2013

The European Council on Foreign Relations recently came out with an article predicting the top 10 trends for Europe in 2013.  You can read their article here.  Below is a short summary of what they said. 

1. The single market unravels
2. "Small" States lead the EU's foreign policy
3. The end of technocracy
4. The British debate over Europe becomes less toxic
5. Syria as the playground for proxy conflicts
6. Political vs. Religious Islam
7. Putin's increasingly ungovernable Russia
8. Security in the Maghreb becomes a real issue
9. China 3.0 meets Chinese leadership 1.5
10. Will post-American Europe fail to grow up or discover strategy?

Europe's time to shine

The recent French intervention in Mali has brought up the topic of US-European relations again.  When will the US team with Europe to intervene and when will Europe be left to itself?  Here is an interesting article addressing these questions.  Obama's foreign policy strategy can be summed up like this: if others can do the job then we won't.  It will be interesting to see how Europe adapts to the new US strategy. The Economist has another interesting article about France's president and the Mali intervention, things could be looking up for President Hollande Read and judge for yourselves.