By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist
Osama bin Laden has issued some advice to Europeans:
The world vilest human notes: "an intelligent man does not waste his money and sons for a gang of criminals in Washington."
And then he goes on to note:
By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist
The match of the year in the wide world of chess pits ... Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. Uhm, haven't we seen this before?
By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel
Russia’s economy is a one-trick pony, petro-state. They are fragile. They have energy resources to sell and sell they must. France leads the world in nuclear power technology research, development, and deployment. France and Russia compete for customers and we should recognize this. Obama does, clearly.
By E. Thomas McClanahan, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl nailed it: President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe “turns back the clock to the days of the Cold War, when Eastern Europe was considered the domain of Russia.”
By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist
The White House is expected to reveal today that it will drop its plans to put anti-ballistic missiles in Poland and a missile detection radar station in the Czech Republic. If this marks the end of the cold-war strategy of isolating Russia, it could have profound effects on both US-Russian relations and Russian politics.
By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel
French President Nicholas Sarkozy threatens to walk out of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh next week if other nations do not curb lush bonuses in their financial sectors. So what?
By Matt Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial columnist
It's been called the "prostitute poster" by critics, and clever campaigning by fans.
But a couple things are pretty clear: Vera Lengsfeld's campaign for a parliamentary seat for Berlin got a definite boost from a bit of chest thumping.
And a rather boring election just got a little hotter.
By Matt Schofield, a member of The Star's editorial board
As contentious as American politics get, at least the United States doesn’t suffer the problems now being faced in Europe.
During the recent European parliamentary elections, extreme right wing parties from the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, etc. gained seats, to join those from Austria, France and the Netherlands.
By Matt Schofield, The Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
French Defense Minister Herve Morin Tuesday refused to rule out terrorism as the cause for the Monday disappearance of Air France flight 447 in the mid-Atlantic.
By Matthew Palcher, Kansas City Star Editorial Board Reader Advisory panel 2008
It is deja vu all over again for the citizens of the Caucasus. Sights of tanks trekking down the streets of Georgia had to rekindle painful memories of Soviet expansion and imperialist ambition. The world has witnessed similar events this past century: Moscow in 1917, Warsaw in 1939, and more recently, Kuwait City in 1990.
Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board
Have ever two deaths been more examined than those of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her companion, Dodi al-Fayed?
In addition to dealing with the war in Iraq and the threat posed by Al Qaeda, the next president will face spies and groups reminiscent of Hitler's Brown Shirts (the Sturmabteilung.)
The Los Angeles Times reports right wing nationalism is on the rise in Hungary and other eastern European nations including Bulgaria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The freedom that followed the collapse of communism, and then expanded with EU membership, has also unveiled a dark strain of anti-Semitism, prejudice and anti-immigrant sentiment that is being channeled by a new crop of small but noisy extremist groups. They are able to capitalize on disillusion among some segments of the population who feel bypassed by free-market reforms and globalization.
