Like A Duck Hit on the Head

One Tory's Story, Weekly Standard, June 26, 2017. "After one of his many unfortunate generals sustained a particularly abject defeat, Abraham Lincoln remarked that the man was "confused and stunned like a duck hit on the head." Such is the state of the Conservative party after the U.K. general election of June 8, an election the party felt sure it would win overwhelmingly but in which it somehow contrived to lose seats. Though technically a victory, in that the Tories remain the largest and governing party, it was in every other sense—and especially as judged against expectations—a profound and confusing defeat."

Same Names, New Games

New Political Parties in Old Clothes, Newsday, June 18, 2017. "On the surface, the elections for the National Assembly in France have nothing in common with Britain’s most recent election, held on June 8. In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s new party may take three-quarters of the Assembly. In Britain, established parties dominated the voting. But underneath, Britain and France have a lot in common with each other, and indeed with the United States."

Germany's the Problem

Want A Good Ally? Then Be A Good Ally, Newsday, June 4, 2017. "Trump isn’t entirely in the right in this clash. But he’s more right than wrong. His idea that trade surpluses are always good and trade deficits are always bad is wrong. In the end, trade is an exchange of goods among individuals. If our government attempts to make it harder for us to buy what we want from abroad, it’s trying to tell individual Americans what we should do with our own money. That’s wrong."