The current college has proven disappointing.  It has not been helped by a President who has been so concerned about his personal image and reappointment. Echoes of some Member States ideas for their next Commissioner are worrying. The current treaties lay down the following procedure: Member States propose their Commissioners. The Council, by qualified majority [...]

Some reflections on the ceasefire and the two state solution: Ceasefire What is the true situation in the Gaza Strip? On Saturday, Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire, accepting the Egyptian proposal. Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were ordered to redeploy within and outside of Gaza “in accordance with security assessments”. IDF forces will respond to any [...]

Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton did not mention the EU in her statement at her 13 January Senate Hearing from which it has been deduced by some in Europe that this is an indication that the new administration will downgrade the EU in favour of the Member States.  The relevant paragraph reads: “Our traditional relationships [...]

Set out below are extracts from the Israeli IDF (military) update of 13 January: The main objectives of the IDF operation in the Gaza strip are: To bring about conditions for the creation of a better security situation in southern Israel-namely, the long-term cessation of rocket and mortar fire and all terrorist attacks from the [...]

It took Yasser Arafat 1973 to 1988 to persuade Palestinians to accept a two-state solution. 20 years later, with no solution in sight, this solution is beginning to be questioned on both sides. I have sadly come to the conclusion that a two state Israel-Palestine solution is no longer viable. This is for several reasons, [...]

The present battle in Gaza could well take us to the point of no return: putting peace on negotiable terms, based on a two state solution, beyond possibility. I still find it incomprehensible that the international community is powerless and can offer nothing more than conflicting rhetoric. In my post of 3 January I thought [...]

Thanks largely to US policy, the Castro régime is still in power after 50 years. Barack Obama has a special opportunity to end it peacefully. He is free to reverse American policy as he has no political debts that would prevent him from so doing: the Cuban exile community did not back Obama. The new [...]

Less than three weeks to Inauguration, President-elect Obama already faces the Middle East in renewed turmoil. His first priorities will necessarily be domestic (see post of 5 November), and it will take some considerable time to see a coherent foreign policy emerge. The post of 21 July took as its starting point his ‘national security [...]

Dear ReaderI wish you, and all your family a Happy, Healthy & Successful New Year. Re-reading previous messages is depressing. We have failed to solve most of the problems previously identified, and face even greater problems. There is no consensus as to the length and depth of the recession and no effective international economic and [...]

This is the time for reflection, rather than deep analysis. With the cancellation by Beijing of the Lyon EU-PRC summit because “the Dalai Lama will be visiting several EU countries and will meet with heads of state and government as well as presidents of European institutions”, it would have been reasonable to assume that EU-China [...]