Last fall, Norway’s TV2 released Occupied, a show about Russia occupying Norway that is now on Netflix with English subtitles. Providence readers would likely enjoy this window into a European perspective.

Can anyone imagine Truman or Eisenhower, Johnson or Reagan responding in a similar manner if Stalin, Khrushchev, or Brezhnev complimented them? Did they praise Moscow for blockading Berlin, for crushing Hungary, for snuffing out the Prague Spring, for smothering Poland, for being strong, for killing terrorists, for keeping restive peoples in line?

Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church clearly have a close relationship, but their foreign policy in Syria is flawed.

Ian Bremmer’s Superpower provides a different perspective to Obama’s description of his incoherent foreign policy in his final State of the Union Address.

With American planes bombing Islamic State targets and Russian planes bombing the non-Islamic State targets, we are now supporting Putin’s aggression in Syria by eliminating all Sunni Arab opponents of the Assad regime.

“With history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.” -John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961

Two years after the Ukrainian revolution that eventually ousted its thuggish president, enthusiasm for the European project has reached a new low.

For Christian citizens, prayer should be the first reflex whenever tragedies occur, whether they occur in a country that is seen as a friend – like France- or in a country that is seen as an antagonist – like Russia.

This is not a blog about Sweden, but much of it will seem like it is. Recent Nordic events certainly warrant comment. Mirroring the larger European mood, Sweden, perhaps particularly so, is suffering some loss of confidence in the endurance of her own sovereignty. In an opinion piece in Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, the leadership of the influential Center Party neatly summarizes the reason, “We lack the ability to defend ourselves.”