France is getting progressive with its immigration. Others should too.
According to a recent survey, most French citizens are anti-immigration. This tone is backed by President Emmanuel Macron, who, in 2018, began pushing controversial immigration legislation. Since then, his administration has tightened asylum rules, made it harder for immigrants to access health care, and cracked down on Islamic practices. Macron has since reversed his stance […]
Our Most Important Relationship Is at Stake in This Election
American voters consider a holistic set of factors during presidential elections. Chief among these are issues like health care, the economy, immigration, civil rights, and other domestic matters. While these are all tremendously important, Americans often overlook foreign policy when voting for the leader of the free world. But this election serves as a referendum […]
A New START for Arms Control
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START)—a bilateral agreement that constrains the US and Russia’s nuclear arsenals—expires in February. Despite bipartisan support for an extension, President Trump has been adamant that the US will not accept Russia’s unconditional offer for a five-year continuance. The administration is choosing instability over stability. Ambassador Marshall Billingslea, the […]
Germany’s Landmark Syrian State Torture Trial
April 23 marks the beginning of one of the most important international human rights cases in recent memory, the first criminal trial regarding state-sanctioned torture in Syria. However, it is not Syria or the United Nations adjudicating the case, but Germany. Syria’s military conflict began in 2011, sparked by a series of protests against President […]
Nutritious, Delicious, Auspicious: Cuisine, Power, and International Affairs
What is the only British contribution ever made to European agriculture? If you had asked former French President Jacques Chirac, he would have told you that it was mad cow disease. Following this attack on the defenseless (and indefensible) Britain, Chirac pulled Finland directly into the crossfire, punctuating the most daring French offensive since the […]
Brexit: Fissures within the Kingdom
On September 19, 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron and other world leaders expressed their relief and approval of Scotland’s decisive vote to remain in the United Kingdom (UK), but it would not take long for Scottish leaders and citizens to regret the results. In 2016, Cameron’s government asked the citizens of England, Wales, Scotland, and […]
The Most British Man in the World
Beheadings are unpleasant. Not that a living person can confirm it, but it seems like an awful time. For most of us, beheadings are not a daily concern. We worry about disappointing our bosses because we don’t want to be shouted at, demoted, or fired. But even in the worst-case scenario, we don’t presume we’ll […]
(Back)stop it: The Role of the Irish Border Problem in Brexit
During the 2016 Brexit referendum, Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union (EU) with 56 percent of the vote, but the United Kingdom (UK) as a whole voted to leave, with 52 percent of the vote. While the Irish border problem was not a talking point in the initial Brexit debate, it quickly […]
Partial Impartiality: A Review of Alleged Bias in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was created by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in response to the horrific violence of the Balkan Wars in the early 1990s.[1] In 1993, as the conflict was still in its relatively early stages, the Tribunal was established in The Hague, a small Dutch city […]
Lifting the Veil on Laïcité: The Rise of Islamophobia in Europe
Islamophobia has been on the upswing throughout Europe recently, with the rise of anti-immigrant political parties and the implementation of discriminatory laws that directly target Muslims. The EU has long struggled with questions of identity that have only become more pronounced in recent years; the question “what defines Europe?” continues to pester EU leadership, its […]