Spain heads to the polls again on June 26 in an election that is widely expected to result in another hung Corts - Spain's parliament - just as it did in December of last year. The problem is tha...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/05/how_can_spain_break_its_electoral_gridlock_111837.html
Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff, is responsible in three ways for her country's predicament. She is responsible for her erratic economic policies, characterized by lavish public spending and m...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/05/could_brazils_left_zig-zag_to_a_comeback_111835.html
Following years of rumors, and its initial showing during a military parade in Moscow last year, Russia's newest battle tank, the Armata, continues to make headlines. The Uralvagonzavod factory t...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/russias_military_modernization_where_next_111826.html
The worsening state of the Russian economy is under increasing scrutiny, as are divinations of its meaning for the Russian regime. Most prognostications stop short of issuing a verdict on the fut...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/the_heat_is_rising_as_russias_economy_falters_111820.html
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes," wrote Benjamin Franklin. That truism seems a bit less true after the Panama Papers exposed one of the biggest tax dodgin...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/lets_have_one_corporate_tax_for_europe_111814.html
Andy Langenkamp is a global policy analyst for ECR Research. Crises are nothing new. However, in Europe six crises reinforce each other. The list includes migration, populism, Brexit, a lingering...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/europes_six-headed_crisis_111812.html
The State of Israel turns 68 next month. Is Israel doomed? Will bad demography, bad neighbors, and bad Israeli behavior turn the once hopeful and idealistic notion of a thriving Jewish democratic...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/will_israel_reach_age_100_111810.html
European sanctions against Russia are set to expire on July 31, barring a unanimous vote to extend them the next time EU heads of state meet. Russia has developed several ways to influence Europe...
It was off the radar screen for some time but it looks to return with a vengeance this summer: the Greek Question about debt relief. Pressure is on eurozone nations to finally write off some of t...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/time_to_write_off_some_of_greeces_debts_111804.html
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia show no signs of abating, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was unsparing when he recently criticized Russia for destabilizing his country. Speaking on ...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/how_ukraines_military_will_defeat_russias_rebels.html
Victory or defeat in war is often as much psychological as it is military. Military forces fight to impose their wills, and at a certain moment, even if the weapons are not yet silent, one side o...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/04/now_is_the_time_to_break_isis_111793.html
Weeks before President Obama's arrival in Havana, uneasiness was already perceptible in the ranks of the Cuban government. For sure, President Raul Castro knew how much his regime could benefit f...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/obamas_tear_down_this_wall_moment_in_cuba.html
I had the opportunity to visit Havana with the permission of the U.S. government in March 2013. Thankfully, I am blessed with a vivid imagination, and I could see that it must have been an incred...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/obamas_cuban_disgrace_111788.html
Several days after the terrorist mayhem in Brussels, reflection on how the attacks could happen is in full swing. Part of the answer: Belgian politicians simply don't care about the safety of the...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/the_blood_on_the_hands_of_belgian_politicians.html
In the near future, Ukraine plans to conduct test launches of domestically produced ballistic missiles built without the involvement of foreign companies, said National Security and Defense Counc...
My daily digest of reading this morning started on a troubling if relatively speculative note. As a naturalized Dutch citizen living in the United Kingdom, I take a personal as well as profession...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/brussels_then_now_and_in_the_future_111774.html
These are hard times for Latin America's populist left, the one that, inspired by the Castro model, was brought to power at the dawn of the present century by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Luiz In...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/hard_times_for_castros_latin_american_heirs.html
The U.S. president had not set foot in Cuba when the regime began to drop rhetorical bombs. First came a long editorial in Granma. Its essence? That Cuba won't budge an inch from its socialist an...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/this_is_not_the_path_to_cuban_freedom_111772.html
Kazakhstan has long been a model of post-Soviet cooperation with Moscow and a cornerstone of the Kremlin's plan for a Eurasian economic block drawing on the allegiance former Soviet states have t...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/the_curious_case_of_succession_in_kazakhstan.html
Turkey and the European Union achieved a Herculean feat, finally sealing a deal that has been in the works since October. According to the agreement, Syrian refugees fleeing to the Continent via ...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/the_eus_deal_with_turkey_what_comes_next_111768.html
Russia's announcement that it is pulling troops out of Syria has been met with surprise from the Obama administration and a fair amount of clucking from pundits who see it as a vindication of Vla...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/how_much_did_russia_win_in_syria.html
While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's police forces close newspaper after radio station after news website, and while Turkish armed forces pursue a veritable civil war with the Kurds, th...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/turkey_delights_111756.html
Two years ago, the Ukrainian military found itself badly outmatched and unprepared to fight Russian special forces who quickly took over the Crimean peninsula. They also struggled against Moscow-...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/is_ukraines_military_ready_for_a_fight_111752.html
As the world grudgingly grows to accept Russia's role in Syria, Russia's industry is struggling to keep pace the country's geopolitical success. Lacking sufficient qualified labor, some military ...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/russia_cant_find_enough_skilled_workers_111746.html
Maybe the U.S.-Russian cease-fire will hold in Syria, or at least tamp down the level of violence in that country. But whether it does or not, there are a few American assumptions about the U.S. ...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/there_is_no_hollywood_ending_for_syria_111742.html
Last week's so-called elections in Iran were met with much fanfare from both the regime and some in the West. Despite the predominant narrative focusing on the factional split within Iran, the el...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/manufacturing_consent_in_iran_111739.html
Over the past decade and a half, Russian President Vladimir Putin has enjoyed consistently high rankings and the continued support of the majority of his country's population, as well as that of ...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/03/why_russians_love_putin_111735.html
Andy Langenkamp is a global policy analyst for ECR Research. In its 2016 Preventive Priorities Survey, one of the world's most respected and influential think tanks, the Council on Foreign Relati...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/02/europes_mena_nightmare.html
It was to be expected. The "deal" hashed out between British Prime Minister David Cameron and the European Union is enticing other countries to rake in some goodies of their own. Thus Cameron's c...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/02/is_europe_better_off_without_britain.html
The recent Congressional testimony of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sharply frames the conundrum the United States faces when countering the Islamic State and other jihadists. T...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/02/the_problem_with_isis_111713.html
It will be like Godzilla vs. King Kong. What a few months ago seemed impossible, today has some chances of occurring: a final confrontation between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in the battle f...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/02/trump_sanders_end_american_exceptionalism_111710.html
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has become known for the ludicrous assertions uttered during his broadcasted speeches. During the 2013 presidential campaign (which he won by a thin margin and...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/02/chickens_in_venezuelas_presidential_palace_111702.html
On Sunday, North Korea successfully launched a satellite into space for what it called peaceful purposes, triggering the perfunctory denunciations of its neighbors. South Korean President Park Ge...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/02/unshackling_nuclear_proliferation_111703.html
American populism has a European streak - or perhaps it is the other way around. The way Donald Trump and his supporters operate is very much like on The Old Continent, right down to the seemingl...
Is Saudi Arabia an ally of the United States? Is Iran an enemy? This is not your grandfather's Middle East. In days past the Cold War, an aggressive Saddam Hussein, and al-Qaeda provided a comfor...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/02/usa_iran_israel_allies_adversaries_111692.html
As European leaders prepare for a mid-February summit -- just the latest such gathering to seek a solution to the Continent's refugee crisis -- the politics surrounding that crisis are intensifyi...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/there_is_no_plan_b_for_europe_111683.html
The better-known "Radetzky March" is a musical march, Op. 228, composed by Jonah Strauss Sr. and played commonly at New Year's concerts. Less famous, perhaps, is the book written by Joseph Roth t...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/as_moldova_marches_111680.html
Despite calling the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 one of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century, Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently considers the process that gave birth to ...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/putins_autonomous_doublespeak_111677.html
President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address spent a couple of paragraphs discussing the terrorist threat to the American homeland. In the wake of the San Bernardino attack, he felt oblige...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/the_future_of_isis_al_qaeda_20_111675.html
Andy Langenkamp is a global policy analyst for ECR Research. Politicians have become aware that European progress is reversible. Some have even uttered the word "war." Global trends, European dev...
President Barack Obama has taken heat throughout his second term for having an incoherent Mideast political strategy; one ill-suited to addressing the cycle of civil strife and sectarianism that ...
If headlines from the United States and Europe are to be believed, old democracies will be eclipsed by so-called benevolent dictators who will do away with all the tiresome "yes, but..." discours...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/who_dares_wins_111660.html
Russians are increasingly concerned with their country's economic situation, and despite high levels of support for President Vladimir Putin and his policies, many are worried about their economi...
Since the Crimea crisis of February 2014, the Obama administration has tried to use sanctions to persuade Russia to change its course on foreign policy. But for reasons that would seem irrational...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/the_business_of_russia_is_politics_111652.html
Brazil's political crisis has now turned into a full-fledged impeachment crisis. The first to pay the price will be the Brazilian people. It will be months - maybe years - before Congress and the...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/brazil_is_going_nowhere_111650.html
In March 2014 elections, El Salvador's ruling left-wing party, the Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front, or FMLN, fought the ascendant right-wing ARENA party to a draw, effectively maintainin...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2016/01/chavismo_is_more_dangerous_in_defeat_111646.html
This weekend's shelling of international monitors in Kominternove, a village in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine, shows the violence and instability that is simmering under the surface in th...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/12/donbass_smolders_while_the_world_focuses_on_syria.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently spoke at an event commemorating Russia's intelligence services. A former intel officer himself, Putin congratulated the officers and emphasized their rol...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/12/putin_rallies_the_faithful_fsb_ukraine.html
On Dec. 10, Russian-language Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP.ru) published previously classified transcripts of 1991 talks between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Russian Soviet Soc...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/12/gorbachev_could_be_accused_of_treason_111637.html
Spanish voters on Sunday delivered not one, but two striking novelties in the electoral history of the fourth-biggest economy of the European Union. For one, the two-party system was brought to a...
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/12/what_happens_now_in_spain_111635.html