Nick Ottens is a public affairs officer for the Dutch Animal Coalition and a board member for Liberal Green, the sustainability network of the Dutch liberal party VVD. He is a former political risk consultant and a former research manager for XPRIZE, where he designed prize competitions to incentivize breakthrough innovation in agriculture, food and health care. He has also worked as a journalist in Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York for EUobserver, NRC, Trouw, World Politics Review and Wynia’s Week, among others.
The meltdown in Greece of last April exposed not just the economic weakness of this particular South European state; uncertainty about public finances was suddenly abound throughout the European Union. A multibillion euro rescue plan necessitated unprecedented efforts to guarantee the stability of the common currency. German chancellor Angela Merkel even warned that the very […]
The United States are unlikely to persuade Syria to become more collaborative.
Israel’s prime minister accuses critics of a “biased rush to judgement.”
After just nine months in power, Japan’s prime minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns.
Turkey chastises Israel but is really looking at Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.
The Israeli navy attacked half a dozen ships carrying activists and aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday. Some ten to fourteen people were killed in the confrontation that ensued. Many more were injured. The small flotilla, led by a Turkish ship with some 600 people on board, was carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid […]
The head of Medicare and Medicaid laments the “darkness” of private health insurance.
“NATO is much more than Afghanistan,” former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the Atlantic Council on May 19. Supreme Allied Commander Admiral Jim Stravidis agreed, noting that although Afghanistan is important, the alliance is a “very, very active” fighting force engaged in missions all over the world. Albright was invited by Secretary General […]
In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began on April 20, the question has been asked in media both left and right: who’s to blame? From Time magazine to The Washington Independent to cable news, journalists seemed more obsessed about wondering who is responsible than reporting on the actual catastrophe. In all […]
A center-right coalition seems likely in the Netherlands where the liberals are ahead in the polls.
The Republican Party may be doing well in the polls but it is still very much without direction. Different brands of conservatism continue to compete for the favor of that frustrated voter, the stereotypical angry white male. Since the Tea Parties appeared on the scene, Republicans have been looking for ways to co-opt their Obama […]
Given the meager results of Europe’s policy of confrontation with Russia, it should focus on developing its internal market.
The president sets out his foreign-policy vision, which involves new partnerships and leading by example.
While the Greek debt crisis and subsequent decline of the euro continue to worry investors around the world, the people of Europe are preparing for severe austerity measures, and not just in the troubled south. With hundreds of billions of euros pledged to stabilize the common currency, European leaders are forced to make major cutbacks […]
Amid all the public scrutiny and government regulation that befell American industry throughout the past decades, one sector notably remained relatively untouched by the state. That very sector, at the same time, expanded enormously and revolutionized business and private lives alike at prices that continue to decline up to this very day. But even ICT […]
