Section: CapX (The United Kingdom)
Has Trump been tamed?
Remember the end of the West? That was what many commentators (including me) foretold when Donald Trump won the American presidency in November. Causes for alarm abounded. The candidate’s own heedless and contemptuous remarks about allies and alliances; the exotic and eccentric characters at the top of his campaign; the stench of Russian...
Ukraine’s economy remains a prisoner of socialism
Why is the media, especially the Western press, which wrote about Ukraine so triumphantly three years ago, today so deeply disappointed with the lack of reform? Why, following the Euromaidan revolution, have attempts to fix Ukraine’s economy failed? Are Ukrainians themselves to blame? The answer to the last question is yes and no. The...
Why America needs to compromise on immigration
America’s immigration policy has got the country to where it is today, for better or worse. It created a diverse and innovative nation that has pushed human civilisation forward. It also brought us President Trump, and with him, a more heated debate about immigration. But rather than continuing to shout over one another and refusing to...
In the Age of Trump, Britain needs a Plan B
“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst” is always a prudent maxim in security policy. But Donald Trump’s first, frenetic weeks in office have broadened the range of possible bad outcomes—and made them likelier. The administration wants to move fast and break things, repairing any damage later if necessary. It believes that mainstream...
A renewed Special Relationship will be a global force for good
I defy any person to travel to this great country at any time and not to be inspired by its promise and its example. For more than two centuries, the very idea of America – drawn from history and given written form in a small hall not far from here – has lit up the world. That idea that all are created equal and that all are born free has never...
Where will Donald Trump take America?
Tim Montgomerie spent much of the past year in the United States covering one of the most extraordinary presidential elections in history. In a three-part series, he is summing up the key lessons from that campaign, and from Donald Trump’s early days in office. (The first part can be found here and the second part here.) The political class...
The West has only made things worse in Ukraine
A democratic revolution triumphed two and a half years ago in Ukraine. And the West rushed to congratulate the leaders of the pro-democratic parties who emerged victorious, including President Petro Poroshenko. Indeed, a record number of Western advisers were sent to Kiev in the wake of the election. Far more than had visited during the first 25...
Obama leaves the world a more dangerous place
Barack Obama aimed to reset America’s place in the world. Instead he dislodged it. His soaring rhetoric—displayed in speeches in Cairo in 2009, or in Estonia in 2014—could not outweigh the bleak realities of power. America is relatively weaker than it was, its rivals and adversaries stronger. Countering that trend is entirely possible, but...
Divided and deluded Europe faces crisis on every front
“Europe” is not a monolith. It comprises several overlapping entities. There is “Freemovementland” – the passport-free travel area that stretches from the Greek islands to the north of Norway. There is “Frontlineland” – the countries which fear Russian meddling and aggression. There is “Euroland” – the countries which use the common currency. And...
If this is what the EU is like, no wonder Britain is leaving
Over the Christmas week, CapX is republishing its favourite pieces from the past year. You can find the full list here. Along with my Cato Institute colleague, the economist Daniel Mitchell, I spent the last weekend in Prague, at the annual meeting of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists. The AECR is comprised of European...
