About this blog
Welcome to my blog - I'm Charles Reed and I advise the Church of England on foreign policy issues.
This blog covers a variety of topics from US foreign policy to European politics and the Middle East - and whatever else happens to be in the news or catch my attention.
This is a conversational blog so please join in as your comments are an essential part of making the whole thing work.
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Tag Archives: The EU
Religious Freedom and the EU
Writing about Europe can seriously damage your blog stats. The exception is if you write about the EU and its reluctance to robustly defend the persecuted Church in the Middle East, in which case your stats rise significantly. Well, that … Continue reading
Posted in Europe
Tagged Catherine Ashton, Europe, Foreign Affairs Council, Middle East, Religous Freedom, Tea Party Movement, The EU
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Post Card from Brussels
When visiting Brussels as a student of European politics back in the 1990s I was often struck by how much of the city felt like a building site. The physical geography of the city was constantly changing with new EU … Continue reading
Georgia – Navigating an Uncertain Path Between Order and Chaos in Europe
I’m back on the Eurostar this morning, this time for a round of meetings in Brussels, some ecumenical but others EU related. This visit comes fresh on the heals of a fraternal visit by his Holiness Ilya II, the Catholicos Patriarch … Continue reading
Europe: A Hamster on a Wheel
I’m in Paris this weekend helping to take forward conversations about the future shape of the Conference of European Churches. It’s fascinating how the agenda of this ecumenical working group, which has to report by the end of the year, … Continue reading
Dealing with the Revolutionary Hangover in Egypt
Why has the pro-democracy protests in Egypt and elsewhere received such muted support from the West? Sarkozy got it wrong in Tunisia and the EU looks like its going to drop the ball in Egypt. By the time the EU … Continue reading
Posted in Middle East
Tagged American Foreign Policy, David Cameron, Egypt, Middle East, President Sarkozy, The EU
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The European Union Bill – Back to the Future
To date I’ve always thought that the Coalition government’s European Union Bill amounted to nothing more than a bit of red meat thrown to the Europhobes to keep them happy or distracted following the debacle over the Lisbon Treaty. So distracted Cameron … Continue reading
Posted in The EU
Tagged Britain's Role in the World, David Cameron, Europe, The EU, The European Union Bill
2 Comments
Is it time to write Europe’s Obituary?
It is not every day that my work keeps me awake at night, but a colleague of mine, who reads my blog but refuses to comment publicly on it, accused me yesterday of political naivety following yesterday’s post. The main … Continue reading
Posted in The EU
Tagged Andrew Moravscik, Conference of European Churches, Euro Crisis, Europe, The EU, Tim Garton Ash
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Can we Learn to Live in Peace with Russia?
After a round of meetings in Poland yesterday with President Bronislaw Komorwski, the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, heads to Brussels today for the start of the EU-Russia Summit. Medvedev aims to secure EU approval of Moscow’s bid to join the … Continue reading
The EU and its Budget – Time for a Rethink?
David Cameron will be in Brussels today and tomorrow for a meeting of the European Council. The European Council is the EU’s key strategic decision-making body. It comprises the 27 heads of government of the EU’s member states. Economic governance … Continue reading
Posted in The EU
Tagged Budget Reform, David Cameron, Europe, European Council, The EU
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