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Modern-day iconoclasts are removing objects and symbols of Western civilization as part of moralistic campaigns. By doing so, they are falsifying history and attacking the very foundation of democracy.

Intervention in elections, whether by foreign or domestic actors, is nothing new. The enormous amount of political energy spent on denouncing such practices and accusing the other side of benefiting from them impedes solving more important problems. Today’s emphasis on such allegations is dangerously paralyzing politics and serves as an ...

In the aftermath of the Chinese Communist Party’s harsh crackdown on Hong Kong’s independence, many observers believe Taiwan will now face increased pressure from Beijing to fall in line with the political and economic goals of mainland China. While the West has done little in response to the Hong Kong ...

Discoveries of rich hydrocarbon deposits under the Eastern Mediterranean seabed have added a new driver to the region’s old rivalries. Athens claims nearly all of the Aegean Sea as exclusive economic zone and the delineation of sea borders near Cyprus prompted Turkey’s reaction. Now, NATO and the European Union have ...

As the number of coronavirus infections rises across Europe, many governments, including Germany’s, are considering implementing a second lockdown. But another shutdown of Europe’s largest economy could be disastrous and have far-reaching effects throughout the continent.

In their struggle to oppose a corrupt, Iranian-backed government, the Lebanese have received little help from the West. In the aftermath of the explosion of August 4, more than financial assistance will be needed. Peace will remain elusive as long as the United States and Europe tolerate Iranian interventions in ...

Moscow and Beijing may prefer one U.S. presidential candidate over the other, but it is unlikely that either power would be able to influence the outcome of the U.S. electoral process in a significant way.

It is hardly a coincidence that a new monument of Karl Marx, the creator of socialist philosophy, was erected with great pomp in the city of his birth in 2018. Marxist thinking has been undergoing a renaissance for all sorts of wrong reasons, including in academic and political circles. Beware, ...

The U.S. secretary of state calls the task of finding more creative and assertive ways to contain China the “mission of our time” for the Western world. The challenge is not going to be easy as the Chinese Communist Party has taken clues from the failures of the former Soviet ...

Europe is not a house where everyone lives under the same rules, but a village in which all the houses work together. At least, that was the original vision. Today however, harmonization, under the guise of deeper integration, is the dominant philosophy, a dogma being used to silence dissent and ...

In reaction to a new national security law giving the Chinese government extensive powers over Hong Kong, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has offered residents of the former British colony an opportunity to settle in the United Kingdom. The gesture was a welcome show of leadership amid half-hearted reactions from other ...

Once a staunch defender of financial responsibility in the eurozone, Germany has thrown its support behind the European Commission’s ill-conceived, unwarranted and politicized spending scheme to aid the eurozone’s economy.

The WHO has arrogantly chastised the Swedish government’s policy of seeking herd immunity instead of trying to suppress contagion. The Swedes’ approach, however, may pay off during the pandemic’s second wave predicted by many experts.

Some leaders like to talk up Europe’s so-called values when it suits their purposes. But some EU member states, and often Brussels, apply these “values” inconsistently – unpragmatically extending sanctions on Russia, for example, but refusing to stand up to Iran or China. Europe needs realpolitik and long-term strategy in ...

This month, Hungary commemorated the centennial anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon, which handed 72 percent of its land to neighboring states. While Hungarians have every right to reflect on the unfairness of the peace terms, this year’s ceremony has taken place amid much criticism from Western member states of ...

China and India are beefing up their military capabilities again. The two Asian giants are confronting each other in the traditional hotspots along their disputed border in the Himalayas and, more recently, in the Indian Ocean. War is still not in the cards, but the growing tension adds to the ...

As the globalization process ends its 40-year run and the world fragments into political and trade blocs again, the largest powers are adjusting their geopolitical stances. Europe and Russia both have compelling reasons to resolve their differences and collaborate more closely.

As the economy begins to sag, China’s ruling party is tightening control over the country and fanning nationalist sentiments in response to justified criticism from abroad. International tension is rising. The world could split up into competing political and economic blocks once again. This would be particularly harmful for Europe, ...

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe made history on May 5, 2020. The justices found that the European Central Bank could have acted outside its remit by purchasing government debt. Accordingly, the court suspended the Bundesbank’s participation in the ECB’s program.

When governments and critical financial institutions rig the system to facilitate irresponsible public spending, trouble is inevitable. Today’s crony socialism, masquerading as capitalism, is at the root of the crisis unleashed by the anti-coronavirus measures. Unfortunately, panicked citizens perceive the government as a part of the solution, not the problem.

Governments and supranational organizations that weakened the economy’s resilience with overspending, accumulating debt and arbitrary taxation before the pandemic are now doing more damage. They have resorted to scare tactics to expand their control under the pretext of responding to the downturn brought on by lockdowns. The short- and mid-term ...

Governments first failed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. When they finally realized the scope of the challenge, most resorted to misguided, self-serving and often disastrous policy responses. Their push for centralization and control of economies, companies and ultimately, individuals, bodes ill for the future.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for more “solidarity” among eurozone states may have a nice ring in today’s harsh pandemic times. It is, however, a disguised attempt to make the enterprising and frugal European states pick up the tab for the irresponsible ones. Instead of a “transfer union,” France and ...

China is cunningly enhancing its geopolitical standing in the wake of a pandemic that has spread from its territory. At the same time, the Western countries’ responses to the global crisis and to China’s rise have been woefully inadequate.