• OPINION

  Merkel's lacklustre win is good for the nation

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 26/09/2017

  » The sour faces of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's allies after the first exit poll results for the federal election were announced on Sunday night will prompt much talk of a Pyrrhic victory for Ms Merkel. But the outcome of Sunday's election could be good both for her and for German democracy: It has clarified the options for the next governing coalition, and it has made sure there will be vocal opposition to the government from both the left and the right.

• OPINION

  Vladimir Putin struggles with enthusiasm problem

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 15/09/2017

  » According to the Daily Beast's latest scoop, "a Russian operative" used Facebook to organise an anti-Muslim event in Twin Falls, Idaho, that attracted a grand total of four people. Inside Russia, the Kremlin appears to have a similar inability to stoke crowds.

• OPINION

  Turnover tax on global technology giants is sheer folly

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 20/09/2017

  » Ten European Union countries' finance ministers have signed a letter calling for a tax on the revenues of multinational tech companies that have been hiding away their European profits. But European leaders should proceed with caution, because a turnover levy may not be the best solution to this multi-billion-dollar problem.

• OPINION

  Brexit reversal? The EU should simply say 'no way'

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 03/08/2017

  » Though most UK politicians would have us believe that "Brexit is Brexit", European leaders have recently spoken of a reversal of the UK's decision to leave the European Union as a real possibility. That should be alarming to anyone who cares about continuing the EU's resurgence since the 2016 vote.

• OPINION

  Facebook too big a platform to allow fake users

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 10/08/2017

  » There's something in common between the amazing story of "Nicole Mincey", the pseudonymous Twitter user with 146,000 followers who was retweeted by US President Donald Trump and then disappeared overnight along with a few other online personae, and a recent prank by a Berliner frustrated with his inability to get Twitter to remove hate speech. The common element is the obvious solution to both problems, which rarely surfaces in discussions of trolling, fake news and cyberbullying.

• OPINION

  EU rubber boat ban won't halt tide

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 20/07/2017

  » If it looks as though Europe is clutching at straws to stop hundreds, sometimes thousands, of migrants from crossing the Mediterranean into Italy every day, that's exactly what's happening. On Monday, the European Union's (EU) foreign ministers approved restrictions on the supply of inflatable boats and outboard motors to Libya.

• OPINION

  The UK should be very wary of a Trump trade deal

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 27/07/2017

  » President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he was working on a potentially "very big & exciting" trade deal with the UK that would shame the "very protectionist" European Union. He's right that such a deal could be politically advantageous for both governments. For UK consumers, though, it might deliver little more than chlorinated chicken.

• OPINION

  Safer vehicles can make terrorist strikes much harder

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 07/06/2017

  » 'Enough is enough," UK Prime Minister Theresa May declared after the London terror attack on Saturday night, the third one this year. But what she proposed to counter the terrorist attacks was, essentially, some freedom of speech restrictions, more powers for law enforcement and longer sentences for terror-related offenses -- the same old toolbox that has been used for almost two decades.

• OPINION

  Russia has no reason to undermine Qatar

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 09/06/2017

  » The ubiquitous "Russian hackers" are now accused of providing the spark for a diplomatic fire between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While the facts in the case remain in the shadows, it's hard to understand why it would be in Russia's interest to undermine Qatar.

• OPINION

  Blockchain test could change Russia

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 08/06/2017

  » Russian President Vladimir Putin and his economic team have long been under the impression that, to wean the country off its oil dependence, they needed a major leap in some specific area of technology that wasn't yet dominated by Western, Chinese or Japanese tech giants. Their latest hopes are being pegged to the Ethereum blockchain platform.

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