Transatlantico

– by Hedley Myers – Between the opening and closing of polls in Canada on October 21st, the status quo of Canadian politics was mostly upheld, but with the rumblings of a new populist era present. Long a champion of liberal values and a proponent of a more globalised world, incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau […]

– Remarks by Andrew Spannaus – at the American Studies Center, Rome, October 7, 2019. In the past few years I have been concentrating on the macroeconomic drivers of what I call the “revolt of the voters” across the Western world. This is the approach I want to start with in looking at the U.S.-China […]

– by Andrew Spannaus – A meeting with Russians, allegations of corruption, and a call for a leading politician to resign.  Russiagate has come to Italy. A representative of the League — the right-wing anti-establishment party now part of the country’s governing coalition — is alleged to have floated a scheme for his party to receive […]

– Krynica Economic Forum, 3-5 September – The Krynica Economic Forum in Poland will debate fragmentation and convergence among the interests of Member States of the EU. The event, organized by The Eastern Institute, provides a bridge between different areas of Europe for lively discussion, as takes place at the Europe-Ukraine Forum, another event organized […]

adapted from “Original Sins. Globalization, Populism, and the Six Contradictions Facing the European Union” – (May 2019, Mimesis International) – by Andrew Spannaus – In 2016, the world began to change, with the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump. In both cases, there was a revolt of the voters, an insurrection of ‘regular […]

Italy caused a political firestorm in mid-March when it announced that it would be joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative by signing a memorandum of understanding during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Rome from March 21 to 23. As the first G-7 country to accept a formal agreement to participate in the initiative, also […]

Yellow Vests, Italian Budget Battles & Silent Labor Unions By Andrew Spannaus in Milan Special to Consortium News From the European Union’s standpoint, the historic levels of social unrest confronting French President Emmanuel Macron, one of its leading champions, came at a delicate moment in its dealings with Italy. Since mid-September, the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, […]

The Italian government of Giuseppe Conte, whose EU-critical policies are driven by the leaders of the two coalition partners, and Deputy Prime Ministers, Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement (M5S) and Matteo Salvini of the League, has decided to openly challenge EU budget rules. When in mid-September Economics Minister Giovanni Tria initially set […]

During the 2016 United States election campaign, most of Italy’s political class and media adopted the standard line about how Donald Trump was a grave threat to the stability of the Western world. Unlike previous Italian governments, which toed the pro-globalization line, the new government in Rome, supported by the anti-system Five Star Movement and the right-wingLeague, seems […]

Paolo Balmas – July 2018 Interview with Maureen Mutua Transatlantico returns to the issue of money laundering, dealt with in one of our first posts years ago, a widely-circulated interview with Antonio Maria Costa, former Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Paolo Balmas recently interviewed Maureen Mutua, a specialist […]