Atlantic Sentinel

Category: Explainer

  • Spanish Election Guide

    Spanish Congress Madrid
    Palacio de las Cortes, seat of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, August 16, 2017 (Shutterstock/Vivvi Smak)

    Spaniards return to the polls on Sunday for their fourth general election in as many years. The outcome may not be very different from the election in April. (more…)

  • The Unrest in Catalonia, Explained

    Barcelona Spain demonstration
    Catalans celebrate their National Day in Barcelona, Spain, September 13, 2012 (Fotomovimiento)

    Protests continue in Catalonia against the imprisonment of nine of the region’s separatist leaders.

    Tuesday night was quiet, probably because it rained heavily, but I don’t expect this to peter out soon.

    In case you haven’t been following the news, or don’t know much about Catalonia to begin with, here is an explainer to get you up to speed. (more…)

  • Why Pelosi Changed Her Mind About Impeachment

    Donald Trump
    American president Donald Trump answers questions from reporters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, July 18 (White House/Shealah Craighead)

    That didn’t age well.

    Just a few days ago, I wrote that House speaker Nancy Pelosi was dragging her heels on impeaching Donald Trump and cautioned against assuming that the most successful woman in American politics was making a mistake.

    Now Pelosi has come around and only the third impeachment of a president in American history will soon be underway.

    What has changed? (more…)

  • Turkey’s Purchase of a Russian Missile System, Explained

    Russia sent Turkey a seventh batch of components for the S-400 missile defense system over the weekend. According to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, all S-400 missiles will be deployed by April 2020.

    Erdoğan has also said he is planning to send specialists to Russia for training on how to operate the S-400s.

    The deal has met stiff resistance from NATO allies, who are threatening to kick Turkey out of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. So why is it going ahead with the purchase? (more…)

  • How Close Are Western Balkan States to Joining the EU?

    European flags Brussels
    Flags of the European Union outside the Berlaymont building in Brussels, July 22, 2016 (European Commission)

    Leaders of the six Western Balkan countries that remain outside the EU are meeting in Poland this week to discuss their possible accession to the bloc. Four — Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are candidates to become member states.

    Last year, a similar summit was held where the existing member states expressed their concerns about corruption, weak governance and unfree markets in the region. What has changed since then? (more…)

  • The European Protests You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

    Large demonstrations have been taking place in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, every week since the end of November against the government of Aleksandar Vučić.

    Vučić has been in power since 2014, first as prime minister and for the last two years as president. He leads the Serbian Progressive Party, which, despite its name, is right-wing. He started his career in the far-right Serbian Radical Party, which was founded by the convicted war criminal Vojislav Šešelj in 1991. (more…)

  • Joe Biden Is a Stronger Candidate Than You Might Think

    Joe Biden Barack Obama
    Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, August 27, 2014 (White House/Pete Souza)

    Joe Biden might look out of sync with today’s Democratic Party. 76 years old, Biden is a Third Way-style liberal who used to be “tough on crime”, voted for the Iraq War and now faces his own #MeToo accusations.

    Yet he is the frontrunner for the party’s presidential nomination.

    RealClearPolitics has Biden’s support at 39 percent, 23 points ahead of the runner-up, Bernie Sanders.

    We’re still almost a year away from the first primaries. Polls are not usually predictive at this point in the contest and say more about name recognition. But Biden is also ahead in the endorsement primary, as measured by FiveThirtyEight. The former vice president has already convinced eighty prominent Democrats to support him against 55 for California senator Kamala Harris. (Who I think is actually the second strongest candidate at this point. Read Frank Bruni’s column about her in The New York Times.)

    What explains Biden’s popularity? (more…)

  • Spanish Election Guide

    Spanish Congress Madrid
    Palacio de las Cortes, seat of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, August 16, 2017 (Shutterstock/Vivvi Smak)

    Spaniards vote in general elections on Sunday that were called when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez lost his parliamentary majority in February.

    Here is everything you need to know. (more…)

  • What to Expect from Snap Elections in Spain

    Spanish Congress Madrid
    Palacio de las Cortes, seat of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, August 16, 2017 (Shutterstock/Vivvi Smak)

    Snap elections are likely in Spain after Catalan pro-independence parties joined the right-wing opposition in voting down Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’ 2019 spending plan.

    The Catalans gave Sánchez a majority to oust the People’s Party’s Mariano Rajoy in June. They demanded a legal independence referendum for their support, which Sánchez refused.

    Here is how early elections could pan out. (more…)

  • Why Greek-Russian Relations Haven’t Improved

    When the far-left Syriza party took power in Greece in 2015, there were fears (including here) that it might trade the country’s Western alliance for an entente with Moscow.

    The party had called for a “refoundation of Europe” away from Cold War divisions and its leader and the new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, suggested Greece could serve as a “bridge” between East and West.

    Three years later, nothing has come of it. (more…)

  • EFTA Is Not an Alternative to Theresa May’s Brexit Deal

    Norway flag
    Flag of Norway (Jorge Láscar)

    The Sun reports that British cabinet secretaries Michael Gove and Amber Rudd — the former a leader of the 2016 campaign to leave the EU, the latter a “remainer” — intend to push for membership of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) with Labour’s support if and when Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal fails in Parliament.

    This plan is unlikely to succeed, for two reasons:

    1. It confuses the withdrawal agreement with the political declaration on the future EU-UK relationship.
    2. Neither the EU nor the EFTA would accept it as a short-term solution. (more…)

  • Why Spain’s Threat to Hold Up Brexit Over Gibraltar Is Theater

    Josep Borrell
    Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell attends a meeting in Brussels, July 17 (European Council)

    Spain has demanded greater clarity on the status of Gibraltar before signing off on the treaty that is meant to regulate Britain’s exit from the EU in March 2019.

    “We want the interpretation to be clear in that text that the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the EU will not apply to Gibraltar,” Josep Borrell, the Spanish foreign minister, said on Monday.

    Here is why his demand is a bit of a dud. (more…)

  • The Brexit Deal, Explained

    Theresa May Jean-Claude Juncker
    British prime minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker pose for photos in Brussels, December 4, 2017 (European Commission)

    The United Kingdom has reached a provisional agreement with the EU about its withdrawal from the bloc in March 2019.

    Here is a summary of what you need to know. (more…)

  • Trump Puts Mueller Critic in Charge of Mueller Probe

    Donald Trump
    Donald Trump gives a speech in Derry, New Hampshire, August 19, 2015 (Michael Vadon)

    American president Donald Trump has replaced his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, with a loyalist, Matt Whitaker, who in the past criticized Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

    Here is everything you need to know. (more…)

  • Italy’s Budget Standoff with the European Commission, Explained

    Berlaymont Brussels Belgium
    Night falls on the Berlaymont, seat of the European Commission, in Brussels, Belgium (Shutterstock/Jasmin Zurijeta)

    The European Commission has told Italy to revise its budget for 2019, accusing it of “openly and consciously” reneging on the commitments it has made.

    This has been reported as the commission “rejecting” Italy’s budget proposal, but that is too strong a term. It has no such power.

    Here is what’s really going on — and what is likely to happen next. (more…)