August 10, 2008
by Nosemonkey
19 Comments
So, now that Georgia seems to have withdrawn from South Ossetia in the face of the overwhelming force of Russia’s displeasure, the question has to be asked: how on earth did they think they were going to be able to … Continue reading
August 9, 2008
by Nosemonkey
3 Comments
The South Ossetia crisis really is kicking off – is this going to become another Chechnya? Russia’s now apparently launching airstrikes on targets inside Georgia itself (the photo to the left being of Gori, the town where Stalin was born, … Continue reading
August 8, 2008
by Nosemonkey
3 Comments
I was going to write about this yesterday, because in these days of vastly diminished foreign news staff on national newspapers, the fact that a story about the breakaway Georgian wannabe state made the notoriously understaffed Independent yesterday should indicate … Continue reading
August 6, 2008
by Nosemonkey
6 Comments
So then, nutty eurosceptic types who blamed the so-called Metric Martyrs‘ persecution on the EU (rather than, erm… a combination of a pre-EEC British decision to simplify measurements and their own obstinacy in not maintaining legal scales) – what’s the … Continue reading
August 6, 2008
by Nosemonkey
7 Comments
This started off as a reply to comments on this post, but got a bit lengthy… The Convention on the Future of Europe (which drew up the failed EU Constitution) was, in its early stages, a step in the right … Continue reading
August 5, 2008
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
Bad news for Brussels, as the World Health Organisation slams the Common Agricultural Policy: The cardiovascular disease burden attributable to CAP appears substantial. Furthermore, these calculations were conservative estimates, and the true mortality burden may be higher. More here: Direct … Continue reading
August 5, 2008
by Nosemonkey
Comments Off on The Czech Republic and the Lisbon Treaty
Handy overview today from the EU Observer – worth a look for UK-centered readers as well, as these guys are the closest that Tory leader David Cameron’s got to allies on the continent, so may just provide a hint as … Continue reading
August 5, 2008
by Nosemonkey
6 Comments
Thus spake Tony Blair, echoing Gerhard Schröder, following the negotiations for the shoddy Treaty of Nice back in 2000. And yet the last eight years have seen the European Union do business in exactly the same way, time and time … Continue reading
August 4, 2008
by Nosemonkey
Comments Off on Humoristische Karte von Europa
Via Erkan, this truly is a superb collection. A couple were familiar, but figurative mapmaking was a popular genre from the 18th through to the early 20th century, so little wonder a number from this exclusively First World War set … Continue reading
August 4, 2008
by Nosemonkey
2 Comments
Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, literary giant of the Soviet era, is dead. His final masterpiece remains unfinished. Yet perhaps this is for the best… Continue reading