Common Sense
European Union
Catalonia Referendum 1 October: Live
12:41 a.m. Monday. “Sí” wins overwhelmingly in a Catalan referendum marred by police violence and abstention by pro-union parties. The estimated turnout is approximately 41% (2.26 million ballots out of 5.51 million registered voters in the 2015 parliamentary election). 12:15 a.m. Monday. The end of a bloody and emotional day. The government crack-down, though brutal enough, […]
Let Catalonia Vote
In two days, Catalonia is scheduled to attempt to hold a binding referendum on independence from Spain. “Attempt to hold” is the operative phrase: the Spanish Government has vowed that there will be no vote and has sent at least 7,000 police to Catalonia to enforce this. A majority of Catalans are determined that a […]
Catalonia Update – The Endgame Begins
Warning: In compliance with Spanish Intellectual Property law, Common Sense no longer quotes nor reproduces links to sites based in Spain. Verification of the veracity of this information is the sole responsibility of the reader. Three years ago I published an article describing the evolution and possible outcomes of the festering crisis in Catalonia, Spain’s […]
Catalonia and Spain Prepare for the #IndyRef Endgame
Summers in Spain have always been hot, but the past few years have been unusually so. This is partially due to climate change, which has been turning July and August in Iberia from merely “hot” to “torrid”. But mostly it is because of the constitutional and national crisis that has simmered between Catalonia and the […]
A Path for Le Pen?
The first round of the French Presidential elections was held on the 24th of April and Europe breathed a sigh of relief as Marine Le Pen, the anti-EU leader of the National Front, came in second place to political newcomer Emmanuel Macron. The two outsiders were neck-and-neck in last weeks of the campaign, leading to […]
The National Question
It is common wisdom that Europe’s overly secretive and entangling web of alliances at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries were responsible for the horror of the First World War. When Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz and Sophie Ferdinand on the streets of Sarajevo, the inevitable countdown to war began and […]
The Bomb
The Bomb The European Union in 2017 has the appearance of a sickly old man with so many ailments that it is hard to know whether he’ll be carried off by pneumonia, blood poisoning or stroke. The continent lurches from crisis to crisis while Brussels struggles to find policy responses that go beyond “kick the […]
The New Face of Europe
Paris continues to be rocked by protests and urban violence directed at French police and allegations that they are deliberately targeting minority groups and poor neighborhoods. Most protests have been peaceful, but there have also been violent incidents with hooded and masked provocateurs burning cars – now a French tradition – and hurling paving stones […]
Catalonia-Spain Endgame Scenarios: 2017
Warning: In compliance with Spanish Intellectual Property law, Common Sense no longer quotes nor reproduces links to sites based in Spain. Verification of the veracity of this information is the sole responsibility of the reader. In 2014, I charted five potential paths for the Catalan independence movement. I mapped the most likely progression for each […]
Saving NATO: Europe Must Commit to a Common Defense Fund
A version of this article was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2015. Unfortunately for NATO, there is still a need for me to update it yet again in 2017. The Telegraph reported this week that the UK Ministry of Defence was unable to meet recruitment targets set for it. As a consequence, the […]
Common Sense
- Catalonia Referendum 1 October: Live September 29, 2017
- Let Catalonia Vote September 29, 2017
- Catalonia Update – The Endgame Begins September 22, 2017
- All the Heavens Are Rejoicing September 20, 2017
- The Next Wave of Globalization Must Focus on Labor Rights September 12, 2017
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