One of the choicest paragraphs, from a choice review of Bill Clinton’s autobiography: “That somehow a long, dense book by the world’s premier policy wonk should be worth that much money is amusing, and brings us back to Clinton’s long coyote-and-roadrunner race with the press. The very press that wanted to discredit him and [...]

This piece from the Washington Post may be old news to our readers, but it was a new idea - and more importantly - new practice to me.
With two like-minded unions, the clothing-and-laundry UNITE and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (soon to become one union, UNITE-HERE, next month), the SEIU is embarking on [...]

At the risk of turning this column into ‘what Henry Farrell’s written recently’, he has a good piece on CT about the role of the European Parliament in international affairs.

It seems that Doug’s informant was correct as a deal has been made and the new EU Consitution has been agreed, while any decision on the next Commission President has been deferred for a few weeks. Bertie Ahern is saying that he hopes it will be resolved by the end of the Irish Presidency, though.
Chris [...]

Amongst all the other decisions made at the summit, Croatia is now an official EU candidate state. Talks are scheduled to begin next year with an aim of the Croats joining alongside Romania and Bulgaria in 2007.

A reasonably reliable source has given me some tips on outcomes expected from the current summit in Brussels:
* They will reach an agreement on the draft of the constitution. The European Parliament will have even more members, and the rules on qualified majorities will be sorted out.
* They will not agree on a successor to [...]

Busy times in Europe, especially with so much f?tbol to watch. Some notes from all parts:

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Germany’s government and opposition have reached a compromise on laws to regulate immigration. [...]

The Washington Post doesn’t think much of Europe’s efforts to get Iran to cooperate with international inspection of its nuclear programs. “So far, only carrots have been offered — and they have produced no results.”

Over at Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell assesses the candidates for President of the European Commission

So pretty much all of the incumbent parties got whacked, amidst predicted low turnout. The BBC has nitty gritty from all 25 member states. There isn’t an overview page, so the link goes to Poland, largest of the new members.
The SLD government there fell, by design, the day after Poland was admitted to the EU, [...]