Andres Hoyos, WorldCrunch
BOGOT — Years ago, toward the end of Lula da Silva's first term (2003-2007) as president of Brazil, I remember reading a perplexing article. It was about Lula's son, Lulinha, who had apparently become a multi-millionaire in the span of just a few years.
Konstantin Richter, Guardian
The mood started to shift in late 2015; and when hundreds of women were assaulted on New Years Eve in Cologne, it turned ugly. By then, my wife and I had left Germany for a long trip abroad. Friends told us wed find the country much changed on our return. And so we did. Germany, a nation with a political culture based on compromise, suddenly felt as divided as Donald Trumps America. People with different views didnt listen to one another any more, they just hated one anothers guts.
Stephen Kinnock, New States.
Steel is a not only an economic, but also a social multiplier. Spreading skills, aspiration and employment throughout the area. This is not just the case in Port Talbot, but across Britain as well – the 4,000 jobs at the steelworks in Port Talbot support an estimated 19,000 jobs in the area, and up to 40,000 around the country.
W. Courtney & J. Herbst, TNI
Moscow's saber rattling challenges Washington's security guarantees.
Stratfor
For two decades Belarus has clung to the past. Led by President Aleksandr Lukashenko since 1994, the country's political system remains largely unreformed since the Soviet era. It has maintained a strong relationship with Russia, especially in military and security matters. Certain Soviet institutions, such as the KGB, endure in the country, and the economy is still largely state-controlled. But change is inevitable even in Belarus. Spurred by the EU vote on Feb. 15 to remove most of... Читать дальше...
Eli Lake, Bloomberg View
Like most of Washington, I was under the impression that the nuclear negotiations with Iran ended in July. There was the press conference in Vienna, the U.N. resolution that lifted the sanctions on Iran and the fight in Congress that followed. That turns out to have been wrong.
Omar Al-Jaffal, Al-Monitor
The city of Ramadi recaptured from the Islamic State requires international reconstruction efforts and aid, so that its displaced residents may return and rebuild their lives.
Daniel Kehlmann, New York Times
Berlin — WHEN I returned to Berlin recently after a few months away, a friend asked me to try a new Chinese restaurant in Kreuzberg, a hip multiethnic neighborhood in the city. “It’s close to the subway station Kottbusser Tor,” he texted. “But take a cab, otherwise it’s too dangerous.”
Jan Techau, Carnegie Europe
“We will put Ostpolitik on steroids,” a visibly energized Steinmeier said during a late-hour press conference in the Dutch city, referring to Germany’s Cold War–era policy of rapprochement toward Moscow. “The heads of state and government have agreed to convene an extraordinary EU-Russia summit to demonstrate their willingness to engage in fresh and truly meaningful dialogue with our Russian friends and partners.”
Jean Pisani-Ferry, Proj. Syndicate
PARIS – If you do not understand what is happening to the eurozone economy, you are not alone. One day we are told that growth is definitely pass; the next that recovery is on track; and the third that the European Central Bank is considering sending checks to all citizens to boost output and revive inflation. Rarely has the economic picture been so confusing.
Joe Leahy, Financial Times
“A climate of hate has been established on the streets of this country,” Mr Lula da Silva recently told foreign journalists. “I have never seen a woman subjected to as much aggression as Dilma.”
Elisabeth Braw, Foreign Policy
Russia’s KHL is trying to expand from Scandinavia to Beijing. But sanctions and distrust of Moscow is taking the luster off Putin’s pet project.