News

As a 10-nation, Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes against Yemeni rebels over the weekend, another group of Arab leaders met in Egypt. “The heads of Arab League countries meeting in Egypt have agreed to create a joint Arab military force” (BBC, March 29, 2015). Although details are yet to be determined, “The Arab League will work with military representatives of its members to organise what has been described as a voluntary force.

“Argentina’s rhetoric over the Falklands has been getting increasingly hostile” with reports that they are “planning to lease 12 long-range bombers from Russia” (The Guardian, March 24, 2015).

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warned that France’s central involvement with the EU will continue to weaken it.  He observed: “In the last few years we have seen France receding in terms of actual economic performance, in terms of complying with all the European rules, and above all in terms of its domestic public opinion which is turning more and more against Europe” (March 21, 2015).

“Arab countries will take necessary measures to protect the region against ‘aggression’ by Yemen’s Iranian-allied Houthi group if a peaceful solution cannot be found to that country’s turmoil, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said on Monday” (Reuters, March 23, 2015).

The title of a recent Der Spiegel article is telling: “‘The Fourth Reich’: What Some Europeans See When They Look at Germany” (March 23, 2013). The article’s author observed “Following World War II, a German return to dominance in Europe seemed an impossibility. But the euro crisis has transformed the country into a reluctant hegemon and comparisons with the Nazis have become rampant” (ibid.).