Free Republic

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, gleefully predicted that Europeans would be “freezing in their homes” because they hadn’t thought through the consequences of throwing their support behind Ukraine. “The cold is coming soon,” he said, menacingly, in June last year. But as the European Union enters the last month of the meteorological winter in 2023, signs are becoming clearer that its members have weathered an historic crisis – and not just because “General Frost” has proved a milder adversary than Medvedev predicted. Within eight months of Russian troops setting foot on Ukrainian soil, the bloc of 27 European states...

Angela Merkel has called on campaigners in Britain’s EU referendum debate to moderate their language ahead of next week’s vote, as political leaders and officials across Europe paid tribute to the killed Labour MP Jo Cox. The German chancellor, who described the attack on the pro-European West Yorkshire MP as “terrible” but declined to link it directly to the referendum, called for all involved to respect the beliefs and opinions of others. “Otherwise, the radicalisation will become unstoppable,” she said. “Exaggerations, and radicalisation of part of the language, do not help foster an atmosphere of respect. We know how important...