Ellee Seymour (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009 | International
My Eastern Region MEP Robert Sturdy has accused the EU of “a classic fudge” over the appointment of its first president and foreign minister, the two top jobs in Europe. The Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy, is the first president elected by European leaders under the Lisbon Treaty, while Baroness Ashton, former Trade Commissioner, [...]
The Plank (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009 | International
Today the European Union finds itself with two new top leaders--Herman Van Rompuy, the EU’s first president, and Catherine Ashton, the new high representative of foreign policy. If the names are unfamiliar, you’re not alone. In fact, the buzz surrounding Van Rompuy, who has been the Belgian prime minister for less than a year, and Ashton, who was most recently the EU’s trade commissioner,...
EU Referendum (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009 | International
Paul Belien over at Brussels Journal has an inside track on Herman Van Rompuy. Despite his comic-book name and his benign, avuncular appearance, this is a shrewd political operator. He was once, by all accounts, a human being, but has gone over to the Dark Side. Paul equates him to Saruman in the Lord of the Rings. The important point to take on board is that this is the Commission's man on the Council....
inca kola news (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009 | International
ka-boom? Well...dynamiting them, actually. Another taste of bizarre today as the hypocrisy of US foreign policy towards Venezuela shows up once again. Several newswires are running the story about how Venezuelan troops blew up two pedestrian bridges that connect Venezuela with LittleUSA ( a.k.a. Colombia) in the Norte de Santander region this week. Anyone who knows anything about that spot on the planet...
Crooked Timber (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009 | International
So the news is spreading that the Belgian PM, Herman Van Rompuy, would be the first president of the EU. I am not going to comment on what that means for the EU now. It’s after nine in the evening here, and I’m preparing my teaching for tomorrow morning (and for reasons I need not [...]
Political Animal (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009 | International
CONSISTENCY ISN'T THEIR STRONG POINT, CONT'D.... We talked yesterday about how Republicans haven't exactly been consistent when it comes to their deeply held beliefs on the perils of judicial filibusters. But their consistency on trials for terrorists is arguably more...
The F-Word Blog (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009 | International
For many trans people, life is not easy. Nobody said it would be. But being trans is not something we choose and as a consequence transitioning may not be an option either. For some of us it's something which we...
ConservativeHome's ToryDiary (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009 | International
In what is a most rare occurrence, the Daily Mail and the Guardian agree on a headline to cover the story of the appointment of the EU's new President and High Representative - "The Great EU Stitch-Up". So how have the appointments of Herman Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton been received by the Right and the wider Eurosceptic Movement? Last night I noted the reaction of Shadow Foreign Secretary,...
Backspin (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009 | International
Jonathan Boyd says MSM coverage of Israel has a direct bearing on the levels of anti-Semitism. That's inspite of what The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, told Channel 4's Dispatches program. Boyd writes: Perhaps most important, it failed to mention in...
Althouse (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009 | International
Crushing: Holder imagines that he can hide inside that "thoughtful" routine that Obama so often relies on, but it is utterly pathetic here. Either he knows damned well what he's doing and he's lying or he's outrageously unqualified for his job. His evasive style is so similar to Obama's that he makes Obama look worse.
Boing Boing (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009 | International
Welcome to Ozark, Arkansas, where police officers taser 10-year-old girls....
Crooked Timber (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009 | International
So as Ingrid notes, EU member states have chosen Von Rompuy as the new President of the European Council. To use the terms that Euro-politicians have themselves been using (which were nicked, presumably by Brian Cowen, from the title of a political science text on Irish Taoisigh), they have decided to go for a chairman [...]
The Plum Line (Free subscription) | 16/11/2009 | International
This isn’t terribly surprising but it’s noteworthy: Whatever successes Sarah Palin is having among Republicans, she’s absolutely tanking among independents and moderates. The internals of the new ABC News/Washington Post poll find: * Only 37% of independents think she’s qualified for the presidency, barely more than a third. * Only 30% of self-described moderates think she’s...
Althouse (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009 | International
Politico reports: “I don't think it will be offensive at all when [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is] convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him,” Obama told NBC’s Chuck Todd. When Todd asked Obama if he was interfering in the trial process by declaring that Mohammed will be executed, Obama, a former constitutional law professor, insisted that he wasn’t trying to dictate...
Spin and Spinners (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009 | International
So Tony Blair isn't to be EU president. But then, according to the Guardian , he didn't want the job: It is understood that he would have been unsure of taking the post when the Swedish government, which holds the rotating EU presidency, indicated in a paper on Wednesday that the president would have little or no role in foreign affairs.
