NATO

Treating the current crises effectively shouldn’t undermine a long-term effort to cement stability and peace through smart and soft power, through avenues such as international development.

With a shifting global balance of power, former German Foreign Minister and Vice-chancellor Joschka Fischer talks about the EU’s role and how it can promote global stability.

Before we can tell whether multiculturalism is strengthening or weakening solidarity between the people of a particular society, we need to acknowledge that there were deficits of trust and solidarity long before multicultural policies were adopted. Such policies are potential tools for overcoming the historic deficits in trust and solidarity.

Green parties come in different shapes and sizes. They have different attitudes, as well as differing positions, and they might end up in a wide range of political coalitions when given the opportunity to participate in government. Per Gahrton’s recent book, even if not entirely comprehensive, provides a great overview of this colourful political movement, and helps newcomers understand why Greens can stand united even in the worst of times.

For Americans, much more so than for Europeans, security trumps freedom. The NSA is beyond the control of the President and of Congress; and the US, in the role of the benevolent protector, imposes its own ethical standards onto its allies in order to extract both economic profits and strategic political information. These differences between the US and Europe do not call into question the continued viability of NATO, but they do, however, negate both the desirability and the feasibility of forming a “Transatlantic Internal Market”.

How can trust be built when 16.000 weapons of mass-destructions are faced to each other? Anda Serban is the Coordinator of ICAN Romania and reflects on her experiences with lobbying.

At the southern border of “Fortress Europe”, the Mediterranean has turned into a graveyard. The current migrant crisis in Europe is about more than a risk to the EU’s reputation. It strikes at the core of the EU’s founding values. A continuation of its half-hearted response to the migration crisis is out of question.

Myths endure because they create an outstanding surface upon which a range of ideas can be projected. The idea of a European army is no different. It has long been a repository for a wide array of concepts and goals for a flamboyant vision. Yet anyone who tries to grasp this pretty soap bubble ends up disappointed: It slips away or bursts.

“War,” said the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, is the “father of all things.” In view of the bloody – indeed barbaric – events in the Middle East (and in Iraq and Syria in particular), one might be tempted to agree, even though such ideas no longer seem to have a place in the postmodern worldview of today’s Europe.

Major global conflicts are not resolved in the Dutch Parliament. Nor is The Hague the centre of the world. The Netherlands’ influence is determined by the extent to which it collaborates with other countries. GroenLinks therefore needs to look across the border when defining its position on military intervention. The opinions of our allies should be taken into account.