Philip Stephens associate editor and senior commentator at the Financial Times is my favourite columnist. He has written defendable sense ever since I first started reading him. They include some pieces on Northern Ireland which were truly fantastic. He may have been taken in by Blair's now a Christian, now a politician Jekyll and Hyde personality longer than the body politic - or maybe until his book was published - but it was not a fundamental error.
He is primarily a British political commentator who occasionally strays in to US politics. This comment (subscription only) on the relationship between VVP and the G8 is maybe a little outside his normal beat. Except that it was obviously informed from inside the British body politic. His comments regarding the differing views of VVP by Bush and Blair highlight fundamental foreign policy differences. More concerning were his distinctly unpolitic comments on the relationship between Berlusconi, Chirac and Schroeder and VVP are actually scary. It's rare for an article on Russia to leave me feeling depressed about both Russia and the EU. This did both.
Acting subserviently in front of the Imperium will leave only a sore ring. Whilst none of the soon to be ex-leaders-of-EU countries is a great believer in democracy (or the act of voting - which seems to be democracy's lowest common denominator) they are not, nor will they ever be as cynical about it as VVP and the Fifth Directorate Thugs. I remain ambivalent on whether democracy has been harmed by Putin's term in office. But Russia's ability to project beyond it's borders has grown massively. Fortunately the idiots running the lunatic asylum have yet to learn that their soft power is so much more powerful than their hard power. Lets hope that the EU develops a spine before the inmates elect someone whose competence extends beyond being able to resist a bottle of vodka.
Apologies for the quality of this post - read Philip's article.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 October 2005
FT on Russia/EU Relationships and Democracy
Philip Stephens associate editor and senior commentator at the Financial Times is my favourite columnist. He has written defendable sense ever since I first started reading him. They include some pieces on Northern Ireland which were truly fantastic. He may have been taken in by Blair's now a Christian, now a politician Jekyll and Hyde personality longer than the body politic - or maybe until his book was published - but it was not a fundamental error.
He is primarily a British political commentator who occasionally strays in to US politics. This comment (subscription only) on the relationship between VVP and the G8 is maybe a little outside his normal beat. Except that it was obviously informed from inside the British body politic. His comments regarding the differing views of VVP by Bush and Blair highlight fundamental foreign policy differences. More concerning were his distinctly unpolitic comments on the relationship between Berlusconi, Chirac and Schroeder and VVP are actually scary. It's rare for an article on Russia to leave me feeling depressed about both Russia and the EU. This did both.
Acting subserviently in front of the Imperium will leave only a sore ring. Whilst none of the soon to be ex-leaders-of-EU countries is a great believer in democracy (or the act of voting - which seems to be democracy's lowest common denominator) they are not, nor will they ever be as cynical about it as VVP and the Fifth Directorate Thugs. I remain ambivalent on whether democracy has been harmed by Putin's term in office. But Russia's ability to project beyond it's borders has grown massively. Fortunately the idiots running the lunatic asylum have yet to learn that their soft power is so much more powerful than their hard power. Lets hope that the EU develops a spine before the inmates elect someone whose competence extends beyond being able to resist a bottle of vodka.
Apologies for the quality of this post - read Philip's article.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment