We can’t complain. The new American President has hardly been in the White House a month and he’s already turned the world on its head

It’s no coincidence that every democracy in the world is currently focused, each in its own way, on a right which life has elevated into a requirement

In civilized societies, justice is dispensed by judges and the courts. No one else. Not by governments or oppositions. Not by parties or ministers. Not by protesters or viewers. Not by relatives and friends. Even when it’s political figures being judged, it’s the judiciary that ultimately passes sentence. Parliament simply conducts the preliminary inquiry. Which […]

So Trump is a large slice of America. A part that was there before he appeared on the scene and will remain after he has gone.  

In a strange and unexpected way, the vote for the President of Greece has turned into a prelude to the next parliamentary elections. Especially since the Prime Minister made it clear publicly that he will be seeking a third term in office, and without any change to the electoral law. Meaning that the situation calls […]

And for me, the funeral service represented another element of normality. The President, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition shared an appreciation of the deceased and his contribution.

As we took out leave of 2024, we also bade farewell to a drawn-out election cycle. Four elections between May 2023 and June 2024. With no change to the overall picture. New Democracy (ND) won all four, consolidating a supremacy that now leads it smoothly into its sixth year in government. Only the ND of […]

If some thought the Greeks’ system of values had been left in disarray by the Crisis years, they’ll have to accept that, even if it once were, everything is now largely as it was before.

The government may not have changed in Greece in 2024. But the Opposition did change. And I don't think that's ever happened before.

I listened carefully to all the politicians, functionaries and academics who spoke at the conference on foreign policy co-organised by To Vima, the Delphi Economic Forum and the Council for International Relations (at the King George Hotel, December 12-13). And I’ll let you in on a secret. There didn’t seem to be much of significance […]

A (literally) unprecedented alliance of the Far Right and the Left has left France all at sea today, without a government or a budget.

The completion of the election process for the President of SYRIZA and the formalization of the foundation of Kasselakis’ new party brings to a close the cycle of party political realignments that began the day after the European elections. Party political, but not necessarily political. Because new formations and new faces (even if they’ve been […]

It has been a thousand and one days since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the conflict seems to have reached a critical turning point. Not necessarily on the field of battle. There, the war has evolved into a sequence of small victories and minor defeats for both sides. With no clear winners or losers. The Russians […]

The old political landscape is no more, but a new landscape has yet to take its place

Nothing that has happened is a shock, or even a surprise. We just have to understand the world we live in and what we can expect from it. What is deeply worrying, though, is our inability to do that.

On the eve of a presidential election of old, the great American President Abraham Lincoln warned that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” It was 1858 and a bloody Civil War was soon to follow. Strangely enough, his description is also a perfect fit today for a nation that increasingly resembles the “Divided States […]

The opening of the autumn session in the Greek Parliament revealed a change of scene, though the new set is made up of old materials. The majority of New Democracy is at odds with a minority representing an older version of the party, though it hasn’t suffered much in the way of turbulence as a […]

You end a war when you win it. Or you end it when you realize you can’t win it. But in the Middle East today, we have an endless war. To be precise, a war Israel is winning but not ending. A war whose hostilities are being forever extended and prolonged. Even though Gaza has […]

The party-political storms may be raging in a teacup for now

A fundamental feature of historical ruling parties is that they don’t seek partners or beg for a "helping hand".