<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>washingtonpost.com - Commentary</title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/europe/opinion?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><description>Commentary</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com</link><url>http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif</url></image><item><title><![CDATA[. . . Starting Among the 'Christophobes']]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2948-2005Apr19.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2948-2005Apr19.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  After the dust has settled  --  after the processions are over and the Masses have been said, after the new pope has accustomed himself to new apartments, new tasks, new vestments  --  Benedict XVI will face an extraordinary list of problems, ranging from the bioethical to the geopolitical. But for this German pope, among his toughest tasks by far will be the battle for acceptance on the continent of his birth.]]></description><author> Anne Applebaum</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Too Much Credit Given Pope]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42674-2005Apr10.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42674-2005Apr10.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  In his April 3 news story, "The Inspiration for a Workers' Revolution," Michael Dobbs wrote, "Some historians credit the pope with initiating the extraordinary sequence of events that culminated a decade later in the fall of the Berlin Wall, the overthrow of Communist governments from Warsaw to Prague to Bucharest, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union."]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Power of Faith]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23876-2005Apr3.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23876-2005Apr3.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  It was Stalin who gave us the most famous formulation of that cynical (and today quite fashionable) philosophy known as "realism"  --  the idea that all that ultimately matters in the relations among nations is power: "The pope? How many divisions does he have?"]]></description><author> Charles Krauthammer</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Middle East Pretenses]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61688-2005Mar23.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61688-2005Mar23.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Regarding Charles Krauthammer's March 18 op-ed column, "What's Left? Shame.":]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[What's Left? Shame.]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45508-2005Mar17.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45508-2005Mar17.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   At his news conference on Wednesday, President Bush declined an invitation to claim vindication for his policy of spreading democracy in the Middle East. After two years of attacks on him as a historical illiterate pursuing the childish fantasy of Middle East democracy, he was entitled to claim a bit of credit. Yet he declined, partly out of modesty (as with Ronald Reagan, one of the secrets of his political success) and partly because he has learned the perils of declaring any mission accomplished.]]></description><author> Charles Krauthammer</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Woman's Head Scarf, a Continent's Discomfort]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28937-2005Mar12.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28937-2005Mar12.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Ten days ago, a 31-year-old Moroccan-born immigrant to Belgium quit her job at a prepared foods factory in the small town of Ledegem. Her decision was the result of several months of intimidation, beginning in November when her employer, Rik Remmery, received an anonymous letter. It claimed to be his "death warrant" unless he fired his "fundamentalist" Muslim employee  --  or made sure that she removed her head scarf.]]></description><author> Mustafa Malik</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Say Yes To Europe]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40694-2005Feb20.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40694-2005Feb20.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The Bush charm offensive in Europe has limits, and so in fact it should. The Europeans are wrong to want to sell weapons to China, wrong not to come forward with more help for Iraq's transition and wrong (this goes especially for France) to resist tougher action on Sudan's genocide in Darfur. We don't want a president who makes nice with Europe on these issues. We want a president who can sway European attitudes.]]></description><author>Sebastian Mallaby</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Limits of Reconciliation]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36624-2005Feb18.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36624-2005Feb18.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Halfway through a Gerhard Schroeder speech that was being scrutinized down to its last umlaut by a hall full of American diplomats, politicians and scribes, I scrawled a note to myself: Oblivious, stubborn or clairvoyant?]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rice's European Tests]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59186-2005Feb2.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59186-2005Feb2.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   On these urgent issues, Condoleezza Rice will find consensus with America's European partners on her first trip abroad as President Bush's chief diplomat:]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Unfair Comparisons for Ms. Rice]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52772-2005Jan31.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52772-2005Jan31.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Brent Scowcroft is sometimes described as a "mentor" to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice  [front page, Jan. 17], but  one would not think he's a happy one judging by his remark that Ms. Rice is "very good in Russia  and the Soviet Union, good in Europe,  but it tapers off after that." What an extraordinary and ungenerous, not to mention inaccurate, thing to say about a person who has had years of experience in the national security process and four years in the cockpit next to the president.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[In Europe, an Unhealthy Fixation on Israel]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46382-2005Jan29.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46382-2005Jan29.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[BRATISLAVA, Slovakia<br> It may not have been apparent on the surface, but Europe's recent commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was steeped in irony. Even while the Old World stirringly recalls the horrors of Hitler's death camps and vows never to forget the...]]></description><author> Robin Shepherd</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rising Oil Costs Ahead]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57886-2005Jan7.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57886-2005Jan7.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  In his Dec. 29 op-ed column, Robert J. Samuelson said that strong consumer spending can no longer be relied upon as the engine of this country's economic growth because of rising consumer debt, increasing interest rates, a costlier welfare state and the effects of globalization.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bush Should Talk to Europe's Investors]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45939-2005Jan3.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45939-2005Jan3.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   President Bush's trip to Europe next month has been billed as an effort to reach out to our European allies and restore some of the relationships fractured by the war in Iraq. But there is an even more urgent matter for the president to deal with -- namely, restoring European confidence in America's ability to continue to manage the global financial system. It should be our first priority.]]></description><author> Felix G. Rohatyn</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Year We Hope Won't Be Ahead]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37947-2004Dec30.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37947-2004Dec30.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   The best thing to be said about 2004, as with a tooth extraction or taking the SATs, is that once it's over, we'll never have to worry about it again. So let's bid farewell to a nasty election campaign, an unfunny television season, a somnambulant stock market and a painful war in Iraq. And let's welcome the arrival of a new year -- with new joys, worries and a whole new batch of headlines.]]></description><author> David Ignatius</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Time for Diplomacy]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9268-2004Dec17.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9268-2004Dec17.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   When Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar met recently with reporters, he spent the better part of an hour simply outlining the "huge challenge" the Bush administration faces in trouble spots around the world.]]></description><author> David S. Broder</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[How to Approach Iran]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60177-2004Dec12.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60177-2004Dec12.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   The following article was signed by Madeleine Albright, secretary of state in the Clinton administration, and by  seven former foreign ministers: Robin Cook of  Britain, Hubert Vedrine of France, Lamberto Dini of Italy, Lloyd Axworthy of Canada, Niels Helveg Petersen of Denmark, Ana Palacio of Spain and Jozias van Aartsen of the Netherlands.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Embraceable E.U.]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34023-2004Dec3.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34023-2004Dec3.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   In the unfolding drama of Ukraine, the Bush administration and the European Union have committed a flagrant act of transatlantic cooperation. If Ukrainians eventually vote in a free and fair election and thereby thwart the reemergence of an authoritarian Russian empire along the borders of democratic Europe, it will be one of those rare hinges of history where looming disaster was turned into glittering opportunity. And it would not have happened without the joint efforts of the United States and the European Union using -- dare one say it? -- "soft power" to compel Vladimir Putin and his would-be quislings to retreat from their botched coup d'etat.]]></description><author> Robert Kagan</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Ukraine's Democratic Strengths]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61376-2004Nov18.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61376-2004Nov18.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   One big difference sets  Sunday's presidential election in Ukraine apart from others held over the past 10 years to pick national leaders in the 12 countries of the former Soviet Union: Sunday's winner is not known in advance.]]></description><author> Stephen Sestanovich</author></item><item><title><![CDATA['Facing Iran': The U.S. Really Is Playing a Part]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52940-2004Nov15.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52940-2004Nov15.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The Nov. 9 editorial "Facing Iran, With Europe" missed a key element of the European  negotiations with Iran. It said that the United States "is watching ineffectually from the sidelines," but is that really what is going on?]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[From Friends to Framework]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46796-2004Nov12.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46796-2004Nov12.html?nav=rss_world/europe/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:08:13 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Bringing stability to Iraq and continuing the fight against al Qaeda's terrorist network top President Bush's second-term agenda in foreign policy. But he will not have the luxury of dealing only with those urgent tasks.]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item></channel></rss>