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which culmitated a series of events in the summer and fall of 1989, allows us to begin looking through the lens of history. Important lessons are to be learned from the “year of miracles,” as Czech play-write and dissident Vaclav Havel called it, lessons about American leadership and lessons about the importance of engaging in the war of ideas with enemies of ffreddom and democracy. The world has changed so dramatically since 1989, but many of us will never forget …
The dramatic surge in support for Germany’s pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), which received “a record 14.6% of the vote” according to the Wall Street Journal in elections on Sunday, September 27, has given Angela Merkel a second term as German Chancellor via the center-right coalition that the FDP will form with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and its Bavarian sister party (the CSU). The center-left Social Democrats suffered their worst defeat in 60 years. FDP supporters want to create the lasting prosperity that comes from empowering the individual …
MOSCOW – The Kremlin has not had a good week with its putative allies. Russia’s ban on imports of Belarussian dairy products (under claims they failed technical requirements) has stirred a strong political response from Minsk. The excuse of their failure to meet technical requirements has stirred a strong political response from Minsk. President Alexander Lukashenko skipped the Moscow summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and Minsk declared all summit decisions illegitimate due to Belarus’s non-attendance. Minsk even rejected the conference agreement to create a collective rapid response force.
In the run-up to the G-20 summit in London on April 2, a curious division has emerged. On one side stand the U.S. and Britain, both sounding like continental Europeans in their enthusiasm for deficit spending. On the other stand France and Germany, rejecting stimulus packages but eager to impose a new system of “global governance” on the world’s markets and nations. As Sally McNamara has noted, Britain’s stance is a problem for the EU, which, as always, is seeking to use the global financial crisis to advance its aim …
TBILISI — What should NATO do about Georgia? This question must inevitably lead to the question of what NATO should do about Russia? Since Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Georgia on Aug. 7, the West has failed to find an adequate answer to either question. Although Russian troops have this week left Georgia proper, they remain deeply entrenched in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, including “new” areas such as Abkhazia’s Kodori Gorge and the South Ossetian town of Akhalgori where they weren’t present before Aug. 7 The Baltic States remain …
