NEED TO KNOW GERMANY [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/18ca6ce9-4a8f-46d8-b0b3-84a7601584cd.png"] The Lamest of Ducks German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes. From there, the only way is down. Once firmly in control of the economic powerhouse of Europe, Merkel is facing tough times lately. Following a series...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW MALTA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/9ecfd916-a175-46e1-80c1-04ca56ff02bb.png"] Truth on Trial Two years ago, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia published a blog post about her investigation of corrupt politicians in Malta. “There are crooks everywhere you look now,” she wrote, according to the Washington Post. “The situation is desperate.” A half hour later, she...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UNITED KINGDOM [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/8c238c0e-e370-4880-bc53-0ac24ba71887.png"] The End of the Beginning Women standing for seats in the British parliament face threats, intimidation and abuse. One Labour incumbent in Leeds, Rachel Reeves, recently removed campaign signs from outside her election headquarters, reinforced the door and installed security cameras. She had...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ITALY [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/d1f5e652-8ba9-4650-8185-37353156716c.png"] Selfies and Tears There was a poignant irony to a viral video of a tourist falling into the water in Venice while taking a selfie. The "Queen of the Adriatic” – one of the Italian city’s nicknames – is sinking. High tides and winds...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GERMANY [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/18ca6ce9-4a8f-46d8-b0b3-84a7601584cd.png"] Justice, and Forgiveness Bruno Dey joined the SS when he was a teenager in Nazi Germany, landing a job as a guard in the Stutthof concentration camp between 1944 and 1945. Today, the 93-year-old is on trial in a Hamburg court, facing 5,230 counts...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW BELARUS [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e245c80f-c7d2-453f-bbf8-339abfef08c7.png"] The Wizard's Feint It’s hard to know whether the Nov. 17 elections to the lower house of parliament in Belarus were free and fair. Most doubt it. Still, as the New York Times recently reminded everyone, democracy is on the ropes in Eastern Europe and...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f04f413c-3d85-4071-b786-7412ed1f1b1d.png"] Government by Hydra Bosnia and Herzegovina has three presidents but no government. As Agence France-Presse explained, the three leaders of the Muslim Bosniaks, ethnic Croats and ethnic Serbs serve simultaneously as heads of state in the former Yugoslav republic. But since they...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SPAIN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a2934fc1-ecec-43c4-971e-42408b48ae64.png"] Sighing All The Way To The Polls The weather was so cold on election day Sunday in Spain that one voting official who also happened to be an animal rights activist wore a polar bear outfit. Some voters, meanwhile, showed up in Star...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ROMANIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/818453c3-155c-40f8-b71f-ad77b6c279cd.png"] Rearview Mirror Politics Has Romania finally achieved a semblance of stability? Protests over political corruption have wracked Romania for the past two years. Most recently, for example, the BBC reported on activists who took to the streets to call for a crackdown on illegal...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW GERMANY [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a98d39b0-0658-4e98-9681-df0fd44630d4.png"] Of Falling Walls and Soaring Rage Americans view the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago as an unequivocal triumph, a victory of democracy over totalitarianism. German journalist Sabine Rennefanz is more ambivalent. The daughter of an East German metal worker who lost...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA & UKRAINE [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/379cac1a-a8c8-4a3c-a72a-ecfbb043e9d7.png"] The Other Side of Scandal Some Americans might have noticed that Ukraine has been in the news a lot lately. The sparring between US lawmakers and the White House over impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump put a spotlight on the corner...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UNITED KINGDOM [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/8c238c0e-e370-4880-bc53-0ac24ba71887.png"] Should I Stay or Should I Go… Brexit was supposed to happen on Oct. 31. It won’t. Britain’s finance chief, Chancellor Sajid Javid, admitted the deadline couldn't be met, the BBC reported. Javid’s boss, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, grudgingly requested an extension – he was...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CATALONIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7b3c4484-6c61-42ec-869f-4fb69f335033.png"] Powder Keg Politics Separatism made Catalonia into a powder keg. Spanish authorities lit the fuse. Activists in the region of northeastern Spain have long demanded independence from the central government in Madrid, citing their unique language and culture. In 2017, tensions over the issue came...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW POLAND [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7b585fc6-d6c4-4f4e-a14a-33fe8d729c1c.png"] Fertilizing with Fear Police clashed with anti-LGBTQ protesters last month in Lublin, Poland, before a gay pride march. “We’ve had death threats,” march organizer Bartosz Staszewski told Reuters. “[This violence] was about forcing us not to have this march.” The unrest reflects the “increased social...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW BELARUS [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/e245c80f-c7d2-453f-bbf8-339abfef08c7.png"] A Tight Bear Hug Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently described the refusal of Belarus to host a Russian air base as an “unpleasant episode.” But, Reuters noted, Lavrov was quick to add that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was a “100 percent ally” of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW KOSOVO [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/32cfa942-fe95-4d5a-b641-225fb469688b.png"] Getting the House in Order Voters in Kosovo are preparing to elect a new parliament for the fifth time in 12 years. The Oct. 6 vote illustrates the political instability that has prevented the tiny country – the newest in Europe and the second...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PORTUGAL [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/8bd2b27e-63d6-421e-a05b-e4e77532349c.png"] Sunshine, and Rainy Days Voters on the tiny Portuguese island of Madeira recently handed a victory to their prime minister on the mainland, António Costa. They tripled the number of lawmakers from Costa’s Socialist Party in the island’s regional parliament, traditionally a stronghold of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW CHECHNYA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/b3c122de-c755-4f08-ae2e-3c016f6d2ed2.png"] A Warrior Culture On a recent visit to Chechnya, a region of southwestern Russia in the Caucasus Mountains, a writer repeatedly overheard a macho refrain: “The man must take care of and protect his family, otherwise he would not be a man.” Writing in...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW AUSTRIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/f496d445-2136-496b-b90b-cd25f777326b.png"] Return of Realpolitik Austrian hoteliers recently sued a former guest who complained in online reviews about the photograph of their uncle that hung in their lobby. The uncle was dressed in a Nazi army uniform, the Telegraph reported. The hotel owners protested that the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW RUSSIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/590fa22c-cb98-46d1-92e0-b6539b2a1173.png"] Over a Shoulder, Over a Barrel Funny thing happened after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies lost a third of their seats on the Moscow city council earlier this month. Members of Putin’s United Russia political party still retained a slim majority on the capital...
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