Timothy Garton Ash

Profile: Full name: Timothy Garton Ash Area of interest: Politics, History (esp. Europe since 1945) Journals/Organisation: The Guardian, plus other commentaries Email: timothy.garton.ash@guardian.co.uk Personal website: http://www.timothygartonash.com Website: Guardian.co/Timothy Garton Ash Blog: Comment Is Free... Representation: Networks: http://twitter.com/#!/fromTGA

Biography: About: Education: St. Antony's College, Oxford; the Free University of Berlin; Humboldt University in East Berlin; Exeter College, Oxford: MA Modern History Career: see: Biography TimothyGartonAsh.com Current position/role: historian, political writer and Guardian columnist also writes/has written for: New York Times; Washington Post; Wall Street Journal; Prospect Other roles/Main role: Other activities: Professor of European Studies, Oxford University; Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford; Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution Stanford University Disclosures: Viewpoints/Insight: Interviews TimothyGartonAsh.com Broadcast media: Video: Controversy/Criticism: Awards/Honours: David Watt Memorial Prize; Commentator of the Year in the ‘What the Papers Say’ annual awards, 1989; the Premio Napoli; the Imre Nagy Memorial Plaque; the Hoffmann von Fallersleben Prize for political writing; Order of Merit from Germany, Poland and Czech Republic; British CMG; listed as one of 100 top global public intellectuals chosen by the journals Prospect and Foreign Policy, 2005; Time magazine list of the world's 100 most influential people; George Orwell Prize for political writing, 2006 Scoops: Other:

Books & Debate: Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West (2004) OCLC 55588358 History of the Present: Essays, Sketches, and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s (1999) OCLC 40839740 The File: A Personal History (1997) OCLC 37571299 In Europe's Name: Germany and the Divided Continent (1993) OCLC 28375767 The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of 1989 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague (1990) OCLC 21409653 The Uses of Adversity: Essays on the Fate of Central Europe (1989) OCLC 19509951 The Polish Revolution: Solidarity, 1980–82 (1984) OCLC 10207243 Und Willst Du Nicht Mein Bruder Sein...Die DDR Heute (1981) OCLC 14914791 Latest work: Facts are subversive: political writing from a decade without a name OCLC319210833 August 2009, review here Speaking/Appearances: Current debate:What Story Should Europe Tell? Debate - Free World Web forum

The Guardian: Column name: Remit/Info: Politics, European Affairs Section: Comment and debate pages Role: Commentator Pen-name: Email: timothy.garton.ash@guardian.co.uk Website: Guardian.co / Timothy Garton Ash Commissioning editor: Day published: Thursday Regularity: Weekly Column format: Average length: 1200 words

Articles: 2013 Europe must condemn Erdogan, but without hubris or illusions - Europe should support those who stand up for our shared values, but don't expect miracles from Turkish democracy - 12th June After Woolwich, don't ban hate speech, counter it. Hate it, too - Facing Islamist violence, the British home secretary, like her counterparts in Europe, wrongly reaches for censorship - 30th May The flight paths of Britain and Poland diverge in a disunited Europe - Poland is eyeing a place in the group of leading EU nations just as Britain seems to be leaving - 17th May We glimpse in Syria the ghost of wars to come - In the Balkans, outsiders stepped in to finally halt the misery. But this is a different kind of conflict - 25th April To stay in Europe, vote Conservative - Confronted with this logical paradox, politicians react with snorts of denial. Well, they would, wouldn’t they? - 20th April The Panorama North Korea row is a storm in a British teacup - Neither the LSE nor the BBC's John Sweeney come well out of this affair. Still, academics and journalists need each other - 18th April The euro survives, but where are the Europeans? - The downward spiral of mutual resentment is caused by the mismatch of one currency area and 17 democratic nations - 28th March Germany has one last chance to really save the eurozone - The eurozone's largest economy must try harder. It has far more to lose from a collapse than any other country - 14th March Is there a doctor in the house? - Have a laugh at Germany's fetish for doctorates – and the ministers tripped up by it. But is the British title cult any better? - 12th February Before Aung San Suu Kyi is crowned there are vital battles to be won - Burma faces years of transition politics, peacemaking over ethnic conflicts and dealing with its people's poverty - 7th February Come on, India! Show us that freedom can outdo tyranny - How can such poverty, corruption, bureaucracy and inequality endure in the world's largest, most diverse democracy? - 31st January From outside, it's clear why Britain has to stay in Europe - Cameron's speech could have been a lot worse, but five years of anxious uncertainty are bad news for Europe and the world - 24th January

Articles: 2012 A referendum on Europe? Bring it on, for all our sakes - Cameron, Clegg and Miliband all fear a public vote - but they should go for it nonetheless. Let the people decide - 20th December A global battle for internet freedom puts Leveson in perspective - There's no reason ethical standards have to slip online. The real challenge for journalism is how to make the internet pay - 6th December Britain is standing on a ledge, while Europe screams, 'Don't do it!' - The relationship between Britain and its EU partners has reached breaking point. Both must abandon their cliches - 22nd November Xi Jinping and Barack Obama: two leaders facing very different crises - Xi Jinping faces deeper challenges than Barack Obama. We must hope they are met: it could be a matter of war and peace - 8th November Britain needs a vote on Europe – but not now - The eurozone must first resolve what the EU is going to be – and Scotland what Britain will be - 5th July The four lives of Aung San Suu Kyi - After 24 years, Europe is enthralled by her return. But her uniqueness lies in her synthesis of East and West - 21st June The road to Damascus may well run through Moscow - The killing of civilians is horrendous, but direct military intervention is unlikely to succeed. Try carrots and sticks instead - 14th June Britain needs more free speech. Change this law now - Intended to protect us from harassment, the public order act has become a licence for the harassment of ordinary citizens by the police - 7th June Cameron mustn't visit Ukraine while Tymoshenko remains imprisoned - Every EU leader must make up their own mind, but the aim should be to punish the president and not the people - 31st May The Greek people now face a stark choice: in or out? - It's just another election in the birthplace of democracy, but the future of Europe may turn on this one - 17th May Hollande and Merkel can't save the eurozone by old methods alone - Europe's leaders still make the crucial deals behind closed doors – but Europe's peoples now demand to be heard - 10th May From Chongqing to Chipping Norton, money and politics have got too cosy - From Chongqing to Chipping Norton, money and politics have got too cosy - 3rd May This Chinese blockbuster thriller might end in reform - Universal fascination with the Bo Xilai scandal is mixed with a few cautious hopes for political change - 26th April Europe has left Syria to a distinctly Ottoman fate - On Syria there's a moral case for intervention – but with the west reluctant, Turkey and other powers will be the ones to decide - 12th April The Burmese spring is still far from high summer - Aung San Suu Kyi has finally found a partner on the side of the regime, but true democracy will take longer - 29th March One rule for Jesus, another for Muhammad? - Equality is essential, but complicated – that is why some Christians feel that Muslims get an easy ride - 15th March America, the Middle East and the strange tale of Sam LaHood - Washington is torn between supporting Arab democracy and its long-standing security priorities in the Middle East - 8th March Egypt a year on: This is not the Tahrir dream, but there's much to be won - The country is torn between an entrenched security state, politically savvy Islamists and anxious revolutionaries - 1st March To avoid depression, Greece needs a strategy for growth - Even if you disagree on who is to blame for this crisis, the responsibility for getting out of it must still be shared - 23rd February Why Barack Obama and Xi Jinping need an Australian retreat with Kevin Rudd - This century's greatest power rivals need to have a frank, strategic talk about the terms of international order - 16th February Angela Merkel needs all the help she can get - Few had anticipated the leadership dilemmas of a European Germany in a German Europe - 9th February Just like Scotland, Britain needs its referendum too - David Cameron wants devo max for Britain in Europe. His fear of direct democracy will land us with the worst of both worlds - 2nd February Fear may well save the euro. Now for the politics of hope - We must recognise that stability of the eurozone is no substitute for the larger project it was designed to usher in - 26th January In France, genocide has become a political brickbat - Next week's bill on denial of Ottoman atrocities against Armenians is an attack on free speech, one of many around the world - 19th January

Articles: 2011 Cameron and co are deluded – it's cold on Europe's margins - I fear my nightmare about England's direction may come true. In 10 years we'll beg the French (and Scots) to let us back in - 22nd December Václav Havel: director of a play that changed history - The former president of the Czech Republic was the epitome of a dissident because he persisted in his struggle, patiently, non-violently, with dignity and wit - 19th December David Cameron's 'no' is bad for Britain and for Europe - The EU will never be the same again. Britain has become more Swiss, but most of Europe's gone German - 10th December The eurozone crisis: a terrifying race to become a diminished world power - To see off the bond markets, the eurozone has to create a credible sovereign – but that may divide the larger EU - 8th December Dr Saif Gaddafi's LSE thesis makes a case for the action that crushed him - Libya is a case of intervention justified by specific circumstances. Go beyond that, and you have a disaster like Iraq - 1st November We must be free and able to defend private lives against tabloid tyranny - The Leveson inquiry has shown the ravages of an unchecked media. Alas, privacy cannot be trusted solely to self-regulation - 24th November If David Cameron has a British vision for Europe, let him tell us what it is - Angela Merkel's clear plan for closer union will not appeal to all, but there is no substance to the British government's alternative - 17th November Germany's rendezvous with history will also put Cameron on the rack - If the eurozone is saved, it will be on German terms. Britain needs to take its partners' concerns more seriously - 10th November Those who profited on the road to financial crisis can compensate now. Get giving - Charity is no substitute for systemic reform, but it can help a lot in the meantime. And bankers have a moral debt to pay - 3rd November These national Euro-debates are just what we need – if there is still time - Vigorous exchanges have taken place in Westminster and the Bundestag, but the markets have little patience for such things - 27th October As Poland shines, Ukraine sinks. Yet both their trajectories can be changed - While the EU is right to react firmly to the show trial of Tymoshenko, it shouldn't see history as a reason to give up on Kiev - 20th October Those gloating at the eurozone's plight should be careful what they wish for - Monetary union, with an ailing south, may have been a bridge too far. But imagine the disintegrated Europe of sceptic dreams - 13th October The years since 9/11 already look like a detour, not the main road of history - The defining feature of world politics in the long term will not be Islamist terrorism, but the shift in power from west to east - 8th September Facing gridlock and hysteria, the US may yet be reformed - An ambitious plan to nominate a non-partisan, centrist candidate for the White House shows the can-do spirit is still alive - 4th August The internet nourished Norway's killer, but censorship would be folly - A poisonous ideology, spread by all kinds of media, fed the ramblings of Anders Breivik. It must not be left unanswered - 28th July Debt crisis: In our competitive decadence, we face eurogeddon and dollargeddon - There are profound reasons why the twin giants of the liberal democratic west are both on the edge of default - 21st July Phone hacking scandal: Britain should seize this chance to break the culture of fear at its heart - From the putrid quagmire of the hacking scandal must emerge a new settlement between politics, media and the law - 14th July The Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair shines a troubling light on French society – and US justice - The DSK drama unfolding in New York was unforgettable. Powerful men everywhere have been put on notice - 7th July The new Rome is not the new Greece yet, but the US must look to its laurels - It's encouraging to see Americans acknowledge the hole they are in. Pity they can't agree how to get out of it - 30th June Europe's crisis is China's opportunity. No wonder nice Mr Wen is on his way - Economically, it is already a dynamic giant. Militarily, it is becoming one. Politically? Ah, that's another story … - 23rd June Everywhere, the European project is stalling. It needs a new German engine - The eurozone crisis is just the most urgent example of Europe's lost momentum. Only Angela Merkel can push-start a recovery - 16th June Hands off Ken Clarke! He can reconcile British pride with European justice - Reforming the European Court of Human Rights while proposing a compatible British bill of rights is the perfect job for our justice minister - 9th June Ratko Mladic's extradition is a great day for international justice - Mladic's detention in the Hague is a triumph of the global movement for accountability. Now let's get the US fully on board - 2nd June If Obama really wants to lead us to a free world, he should abolish the G8 - In his Westminster speech, the US president sang a familiar old song, beautifully. Now let's hear the new one - 26th May Obama can now define the third great project of Euro-Atlantic partnership - The president's speeches today and in London can together explain how the US responds with Europe to the Arab spring - 19th May To fight the xenophobic populists, we need more free speech, not less - Geert Wilders should not be on trial for his words on Islam. But mainstream politicians must confront and not appease him - 12th May Britain must change its electoral system – or slump back to Ukania - The AV system isn't ideal, but it's the best choice we have. Voters should seize this opportunity: it will not come again - 5th May Should a democracy have a King Wills and Queen Kate? You can do worse - A monarchy is hard to justify in democratic theory, but would you rather have President Blair in Buck House? - 28th April Believe in liberty, equality, fraternity? This time, don't follow the French - There are deep failures of civic liberal integration across Europe, but a burqa ban is the wrong way to address them - 7th April WikiLeaks has altered the leaking game for good. Now they must be fewer, but better kept - For whistleblowers, government and press, the age of digileaks cries out for new rules on what to hide – and reveal - 31st March France plays hawk, Germany demurs. Libya has exposed Europe's fault lines - With the west at sixes and sevens, Gaddafi may yet get away with murder. And this in the year of EU unity - 24th March Germany can show reborn Arab nations the art of overcoming a difficult past - The purges and trials of Nazis and the opening of Stasi files have lessons for Arab countries struggling out of dictatorship - 17th March At 150, Italy gives the lie to the stories we tell the world about Europe - There are eight uncomfortable truths that Berlusconi's kingdom reveals about an ancient and modern European project - 10th March Libya's escalating drama reopens the case for liberal intervention - Iraq gave it a bad name. Blair nearly killed it. But there are responsible versions of a much abused doctrine - 3rd March This tortured Polish-Russian story is something we can all learn from - The fog of controversy around the death of a Polish president threatens to engulf a promising new beginning - 24th February Listen to this message of hope from Europe's Arabs – and the warning - Spain is closer to the Arab world than any other European country, but it has no better response than the rest of the EU - 17th February (Middle East: summary) Not 1989. Not 1789. But Egyptians can learn from other revolutions - Ecstatic crowds in Cairo prove there is no clash of civilisations – everyone wants freedom. The question is, how to get it? - 10th February (Egypt: summary) If this is young Arabs' 1989, Europe must be ready with a bold response - What happens across the Mediterranean matters more to the EU than the US. Yet so far its voice has been inaudible - 3rd February The optimists of Davos past now face a world whose script has gone awry - Liberal capitalism's crisis has led neither to total collapse nor great reform. But others are beating the west at its own game - 27th January Tunisia's revolution isn't a product of Twitter or WikiLeaks. But they do help - The internet alone won't set anyone free. Between north Africa and Belarus, we are learning just what it can and can't do - 20th January We've seen America's vitriol. Now let's salute Wikipedia, a US pioneer of global civility - For all its shortcomings Wikipedia, now aged 10, is the internet's biggest and best example of not-for-profit idealism - 13th January

Articles: 2010 Belarus may seem a far away country, but we have to confront Europe's Mugabe - A brutal KGB crackdown in the continent's last dictatorship confronts us with the limits and illusions of EU power - 23rd December Technology lets us peer inside the Burmese cage, but not unlock its door - To talk via video link to Aung San Suu Kyi was inspiring. Yet liberation is unlikely for Burma if its neighbours will not act - 16th December The foreign correspondent is dead. Long live the foreign correspondent - The de luxe life satirised in Evelyn Waugh's Scoop has gone for good, but we can still preserve the best of a necessary craft - 8th December Lords reform: Britain needs a better upper house – and not just a second Commons - Packing the Lords with donors and cronies is a disgrace. Reform must keep the good, but strip away the bad and ugly - 2nd December US embassy cables: A banquet of secrets - A diplomat's nightmare is a historian's dream – a feast of data that deepens our understanding - 29th November Calling Germany, calling Germany: you alone can keep this eurozone show on the road - The eurozone crisis is far from over. If Spain follows Portugal and Ireland, historic acts of statecraft will be required - 25th November Burma's future will depend on a democratic great power. Guess which one - Aung San Suu Kyi's release does not yet mean a negotiated transition. And the west cannot help her on its own - 18th November The view from Beijing tells you why we need a European foreign policy - The EU's national rivalries comprise a standing invitation for any major world power to divide and rule - 11th November Germany has come a long way from Hitler. Today we miss its shoulder at the European wheel - An interesting if timid Hitler exhibition shows the distance the Germans have travelled. We need a European Germany for quite different reasons now - 4th November To judge Britain's experiment, hold your breath and ignore the slogans - An economic gamble, yes. But our cut-back state will still end up as something between Sweden and America - 28th October In its rows about Islam, the US must avoid catching a European disease - The planned Islamic centre is not at Ground Zero, nor is the nearby strip club. It's un-American to take such offence - 21st October This Nobel prize was bold and right – but hits China's most sensitive nerve - We can honour Liu and the great achievements of the Chinese state. Let real dialogue about universal values continue - 14th October Enjoy the film. Then try Facebook's real challenge: restoring your privacy - New technologies allow firms and governments to crawl all over our private lives. They also empower us to fight back - 7th October US politics is angry, polarised, and gridlocked. Can it be reformed? - Washington moves at the pace of Brezhnev's Soviet Union. It needs to be more like Silicon Valley if it is to compete with China - 30th September Obama must wish he were Cameron. You reach out and get things done - A growing centre ground is not reflected in the strident partisanship of Congress and the media. The US is the loser - 22nd July Britain has spent 50 years hunting in vain for its role. Change the question - As global power shifts and public spending is slashed, we do need to debate our foreign policy – but on the right terms - 15th July Our universities face a funding crisis. To survive, they must learn from the US - To cope with the cuts we need a new model of funding, but one which ensures that poorer students are not excluded - 8th July Why we need the Liberals in British politics – and by their proper name - The Lib Dems are being smothered in Cameron's skillful embrace. They must explain exactly who and what they are - 1st July De Gaulle and Churchill have a message for Sarkozy and Cameron - Two great leaders, and mythmakers, set France and Britain on divergent trajectories. This 18 June, it's time to reconnect - 17th June Iran's tortured Green movement is down but not out. We can still help - One harrowing year since the stolen election, the people of Iran need the world's attention to go beyond the nuclear issue - 10th June In a Viking paradise, Eurosceptic and egalitarian dreams alike seem true - Who wouldn't want to be in a successful, well-run country like Norway? But beware false analogies and fantasy projections - 3rd June Europe is sleepwalking to decline. We need a Churchill to wake it up - Our leaders are peddling delusions. The eurozone has not been saved, the EU has no foreign policy, and others are making history - 20th May Britain and Europe are living separate crises. Underneath, it's the same one - Like Greece, Spain, even Germany, Britain has to take on the challenge of remaking its social model in a politics of austerity - 13th May From awkward coalition to a new politics - If all goes well with this strange partnership, Britain's step into the unknown may lead to vital political and constitutional change - 12th May (Cif at the polls) This can be the election to change all elections. Vote Lib Dem to make it so - Ignore siren calls for tactical voting. Keep head and heart together, and we will compel the change we need - 5th May Election 2010: Economic reality hits home at last - The Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that politicians were being coy about cuts. But voters want the truth - 4th May 9½ vital questions for our would-be leaders on Britain's role in the world - Style may be more important than substance in the second round of Britain's political X Factor, but we still need some answers - 21st April The choice this election is three brands of implausible - All parties herald a new politics. None will deliver it alone. The makeup of the next parliament matters more than ever- 15th April A glimmer in Poland's darkness - This second Katyn offers a message of hope for a country that has won its place as a free fatherland - 13th April The Tories can't muzzle election talk of Europe - Speaking to the three would-be foreign secretaries you find plenty of common ground, except on the thing that matters most - 8th April Berlin has cut the motor, but now Europe is stalled - German chancellors once pushed for European unity. Now a retreat into British-style self-interest puts the project at risk - 1st April Beyond Google's clash with China, we must find rules for a global village - Netizens of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your governments, service providers and illusions - 25th March A messiah can't do it. To reshape the world, the US must first reform itself - Obama's foreign policy so far has had disappointing results. But if he made a shaky start, more blame lies with others - 18th March Bearing witness is a sacred trust - Every writer of reportage ought to learn from the Kapuscinski controversy. Creative non-fiction is a slippery slope - 11th March Don't be afraid of a hung parliament - Ignore the doomsayers. The lack of an overall Commons majority can lead to strong and reforming government - 4th March The agonies of the eurozone reflect a far more significant hidden deficit - The spirit that once led Europeans into union has vanished, just as we now face the euro's widely predicted flaws - 25th February We need judges to investigate our spies, not spies to berate our judges - To keep us safe and free, a new government must set up a judicial inquiry into the entanglements of our secret services -18th February The sight of Ukraine's lumpen victor should stir the EU's own into action - Yanukovych's election is a startling historical turn, but the country can still have a more prosperous, free and European future - 11th February (Ukrainian presidential election, 2010) Nuclear arms will soon proliferate. So here's a plan to scrap them all - The tipping point is close when every country will want to be another nuclear France. Changing our global course is vital - 4th February We Googlistas want a global debate on information freedom. Why are others so coy? - Davos: A new digital cold war is afoot. At stake is something much larger than just a rivalry between the western and eastern superpowers - 28th January If Britain wants change that counts, there's an election it can vote in today - Ideological differences between the parties are hugely exaggerated. What matters most is to transform the system - 21st January Media-savvy designer Islamists must not distract us from the real danger - From Denmark to Detroit the threat of violence is ever present. Banning these showmen is not a clever way to tackle it - 14th January These protests should shame the west into a change of policy on Iran - Political change in Tehran is not just a moral matter. It's our best hope of achieving Obama's nuclear objectives - 7th January

Articles: 2009 As threats multiply and power fragments, the coming decade cries out for realistic idealism - A foiled terrorist attack must not lure us back to simplistic illusions. Strategic co-operation between old and new powers is the order of the next decade if we are to tackle the big issues - 31st December As at Auschwitz, the gates of hell are built and torn down by human hearts - A wrenching debate about antisemitism in Poland's past leads us, in the end, to ask questions about ourselves - 24th December Mysterious peer Lord Ashcroft is an inconvenient truth for Cameron - Cameron should require his billionaire party apparatchik to stop coy games about his tax status - 17th December This parody of the nanny state helps neither children nor adults - A new agency is to vet one citizen in four to see if we are abusers. There is a better way to balance freedom and safety - 17th December Sarkozy is half right: all Europeans must understand the Swiss mistake - What really matters is not minarets, but that we all, Muslims included, commit to the essentials of a free society - 10th December Obama has charted an Afghan course. Britain must lead the way on Pakistan - European states should not simply make foreign policy in reaction to Washington, but look to our own vital interests - 3rd December With this timid choice of leaders, the EU may have the faces it deserves - The holders of the new top jobs can perfectly represent a Europe that does not dare to project its values as a continent - 26th November Obama's Beijing balancing act points to the new challenge for the west - There needs to be a real conversation about competing values. But the firewalls mean it cannot properly begin - 19th November Europe's next chapter starts now. It rests on looking beyond our borders - Monday's celebration in Berlin was a brilliant closure. The opening of a European foreign policy looks more shaky - 12th November 1989 changed the world. But where now for Europe? - Year of revolutions: Mired in the narcissism of minor difference, Europe is failing to face up to the world its revolution helped to create - 5th November Two people are needed to get Europe's voice heard in the world. And it is the other one who is more likely to be British - Two people are needed to get Europe's voice heard in the world. And it is the other one who is more likely to be British - 29th October Britain fluffed the German question. Now Britain is Europe's great puzzle - The devastating truth on Thatcher's opposition to German unification is out, but today's Conservatives have learned nothing - 22nd October This high will only last so long. Then we're into rehab - The employment figures are a boost for Brown, but that can't mask deep structural weaknesses. A jobless recovery looms - 15th October Back to the same old Ukania, with a muddle in place of a constitution - The idea that the whole political system needs fixing has been lost, and no party is proposing the reforms Britain deserves - 15th October The US has lost its focus on Europe. It's up to us to get our act together - If, after the Irish vote, we want an effective foreign policy, we must make it. Obama's Washington will take us as it finds us - 8th October Europe must decide if it wants to be more than Greater Switzerland - The centrist triumph in Germany is important for all Europeans. But more crucial still is another vote in Ireland - 1st October We can't decide Iran's struggle. But we can avoid backing the wrong side - Iranians will choose their own fate, but the west must not abandon the reformers for the sake of an elusive nuclear deal - 24th September California's golden dream has turned sour. Only a great reform can revive it - The weird problems of Arnold Schwarzenegger's extraordinary state are an extreme version of those facing the US as a whole - 17th September Another fine speech will not be enough - Instead of more charm, Obama should use these pivotal days to win the necessary votes by fair means or foul - 10th September Cameron may have helped the Polish right, but he has not served Britain - A dubious rightwinger now heads conservatives in Europe. What on earth does the Tory leader think that he's doing? - 30th July With the passing of the last wartime Europeans, history's time has come - Three major continental thinkers died in the last year, little noticed in insular Britain. Their life stories are extraordinary - 23rd July Even here, the war on terror is over. And few feel it has left them safer - Terrorism is now one threat among many – including the legacy of conflicts and tactics that were supposed to end it - 16th July Only a new duet of parliament and people can bring the change we need - A new politics: Britain can reach its own constitutional moment by creating bodies to give direction and authority to its fizzing civic energy - 9th July The facts of the election are disputed. Iranians can make the next one better - For all those who wish to commemorate Neda, democracy can be delivered – with the help of legitimate monitors - 2nd July It takes an Irish poet to remind us of the grandeur of the European project - Seumas Heaney has raised the debate on the Lisbon treaty. A yes vote would be good for Ireland - 25th June Twitter counts more than armouries in this new politics of people power - Iran's green drama combines the energy of a dissatisfied youth with the rivalries of a fragmented regime - 18th June The farce of Cameron's Latvian legion is bad for Britain and bad for Europe - The Conservative party is mad to choose irrelevance in the European parliament, and we will all pay for it - 11th June Twenty years after a victory and a defeat, time for a progress report - Europe, China and the US offer three contrasting models, which show us that liberal democracy is in need of renewal - 4th June If this great reform is to be durable, we need to pin our politicians down - A new politics: A very British revolution will be the task of a new generation in parliament. We voters must give them their marching orders - 28th May Make your revolution at a round table, but add a truth commission - The forgotten Polish experience of 20 years ago holds a lesson for everyone emerging - 21st May Build a constitution - A new politics: We need an explicit, clear and transparent written constitution, by constitutional means - 20th May We need a European foreign policy. Improbable? Yes. Impossible? No - Critics consider us weak and divided. But with political will and public support, we could finally get our act together - 14th May This epochal crisis requires us to resolve the paradox of capitalism - At work, we're told to be diligent and disciplined; elsewhere, hedonistic and self-indulgent. We need a sustainable model - 7th May Europe's future depends on voters. But not on the European elections - The EU is not a single democracy. The parties are shaping up for a big scrap in June, but the issues will be domestic - 30th April Britain's police have gone astray. Let them get back to their proper job - A strong force must fight crime and terrorism on our behalf – not assault the innocent, harass MPs and look after its own - 23rd April We are getting less foreign news at the very moment we need more - A world in crisis demands nations understand each other. At least the BBC is hoisting the banner of Deng Xiaoping thought - 16th April Confucius can speak to us still - and not just about China - There is a simplistic way to read this renaissance of an ancient tradition. The truth is very much more interesting - 9th April China arrives as a world power today - and we should welcome it - Young Chinese will decide their country's future role on the world stage, and it is time to enage with them - 2nd April The G20 summit in London will be missing one great power. Guess who? - Europe has spent the last 10 years failing to get its act together. The US and China may end up carrying on as a G2 - 26th March This torture scandal reveals us as an ineffective Jeeves to our US master - Britain would be a far better friend to the States if we stopped playing the demeaning role of the faithful retainer - 19th March If Britain became complicit in torture, we must discover who is to blame - The only way to answer charges of a political cover-up is to hand this case over to the director of public prosecutions - 12th March Europe is torn between essential solidarity and national egoism - This situation is now unsustainable for everyone, whether within the Eurozone or still out in the cold - 26th February Liberty in Britain is facing death by a thousand cuts. We can fight back.. - It is shocking how many curtailments of freedom have been imposed. Each one may be small but the cumulative loss is vast - 19th February Europe needs to forge a strategy to cope with a shaken, evolving Russia - Our vital interests from energy to security cry out for a new, fully European Ostpolitik - and one nation holds the key - 5th February The knives are out for Davos Man. But the alternative is much more alarming - The biggest danger is not a surfeit of the globalism embodied by this forum, but the strengthening of economic nationalism - 29th January Obama's grand narrative may unite his country but divide the world - His chances of remaking America are good. Restoring US leadership in a multipolar global system will be harder - 22nd January If Obama and Khamenei want to get along, they should start watching TV - The US is promising to engage with Iran at last. A snappy new television channel can help show both sides the way - 15th January Europe is failing two life and death tests. We must act together, now - The EU has taken great strides in the last decade. But when dealing with the world beyond, it is as weak and divided as ever - 8th January 2009 brings hard choices over the future of capitalism - Either a large part of humankind has to be excluded from the happy benefits of growth or our way of life has to change - 1st January

Articles: 2008 On an auspicious anniversary, here are four keys to China's peaceful rise - This is mainly up to the Chinese themselves. But after 30 years of opening to the world, some things depend on the rest of us - 18th December 2008 What Britain still has in spades is cultural power. Let's cultivate it - Across the world, people who have never heard of our leaders dote on our footballers, and the SAS is outshone by Quidditch - 11th December 2008 China's economic success may soon bring trouble. It would be ours too - The country's reformers seek incremental political changes to complement its gobsmacking growth. If they fail, it could be war - 4th December 2008 Only a strategic partnership with China will keep this new dawn bright - This hard-nosed power does not share the west's enthusiasms. Deep engagement is the best way to fend off conflict - 27th November 2008 Here, you can feel the power shift. But we all wrestle with the same problems - The people of this vertical meeting place sceptically trade between western and eastern models. We could learn from them - 20th November 2008 Obama must show the way to a goal set by Russell, Einstein - and Reagan - Achieving a world free of atomic weapons will require full international control of the nuclear fuel cycle. Yes, we must - 13th November 2008 I saw Americans dance with history, chanting 'Yes we can!' But can they? - Obama is not just their first black president. He is their first post-ethnic leader, showing the way for a mixed-up world - 6th November 2008 Even in the rural heartland, Obama has sparked an explosive conversation - In this weathervane state they love God and guns. But they also see the long shadows of slavery and discrimination30th October 2008 The more Obama is tested, the more he shows his presidential mettle - Deep fears have been stirred in this election, but the Democratic candidate holds firm to the calm politics of hope - 23rd October 2008 The freedom of historical debate is under attack by the memory police - Well-intentioned laws that prescribe how we remember terrible events are foolish, unworkable and counter-productive - 16th October 2008 The world needs the US to get over its cultural civil war - and fast - Sarah Palin is the Katyusha rocket of the American right. But so far her attacks on Barack Obama aren't working - 9th October 2008 The US democratic-capitalist model is on trial. No schadenfreude, please - This week the demands of American democracy clashed with those of American capitalism. And China's premier smiled - 2nd October 2008 The time has come for a final report on the 43rd president of the US - The man who set out to reinforce unbridled American power has weakened it in all three essential dimensions - 25th September 2008 America is gripped by the politics of fear. Bad news for the prophet of hope - Rationally, the economic and financial hurricane should help Obama. But people do not always vote with their heads - 18th September 2008 We friends of liberal international order face a new global disorder - On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, China, Russia and climate change all vie with al-Qaida for our attention - The world reordered - 11th September 2008 Only a combination of deterrence and detente can meet this challenge - Others are far from blameless, but Putin's Russia is now squaring up to test Europe's whole way of doing things - 4th September 2008 The story's great, the rhetoric soars, but soon Obama must heed Canute - Look beyond tonight's Denver schmaltzfest and you see how the relative power of a US president is diminishing on all sides - 28th August 2008 Historian and history maker - The death of my friend Bronislaw Geremek is a grave loss not just for Poland, but all of Europe - 15th July 2008 Crusading is not the answer, but nor is pulling up the drawbridge - In a threatening world, the west needs to pursue liberal patriotism at home and liberal internationalism abroad - 3rd July 2008 We don't need guns to help the people pitch Mugabe from his perch - Mandela may be a better bet than the Almighty to remove a ruler who has turned his country into a hell on earth - 26th June 2008 Instead of bullying the Irish, Europe should be working on plan D - and E - As Britain moves to ratify the Lisbon treaty, EU politicians are wrong to threaten Ireland. We're all in the same boat - 19th June 2008 This risks strangling freedom without any security gain - The narrow majority on 42 days makes it a bad day for British democracy, even if the bill has been amended into futility - 12th June 2008 Obama is Europe's dream candidate, but we may have to settle for McSame - We'd like the Democratic victor in charge but must still prepare for a hawkish McCain presidency, and advance our own agenda - 5th June 2009 Can we have world-class universities as well as social justice in education? - Europe resists US-style college fees but, as Oxford fundraisers know, we need to find that kind of money to compete - 29th May 2008 We have a responsibility to protect the people of Burma. But how? - If a military-backed aid bridge had a fair chance of success, I'd support it. It doesn't, so we have to use all other means - 22nd May 2008 Poland is overtaking Britain on the road to Europe - and to the euro - In a world transformed, Poles in Oxford prove the potential of the EU - while Brits travel here for little but the boozing - 15th May 2008 This tale of two revolutions and two anniversaries may yet have a twist - The very different events of 1968 and 1989 left a reformed, stronger, more socially liberal capitalism - but now it's in trouble - 8th May 2008 Whether Clinton, Obama or McCain wins it, prepare for a big letdown - Hillary offers the safest pair of hands. But none of the presidential candidates can deliver what the world wants - 24th April 2008 We need a benign European hydra to advance the cause of democracy - Our continent's diversity should let us promote freedom without the taint of Bush's neocon project imposed by force - 17th April 2008 Intimidation and censorship are no answer to this inflammatory film - A Dutch politician's alarmist anti-Islam polemic needs to be taken apart and calmly answered - 10th April 2008 Europe owes a huge thank you to skilful, patient President George Bush - His diplomacy helped to reunite Europe. But as Nato meets in Bucharest, his son is completing two terms of global failure - 3rd April 2008 A historic compromise with France is exactly what Britain needs - Sarkozy has the right idea, but his fellow conservatives on this side of the Channel won't dare make it a reality - 27th March 2008 Free countries must defy Chinese blackmail and greet the Dalai Lama - There is not much that we can do for suffering Tibet, but this we can and must. It's far more than mere tokenism - 20th March 2008 No cant, please, we're British. But we do need a better sense of citizenship - For all the bunkum, the Goldsmith review is part of a crucial debate that has now gone on too long with too little action - 13th March 2008 Russia has run rings round the west. A united Europe must stand up to it - The Kremlin runs a so-called democracy that is in fact authoritarian. At the same time it intimidates its neighbours - 28th February 2008 This dependent independence is the least worst solution for Kosovo - It is unique in its wider European framework, but all would-be states will still take this Balkan solution for a precedent - 21st February 2008 To strengthen Miliband's case for democracy, drop Iraq, add Europe - We would be wrong to abandon a very good idea just because George Bush has come so close to giving it a bad name - 14th February 2008 A triple whammy of soft power sees the world in thrall to Super Tuesday - he appeal of democracy, the media and America has us all hooked. What if we could replicate that for global institutions? - 7th February 2008 Our state collects more data than the Stasi ever did. We need to fight back - To trust in the good intentions of our rulers is to put liberty at risk. I'd go to jail rather than accept this kind of ID card - 31st January 2008 There are great national anthems - now we need an international one - Spain struggles to find new words while Kosovo seeks a song of its own. La Marseillaise shows us how it's really done - 17th January 2008 While America votes, Europe cannot sleep. The to-do list looks like this - Progress in three vital areas - jobs, Muslims and neighbours - will enable our leaders to look the new president in the face - 10th January 2008 Britain's national security strategy must emphasise prevention abroad - 20th December 2007 What does a free society require of believers and non-believers alike? - 29th November 2007 In identifying those trying to kill us, we should choose our words carefully - 22nd November 2007 The threat from terrorism does not justify slicing away our freedoms - 15th November 2007 The path of the fallen wall is hard to find, but a powerful example lives on - 8th November 2007 Facing disaster in Iran, Europe must finally make the hard choices - 1st November 2007 If our political parties did not exist, would we ever need to invent them? - 25th October 2007 Five good reasons not to have a referendum - and one very bad one - 11th October 2007 The Tories' vision for a brave new world is built on a confidence trick - 4th October 2007 Only Burma's neighbours can stop its dictators beating up the Buddha - 27th September 2007 Wake up, the invisible front line runs right through your back yard - 13th September 2007 America is just starting to wake up to the awesome scale of its Iraq disaster - 19th July 2007

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