100 years after the Russian Revolution: central planning with big data?
One hundred years down the line, the dystopia of central planning and total control cannot be written off as extinct. Will they be reborn under big data?
Global Spectator
European solidarity for Catalonia
The EU has supported the Spanish government in its dispute with the separatists of Catalonia. It has done so in defence of its own interests.
«America First» undermines the West
«America First» puts the US global leadership in jeopardy and also undermines the position of a West that is deprived of significance without a leader.
A time of general distrust
Distrust permeates our societies: distrust in governments, in parliaments, in the news media, and even corporations have lost ground in this respect.
Social media in China: the regime is more concerned about what people do than what they say
Apart from its Great Firewall, the Chinese state runs an elaborate system of censorship and manipulation of social media.
Crisis in Social Democracy, crisis in Europe?
The competition that has characterised European politics for years has been between a centre-left and centre-right. This may have come to an end.
Will there be a Kurdish state?
Terrorism, oil, the crisis in Iraq, the Syrian civil war and the burden of geopolitics all weigh against the birth of a new Kurdish state.
Merkel is Germany
Angela Merkel is not only German, she is Germany. Her latest victory in the elections, while expected, heralds a new phase for the EU, albeit limited.
Catalonia: the external dimension to the fore
The attempt to hold an independence referendum in Catalonia has been the focus of a good deal of Spanish foreign policy in recent months.
‘Dictabasura’ in Venezuela
Is there a negotiable way out of the crisis in Venezuela? There is a balance of forces and interests created by the regime that seems to hinder it.
The painful coexistence with Jihadi terrorism
The fight against the Jihadi terrorism requires the utmost cooperation between all the security forces, intelligence services and members of the public.
Averting an ISIS 2.0
Given the prospect of its territorial extinction with the fall of Mosul, a greater danger is that the Islamic State mutates into ISIS 2.0.