As hostilities flare again between Serbia and Kosovo, the writer draws connections between the dissolutions of both the USSR and Yugoslavia, and the leaders who exploit upheaval and feed the worst kind of nationalism.
Tag: nationalism
There is a growing likelihood that Donald Trump will return to the White House in Jan. 2025. Europe must act now to be ready to protect its democracy without relying on its U.S. ally.
The Serbian tennis star is neither a victim nor a heavy, writes Serbian journalist Tatjana Đorđević Simić. But back home in Serbia, he is a hero who risks to turn in to a puppet of Serbia’s nationalistic government.
Over the past few weeks, the offspring of two of the 20th centuries most ruthless strongmen have announced they’d like to become the (democratically elected) leaders of Libya and the Philippines.
Despite a recent record number of Chinese military jets approaching Taiwanese air space, both citizens and leaders in the island nation have developed a method for living with the threat of an invasion from China.
The very first memories of the 30-year-old mayor is when the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina was under siege. But now it’s also time to move on.
-Essay- — What does it say at the bottom of a Norwegian ketchup bottle? — Opens at the other end. As a Swede, I know about a hundred jokes like that, and it wasn’t until I moved to Norway in my early twenties I realized Norwegians tell the exact same ones about Swedes. This fraternal […]
From Venezuela to Belarus, there are countries that have elements of democracy but fall well short of acceptable standards of freedom and transparency. Will the U.S. end up there too?
While populists toughen their positions and beat their chests, the deep-seated weakness of their policies is driving everything.
French President Emmanuel Macron is among those demanding that an eventual vaccine be available to all. But there’s also money in play, and a market guided by a whole different set of priorities.
Against a tide of right-wing nationalism, Germany’s Basic Law — with its emphasis on fundamental rights — is as relevant now as it was 70 years ago, when it first appeared.
From France to Poland, the far-right draws people in with plot lines that offer fast and easy answers but no long-term solutions.
Migration was a hot-button topic in last week’s EU elections. But deeper demographic issues are shaping the region’s future and economic wellbeing.
NEW DELHI — The great Indian electoral war of 2019 ended with Narendra Modi securing a historic mandate to rule India for another five years. The divided opposition should not have expected anything better as it had no national narrative, no credible agenda and no alternative leadership to contain a colossal opponent like Modi. It is ironic that in a parliamentary democracy like India, people have voted for the “leader” Modi, rather than members of parliament. No doubt, the president of his BJP party, Amit Shah displayed a shrewd strategy that helped secure this victory. Yet he still has a […]
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
From films to photography, artwork can help arouse the empathy we need to counter these dark days of border walls and White nationalist terrorism, not yet extinct, and art foments it.
–OpEd– BERLIN — The late Chancellor Helmut Kohl, a great European who led Germany through its unification, was wrong. European integration is no longer “irreversible.” Today, in 2019, disintegration is the declared goal of many member states. It is dependency, not independence, that has until now made Europe strong. For the future, Europe does not […]
Current nationalism in post-Partition India and Pakistan can’t kill the spirit of the independent businesses that embody memory and history.
Far-right and far-left from around the world voice support for the popular uprising in France.
The French president is the populist Italian Interior Minister’s favorite target. But is Salvini attacking Macron to mask his own failure to unite Europe’s nationalists?
Indians are wild for the World Cup, even if their men’s team has yet to participate. And they’ve got no qualms about going all out for other country’s team.
NEW DELHI — Farooque was a Kashmiri. He hated India. His cousin was killed by security forces at a demonstration in Srinagar. This was 1990. We were classmates, and I always took him head on for his anti-India rhetoric. Back then, no one minded his bombast, nor our arguments — and life went on. Then came March 1992 and the cricket World Cup. The determined Imran Khan and Pakistan came from behind and won the title. I skipped college the day Pakistan won because I did not have the courage to face Farooque, who was of course ecstatic beyond words […]
The northern Italian region of Veneto will hold a referendum on gaining greater autonomy from the central government in Rome — but not all its citizens are aware.
It is the great challenge (and paradox) of our time: Far from erasing identity claims, globalization reinforces them. From Spain to Myanmar to Trump’s America, it must be confronted head-on.
-OpEd- When Donald Trump spoke at his inauguration on Jan. 20, there wasn’t even a hint of trying to be magnanimous. Instead, he called for the most narrow-minded form of nationalism. It’s tempting to see this as one of the many personal shortcomings of the new president of the United States. But that’s not the […]
-OpEd- PARIS — “The era of multiculturalism is over …” This was the proud declaration of Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, back in the summer of 2015. One year later, Theresa May, the new British prime minister, took it one step further: “If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you’re […]
Who are we? A referendum in Hungary raises fundamental questions in the West about how the fear of otherness turns culture into a weapon in the hands of populists.
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Orban’s Law, National Identity As Fear
That disturbingly flexible phrase “fear of the other” appears to be driving electoral politics around the world right now. Perhaps the intellectual center can be found in central Europe, specifically Viktor Orban’s Hungary. Since taking office in 2010, the smooth-talking right-wing prime minister has been a singular voice for those who see the West as […]
-Analysis- PARIS — There is something rotten in Europe. A kind of fetid wind, or foreboding gust, is blowing through. The far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) nearly won the presidential election, the best result for a far-right party since World War II. The FPÖ candidate, Norbert Hofer, might have shown the friendly face of […]
The far-right candidate may have lost the Austrian presidential election in the end, but the campaign has already changed the country for the worse.
As nationalist groups around the continent take on the Pegida brand name, a mass European-wide rally is planned in at least seven cities for Feb. 6.
Colombia’s former conservative president and Venezuela’s socialist leader fight in public, but they love the same, bombastic style of politics. And both countries suffer for it.
Venezuela, facing economic turmoil and the challenge of upcoming legislative elections, is inflaming a centuries-old border dispute with Guyana.
The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) recently organized its first-ever European soccer championship. Could it be a credible alternative to the scandal-plagued FIFA?
MOSCOW — When Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating began to rise last year, patriotism crept into Russian consumer preferences, branding experts say, so much so that companies are now catering to this newfound domestic pride. Branding agency Depot WPF recently developed a new design for a juice brand, using elements of traditional Russian painted […]
-OpEd- MOSCOW — The dials of the propaganda machine were never properly calibrated. Instead of talking about fighting Ukrainian nationalists, who like nationalists anywhere are dangerous and unsavory, it was simply Ukrainians and Ukraine that Russians were fighting. Less than a year later, this indiscriminate approach has had identifable results. In an October survey of […]
Driven by the belief that Russia is the last bastion against liberal globalization, a small band of French fighters, some of them former military officers, have taken up arms against Ukraine.
The Russian leader’s propaganda machine attracts all sorts of extremist movements in the European Union, on both sides of the political spectrum.
A Brazilian viewpoint in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations on widespread NSA surveillance.
-Op-Ed- BEIJING – On April 28, the Japanese government held a ceremony it dubbed the “Anniversary of Japan’s Restoration of Sovereignty and Return to the International Community.” Held in Tokyo, the occasion celebrated the end of the American-led occupation in Japan in 1952, and featured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asking the public to cheer […]