To reduce the riots that have shaken Britain this week to nothing more than criminal wickedness, as Prime Minister David Cameron and his cohort tend to do, is a dangerous exercise in denial. And it barely survives the most cursory scrutiny: Thousands of people don’t suddenly take to the streets to manifest wickedness as if in …
E.U.
London Rioters Vs. Stock Market Traders: Who’s More Destructive?
Spreading chaos stokes rising fear. People rush to secure or otherwise protect valuables suddenly exposed to threat. Every 24 hours or so, mobs of faceless people converge anew to form an unpredictable, menacingly amorphous force whose destructive power strikes terror throughout society. Distraught citizens look on at the frenzy with the …
Dispatch from Tottenham: Where the U.K. Riots First Started
As the crow flies Tottenham is eight miles from the center of London. As the traffic creeps, that translates to 45 minutes by car. The route takes one through the boroughs of Islington and Hackney—the latter still largely poor, but streaked by pockets of growing gentrification. To the right for much of the route one can see a mass …
Massive Protests Raise the Question: Should Israel be More European or American?
Back in February when Egyptians took to the streets to overthrow longtime Israel’s longtime friend and ally Hosni Mubarak, many Israelis fretted over what ill wind the “Arab Spring” would bring. Would a more democratic Egyptian government veer away from the U.S.-Israel axis and ally with Hamas? Would it abrogate the Camp David treaty …
What the London Riots Spell for the British Prime Minister
by Nick Assinder/London
After three nights of violence, arson and looting that have left parts of London looking like a war zone, Prime Minister David Cameron has one pressing question to answer from citizens looking to him for reassurance and action: Who controls Britain’s streets?
Throughout Monday night and the early hours …
The Riots of Paris and London: A Tale of Two Cities
With the violence that broke out in London Saturday having spread to other English cities during a third straight night of rioting Monday, it’s tempting (and probably portentous) from the comfort of Paris to offer up lessons learned from the nearly three weeks of upheaval that rocked French towns in 2005. Yet while there seem to be …
U.S. Global Influence Tanks with the Economy
You say you want a revolution? Not now, mate, can’t you see we’re busy?
“It’s the economy, stupid,” was the focal message around which Bill Clinton organized his against-the-odds 1992 campaign victory over President George H.W. Bush. The incumbent had presided over the soft landing of the collapsing Soviet empire and driven Saddam …
London Riots: A Blast From The Past Or A Glimpse Of The Future?
At first glance there’s little to separate the riots that swept through Tottenham overnight and the street battles in the same part of North London a quarter of a century ago that reached a peak of violence with the murder of a policeman called Keith Blakelock. Both riots were sparked by fury at police after the deaths of black …
Five Lessons the World Will Take From U.S. Economic Policy Gridlock
Washington may have cut an unlovable deal to avert a default on its debts, but U.S. and global stock markets are tanking anyway. That’s because the measures agreed Tuesday can’t reverse the slide of the U.S. economy — its fundamentals, to use a phrase beloved by politicians, are less than sound. So, what the world sees in America’s …
Piers Morgan Tomorrow? The Hacking Scandal Laps At The British Star
If News International holds a soirée at the Conservative Party conference this October, it’s likely to be a subdued affair. At the zenith of Rupert Murdoch’s influence over British public life, invitations to such shindigs were as sought after as Willy Wonka’s golden tickets. Would-be gatecrashers who evaded fire-breathing, …
Why The French Inquiry Of Christine Lagarde Is Unlikely To Threaten Her IMF Job
Does Friday’s decision by French justice officials to open a legal investigation into abuse of power allegations against Christine Lagarde mean the International Monetary Fund head risks losing her job less than a month after succeeding the disgraced Dominique Strauss-Kahn? The short answer is no, and for many reasons. Still, that …
Revelations Surrounding Air France Crash Inquiry Sparks Accusations Of Manipulation
It didn’t take for confirmation of our warning last week that the initial report into the causes of the 2009 crash of Air France flight 447 wouldn’t stifle debate about who was to blame for the calamity. Less than a week after France’s official Bureau of Investigations and Analyses (BEA) issued a preliminary finding stating …
Mired in Libya and Fearful of Consequences, West Holds Back From Syria Intervention
“Liberal Interventionists” in Washington had hoped, last March, that the decision by the U.S., Britain and France to launch U.N.authorized military action in Libya represented a new Western willingness to protect civilians under threat by their own regimes. The paralysis of the same governments and the wider international community …