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The European Union toned down part of a report about Chinese state-backed disinformation because it feared Beijing would retaliate by withholding medical supplies, diplomatic sources have said. The initial version of the report, seen by the South China Morning Post, described China as running a “global disinformation campaign” to deflect blame for the coronavirus outbreak using “both overt and covert tactics”. But the Post has learnt that this section was removed after Beijing intervened and warned EU diplomats based in China there would be unspecified repercussions. EU diplomats were worried that this would “strain” relations and make it “more difficult...

The British General Election, on May 7th, was an epic in two respects. First, in spite of polls forecasting a hung parliament, David Cameron's Conservative Party was given unexpectedly large support, winning 331 seats, or 51 % for an overall majority of four, and showing once again the failure of left wing parties to make traction in Europe. Second, Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish Nationalists Party (SNP) swept the Labour Party aside in Scotland to achieve an unexpected landslide and rekindle Scottish pressure for independence and, with it, a threat to the continued cohesion of the United Kingdom. Likely there will be...

Once upon a time, on a farm in Texas, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?" "Not I," said the cow. "Not I," said the duck. "Not I," said the pig. "Not I," said the goose. "Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden...

WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton's been spending a lot of time in small-town Ohio. He's heading to Rhode Island on Thursday. From there, he may head back to some of the lesser-known dots on Ohio's map, probably Marion or Mansfield. Is this any way for a campaign to use a former president of the United States? Sure, because it's a way to keep him out of the media spotlight and still be useful to his wife's White House bid. "The Clinton campaign is sending Bill to safe places, to small cities where a visit by a former president is a really...

Engaging in philosophical economics can be very exciting for those with the right charts and graphs, which is why it can be vexing for those who only care about bottom lines. Your ability to explain the superiority of supply-side whatever will only go so far with a businessman whose eye is fixated on his ledger. Moral arguments, let alone nationalistic ones, won't register. Which is why China's attempt to purchase UNOCAL, an American oil company, is such an interesting story. Who for a moment could believe that our good friend China (good enough to have high trade status with, anyway)...

<p>Poll: Muslim countries, Europe question U.S. motives By Susan Page, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Resentment and opposition toward the United States have intensified in Europe and the Muslim world in the year since the war in Iraq began, a survey taken in nine countries finds. There is a sharp and growing disconnect between the views of Americans and people who live in other countries, the poll shows.</p>