Best Franco Fernandez Podcasts (2023)

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Uncommon Decency

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90. Zelensky's World Tour, Sunak's Comeback & Mitsotakis' Winning Formula—Decency Deep Dive 22:30

26m ago22:30

22:30

It's debating season again at Uncommon Decency. This week we are chatting about Zelensky's rock star world tour, unpacking the Greek center-right's triumph and weighing the Conservatives' (low) chances for a similar performance in the UK. Join us for our second Decency Deep Dive! As always, please rate and review Uncommon Decency on Apple Podcasts,…

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Uncommon Decency

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89. Charles III: Last King of Britain? with Peter Riddell 48:05

3h ago48:05

48:05

“Soon there will only be five kings left: the king of spades, of clubs, of hearts, of diamonds, and the king of England”. King Farouk of Egypt was off in his prediction, but the permanency of the British monarchy has recently come under heightened scrutiny. The threat of independence from Britain’s constituent kingdoms, accelerated by Brexit, means…

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Uncommon Decency

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88. The Rise (and Fall?) of Erdogan, with Ryan Gingeras & Birol Baskan 55:07

2h ago55:07

55:07

In the mid-1990s, the mayor of Istanbul was quoted saying: “democracy is like a tram. You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off”. That mayor is now president and his critics fear he believes Turkey has reached its democratic destination. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rise to power, his consolidation of it, and his ability to shap…

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Uncommon Decency

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87. Macron in China, Meloni Magic—Decency Deep Dive [BONUS] 30:52

6d ago30:52

30:52

It's debate season on Uncommon Decency. This week we evaluated President Macron's visit to China, and the premiership of Giorgia Meloni. As well as what stood out to us from the first part of this year. Enjoy! As always, please rate and review Uncommon Decency on Apple Podcasts, and send us your comments or questions either on Twitter at @UnDecency…

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Uncommon Decency

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86. The Ghost of Franco & Spain's Memory Wars, with Michael Reid & Nigel Townson 46:24

14d ago46:24

46:24

“If only mine were the last drop of Spanish blood to be spilled in civil strife. God willing, may the Spanish people at peace, so replete with extraordinary virtue, at last find homeland, bread and justice”. Who among today’s Spaniards could possibly disown this quote? The man who uttered in November 1936 shortly before being shot by firing squad, …

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Uncommon Decency

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85. The European Union and the Habsburg Myth, with Helen Thompson & Caroline de Gruyter 44:43

21d ago44:43

44:43

“I was born in 1881 in the great and mighty empire of the Habsburg Monarchy, but you would look for it in vain on the map today; it has vanished without trace”. We begin with this quote from Stefan Zweig’s memoir The World of Yesterday (1942) for two reasons. First, because it is a wonderful book that beautifully describes this powerful sense of lo…

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Uncommon Decency

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84. 2023: French Revolution? with Nicholas Vinocur & Cole Strangler 52:59

1M ago52:59

52:59

"Is it a revolt? No sire, it's a revolution". While this famous exchange is attributed to Louis the XVIth and the Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, odds are that French President Macron has had similar conversations with his aides in the past few weeks. In an attempt to balance the books of France's pensions regime, Macron’s party—Renaissance—fil…

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Uncommon Decency

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83. Going East: Europe's New Center of Gravity, with Jana Puglierin & Timothy Garton Ash 44:06

1M ago44:06

44:06

While the geographic center of the EU is apparently in a small Bavarian field, its political center is harder to pin down. Historically, it was probably somewhere between France and Germany, but with the war in Ukraine, this center has seemingly moved East. Warsaw was not too long ago under considerable pressure from Brussels over rule-of-law skirm…

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Uncommon Decency

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82. Empires on Trial, with Nigel Biggar & Felipe Fernández-Armesto 53:20

2M ago53:20

53:20

On episode five of this show, the late Gyórgy Schópflin, then retired and in the twilight of his life, made a lucid observation about what, at bottom, set his native Hungary apart from his adoptive Great Britain. “Hungary has no post-colonial guilt”, intoned the retired academic and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Schöpflin meant th…

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Uncommon Decency

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81. The Democratic Recession, with Martin Wolf 48:55

2M ago48:55

48:55

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and tha…

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Uncommon Decency

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80. Qatargate: Sheikhs, Cheques and Balances, with Frank Furedi & Thomas Fazi 59:03

2M ago59:03

59:03

Since mid-December, a corruption scandal has been unfolding in Brussels that could soon begin rock the European Union's (EU) very foundations. Eva Kaili, a 44-year-old Member of the European Parliament (MEP), was detained by Belgian authorities along with three other suspects—including fellow MEP Marc Tarabella and Kaili’s partner, an assistant to …

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Uncommon Decency

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79. Ukraine—One Year On [BONUS] 43:03

2M ago43:03

43:03

“Exactly a year ago, I broadcast a message that contained the two things that remain most important now: that Russia had launched a full-scale war against us, and that we are strong. We are ready for anything. We will defeat anyone. Because we are Ukraine. We will never rest until the Russian murderers face the punishment they deserve. The punishme…

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Uncommon Decency

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78. Spycraft: How the West Battles Chinese Balloons & Russian Agents, with Dan Lomas 1:01:21

3M ago1:01:21

1:01:21

"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety". These words by American statesman Benjamin Franklin are often paraphrased into “those who sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither”. Franklin was talking about taxes, but don’t worry—that’s not what we’re going to cover tod…

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Uncommon Decency

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77. How the Muslim Brotherhood Cracked the EU, with Florence Bergeaud-Blackler & Tommaso Virgili 43:09

3M ago43:09

43:09

«With your democratic laws we will colonize you, and with our koranic laws we will dominate you». This rather bellicose warning for Europeans came from a 2002 speech by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, one of the key intellectual leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). It’s a great insight on what the MB is—a strictly religious and conservative reaction to moder…

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Uncommon Decency

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76. Putin's Eyes and Ears: Into Russia's Spy-State, with Andrei Soldatov 41:04

3M ago41:04

41:04

"The Soviet State Security Service is more than a secret police organization, more than an intelligence and counter-intelligence organization. It is an instrument for subversion, manipulation and violence, for secret intervention in the affairs of other countries”. Those were the words of Allen Dulles, the long-time head of the Central Intelligence…

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Uncommon Decency

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75. 2022—Year in Review [BONUS] 59:58

4M ago59:58

59:58

It’s that time of the year again—a time to look back on the year lapsed and make resolutions for the coming one. At episode 75, Uncommon Decency readies to enter its third calendar year—we launched in October 2020—with a potent mix of hope and derision. For the first time this year, we are greeting 2023 with a very special series of Uncommonly Dece…

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Uncommon Decency

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74. Europe First, with Barbara Moens & Stanley Pignal 49:09

5M ago49:09

49:09

It was the opening shot of what the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) editorial board fears may become a protracted climate trade war between the European Union (EU) and the United States. In a notorious departure from standard EU lip service to free trade, late last week French President Emmanuel Macron urged fellow European leaders anew to match the Bi…

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Uncommon Decency

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73. "It's the Economy, Stupid!": European Debt & Deficit Targeting, with Rebecca Christie 46:15

5M ago46:15

46:15

"Within our mandate, the European Central Bank (ECB) is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, and believe me, it will be enough." By uttering those three words, Mario Draghi saved the Eurozone from collapsing, thereby ushering Europe’s monetary policy into the 21st century. European fiscal policy, meanwhile, has not quite caught up. T…

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Uncommon Decency

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72. Biden vs Europe: Trade Wars & Confronting China [BONUS] 51:35

5M ago51:35

51:35

"I think this administration—and President Biden personally—is very much attached to Europe, but when you look at the situation today, there is indeed a de-synchronization.” In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted the growing tension in the transatlantic relationship as the United States and Europe rift ap…

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Uncommon Decency

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71. China's Balkans Strategy, with Valbona Zeneli & Damir Marusic 40:12

6M ago40:12

40:12

On May 7, 1999, five bombs rained down from U.S. jets on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, as part of NATO’s air campaign to halt the deadly assault by the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Nearly a quarter of a century later, China is transforming the site of its bombed former embassy into an expansive c…

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Uncommon Decency

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70. The Rise and Fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with Adam Zamoyski & Norman Davies 40:48

6M ago40:48

40:48

In 1791, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth adopted one of the world’s most avant-garde constitutions, one establishing a progressive constitutional monarchy. And yet in 1795, the Commonwealth altogether disappeared, partitioned between Prussia, Austria and Russia. This contrast between the Commonwealth’s seemingly advanced regime and its total col…

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Uncommon Decency

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69. Midterms and Ukraine [BONUS] 42:22

6M ago42:22

42:22

“I think people are going to be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it.” With those words, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy sparked significant panic in European capitals, with foreign diplomats fearing that a Republican victory in the midterms would lead to diminished US support …

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Uncommon Decency

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68. European Superstate or European Disunion? with Stefan Auer & Glyn Morgan 46:56

6M ago46:56

46:56

Here is a double paradox: The European Union’s (EU) set of founding principles—its telos, so to speak—are undergoing a two-track inversion. The block was initially designed to slide gently towards federalization whilst remaining a largely toothless actor on the world stage. And yet the opposite has happened: the EU has since grown into a powerful g…

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Uncommon Decency

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67. The Second Collapse of the Russian Empire, with Angela Stent & Mark Galeotti 41:27

7M ago41:27

41:27

« Anyone who doesn’t regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.” When a fresh-faced Vladimir Putin made those comments back in 2000, Russia had only recently lost its Soviet Empire and endured a series of violent conflicts within the borders of the Federation, most notably in Chechnya. Just like…

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Uncommon Decency

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66. Going Nuclear, with Olga Oliker & Bruno Tertrais 55:23

7M ago55:23

55:23

"This is not a bluff. And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them.” With those words, Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed fears across the globe that Russia could employ nuclear weapons in its war with Ukraine. As we edited this episode, Russia conducted its annual nuc…

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Uncommon Decency

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65. The Erdogan Doctrine, with Ryan Gingeras 44:10

7M ago44:10

44:10

"Greece, look at history, go back in time; if you go too far, the price will be heavy. We only have one sentence for Greece, do not forget Izmir”. After months of hostile aerial and naval encounters between Greek and Turkish armed forces, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave this remarkable speech last September. By referring to the 1922 burning of the Greek …

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Uncommon Decency

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64. Ukrainian Explosions, Tory Implosion [BONUS] 45:32

7M ago45:32

45:32

The war in Ukraine keeps looming over Europe's geopolitical landscape, with sanctions, energy price caps, and weapons supplies dominating debates at EU Council meetings. Ukraine's recently successful counter-offensive warrants a check-in on the war itself, and what it means for the continent's geopolitical standing as old Europe fades in influence,…

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Uncommon Decency

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63. Ireland's Call, with Jude Webber & Daniel Mulhall 57:43

7M ago57:43

57:43

“Civil war politics ended a long time ago in our country, but today it ends in our parliament.” Thus welcomed Leo Varadkar—the former and future Irish Taoiseach—the new coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. Ireland has been marked by division, between both the Republic's pro- and anti-treaty parties and the North and South on the island itse…

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Uncommon Decency

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62. Forza Meloni, with Alessandra Bocchi & Thomas Fazi 1:03:02

8M ago1:03:02

1:03:02

“To you, who have been born in Italy, God has allotted, as if favouring you specially, the best-defined country in Europe”. Thus wrote Giuseppe Mazzini in his landmark essay Duties of Country (1860). Mazzini believed that Italy was unified by geography and language, and that through unification, Italians would gain the power to improve their econom…

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Uncommon Decency

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61. Season 5 Warm-Up [BONUS] 5:28

8M ago5:28

5:28

Your favorite euro-realist podcast is gearing up for a new season. In the meantime, here’s a short State-of-the-Union primer where we take stock of what we have accomplished over the past 2 years and map out what we intend to achieve in the coming one. On the agenda: our new co-host Julian, our revamped Patreon system (a way to raise the required f…

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Uncommon Decency

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60. Season Finale: Macron Forever! with Elisabeth Zerofsky & John Lichfield 1:05:33

1y ago1:05:33

1:05:33

In the spring of 2017, Emmanuel Macron upended France’s political system by breaking ranks with a socialist administration and running for President as the leader of a new party that bore his initials, En Marche! Five years after that victory, Macron has again triumphed against Marine Le Pen in the runoff of the presidential race. To be sure, turno…

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Uncommon Decency

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59. Churchill, Brexit and Europe, with Andrew Roberts 52:13

1y ago52:13

52:13

Sir Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, claimed during the 2016 referendum on Brexit that "the last thing on earth Churchill would have been is an isolationist. "Oui”, I think he would have wanted to stay in the EU”. On the other hand, David Davis, the leading pro-Brexit politician, argued that this vision of Churchill as a remainer…

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Uncommon Decency

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58. Franco-Hungarian Post-Election War Room [BONUS] 52:41

1y ago52:41

52:41

In numerous ways, Hungary and France couldn’t be more different from one another. Hungary is a landlocked set of hills and plains in south Central Europe, flanked to the North and East by the Carpathian mountain range, and to the West and South by the Drava river. It is a meagre remnant of its former self, having lost two thirds of its territory in…

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Uncommon Decency

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57. 1848: A European Revolution? with Christopher M. Clark & Jonathan Sperber 1:16:13

1y ago1:16:13

1:16:13

On January 29, 1848, at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, the liberal intellectual and MP Alexis De Tocqueville rose to proclaim: "Gentlemen, I believe that we are at this moment sleeping on a volcano [...] Do you not feel—what shall I say?—as it were a gale of revolution in the air?” Within weeks, Tocqueville’s prediction came to pass—and more. Th…

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Uncommon Decency

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56. National Conservatism After Ukraine, with Sebastian Milbank [BONUS] 56:32

1y ago56:32

56:32

"Politics in America, Britain, and other Western nations", reads the blurb for the Edmund Burke Foundation’s National Conservatism series of conferences, "have taken a sharp turn toward nationalism—a commitment to a world of independent nations”. In the US and the UK, this inflection point crystallized in 2016 with the result of the Brexit referend…

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Uncommon Decency

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55. Henry Kissinger, European with Gérard Araud & Jérémie Gallon 1:02:09

1y ago1:02:09

1:02:09

"A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy”, wrote Henry Kissinger, "will achieve neither perfection nor security". In an era where few countries have the means to back their moral postures on foreign policy, the statesman’s comments should not fall on deaf ears. Kissinger knows a thing or two about the inefficiency of empty pos…

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Uncommon Decency

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54. Waging Jihad in Today's Europe, with Hugo Micheron & Petter Nesser 1:05:59

1y ago1:05:59

1:05:59

France looks back on November 13, 2015 with a mix of pain and horror. That day, a group of ISIS-trained jihadists launched coordinated attacks on the Bataclan nightclub, the Stade de France, and a handful of Parisian cafés. The onslaught left 130 dead, shell-shocked French public opinion, and forced a reckoning across Europe about the threat from r…

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Uncommon Decency

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53. Ukraine—It's the Energy, Stupid! with Nick Butler & Simone Tagliapietra 49:45

1y ago49:45

49:45

Mere hours after Russian tanks rolled over Ukraine’s borders, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made this chilling statement : « We buy 50% of our coal from Russia. If we exclude Russia from the SWIFT payment system, the lights in Germany will go out. » In our 44th episode a few weeks ago (« Europe Braces for Winter »), we wondered whether …

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Uncommon Decency

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52. Ukraine—Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again [BONUS] 55:44

1y ago55:44

55:44

"The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear”. This oft-quoted passage from Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks sounds eerily apt to describe Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine over the past week and its shock effect on the so-called rules…

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Uncommon Decency

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51. The Euro at 20: Doomed to Succeed? with Barry Eichengreen & Jean Pisani-Ferry 1:09:16

1y ago1:09:16

1:09:16

In 1997, the Chicago School guru and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman eerily foresaw the challenges that a common European currency would eventually face through the following decade. “The drive for the euro”, he wrote that year for Project Syndicate, “has been motivated by politics, not economics. The aim has been to link Germany and France so close…

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Uncommon Decency

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50. Bonapartist Macron, Zemmourist France [BONUS] 52:09

1+ y ago52:09

52:09

Charles de Gaulle famously asserted that the French presidential election was an “encounter between a man and the people.” This inherently Bonapartist spirit of the Fifth Republic lives on to this day, as illustrated recently by Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic offensive on behalf of the European Union (EU) over Russia’s military build-up along Ukraine…

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Uncommon Decency

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49. Can Orbán Be Defeated? with Boris Kálnoky & Dalibor Roháč 1:09:14

1+ y ago1:09:14

1:09:14

When exactly are electoral observation missions warranted in a democracy? Hungarians are heading to the polls on April 3rd this year, and a substantial share of the opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán seems to fear that the election will be neither free nor fair. Last month, a coalition of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) officially …

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Uncommon Decency

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48. Is Portugal Governable? with António Costa Pinto & Peter Wise 1:03:52

1+ y ago1:03:52

1:03:52

"Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal São lágrimas de Portugal!” “O salty sea, so much of whose salt Is Portugal tears!” Verses like this one by the acclaimed 20th century poet and critic Fernando Pessoa were somberly recited in his native Portugal throughout the 2010s, as the country went through a bruising cycle of financial insolvency, economic down…

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Uncommon Decency

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47. Ukraine—Not All Quiet on the Eastern Front, with Michael Kimmage & Vladislav Davidzon 1:05:09

1+ y ago1:05:09

1:05:09

“When asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing the United States, you said Russia—not Al-Qaeda, Russia. The 1980’s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back. The Cold War has been over for twenty years.” The seasoned politicos in our audience might recognize Barack Obama’s quip on former Governor Mitt Romney in a 2012 presiden…

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Uncommon Decency

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46. Is the EU Woke? with Rodrigo Ballester & Brice Couturier 1:16:16

1+ y ago1:16:16

1:16:16

If the European Commission (EC) had to be described in a single word, “technocracy" would come fittingly close. Commissioners and EU civil servants are selected on the basis of subject matter expertise to carry out the thanklessly tiresome tasks of patching together the bloc’s budget, governing the single market and negotiating trade deals on behal…

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Uncommon Decency

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45. French Electoral War Room: Zemmour, Pécresse and the French Right [BONUS] 1:01:56

1+ y ago1:01:56

1:01:56

“Democracy always includes a form of incompleteness, it is not self-sufficient. The terror during the French Revolution dug an imaginary emotional, collective void: the king is no longer there!”. Thus spoke then Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron in 2015. The French have tried to replace the king ever since the death of Louis the XVIth in 1793. Gener…

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Uncommon Decency

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44. Europe Braces for Winter, with Aitor Hernández-Morales & Thomas Pellerin-Carlin 1:11:46

1+ y ago1:11:46

1:11:46

But for a handful of hardcore survivalists, the announcement caught most EU watchers flat-footed. Klaudia Tanner, Minister of Defense in the now disbanded Kurz government, alerted her Austrian compatriots earlier this month of the possible need to stockpile food if the blackouts that many fear end up materializing. Others have been hedging their be…

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Uncommon Decency

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43. Whither the Primacy of EU Law? with Nicole Scicluna & Paul Craig 1:01:39

1+ y ago1:01:39

1:01:39

“The judges of the nation are only the mouth that pronounces the words of the law, inanimate beings, who can moderate neither the strength nor the severity of the law.” When Montesquieu wrote these words in The Spirit of the Laws in 1748, he laid out the ideal framework for the interaction between lawmakers and judges. Montesquieu’s ideal vision co…

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Uncommon Decency

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42. Of Barbed Wire, Sleaze and Blackouts [BONUS] 49:19

1+ y ago49:19

49:19

Europe—that is to say, a continent far surpassing the European Union (EU) in size and historical depth—is in the midst of several crises, each testing its resolve and resilience in different ways. The political class, to begin with, is no longer trusted to carry out its duty honorably by the majority of European societies. This past week, the Unite…

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Uncommon Decency

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41. Between Social Democracy and Neoliberalism, with Konrad H. Jarausch & Sheri Berman 51:29

1+ y ago51:29

51:29

In the summer of 1941, as Italy warred its way to a series of territorial annexations in east Africa and the Mediterranean, a little-known anti-fascist activist by the name of Altiero Spinelli languished in prison, his restless mind fantasizing about Europe’s postbellum future. Named the Ventotene Manifesto after the island where Spinelli was jaile…

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