French President Emanuel Macron has been leading the charge in recalibrating Europe’s political relationship with Russia. Rather than seeking direct confrontation against the regime, the…
Thought Babble
Think pieces, Babble style.
Europe’s Isolation Against Russia
Vladimir Putin’s political assault on Europe has been a meticulously worked plan which has been catalysed by Trump’s commandeering of the White House. Since assuming…
What Spain Expects From the EU
Photo courtesy of the European Commission. As in previous crises, the Coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the lack of economic “punch” that we have in Spain….
The MFF Negotiations: Has Rutte Made a Frugal Fool of Himself?
Photo: Dutch PM Mark Rutte © Stephanie Lecocq/Pool/AP Last month, the European Council finally managed, to agree on Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), outlining the EU’s…
There is no such thing as “White culture”
“White culture is boring.” You hear this a lot in the Anglo-American sphere of the world. But this viewpoint is entirely reserved for the Anglo-American…
Europe Still Has a Hard Time Talking about Racism and its Colonial Past
Photo courtesy of the European Commission. As we have seen, the US-born Black Lives Matter movement has had a ripple effect all the way over…
“We Shall Fight Them From Our Houses…” The Pandemic’s Worrying Wartime Parallels
The struggle against the coronavirus over the past few months has consistently been defined as a “war” in Europe. Beyond Donald Trump’s insistence on qualifying…
What do the Burqa and GDPR have in common? Our Right to Avoid Observation
Two years back, we discussed how Denmark controversially followed France’s example of banning face coverings in public places, hitting niqab-wearing Muslim women the hardest. Was…
Is It Time To Re-Evaluate How We Do Democracy?
In the current era of political distrust and ideological extremism, perhaps the only element of modern politics we can largely agree upon is its democratic…
The lands that Europe forgot? Rural Europe’s Struggle with Modernity and Identity
When describing our diverse EU family, we love to gush about the likes of Paris, Budapest or Prague – but what about those further-afield places,…