By Pierre Tran Paris French armed forces minister Florence Parly recently highlighted the decisive role of the German Bundestag parliament in launching a Franco-German project for a technology demonstrator for a next-generation fighter. Their votes for the project would be, in her view, a sign of political support for European…
By Kenneth Maxwell Angela Merkel has been in power for 14 years. She was first elected as chancellor of Germany in 2005. She was then re-elected in 2009, and again in 2013, and for a further term in 2018. She plans to stay on until 2021. 67% of Germans approve of…
By Pierre Tran Paris - The next few weeks will be critical for Libya as much depends on opposing sides of the civil war maintaining a fragile ceasefire and their foreign backers observing an arms embargo, Tarek Megerisi, policy fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said in a…
By Robbin Laird Recently, The Financial Times published an interview between their editor and their Berlin bureau chief and Chancellor Merkel. It was interesting for both what it said and what it did not say about the challenges facing Germany and Europe in the period ahead. Unlike President Macron, the…
By Kenneth Maxwell Social and Racial Divisions The social and racial divisions have not improved over the past 15 years since Tuca Vieira took his iconic photograph. It was in Paraisopolos, now the second largest favela in São Paulo, where 100,000 people live, that nine young people, attending the weekend…
By Kenneth Maxwell Brazilian Society Brazil is now overwhelmingly an urban society. Yet the countryside matters, and is now dominated by agribusiness, which is a major source of president Jair Bolsonaro’s political support. He appointed a major friend of agribusiness, Tereza Cristina, as head of the agriculture ministry. Agribusiness likes…
By Kenneth Maxwell Politics in Brazil are already polarized and will continue to be so in 2020. The Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, owed his election to this polarization. He will stoke it further. It is in his political interest to do so. It is entirely in his character to do…
On Thursday, Jan. 9, while conducting routine operations in the North Arabian Sea, USS Farragut (DDG 99) was aggressively approached by a Russian Navy ship. Farragut sounded five short blasts, the international maritime signal for danger of a collision, and requested the Russian ship alter course in accordance with international…
