Tag: EU

Sunday Smack

Happy 2014 everybody! I hope all of your New Years started as great as mine. I came accross some great reads as well in the first days of 2014, check out a few of them. On world affairs: John Kerry cites some progress in Mideast diplomacy US Secretary of State John Kerry started off the New Year with another trip to the Middle East to hold talks with Israeli, Palestinian and other leaders in the region. Why does Ariel Sharon matter? With news of Ariel Sharon’s already bad health failing, The Telegraph posted this article about his significant role in…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday everybody! As I put the finishing touches to this post, I am watching the sad pictures on CNN of Nelson Mandela being laid to rest. This of course marks the end of the 10-day-mourning that really defined world news in the past few days. I selected a few posts from other topics too, though. On world affairs: A Pivotal Week for the Central African Republic France is taking the lead role again in an African conflict zone with two casualties so far. Back in the USSR What is it about the European Union that makes thousands of Ukrainians bare…

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From the archive: 20 years since the Maastricht treaty

From the archive: 20 years since the Maastricht treaty The Treaty of Maastricht that created the European Union out of the European Communities and introduced the co-decision procedure in order to strenghten the European Parliament and the people of Europe just turned 20. So much has happened in Europe in the past 20 years…

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Sunday Smack

Hope you all had a great week and an even better weekend! Here’s a few news stories to look back to: On world affairs: EU reaction to the NSA Affair Well, hacking world leaders’ cell phones is a serious issue. I would even double Lawfare’s Ingrid Wuerth calling it a diplomatic disaster. It is still unclear though how deep this will impact EU-US relations. UPR and Israel Israel has refused to atted its review session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, being the first state ever to do so. The rescheduled review is about to take place…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday everyone, there is another major heat wave in Hungary these days, records are expected to break again. Things don’t stop moving for the summer though, I came across quite a few great reads this week. Check them out! On world affairs: US Military: No Good Military Solution to the Syrian Conflict Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey (and many others) thinks so. But is there any other solution? Our shared responsibility to protect An unlikely couple, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Bush’s envoy to Sudan Richard S. Williamson shared this opinion piece…

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Croatia celebrates its EU membership

Croatia celebrates its EU membership Croatia is becoming the 28th member state of the European Union at midnight!

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Sunday Smack

I submitted this photo this week for http://ifuwerentafraid.tumblr.com/. Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn.org is asking you what would you do if you weren’t afraid? And this answer pretty much sums up my life right now. Based on the notes it got, I am not alone feeling this way. What would your answer be? Go to http://ifuwerentafraid.tumblr.com/ and submit your photo. On other news, we are after a huge heat-wave in Hungary with all-time-high temperature records breaking almost every day. I still claim I like this weather, although I admit it is less pleasant when you have work to do and errands to run. Or a…

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G8 Summit 2013 – Decisions made

The annual G8 summit has wrapped up earlier this week. On Monday I posted about its expected agenda, now I’d like to briefly go through what’s been decided in Lough Erne in those two days. The EU and US came to an agreement to launch negotiations about what could be “the biggest bilateral trade deal in history” both in worth and in significance. After their main economic discussion, the G8 leaders highlighted the fight against unemployment as a priority in fostering global recovery. They agreed that after bright prospects in 2012, economic and financial difficulties remain in 2013 that require…

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G8 – A Brief History

The annual G8 summit is about to kick off on Monday, so I thought I would do a few educational/informational posts about the G8 in general and about this year’s meeting in particular. So this is the first one in a series, watch out for the rest in the coming days. The G8 summit is held annually to gather eight world leaders in order to discuss current economic and political issues affecting their countries and the world. G8 stands for the Group of 8, that is, the eight most prosperous countries of the world. Almost. To be more specific, G8=G7+1….

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