http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/europe/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Mon, 03 Sep 2001 15:35:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1641/forgotten_war/ Editor's note: After In These Times went to press, Russian authorities broke up a Chechen "March for Peace" only moments after it began, claiming the participants, mostly women and children, lacked permission to make the planned 70-day trek from Ingushetia to Moscow. The march was organized by Russian human rights activists to raise awareness about a group of Chechen refugees who have been on a hunger strike since June to protest poor living conditions at camps in Ingushetia, where 150,000 Chechens have fled. The 1,200 mile route was was to end at the Kremlin with an appeal to end the 23-month-old war. However, this incident comes just as Russian authorities are trying to persuade refugees that it is safe to… europe Susan Levine Fri, 07 Dec 2001 10:59:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1374/drug_war_retreat/ For British Prime Minister Tony Blair, there might never be a more opportune moment to stand down from a war that has grown increasingly unpopular at home. It may only have been a matter of time, but Britain, which has enthusiastically assumed a co-leadership role in the “first war of the 21st century,” the War on Terror, has chosen this moment to quietly but unmistakably begin a cessation of hostilities in the last and longest war of the 20th: the war on drugs. In late October, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that the government would soon stop arresting or even cautioning people for marijuana possession. Blunkett also indicated that the Labour Party is ready to discuss expanding the legal distribution… europe Susan Levine Tue, 19 Feb 2002 15:11:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1414/europe_right_turn/ A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of the extreme right. George W. Bush’s long war has dramatically accelerated the brown-shirted emotions of xenophobia, racism and anti-immigrant hysteria all across the Continent. Undermined by corruption and programatically bankrupt, European social democracy is on the run, and, where still in power, its political leadership is taking the blame for the deepening economic crisis. The “Rose Europe” of the ’90s—in which social-democratic governments of the left, or left-center coalitions, held power nearly everywhere in Western Europe—is coming to an end. The “Third Way” dear to Germany’s Gerhard Schröder (and Britain’s Tony Blair) represents the “Clintonization” of traditional social democratic politics, and French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin’s compromises are pretty weak tea, indeed. But… europe Susan Levine Tue, 19 Feb 2002 15:24:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1417/forgotten_land/ Zara Bashayeva is a statistic no one in Moscow or Washington wants to hear about. In early January, Bashayeva gathered up her three children and left the family home in Serzhen Yurt, eastern Chechnya, for the relative safety of a muddy and squalid refugee camp just inside the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. Why did she flee a war the Kremlin has repeatedly declared over? “Life has become impossible in Chechnya,” she says. “There is no food, no jobs, no electricity or gas, no schools, no doctors. But all that might be bearable if not for the constant zachistki,” periodic Russian security sweeps aimed at uncovering arms caches and rebel fighters concealed in civilian areas. Bashayeva fears mainly for her two… europe Susan Levine Thu, 09 May 2002 09:59:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1472/downright_shocking/ Thanks to the left'’s electorate--—which wanted to ensure the lowest possible score for the racist Jean-Marie Le Pen and his National Front—conservative French President Jacques Chirac was re-elected May 5 with 82 percent of the vote. But U.S. media failed to understand that the presidential runoff actually confirmed the solid implantation of the National Front in important regions of France; and, in fact, Le Pen increased his score for the neofascist right by some 720,000 votes compared to the first-round election on April 21. In the traditional left-wing bastions of the industrial North, Le Pen ran 4 to 5 percent ahead of his national 18 percent score, capturing nearly a quarter of the working-class vote. In the South, where there… europe Susan Levine Fri, 17 Sep 2004 10:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1087/the_bloodiest_chapter/ As Russia’s summer of terror unfolded, it might have been easy to forget the long and agonizing prehistory to the headline-grabbing horrors that included exploding airliners, suicide bombs and schoolchildren taken hostage. Independence-seeking Chechen fighters, who are behind the recent wave of terrorist attacks, have been a bone in the Kremlin’s throat for almost 300 years. And President Vladimir Putin faces the same dilemma that earlier led Czars and communist commissars to seek “solutions” to the Chechen problem as brutal as any in the annals of warfare. “We have had war with Chechnya for two centuries, and not much has changed,” says Konstantin Simonov, with the Centre for Current Politics in Moscow. “This is a 19th Century conflict still going… international affairs politics europe Susan Levine Mon, 18 Oct 2004 08:58:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1354/demise_of_democracy/ Russia’s democratic window, never pried open very wide following the Soviet Union’s demise, is slamming shut. Citing a summer wave of terrorist attacks that killed 430 people, President Vladimir Putin last month ordered sweeping changes to the country’s political system that will effectively abolish regional gubernatorial elections, sharply reduce the space for independent politics and accelerate the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party’s merger with the state bureaucracy to create a single party-state behemoth reminiscent of the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union. “After these changes I am in a state of shock,” says Yevgeny Yasin, a former Russian Economics Minister, now head of research at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. “This is directed against the democratization of the… elections politics europe Susan Levine Fri, 03 Dec 2004 14:06:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1736/deep_divide/ Moscow—Another street revolt rocks an eastern European capital, and the world stops to watch a now-familiar televised scenario: an election allegedly stolen, energized but peaceful crowds battle for democracy with staunch Western backing and, in the final act, frightened Soviet-style bureaucrats make a clumsy exit from power. As In These Times went to press, it wasn’t clear whether Ukraine’s “Chestnut Revolution” will turn out as neatly as its recent predecessors in Serbia and Georgia, but there are grounds to hope that it might. A compromise, which would result in new elections, appeared to be taking shape, but whatever the short-term outcome, Ukrainian society has likely been changed forever. Thousands of protesters surging through the streets of Kiev and other cities… elections politics europe Susan Levine Thu, 16 Dec 2004 06:59:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1749/project_kesher_creating_connections/ Since the murder of more than 300 people in a Beslan school seized by Chechen militants in September, Russians have been intently focused on terrorism. As in the United States, this has meant increasing security and suspicion. But Russian teachers Svetlana “Sveta” Yakimenko, 51, and Tatyana “Tanya” Molodtseva, 46, have found a different way to fight local terrorism: by battling domestic violence and the trafficking of women, supporting women through loans and health programs, and opening dialogue between people of different faiths and ethnic groups. As a former high school English teacher in a suburb of Moscow, Yakimenko has long been involved with peace and justice movements. During a peace march attended by international visitors in Russia in 1987, she… gender social justice europe Susan Levine Mon, 23 May 2005 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2125/george_in_georgia/ During his May visit to Georgia, President George W. Bush shook his hips to traditional music, causing Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to exclaim with delight, "I would never dance like that. He danced much better than I would have." The remark was emblematic of the happy and historic visit. The small former Soviet state received a much-needed scrubbing before welcoming its first American presidential visitor. The president's motorcade rumbled over newly paved roads en route to Tbilisi and buildings throughout the capital were freshly painted. From the podium in Freedom Square, where hundreds of thousands had gathered two years ago to protest and finally oust the regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, Bush told the crowd, "Your courage is inspiring democratic reformers… government: administration international affairs europe Susan Levine Sun, 19 Jun 2005 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2169/thanks_but_wel_do_it_ourselves/ Amish communities routinely practice the institution of rumspringa (from the German herumspringen, to jump around). At 17, their children (who until then have been subjected to strict family discipline) are set free and allowed, solicited even, to go out and experience the ways of the "American" world around them. They drive cars, listen to pop music, watch TV and get involved in drinking, drugs and wild sex. After a couple of years, they are expected to decide: Will they become members of the Amish community, or leave it and turn into ordinary American citizens? Far from allowing the youngsters a truly free choice--that is, giving them a chance to decide based on the full knowledge and experience of both sides… international affairs europe Susan Levine Sat, 19 Nov 2005 01:17:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2402/the_trouble_with_french_identity/ Some might say the scenes of street violence throughout France are a rehearsal for a full-blown civil rights movement that would emulate what happened in the United States 40 years ago. Others think the French are witnessing what Samuel Huntington calls the "clash of civilizations," writ small within their own borders--an inevitable and unsolvable clash between Muslims and Christians that will lead inexorably to new forms of exclusion and separation between immigrants and French natives. Neither of these possibilities will be realized. France, along with Britain, the United States and Canada, is one of the most popular destinations for Africans fleeing disorder or looking for better personal and professional opportunities. France remains an important metropole in the African universe. Tellingly,… international affairs europe Susan Levine Fri, 31 Mar 2006 04:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2556/head_of_stage/ When Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi came to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, he received a warm welcome. President Bush gushed, "He is such a positive, optimistic person." And Congress convened a special meeting of both houses to hear from the man Italians call (some with admiration, others with derision) "Il Cavaliere," or "The Knight." Berlusconi entered the House chamber to a standing ovation, beaming and pressing the flesh as he approached the dais. We love him, the applause seemed to say, we really love him. Amidst all the mutual affection, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) sensed something amiss. He had decided to attend the speech because he'd heard rumors Berlusconi might address Italy's plan to withdraw its troops from Iraq.… international affairs europe Susan Levine Thu, 13 Apr 2006 04:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2557/fear_of_the_polish_plumber/ Neoliberalism's discontents are fighting back in Europe. The "Polish plumber"--a symbol of cheap labor--became a catchphrase in France's "No" camp during its referendum on the E.U. constitution. His specter, wrench in hand, is rising again. Since the start of the year, public opposition has foiled two attempts by the European Union parliament to pass sweeping "liberalization" laws in the shipping and service industries. Labor unions and anti-neoliberal organizations like the French group ATTAC protest that corporate elites are using the European Union as a front to roll back Europe's enviable, but eroding, social welfare system.  Armed with slingshots, whistles and placards, thousands of workers from across Europe descended on Strasbourg, France--headquarters of the European parliament--on Jan. 16. Inside, European lawmakers… labor europe Susan Levine Wed, 05 Jul 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2690/europe_turns_a_blind_eye_to_the_cia/ Thirteen members of an E.U. Parliament probe arrived in Washington on May 10, seeking answers to allegations of CIA-operated secret flights and prisons in Europe. A reported 1,000 CIA flights have secretly crisscrossed Europe since 9/11, often transporting "terror suspects" to be interrogated in other countries, such as Egypt, where prisoners are routinely tortured. But when the Europeans came calling at the nation's capital, only low-level administration officials and four members of Congress (all Democrats) met with them face-to-face. Stonewalling from the Bush administration should be no surprise, but European government officials haven't been any more forthcoming. Javier Solana, the E.U.'s foreign policy chief, told the E.U. Parliament, "I have no information whatsoever that tells me with certainty that any… International Affairs War on Terror Europe Government Agencies Susan Levine Tue, 19 Dec 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2942/cholera_and_the_city/ At the midpoint of the 19th Century, many believed that London, a city with almost two and a half million people, was unsustainable. For two decades, cholera epidemics had ravaged London and other major cities in Europe, and prevailing wisdom held that by packing an unprecedented number of people into an area the size of Victorian London the spread of disease was inevitable. And they were right, sort of. In The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, Steven Johnson tells the story of London's cholera outbreak of 1854 and how two brilliant men solved the mystery of the deadly disease's spread. In the mid-19th century, a Londoner's life expectancy… books europe medical health Susan Levine Wed, 27 Dec 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2963/art_basel_miami_beach_a_whitewash/ Since 2001, Samuel Keller, the aging arts wunderkind, has inspired the art world's most seminal and explosive art exposition, Art Basel Miami Beach.  What's more, the Swiss-born arts impresario seems to have cloned himself and is replicating at an alarming rate. Miami's sunny landscape is already resplendent with lush palms, stylized Deco palaces, pastels and pelicans. Now it is host to ubiquitous arts aficionados, all sporting the Keller look--stylishly understated, bare-pated and European. Basketball phenom Michael Jordan validated baldness for black men.  Now Keller has creatively flipped that script for the white male. At Basel, bald is beautiful.  Still, much remains to be done. I have been covering the festival since it launched five years ago. Lamentably, in all that time,… art culture europe Susan Levine Mon, 08 Jan 2007 05:02:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2975/a_dark_night_in_iceland/ On September 28, the lights went out in Reykjavik--for a publicity stunt to kick off the start of the annual international film festival. Although it was cloudy that night, and the stars did not shine down on the city, the romance of the return to the natural state for 30 minutes should have been a great pleasure to the man whose brainchild it was. But as reporters asked Andri Snær Magnason, a popular children's author, about his idea to let Icelanders appreciate the natural beauty of the night sky, he found only bitter irony that the same day also marked the start of one of the greatest man-made environmental disasters in Iceland's history. As the lights came back on in… environment europe Susan Levine Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3053/return_of_the_cold_war/ As if the Bush administration didn't already have its hands full with the "war on terror" spiraling out of control in Iraq and Afghanistan, its Jan. 20 announcement that it plans to expand the proposed U.S. missile defense system into the former Warsaw Pact nations Poland and the Czech Republic is threatening to re-kindle the Cold War. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken out forcefully against the proposal, calling it emblematic of the United States' "increasing disregard for the fundamental principles of international law." In response, he threatened to pull Russia out of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, which spells out how many soldiers and how much military hardware can be deployed throughout the continent. Putin isn't… weapons russia europe Susan Levine Wed, 28 Mar 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3094/the_royal_road_to_irrelevance/ Voting in France's two-stage presidential elections begins on April 22--and the question is, has the Socialist Party, leader of the parliamentary opposition, learned anything from its past mistakes? The Socialists' candidate, Ségolène Royal, is the first woman ever nominated by a major party and is often called in the press "the French Hillary." (It's not meant as a compliment.) A fervent admirer of Tony Blair and his "Third Way," Royal built her candidacy on "family values" and a hard line on law-and-order, proposing, for example, that juvenile delinquents be turned over to the military for "re-education." She faces a formidable opponent: right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, boss of the conservative UMP party founded by incumbent President Jacques Chirac. A skilled demagogue… europe elections Susan Levine