Polish State Still Suspicious of Things Digital
The company that stands to gain the most from the postponed digital revolution is the state-owned postal administration.
Peter Mandelson’s ‘The Third Man’
One of the most surprising things about Peter Mandelson’s account of the rise and fall of New Labour — and his relationships with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown — is that it has appeared so soon after New Labour’s demise (The Thi...
Who's an extremist?
Good blog post we've just noticed from Ed West on the Telegraph website here.He takes issue with former Labour Europe Minister Denis MacShane, who described Nigel Farage, leader of the UKIP MEPs in the European Parliament, as "extremist" on Twitter,...
But obviously not with their own population
So Iceland starts its negotiations to join the EU on Tuesday. Which is daft really as they will not join, well not if they allow their population any say. What is odd is that they even know this before they start,A European diplomat said that the EU...
Good news: Turkey passes law to keep Kurdish children out of jail
Turkey passes law to keep Kurdish children out of jail from Yahoo news Turkey s parliament has passed a law to curb the imprisonment of Kurdish children who take part in violent protests, a practice that has further poisoned ties with the restive min...
"Support Our Troops" - The German Edition
What is common in the United States, is rather rare in Germany: Expressing support of our soldiers in Afghanistan. While most US critics of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan make extra efforts to distinguish between criticism of the strategy/purpose o...
500 million Europeans, and dwindling (Die Presse, Vienna)
"The 500 millionth European was born" in the first quarter of this year – but by the end of the century the European population will diminish sharply after a brief period of growth, notes Austrian daily Die Presse. The combi...
And just a bit more about Facebook: 10 facts, 25 cartoons
Following up on yesterday’s post about how Facebook is faring outside the U.S., I’m posting two links to things that I saw today about the website . One is from Mashable.com, an article about ten Facebook facts you may not know (“...
Just imagine
A dissident theatre group from Belarus arrives in London...
No, Kosovo's 2008 independence wasn't illegal
Over two years since the 'world's smallest country' declared independence from Serbia, the international court of justice in The Hague pronounced the action 'legitimate' on 22 July. The Swiss, Slovenian, Swedish, Czech and Spanish press – the latte...
EU launches Green Public Procurement Criteria for...
Roadsigns!4. GPP Procurement Criteria for Traffic Signs4.1. Core GPP Procurement Criteria for Traffic SignsSUBJECT MATTERPurchase of environmentally sound traffic signs.AWARD CRITERIA1. Recycled materials should be used when manufacturing the traffic...
On the web: the UK Strategic Defence and Security Review, Russia-China-US relations, and India’s international outlook…
- Writing in The World Today, General Tim Cross and Brigadier Nigel Hall examine the prospects of the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, suggesting that any reforms it ushers in “must give operational reality to the new concept of co...
A message from Johnny
As a relative newcomer to the European blogging community (Ooh, Brussels! has only been going for 10 weeks) I’ve been struck by how lively and thriving the EU blogging scene is. Debate is informed and constructive and also close-knit: there see...
In praise of our world: ARKive.org
The ARKive project has unique access to the very best of the world’s wildlife films and photographs, with more than 3,500 of the world’s leading filmmakers and photographers actively contributing to the project, and giving ARKive unpreced...
Sixty-nine, and counting
A map depicting the 69 countries that recognise Kosovo's independence...
One tractor, 50 regulations
When you see a tractor trundling across a field, you’re witnessing a vehicle that is subject to 50 European directives. That revelation was made by the European Commission today as part of an announcement that it was time to simplify things jus...
Back to the dark ages? – EU backsliding regarding access to documents and information
Picture by bobthelomond (Creative Commons BY-NC 2.0) What do a journalist living in Denmark, a British EU transparency activist, a Finnish web editor of the European Parliament, a German constitutional law blogger, a Bulgarian PhD researcher, a Br...
Buddhism, Ecology and Social Action (Guest Commentary III)
Buddhism may not only provide philosophical ideas but also methodology to the solution of contemporary environmental issues. The structure of the Four Nobel Truth (suffering, cause of suffering, end of suffering, and the way leading to the end of suf...
Urgent high-level Action needed to confront Global Warming
2010 will be the hottest year registered since 1880. These are the provisional conclusions drawn by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the basis of the data available for the first semester, including the meltdown of Arc...
China and USA must raise fossil energy prices to fight C02 emissions
Without a radical change of energy policy by the two major emitter countries of green house gases Humanity will not succeed in reducing C02 emissions to the levels required to stabilise the global climate. Both countries squander energy in ways uni...
Cantankerous neighbours
Bilateral negotiations with Europe: the Swiss play for time EU: "They'll soon give in and join up." Switzerland: "They'll soon collapse and disappear." Linked by many regularly re-negotiated bilateral agreements, Switzerland and E...
That Euroblog discussion from the perspective of a lobbyist
As always, I am a bit late at reacting to a discussion (well actually, i usually stay out of discussions in the blogging world ’cause that’s what I do as a living), but it has been a fascinating thing to look at two parallel and complemen...
Financing Agriculture
The 20th Brussels Development Briefing will be on ‘Financing agriculture and will take place on the 15th of September 2010. As an input to the UN Summit on MDGs to be held in New York on 22-26 September 2010, we will discuss issues related to f...
General Election 2012: The choices so far…
We’re 22 odd months away from a general election, which is quite a while, to be honest. Having said that, there’s no harm in having a quick look at what’s actually on offer to the Irish voter: Fianna Fail/The Greens: I’ve incl...
EU Development Commissioner meets Secretary-General
Andris Piebalgs endorses Kamalesh Sharma’s call for a deepening of the relationship between the Secretariat and the European Commission Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma welcomed European Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, to the Commonweal...
hot and humid weather burns Istanbul but we still survive:)
photo source: milliyet an Istanbul news roundup: Earthquakes in Istanbul from Kozak Collection from Mavi Boncuk by M.A.M Istanbul Directorate of Earthquake and Ground Analysis Istanbul’s first step was an earthquake master plan drawn up for the...
Europe in fish debt to rest of the world
Starting last Friday (10th July), Europeans began to accumulate yet another debt -- fish debt, actually. At least that's what several economists and marine conservationists say. Their new report indicates that Europeans consume almost twice as much f...
EU and ACP non-state actors insist on food security as a human right
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and their partners from across Africa met at the 11th Regional Seminar of ACP-EU Economic and Social Interest Groups in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They addressed the revision of the Cotonou Agreement and...
TaxPayers Alliance slips up again
A recent posting on the Your Freedom website shows that self-styled public spending watchdog TaxPayers’ Alliance is in fact less interested in getting value for money from the public purse than it is in opposing the EU. The Your Freedom website...
Swiss singer Sophie Hunger: former jazz 'fascist'
It's promo promo promo in Paris for the folk singer-songwriter, who's finishing up a tour of Europe via Glastonbury to shows in the Czech Republic and Austria. The mellow 27-year-old from Zurich is on the French festival circuit to continue the escap...
S&D group to welcome new Spanish MEP
Spanish deputy Magdalena Álvarez has left the parliament's Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group...
Racism and discrimination for Brussels migrant workers
In the region of Brussels-Capital, discrimination in recruitment practices is a daily reality. At a time of economic stagnation, ethnic diversity is no longer a priority for businesses, which in turn makes integration in Belgium harder still...
