Worldcrunch
As borders closed and lockdowns were rolled out around the world, the steady flow of illegal immigration that has plagued southern Europe for years was also temporarily halted. But new arrivals are now accelerating again, and some of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic are now also forced to deal with a worsening refugee […]
The pandemic has thrown the sector into a tailspin. But if European states are willing to work together, there’s an real opportunity to revamp it — and help the planet in the process.
Compared to other EU member states, Poland was barely affected by the international financial crisis or the refugee crisis of 2015. Now, the country could emerge from the coronavirus pandemic in a stronger position than before.
U.S. President Donald Trump has failed spectacularly in his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he’s not the only world leader coming up short.
A closer reading of the Pope’s recent treatise that challenges the way contemporary culture sees poverty in society.
It would be a mistake to assume that Italy has seen the last of the controversial ‘Captain,’ who will have a different kind of influence at the helm of the opposition.
A traditional party and a populist movement may join forces to get Italy out of its political crisis and avoid yet another election.
Chancellor Kurz deserves credit for trying to work with the populist FPÖ. But he’s also right to end the relationship in the wake of the damning scandal
India’s politicians have to understand that people are earning something to survive, but a survival strategy does not count as employment.
Every. single. time…
Unless Argentina finds the right leaders to undertake crucial reforms of the state and public life, it may face mass anger and democratic degradation seen elsewhere.
-Analysis- Venezuela has arrived at a dead end. It is mired in misrule, socio-economic chaos, unchecked crime and a spiraling humanitarian catastrophe that is leading to steady exodus of its population. The immediate causes of these were shortages in food, water, electricity and medicine, as well as hyperinflation (3 million percent per year) in an […]
Back in 2017, the Philadelphia Inquirer spoke with Chera Kowalski of the city’s McPherson Square Park library, which had become something of a refuge for drug addicts with nowhere else to turn. In the previous two months alone, the then 33-year-old librarian had performed CPR and administered opioid-overdose spray Narcan on eight different overdose victims. […]
From Spain’s Podemos to Noam Chomsky, many left-wingers around the world are too blinded by ideology to see the Venezuelan crisis for what it really is.
-Analysis- BOGOTÁ — The Lima Group, a multilateral body of 14 American countries focused on resolving the institutional and democratic standoff in Venezuela, has declared Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s new term in office illegitimate, taking the firmest position so far on his conduct as ruler of Venezuela. But the group needs the support of more […]
The ‘yellow vest’ uprising is about more than Macron’s ill-conceived fuel tax. It’s symptomatic of a system-wide failure that must be fixed before it’s too late.
Europe’s aggressive migration policy has seen Italy dive into the obscure world of national shipping flags to sabotage rescue missions.
-OpEd- BERLIN — Thousands of students marched through Tehran last weekend, and state television broadcast the protest march live. The crowd burned U.S. flags and pictures of President Donald Trump in front of the building of the former U.S. embassy. And, yes, they chanted: “Death to America.” After the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear treaty […]
A worsening economy in Argentina may cause political shifts before the 2019 presidential elections.
The flood of people fleeing Venezuela’s dire economic and political situation is more than any one country can handle. But so far, there’s been little effort to organize a coordinated reaction.
Egypt’s Finance Minister says the country is actually benefiting from the Turkish crisis, but so-called ‘hot money’ can burn long-term prospects.
Hyperinflation comes from ignoring some basic economic rules. That is unlikely to change any time soon under the Maduro government.
-Analysis- Turkey is a country with extreme social differences. If the inflation rate rises, the lira tumbles and price stickers in supermarkets are rewritten daily, which means those who already have little can afford less and less. The current currency crisis is making the poor even poorer. But it will not spare the rich for […]
Meet the Italians driven by a sense of history and humanity to identify the refugees and migrants who have died trying to cross the Mediterranean.
BERLIN — Angela Merkel has yielded. It was just this past Saturday that the chancellor’s sticking to her guns had brought her Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to the threat of resignation over the government’s migration policy, the issue that has created a deep wedge between the pair. For her relentlessly tough stance on the matter, […]
-Analysis- BERLIN — While Brussels is palavering over a plastic tax that will never materialize, dark clouds are gathering over Europe. Right now, in plain view, the European Union is sliding straight into the next (and potentially deeper) euro crisis. The chaos in Italy — which holds the world’s third-largest public debt, totaling 2.3 trillion […]
After last week’s sham election, the international community — starting with the nations of Latin America — need to isolate Maduro and encourage peaceful, democratic regime change.
-Analysis- BUENOS AIRES — As then President Juan Domingo Perón made clear in a 1951 speech, concerns in Argentina over the price of the U.S. dollar are nothing new. “I ask you this,” he said. “Why do you want dollars? Who’s ever seen a dollar?” Perón posed the question to political opponents who were complaining […]
The Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees in Damascus has been the site of a grueling “zero-hour” offensive since last month.
PARIS — What is France to do, as neighbors, and we Europeans, as fellow citizens, faced with the declaration of independence of Catalonia? It undermines a large European democracy on our border, Spain, and places us in the face of an unprecedented challenge. Within what right do we say “yes’ or “no” when the nationalism […]
China, for one, sees the incumbent German Chancellor as the ‘mother if not grandmother’ of all of Europe. Her likely victory will be good news for her nation, and the planet.
-OpEd- BUENOS AIRES — In Latin America today, what is the future of populism? In Ecuador, socialists in power are discussing among themselves how to abandon populism. President Lenin Moreno seems determined to ditch populist policies. The economy’s figures are in red due to overspending and foreign debt. The viability of its redistributive system has […]
João Lourenço succeeds José Eduardo Dos Santos, who ruled with an iron fist since 1979. But Dos Santos has been busy keeping his hands on the levers of power.
-Analysis- BUENOS AIRES — Argentines are surprised when they hear Europeans are worried the dollar is becoming cheaper. But there’s reason for it. Cheaper dollars mean that foreign products will flood the old continent, which, of course, is good for importers. In Argentina, most people believe that a strong peso is better than a weak […]
Mario Draghi didn’t give much away in his opening remarks at the 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences in southern Germany. In his highly anticipated speech Wednesday morning, the president of the European Central Bank kept mum on the most titillating topic in Europe: upcoming stimulus negotiations. However disappointing, his silence was not altogether surprising: […]
Kurdish-led forces advance with hopes to recapture the ISIS capital. Together with Arab and foreign fighters, they share a common enemy. But what happens when ISIS is gone?
-Analysis- LISBON — What a successful gamble for Lisbon: The European Commission is about to ratify the proposal to end Portugal’s excessive deficit procedure. The country will be joining the club of virtuous economies , against experts’ forecasts. The recovery is a remarkable achievement considering Portugal hit a virtual rock bottom in 2011. On the […]
PARIS — When the migrant crisis started spinning out of control in the summer of 2015, a deep fracture appeared inside the European Union, between countries willing to open their doors and countries ready to erect walls to block the flow of incoming migrants. The tension culminated in late September of that year, when the […]
Nationalism was defeated in Emmanuel Macron’s victory. But the debate of the individual vs. collective has just gotten underway in France, and beyond.
-Analysis- You don’t need to be an army general marching in with troops to mount a coup in a country. Sometimes democracy can be crushed by the very person elected at its helm — the president. In Venezuela, analysts and opposition leaders are describing this phenomenon as a “self-coup,” after President Nicolás Maduro ordered the […]