WPR Blog Archive

The French EU presidency is off to a rocky start, which is saying something since it’s only a day old. The most spectacular headline is probably more of a hiccup than a crisis. Polish President Lech Kaczynski called pursuit of the Lisbon Treaty “pointless” in the aftermath of Ireland’s rejection, and indicated (although I’ve yet to find a direct quote) that he wouldn’t sign the Ratification Act already passed by the Polish legislature, thereby blocking Poland’s approval process. Kaczynski explained his position as a defense of the EU’s principle of unanymity, which he said Poland was too weak to do […]

Michael’s point regarding “resignations of honor” is well taken. The political culture of Europe is still very much based on personal responsibility and reputation. That said, the unsolicited resignation yesterday of the French’s army chief of staff, Gen. Bruno Cuche, was as much a question of “le doigt d’honneur” (literally “the finger of honor,” situated between the index and ring finger) as a resignation of honor. According to Jean-Dominique Merchet at Secret Défense, Cuche felt that Nicolas Sarkozy had personally insulted him and the army in general while visiting the scene of the accidental shooting incident in Carcassonne: Pointing at […]

South African President Thabo Mbeki’s coddling of Robert Mugabe over these last years, culminating in his recent efforts at useless “quiet diplomacy,” has been an incredibly pathetic and maddening spectacle. The standard explanations about Mbeki’s and other Southern Africanleaders’ coddling of the monster in Harare point to the fact that these leaders were brothers-in-arms in anti-colonial liberation struggles. But the explanations usually stop there, as if loyalty alone, devoid of any self-interest, would be enough to explain the toleration of Mugabe’s crimes. This kind of explanation seems especially insufficient when one realizes the positive political consequences, in terms of international […]