Commentary: America Leaving NATO Would Be Good for Itself and Europe

NATO

Donald Trump resumed his role as the “wise fool” in recent, off-the-cuff remarks about NATO. He suggested that free-riding NATO members who do not pay their fair share might have to fight Russia on their own. National security hawks and Trump’s media enemies responded with lots of pious talk about our sacred NATO obligations. Joe Biden even said Trump was “un-American.”

Trump is not the first to suggest NATO partners should pay their fair share. But unlike his predecessors, he is willing to employ some leverage to make it happen. The real dirty secret here, as evidenced by how long this situation has gone on, is that enabling the Europeans to neglect their own defense is a feature and not a bug of America’s dominance over the NATO organization.

Read the full story

Protesting Farmers Successfully Bully EU into Scrapping New Environmental Regulations

EU Farmers

The European Union (EU) is withdrawing a pesticide proposal amid protests by farmers against environmental regulations, The Associated Press reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the decision Tuesday to suspend a regulation that aimed to cut pesticide and similar chemical use in half by 2030, according to The Guardian. The move is the latest concession by the EU to farmers who have staged sweeping protests across the member nations against environmental regulations they feel are hurting their livelihoods.

Read the full story

Commentary: As Europe Falls into a Woke Dark Ages, One Nation Shines

You hear a lot about Hungary these days. To be fair, Prime Minister Viktor Orban does upset the delicate sensibilities of the progressive liberals. It is only natural then for Americans to wonder about this distant land that has become a prickling thorn in the side of the globalist Left.

An “age of discovery in reverse” has started, as intellectuals from Tucker Carlson through Jordan Peterson to Micheal Knowles explore for themselves the Hungarian conservative landscape in search of lessons to learn about politics and winning at the polls.

Read the full story

EU Member Blocks Billions in Foreign Aid to Ukraine

Viktor Orban

Kyiv took a blow on Friday after an EU member single handedly blocked billions in aid to Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stonewalled all other 26 members of the EU and voted against a $50 billion aid package for Ukraine at the European Council conference in Belgium on Friday, according to Reuters. Orban also hinted he could block attempts to bring Ukraine into the EU fold as a member after the other members voted unanimously to start negotiation talks on Thursday.

Read the full story

EU Moves Forward with Digital ID Despite Security Concerns and Potential for Abuse

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a final agreement this week on the establishment of “European Digital Identity Wallets,” the first central and fully digital identification system for all Europeans.

“Under the new law, the EU will offer its citizens so-called ‘digital wallets’—on a voluntary basis, at first—which will contain digital versions of their ID cards, driving licenses, diplomas, medical records, and bank account information,” the European Conservative reported.

Read the full story

Ohio State Senate Passes Bill Recognizing Natural Gas as Green Energy, Facilitating Drilling on State Lands

The Ohio State Senate this week passed a bill deeming natural gas a form of “green energy” and eased the leasing of state lands by fossil-fuel companies. 

Sponsored by state Representative J. Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield), the measure’s main feature is an unrelated agricultural policy reducing the minimum number of poultry chicks that can be sold or transferred in Ohio from six to three. Lawmakers embraced that change based on the advice of the poultry industry and that of adults supervising children in 4-H agriculture programs who want to make smaller purchases for their farm projects. 

Read the full story

Commentary: What Trump’s ‘America First’ Agenda Got Right in Central Europe, Ukraine, and the Politics of Security

Russia’s invasion not only poses an existential threat to Ukrainian sovereignty, but it also represents a direct challenge to American power and credibility globally. If Vladimir Putin prevails, the promise of the United States to act as a security guarantor through NATO in Europe or on its own anywhere will be in shambles.

Moscow is clearly pursuing two goals simultaneously: territorial gains in Ukraine as part of the revanchist ambition to restore the Soviet-era sphere of influence and, more importantly, degrading American strategic prominence, with the goal of driving the United States out of Europe.

Read the full story

‘Shortfall’: Trump Energy Secretary Casts Doubt on Biden Gas Deal with the European Union

Dan Brouillette

Former Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette suggested that President Joe Biden’s recent gas deal with the European Union (EU) wouldn’t be enough to help the continent wean itself off Russian energy.

Brouillette — who served as deputy energy secretary between 2017-2019 and energy secretary between 2019-2021 — noted that the U.S. wouldn’t be able to fill the gap left by Russian energy during an interview with CNBC on Monday. He added that the EU cannot expect to consume less total energy as part of its plan to ditch Russian gas.

“Frankly, I’m not quite sure that everyone can make up that shortfall,” said Brouillette, according to CNBC. “That’s an enormous amount of gas.”

Read the full story

UK, EU Leaders Reach Historic Brexit Deal After Months of Negotiations

The U.K. and the European Union agreed to a historic Brexit trade deal Thursday after months of tense negotiations and with just days left before the deadline, leaders from both sides announced.

The thousand-page trade agreement means that the U.K. can finally depart from the EU and sets up the framework for British-EU relations post-Brexit, according to The New York Times. The deal concluded more than four years of bitter Brexit negotiations after British citizens voted in favor of leaving the EU in June 2016.

Read the full story

EU Files Antitrust Charges Against Amazon Over Use of Data

European Union regulators filed antitrust charges Tuesday against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using its access to data from companies that sell products on its platform to gain an unfair advantage over them.

The charges, filed two years after the bloc’s antitrust enforcer began looking into the company, are the latest effort by European regulators to curb the power of big technology companies. Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition issues, has slapped Google with antitrust fines totaling nearly $10 billion and opened twin antitrust investigations this summer into Apple. The EU’s executive Commission also opened a second investigation Tuesday into whether Amazon favors product offers and merchants that use its own logistics and delivery system.

Read the full story

Poland’s Populist President Duda Edges Euro-Centric Challenger Trzaskowski, Earns Second Term

Polish President Andrzej Duda declared victory Monday in a runoff election in which he narrowly won a second five-year term, acknowledging the campaign he ran was often too harsh as he appealed for unity and forgiveness.

The close race followed a bitter campaign between Duda and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski that was dominated by cultural issues. The government, state media and the influential Roman Catholic Church all mobilized in support of Duda and sought to stoke anti-Semitism, homophobia and xenophobia in order to shore up conservative support.

Read the full story

Blackburn Leads Bipartisan Letter Asking EU to Designate Hezbollah a Terrorist Organization

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in urging member states of the European Union to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) along with Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-NY-01) and Ted Deutch (D-FL-22) joined Blackburn in drafting the letter to EU member states. A total of 30 lawmakers signed their names to the letter.

Read the full story

The European Union Let China Censor Ambassador’s Op-Ed by Removing Reference to Coronavirus Originating in China

The European Union allowed the Chinese government to censor part of an op-ed by the EU ambassador to China that was published in a state newspaper, China Daily.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) insisted on censoring an op-ed by the EU ambassador to China to remove a reference to COVID-19 originating in China, an EU spokesman said Wednesday, adding that the EU acquiesced to the censorship rather than withdrawing the op-ed.

Read the full story

Commentary: Joe Biden Runs for President of the World

by Robert Romano   Political parties pushing sovereignty first policies did remarkably well in European Parliament elections in the UK, France and Italy in May as nations feel increasingly overregulated and held back by the European Union. It is the latest instance of the struggle between nation-states and the global institutions that seek to control them and their destinies. And it could serve as a bellwether for the U.S. election across the pond in 2020, where President Donald Trump lines up his America first reelection bid and Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden runs for President of the World. In a fundraising call in April, Biden claimed, “I get calls from people all over the world — world leaders are calling me — and they’re almost begging me to do this, to save the country, save the world.” “Save the world”? From what, America? His opponent is the sitting President of the United States, not some third world actor. And yet, Biden’s ill-advised remarks in many ways represent the same local establishments that oppose country-first policies in many European countries — and now voters are striking back at the ballot box. In the UK, the Brexit Party, founded weeks before the European…

Read the full story

British PM Theresa May to Resign After Bungling Brexit

by Evie Fordham   United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May said she would resign from her position Friday after nearly two years of taking Great Britain on a bungled path toward Brexit. May said she would continue in her role until a new prime minister was selected, though she will step down as the Conservative Party leader on June 7. The new prime minister won’t be selected by general election but by members of May’s party, according to Reuters. “I believe I was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high,” she said in her announcement. “But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort.” May survived two votes of no confidence — one from her own Conservative members of Parliament (MPs) in December and another from the House of Commons in January. But her time ran out as the U.K. failed to separate itself from the European Union after delaying Brexit twice. May took the helm July 13, 2016, just weeks after the country voted in a referendum to leave the EU, even though May herself was a “remainer”…

Read the full story

Trump: US to Put Tariffs on $11B in EU Goods

President Donald Trump says the United States will impose new tariffs on more than $11 billion worth of exports from the European Union, after the World Trade Organization ruled last year the EU was illegally subsidizing aircraft maker Airbus. The WTO, in a decision last May, ruled the European countries had given $22 billion in state aid to Airbus to help build its A380 and A350 jets, damaging its U.S. rival, Boeing. Trump said Tuesday that since the WTO had ruled that the subsidies had “adversely impacted the United States,” it “will now put Tariffs on $11 Billion of EU products! The EU has taken advantage of the U.S. on trade for many years. It will soon stop!” Trump’s declaration aside, the new list of tariffs would not take effect until after a WTO arbiter rules on the allowable size of the tariff package, a decision not expected for several months. The European Union and the United States have for years disputed each other’s reciprocal subsidies to Airbus and Boeing, long predating Trump’s 27-month presidency. At various times, the WTO has ruled against both. In first announcing the proposed $11.2 billion in U.S. tariffs on European exports on Monday, U.S.…

Read the full story

Parliament Facing Brexit Decisions, More Drama, Deadline

Theresa May

After months of Brexit deadlock, this is it: decision time. At least for now. With Britain scheduled to leave the European Union in less than three weeks, U.K. lawmakers are poised to choose the country’s immediate direction from among three starkly different choices: deal, no deal or delay. A look at what might happen: Deal deja vu  The House of Commons has a second vote scheduled Tuesday on a deal laying out the terms of Britain’s orderly departure from the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May and EU officials agreed to the agreement in December, but U.K. lawmakers voted 432-202 in January to reject it. To get it approved by March 29, the day set for Brexit, May needs to persuade 116 of them to change their minds – a tough task. Opposition to the deal in Parliament centers on a section that is designed to ensure there are no customs checks or border posts between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland. Pro-Brexit lawmakers dislike that the border “backstop” keeps the U.K. entwined with EU trade rules. May has been seeking changes to reassure them the situation would be temporary, but the EU refuses to reopen the withdrawal agreement.…

Read the full story

Trump Just Secured Another Major Trade Victory

by Jason Hopkins   The European Commission approved U.S. soybeans to be used in the production of biofuels, a decision that will fulfill President Donald Trump’s demand that the European Union buy more of the product. “Today’s decision is new proof that the European Union is delivering on our commitments,” EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Tuesday. “[T]his means that as of today it will be easier for U.S. soybeans to enter the EU market.” The EU currently imports around 14 million tonnes of soybeans annually for animal feed. The U.S. already holds a commanding share of the market. However, the commission’s decision to allow U.S. soybeans to be used in the making of biofuels — an agriculture-based energy alternative to fossil fuels — is expected to dramatically increase demand in Europe. The approval follows months-long negotiations between the White House and EU leaders. Trump agreed in July not to slap tariffs on European vehicles in exchange for promises that EU member countries would purchase more U.S. natural gas and soybeans. That original agreement already helped pave the way for a 112 percent increase in U.S. soybean imports in the second half of 2018. “We agreed first of all to…

Read the full story

Rethinking The Iron Lady: Lessons for Today’s Brexit

by Silvio Simonetti   Since the British population decided to strike a coup in the liberal political establishment voting for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit), Westminster is in a political crisis. David Cameron resigned after the referendum’s outcome, and Theresa May’s government is burning in flames, and no one knows if she will survive a vote of confidence initiated by conservative backbenchers. To understand the political drama of the modern United Kingdom and Brexit, one must understand the significance of Margaret Thatcher, her relationship with Europe and with the British people. Thatcher was an enthusiast of European economic integration because she believed that this would be the only way to impose fiscal rigor on the UK in the long run. It was long afterward, and too late, that she came to understand that the pan-European project was, in fact, a plan of the Eurocrats to destroy the nation-states in favor of one United States of Europe controlled by an authoritarian bureaucracy in Brussels. Thatcher’s famous Bruges Speech (1988), in which she described the European unification project as an attempt to “introduce collectivism and corporatism” and “concentrate power at the center of a European conglomerate,” was given when…

Read the full story

EU Shreds Theresa May’s Brexit Plan, Leaving Negotiations At Square-One Just A Month Before ‘Moment Of Truth’

Theresa May

by Will Racke   Negotiations over Britain’s exit from the European Union broke down into bitter recriminations Friday, with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May accusing EU leaders of making a “mockery” of the process after they shredded her Brexit plan. In a combative speech at 10 Downing Street, May said the two sides “remain a long way apart” on two major sticking points — the Irish border and the integrity of the common market. “The EU has proposed the U.K. stays in the [European Economic Area] and customs union,” May said, according to the BBC. “In plain English this would mean we would still have to abide by all EU rules … that would make a mockery of the referendum we had two years ago.” Brussels’ demand to revive customs barriers between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland is also a nonstarter, May asserted. “It is something I will never agree to — indeed, in my judgement it is something no British Prime Minister would ever agree to,” she said. May’s remarks came the morning after EU leaders gathered at a summit in Vienna largely rejected May’s so-called Chequers plan, named after the country retreat where she hashed it…

Read the full story

Trump, EU Leader Agree to Work Toward ‘Zero Tariffs’

Donald Trump

by Fred Lucas   In what President Donald Trump called “a very big day for free and fair trade,” he and the leader of the European Union agreed Wednesday to work to end tariffs on nonautomotive products. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Trump met at the White House, then went to the Rose Garden to announce not only a cease-fire but disarmament in what was turning into a trade war. “Together, we are more than 50 percent of trade. If we team up, we can make our planet a better, more secure, and more prosperous place,” Trump said, later adding: “This is why we agreed today to, first of all, to work together toward zero tariffs, zero nontariff barriers, and zero subsidies on nonauto industrial goods.” The two leaders’ agreement included resolving the tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by the Trump administration, which the EU has retaliated against. “I had the intention to make a deal today, and we made a deal today,” Juncker said. “We have identified a number of areas on which to work together. Work towards zero tariffs on industrial goods, that was my main intention, to propose to come down to zero tariffs on…

Read the full story

Commentary: Yes, Brexit Will Happen – And It Will Work

BREXIT EU

by Ted R. Bromund   This week has seen big, and potentially confusing, events in Great Britain’s struggle to Brexit—to regain its national independence from the European Union. As we reach the second anniversary of the Brexit referendum, which took place on June 23, 2016, here’s what has happened. In 1973, when Britain entered the European Communities—the predecessor to today’s EU—it did so by passing the European Communities Act through Parliament. The European Communities Act made EU law and judgments of the European Court of Justice binding in Britain and incorporated all existing EU law—including all EU regulations and directives—into British law. In effect, at a stroke, the European Communities Act subordinated British law and democracy to the European Union. [The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more  ] For Britain to withdraw from the EU, it has to repeal the European Communities Act. Parliament has been struggling to do this for the past week. The overwhelming majority of the governing Conservative Party supports repealing the law. But there were just enough Conservative rebels—six, in the end—to make life hard for the government. In addition, the nonelected House…

Read the full story

Daniel Hannan Explains Why the EU is a Hive of Corruption

Daniel Hannan

by Rev. Ben Johnson   Two paths confront someone faced with an unwanted reality: reform or denial. With a report set to expose persistently high levels of corruption among its member states, the EU chose the latter option, its critics say. EU member states, programs, practices, institutions, and leaders stand accused of everything from bribery to larceny, from rigging the bidding process to influence peddling. Years ago, the EU committed to report on, and reform, such practices. Instead, the EU chose to scupper the report. “In 2014 the European Commission committed itself to take action against corruption by publishing the first EU Anti-Corruption report. However, only two years later the Commission scrapped the report,” the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International has noted. The Commission began issuing its own recommendations member states; however, Transparency International warns their focus is “narrow” and their reforms “do not show any additional ambition on anti-corruption.” “As the current draft recommendations for 2018 show, the European Commission has again not live up to its promises on making anti-corruption a high priority issue,” the group stated. The hypocrisy was not lost on some within the supranational structure itself. “The fact that the Commission discontinued its own anti-corruption report on itself shows how seriously they take…

Read the full story

UK’s Theresa May Orders Retreat to Sort Out Brexit Details

Theresa May

Reuters   Prime Minister Theresa May will gather together squabbling British ministers gather country residence after this month’s European Union summit to settle on details of a much-anticipated Brexit policy paper. May has yet to agree on some of the fundamental details of what type of trading relationship she wants to have with the European Union after Britain leaves next March. As a result, talks with the EU have all but ground to ahalt, raising fears among businesses and in Brussels that Britain could end up crashing out of the bloc without an agreed-upon deal. “There’s going to be a lot happening over the next few weeks. You know, people want us to get on with it, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” May told reporters on her way to a G-7 summit in Canada. May will look to the June 28-29 EU summit as a chance to pin down some of the most troublesome details of Britain’s exit agreement and pave the way for more intensive talks on the all-important future economic partnership between the world’s fifth-largest economy and the world’s biggest trading bloc. But senior ministers are still at odds about what type of post-Brexit customs arrangement will be…

Read the full story

Highlights from the Final Brexit Agreement

David Davis and Michael Barnier

by Rev. Ben Johnson   On Monday afternoon, David Davis of the UK and Michel Barnier of the EU revealed that their governments had agreed on the shape of their relationship during the first two years after Brexit. Here’s what it will look like: A 21-month transition period: The UK will officially leave the European Union on March 29, 2019. Monday’s announcement adds a 21-month transition period, which will end on December 31, 2020. During this phase, the UK will enjoy all “the benefits, the advantages of the single market and the customs union,” Barnier said at today’s joint press conference in Brussels. The UK hoped for a full two years, but Davis deemed the agreed time limit “close enough.” Businesses had hoped for a period of stability to adjust to a post-Brexit business environment, and the government wanted more time to negotiate a final agreement with the EU. Adam Marshall of the British Chambers of Commerce called the agreement “a milestone that many businesses across the UK have been waiting for.” The UK will accept EU decisions with no input: In that 21-month period, the UK will be a rule taker, not a rule maker. The UK agrees to “be bound by the obligations…

Read the full story

EU Standoff with Eastern Europeans Over Immigration Escalates

Refugees

Poland doubled down hard on its anti-open borders stance last week, as the E.U. levelled threats at the Czech Republic, yet another Eastern European country refusing to embrace mass Muslim migration. On Thursday, Polish president Andrzej Duda promised his people a referendum on EU migration policies. “The public’s voice will be heard,” Duda pledged. “If Brussels…

Read the full story