Section: The German Marshall Fund of the United States (USA)
Russia: A Test for Transatlantic Unity
WASHINGTON – The European Union and the United States must continue prioritizing transatlantic unity and coordination in their response to Russia’s assertive foreign policy, a group of scholars from Europe and the United States argue in a new report entitled Russia: A Test for Transatlantic Unity. “The Western response to Russian aggression...
Trumpism — British Style
Transatlantic TakeWASHINGTON—The campaign for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union is a form of ‘Trumpism’ with British characteristics. Pro-Brexit (British exit) campaigners like Boris Johnson, the former Conservative mayor of London, and Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, are, in some ways, like Donald Trump, the...
Establishment Republicans for Hillary Clinton?
Transatlantic TakeWASHINGTON—The U.S. presidential primary campaign has been animated by a grassroots revolt against the Democratic and Republican Party “establishments,” including their approach to world affairs. After yesterday’s Indiana victory, it looks almost certain that the anti-establishment Donald Trump will be the Republican...
Abe’s Whirlwind European Mission
Transatlantic Take (Photo: EC – Audiovisual Service) Today, Prime Minister Abe embarks on a whirlwind tour of Europe, just like he did last year, over the traditional Golden Week holiday in Japan. This year, though, Abe’s timing may seem odd as Europe’s faces some of the worst crises in decades: external threats from refugee...
Cooperation in the Midst of Crisis: Trilateral Approaches to Shared International Challenges
Amidst Europe’s worst crisis in decades, European-Japanese relations might at first glance seem unimportant. However, there has never been a more crucial time to look beyond the European continent to the possibilities for enhanced cooperation with Asia’s oldest democracy, one that shares common realities and values. U.S.-Europe-Japan...
Obama’s Message to a Sober Germany
Transatlantic TakeBERLIN—As U.S. President Barack Obama today delivers the opening speech at the world’s largest industrial fair in Hannover, he will find a very different country than the one he saw upon his campaign visit in 2008. From the heights of excitement when Obama took office in 2009 to the depths of outrage when the NSA affair...
Germany and the European Neighbourhood Policy: Balancing Stability and Democracy in a Ring of Fire
Photo: fdecomite In 2004, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was launched to create ‘a ring of friends’ at the external EU border. From today’s perspective, the policy has failed. The EU’s Eastern and Southern neighbourhood is destabilised by civil war, regional conflicts and terrorist networks, fuelling irregular migration...
Europe’s New Political Engine: Germany’s Role in the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy
Photo: fdecomite At the beginning of this decade, the EU’s foreign and security policy was leaderless, while several crises put Europe under pressure. The economically strong Germany had to become Europe’s new political engine. The way in which Germany took up its new and unusual role and the implications that German leadership has...
Why Russia’s Economic Leverage is Declining
Despite the Kremlin’s desire to reassert influence over its neighbors, Russia’s economic leverage in Eastern Europe is declining. After more than a decade of using trade and energy cutoffs to pressure its neighbors to accept its political aims, the Kremlin’s tools of economic coercion are losing their effectiveness. On the...
This Is Not the Orange Revolution
Transatlantic TakePhoto: OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine KYIV, Ukraine – Invoking Yogi Berra’s overused quote may seem cliché, but for Kyiv watchers, it seems a bit like “déjà vu all over again.” A continued stalemate and infighting between the president and prime minister caused the latter to resign. Corruption and a...
