The novel is compelling (even spellbinding at times)—and if it is called antiquated, it is only because we have forgotten that the oldest human battle is the worthiest one: the battle to achieve and maintain virtue in a fallen world.

This weekend’s protests, which follow massive demonstrations organized last week by the pan-European pro-democracy group Europeans United, saw tens of thousands of demonstrators rally in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic to challenge heavy-handed restrictions and oppose mandates.

Jörg Meuthen said that his decision to leave the AfD was prompted by a defeat in an intraparty power struggle with the Rightist, national-populist faction of the party.

Despite dismissing Éric Zemmour’s idea of a ‘Great Replacement’ as “too radical,” one of France’s eminent left-wing philosophers has argued that it takes a “fanatical denial of reality” to discount the “obvious” demographic replacement presently taking place across the European continent.

“We have made it clear that new military action against Ukraine will have massive consequences for Russia. On this basis, we are developing a strong sanctions package… including Nord Stream 2,” Annalena Baerbock said.

I do not like revolutions in any case, but I especially dislike the proposals of the Davos Jacobins.

Government has a negative impact on the economy through spending, taxes, and its budget deficits. The most hard-hitting impact does not come through taxes, as conventional wisdom suggests, but through spending—spending governed by ideological preferences, which determine what money is spent, where, and when.

The Costa government had promised a break with the austerity policies imposed by the European Union. But political analysts use the word “disenchantment” to characterize the policies of the governing party. The socialist Costa government is now paying for the effects of the pandemic on the Portuguese economy.

The UN Security Council meeting followed multilateral talks with the Taliban in Oslo, designed to illicit human rights assurances from the Islamist extremists in exchange for releasing needed liquidity and aid money into the country. With Norway as host, a 15-member contingent of the Taliban, humanitarian aid groups, and diplomats from the U.S., UK, and France, met for three days of closed-door sessions at a hotel outside the capital.

Zemmour regularly claims in his speeches his affiliation with the former RPR, and his desire to achieve a “union of the Right.” He hopes to gather within his candidacy all the families of the French Right attached to national identity, sovereignty, a certain economic liberalism, and a (moderate) social conservatism.

Standing athwart the emergence of a ‘literal society’ which no longer appreciates irony, nuance, or sarcasm, the intellectual Alain Finkielkraut’s embrace of high culture makes him a reactionary in today’s France.

Finland explicitly says “violations against human rights and religious freedom cannot be tolerated anywhere;” just days later, a politician is put on trial for expressing her religious convictions. Nina Shea captured the irony with biting concision: “Finland acts like a pyromaniac at home and like a fireman for Pakistan when it comes to freedoms of religion and speech.”