The Duma's confirmation of Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister on 8 May, a day after Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president, marked the completion of their long-anticipated role swap and a new period in Russia's foreign... more ››
China and the United States were able to reach two agreements about the fate of the blind dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng in less than 48 hours - a feat unthinkable in the era of consensus politics that started after Mao... more ››
Although the new French president, Socialist François Hollande, will not introduce great changes in France's European policy, his election may lead to its re-evaluation. Whether he undertakes structural reforms to boost... more ››
To listen to the excitable coverage, you might think that we were in the midst of a jolly stimulating election season in three separate countries. France, the US and London (a country within a country) would all seem to have been... more ››
Americans call it a Rube Goldberg machine, Britons a Heath Robinson contraption and the Danes a Storm P machine. The European Union's policy-making system often resembles one of those cartoon designs of an implausibly convoluted... more ››