From The Economist, Brussels rules OK: A look at how the European Union is becoming the world's chief regulator. From Der Spiegel, an interview with Timothy Garton Ash: "A clear European voice is missing in the world". Promises countries make to gain entry into NATO or the EU are similar to Mary Poppins’s description of pie crust: Easily made, easily broken. Richard Falk on Turkey's finest hour: The sick man of Europe gets a jolt of life, but will it last? The 2007 general election in Turkey, as much a triumph for democracy as it was for the AKP, may one day be seen as a turning point. Here are 5 myths about sick Old Europe. Archipelago Europe: Instead of two homogeneous European regions — "the East" and "the West" — there are now fragments, enclaves, and islands. Origins and elements of imitated democracies: Throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union, regimes have established themselves behind a democratic facade while concentrating power in the hands of a president, and contrary to their purported stability, all contain the seeds of their own downfall. Despot dilemma: The European Union seems unable to decide how to deal with dictators.
