Author: Christine Schier

On June 12, NATO began the largest air exercise in its history (Air Defender 23), principally in the skies over Germany. A total of 250 aircraft, including 100 from the U.S., and over 10,000 service members from 25 countries will take part in the drills over a ten-day period. In addition to Germany, daily flight “excursions” are planned to Romania […]

An intense four-hour dialogue occurred at the June 10 Schiller Institute online conference dedicated to President John Kennedy’s vision of peace and international relations, and the urgent need to revive it today. The presentations by the group of speakers as well as those intervening in the Q&A reflected the powerful influence of the Kennedy legacy internationally, although it has been […]

A message to the Schiller Institute online event of June 10 was sent by Dr. Andrey Kortunov, Director-General of the Russian International Affairs Council, which we quote below. “It was sixty years ago, when John F. Kennedy made his historic speech about the challenge of nuclear weapons. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, this challenge was on the very top of […]

Military support will be provided to Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, is the mantra of the hard-core anti-Russian geopoliticians in Europe, but popular support for that view is rapidly eroding. A spectacular manifestation of that was the mass rally of a half million people against the current Polish government in Warsaw on June 4. In particular, the government’s […]

The Ludwig Börne Prize is a literary award presented once a year for “outstanding essays, reviews and reportages”, and named after the famous political journalist and revolutionary democrat from Frankfurt, Ludwig Börne (1786-1837). This year, it was awarded to Economy Minister and leading Green Party member Robert Habeck, who was chosen by Jürgen Kaube, author and co-publisher of the Frankfurter […]

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has withdrawn the platform from the voluntary code of conduct for technology firms, set up by the European Union to combat so-called “disinformation”. Independent columnist Rachel Marsden reported June 4 that “European Union officials are having a meltdown” because of his decision. Note that the code of conduct, revised by the EU last year, is “voluntary” […]

Many headlines over the past days have conveyed the same message as that of the Washington Post on June 2: “Unprecedented Canadian fires intensified by record heat, climate change”. In reality, the wildfires that have ravaged over three millions of hectares of forest this year in Canada are neither unprecedented nor the result of climate change. They are primarily the […]

The Afghanistan government has cracked down heavily on opium cultivation, reducing it by 80% this year. In Helmand province (which produces more than 60-70% of the total), poppy growing has dropped to less than 1000 Ha in 2023, a reduction surpassing any previous ban, including that of 2000-2001. “This is a major piece of information”, the former director of the […]

With the danger of a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia becoming more likely every day, it is urgent that the message of the June 10 Schiller Institute conference (cf. above) become a rallying cry for a growing segment of the citizens of the U.S. and Europe. The conference focused on U.S. President John Kennedy’s (JFK) speech of sixty […]

While the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russian forces has still not happened, President Zelenskyy told the Wall Street Journal (June 3), that Kyiv is ready now, although it will mean tremendous losses for Ukraine. “I don’t know how long it will take”, the Ukrainian President said, and “it can go a variety of ways, completely different”. Without the Patriot systems […]