The European Union has indicated, despite the US and Israeli opposition, the willingness to work with the new Palestinian unity government. The EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton made the announcement yesterday in a press conference in Brussels. The Palestinian unity agreement came as a prelude to the Palestinian plans to seek full recognition of statehood from the United Nations something both the US and Israel are against. Read the rest of this entry »

As we already reported on May 6, the influx of African migrants trying to reach Europe has created concern in some European countries and has given a reason to others to try to reform the rules of the Schengen accord with the aim to reimpose border control in the EU. On Wednesday, Denmark announced plans to set up customs booths at land border crossings, harbors and airports. Read the rest of this entry »

The Western world entered the conflict of Libya under the UN blessing to supposedly defend civilians from Gaddafi’s massacre. Quite a few weeks have gone by and nothing has been resolved. Except that many people have died and now NATO is bombarding Tripoli with the aim to get the Libyan leader. Many would say that was not what the UN resolution said but that is the way it is. Read the rest of this entry »

The Arab Spring is bringing unexpected consequences to the EU. The increasing influx of migrants from Tunisia and Libya has created a dispute between Italy, the country through which most migrants enter the EU, and France, the country where most of them want to go due to their knowledge of the language and the many Tunisians already living in it. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a report by Europol, the EU’s joint police body, the economic crisis and the Arab revolutions have the potential to increase the risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union by far-left, far-right and Islamists groups. It has been noted that in the Arab revolutions Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have become observers and had not had influence in the events. Read the rest of this entry »

While in the United States the high-speed rail does not appear to have a good future, as it has been one of the programs cut from the budget, Europe is going the opposite way. Read the rest of this entry »

While in some countries leaders resist leaving power, in most cases after several decades, in others with democratic governments, they leave without disrupting the lives of the citizens; some after losing elections and some voluntarily when they decide not to seek any more terms in office. Such is the case of Spain, a country which itself was governed by a dictator for almost 40 years after a specially violent civil war. Read the rest of this entry »