EU & Europe

Image: EU-BREXIT courtesy Live Trading News

COVID-19 and European Union – For Whom The Bell Tolls

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn *

NEW DELHI (IDN) – While reading observations of Douglas Webber, Professor of Political Science at INSEAD in his article "Why Brexit Has Not and Will Not Trigger EU Disintegration," made one speculate on whether if one had applied the principle of Co-evolution to the EU, the conclusion would have been different.

The fundamental premise of Co-evolution is that organizations evolve in relation to their environments while at the same time these environments evolve in relation to them. And events like COVID-19 have enormous impacts that dwarf everything else.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 April 2020

Photo: Outdoor restaurant in central Stockholm, Sweden, 26 March 2020. Credit: EPA-EFE/Janerik Henriksson

COVID-19: Why the Nordics are Our Best Bet for Comparing Strategies

Viewpoint by Paul W. Franks*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Daily updated graphs illustrating the rising COVID-19 death rates in different countries raise hopes that we can understand impact of the virus and work out how to stop it from spreading further. But when comparing countries as different as South Korea, China, Italy and the UK, we may find the impression of how different interventions work is obscured by many other factors.

These countries differ in many important ways, including demographics, civil disobedience, population density, patterns of social interactions, air quality and genetics. Italy, for example, has regions with older populations than many other countries. And European societies are unlikely to ever accept the draconian interventions used in China and South Korea.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 09 April 2020

Photo: Collage of images from the Internet.

COVID-19: USA, France and China Crave African Support to Overcome the Pandemic

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. and France are treading unexpected paths to besiege COVID-19 with African assistance. Striking a different note, the Nigerians have strong reservations about a team of Chinese specialists invited to support them in combating the pandemic in the West African country.

While the desperate USAID relief agency has been seeking personal protective equipment (PPE) from poor countries to safeguard much needed supplies in the U.S., and a French doctor wants to test drugs on Africans. But the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) is bashing the government for inviting an 18-man team of Chinese specialists in helping to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria.

: Global Information Network; COVID-19; 07 April 2020

The Largest US-Led Military Exercise in Europe Continues Despite COVID-19

Viewpoint by Jan Oberg*, The Transnational Foundation, TFF.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) -– Defender Europe 20 is a huge, basically US military exercise, on European soil between February and May this year. It has already started. In the midst of a closed-down coronavirus Europe. And it is war-preparing, not peace- or confidence-building.

The diagram above from the British Army offers you details of this perverse, surreal idea – take note of Italy being one of the planned participants!

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 March 2020

Photo source: How a special forces 'band of brothers' culture leads to civilian deaths in war. Credit. Pexels

Veteran Mental Health Charity Leaves Thousands at Risk

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – A UK-based mental health charity that provides treatment to around 2,000 military veterans every year has announced that it will no longer be accepting new referrals. Combat Stress has helped veterans for more than 100 years but says that a lack of funding means that they can no longer afford to offer mental health assistance to veterans.As more than 200,000 personnel leave the military every year, many of whom go on to experience poor mental health, this news raises serious concerns about the future of veteran mental health in the UK.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 12 March 2020

A High-Optics, Low-Outcome Trump Trip to India

Viewpoint by Bharat Karnad *

NEW DELHI (IDN) — It's unclear what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said to U.S. President Donald Trump when the former called the White House on February 11. Reportedly what sealed the presidential trip to India was Modi's promise that some 5-7 million people would be lining the route from Ahmedabad airport to the new stadium in Motera to greet him.

Ahmedabad is the largest city of Gujarat, the state where Modi ruled as chief minister for over a decade. For a showman like Trump, the prospect of dawn-to-dusk U.S. television coverage rich in colourful imagery featuring millions of Indians attesting his international popularity and exotic locales like the Taj Mahal must have been too intoxicating to turn down, especially in a year in which he is seeking re-election.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 23 February 2020

Photo: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald (centre) with former leader Gerry Adams on the Irish border. Credit: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

What Sinn Féin’s Election Success Means for Irish Relations with the EU and Brexit

Viewpoint by Mary C. Murphy*

CORK, Ireland (IDN) – Ireland’s traditionally centre-right conservative political system has been rocked by a wave of support for Sinn Féin in the February 8 general election. The previously small left-wing republican party, with historic links to the paramilitary Provisional Irish Republican Army, now has legitimate ambitions to form part of the next Irish government in coalition with other parties.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 13 February 2020

Photo: Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the European Policy Centre in Brussels on 10 February. Source: The Minister’s twitter account.

Looking Forward to Scotland’s Return to EU Membership

Viewpoint by Nicola Sturgeon

The following are extensive excerpts from the address of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the European Policy Centre, a leading Brussels-based think tank, on February 10. She was in Brussels for a series of engagements to make Scotland’s voice heard in Europe.

BRUSSELS (IDN) – This is the first time I have been here – or indeed anywhere outside Scotland – since the UK left the European Union ten days ago.

Brexit was a sad matter for me, and for many people in Scotland and indeed across the UK.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 February 2020

Photo credit: The conversation.Photo credit: The conversation.

Towards a Constitutional Crisis: Scotland and Britain After the General Election

Viewpoint by Michael Keating*

ABERDEEN (IDN) – Choppy waters lie ahead for both defending and defeating the union that is the United Kingdom, with Scotland and England having diverged sharply in their choices at the recent general election (December 2019).

Campaigns in both countries focused on Brexit but in Scotland equal prominence was given to the prospect of a second referendum on independence. In 2014, Scots voted by 55 percent to remain in the UK after a campaign in which both sides shared the wish to stay in the European Union. Two years later, Scotland voted by 62 percent to remain in the EU.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 09 February 2020

Photo: Westminster am 31 January 2020. CC BY 2.0

Why Brexit Has Not and Will Not Trigger EU Disintegration

Viewpoint by Douglas Webber*

LONDON (IDN) – Brexit could radically change the UK. Both Scottish independence and Northern Ireland breaking away from Britain are conceivable and Boris Johnson’s government has a lot on his plate when it comes to negotiating the country’s future relationship with the EU, all the while delivering on the promised benefits of independence.

For the EU, Brexit marks more of a return to business as usual. The prospective fallout of Brexit will be rather less far-reaching or dramatic. At the time of the 2016 referendum, there were widespread fears that Brexit would unleash a contagion effect among other member states that could destroy the EU.