
I wanted to read irrefutable evidence that the Russian economy had suffered deeply and perhaps irreversibly from the war. As I kept reading the report, my hopes fell flat. This is nothing more than an academic propaganda pamphlet.
Sven R. Larson —
I wanted to read irrefutable evidence that the Russian economy had suffered deeply and perhaps irreversibly from the war. As I kept reading the report, my hopes fell flat. This is nothing more than an academic propaganda pamphlet.
Sven R. Larson —
With Pakistan close to economic collapse, fears of a situation similar to Sri Lanka are growing. But due to the ‘butterfly effect,’ European energy politics have contributed greatly to this chaos.
David Boos —
Government officials have carefully ignored the need for more fiscal conservatism. Looking at the threat of a new debt crisis, investors and taxpayers alike expect nothing more spectacular from their current leaders than a new round of put-out-the-fire austerity packages.
Sven R. Larson —
The socialist welfare state is inherently unaffordable. It destroys its own tax base and leads to economic stagnation.
Sven R. Larson —
Please forgive me if I roll my eyes when I hear the diversity pharisees playing the colour-blind champions against their favourite scapegoat because he referred to the concept they have turned into a lucrative business.
Rodrigo Ballester —
Government officials, elected and unelected, increasingly see democracy as an inconvenience, even an obstacle. How far down the current path does Europe have to go before the Italian example from a century ago becomes a case of retroactive clairvoyance?
Sven R. Larson —
How are human communities to avoid being integrated into the international division of labor defined by the fourth industrial revolution, with its reliance on A.I.?
Carlos Perona Calvete —
By refusing to put on the costume of their job, the far-Left deputies are only embodying the most mediocre individualism, which triumphs everywhere else and against which they claim to fight.
Hélène de Lauzun —
Just as British conservatives have given up on being conservative, the right-wing press has surrendered any attempt to be right-wing. Given that their popularity is in freefall, and Meloni’s is approaching escape velocity, they would do well to consider their unthinking assaults.
Mario Laghos —
The reform implemented by Ad charisma tuendum is part of a larger trend to hamper institutions and practices that could be classified as rooted in tradition.
Hélène de Lauzun —
It is not their judgement of the film that is in question; it is their methods and the reasons why they were permitted to behave with impunity in a society where free speech predominates.
Roger Watson —
The U.S. administration should not have begun an ambassador’s new relationship with a foreign ally using the sort of condemnation and condescension reserved for recently vanquished mortal enemies.
Shea Bradley-Farrell —
Germany’s excessive energy dependence on Russia is not the outcome of a natural process, but rather the consequence of policies that have been irresponsibly made and artificially imposed.
Pieter Cleppe —
What Putin has seen is this collapse of courage in the West, an inability to protect itself from external existential threats and a peculiar, weak slavishness to liberal culture, whilst it erodes the values of traditional societies.
Brian Patrick Bolger —
For the last seventy years, agricultural policy in Europe and elsewhere has been driving efficiency and increased production, much to the detriment of societal and environmental health. But not all the blame rests on the shoulders of the technocrats. They weren’t the ones who started the revolution that made Spanish farmer Artero cry.
Bridget Ryder —
Truss was ridiculed for wearing furs in Moscow during a thaw. It’s an apt metaphor for her—no matter the weather, she’ll wear furs to Moscow because Thatcher did, and no matter the economic forecast, she’ll cut taxes because Thatcher did.
Mario Laghos —
The Swedish government is aiming to put a blanket ban in place where there will be no new schools of any faith. This restriction is reminiscent of the educational oppression that Christians face in Cuba, Libya, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
Sven R. Larson —
Liz Truss should be able to build up enough support from MPs to carry her, beyond Mordaunt, into second place.
Harrison Pitt —
At every turn the British people vote for parties and provisions which purport to stand in their interests. But no referenda or election halts the displacement and radical deconstruction of our culture.
Mario Laghos —
Trailing Rishi Sunak at the moment are Penny Mordaunt (82 votes), Liz Truss (71), and Kemi Badenoch (58).
Harrison Pitt —
As lovely as it is to see far-flung hamlets of stone houses reinhabited, it is also sometimes difficult to find in their tenuous revival a genuine re-founding of the traditional Europe of which they were originally a part.
Bridget Ryder —
Let us call a spade a spade: ending the tax treaty with Hungary is an act of punishment by Washington. If a country refuses to play by their rules, the U.S. administration will exclude, sanction, banish, and publicly flog the incalcitrant nation.
Sven R. Larson —
We are alarmed by the interference into the domestic politics of our democratic ally, as well as the anti-democratic excesses of EU politicians who continue to divide our society and question fundamental rights and freedoms.
One of Us European Federation —
Remember, you are not trying to establish an environment of tolerance and mutual-understanding. Like Isabella and Ferdinand, you are trying to recover the territory. Treat the new Left like people who hate you, because they do.
Sebastian Morello —
Mental confusion reigns in the minds of Anglican clergy. Language precautions and a deep-seated concern about crossing the boundaries of political correctness clearly distort common sense.
Hélène de Lauzun —
By sacking one of his best generals and replacing him with a ‘woke chic’ scholar when the country is already suffering from racial tensions, Macron gives the unsettling impression that France’s decadence is a settled issue.
Rodrigo Ballester —
Political theory has been reduced to a Manichean choice: either universalist human rights liberalism, shorn of any particular attachments (except during the Olympics) or expansionary, genocidal, blood and soil nationalism.
David Azerrad —
There are three reasons why stagflation is happening. The most compelling evidence is in some unique data that economists often ignore.
Sven R. Larson —
With Russia and China increasingly adopting Western ideological talking points and using them against us, it is time for us to question our commitment to a rhetoric that emulates the effectiveness of socialist countries.
David Boos —
To the socialist, the economy is better when there is less economic inequality and lower poverty; to the conservative, the economy is better when there is more economic growth and opportunities for people to work their way to a better life. But only one of them is right.
Sven R. Larson —
In Andalusia, VOX was not really working to expand its electorate. It simply reinforced its existing messaging, retained its basic brand, and preserved its core voter base. In this way, it hoped to secure a coalition with the PP and avoid “stealing” too many votes, which might have divided the Right in parliament.
Carlos Perona Calvete —
Three rampages by mentally ill people over the course of 48 hours shocked Germany last month, but the lax treatment of even the clinically psychotic may be symptomatic of a deeper societal crisis.
David Boos —
The EU wants to reduce its dependence on imported semiconductors and has announced a new major spending programme: the so-called “Chips Act.”
Pieter Cleppe —
Strong U.S.-Moroccan relations make it difficult for Spain to gain clear assurances from NATO concerning the security of its north African territories. Insofar as these continue to be treated as a bargaining chip, subject to Morocco’s discretion, Spanish political elites are likely to offer concessions in other areas.
Carlos Perona Calvete —
While big-drama issues proceeding from the Supreme Court make their way through the news cycle, an even bigger news story is quietly gaining speed. It is about President Biden and his weakening health.
Sven R. Larson —
If you flick through current affairs programming, you’ll find one misfit after another, pushing the most radical Left thought of the moment.
Mario Laghos —
Signatories to the Convention must “abide by the final judgement of the court in any case to which they are parties.” Plans for an updated Bill of Rights offer no way around the fact that final rulings from Strasbourg have binding force in UK law.
Harrison Pitt —
Introducing the Renminbi Liquidity Arrangement (RLA), which is aimed squarely at supplanting the dollar.
Sven R. Larson —
Johnson lifted talking points from the wokesters’ playbook, calling Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “a perfect example of toxic masculinity” and urging the world to install “more women in positions of power.”
Harrison Pitt —
Tradition and conservatism are not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.
Tom Van Grieken —
A technique the Left uses to increase control through public anxiety is to “set multiple fires along the ridgeline.” The public notices that the flames are spreading. Which fire does one run to first? What must be sacrificed and allowed to burn?
Christopher J. Farrell —
While there is now a general consensus among French politicians to maintain the right to abortion, there is no guarantee that it will be enshrined in the Constitution.
Hélène de Lauzun —
Never before has the national Right achieved such a result in France, to the point of surpassing the governmental Right. New perspectives are opening up for the party founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Hélène de Lauzun —
Conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic should draw enormous encouragement from this decision, with the take-home lesson being that history need not be just a sequence of victories by the increasingly noxious Left.
Sebastian Morello —
Funded in part by the U.S. government, a coalition of seemingly respectable organizations has vowed to keep Orbán’s national conservatism from inspiring followers in the Western Balkans.
Sven R. Larson —
To understand this case, it is helpful to read this passage carefully. It shows how counter-cultural the Bible can be for 21st century Westerners.
Todd Huizinga —
The ‘keepers of the script’ are the journalists who seek to use media as a weapon to destroy Western heritage and to promote an abstract, utopian idea of how the world should be structured.
Ernst Roets —
In the face of a new debt crisis, the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and the ECB cannot return to buying large amounts of sovereign debt. The central banks saved indebted governments a decade ago. They can’t do it again. But there are other means at their disposal.
Sven R. Larson —
Now is the time for us to connect government incursions into our spiritual lives with its incursions into our economic lives.
Sven R. Larson —
A recent U.S. intelligence report claims that Vladimir Putin is “definitely sick,” received cancer treatment in April, and survived an assassination attempt in March. But this isn’t the first time such rumors have been voiced.
David Boos —
Compared to the American economy, Europe is slow to get through the post-pandemic recovery, but these GDP numbers show that it is actually happening—almost everywhere, that is. The paltry numbers out of Germany, Italy, and Spain, three of the largest economies in Europe, tell us that these three countries have become a drag on the European economy.
Sven R. Larson —
We see the tradition of independent, self-governed nations as the foundation for restoring a proper public orientation toward patriotism and courage, honor and loyalty, religion and wisdom, congregation and family, man and woman, the sabbath and the sacred, and reason and justice.
Edmund Burke Foundation —
Although this new minimum-wage agreement is not legally binding, it will in all likelihood be treated as such by the EU institutions. We can expect the price floor on labor to be frequently updated and rise regardless of whether businesses can afford it or not.
Sven R. Larson —
A whole section of the French Right seems to have awakened to the reality that high culture is entirely controlled by left-wing ideology, and by people who defend their turf without intending to give up an inch of ground.
Hélène de Lauzun —
Activist lecturers like this belong to a small minority of people within Britain, but it is worth going through her fierce assault on the recent Platinum Jubilee, if for no other reason than to expose the hostile activism that now passes for teaching at our publicly funded universities.
Harrison Pitt —
As Ronald Reagan put it: “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation from extinction.” This requires no explanation for us Hungarians—we have learnt this from repeated experience.
Balázs Orbán —
As Croatia’s lawmakers enter the final stretch toward euro membership, it is essential that they understand exactly what happened in Greece, and why. In five short years, 2009-2014, the Greek economy imploded: one quarter of it vanished. This was a direct result of the austerity packages that the EU and the ECB forced upon the government in Athens. What will Croatia do to avoid ending up in the same trap as Greece?
Sven R. Larson —
Consistories usually take place in February, June, and November. This time, the pope stepped a little ahead of schedule, as if he wanted to anticipate and name—as soon as possible—those who will compete for the election of his successor.
Hélène de Lauzun —
New studies exposing the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccines are published on a weekly basis. But, along with the mounting number of vaccine-related side effects, they are routinely met with silence by the media and politicians.
David Boos —
A debt crisis sweeping across both continents has the potential of bringing about a new global depression. Governments have no room to use fiscal policy to mitigate the crisis; their monetary policy capabilities have already been depleted in responding to the recent pandemic. Yet there was no mention of this threat in Davos.
Sven R. Larson —
Capitalism does not destroy other values, nor does it come without respectable merits. Quite the contrary: the profit motive has elevated human existence to unprecedented levels. We can feed more mouths, cure more of the sick, educate, and elevate more people than we have ever been able to do. The problem lies instead in the fallibility of human nature.
Sven R. Larson —
A choice of diversity and openness—to use concepts that should be in vogue—has worked to reverse the aging trend in apostolic vocations in Bishop Rey’s diocese. But the decision from Rome proves that the Pope, and he alone, determines what passes for diversity and openness.
Hélène de Lauzun —
The common good is superior to the sum of individual goods; the nation is above the lobby; and truth, good, and beauty are those eternal values that, together with human dignity, represent the triumph of faith and reason.
Jorge Buxadé —
A new debt crisis looks unavoidable. There is practically no interest in fiscal reforms across Europe, leaving the continent vulnerable to a destructive downward spiral of rising interest rates and structural budget deficits.
Sven R. Larson —
Schools are a key battleground in identity politics. It is refreshing to see some common sense from the Attorney General.
Tim Dieppe —
It is not only the Anne Spiegels of this world who pay the bill. All families are affected, and even women who do not consider themselves feminists can no longer escape the social demands of this profoundly anti-family feminism.
David Boos —
Families are a wall; a bulwark against dictatorship, a bastion of liberty. The family is at odds with the ideology of the postmodernists. This is why they hate it so much and are attempting to destroy it.
Grégor Puppinck —
“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” Gender policy is one such slow form of demise. The West does not need any external enemies to bring about the proverbial collapse of our civilization; we are doing it to ourselves.
Birgit Kelle —
A moral question lingers for both Americans and Europeans, 30 years after the Ruby Ridge incident: do we as citizens have the right to isolate ourselves and effectively secede from the rest of society? If we try to do so, does the government have the right to intervene and force us back under its jurisdiction?
Sven R. Larson —
A misinformed ideal of humanitarianism has American and European ruling parties recklessly pushing open borders without considering the costs or long-term consequences—not just for the host country but also for the mass influx of immigrants.
Shea Bradley-Farrell —
Finland and Sweden should consider what it means for the reputability of NATO itself, when two supposedly sound democracies must abandon all democratic procedure in order to apply for membership.
Sven R. Larson —
“The only way to win is to refuse to accept the solutions and the paths offered by others. As Churchill said, having enemies is a sure sign that you are doing something right.”—Viktor Orbán
Weak armies, illegal immigration, debt, energy dependence, and unbalanced trade are all undermining the European nation-state, argues Juan Ángel Soto Gómez.
Juan Ángel Soto Gómez —
Slowly, but surely, the first social credit score systems are being introduced in Europe. But rather than being met with outrage, there seems to be a remarkable indifference among many Europeans. Did the rules of social media condition us to embrace such systems?
David Boos —
It is crucial that in times of uncertainty and difficulty we are able to talk about the problems we face and to outline the common vision that tackling them will require. — Judit Varga
Judit Varga —
A new film by Dinesh D’Souza exposes organized abuse of the mail-in ballot and early voting system in order to tip the election. However, this scenario remains hypothetical; to win the debate, D’Souza needs to address a list of weaknesses with his film.
Sven R. Larson —
French paradox: no one wants to give Emmanuel Macron a majority, but all the projections in seats suggest that he will have a comfortable majority. It has been a long time since France has not been in such an absurd, not to say grotesque, political situation.
Hélène de Lauzun —
The resonant echoes of our island story in public rituals, though a little pantomime-ish, reconnect us to our past. They help us feel the burden of our role as custodians of a national inheritance, so that Britain’s most precious features, while subject to repair and improvement where possible, are carried to future generations. In this sense, a country’s rituals are a sign of respect for the past, not blind deference to its every jot and tittle.
Harrison Pitt —
The absurdity of the French administrative situation may lead to giggles all over the world, but the phenomenon described in the Senate report is quite serious and is due to the country’s inability to adopt a clear and firm migration policy.
Hélène de Lauzun —
Starmer can’t stop insisting he’s a patriot, and that he wants to ‘make Brexit work.’ But these superficial gestures belie the same old policies, now served up in the most cynical and disingenuous ways possible.
Mario Laghos —
The green-social-justice movement is about to make sure that our downslope from prosperity to industrial poverty becomes even steeper.
Sven R. Larson —
In practice, the merger between mainstream Keynesian economics and welfare-state policy was exactly what drove most of Europe into its current state of stagnation.
Sven R. Larson —
This was an opportune moment for the EU to recommit to the protection of freedom of religion or belief by reinforcing the existing EU instruments aimed at doing so and highlighting cases concerning minorities where this right has been violated. Yet, it did the exact opposite.
Georgia du Plessis —
While the U.S. has its economic problems, the runaway government debt being an ominous example, its unending reliance on domestic spending for domestic prosperity is a winning recipe over time.
Sven R. Larson —
Only by rediscovering a vision of the good life that reckons with the suffering inherent in human experience and conceives of individuals as social animals bound by duty to one another—Edmund Burke’s “partnership of the dead, the living and the unborn”—do we stand a chance of bending the rising generation’s egotism and make them want to grace their communities and nations with new human beings.
Jorge González-Gallarza —
I have thought since her first run that Dr. Leslyn Lewis is a breath of fresh air—the outsider candidate that the Ottawa bubble and the Conservative Party needs. The Harper-clones have been at the top for a long time, but it is past time for a facelift.
Jonathon Van Maren —
The legacy of 20th century history has left the Right in Central Europe questioning what we are meant to conserve after 40 years of communism. Our task is not so much to preserve traditions, but to reawaken them and to establish new ones. This approach is more reactionary; Central European conservatism is combative, because it has to be.
Gergely Szilvay —
The Orbán cabinet has put in place the means for Hungary to be independent from Russian natural gas. In the course of 12 years, it built links to all possible alternative energy sources; the fact that a number of them are inoperable is due to other countries.
Mátyás Kohán —
Over time, as artificial intelligence gets more entrenched in the realm of moral decision-making, it is entirely possible that the AI’s used for those decisions become standardized. But is this desirable? The answer has less to do with the form under which the decision is made—an algorithm or a human brain—and more with what moral values the decision maker applies to the problem.
Sven R. Larson —
There are a few things that the West can do. One is to follow the Latin motto “Si vis pacem, para bellum,” or “If you want peace, prepare for war.” This certainly applies to the Benelux, Germany, and Sweden, whose armed forces have been severely weakened over the past three decades.
Pieter Cleppe —
While short-term adjustments in spending can boost government efficiency and eliminate wasteful programs, a permanent solution to economic stagnation and unending budget deficits must focus on the ideological core of the welfare state.
Sven R. Larson —
The near-total elimination of independent media has emboldened the pro-Beijing press to be even more aggressive in hounding the regime’s critics. Next week, on May 3rd, we will mark World Press Freedom Day. Let’s ensure it means something.
Benedict Rogers —
Following these elections, the horizon of French political life appears very dark. The next deadline is in about a month and a half with the legislative elections. President Macron is almost certain to win a majority, if not an absolute majority. From then on, he will have no counter-power—for five long years.
Hélène de Lauzun —
Matt Hancock’s performance as Britain’s Health Secretary exhibited all the wisdom of a man trying to prevent a burglary by welding the cat flap shut, but leaving the front door open.
Harrison Pitt —
In Western Europe, meanwhile, our globalized, post-national era of peace and prosperity has wrought decadence and complacency. It has erased from the national consciousness the blood and tears needed to get independence and to keep it.
Jorge González-Gallarza —
Is it any wonder that union membership is in terminal decline, when those in charge stay silent on the stated will of the majority of members—or, in the case of major issues such as Brexit or free speech, directly oppose that majority?
Mario Laghos —
The assertiveness and coordination of the riots convey a simple yet brutal message: the Islamist movement in Sweden is not going to tolerate the country’s free-speech laws anymore, and it will use whatever means necessary to achieve its goal.
Sven R. Larson —
Liberal democracy is centered around the idea that a majority vote in parliament should have unrestricted jurisdiction to change society as the majority sees fit. By contrast, Hungary and America have constitutions that protect the country against runaway majorities.
Sven R. Larson —
His underwhelming flop among the general electorate notwithstanding, the right-wing candidate has exposed a deep fracture within France’s Jewish community that may reappear in future races.
Jorge González-Gallarza —
Marine Le Pen was playing a very long game in the debate, and immense pressure must have weighed on her shoulders. Not only did she have to wash away the affront from 2017, but she also had to remain focused on the one and only goal worth mentioning: to win the second round on Sunday, April 24th.
Hélène de Lauzun —