Tag: Europe

Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! This year is getting weirder and weirder, I guess and one can only hope we will come out of it into an improved and healed world in every way.  In Hungary official communication suggests we are over the pandemic (COVID-19, there is no communication about the other one, i.e. racism), theaters are opening, beaches are crowded, people are out and about like nothing happened, while there are still several new cases every day. I can’t really decide whether I am overly precautious for not wanting to mingle with people for a while or they are irresponsible for doing…

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Sunday Smack

Hello everybody, happy Sunday! I didn’t quite finish this post for the weekend, but then I  wanted to post it, because the articles I collected throughout the week are exceptionally good! I hope you’ll enjoy them too… Cautionary tales for the Mueller Probe from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia  That’s an unlikely comparison, I mean it would have never occurred to me to think about these two cases in parallel, but if you consider the reasoning, it makes a lot of sense. Here’s Why the Security Council Should Not Refer Burmese Authorities to the International Criminal Court …

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday, everyone! It’s been a while. A long while. Being away from this platform had nothing to do with my professional life, as I am still very much interested in world affairs, I am still reading a lot on the topic, and I really do want to blog about it again. This week’s collection is some kind of a test as I am planning to bring this blog back to life. Today’s weather in Hungary brought a strong autumn-y feeling, and fall is a good (well, as good as ever) occasion to start new things, so I will try…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! This week was incredibly heat-wave-y in most of Europe that may or may not be a result of climate change. I am fully aware that I wrote the same about extreme cold a few months before, these are just the times we’re living. I admit I like this weather, but many countries in Europe are just not used to this kind of heat, not to talk about the  health implications of extreme temperatures. I hope you are all safe. Let’s do a little Sunday reading. Is ISIS conceding defeat? And even if it would be, would this be…

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The European Commission’s White Paper on the Future of Europe

Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the European Commission issued a White Paper on the future of Europe. Subtitled as “Reflections and scenarios for the EU27 by 2025″, the document draws up integration alternatives for the now effectively 27 member organization. White papers of the Commission contain proposals for EU action in a specific area. The aim of this particular white paper is to present possible responses of Europe to challenges ahead taking into account foreboded changes in all major factors like security, world economy, world politics, population and climate change. “Europe’s challenges show…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday everybody! Seems like the weather finally got the memo that it’s almost summer already (at least in Hungary). I hope you are having a great weekend too. Here’s some reading to add to it… The World Humanitarian Summit: A Preview It was about time for a summit like this. As I often like to emphasize, I am a firm believer that the majority of the world’s problems could be solved with the financial resources we do have. All it would take is proper coordination and transparency of the utilization of these resources. I hope that the summit can…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! And happy Mother’s Day for all the mothers (mine especially! ♥), as we are celebrating it on the first Sunday of May on this side of the pond. Speaking of which, happy May too! That’s a whole lot of happy occasions! 🙂 And these are for your reading pleasure today: What the Failure of the Geneva Talks Means Forcing Assad to step down might be an uneasy task to say the least, but finding a worthy and capable successor proves even more difficult. One Europe, from the Arctic to Lampedusa Why I have only recently come across Federica…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Easter, everybody! A photo posted by Katalin Tarjan (@katalintarjan) on Mar 27, 2016 at 6:33am PDT After a week like this, I wish everybody to be safe wherever you are! Today’s reads are not at all pleasant, let’s get to them… What the Brussels Attacks Tell Us About the State of ISIS and Europe Today There are tons of analysis to read on the topic these days. It certainly cannot be said that the Belgian intelligence  were not preparing for an attack like this. Yet they were not prepared. I hate to say this, but since this seems to…

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Four important topics from Davos 2016

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland took place from 20 to 23 January under the theme “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. I am a regular follower of the World Economic Forum’s website, which – regardless of this one week per year in Davos – is a constant resource of informative and inspirational articles for not just economists, but all types of modern professionals. It is also on my bucket list to one day be an attendee of this one week buzz in the life of Davos, Switzerland. Now that I have put it in writing, the…

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Sunday Smack

Hey everybody! How was you first workweek of 2016? I hope it was better than mine. This is now officially the longest time with no posts at all on the blog, except for all the Sunday Smacks. Which obviously is a must, missing a week would feel like breaking a circle or something – this is now the 143th Sunday Smack and this is really saying something. Even though I had lots of plans for 2016 (with the blog and a lot else), I am just not there right now. Actually, if there ever was a time when I would…

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