Does it really matter whether Catherine Ashton’s travel plans include Haiti, Gaza or an erupting Icelandic volcano? There must be more insightful analysis, and less idle gossip, in press coverage of EU attempts to forge a common foreign policy
Before Catherine Ashton can become an effective actor on the global stage, the European Union’s new foreign policy chief needs to have in place the diplomatic service, ordained by the Lisbon treaty
It’s tempting to think that hard states like China and Russia cannot offer anything in terms of soft power. But Europe and the US need to understand that this viewpoint is no longer valid
Europe has to make up its mind: it’s either tomatoes or immigrants
President Yanukovych could be a ?Ukrainian Nixon’: Just as Nixon used his anti-communist credentials to pave his engagement with China, Yanukovych could use his pro-Russian credentials to reassure Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population while reaching out to Europe
The Yanukovych Paradox ? How the new Ukrainian president can be good news for Europe
The Economist?s Charlemagne asks: if Obama’s American can’t make soft power work, what hope does Europe have? Richard Gowan answers: it has to work. Europe has no other option
There is no way back from Kosovo’s declaration of independence – we must accept this and start helping to build a prosperous nation
“Whatever works”. Is this Obama’s key Asia policy?
Debate over how to help a crisis-striken Bosnia ranges from involvement to encouragement. But a third, unpalatable option for a frustrated EU may lurk just behind the scenes: abandonment