Europe’s silence on Environmentalism The US and Europe Handke scandal: It is China’s treatment is the future of must act in the not about his politics, of the Uighurs conservative politics Western Balkans it is about truth At least one million Muslims are imprisoned in The political left have owned the environmental agenda There is a shared diplomatic interest in ensuring The Nobel Prize for literature should not have Chinese camps as the regime wages a war of for decades - but conservatives across Europe are peace and stability in the region. Washington and been awarded to a supporter of the war religious oppression. rewriting the script and embracing green issues. Brussels should get down to work. criminal Milosevic. Robert Fox p.4 Toby Guise p.10 Luke Coffey & Dan Kochis p.12 Gerald Warner p.17

Issue #12 | November 2019

A fortnightly Newspaper by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party | theconservative.online

Hopes of a brave new dawn collide with reality

The European Commission and France’s President Macron promised that this autumn would be a fresh start for the EU heralding several years of bold reform. Instead, integrationist over-reach and wrangles in the increasingly assertive European Parliament have left the new Commission struggling to get established. Incoming President Ursula von der Leyen now faces a string of serious challenges on the eurozone and Brexit against a backdrop of Brussels inertia and infighting.

p.2 / p.10 2 FEATURE theconservative.online theconservative.online FEATURE 3

Brussels is stuck in an impasse A Corbyn victory would be a - Maggie Pagano, p.2 historic catastrophe for Britain and Europe - Iain Martin, p.13 Europe’s silence on China’s treatment of the Uighurs shames Joseph de Maistre: Scourge the West - Robert Fox, p.4 of the Pseudo-Enlightenment - Gerald Warner, p.14 ECR’s nomination for the Sakharov prize of anti-FGM activists pipped Has Michel Houellebecq gone to the post by Ilham Tohti - p.6 soft? - Alastair Benn, p.15 Nord Stream 2 pipeline could Far from the madding crowd Brussels is undermine European security - p.6 - Henry George, p.16 Catalan separatism has become an Handke scandal: It is not about anti-democratic movement his politics, it is about truth - Jorge Buxadé MEP, p.6 - Gerald Warner, p.17 If Ukraine wants more On the same team at last: Steve Europe, corruption must end Reich and Gerhard Richter in STUCK IN - Alexandr Vondra MEP, p.7 harmony - James Hardie, p.18 Ukraine must counter illicit trade Opera enthusiasts should - p.7 take a trip to Wexford - Gerald Malone, p.18 Caracas is at the centre of a totalitarian tsunami that has El Camino: The past leaves scars swept through Latin America - Alexander Larman, p.19 AN IMPASSE - Hermann Tertsch MEP, p.8 Non-Fiction: Nothing much The EU must find a smarter happens in this publishing drama strategy to manage enlargement - Will Hutton, p.19 - Pieter Cleppe, p.9 Henry Root: Model for Nigel Leader column: Bottleneck Farage - Toby Guise, p.20 in Brussels - p.10 Rome: The Eternal City is still a The new President of the European Commission is Environmentalism is the future world-class centre of European of conservative politics culture - Jack Dickens, p.21 struggling. The European Parliament is flexing its - Toby Guise, p.10 Norbert Niederkofler: muscles. Integrationist President Macron is cosying The US and Europe must act in Mountain Chef who made an art BREXIT the Western Balkans out of thinking differently up to Putin. And Brexit has been delayed yet again - Luke Coffey & Dan Kochis, p.12 - Bruce Palling, p.22 BRITAIN IS Changing of Lagarde and big risks Culture Digest: The best of DEADLOCKED at the ECB - Maggie Pagano, p.13 Europe’s art and culture - p.23 by Maggie Pagano TOO by Jospeh Rachman orget Brexit. The real bat- Delays are not new: in 2004 the EPP group, it is reported. Yet much “Excuse me for not yielding to the tyr- values mixed with an interventionist In the elections earlier this year to be immoveable, inflexible and ritain will go to the polls tle for taking control is commission headed by Jose Man- of the criticism of Goulard came from anny of the majority or the pressure of economic outlook, are outdated. It’s the EPP parties suffered losses across unimaginative. Three and a half years on the 12th December as being waged deep within uel Barroso was three weeks late the EPP itself, a move which many see the Brussels bubble.” a view based on the industrial land- Europe, in Germany, Italy, France and since the British voted to leave, the B Prime Minister Boris the heart of the European and his second commission, was sev- as revenge by Weber against Von der But the battle in the European Par- scape of a hundred years ago which Spain. Support for Socialist and Dem- Commission and the leaders of the 27 ­Johnson attempts to get a man- FUnion itself, where major changes in eral months late. Yet this year’s delay Leyen for beating him to the top job. liament suggests that such an arrogant was dominated by people being in one ocratic parties also collapsed with opted to kick the can down the road date to deliver on his promise to get st The Conservative is a fortnightly newspaper available in print and online the Parliament and a troubled start looks far more significant, a sign that The EPP was backed by the S&D approach is unlikely to yield results in place of work all their lives, and on the seats lost in Germany, Italy, France again until January 31 rather than Brexit done. published and owned by the ECR Party, formerly known as Alliance of for the new regime at the Commission the European Parliament is flexing and the Greens, a move that could still the next few years. A struggle for con- power unions. That has gone. Their and the UK. The EPP now has 182 forcing a decision. Johnson renegotiated a ­deal with the Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE). have combined to create gridlock in its muscles over what sort of route it backfire on the EPP as the two biggest trol is playing out in the Parliament. parties are dwindling across Europe seats while the S&D have 154 MEPs. Is this toxic legacy of gridlock what the EU, but he became increas- Brussels. wants the EU to take. parties will need partners like Renew On one side is the old guard made from Sweden to Spain. Kaput.” No wonder there is a standoff when the European Union wants to proj- ingly frustrated with the Westmin- The Conservative can be read online at: The signs of the splintering of the From the outside, the postpone- Europe - which is now the third big- up of the two traditional political Added to this, the European Parlia- you have so many breakaway group- ect? And is a weakened Commis- ster Parliament’s moves to delay theconservative.online old order are everywhere to be seen. ment reflects not only the gridlock but gest grouping with 108 MEPs - if it is parties which have ruled the conti- ment is more factional and geograph- ings: look at the numbers. The EPP sion under Von der Leyen capable of and extend the period of debate REPRODUCTION RIGHTS First, there was the collapse ear- also the weakness of Von der Leyen’s to continue ruling the roost. nent for decades almost without chal- ically divided than ever. There are and S&D are down to 336 votes out of successfully overseeing a successful on his Withdrawal Agreement All content and materials of The Conservative are copyrighted, unless lier this year of the Spitzenkanditat leadership because of her inability - Weber and his EPP opposed Gou- lenge. This political grouping - the now thirteen different political par- 748. To push policy through commit- negotiation on the future relation- Bill. Britain missed the deadline to otherwise stated. For permission to republish articles appearing in process of selecting the new Euro- or unwillingness - to rein in the EPP lard because they wanted to show European People’s Party (EPP) and ties represented, and seven political tees or parliament, they will need to ship with the UK? exit the EU by 31st October. The Conservative, please contact the Managing Editor: pean President. Once upon a time, rebels within her own grouping. It is a what happens when you abandon the the centre-left Socialists win over some of these We shall see. What the EU has Repeated defeats in Parliament [email protected]. Manfred Weber, as leader of the EPP double blow for her: it raises questions Spitzenkanditat system. They also and Democrats (S&D) - smaller groups such as managed to achieve with its rigid seems to have convinced a frus- which gained the highest did it to get at President is now in a fight for sur- Renew Europe which has Brexit stance is to frighten off the trated Johnson that the situa- number of seats, would Macron to show who is vival against the upstart As one former MEP says: “What the 108 MEPs. more Eurosceptic countries such as tion was unworkable. By calling an automatically have been boss in Europe. parties which, work- EPP and the S&D still do not realise is The Greens and Italy and France. For now, Le Pen’s election Johnson has banked on chosen as President. In What we are witnessing is a clash Macron, who is by far ing together, could com- related parties have 74 National Rally and Salvini’s League the voters delivering him a strong the event, Ursula von between the older generation of the most pro-EU French mand a majority position that their beliefs, which are based on seats while the Identity have stopped banging the drum about working majority, likely buoyed der Leyen, the former president for decades, in the new European socially conservative, often Catholic, and Democracy Party has leaving the EU or the euro. Instead, by recent strong polling for the German defence minis- politicians - on both the traditional has a clear vision for Parliament. 73 MEPs from the far- they are portraying Brussels as the Conservatives. ter and president-elect right and left - who are wedded to his sort of Europe. He In essence, what we values mixed with an interventionist right populist parties, bad cop to whip up domestic sup- However, even getting an election DISCLAIMER was only nominated favours a multi-tier are witnessing is a clash economic outlook, are outdated. including Marine Le port. Expect their MEPs to disrupt was difficult. Legislative changes ECR Party, formerly known as Alliance of Conservatives & Reformists after a tortuous fight the 20th century view of looking at Europe with a core of between the older gen- Pen’s National Rally and policy on migration or row about bud- meant that calling an early election in Europe (ACRE) is a Belgian EUPP No: 0820.208.739, recognised and in the Council, and by a committed euro states eration of politicians - on It’s a view based on the industrial Italy’s Matteo Salvini’s gets as much as they can in parlia- now requires a 2/3 majority in the partially funded by the European Parliament. The views and opinions European politics through the prism narrow majority of nine clustered around France both the traditional right landscape of a 100 years ago which Northern League party. ment. But the moves towards Frexit or House of Commons. Support from expressed in the publication are solely those of individual authors and of class struggle. These “old men in should not be regarded as reflecting any official opinion or position votes. and Germany. Outside and left - who are wed- was dominated by people being in one They all made gains. Quitaly have died a death. opposition parties was needed. of the ECR Party, formerly known as Alliance of Conservatives and Second, there is still no a hurry”, as one observer put it, are of this core, he envisages ded to the 20th century Ironically, Britain’s The EU has other tough challenges Labour was particularly sceptical Reformists in Europe (ACRE), its leadership, members or staff, new Commission. Von also wedded to the idea of a deeply an outer ring of non- view of looking at Euro- place of work all their lives, and on the Brexit party has 29 MEPs ahead: the risk of a standoff with Tur- insisting there could be no election or of the European Parliament. der Leyen has had a euro states that share in pean politics through power unions. That has gone. Their and, although it is not key and the danger that President until a No Deal Brexit was ruled out miserable start to her integrated, federal European Union. its “values, democratic the prism of class strug- part of any grouping, it is Erdogan will let migrants back into as a possibility, although many saw MANAGING EDITOR parties are dwindling across Europe Richard Milsom reign. Since her election principles and economic gle. These “old men in a the biggest single politi- Europe, friction with Western Bal- their objections as motivated more address, the only news of note from about her legitimacy since she derives freedoms”. hurry”, as one observer from Sweden to Spain. Kaput.” cal party. The Conserva- kan countries which have been vetoed by their low polling numbers. In the PRODUCTION her came via Germany’s Die Welt power both from the European Coun- As his private advances to Pres- put it, are also wedded to tive ECR Group is down entry by France, quarrels with Presi- end, MPs voted Tuesday 438-10 for Reaction Publishing (reaction.life) newspaper saying that she would be cil as well as the European Parlia- ident Putin earlier this year sug- the idea of a deeply integrated, federal groupings. At the same time, the rift to 62 seats, mainly because it lost seats dent Trump over the European Army an election on the 12th. sleeping in a small room next to her ment, which is caught in a stalemate. gested, Macron takes the line that European Union. between Western and Eastern mem- from the UK Conservative Party. as well as tariffs and negotiations An upset is possible. British pol- DESIGN office on the 13th floor of the Berlay- The president-elect is only 100 days Russia should be brought in from the Ganging up against them are a ber countries is growing, made all the That brings us to Brexit, where with Russia next year over natural gas VIDEOR o.d. (videor.ba) itics is more fluid than ever. In the mont building to save money. into her new role. But she has man- cold. Turkey could be a member of younger crop of MEPs and parties more apparent when none of the top there is also gridlock. The Brexit nego- exports. 2017 election Theresa May man- CONTACT It was a nice gesture. But the aged to infuriate Weber, her fellow this outer ring too, he says, but he also with a more iconoclastic outlook. jobs in the new parliament went to tiations have been a failure because Throw into this simmering mix aged to lose a double-digit polling European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party 61-year-old mother of seven cannot EPP member, and more pertinently, closed the door to Albania and North They are drawn from a generation Eastern Europeans. they not produced a resolution. For a the fact that Germany is teetering on lead and the Conservative majority Rue du Trone 4, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium work or sleep in the office because the President of France, Emmanuel Macedonia joining the EU. which is more interested in identity This autumn the result of these successful negotiation, there needs to the edge of recession, Europe’s banks thanks to an insurgent Labour Party theconservative.online there is no new Commission, yet. Macron, who secured her the post. This stance has not gone done well politics and environmental rights - or clashes is gridlock. For the first time be a win-win outcome for both sides are bloated with massive debt and the and a botched Tory campaign. The [email protected] Three of the Commissioners nomi- Not a clever way to start. within the EU. Eastern Europeans migration - than issues based on class since 1979, the EPP and S&D no lon- and a feeling of mutual respect. Until eurozone economy is faltering. anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats could INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS nated by France, Hungary and Roma- Macron is still fuming that the par- with long historical memories are alone. ger have an absolute majority allow- Boris Johnson became Prime Minis- Dealing with these huge challenges make gains or act as a spoiler in the Please address submissions and letters to the Managing Editor: nia were rejected in a humiliating liament rejected his candidate, Sylvie­ understandably furious that Macron As one former MEP says: “What the ing them to control the European ter, it’s fair to say the EU had the upper will test Brussels and the Commission First Past The Post System. Nigel [email protected] vote by the parliament and new ones Goulard of the liberal Renew Europe is cosying up to Putin. EPP and the S&D still do not realise is Parliament. This means they can only hand and set the red lines. to the limit. By comparison, resolv- Farage’s Brexit Party is another are unlikely to be appointed until group and he feels personally betrayed The French President has pressed that their beliefs, which are based on wield power if they work with the par- Apart from on the Irish backstop, ing Brexit early next year is a piece of ­possible joker in the pack. Whatever December. betrayed by von der Leyen and the on regardless. Macron said recently: socially conservative, often Catholic, liament’s other parties. the EU bureaucracy has shown itself cake. ■ the results, it will be a tough fight. ■ 4 FEATURE theconservative.online theconservative.online FEATURE 5 Europe’s silence on China’s treatment of the Images Guang Niu - Getty Photo: Uighurs shames the West At least one million Muslims are imprisoned in Chinese camps as the regime wages a war by Robert Fox of religious oppression. International institutions including the EU have been virtually useless when it comes to speaking up and confronting China on this global scandal

state showing off its new tools and conscientiously strengthen into central Asia and north- On a wider canvas, the Uighurs powers. Ironically, many of the tech- management of the ideological ern Europe; the China Central seem to be yet another minority that niques now used to surveil, corral, battlefield.” Asia and West Asia corridor has become a geopolitical inconve- and dominate the Uighurs came from The main weapons system to Turkey, the Balkans and the nience to bigger and richer powers. America and the West, from facial rec- in this war is the Internet – the Mediterranean; and the China They join the roster along with the ognition to entrapment methods by West’s passion for open journal- Pakistan Corridor to the Indian Kurds and the Hazara of Bamyan, securing and analysing DNA. ism must be turned upside down sub-continent. peoples who are nations without a Beijing sees a direct correla- and fired back at the West. This is the The southern and central routes fixed abode and reliable patrons in the tion between Islamic religion, the blueprint for the new phase of the sur- point to Afghanistan and the repub- international community. Uighur language and cultural iden- veillance state, now being deployed in lics of the southern steppes. They Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sense of tity with violent extremism, sub- gruesome detail against pass through play- ethnic loyalty does not stretch to the version and terrorism. Riots in the the Uighurs of Xinjiang. grounds for an array of Islamic and Turkic Uighurs. On a visit capital Urumqi in 2009 saw 197 killed All the Chinese equiv- militant Islamist and to President Ji Jinping last July, and on the spot, and many more “disap- alents of the West’s Goo- nationalist groups, new with a tour of Xinjiang he stated, “it peared” and injured. In 2014 further gle, WhatsApp, Twitter When sanctions were threatened versions of al Qaeda is a fact that the people of all ethnici- attacks to the south of the capital led and Facebook are state by UN members against the party and ISIS, and the affil- ties in Xinjiang are leading a happy life to some 70 deaths. In October 2013 controlled. Attempts, boss in Xinjiang, Chen Quanguo, in iates of the Afghan and amid China’s development and pros- a truck rammed a crowd in Tianan- successful or not, by Pakistani Taliban. The perity.” Previously Turkey had been men Square in Beijing, leading to China’s 830 million March 2019, Beijing flatly denied Ferghana Valley run- one of the few Muslim countries to five deaths – all blamed on “Uighur Internet users to use ning across three Asian raise questions about the camps.

Photo: Guang Niu - Getty Images Guang Niu - Getty Photo: the presence of the detention extremists” of the East Turkestan international websites republics to the north of The camps, the surveillance and Islamic Movement – or ETIM. and apps are monitored camps. They were referred to as the Pamirs has been the harsh treatment, including disappear- he oppression of the Uighur are they on China for purchasing their the Uighur diaspora of about a million Islam – it was a gradual process by China’s largest, most remote, and most In 2015 ISIS extremists killed and logged. China’s Big “re-education centres.” setting for on-off feuds ances and tales of torture are the most people, the Turkic minority energy output and inward investment. strong. Email and social media con- osmosis more than a compelled con- westerly province. Roughly the size of 50-year old Fan Jinghui, a Chinese Brother is well on top of and battles running for haunting aspect, perhaps, of the story of that have inhabited China’s The present crackdown, and the tacts are meticulously and minutely version. Even with the arrival of Islam, Alaska, it forms the bridgehead of the national, in Iraq. Uighurs in ISIS China’s big data. generations between the Uighurs today. Tools that the author far western region of Xinji- institution of the camps, began in monitored, and then used to compro- their culture remained surprisingly ancient Silk Road. Jammed between forces, numbering about 115 in all In the case of the Uighurs, it means When sanctions were threatened Islamist groups and local tribes. The of Nineteen Eighty-Four could only have Tang for millennia continues unabated. 2014, and was boosted by a new pro- mise the Uighurs at home. humanistic, with figure portraits, the Gobi Desert and the great north- according to the US New America that the reading habits, general tastes, by UN members against the party threat of militant Islam, real or imag- dreamed of are being used for what By conservative estimates, at least one vincial Communist Party Secretary, The story of the Uighurs and China ballads and music, and open and airy ern steppe, it commands access to the think tank, demanded loyal Muslims and online discussions are monitored boss in Xinjiang, Chen Quanguo, in ined, just inside or beyond China’s many regard as an egregious combina- million are now incarcerated across Chen Qanguo, in 2016. He had been has a deep, rich and highly complicated interior design and architecture. two main western routes of the road, rise up and kill Chinese officials work- and acted upon. March 2019, Beijing flatly denied the border is a fixation of Beijing’s secu- tion of geopolitical domineering, social a gulag of corrective, concentration promoted from a similar post in Tibet past. The Uighurs emerged as one of The 2005 Royal Academy exhibi- one going south to Balkh in Afghani- ing in North Africa. In September last year a Uighur presence of the detention camps. rity policy. engineering, and cultural genocide. ■ and “re-education” camps across the where he had been credited with suc- about twenty different Turkic groups, tion, Turks – a thousand years of civi- stan and into India and the sub-conti- The Beijing regime has employed reporter for Radio Free Asia in the They were referred to as “re-educa- province. cess in an aggressive “Sinification” each with a distinct language or dialect, lization 600 – 1600 CE, showed some nent, and north towards the Aral and the tried and trusted methods used by US, Shohret Hoshur, was alerted by tion centres.” “A country under the That is around a tenth of the total programme, imposing Chinese values, about two millennia ago. They con- extraordinary examples of Uighur art, Caspian seas and via Bokhara to the the Qen kingdom in its confrontations email about a film being circulated to rule of law, China respects and pro- Uighur population of 11.3 million in standards, and repres- portraiture especially. shores of the Mediterranean. Today over two centuries with the Uighurs teachers and education managers in tects human rights in accordance China. Some estimates suggest that sive politics. The inmates My favourite was a dou- the new strategic Silk Road Railway of Xinjiang, and flooded the region Xinjiang. This film, entitled “The Plot with the principles of the Constitu- one and a half million are now being of the camps are made ble portrait of a Uighur runs through Xinjiang. with Han Chinese from further west. Inside the Text Books”, explained the tion,” a white paper stated, claiming held in the camps, including other to speak and undergo The camps are described in terms of man and woman from The latest spat between Beijing and The biggest recent game-changer, pretext for rounding up hundreds of that terrorism had been eliminated, Muslim minorities. In July this year, political indoctrination a Xinjiang mural of the Europe occurred a few days ago with perhaps, was signaled by an initiative intellectuals: they were denounced as extremism curbed, and social security 22 nations, including the UK, Can- in Mandarin. There are an Orwellian nightmare – torture, 12th Century CE. The the EU’s award of the Sakharov prize under the singularly dull sounding “two-faced people who acted to split guaranteed as a result of new policies ada, Australia, and Japan signed a some reports of them enforced abortions, kidnaps, label simply said “exam- for human rights to Ilham Tohti, a title of Document Number Nine – or the motherland.” in Xinjiang. letter to the UN Human Rights Coun- being forced to eat pork ples from Uighur cul- moderate Uighur activist sentenced “Communiqué on the Current State On hearing about the film, Kamal- Yet if the Uighurs only comprise cil demanding the camps be closed and drink alcohol. disappearances, and internal exile ture, a remote medieval to life imprisonment in 2014. He was of the Ideological Sphere.” It was sub- turk Yalqun, exiled in Philadelphia, less than one per cent of China’s pop- immediately. In Xinjiang, the Bei- to elsewhere in China. This has been Turkic people”, or words praised by the European Parliament as mitted to the leadership, it is believed, realised his father Yalqun Rozi, a ulation of 1.4 billion, why is there But 38 countries, including Saudi jing regime stands accompanied by deliberate pressure to that effect. “a voice of moderation and reconcili- with the signature of President Ji Jin- well-known art critic and an editor such a sense of threat at all levels of Arabia sent a counter-letter to accused of a concerted The show was spon- ation” – he is not a separatist – adding ping himself. Even the leaker, a jour- at the official Xinjiang Publishing officialdom? the UNHCR praising China for its campaign of cultural on the Uighur diaspora. Email and sored by the Turk- that he should be released immedi- nalist called Gao Yu, was sentenced House, was vulnerable. Managing to Some of the answer lies in the “remarkable achievements in Xin- eradication. The Uighur social media contacts are meticulously ish government, and ately. Beijing faxed a reply that Tohti is to seven years and put under house get him on the phone last October, his human geography of the Uighurs. Just jiang.” In February this year Crown Turkic language and lit- Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s a criminal, the EU should respect Chi- arrest. father said quickly: “It’s not a good as Xinjiang once formed one of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman erature are suppressed, and minutely monitored. AK Party had just won nese sovereignty, cautioning them not It rages against the ideology of the time. I’m about to be taken away.” great junctions of the old Silk Road, defended the use of camps as “China and Islam frowned upon power. Erdogan doesn’t make a terrorist appear influential. West, and any activities “promoting Later Rozi was jailed for 15 years for it now forms the western bridgehead has the right to carry out anti-terror- and worse. Mosques and churches tinuously challenged the power and like the Uighurs, though he likes to If past clashes with the Qen king- Western constitutional democracy.” “inciting subversion of state power.” of its modern incarnation, the Belt ism and de-extremism work for its have been destroyed. Halal butchers authority of the Chinese establishment talk of the “great family” of Turkish dom across the centuries and during The espousal of “universal values” His “crime”, it later transpired, was and Road project, a project beloved national security.” and shops have been closed. to the east. From the 8th to the 9th centu- and Turkic peoples. He much prefers the early years of Communist China must be eschewed, as must “promot- that in a textbook he published, he of President for Life Ji Jinping. It is a Conspicuously, the Organisation The camps are described in terms ries of the Common Era, they boasted the family of his new friend – the pres- still cast a long and dark shadow, the ing civil society,” “promoting neo- had relied 60 per cent on Uighur and keystone of the postmodern mercan- of Islamic Cooperation has failed to of an Orwellian nightmare – torture, their own powerful Khaganate, which ident and leader-for-life Jinping. future for the Uighurs of Xinjiang liberalism” and promoting the “the native literary sources – 30 per cent tilism through which China seeks to come to the aid of its co-religionists enforced abortions, kidnaps, disap- for the subsequent two centuries As much as history, and the cata- suggests a grim forewarning of what West’s idea of journalism”. Effectively, is the permitted upper limit – and dominate the globalized economy. of the Uighur Muslim community. pearances, and enforced internal exile became the Uighur Kingdom. logue of past confrontation, it is geog- new surveillance governance is likely the paper sets out the terms and rules in 200,000 words of text the word The three principal land routes of Gulf countries, including Iran, won’t to elsewhere in China. This has been Sometime during the Khaganate, raphy that makes Beijing so sensitive to mean for all of us. Xinjiang is an of engagement of the new struggle “China” had been mentioned only Belt and Road emanate from Xinji- touch the subject at all, so dependent accompanied by deliberate pressure on the Uighur communities adopted to the role of the Uighurs in Xinjiang, extreme example of the surveillance – it actually speaks of the “need to four times. ang: the new Eurasian Land bridge 6 EUROPE theconservative.online theconservative.online EUROPE 7 MEP Assita Kanko welcomes Nord Stream 2 pipeline could undermine the ECR’s nomination of European security anti-FGM activists for the If Ukraine wants more Europe, he European Parliament’s Russia cannot be Sakharov prize Committee on Foreign Affairs treated as a stra- (AFET) has adopted a “State of tegic partner”. T nd political relations between the EU and On 22 Octo- CORRUPTION MUST END he European Parliament’s Russia” Report championed by ECR ber 2019, Fotyga Conference of Presidents MEP Anna Fotyga. One of its main attended, and hen the recent phone European players. Ukraine is a prior- with the main objectives of stabilising The impact on business is such T took the decision to award the points was to block Nord Stream 2 and spoke at, a con- call between US Presi- ity partner for the European Union its economy and improving its citizens’ that the Organisation for Economic 2019 prestigious Sakharov prize for underline the threat of militarisation ference held at W dent Trump and Ukraine’s as it helps us to build resilience and livelihoods. Recent political moves in ­Co-operation and Development freedom of thought to Ilham Tohti. of the Kaliningrad oblast. the Hilton in Strasbourg, which was led The Kremlin says that the venture President Zelensky went viral, it made strengthen human rights protections the country show that Ukraine truly (OECD) has stated that corruption is The ECR Group and its Flemish MEP Nord Stream is an offshore natural by the Coalition for ­Pro-­Democracy is purely economic in nature – they headlines for several reasons, none of in the area and safeguard our democ- wants Europe’s support, but for closer a “significant obstacle” to doing busi- Assita Kanko had nominated the gas pipeline run by the Russian state- ­Russians. She spoke as a panellist point out that while it is fully owned them good. Although most of the mud racy. Both the European Union and European integration to become more ness in Ukraine. Companies mainly Restorers, five Kenyan students who owned natural gas company, Gazprom. at a session entitled “Putin’s Nord by Gazprom, half of the costs of con- flowed West, Ukraine did not escape Ukraine are committed to working than a nice slogan, the government encounter corruption in business have developed an app to help fight Its first two lines were opened in 2011 Stream 2 Pipeline and Its Real Costs struction are being covered by Euro- unscathed, as ill-advised criticisms together to tackle the challenges that should tackle the systemic corruption licensing, taxation and customs. female genital mutilation (FGM). and 2012, after seven years of plan- to Europe”. She spoke alongside fig- pean energy companies such as Shell, of Germany and France for their lack lie ahead. that not only undermines such inte- Since the decree was signed, They call the app I-Cut and it ning and preparation. Now, Gazprom ures such as the Ukrainian MP Olga ENGIE, and OMV. of support for Ukraine became pub- Since 2014, Ukraine has embarked gration, but also hurts business and Ukrainian authorities have intensi- by Alexandr Vondra MEP allows girls at risk of genital muti- is hoping to expand the Nord Stream Bielkova and Jakub Janda of the Euro- The report championed by Fotyga, lic. But this is not the case for all on an ambitious reform programme the legal economy by allowing criminal fied cooperation with the European lation to get help quickly if they feel project. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline pean Values think tank. however, points to NS2 increasing the organisations to act with impunity. anti-fraud agency (OLAF) to reduce and media coverage has revealed at risk of undergoing FGM. In an will carry gas from Russia under the At the conference, Fotyga announced dependency of the EU on Russian gas, President Zelensky’s landslide the flows of lucrative goods like smug- the links between this and criminal emergency situation, they can then Baltic Sea and into Germany. that “abandoning Nord Stream 2 is a which it believes threatens the EU’s victory signaled Ukraine’s strong gled cigarettes into the EU across the organisations. request help from the police or from Fotyga, who is also the head of the prerequisite for European solidarity”, internal market and is not in line with desire for change and since enter- border. However, this problem shows While Ukraine should continue to a medical aid post. European Parliament’s Subcommittee once again highlighting concerns that the EU’s energy policy. The report ing office, he’s made a couple of pos- no signs of diminishing. Ukraine is the seek assistance, exchange information, One in four Kenyan women and on Security and Defence (SEDE) and a “projects with Russia like Nord Stream also denounced Russia’s violation itive moves. For example, he signed a number one source country for smug- and coordinate operations with the EU girls have undergone FGM, a pro- member of the AFET was pleased with 2 undermine the security of Central of airspace and territorial waters of decree to increase the effectiveness gled cigarettes. To root this out, more to tackle cross-border cases, this won’t cess which involves the partial or the decision. She said that in terms of and Eastern Europe”. For Fotyga, the the Baltic Sea countries and the mil- of countering corruption and smug- effective cooperation between OLAF, be enough if smuggling isn’t criminal- total removal of the external geni- concrete actions towards Russia the Nord Stream projects are not a matter itarization of the Kaliningrad oblast. gling during the customs clearance the EUBAM, member states and local ised by Ukrainian authorities first. talia, according to the World Health EU lags behind the US which plays of “business” but of “security”. This report echoes the concerns of goods imported into the territory Ukrainian authorities is essential to Criminalising smuggling would be Organisation. a leading role in opposing Russian However, not all states are con- of the Ukrainian President, Volo- of Ukraine, something that in theory prevent criminals operating across a big step towards closer integration However, Kenya’s President imperialism both militarily, econom- vinced by Fotyga’s diagnosis – on 30 dymyr Zelensky, who said in a press could increase the level of confidence borders. between Ukraine and Europe – both announced plans in Vancouver in to surveys by UNICEF, more than ically and politically. October 2019, the Danish govern- conference held with the NATO Sec- of businesses in state bodies. The EU-Ukraine Association sides have a strong mutual inter- June 2019 to end FGM by 2022, eight 65% of women aged 15-49 years “Almost four years ago I was the ment granted its approval for the retary-General on 31 October that But signing a decree does not nec- Agreement, on which the provi- est in further closeness as a means years ahead of the UN sustainable have undergone FGM in at least 10 co-author of the last document con- Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, removing the Gazprom-led pipeline would essarily mean concrete action. The sions towards closer integration are to promote peace and stability in the development goal. countries. cerning EU-Russian relations,” what had been until then an obstacle strengthen Russia and weaken roots of corruption go deep in Ukraine founded, contains anti-fraud and region. However, this integration can- Following today’s decision, Kanko, The prevalence of FGM is also Fotyga said after the vote. “Unfortu- to the expansion. It has also received Europe. and the current administration is suf- anti-corruption provisions as well as not come at any cost, and to be fully who herself survived genital muti- affected by background – women nately, the outlined threats from back the endorsement of Finland, Sweden, There are widespread concerns that fering for the mistakes of the past. a protocol on mutual administrative welcome at Europe’s table, measures lation in her native Burkina Faso, without education are more likely to then have become today’s reality.” and Germany. if EU countries become too reliant For years now, Ukrainian politicians assistance in customs matters. But aimed at cleaning up corruption can- gave the following comments about undergo FGM than women with the Fotyga believes that the EU should In Germany, Steffen Siebert, a upon Russian natural gas, the Krem- have regularly accused each other of in a country where smuggling is not not simply pay lip service to an idea. the nomination and shortlisting of highest level of education. not only oppose further Russian spokesman for chancellor Angela lin will hold significant geopolitical corruption while claiming to fight it. even a punishable criminal offence, A whole suite of enforcement mea- the Restorers: “The Restorers have Kanko finished her speech by call- aggression, but also “force Russia Merkel, said that the “transit of gas leverage over their policies in Ukraine MPs are on record stating that fixing change will not come easy. Moving sures will be essential if there is to be created a message of hope and com- ing upon the European Parliament to cover the costs of its aggressive through Ukraine must continue” and and Eastern Europe. corruption is Ukraine’s number one goods that cost little in Ukraine to truly systemic change, and a new gen- munity from their own horrific expe- “to write a report and propose a actions” in Ukraine. urged that they would “continue to The report will be discussed and problem – but it is not necessarily its EU countries where those goods are eration firmly rooted in the rule of law rience of female genital mutilation”. series of concrete actions in the fight She expressed that she was “happy support the EU in its trilateral talks voted on during the European Parlia- number one priority. expensive is incredibly profitable, can be guaranteed. ■ She added: “This App helps pro- against FGM; so that the EU can help that the document clearly indicates that with Russia and Ukraine”. ment’s plenary session in March. ■ vide girls with self-determination in put an end to this barbaric practice one of the most intimate decisions once and for all.” that will ever be made about their Although FGM is mainly prac- body; a decision they should never tised in African and Middle Eastern Catalan separatism has become an have to make in the first place.” countries, there are also communi- Ukraine must counter illicit trade According to the World Health ties in the United States and Europe Organisation, up to three million in which such practices are common. anti-democratic movement ne of the main obstacles to a establish a clear path for smuggling girls are at risk of FGM every year. The European Organisation, End successful trading relation- illegal goods into Europe. Currently, 200 million girls and FGM, estimates that there could be ship between the European Two years on, questions remain th O women worldwide live with the ter- as many as 479,138 FGM survivors n December 27 1978, the Par- has developed in a rather more extreme Union and Ukraine is the country’s over the fulfilment of the commit- Tobacco Smuggling from rible consequences of FGM. living in EU countries. Each year, liament in Madrid approved direction. They have imposed the Cat- ongoing corruption. Despite the huge ments made by Ukraine, particularly FGM is often an unavoidable fea- it is estimated that 180,000 girls O the Spanish Constitution, after alan language on the education system investment made by the EU and the in areas around organised crime and Ukraine to the EU ture of family life in the cultures and women in Europe are at risk of its ratification by the Spanish peo- and established severe restrictions on early results flaunted by the High corruption. in which it is prevalent. According FGM. ■ ple in a referendum that took place on the general use of Spanish imposing Representative, Federica Mogherini, As it stands, Ukraine has become A major tobacco company in western Ukraine was caught ordering an abnor- December 6th of that year by 88.54% of fines on companies for the use of Span- by Jorge Buxadé MEP there is still a long way to go. the biggest source of cigarette smug- mal number of tax stamps for cigarillos in order to use them on cigarette packs votes in favour. In Catalonia, one of the ish on placards. As part of The Liberty Summit, gling into the EU, but there is also that were then distributed on the black market and sold in the European Union. most populous regions of Spain, the ref- Separatist parties developed for years Recently, as a result of the sen- hosted by the European Conserva- a significant illicit trade in other The company responsible continued this practice over three years and in one erendum had an even higher percent- a clientele network of associations and tence, separatist parties have encour- tives and Reformists (ECR) Party materials such as amber, metal, year was able to avoid paying €156 million to the government. age of favourable votes; in Barcelona, entities financed with public funds for aged thousands of protesters onto the in Kyiv, speakers such as the for- wood and alcohol. A full 80% of The company itself has a complicated past, being owned by a prominent 91% voted for the new constitution. the “construction” of a historical ren- streets. They have exercised violence mer Member of the European Parlia- the wood exported from Ukraine local figure who, amongst other things, was a representative in local govern- The Spanish Constitution provided dering of Catalan identity. The most and committed acts of terrorism (ille- ment, Daniel Dalton, and the first Vice is illicit. Over 200 tonnes of amber ment and associated closely with a number of sports teams. It is believed that for a broadly decentralised model, rec- extreme example is the Institute of the gal blockades of roads and highways, the Prime Minister charged with Euro- are mined in Ukraine and shipped to he used all of these positions to accumulate vast sums of money and build a ognising the regions as Autonomies with New History of Catalonia, where it is assault of Barcelona airport preventing pean integration, Dmytro Kuleba, will the EU illegally. The total worth of real estate empire. He is believed to have worked closely with two associates their own legislative assemblies. Cata- genuinely argued that Cristobal Colón, 10,000 tourists from travelling), com- aim to tackle this issue. Ukrainian contraband is estimated who have equal political influence within the region. lonia, the region located in the north- Cervantes or Santa Teresa de Jesús mitted attacks on police and staging The issues of corruption and organ- to be 10 billion dollars, the equiva- east of Spain, and sharing a border with were Catalans. illegal demonstrations. We have seen ised crime have been ever-present lent of 36% of the Ukrainian state France, was an Autonomie with more Following the economic crisis of Barcelona burning for five days, with in the relationship between Ukraine budget. This is a huge challenge for the new The latest measures that Ukraine should enhance international coop- significant competencies. The educa- 2008, separatism decided to start a 300 police officers injured, and neigh- and the EU. They are referred to in the President Trump’s recent attempt government in Ukraine. President Zel- took at the border-control are encour- eration to help Ukraine fight corrup- tion system, heath provision, law and “process” of rupture with the Spanish bours fleeing their homes for fear of agreement dating back to the Associ- to use Ukraine in his political chess ensky will need to start taking measures aging. However the infrastructure tion and smuggling. Agencies such order, and cultural policy were all mean- constitutional settlement. This effort fires. ation Agreement, and have been dis- games shone the spotlight back on at a national level to tackle the corrup- at checkpoints should be improved. as Frontex and Europol should rein- ingfully devolved to the regional level. was built on over-heated rhetoric that Catalan separatism has now become cussed in all other monitoring reports the country’s corruption. Several tion ingrained in the system. An effec- Ukraine should get rid of the old, inef- force their monitoring of Ukraine In due course, Catalan nationalist verged at times into a kind of Catalan a fundamentally violent movement. Its since. Ukrainian mayors and city coun- tive measure to tackle this could be to ficient and corrupt guard at customs and bolster the assistances they pro- parties have acquired further conces- supremacism. aspirations are openly undemocratic As part of this agreement, Ukraine cil members have been suspected of toughen the penalties for the smuggling and invest in new, qualified personnel vide in order to protect against the sions on regional powers by engaging In 2017, separatist parties breached – it now seeks to impose itself on the was granted visa-free access to the EU, using their positions to serve their of tobacco products which are currently that fight for better integration. misuse of the visa-free regime, as in confidence and supply arrange- resolutions made in the Constitutional majority of Catalans. We should move which opened the borders of the EU to own interests. Tobacco smuggling is the subject of administrative responsi- Ukraine is not alone in this fight well as carefully monitoring the cru- ments with the Spanish Socialist Court of Spain, drawing on associa- towards the immediate restoration allow Ukrainians preferential access a very visible manifestation of this bility, rather than the criminal law, as and the EU should help Ukrainian cial benchmarks of corruption and Worker’s Party (PSOE) and the cen- tions that are directly dependant on of order and individual freedom, the to the EU’s market. Upon the grant- problem. Illicit tobacco from Ukraine they are in EU countries. authorities create a joint EU-Ukraine anti-corruption. tre-right People’s Party (PP) that public money, and dictated unconsti- detention of the separatist leaders and ing of visa-free access for Ukrainian is most evident in those countries that In addition, Ukraine should consider commission for control over the If all these measures are put in ruled Spain in the decades following tutional laws. This was nothing less an immediate review, in accordance citizens, the European Commission share a border with Ukraine. Accord- developing a system of specific sanc- National Action Plan for the Imple- place by the time our new Ukrainian Franco’s death in 1975 and the transi- than a coup – several of their leaders with the Constitution, of the status noted that one of the possible neg- ing to a report by KPMG, over 1.5 tions for legal entities, such as mone- mentation of the Strategy for Coun- High Representative comes before th th 13 - 15 December 2019 • GRANADA • SPAIN tion to democracy. have now been condemned for crimes of Autonomies, in order to guarantee ative consequences of the arrange- billion counterfeit and contraband tary fines or the prohibition of carrying tering Illegal Manufacturing and the the European Parliament to update ECRPARTY.EU • @ECRPARTY In parallel to further concessions of sedition, misappropriation and equality across the whole of the Spanish ment included new opportunities for cigarettes came into the EU from out activities for those involved in the Turnover of Tobacco Goods. To build the elected officials of the EU, there from Spain’s centre, Catalan separatism disobedience. peninsula. ■ Ukraine-based organised crime to Ukraine in 2017. illicit cross-border cigarette trade. on the progress made so far, the EU can be a clear path towards success. ■ 8 WORLD ANALYSIS theconservative.online theconservative.online EUROPE 9

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Six countries, comprising of France, The EU must find a smarter West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Luxembourg, Caracas is at the centre of a sign the Treaty of Paris, creating the European Coal and Steel Community strategy to manage enlargement (ECSC). Emmanuel Macron’s vetoing of accession talks with North 1957 totalitarian tsunami that has The European Economic Community Macedonia and Albania shows that the EU must be more careful (EEC) is created by the Treaty about how it intends to bring more countries into the fold – EFTA of Rome, signed by the same six nations who had convened to sign could be a useful first stepping stone to full membership the Treaty of Paris. It proposes the swept through Latin America creation of a customs union, and a single market for goods, labour, by services, and capital across member Europe’s inaction over the crisis Pieter Cleppe states. in Venezuela has empowered the Maduro regime 1960 The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is established ix months ago, the bloody by the signatories to the Stockholm dictatorship of Nicolas Mad- Convention, signed by Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, uro was floundering in Ven- Austria, and Portugal and established ezuela. The countries of the as a competitor to the EEC. Sregion took unprecedented steps towards an agreement that would put 1973 an end to the Chavez-inspired regime that in just a few years has plunged by Hermann Tertsch MEP Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Ireland join the EEC. the country into a chasm of misery, violence and unbelievable cruelty. Six was not already a flagrant foreign 1981 months ago, there were serious expec- presence in Venezuela in the form tations that the Lima Group, under of Cuban forces which are employed Greece joins the EEC the auspices of the Organization of in the power structures, army, police American States (OAS) and with US forces, intelligence services and the 1986 political police. On top of this, Ira- support, would organise an opera- After applying for membership in tion to evict the main leaders of the nian forces are already there through 1977, Spain and Portugal finally mafia that governs Caracas under the the presence of the Lebanese terrorist become members of the EEC. regime of Maduro. There was a belief group Hezbollah, which pledges obe- that this would kick-start a serious dience to Tehran. 1987 transition towards democratisation, It is hard to imagine that interven- Turkey makes a formal application to the restoration of law and public order tion could have worsened a situation join the EEC. Turkey eventually sign and a re-establishment of legal cer- already characterised by extreme vio- murdered every year. In 2016, accord- plunders Venezuela’s assets – that is amongst the opposition. a customs Union agreement with the tainty that could revive an economy lence, despair and death with 30,000 ing to a UN report, 7,000 extrajudicial how he pays for international protec- The agents from Havana and Cara- rench President Emman- At the same time, the EU should even emerge as the leader of EFTA, to give them an incentive to deepen European Union in 1995. destroyed to an almost inconceivable annual murders and deaths by hun- executions took place. Five million tion from China and Russia. He allows cas are already wreaking havoc in uel Macron received a lot offer the Balkan Six a closer relation- thereby reinvigorating the organisa- diplomatic ties. This is already hap- extent. ger and disease. Cities are currently people have already fled the coun- international contractors to mine Venezuela, as they are across South of criticism for his deci- ship. Perhaps membership of the Euro- tion and proving that Britain wants to pening, regardless. In response to EU 1992 strategic precious metals and control America. They are at the burning In January 2019, Juan Guaidó was without electricity, food and medicine try in an exodus that could dwarf the sion to block the start of pean Free Trade Association (EFTA), keep close trade ties with European intransigence, the Prime Ministers of Under the third commission of elected as acting President of Vene- are in short supply, and millions are migration caused by the Syrian civil gold production. barricades in Quito, Ecuador. Here, Faccession talks with North Macedonia which is a loose platform to open up countries even if it has rejected the Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania Jacques Delors, the Maastricht zuela by the National Assembly, the fleeing from Venezuela across South war. Venezuela is the most dangerous While this is taking place, bands they brought Rafael Correa back to and Albania, even if the governments trade. Offering the Balkan six EFTA top-down regulatory approach of the have just signed a declaration, creating Treaty is signed. This creates the only body to emerge with legitimacy America. country in the world and it is not even and guerrillas then destroy the Ama- power and closed all cases against of Denmark and the Netherlands were membership could be presented as the EU and EEA. In this way, Turkey and a co-operation agreement modelled European Union out of the old EEC zon by washing it with chemicals. corruption and fraud that were and expands its remit to include from the December 2015 elections. The intervention didn’t happen at war. with him. first stepping stone to EU membership. Ukraine could be reassured that EFTA on the EU’s Schengen Agreement, the creation of a monetary union, a This was considered as a constitu- and conversations were once again The state of Venezuela has become The Orinoco Basin has suffered mass opened up. Cuban and Venezuelan There really was no good choice: Of course, EFTA member states’ citi- is no second-rate arrangement, as the providing for the free travel of people, common foreign and security policy, tional and legal way to definitively opened between the opposition and an immense global scandal. It is deforestation – strangely, this seems agents have played a leading role in either North Macedonia would be zens also enjoy freedom of movement UK even prefers it to EU membership. goods, capital, and services between and cooperation in justice and home declare Maduro as a usurper who had the Maduro regime. ruled by a criminal and incompe- to bother European environmental Chilean extremist movements that upset (it went as far as to change its to each other’s countries, so this may To offer clarity to Turkey will fur- their three connected countries. The affairs. already breached all the requirements Behind the scenes, a sinister Span- tent regime, formed by the commu- groups far less than similar abuses in have tried to undermine President name in order to be able to enter have to be reviewed. ther help to reassure the “Balkan other Balkan states have been invited to remain legally and legitimately as ish figure, the former President Jose nist elite of the former Chávez party, other countries. Piñera. They helped Kirchner and the EU) or European citizens would to join, and the intention is to create 1995 President of the country. Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has been the Unified Socialist Party of Venezu- The severity of the situation in the her candidate Fernandez in Argen- have been angry, wary of welcoming a joint market of 18 million people. Sweden, Finland, and Austria join When Guaidó was declared as act- playing a prominent country is partly a prod- tina and without doubt they are inte- into the EU yet more countries with This “mini-Schengen” should become the EU ing president, the hope was that role. He presented him- uct of the ways in which grated into the forces of Morales and weak governance and high levels of Apart from the prospect of EFTA membership, operational in 2021. the opposition could finally come self in 2015 as a mediator Cuba exports destabili- his party. corruption. The fundamental issue is This initiative has not been pushed 2004 together in a united front to expose all between the regime and sation, communist sub- In Europe, Latin America is still that there is “enlargement fatigue” in the EU could require that those six Western by Brussels, but this is exactly the We must react to the failure of the Former members of the communist the incapacity, perversion and guilt of the opposition but he version, anti-democracy treated as a testing ground for social Western Europe. Balkan countries can only join at the same time, kind of arrangement the EU could eastern bloc during the Cold War – Maduro’s regime and its henchmen. has since been revealed democratising offensive that failed messages to other coun- and political projects. The conse- Balkan governments have been promote, for example, by requiring Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, It became possible to dream that the to be Maduro’s de facto tries. Its toxic exports in quences are always tragic for the local looking to strengthen ties with the to give them an incentive to deepen diplomatic progress on it as a precondition for the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and regime would lose its influence over right-hand man. He has to end Maduro’s regime and to the this regard include arms population. The role played by Fed- likes of Russia, China and Turkey ties. This is already happening, regardless. In membership. That would also reas- Hungary – all gain accession to the EU, alongside Cyprus. opposition politicians, which has been complicit in the totalitarian counteroffensive which trading, money laun- erica Mogherini, the EU’s High Rep- instead, which does not bode well in response to EU intransigence, the sure suspicions among North Mace- mafia dictator’s meth- dering for oil and a huge resentative for Foreign Affairs and donian business federations, that the always been exerted through pressure has been unleashed in the aftermath. terms of embedding the rule of law and 2007 and corruption. ods of extortion, threats amount of cocaine, all Security Policy, has been shame- Western-style democracy over there. Prime Ministers of Serbia, North Macedonia initiative serves to drive the Western In the end, the whole operation and treatment of polit- In order to do so, there must be a real of which finances both ful. Throughout her tenure, which Serbian human rights campaigners and Albania have just signed a declaration, Balkans away from the West. Romanian and Bulgarian membership failed because Europe vehemently ical prisoners. That has desire within Europe to leave the the internal apparatus began in 2014, she has been consis- recently warned against the roll-out Perhaps some of these suggestions of the European Union inaugurates opposed external intervention, and turned Zapatero in the of the Venezuelan state tently in favour of the messianic left of hundreds of Chinese surveillance creating a co-operation agreement modelled on can be questioned, such as the idea the “fifth enlargement” undertaken comfort zone of speech and enter into by the EU. In this same year, Slovenia Washington made it clear that any eyes of ordinary Venezu- and its external fund- wing groups and against the rational cameras using facial recognition soft- the EU’s Schengen Agreement, providing for the to only let Serbia enter the EU once adopts the Euro. positive move from the interna- elans into the most hated the field of concrete actions against ing networks, especially choices of democrats and the advo- ware, a move resulting from growing free travel of people, goods, capital, and services Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina com- tional community needed to be at the operator in the crimi- the enemies of freedom in Latin in Spain and mainland cates of free markets. Let us hope that ties between Serbia and China. ply with the conditions, as this may 2008 request of the Venezuelan opposition nal band directed by the Europe. her incoming replacement, Josep In North Macedonia, exiled oli- between their three connected countries. curb Serbia’s motivation to join. The and the OAS. Meanwhile, the Vene- regime. America. These networks allow Borrell, a friend of many Latin Ameri- garch Nikola Gruevski, who has been lesson from the previous rounds of Malta, Cyprus, and Slovakia all join the Euro. zuelan opposition, which had by now Venezuela was once the regime to effectively can left-wingers who remains danger- convicted for crimes committed when The organisation shouldn’t be con- six” hoping to enter the EU. Acces- EU enlargement is that the prospect buy its own survival. They facilitate ously close to socialists with ominous become fully infiltrated and largely one of the wealthiest countries in ela (PSUV). The military elite at the he was Prime Minister, may well man- fused with the European Economic sion negotiations have already been of EU membership can truly make a 2013 bought by the regime, found itself Latin America, with the world’s larg- top of the regime, comprising around repression, the slavery of the popu- intentions in the continent, will not age to return from Hungary, which has Area (EEA), to which three EFTA opened with two of those, Serbia and difference in improving the rule of law arguing against a hasty intervention. est oil reserves. Twenty years ago, how- 2,000 generals, is extraordinarily lation, the obscene privileges of the do the same. granted him “asylum”, and run in the member states – Norway, Iceland Montenegro, while another pair, Alba- in candidate countries. When the big Croatia joins the EU, becoming its When faced with the narrative ever, its prosperity was given over to corrupt. Maduro secures the loyalty leading elites and the formation of We must react to the failure of the snap elections which followed the col- and Liechtenstein – belong. Norway, nia and North Macedonia, are hoping EU funds start to flow, the EU’s lever- most recent member. that an intervention would produce a socialist project directed by Com- of the army by allowing its partici- destabilising forces abroad, like the democratising offensive that failed to lapse of the government after the EU Liechtenstein and Iceland shouldn’t – so far in vain – for this as well. Bos- age seems to become much weaker. nothing but violence, all the forces mander Hugo Chavez. Now its econ- pation in the cocaine trade and fuel units from the Colombian terrorist end Maduro’s regime and to the total- refused to open entry talks. fear this would upset their cosy nia-Herzegovina and Kosovo haven’t There is nothing wrong with France 2016 in favour of a robust action against omy has collapsed, and its citizens fight trafficking. groups of FARC and ELN that control itarian counteroffensive which has What to do now? arrangement with the EU, as it is their made it to the first stage – “candidate” and other countries vetoing accession The United Kingdom votes to leave Maduro were neutralised and “com- to salvage food from rubbish bins. The Maduro maintains international large territories in Venezuela. been unleashed in the aftermath. In In my view, the EU must simply membership of the European Eco- status – while five EU member states, talks if they believe that the concerned the EU. promise forces” emerged once again. average Venezuelan has lost muscle connections with Latin American and The regime feels safe now and has order to do so, there must be a real be honest. It must tell countries that nomic Area which is key, not of EFTA including Spain, do not even recog- countries do not yet comply with the In reality, this meant sustaining the mass. Children die due the lack of food Spanish socialists and communists as started a counter-offensive. Interna- desire within Europe to leave the enjoy very little support among Euro- – even if non-EU states need to be an nise Kosovo as a country yet. requirements. What is problematic 2019 Maduro regime in power. while aged and sick people die due to well as drawing on the profits from tional talks in Barbados held in August comfort zone of speech and enter into peans that their entry into the EU EFTA member before being able to Apart from the prospect of EFTA is making all kinds of false promises 2019 have given the regime exactly the field of concrete actions against President Emmanuel Macron of There were warnings about the lack of medicines. Once eradicated dis- currency exchange and commerce. simply won’t happen in the foresee- become an EEA member. membership, the EU could require without having a plan B ready in order France vetoes the opening of the catastrophic effects of a “foreign” or eases have returned. As a result, Venezuela is still heav- what it wanted – a consolidation of the enemies of freedom in Latin able future. We are talking about Tur- The UK could also join the non- that those six Western Balkan coun- to keep close diplomatic ties with EU’s accession negotiations with “imperialist” intervention, as if there A total of 30,000 Venezuelans are ily dependent on Cuba. Maduro also Maduro’s control and further division America. ■ key and Ukraine. EEA department of EFTA and it could tries can only join at the same time, Europe’s weak underbelly. ■ Albania and North Macedonia. 10 COMMENT theconservative.online theconservative.online COMMENT 11

t was not meant to be like this. During the months lead- ing up to the installation of a new EU Commission there I was a climate of expectation – even of excitement – that ENVIRONMENTALISM the European­ Union was about to experience a radical trans- formation. The more dramatic elements derived from Presi- dent Emmanuel Macron’s declared ambition to carry forward IS THE FUTURE OF a fast-moving programme of integration. To the majority of EU members that was not a development to be welcomed, but it at least augured a period of stimulating political initiatives and CONSERVATIVE lively debate. Yet already, before the new Commission has had time to take hold of the levers of power, those expectations have died. It is not the political impasse blocking the integrationist project that POLITICS is to be regretted, but the withering of any realistic prospects of moderate and much-needed reform. When the new Commis- sion president Ursula von der Leyen was narrowly elected there was widespread scepticism about her competence, based on her unimpressive tenure of Germany’s defence portfolio. Now, with 100 days having passed since her election, the President is daily confirming those doubts. She has been mired in crisis from the start. Even before the inauguration of the new College of Commissioners, three com- Environmentalism has been dominated by the missioners-designate have been rejected by the European­ political left for decades – conservatives across Parliament - candidates from Hungary, Romania and, most importantly, France. The anger of President Macron is under- Europe are rewriting the script standable: it was he who put forward Mrs von der Leyen’s name and he insists she had committed to persuading the Parliament by Toby Guise to support his commissioner-designate. Yet the recriminations over this issue unconsciously testify to the undemocratic barter system that has been endemic to the running of the EU. n the midst of the Extinction example, it is one warranted in whose activity caused environmental Piketty, and Bernie Sanders. the very centre-Left parties which environmentalism as an expedient for possible – move to circular resource already achieved to a positive, In terms of present reality, this failure to deliver a quid pro quo Rebellion protests which par- response to the militant wing again damage should pay the costs. Although conservatism is taking believed they had captured the green left-wingers to do what they’ve always use would be music to Adam Smith’s ­conservative-conservationism – one exposes Ursula von der Leyen’s inability – or even unwillingness alysed London last month, a ascending the ranks of Left-wing This ruling in turn reflects Adam steps in the same direction, these are vote. This implies that the environ- wanted: collectivise and build supra- ears. which celebrates rather than refutes – to rein in not only a rebellious European Parliament but even strange thing happened. The parties in Europe. Smith’s own view of the free mar- more tentative – for two reasons. ment is being re-established as a polit- national institutions. From a discom- The same process is taking place the role of the nation state in protect- her own EPP group within that institution. The EPP is in revan- Iprotestors sighted a Tory MP and In intellectual terms, much of the ket as one in which each individual First, conservatism is by nature a ical issue in its own right, rather than fort with the solutions, conservatives across the financial supply chains ing our natural patrimony – offers chist mood, determined to punish the European Council’s side- government minister, and waylaid ground of conservative environmen- gains the benefit and pays the cost of negative philosophy – it is more eas- simply a branch of the Left. This sub- have too often rejected the underlying of the investment industry, driven a direct challenge to transnational lining of the Spitzenkandidat process which, if followed, would him with the gift of a young oak tree. talism has been marked out by Brit- his activity. All this would surely have ily defined by what it isn’t than what tle correction to the political narra- issues. by the realisation that the risks of left-environmentalism. Yet it is a have seen EPP chairman Manfred Weber installed as Commis- “They were totally civilised, totally ish philosopher, Sir Roger Scruton. Extinction Rebellion nodding along, it is; and by seeking the avoidance of tive may provide conservatives with But the solutions which are deliv- short-termism outweigh the bene- challenge that should resonate deeply sion President. polite, and we had a proper discus- “There is no political cause more not least when they are camped out- mistakes by government rather than more than just a tactical dividend (by ering the best results around the fits. Meanwhile it is private entre- with people seeking a deeper connec- One theory, designed to give Ursula von der Leyen the benefit sion,” said the MP in a later inter- amenable to the conservative vision side Britain’s Royal Courts of Justice, in the pursuit of interventions. Sec- splitting the opposition vote). It may world often turn on precisely the preneurs and investors who are tion to both their natural heritage of the doubt, suggests she was deliberately giving the institution view. This was in spite of him being than the environment,” he has writ- advocating precisely this type of “law- ond, its relationships with the specific also create the opening for environ- opposite set of political values to driving forwards the technological and the continuum of past and future with the theoretically strongest democratic mandate an oppor- “someone you might expect the pro- ten. “It touches on three foundational fare” on behalf of the environment. yet intangible aspects of national cul- mentally-motivated voters to hear those advocated by the Left. The solutions to lowering resource-use generations. Such a pitch will not tunity to express its standpoint. But the widespread opinion is testors to protest against” – namely a ideas of our movement: trans-genera- This reappraisal of the free mar- ture can appear anachronistic in an the message being offered by Gold- past twenty years has seen an intel- in both energy-generation and indus- immediately dissolve Marxist envi- that she simply lacks gravitas, power and determination, as well conservative, a committed Brexiteer, tional loyalty, the priority of the local, ket’s relationship with both society era of multiculturalism. Key conser- smith-Scruton type conservative lectual ferment in the area of envi- try. When Britain’s Jeremy Corbyn ronmentalism or empty parliament as political experience. She also clearly lacks a body of support and a close ally of the current Prime and the search for home.” and the environment also fits into a vative writers such as Burke and de environmentalists. ronmental markets and natural responded to Extinction Rebellion square of Extinction Rebellion. But it within the Parliament. Sceptics may legitimately ask whether her Minister. much broader current of Tocqueville – with their capital, which rest on by promising the creation of huge, will go some way towards restoring a appointment is another example of Angela Merkel’s increasingly Zac Goldsmith – the self-examination within respective reliance on aligning environmental government-controlled wind farms, more positive emotional core to the inept intervention in EU affairs. parliamentarian in­ conservatism. In truth, “little platoons” and cul- outcomes with individ- economists came back with a simple environmental movement – all while In theory, the Commission enjoys a double legitimacy, being question – is perhaps the conservatism is going tural mores – were writ- ual responsibility. answer: you don’t need to. providing a new conservatism with a nominated by the European Council and approved by the most prominent British First, conservatism is by nature a through something of an ing when the nation state Left-environmentalism has become Let me provide an Marrying the gains which have much needed bedrock of meaning. ■ ­European Parliament. Since Ursula von der Leyen has man- example of a new breed negative philosophy – it is more easily identity crisis at present. could truly be said to rep- synonymous with a much wider example: when fish aged to alienate both, her lack of leadership nous has turned that of conservative envi- defined by what it isn’t than what it I would argue this is cen- resent a nation. stocks in certain areas of double legitimacy into a double liability. Apart from its poten- ronmentalists. These tred on the erosion of its This is not to say that transnational associations of social the US became depleted, tial to disrupt EU administration at a time of crisis, the Parlia- “blue-greens” have been is; and by seeking the avoidance of marriage of convenience translating conservative justice, intersectionality, and global they were turned over ment’s flexing of its muscles is not an unwelcome development. steadily re-writing a fif- mistakes by government rather than to liberalism. In the values onto the present redistribution. to a “catch-share” sys- Although it dates back to 1952 as a nominated chamber and to ty-year old narrative US, this union emerged is impossible: principles tem. This means each 1979 as a directly elected assembly, it remains unique among that the environment in the pursuit of interventions. after the Second World such as privacy, fam- fisherman owns a share world parliaments in lacking the power to initiate legislation. is the exclusive remit of War under the banner ily, private property, freedom of con- Left-environmentalism has in the fishery, the long-term value of What credibility can attach to a 21st-century parliament with the centre-left. This has meant undo- A keystone of this approach of Fusionism, by which thinkers like science, and self-realisation through become synonymous with a much which would fluctuate in line with its fewer powers than the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire? ing the association between envi- is the idea of oikophilia – love of William F. Buckley hewed conserva- work all have universal appeal. But it wider transnational associations of overall health. With such an incen- Brexit, now looming ever larger, has been the worst failure of ronmental policy and top-down, home – from which environmental tism to economic liberalisation. Such is a work in progress, mired in cultural social justice, intersectionality, and tive in place, control of quotas was the sclerotic Brussels mindset. There has been no genuine nego- centralised solutions – and promoting stewardship ultimately flows. Like thinking emerged with a bang on conflict and forever prey to capture by global redistribution. But these values handed over to the beneficiaries tiation, merely a set of red lines designed to punish a “deserter”. market-oriented entrepreneurial pol- John Ruskin before him, Scruton rep- European shores under the guise of populists who would like to instil their are now facing a backlash of their own; themselves. Needless to say, stocks True negotiation produces a win-win outcome for both sides. icies in their place. resents a brand of conservatism that Thatcherism. Underpinning both was own, nativist set of answers. not least due to the growing sense of soon rebounded: natural capitalism in The EU has failed to reach internal consensus and has settled Fortunately, conservatives have a searches deeply within the soul for its the belief that individual autonomy Hence conservatives need a more Malthusian­ misanthropy­ underpin- action. for a punitive intransigence and playing a pointless blame game. long history of policy achievements connections to landscape and culture alone would be a sufficient guarantor immediate pitch, which makes an ning the movement. This in turn pro- Similarly, large corporates – the Angela Merkel’s recent warnings about the threat to Germany of – and philosophical grounding – on – the very same connections which of culture; which is to say that conser- appeal to something much broader vides the opening for conservative arch villains of Left-environmen- a powerful post-Brexit UK as economic competitor betray the which to draw: Disraeli’s Public Health large swathes of Extinction Rebellion vatives were confident enough in their than cultural considerations: why not environmentalism to respond with talism – have themselves provided crude protectionism underlying her stance. Act of 1865; Anthony Eden’s Clean Air are, in their inchoate way, also trying cultural values to assume these would the environment? its own set of values centred on per- some of the greatest impetus towards The incoming Commission now looks even weaker than the Act of 1955; and Mrs Thatcher’s cham- to establish. survive any amount of liberalisation. Although Greta Thunberg’s pen- sonal responsibility, humanism, and greening supply chains. Their moti- one that mishandled Brexit. How will Ursula von der Leyen’s pioning of the Montreal Protocol. Rather than sweeping aside the Looking around, it seems they were chant for Antifa t-shirts – and the our two most ineffable relationships: vations are twofold: first, to drive Commission cope with Britain’s departure, possible complica- Indeed, during the same period existing tools of society – the common wrong. It transpires that voters now wider Extinction Rebellion move- those with the continuum of genera- more stable long-term returns by tions arising therefrom and intractable EU challenges such as as the last two events, the Social- law and the free market – Scruton finds want more from government than just ment’s strong anti-capitalist current tions and our national landscapes. reducing exposure to Environmen- the rewriting of the immigration rulebook and Eastern European ist governments of the Eastern in them the means for society to regu- a liberal vanishing point: they want – may provide little initial solace to For this to happen, conservatives tal, Social and Governance (ESG); disaffection? Already, the momentum of the new Commission Bloc and China were causing untold late itself and its relationship with the something to believe in. The Left has conservatives, there are also deeper need to shake off their acceptance of and, second, to guard their brand rep- has evaporated even before the installation of the commission- environmental damage. It was the environment. The first successful envi- already decisively responded to this currents at work. On a tactical level, the Left’s connection of environmen- utations against increasingly aware th ers. It feels more like an end than a beginning.■ Soviet Union where they “left the ronmental lawsuit in the UK – Rylands shift, jettisoning its own liberal mar- the evidence of the Austrian elec- talism and socialism – the idea that and motivated consumers. The drive 14 November 2019 • BRUSSELS • BELGIUM windows open in winter”, not in vs Fletcher of 1865 – turned on the riage of convenience in favour of fig- tion is that the up-tick in Green Party “big problems require big solutions”. for companies to internalise their ECRPARTY.EU • @ECRPARTY the West. If this seems an extreme common-law principle that the one ures such as Jeremy Corbyn, Thomas support is coming at the expense of This has led some conservatives to see environmental costs and – where 12 COMMENT theconservative.online theconservative.online COMMENT 13 The US and Europe must act in the Changing of Lagarde and big risks The new head of the European Central Bank inherits at the ECB a mess from Mario Draghi. Can she find a way through with the help of her friend the German Chancellor? WESTERN BALKANS by Maggie Pagano There is a shared diplomatic interest in ensuring peace and stability in the region. Washington t first glance, Europe’s two she received a Berlin Philharmonic inflation rate was just 0.8pc, way low. Coupled with rock bottom lower against the dollar. and Brussels should get down to work most powerful women could recording of Beethoven from Merkel, below the ECB’s 2% target. interest rates and a gloomy outlook, Lagarde could not be joining the A not be more different. Angela a lover of classical music. Indeed, the policy of slashing inter- German companies are also holding ECB at a more demanding moment. Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, As Lagarde once remarked to an est rates into negative territory and back on investing. She inherits a ghastly mess from makes a point of dressing down her interviewer, they are often the only his quantitative easing programme is The ECB is equally unhappy. Divi- ­Draghi to which there is no obvious by & Luke Coffey Dan Kochis power, covering her tubby figure with two women of power in the room: “So seen to be favouring southern Europe sions within the central bank go back immediate solution other than an a uniform of bright suit jackets and there’s a sense of recognition, com- rather than either the Germans or the years, but have come to the fore again almighty bust-up between Germany ince the 1990s, the US has sacri- Relations with neighbours have In August 2018, Serbia took own- no-nonsense black trousers. Merkel plicity, solidarity.” other 19 eurozone countries. following Draghi’s latest interest rate and the ECB. ficed significant blood and trea- been rocky recently. This is espe- ership of the first two of six MiG-29 grew up under communist rule in They may be friends but can their Once known as Super Mario for his cut and bond buying which starts Yet the approach of these two sure to ensure that the Balkans cially true regarding Serbia. In early fighters that Russia delivered to Ser- East Germany, the daughter of a pas- amity survive their political differ- policy of doing everything to support again next month. There is also the women may not be as wide apart as S they first seem. What’s interesting remain peaceful and stable - and there- November 2018, Kosovo imposed a bia. While ostensibly free, Serbia is tor, studied physics and then quantum ences now that Lagarde takes on what the euro, the German press has taken question of the ECB’s more private fore should have a say in any major 10 per cent tariff on products made spending $213 million to have them chemistry before going into politics many Germans see as intra-eurozone trans- about Lagarde is that, for all her crit- development in the region. This is in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in overhauled by Russia. Additionally, just as the Berlin Wall came tumbling Mario Draghi’s reckless fers known as “Target icism of eurozone countries such as why the appointment of US Ambas- Serbia (the former also not recog- Russia plans to supply Serbia with 30 down. monetary expansion? 2”. Germany is owed Germany, she carried a big stick in sador to Germany Richard Grenell to nising Kosovo’s independence). On T-72 tanks, and 30 armoured By contrast, Christine Lagarde, the Their approach looks about €1,000bn under her IMF dealings, noticeably with her serve as US Special Envoy for peace November 20, 2018, Kosovo’s third patrol vehicles, the first new president of the European Cen- miles apart. While run- Lagarde has repeatedly said if this scheme. treatment of Greece during the finan- talks between Kosovo and Serbia is an bid to join Interpol failed to reach third of which arrived tral Bank, known in her native France ning the IMF, Lagarde Unsurprisingly, at cial crisis. important move. Ambassador Grenell the two-thirds vote required for at Niš airport in as L’Americaine, dresses up to her has been a vocal critic women had been running the show, the last ECB’s Govern- Maybe her taking a tough line must be mindful of the fact that noth- membership. Following the vote, July. role. Perennially tanned and tall, she of eurozone countries the 2008 financial crash may never ing Council, seven of could help Merkel soften Germany’s ing in the Balkans is easy, tinkering the government in Pristina issued The so-called sashays across the international stage such as Germany for have happened. She famously the 25 members were approach, to smooth the path to a with borders is a bad idea, working a statement blaming Serbia for the Russian–Ser- in impeccable Chanel suits, draped not doing enough to against Draghi’s swan middle way. Although Merkel is step- with European countries in the region failed bid saying, “Serbia’s wild cam- bian Humani- with flowing silk scarves and fabulous help with pro-growth noted: “There should never be too song. German’s feel they ping down, she doesn’t leave until increases the likelihood of success, paign shows once again its stand tarian Centre drop earrings. policies. much testosterone in one room. In should have more say 2021 and will not want to wreck her and that the US should be patient with against Kosovo and against the idea at Niš - widely to join West- Fourth, he needs to be patient with After winning a scholarship to the For her part, Merkel as they have so much carefully crafted public image. Kosovo and remain conscious that Ser- of normalising ties.” Three days believed to be ern structures Kosovo’s progress. This applies to US, she worked as an intern on ­Capitol has always taken the gender-dominated environments, skin in the game - it is Lagarde has repeatedly said if bia is Russia’s foothold in the Balkans. later, Kosovo raised tariffs on prod- a Russian spy anytime soon, Europe as well. Kosovo is a poor coun- Hill, trained as a lawyer and went on high road. Like many of men have a tendency to… show how the ECB’s biggest share- women had been running the show, ucts from Serbia from 10 percent to base - is only 90 and that hold- try. The US and Europe need to develop to head up one of America’s biggest her fellow Germans, she hairy chested they are.” holder with nearly 20% the 2008 financial crash may never Kosovo’s Road 100 percent. km from NATO’s ing out hope for a strategy based on an understanding law firms. She served as France’s first maintains that Europe’s of its capital. have happened. She famously noted: to Independence EU-facilitated dialogue, which KFOR mission a massive change that the improvements in good gover- female finance minister, and headed more troubled coun- Board director, “There should never be too much Kosovo is a small country in the west- since 2011 has sought to normalize based in Pristina. Rus- in the nation’s trajec- nance and economic growth will be a up the IMF. Married twice, she lives tries have themselves to blame, and to presenting him as Count Draghila Sabine Lautenschläger, ­has already testosterone in one room. In gen- ern Balkans with a history rooted in relations between Kosovo and Serbia sia has relied on cultural tory is naïve. process and not an event. The strategy with her third partner. must get through their problems with because rock bottom interest rates are resigned in protest of the ECB’s loose der-dominated environments, men complex relations between ethnic and (initially successful in helping secure ties to Serbia to further increase should take account of Kosovo’s long- As they say, vive la difference. Yet another dose of austerity. gobbling up their savings. monetary policy, the third to do so this have a tendency to… show how hairy religious groups. Kosovo is predomi- a series of technical agreements), has its role in the nation, positioning Nothing Is Easy term transatlantic aspirations, such as curious as it may seem, the two are said Critics see Draghi’s eight year reign Always conservative creatures decade. Six former Bundesbank bank- chested they are.” nantly secular Sunni-Muslim and has in recent years stalled, with the tariff itself as the defender of Orthodoxy in the Balkans NATO membership; and engage the to be good friends. They often text and at the ECB as a disaster. His legacy when it comes to saving, Germans ers recently attacked his policy in an It was always a dangerous boast. a majority ethnically Albanian pop- disagreement contributing to the lat- and investing funds in refurbish- As Ambassador Grenell begins his nation’s youth in building a robust civil give each other presents at Christmas.­ is of massive financial imbalances prefer to put money in the bank or open letter. And the euro, which Dra- The onus now is on Lagarde to ulation. Kosovo also has high youth est impasse. ing Orthodox churches. Additionally, work he should remember and be society and a prosperous economy. One year, Lagarde famously gave between eurozone members and a insurance policies. Savings are now ghi once promised to do all he could to show that her charm can beat unemployment. As a result of war in Russia has helped establish more than guided by these five principles: Finally, he needs to keep his eyes Merkel a trinket from Hermès while tanking euro. Last month’s eurozone at a record high but rates at a record protect ? The currency is down 20% chest-thumping. ■ the late 1990s, a NATO peacekeeping Russia’s Foothold 100 pro-Russian non-governmental First, he needs to work with Europe, open when dealing with Serbia. Some force, called Kosovo Force (KFOR), Serbia has long served as Russia’s organisations and media outlets in not against it to encourage Kosovo and Serbian politicians talk a good game maintains 4,000 troops there mainly foothold in the Balkans. Serbia is a fel- Serbia. Serbia to normalise relations. Stability about wanting to join the transat- from European countries. low religiously Orthodox nation with Serbia and Russia have signed a in the Balkans is a major area of pol- lantic community, while continuing Following the sectarian wars of which Russia enjoys a close economic, strategic partnership agreement icy alignment Washington shares with to court the Kremlin. Serbia is still a the 1990s, Kosovo was placed under political, and military relationship. focused on economic issues. Rus- Brussels. The US needs to stay engaged source of instability. This is especially true in Bosnia and Herzegovina with A Corbyn victory would be a United Nations administration in Serbia and Russia have an agree- sia’s inward investment is focused and work with European allies, partic- June 1999. On February 17, 2008, ment allowing Russian soldiers to be on the transport and energy sectors. ularly the UK and Germany, to advance Belgrade’s support for separatism Kosovo declared independence from based at Niš airport in Serbia. The Except for those in the Common- a transatlantic security agenda. This in the Republika Srpska. That does Serbia and has been recognised by 114 two countries signed a 15-year mili- wealth of Independent States, Ser- includes supporting the region’s trans- not mean the US should stop seeking historic catastrophe for Britain countries, including the United States tary cooperation agreement in 2013 bia is the only country in Europe that atlantic aspirations and continued US meaningful engagement with Serbia, and all of its neighbours in the Balkans that includes sharing of intelligence, has a free trade deal with Russia. In involvement in KFOR. but that any engagement should be Incredibly, Britain’s main opposition party in next except Serbia, as an independent, sov- officer exchanges, and joint military January, Serbia and Russia signed 26 Second, Ambassador Grenell must pragmatic and realistic. The appointment of Ambassador and Europe month’s election is led by far-left extremists who ereign nation. exercises. agreements relating to energy, railway understand that nothing is easy in the by Iain Martin construction, and strategic education Balkans and be mindful of America’s Grenell as Special Envoy denotes the were on the wrong side in the Cold War cooperation. past commitment to the region. Both Trump Administration’s intent to In a January 2019 state visit to Ser- Belgrade and Pristina will push sim- stay actively engaged in negotiations bia, Vladimir Putin stated a desire for plistic and seemingly easy proposals between Kosovo and Serbia at a time istening to some of the Western natural resources, but an abundance the West and the market economy. a free trade agreement between Ser- as a way to normalise relations. The when many are arguing Washington is liberal commentary published of ingenious human capital, is well on While Corbyn’s primary inter- bia and the Russian-led Eurasian Eco- US has invested heavily in the Balkans turning away from Europe. Ambassa- ahead of the 30th anniversary its way to catch up with the West and est is foreign policy - and what he L In the election on December 12th Corbyn is nomic Union to be signed by the end since the end of the Cold War. US sol- dor Grenell must work with Europe of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Novem- power ahead. terms the evils of Western pol- of the year. That free trade agreement diers have served in the Balkans, and to encourage the nations of the West- ber 9th 1989) you would be forgiven for Problems abound across East- icy - his shadow Chancellor John up against Boris Johnson. The Conservative was signed on the 25th of October. the US has spent billions of dollars in ern Balkans to put aside historical, thinking that this great liberation was ern Europe, of course, as they do McDonnell is a self-avowed Marxist Additionally, Russia has held out the aid there - all in the hope of creating cultural, or religious complaints and a historic catastrophe. One writer in in Western Europe. But compared whose central interest is in econom- leader is a formidable campaigner who possibility of $1.4 billion in infrastruc- a secure and prosperous region that work constructively to increase trade the Financial Times, based in London, to where Eastern Europe sat in ics and smashing the market system. usually wins. But if Johnson fails, then a ture aid to Serbia, aimed at building will someday be part of the transat- relations, settle border disputes, and mused recently in a long feature on 1989, there has been a revolution In recent years he has done a clever leading market economy and free society the Turk Stream pipeline and increas- lantic community. forego inflammatory rhetoric for the how the high hopes of 1989 had been in expectations and an exciting job of attempting to rebrand him- ing Russia’s energy leverage. Third, Ambassador Grenell should sake of stability. a let-down. improvement in life chances. This self, touring boardrooms and even will end up with a catastrophic far left Despite its close ties with Russia, Ser- be a Special Envoy, not a cartographer. Stability in the Western Balkans is Really? Since Communism was achievement stands as one of the convincing a few more gullible Brit- government despite all the lessons of history bia also maintains contacts with the Due to the disposition of minority one area that most policymakers on vanquished, and Eastern Europe greatest developments in the his- ish capitalists who have not read West. It trades far more with Germany groups, some suggest that a land swap both sides of the Atlantic can agree on. freed from far-left tyranny, growth tory of Europe in more than a cen- their history that a far left govern- showing where it leads. That - and not just and Italy than with Russia. Serbia also between Kosovo and Serbia could speed Now it is time to act. ■ has rocketed and the prospects of tury. Markets work. ment would somehow not be as bad Brexit - is what is at stake in Britain’s most regularly conducts more military exer- up the normalisation process. Swap- the citizenry have dramatically Ironically, just as the anniversary as it has been everywhere in human important election since the 1980s. cises without Russia than with Rus- ping land and redrawing borders based improved. Poland’s GDP per capita comes round, in Britain the Labour history. sia. Like Russia, Serbia is a member of on ethnic and sectarian lines would Luke Coffey is Director of the Douglas has increased by close to 150% since Party goes into this year’s emergency Anyone who has read Marx’s dis- NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. mark a dangerous precedent and would and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign and the early 1990s. As Marcin Piatkow- general election led by someone who ciple Lenin knows that the aim is to style - do as much as they can get away if Johnson fails, then a leading mar- National Security Policy, of the Kathryn The US and Europe should be realistic open up a Pandora’s Box in the region. and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for ski of the World Bank makes clear in definitely wanted the other side - the ride to power having co-opted a once with and Britons will have to hope ket economy and free society will end and approach Serbia as it is, a country Supporting an initiative allowing Ser- National Security and Foreign Policy. his recent book - Europe’s Growth Soviet Union, the Communists - to mainstream party. Then the result- their institutions are strong enough to up with a catastrophic far left govern- playing its relations with China, Rus- bia and Kosovo to swap thousands of Champion, Insights from the Eco- win in 1989. Several of those closest ing emergency can be exploited resist the madness. ment despite all the lessons of history sia, and the West off one another. That acres of land is not worth the instabil- Daniel Kochis is Senior Policy Analyst nomic Rise of Poland (Oxford Univer- to Jeremy Corbyn have written exten- to make what are termed “Lenin’s In the election on December 12th showing where it leads. That - and not in European Affairs in the Margaret does not mean that we should stop seek- ity it could cause throughout the rest Thatcher Center for Freedom, of sity Press 2018) - economic freedom sively on what they see as the tragedy leaps.” Corbyn is up against Boris Johnson. just Brexit - is what is at stake in Brit- ing meaningful engagement. Rather, we of Europe. The US should make it clear the Davis Institute, at The Heritage and social mobility has meant that a of Russia’s defeat in the Cold War. Cor- If Corbyn and McDonnell get into The Conservative leader is a formida- ain’s most important election since should recognise that Serbia is unlikely that it does not support any land swap. Foundation. country that has little in the way of byn’s politics are rooted in a hatred of power they will - in classic far-left ble campaigner who usually wins. But the 1980s. ■ 14 CULTURE theconservative.online theconservative.online CULTURE 15

Serotonin, by Michel Houellebecq

Josephby de Maistre Gerald Warner SCOURGE OF THE PSEUDO-ENLIGHTENMENT HAS MICHEL In the second of a series of essays on conservative philosophers, Gerald Warner reflects on the contribution of Joseph de Maistre, critic of apologists for the French Revolution HOUELLEBECQ rom out of the chaos of the St Petersburg, and frequently advised France from its allegiance to tradi- God. The only release from the duty French Revolution and the Alexander I on policy matters. In tional society, personified by the of obedience to an oppressive sover- Napoleonic Wars there 1817 the mercurial Alexander King and the Church. That had eign lay in appeal to the Pope. This arose a voice – strong, requested his recall, so that caused the French Revolu- was a return to mediaeval juridical Fdenunciatory, logical and implaca- his final four years saw tion. Yet the Revolution concepts. “Infallibility in the spiritual ble – which aggressively proclaimed him reunited with his had been providential: order and sovereignty in the temporal GONE SOFT? the truth that others had evaded family from whom the it had ruthlessly pun- order are two completely synonymous Michel Houellebecq’s latest offering marks a major departure and forced the discredited rump of revolutionary tur- ished a society that words,” wrote Maistre. 18th-century liberalism to confront moil had separated had failed to repu- Despite Maistre’s image as the for the enfant terrible of French letters its responsibility for the catastro- him for much of diate the subver- great upholder of Catholicism, there phe. That voice belonged to Joseph de his days. He died sive claims of the are startling lacunae in his religious by Alastair Benn Maistre. in Turin on 26 philosophes. thought. In his drive to discredit Maistre is the colossus of 19th-cen- February, 1821. A return the philosophes, instead of simply tury conservatism. He denounced Maistre’s to traditional denouncing their arrogance in rede- he novelist Michel Houel- Extension du domaine de la lutte that, For Houellebecq, love is predi- or I didn’t, and love didn’t triumph; I the nakedness of the emperors of the principal order was his signing human existence out of their lebecq has repeatedly “economic liberalism is an exten- cated on the possibility of alterity, an betrayed love.” Pseudo-Enlightenment – Rousseau works of phi- prescription own undisciplined imaginations and claimed that he was at his sion of the domain of the struggle, its encounter with someone, or some- His life is transformed a second time and Voltaire, Holbach and Helvétius, losophy and for stability. calling that process “reason”, Maistre happiest in life in his first extension to all ages and all classes of thing inexpressibly different to one- by Camille: “I felt so calm, a kind of Condillac and Condorcet – whose politics were: Excessive indi- reacted by demonising reason itself Tliterary incarnation as a little-known society”). He laments the atomisation self. In Serotonin, Houellebecq writes: calm that I had never known before.” subjective speculations had eroded a Considerations vidualism was and exalting irrationality. In that he troubadour poet, appearing at literary of French society and the spread of “I don’t think I’m mistaken comparing But, of course, love fails, broken civilisation established over a millen- on France the enemy of was at odds with Aquinas who had festivals and winning the attention social nihilism in terms familiar to the love to a kind of dream à deux… little by time or by error – and for Florent nium and a half and precipitated the (1797); Essay on order; author- insisted upon the compatibility of of a small circle of enthusiasts. In a academic affection for declinist think- games of connection and encounter.” curdles into a kind of white-hot, pure worst bloodbath so far experienced in the Generative ity its guarantor. faith and reason. 2005 interview with the magazine Les ing – think how many books have been This, he continues, is the only way “for regret: “You plunge into the past, you European history. Principle of Polit- Enlightenment Maistre was writing before the Inrockuptibles he said that he views published in recent years in France us to transform our earthly existence begin to plunge into it and then it Joseph, Comte de Maistre was born ical Constitutions theories of contract revival of Thomism and his theolog- his poetry as his most accomplished with titles like Illusions gauloises or Le into an endurable moment – the only seems as if you’re being engulfed by on 1 April, 1753 at Chambéry in Savoy. (1814); On the Pope or of natural rights ical inspiration came from an early work to date. “Compared to a poet, no suicide français. He is sharply critical way […] to tell the truth”. it, and nothing can put a limit on that Though French by culture and rec- (1819); The Saint Peters- belied the true nature Church Father, Origen. It is also nota- novelist has or can ever have a style,” of the legacy of the soixante-huitards – In an undifferentiated, hyper-glo- engulfment.” ognised as a great stylist in the French burg Dialogues (1821); On of society, which was not ble that Maistre’s attack on the phi- Houellebecq wrote in his exchange of a set of viewpoints he shares with New balised world, it has no value – in In Serotonin, the past destroys language, he was a subject of the King the Sovereignty of the People an artificial construct but an losophes’ “natural rights” theories are letters with the philosopher Bernard Right thinkers like Alain Finkielkraut. Les Particulaires elementaires and the present; as surely as the onward of Piedmont-Sardinia and only visited (1795, published 1870). instinctive community based not counterbalanced by a vindication Henri-Levy published under the title Serotonin was marketed to the La Possibilité d’une île, the logic of march of progress. Whereas Les Par- Paris once, late in life. Belonging to a Since the last two were pub- on precepts handed down from the of the Natural Law, seldom invoked by Public Enemies in 2008 – he can only Anglophone world as Houellebecq’s progress leads to certain innova- ticulaires élémentaires concludes with family of Savoyard noblesse de robe, he lished posthumously, Maistre’s repu- past. It followed that the most unnat- Maistre. There is also in parts of Mais- work with “certain harmonies”. Gilets Jaunes novel. It isn’t really any- tions in genetic science that allow the epitaph “This book is dedicated to was educated by the Jesuits, studied tation during his lifetime ural political activity was tre’s oeuvre a whiff of the esoteric that If Houellebecq’s novels can be said thing of the sort (although I under- humans to pass to the next stage – a mankind”, Serotonin affords no reso- law at the University of Turin, gradu- derived from his 1797 the manufacture of writ- inevitably recalls his early Masonic to have a “style”, then the closest stand the temptation to further neo-human world of absolute seren- lution to the predicament. And that’s ated in 1774 and became a Senator in work on the French Rev- ten constitutions, such as sympathies. approximation might be to Balzac’s popularise the ity, in which our what sets apart Serotonin from Houel- the court of which his father was pres- olution – his equivalent Maistre’s impact on the European had occurred in France The most unjust attack on Mais- demotic anti-style (he himself cites notion that bodies all look lebecq’s novels to date. We can no lon- ident in 1787. oeuvre to Burke’s Reflec- six times between 1791 tre was Isaiah Berlin’s characterisa- Balzac as a key influence), in which a Houellebecq is the same, in ger be confident that humanity has Nothing in Maistre’s early life sug- tions – his study of polit- public was phenomenal. The and 1804. tion of him as a proto-fascist. That weird commingling of folk tales, melo- gifted with pro- which our mat- the potential to evolve into a more gested the future Counter-Enlight- ical constitutions and his combination of his aggressive Maistre wrote: “One was absurd: Maistre looked back, drama and proto-Gothic sensibility phetic powers – Houellebecq’s philosophical outlook is a terless minds advanced state. enment crusader. He even joined celebrated book on the approach – trampling down of the gravest errors of a not to a Utopian future; his ideal was is married to a keen social realism to his 2001 novel curious synthesis of left, right, Enlightenment embody pure We are stuck, like Florent, con- a Freemasonic lodge, despite the Papacy, the Ultramon- century which embraced Louis XIV, not Adolf Hitler. The real build up a rich picture of the whole Plateforme cul- and anti-Enlightenment ideas – at times, it’s reason. In this sumed by this almost unendurable Church’s condemnation of Masonry, tane thesis that began the Enlightenment totems as ruthlessly them all was to believe prototype of fascism – extravagant sweep of 19th century experience. minates with a way, human- pain – at once to dimly perceive the in 1774 and remained a member until process that culminated as the philosophes had ravaged the that a political constitu- nationalism married to bourgeois Houellebecq’s mostly blunt, affect- massive terror boilerplate Marxism (he wrote in his debut ity comes to a value of love and to live apart from it. 1790. He initially approved of the in the definition of Papal tion could be written and pseudo-socialism – was Maistre’s less prose veers between abstruse attack on a Thai novel Extension du domaine de la lutte that, fork – to cling This sense of loss, and Houellebecq’s movements that led to the French Infallibility by the First traditional order – deploying biting created a priori, whereas chief enemy French Jacobinism, the sociological speculation, por- beach remark- to some last loss of personal conviction, seems Revolution. But from 9 July, 1789 Vatican Council in 1870. sarcasm, dramatic paradoxes and reason and experience direct ancestor of Nazism. nographic episodes, and compelling ably similar to “economic liberalism is an extension of the burst of desire, to eat its way through the novel like when the three-chamber Estates Maistre’s impact on a prose style that elevated him to agree that a constitution The Jacobin Terrorists asked the reflections on both high and low cul- the Bali bomb- domain of the struggle, its extension to all ages defeated and a canker. The prose meanders aim- General merged into the unicam- the European public was is a divine work and that scientific community of Paris to ture. Moments of lyricism are fleeting. ings). The imag- and all classes of society”). full of anguish lessly for several pages at a time. Sev- eral National Constituent Assembly, phenomenal. The com- the front rank of French literary it is precisely the most advise whether large numbers of peo- Houellebecq’s plots are schemat- ery Houellebecq though it might eral scenes seem to have been inserted a usurpation of power which he rec- bination of his aggressive achievement, stunned and appalled fundamental and essen- ple could be killed faster by herd- ically identical (depressed mid- employs to illus- be, or to accept into the text without any forethought, ognised as amounting to a revolution, approach – trampling tially constitutional ele- ing them inside mines and pumping dle-aged man slowly withdraws from trate the farmers’ protests – wasted In their place, consumption, and the inexorable logic of progress. especially the episode featuring Flo- Maistre became an opponent. down Enlightenment the Revolution’s apologists. The ments in a nation’s laws in poison gas; at Ponts-de-Cé, near the world around him until he finds produce piled up in village squares, its rituals, is elevated to a state of In Serotonin, those grand utopian rent’s encounter with a paedophile. In 1792 the French revolution- totems as ruthlessly as Counter-Enlightenment had found its that cannot be written.” Angers, a tannery processed human himself without friends, family or sheep let loose on town halls, and trac- absolute sovereignty – all that is left visions are substituted for an anti-de- Jokes repeatedly fall flat. A long ary army invaded Savoy and in 1793 the philosophes had rav- In this Maistre con- skin from executed Vendean royal- loved ones THE END). In his lat- tors wheeled onto motorways to block for the impoverished inhabitants of pressant – “a small, white, scored oval excursus in which Houellebecq muses Maistre departed to Switzerland. At aged the traditional order anti-Voltaire, as eloquent, caustic and curred with Burke. He ists. The French state has stubbornly est novel, a depressed male protag- traffic – will be familiar to anyone who the West is to watch cable TV, eat tablet” – labelled Captorix. Florent on Proust’s masturbation habits feels Lausanne he began his career as a – deploying biting sar- polemical as the original. still approved of tradi- resisted repeated calls to acknowl- onist, Florent-Claude Labrouste (“I has followed French politics over the ready meals and wend our way up notes: “It provides no form of happi- like an impoverished copy of the caus- counter-revolutionary writer by pub- casm, dramatic para- tional representative edge the genocide committed in the hate my first name,” he admits) leaves past thirty years. and down the bright aisles of gigan- ness, or even of real relief; its action tic anti-canonical attacks of his previ- lishing Letters of a Savoyard Royalist. doxes and a prose style institutions such as had Vendée, out of embarrassment over his girlfriend and his job in Paris and His subject is really the whole devel- tic supermarkets. Florent relieves is of a different kind: by transforming ous novels: “We are a long way from Eventually his peregrinations took that elevated him to the front rank of opposed the reality of man, empiri- existed prior to 1789, but not revo- the compromising origins of the goes to stay in Normandy with an old opment of globalisation, and although his boredom (“The weekends were life into a sequence of formalities it Wuthering Heights to say the least,” him in 1800 to the displaced Sardin- French literary achievement, stunned cally observed, disposed to commit lutionary assemblies pretending to Republic. friend from university, now a farmer. his novels take on a massive range of always torture”) by subscribing allows you to fool yourself.” as the protagonist of Extension du ian court at Cagliari where the king, and appalled the Revolution’s apolo- great evil. embody the general will. Joseph de Maistre was more suc- He finds that he has gone to seed, his contemporary phenomena, the sex to a multi-channel sports pack- For those who have never loved, domaine de la lutte brilliantly puts it. Charles-Emmanuel IV, received him gists. The Counter-Enlightenment had The opening words of Maistre’s Maistre saw sovereignty as divine cessful in his attacks on progressives business model shattered by cheap industry and terrorism (Plateforme), age: “I could […] follow the French, it helps them pass their days in a At times, it doesn’t even read like a cordially; but since the publication found its anti-Voltaire, as eloquent, Considerations on France encapsulate in origin: “Since God has not thought than in creating a future programme imports and new costs imposed by the rise in tandem of the far-right and English, German, Spanish and Ital- state of ease. For Florent, however, particularly interesting or relevant of Considerations on France in 1797 caustic and polemical as the original. his philosophy: “We are all bound to it appropriate to use supernatural for conservatives. But he reassured diktat from Brussels. The farmers Islamism (Soumission), genetics (Les ian national championships, which he finds himself in a state of almost critique of globalisation. Maistre had become a focus of contro- Maistre implacably assigned the the throne of the Supreme Being by a agents in the establishment of states, conservatives they owned the moral launch a series of protests which end Particules Elémentaires and La Possibil- represented a considerable number unbearable conflict. He has expe- In Serotonin, all these typically versy over his counter-revolutionary responsibility for the deaths of five flexible chain which restrains without it is certain that all developments have high ground, demolished all radical in complete failure. Labrouste then ité d’une île) and the contemporary art of hours of entertainment,” he says rienced love: “I could have made Houellebecqian touches fall away – writing and the Sardinian court found million people in the French Revo- enslaving us.” That statement encom- come about through human agencies. theories, commended the cherish- progressively withdraws from social world (La carte et le territoire), global- proudly. a woman happy. Well, two; I have and the only portions of text that bear his presence uncomfortable. lution and Napoleonic Wars to the passes divine authority, the restraints But saying that sovereignty does not ing of tradition and refused to base a life until he finds himself utterly isation is a theme that is felt through- On encountering a massive hyper- said which ones.” The first is Kate, any resemblance to his “certain har- The solution, in 1802, was to des- Enlightenment dilettantes. Free imposed by Christian doctrine and derive from God because He has made conservative programme on liberal alone, without friends, family… okay out – for Houellebecq, the worldwide marché in Coutances, Florent finds “probably the most intelligent per- monies” are his reflections on love, patch him as the king’s diplomatic thinking, rampant individualism, dis- the gift of free will. It was within those use of men to establish it is like saying premises (the fatal weakness of 20th you get the picture. rhythms of the market economy pro- himself “almost dizzy” at the though son I have ever met,” and his first and the death of love. They make this representative to the court of Tsar guised but militant atheism, dissem- parameters of traditional society that He is not the creator of man because and 21st-century conservatism). He Houellebecq’s philosophical out- gressively flatten out the possibilities of “the mobilised logistics, the vast experience of love as “an endurable novel worth reading and re-reading Alexander I at St Petersburg. There inating contempt for all legitimate Maistre defined his social order. we all have a father and a mother.” opened the great post-French Revo- look is a curious synthesis of left, right, of life, the affective realm of desire, love container vessels crossing uncertain moment”. He recalls: “We could have for their astonishing luminosity and Maistre remained for fifteen years, the authority and beliefs had inevitably In Maistre’s analysis a century of Yet he also acknowledged that, if lution ideological debate on behalf of Enlightenment and anti-Enlighten- and family (“I’d understood, even then, oceans”. He concludes: “Order and saved the world, and we would have brutality. There are those who have most intellectually productive period resulted in the collapse of the social scepticism and speculation based following traditional precepts of soci- conservatism and restored its intel- ment ideas – at times, it’s boilerplate that society was a machine for destroy- beauty – that was the least one could saved the world in the blink of an eye, “nothing to regret”, Houellebecq of his life. He was a social success in fabric. To Rousseau’s noble savage he purely on “reason” had divorced ety, the people could be the voice of lectual confidence. ■ Marxism (he wrote in his debut novel ing love,” Florent tells himself). say.” in einem Augenblick, but we didn’t, writes: “I am not in that situation.” ■ 16 CULTURE theconservative.online theconservative.online CULTURE 17 Far from the HANDKE SCANDAL MADDING CROWD It is not about his politics, it is about truth Conservative thinker Douglas Murray’s new book - a demolition of The Nobel Prize for literature should not have been awarded politically correct “woke” culture - is essential reading to a supporter of the war criminal Milosevic

by Henry George by Gerald Warner

ouglas Murray points to matter the reality of their lives. Those Questions around male/female rela- it is usually through a prism of crimes handed on to us the good things we what rumbles beneath held to enjoy undue amounts of priv- tions cannot be discussed. committed, oppression and big- enjoy. Photo: Sean Gallup - Getty Images the surface of our culture, ilege (often but not always straight, The chapter on race makes the otry perpetrated. As Murray argues, Murray’s beautiful, lapidary prose those things which we all white men) are therefore fair game, important point that we had started instead of forgiveness or curiosity, we brings home the point of these argu- Dknow but cannot approach for fear of and all weapons can be used against to move away from a hardware view of now approach history with constant ments with wit and a force that speaks the consequences. Murray’s last book, them to knock them off their priv- racial issues, but now seem to be mov- recrimination, seeking a form of sup- of a real concern of where our societ- The Strange Death of Europe, was so ileged pedestal. The more damage ing back to that world. Both the woke posedly restorative retribution. The ies are headed. successful because it said things many caused in the fall, the better. Left and alt-Right believe that race is flattening effects of increasingly per- However, the narrative that these people privately believed to be true, This worldview, as Murray demon- more than a social construct, and is an vasive technology heighten our sense identitarian movements arose mainly Images - Getty Chip Hires Photo:

or at least worth talking about, but strates, is couched in pseudoscientific intrinsic part of one’s identity, on an of justification in judging the past by because of the need for new crusades Images Johannes Simon - Getty Photo: either didn’t know how to discuss or language regurgitated from the debris almost mystical level. Murray is right the ever-changing standards of today. to fight doesn’t quite explain why were afraid of doing so. His new book of Marxism and its step-child post-mod- to worry where this these causes are believed The Madness of Crowds is brilliant ernism, disseminated through vari- new racialisation of in with such vehemence. and essential reading, and serves as a ous university social science courses. politics could lead, and Our grand narratives guide for our times. Today’s revolutionaries look to the his concerns over the have partly collapsed but Murray’s thesis is that our cur- identitariat at home and the wretched of unhealthy interest in that doesn’t fully answer rent fits of mass madness stem from the earth abroad to bring down western whether there are IQ why young people are as our loss of the grand narratives that hegemony. Ideas like Peggy Mcintosh’s differences between invested in these causes as gave our societies a sense of purpose. “white privilege” have now seeped into races is certainly war- they are. Murray answers He argues that Christianity died in the mainstream and are poisoning our ranted. Hell lies down the what and the how, but the 19th century and we now live in cultural dialogue. those dark paths. he needs to work more on its wreckage. What do you do when It sharpens disagreement to the The final chapter on the why. the story runs out? Murray argues point of tribal warfare, denying the the trans debate is the Some of the answers to that this has been compounded for common humanity of our flawed best in the book. This this is given by Mary Eber- younger generations by the financial natures. Instead we have what David is the issue where cam- stadt in her book Primal instability following the 2008 crash Hirsh calls the Community of the paigners understand Screams: How the Sex- and the spread of social media. Good who stand judgement on the the least but claim the ual Revolution Created As Murray explains, this has led Community of the Damned, which most certainty. Mur- Identity Politics. In it, she to an increasing investment by an is everyone but them. That is until ray approaches this explains what she calls the increasing number of people in our they too fall victim to the monster impossibly conten- Great Scattering. The frac- societies in identity politics. This they’ve helped develop as a way of tious issue with great turing and reforming of rests on an obliteration of complex- saving themselves from the void of care and sensitivity, families from the 1960s he controversy over the important: a writer’s artist card, complain- postmodernist climate whose smog ity and nuance that ends up denying meaninglessness. including two per- on has left more and more award of the Nobel Prize commitment to objec- ing that media reporters envelopes the contemporary arts, the messy and complicated nature of As Murray puts it, there are various sonal stories about people unsocialised. Iden- for Literature to Austrian tive truth. only asked him ques- should be a primary responsibility of humanity itself. This brutal simplifi- issues which can be divided into hard- people who have faced tity, toleration and for- novelist Peter Handke, Handke is on record The corpses have been disinterred, tions about the contro- every artist, as it was historically. cation of humanity underpins the con- ware and software issues. Hardware the questions over giveness are practised and Twho denies the established facts of as denying that the eye-witness accounts abound and an versy “and from not a As to whether Handke should be cept of identity privilege, that which issues are qualities you are born with, their gender identity, learned in the family, the the massacre of Bosnians by Serb Srebrenica massacre single person who comes stripped of his Nobel laureateship, rests on being born with a certain skin and software issues come through and whether transi- smallest social group. How- forces at Srebrenica in July 1995, occurred. The tone of international court has authenticated to me I hear they have that is very much a secondary consid- colour, sex and sexual orientation environment, socialisation and cul- tioning is the right ever, the familial and rela- raises a challenging number of eth- his 1996 book A Jour- the evidence. Yet Peter Handke has read any of my works or eration. Literary and other arts prizes or gender identity. This worldview tural conditioning. It is now consid- course. He considers tional sources of identity ical, political and artistic issues. It is ney to the Rivers: Jus- never resiled from his state of denial. know what I have writ- are becoming increasingly debased is adhered to by more and more of ered offensive to admit that men and the case of the writer formation no longer exist not a matter on which anyone should tice for Serbia might ten”. Handke added: “I and no longer confer much prestige today’s Left. Groups are ranked on a women are different, that hardware Jan Morris, who tran- for many. More and more rush to judgement, but a dispassion- be excused on the basis am a writer, I come from outside the bubble of the “indus- scale of oppression and privilege using issues of biology play a role alongside sitioned and felt it people are alienated from ate review of all the relevant consid- that not all the information about the with the former Yugoslavia appear to Tolstoy, from Homer, from Cervantes. try”. A witch hunt is never edifying the concept of intersectionality, no software issues of social environment. was certainly the right themselves and isolated erations makes it possible to arrive at Bosnian atrocities had been estab- be Slovenian, through his mother. Leave me in peace and don’t ask me and there is a danger of politicizing thing to do. However, from each other, unable to a reasoned conclusion. lished at that time. Today, however, If, therefore, Handke had taken questions like that.” the arts even further. The so-called Murray doesn’t shy answer the key question: The idea of denying a writer a lit- the corpses have been disinterred, the stance that he believed Serbia Despite the somewhat immodest “arts scene” has been radicalised for away from the difficul- “who am I?” erary prize on the grounds of his eye-witness accounts abound and an had been unfairly treated and that he literary pedigree claimed, that is a the same reason as universities: the ties and rightly points How do we mend this? political opinions is repugnant to international court has authenticated remained loyal to its cause despite its clever defence. If the circumstances failure of conservatives to resist the out that our confusion Forgiveness, evidence and proponents of free speech and artis- the evidence. Yet Handke has never having been tainted by atrocities such were slightly different it would extravagant demands of a militant of hardware and soft- compromise are vital and tic liberty. At a time when West- resiled from his state of denial. as Srebrenica he would have left his even be valid. Few of the journalists left, heavily subsidized by the taxpay- ware is most apparent Murray’s beautiful, lapidary prose necessary if we wish to have ern universities, disgracefully, are In assessing the award of any prize critics still muttering, but his position besieging Handke are competent to ers it despises. here, with the poten- brings home the point of these a decent society to hand on. at the forefront of censorship and the primary consideration is: what would have been morally respect- judge his work. But it is not his work If writers such as Handke are to tial for negative conse- We need a sense of common thought-policing initiatives, the pres- does the prize seek to recognize? In able. To dispute allegations against a they are judging, but his moral com- be condemned – as he deserves to be quences for intersex, arguments with wit and a force that purpose based on a shared ervation of freedom of opinion and the case of the Nobel Prize for Liter- cause one supports is justifiable, until pass. The Nobel Prize is not awarded – then the same should apply to all transgendered indi- speaks of a real concern of where our understanding of what con- expression must be a high priority ature its purpose was clearly artic- incontrovertible evidence is forth- for a single work, but for an author’s who debauch objective truth. Should viduals and women all societies are headed. stitutes the good. With- for those who cherish the traditional ulated by Alfred Nobel as being to coming. In the case of Srebrenica the entire canon. In Handke’s case that anyone be considered for a liter- just over the horizon. out this, we will not avoid liberties of an open society. Already, reward “the person who shall have evidence is incontrovertible. To deny embraces denial of a great crime. ary prize who denies the scientific One of the most either apathetic despair or “woke” influences are disseminat- produced in the field of literature the it is not idealistic but dishonest. The Nobel committee commended truth that there are only two sexes? important concepts raised by Mur- The lack of historical connection its pathological partner in identitar- ing cultural Marxism within many most outstanding work in an ideal Handke seemed to express an indif- Handke’s “linguistic ingenuity [that] Would such a rejection not provoke ray is forgiveness, which is what we combines with our present isolation ianism. We need a conservatism of publishing houses: what prospects direction”. That has generally been ference to objective truth when he has explored the periphery and the outrage among the thought police of need to continue living together and blinds us to the fact that those limits so we can approach each other of publication would an identifiably construed as meaning the winner’s told 20,000 mourners at the graveside specificity of human experience”. PC orthodoxy? Where is civilisation without devolving into rage-driven who follow us will judge our time as with a sense of sympathy and com- conservative novel have today? literary oeuvre should be inspired by of war criminal Slobodan Milosevic in According to media reports, when it going if objective truth can be over- KYIV • UKRAINE tribes. This is becoming harder and we judge the past. This should encour- mon sentiment, that looks towards a So, if opponents were demanding a spirit of idealism. 2006: “… I don’t know the truth. But I was pointed out to Handke that the turned in the interests of Serbian harder to do in the age of social age us to view the past with a degree broadly shared conception of the high- the withdrawal of the Nobel Prize Does Peter Handke qualify as hav- look, I listen, I feel. This is why I am exhumed corpses of Srebrenica fur- nationalism, transgender fantasy, or media, when your worst moments of forbearance, appreciating the con- est good grounded in a cultivation of from Peter Handke on the grounds ing produced a literary canon infused here today, close to Yugoslavia, close nished concrete evidence against any other ideology? are kept on public view forever for tingencies of time and place and cir- moral character, gratitude towards our that he is a supporter of Serbian with idealism? It could credibly be to Serbia, close to Slobodan Milose- the Serbs, his linguistic ingenuity The Nobel prize was already people who need a shot of schaden- cumstance that we are all subject to. national traditions and cultural inheri- nationalism they would be offending argued that his, admittedly eccentric, vic.” That suggests he was looking and prompted him to reply: “You can stick tainted with scandal from the deba- freude to revisit and castigate you as It is not always easy to remember that tance. If we don’t do this, it is unlikely against the criteria that define liter- view of Serbia as a uniquely pure rem- listening everywhere but in the right your corpses up your ass!” cle of last year. Conferring laureate a moral failure. events in the past were once in the that we can emerge unscathed from ary freedom. On closer examination, nant of the authentic Europe and his place – the mass graves of Srebrenica That dishonours the victims and status on someone like Peter Handke the current insanity. Murray’s book is a th th Social media reinforces our increas- future. Hindsight should be paired however, that is not the case. What romanticized concept of the Serbian – and was giving priority to the sub- diminishes the writer. A good writer has brought further discredit – 7 - 10 November 2019 ingly shallow and grievance-led with humility at our own common beacon guiding us back home through is at issue is not the pros and cons nationalist cause represent a kind of jective experience of feeling. should have an unfaltering commit- because of his perverse denial of an ECRPARTY.EU • @ECRPARTY engagement with history. If young human frailty and fallibility, while we these difficult times, and he is to be of Serbian nationalism, but some- idealism. He also seems to be disinter- Recently, in the face of strong crit- ment to objective truth. Uphold- objective truth established beyond people have any historical awareness should feel grateful to those who have commended for it. ■ thing quite different and extremely ested insofar as his only family links icism, Handke has played the injured ing truth, in the morally anarchic doubt. ■ 18 CULTURE theconservative.online theconservative.online CULTURE 19

Reich/Richter at the Barbican Centre, London which it is executed and also of the One of the central joys of Breaking is a surprising paucity of action until essential redundancy of its premise. Bad was the way in which certain lines the final third, although Gilligan’s While Paul, an increasingly convinc- of dialogue, almost incomprehensi- patented slow drip-drip of tension ing and affecting presence in the orig- ble out of context, became loaded with is present throughout, and Walter ON THE SAME EL CAMINO inal series, makes for a protagonist inordinate significance. If one encoun- White’s Shakespearean grandeur that one instinctively takes the side of, ters someone hissing “If you don’t has been replaced by Jesse’s scrap- THE PAST LEAVES SCARS the narrative swiftly pier, angrier presence. TEAM AT LAST Fans of the ground-breaking television turns into a mixture This befits the charac- series Breaking Bad will not be of flashbacks and set- ter and the story being Steve Reich and Gerhard piece cameos. This told, but some admirers disappointed by this accomplished sequel allows for the return of the original might feel of deceased charac- disappointed. Richter in harmony ters (who it would If they do, then they by Alexander Larman This collaboration represents a coming be unfair to reveal, only have themselves but one can guess to blame. Gilligan has together of two icons of contemporary culture f all of the major televi- only do we have the excellent prequel the highlights with- assembled a typically sion series made in the past Better Call Saul, which focuses on out particular diffi- excellent ensemble by James Hardie decade that one might have how dodgy-but-decent Jimmy McGill culty), and also gives cast, with Jesse Ple- O mons’ homely psycho- thought would merit one spin-off, let can metamorphose into evil-but-en- fan favourites such as had the rather surreal experi- in his life, didn’t wholly approve of swapped his mallets for a baton to con- instead. And in many ways his music been dreaming up at The Shed in New alone two, Vince Gilligan’s Breaking tertaining lawyer Saul Goodman, Badger, Skinny Pete path Todd a particular ence a few years ago of watching the sound engineering that night, and duct the Britten Sinfonia, and mar- needs the same careful examination York, the city’s glittering, eye-water- Bad was not especially high on the but now Gilligan has returned with a and the late Robert stand-out once more, a film about American composer hopped on to the desk himself. shalled the forces through it securely. as Richter’s large canvas; it helps to be ingly expensive new arts centre at list. A fantastically gripping and vis- straight sequel, a two-hour continua- Forster’s Ed Galbraith and allowed them to I Hudson Yards in Manhattan, which take their characters in Steve Reich in an almost empty room; Now 83, Reich has developed a cult Steve Reich’s specially-composed up close and personal with the musi- ceral tale of the rise and fall of one tion of the saga which picks up liter- their own moment in almost empty, as the only other per- following over his long career, and work for this collaboration Reich/ cians, watching the patterns mutate opened earlier this year. It’s interest- of the least likely crime lords ever to ally at the moment that the last series the spotlight. Some interesting, if inevitably son in this room – a former waiting despite his own reserved persona Richter was far more adventurous. from the bows and fingers and lips of ing to note that for its world premiere have appeared in fiction, schoolteach- ended. Walter White is still dead, suc- are missed, others predictable or pre-or- room in an old station building in Liv- and appearance – only ever seen in Patterns oscillated and clashed to cre- the players, as well as hearing them. in New York, Reich/Richter was actu- er-turned drug kingpin Walter White, cumbing to a bullet wound amidst the outstay their wel- dained, directions, and, erpool, since reclaimed by arts insti- his uniform of dark shirt and black ate unexpected textures, and larger This collaboration is a coming ally performed in the gallery space at aka “Heisenberg”, it moved seam- gleaming splendour of a drugs lab, but come, but this par- as ever, the vast vistas tution Metal Liverpool – was Steve blazer, topped off with his signature motifs appeared above. Reich’s trade- together of two icons of contempo- The Shed, giving audience members lessly between black comedy, family his protégé Jesse (Aaron Paul) has ticular victory lap is of the cinematography, Reich himself. We sat there for about black baseball cap – he ignites great mark pulsating piano chords pro- rary culture, only four years apart in the opportunity to wander around drama and edge-of-seat suspense, to escaped from the gang of neo-Nazis one that few would simultaneously dwarf- 20 minutes together, watching the excitement in his fans in what are vided a foundation for woodwind age, who have something of a shared and take in the morphing sounds and award-winning effect. Many would who have held him hostage to manu- begrudge. ing or enhancing the film in silence, me a little star-struck, often rather sober concert halls. The instruments that intertwined and approach. While Richter might be shapes with different degrees and If Gilligan, who both characters, have a 70mm him perhaps a little bemused but professional-looking woman sitting tangled above. Its harmonic brash- maximal in colour, and Reich min- perspectives. wrote and directed scope that means that largely unbothered by the experience next to me in Barbican Hall, a com- ness mirrored wonderfully that of its imal in rhythm and harmony, the Over the next six months, Reich/ El Camino, has a cen- seeing this on the big of watching his talking head on screen. munications executive and mother to partnered work by Gerhard Richter, sum of their works is much greater Richter travels to Luxembourg and tral point, it is that the screen would be a highly The occasion was Reich’s 80th two grown-up children as I found out painting 946-3. than the parts. Richter’s window in Paris in the hands of Ensemble Inter- If El Camino has a reason to exist, it is to explore past leaves scars on enjoyable experience. birthday celebrations, part of which later, couldn’t help but let out whoops Gerhard Richter’s abstract visual Cologne Cathedral, for example, sim- contemporain and Elim Chan, and the lie behind that idea, and to show that Mike’s one that are, literally Yet what viewers are was a live performance of his seminal and cheers when Reich appeared on works are mesmeric enough, but ple in its composition (but presum- then to Oslo with the Philharmonic gruff admonition has its own truth behind it. and metaphorically, likely to take from it is work, Different Trains. The perfor- stage at the very end. transposed to video by Corinna Belz, ably not in its construction, consisting and Olari Elts conducting. In Paris, too deep to expunge. not the giddy adrena- mance by the London Contemporary This was a reassuring reaction, as 946-3 took on a completely new lease of 11,500 glass squares of 72 different it forms part of a larger Steve Reich After all, as Thomas Wolfe’s novel noted, you The opening, fea- line rush that they might Orchestra, combined with a film by the first work in the programme left of life, multiplying and repeating to colours), conjures a permanently-pix- Weekend at the Philharmonie (7 - 8 can’t go home again. The best you can hope for, as turing the return of be expecting, but a sad, Bill Morrison, sticks in my mind as one me feeling a little cold. Runner, writ- create “anthropomorphic creatures”. elated rainbow effect throughout the March), which will attempt to distil curmudgeonly hit- elegiac coda, best epito- of my most powerful cultural expe- ten in 2016, is based on a Ghanaian The screen teemed with colour, and building. In Reich’s works, whether a over two days Reich’s myriad inspira- Jesse Pinkman does, is to make your peace with man Mike (Jonathan mised by one character riences to date. The capacity audi- bell pattern, which gets divided and as the show went on with these weird, miniature like Violin Phase (first per- tions, and his far-reaching influence that, and trust in the future anyway. Banks) sets out the saying to Jesse “You’re ence, packed into a downward-sloping manipulated, lengthened and short- mutated creatures reminded me formed in a New York gallery in 1967), on others, with everything from Java- store with admirable really lucky, you know cobbled station yard, nodded and ened across five movements. A little more and more of Hieronymus Bosch or his monumental Music for 18 Musi- nese Gamelan to an exploration of The cite it as the finest thing that they facture drugs for them, or “cook”, and economy. Jesse, in search of adventure, know who I am, then maybe your best that? You didn’t have to wait your toe-tapped en masse to the pound- sedate despite its title, but a useful crossed with a Rorschach test. cians, small units of rhythm and mel- Birth of Sounds, a new programme on have ever seen on television, thanks in is on the run, pursued by police and asks Mike where the older man would course would be… to tread lightly”, or whole life to do something special.” If ing, swirling, incestuous patterns of precursor to the techniques that were Like Richter, Reich was originally a ody come together to create a big, the relationship between noise, sound no small part to Bryan Cranston’s per- criminals alike. Predictably, nothing recommend that he head with his drug announcing in declamatory fashion, El Camino has a reason to exist, it is to Different Trains, while actual trains to follow in the main event of the eve- creator for the art gallery; in his ear- throbbing mass. and music. The man himself will also formance as White, and, as it ended in goes according to plan. money, to which he receives the reply “I am the one who knocks”, then the explore the lie behind that idea, and chuntered past on either side. It was ning. Colin Currie, usually engaged in lier years when concert halls weren’t Reich/Richter is the first glimpse be in attendance, talking about his bloody, poignant and thrilling fashion There is a great deal of talk in our “If I were your age, starting fresh, allusion becomes a symbol of a shared to show that Mike’s gruff admonition also amusing as Reich, usually a pretty marathon Reich performances on all so interested in his minimalist works, we’ve had here in Europe of what Alex relationship with other art forms. Be in 2013, to the strains of Baby Blue by society of “fan service”, or of films Alaska. It’s the last frontier. Up there, kinship and a mutual understanding. has its own truth behind it. After all, as quiet, background figure at this stage manner of percussion instruments, he took them to New York galleries Poots and Hans Ulrich Obrist have prepared for whoops and cheers. ■ Badfinger, there seemed no need for a and series being precision engineered you can be anything you want.” As Yet the giddiness and amphetamine Thomas Wolfe’s novel noted, you can’t continuation. to please a particular audience, artis- Jesse excitedly replies that he’ll “make rush of the original series is replaced go home again. The best you can hope We do, however, live in an age when tic integrity be damned. El Camino things right”, Mike looks at him with in El Camino with a sadder, state- for, as Jesse Pinkman does, is to make an attention-sated audience cannot represents this to the highest degree, contempt, leavened by pity. “Sorry kid, lier pace, and the eminently quot- your peace with that, and trust in the Massenet was one of brace of late 19th/ who has been the no.2 to Wexford mother is his lost love Zora, and hence get enough of a good thing, and so not both in terms of the excellence with that’s the one thing you can never do.” able dialogue takes a back seat. There future anyway. ■ early 20th century French composers Opera’s Artistic Director David Agler that he is girl’s father … all live happily, Opera enthusiasts whose eyes often strayed to Spanish since 2005, and who takes over artis- etc. – takes place within a wedding material. tic direction next year, will keep Mr cake. Someone dreamt up the idea of This was a production built by Wex- Gaitanou on the books. having the “prequel” in which the cake (Juliette Binoche), an actress. Both look, a shout, a teary tit- should take a trip ford Festival Opera and directed by Dorilla in Tempe is a baroque opera is baked. are approaching middle age and ter. Léonard, meanwhile, Rodula Gaitanou, the Greek producer, on a grand scale. This was a production Step up Andrew Synnott, a Dub- uncertain of the future: Alain of pub- comes across as a bed hop- who has delivered three other Wex- of Teatro La Fenice, Venice, directed by lin based composer, who has writ- lishing; Selena of a fourth season of ping dope, dumbstruck by to Wexford ford productions: Vanessa (2016), Fabio Ceresa. He is an Italian director ten mostly for theatre. La cucina was her crime drama “Collusion”. What the idea that you might Mala vita and L’Oracolo (both 2018). with a string of successes to his credit, theatrical to a fault. His composition Non-Fiction Alain is not uncertain of is whether actually have to make In a remote corner of rural Ireland, this Small wonder Wexford keeps ask- many at La Scala, Milan, where he was and the double billing blended NOTHING MUCH or not he will publish his friend’s new things up in order to write opera festival is one of Europe’s more ing him back. This Don Quichotte was Assistant Director from 2008 – 2014. beautifully, with some of the comedic novel, “Full Stop”. Léonard (Vincent a book. Alain, who refuses characters of the first, carrying HAPPENS IN THIS Macaigne) is the author of autofiction to publish Léonard’s unlikely musical gems through to the second. Unlike many that recounts, in graphic detail, his novel (on wokeish charges clunky double billings, these two PUBLISHING DRAMA sexual liaisons with women other than of female objectification), works blended well, his wife, Valérie (Nora Hamzawi). One has an uncanny – and by Gerald Malone It was an afternoon of tightly An all-star cast flops in Olivier Assayas’s such woman is Selena with whom no doubt unintended – stage-managed humour, with sharp he has been having an affair for six similarity to that other he 25th October this year works back from obscurity. Opera afi- use of the chorus and a truly out- tedious take on French high society years and who felated Léonard during well-mannered, suit-clad was World Opera Day, a cionados in search of hidden treasure standing South African lyrical tenor, a screening of Star Wars: The Force protectorate of culture: T collaboration bringing in Opera flock from across the globe. Some reg- Levy Sekgapane, singing the role of by Will Hutton Awakens and which Léonard changed, Christian from Ruben America, Opera Europa and Opera Lati- ulars have been attending for 40 years. Selimo, the heroine’s lover. His voice in his novel, to a screening of The Östlund’s The Square. noamérica. Festivities at the annual My first visit was in 1978. was a lustrous, well-timbred won- White Ribbon. Add to this Alain’s own Though unlike that Wexford Festival Opera Festival, held The casting squad scours Europe for der. He is making waves internation- or bibliophiles, Olivier Assayas’ publishing’s impending demise been affair with a young tech-savvy advisor Palm d’Or winner, what since 1951 in Ireland’s south eastern upcoming talent to perform in search ally and is my Wexford artist of 2019 new film is more aetiology released ten years ago when words (Christa Théret) tasked with bring- Assayas offers us here is corner, were already in full swing. of three operas to be performed over a a triumph: it balanced the absurdity of It was a sumptuous production, to watch. F than entertainment – despite like “democratization”, “digitaliza- ing his revered institute into the dig- far less substantial. By The Wexford Festival Opera is one 13-day cycle in late October and early the Quichotte character, whose infat- and probably well beyond the scope This year Wexford has a new Chair- its blithe marketing to the contrary. tion” and “the internet” became the ital age and you have the threadbare the end, his characters of Europe’s more unlikely musical November each year. uation with the clearly flirtatious La of Wexford’s own limited budget. It woman, Dr. Mary Kelly. She takes over Aspiring novelists beware. Non-Fic- stuff of op-eds and Twitter threads, machinations of Non-Fiction where a are more or less where gems. Founded by Dr Tom Walsh, a This year the three mainstage Belle Dulcinée is comically headed was set on a glistening white, classi- from the successful Ger Lawlor, and tion should have trigger warnings: and who knows how many in-house good deal of nothing takes place over they started (Alain pub- local GP, in 1951 – at the suggestion of operas were: Jules Massenet’s Don for the slough of disappointment, cal backdrop with contrasting, drap- has bravely assumed the tradition of TW: Declining Readership. TW: Dwin- reviews. However, stable, seems to be dinner tables and glasses of wine. lishing; Selena acting; author Compton Mackenzie – it has Quichotte, Antonio Vivaldi’s Dorilla with the opera’s theme of the gallant ing foliage signalling the changing standing at the theatre door greeting dling Book Sales. TW: The End is Nigh. the reading of publishing’s condition There is a great charm to Assayas’ Léonard writing), doing prospered for 68 years. in Tempe and a double bill of the pre- knight’s principles, overcoming cyni- of the seasons and had spectacular each and every attendee. It may seem It should almost be marketed as a hor- in 2019 – though who knows what the female characters, particularly a disservice to the maxim Wexford may be in the boondocks, miere of Irish composer, Andrew cism and ultimately triumphing over costumes. a small touch, but it underpins the ror film; one with a villainous e-book roaring twenties will hold? Hamzawi as Valérie, Léonard’s wife, underpinning Non-Fic- but it is no cultural backwater. Rather Synnott’s La cucina, paired with Gio- all as he dies, joining Dulcinée as his The action in Adina – the usual strength of the “Wexford family”, and rearing its garishly lit screen to send In Non-Fiction, publisher Alain who works as the PR/PA manager of tion, taken from Lampedusa’s The are, things will have to change.” In than churn out familiar repertoire, the achino Rossini’s Adina. shining star in the heavens. Rossini romp of Calif wanting girl, her determination to ensure the Fes- shivers down its book-buying patrons. (Guillaume Canet) oversees the run- a notable politician in crisis mode. Leopard, and put into Alain’s mouth Non-Fiction, Assayas doesn’t want Wexford team relentlessly pursues Don Quichotte broadly follows the This was Mr. Gaitanou’s Wexford threatening girl’s lover with execu- tival Opera is prepared to face a chal- Non-Fiction would spark greater ning of a revered Parisian publish- She plays Valérie with poise; her myr- as he says adieu to one of his lovers: change. But for his audience some Dr. Walsh’s original idea, bringing lost original Cervantes’ Don Quixote plot. masterpiece. I hope Rosetta Cucchi, tion, realising at last minute that girl’s lenging future. ■ urgency had the CT scan it delivers on ing house and is married to Selena iad complexities unravelling in a “If we want things to stay as they might be nice. ■ 20 CULTURE theconservative.online theconservative.online CULTURE 21

LOST CLASSIC The Eternal City is still a world-class centre of European culture HENRY ROOT by Jack Dickens ROMERome’s reputation as a city of wonders is not simply Model for Nigel Farage an illusion from a romanticised, faded past Lost Classic is the series in which we highlight great artists that are under-appreciated or forgotten

by Toby Guise

hat does Nigel Farage honour?” Rebuffed, read? Like a true pop- he attempts to bribe What does Nigel Farage read? ulist, he is wary of the Liberals instead. citing political influ- These double stan- Like a true populist, he is wary of encesW which may later prove unhelp- dards collide most citing political influences which ful. Left to conjecture, allow me to brilliantly when may later prove unhelpful. Left to he ‘Eternal City’, the ‘Capi- will appreciate anyone who is willing A trip to the Vatican City or the offer is the Inn at the Roman Forum. pitch in with a suggestion: the best writing to offer tal of the World’, the ‘Sacred to have a go at speaking some Italian, Sistine Chapel might be on your Not only is this a charming old hotel, available anatomy of Faragism is pro- condolences to an conjecture, allow me to pitch in City’ – all of these names however advanced or basic it may be! bucket list, but do not rule out taking it has managed to keep its tradi- WHAT TO DO vided by The Letters of Henry Root. MP who has been with a suggestion: the best available have been given to the For those yearning for culture, the an afternoon to wander through some tional feel without becoming shabby Virtual reality These record the political awakening “burglarised while Ticonic city of Rome throughout its city has the salve for every itch you of Rome’s smaller, but equally gor- or passé. You can arrive for drinks guided tours of the of one Henry Root of Elm Park Gar- out advocating for anatomy of Faragism is provided by long lifetime. Over almost three mil- might have. Of course, there are the geous churches. I would recommend on their terrace, which has stunning Domus Aurea, the dens (London, SW). Energised by the greater initiative The Letters of Henry Root. lennia, from its mythical founding city’s Roman ruins, which are not to visiting the Basilica of Santa Maria in views of the Roman Forum. If you Emperor Nero’s rise of Margaret Thatcher – and with among the Working date in 753 BC, Rome has captured be missed. The Roman Forum and Trastavere, one of the oldest Churches decide to stay for dinner at the roof residence – an exciting use of the resources of his wet-fish busi- Classes”. Britain, the imagination of wayfaring writers, the Colosseum are classics, but I in Rome, whose basic structure dates garden restaurant, you can dine and technology to bring ness behind him – he sets about put- he writes, should 2019, which saw to “hop incognito through the door romantic poets and itinerant painters. would recommend pre-booking tick- back to the fourth century. It is set in watch the sun set upon two thousand this site to life. ting the country right in a blizzard of be a “free country soggy renditions [of a ladies sauna] in a pair of bal- “Rome,” the medieval artist Giotto di ets in order to avoid the queues on a beautiful square and its ornate inte- years of Roman history, from the ruins correspondence with prominent peo- to those who can of Jerusalem echo let pumps and take unusual photos Bondone wrote, “is the city of echoes, site. For those who are determined to rior is truly a sight to behold. of the forum to the majestic Altare The Capitoline ple. The result is a brilliant portrait afford it”. around Parliament before ejection”. This is not far off the city of illusions, and the city of visit more than a couple of historical Hotels vary both in style and size, della Patria (and at a time of night Museum – a well- Like today’s popu- attractions, I would recommend pur- but those looking to be close to the when tourists are no longer disrupt- curated treasure of a self-made man overflowing with Square? the experience of Canadian users yearning.” trove neglected by blithely subjective and often con- lists, Henry rebounds Whereas Henry of ladies’ saunas in the era of Justin This yearning seems to be almost chasing a Roma Pass, which provides historic heart of the city could stay ing the view). tourists, but with tradictory solutions to the nation’s happily into the arms Root relied on the Trudeau. as eternal as the city itself – in more discounts to popular attractions as in the Inn at the Spanish Steps, a At the other end of the scale is the a supreme view of problems. of foreign authoritar- Royal Mail to drum Yet for all his misdirected enthu- recent times, its grand ancient monu- well as unlimited use of Rome’s public small but charming hotel with a bou- humble but wholesome Antica Trat- the Roman Forum. The essence of Rootism is trust- ians whom he per- up support, his siasms, at the heart of the letters is ments, such as the Colosseum, and its transport within certain areas. tique feel to it. The location really is toria Pallotta Dal 1820, a family-run ing in his own robust common sense ceives as bastions modern contrarian the reactionary paradox: he opposes picturesque streets have also formed There are many hidden gems its premium. With rooms from £156 restaurant in the Piazzale Ponte Mil- Castel Sant’Angelo, the one-time over experts (“Intellectuals are very heirs have access to more things than he supports. The the backdrop for Hollywood films. around the Forum. Guided tours of per night, it is a luxurious, but very vio. The service is, well, rather Roman tomb of a handy with words – less so, in my social media. Yet he most eloquent statement of his The fantasy of the Roman escape was the Domus Aurea, the Emperor Nero’s competitively priced way to enjoy a – it will come when it comes, but it is Roman Emperor experience, when it comes to a too adopted replies beliefs is found in a one-sentence captured for generations by the mas- sumptuous residence, using virtual Roman getaway. worth the wait when it does. The food turned into a bit of direct action!”). Along- from celebrities letter to the Evening Standard: “I terpiece of 1950s cinema, Roman is also authentically Roman, and so is papal residence. side this sits his belief in as a force-magni- wish to protest most strongly about Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and the atmosphere, which is always filled Fantastic views and optimism – “Let’s go!” fier, co-opting any everything.” Audrey Hepburn. with local people. The portions are enchanting rooms. – and its power to interaction for the Henry Root was not, of course, real, Despite the wealth of history and generous, and the dishes range from Basilica di Santa overcome techni- purposes of further being instead the creation of expert culture associated with the city, how- The ‘Eternal City’, the ‘Capital of the Italian favourites such as Carbonara Maria in Trastevere, calities. He freely profile-building. misanthrope Willie Donaldson. But ever, it has come to be viewed less World’, the ‘Sacred City’ – all of these names and Gnocchi, to an array of classic one of Rome’s admits to “no rele- Jimmy Goldsmith there is nothing unreal about Nigel favourably in many circles. Brit- Roman dishes. oldest Churches in vant experience” attained lifelong Farage’s misanthropic desire to “pro- ish media coverage since 2015 has have been given to the iconic city of Rome For those thinking of going to a beautiful square Rome to watch a Rugby match in the when putting status as Henry test most strongly about everything”. quite rightly highlighted the extent throughout its long lifetime. Over almost The Inn at the himself forwards Root’s “very good What better slogan could there be of urban dilapidation and often inad- three millennia, from its mythical founding Six Nations, this quirky little eatery Spanish Steps, as manager of friend” by gen- for a party claiming to unite people equate public transport. Rubbish has near the Stadio Olympico is worth a competitively- a football club erously forward- as disparate as Claire Fox and Anne also become a chronic problem, with date in 753 BC, Rome has captured the visit before kick-off. After the game, priced boutique because “the ing his letter to a Widdecombe? With each successive graffiti and garbage getting out of con- imagination of wayfaring writers, romantic you should head to Harry’s Bar in the hotel in the historic heart of the city name of the game book-publisher. victory – from securing a referen- trol in certain parts of the city. Pub- poets and itinerant painters. “Rome,” the Via Vittorio Veneto for a cocktail. Its is motivation and Denis Thatcher dum, to winning it, to mainstreaming lic sector corruption and outdated suave and sophisticated live piano bar The Rose Garden psychology – and became ensnared a no deal Brexit, to insisting on a no infrastructure have exacerbated these medieval artist Giotto di Bondone wrote, will give you a refined taste of “la dolce Palace Hotel – that I know about!” by an enquiry relat- deal Brexit – Farage has propagated a issues. “is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and vita”. luxurious rooms As a self-identi- ing to the Royal new crop of grievance from his etio- Rome is also swelteringly hot No Roman trip would be complete which are slightly fied Thatcherite, he Cinq Ports Golf lated store of nationalism. during the traditional tourist season the city of yearning.” without a trip to one of the city’s gela- further from the espouses the free mar- Club. Twitter nur- Now he dangles the sword of Dam- in June and July, and its historic sites terias, and connoisseurs will not be madding crowd ket when it’s making him Greek masseuse represent the tures a similar partisanship, allow- ocles over any Brexit by threaten- and streets can be difficult to enjoy reality headsets is a recent develop- Those who want to be slightly fur- disappointed. While in Rome you can The Inn at the rich – but isn’t averse to a dose cultural inheritance of “Plato the ing enthusiastic amateurs on both ing to split the Tory vote. With the when you are crammed amongst the ment worth trying. An absolute must ther away from the centre and in more take the opportunity to visit the city’s Roman Forum of protectionism when its waters Great & General Alexander”. Yet sides of the Brexit fence to climb to unreflecting venality of Henry Root, thousands of wandering tourists from see, one which is also neglected by spacious surroundings might try the oldest gelateria, which has been serv- for drinks on the lap too close to his door (“Yours for he remains sensitive to any slights prominence by hurried retweets and he is likely demanding a peerage or across the world. Once scenic streets most tourists who are unaware of its Rose Garden Palace, which in a qui- ing customers since 1880. La Fassi terrace and dinner the market economy within reason- against Great Britain. To defend the replies from large accounts. Even ambassadorship as the price of his and squares are falling into a state existence, is the Capitoline Museum. eter area north of the city centre, but Gelateria, situated in the Palazzo del in the roof garden restaurant able limits!”). Free speech – “how- of a lost conservatism. “Pay no atten- national honour from jokes at the EU Supergirl is, in her own way, a patriotism. If the pound of flesh of decay and disrepair. As one of my Not only does it contain many ancient still close to upmarket shopping dis- Fredo, which is not too far away from ever obnoxious” – is a must when it tion [to the liberal press],” he writes to expense of British Leyland, he sug- minor heir of Henry Root. doesn’t weigh heavily enough, he Rome-enthusiast friends once said to Roman treasures, it also has a spec- tricts and the spacious gardens of the the Colosseum, is truly an institution Antica Trattoria comes to National Front rallies but General Haq, military dictator of Paki- gests renaming it “Japanese Ley- The letters are shot through with too will take his custom elsewhere. me: “You can see that God was here at tacular panoramic view of the Roman Villa Borghese. Rooms here are lux- and should not be passed up by any- Pallotta Dal 1820, soon meets its limits when it threat- stan. “Most of us realise that a backward land” following a manufacturing moments of odd prescience. He Like the bungling tradesman in the one point, but he hasn’t been back for Forum, an ideal vantage point for urious, but also less expensive than one with a sweet tooth. in the Piazzale ens public morals. The public sec- people such as yours needs, and appre- agreement with Honda. pitches The Free Trade Associa- satirical song The Gasman Cometh – a few centuries.” those who don’t want to descend into comparable hotels nearer the city cen- For all of these reasons, Rome and Ponte Milvio tor should be slashed – except, of ciates, the smack of firm government.” “There’s a long way to go until tion with a demonstration outside who sets off a chain of events which But once you accept its roughness the throngs of tourists in the middle tre, with options from as little as £131 its surroundings continue to be a Harry’s Bar in the course, for the police (“Soon the Addressing his letter to “The Strong Britain once again rules the world,” Westminster including “traditional, eventually necessitates him repeat- around the edges, there is much that of summer. The air conditioning also per night. world-class centre of European cul- Via Vittorio Veneto thin blue line will become the thick Man”, he receives a reply thanking him he laments to General Haq. Until right-wing, two-nations activity” ing the same job the following week can be enjoyed in the city. Despite makes it an ideal refuge from the heat. Rome is not renowned for its ture. It is a lively city with much to for a cocktail and blue line!”). Regulation is necessary for “certain very pertinent views”. One that moment comes, Root himself such as bellowing Latin insults at the – Farage seems happy to return to decades of neglect, Rome is still a Another spectacular panorama of fine-dining, and those searching for offer for those looking to enjoy Ital- live piano music for society as a whole but shouldn’t wonders how many similar replies Nigel stands guardian over the embers of children of miners. With the self-de- the first tee of his political career, great centre of European culture, and the city can be seen from the Castel top-end silver service will be disap- ian cuisine and explore the wonders impinge on the buccaneering spirit Farage has in his bottom drawer. British exceptionalism. These he scribed “One-Nation” group having assisted by a stab-in-the-back myth one which is very easy to fall in love Sant’Angelo which dominates the Tiber. pointed – it is instead a city of good, of an historic city. For those who are Fassi Gelateria, of Root and his kindred spirits With the exception of General seeks to fan into life by means of a been ejected from the Tories, leav- directed at everyone but himself. with. Its reputation as a city of won- This structure was once the mausoleum hearty Italian food. This does not willing to press through the difficul- founded in 1880 – a Roman institution “I’ll get straight to the point,” Haq, Henry Root regards lands self-penned stage work, The English ing the party in control of just such If that happens, this latter-day ders is not simply an illusion from of the Emperor Hadrian, but which was mean that Rome lacks for memorable ties the city is currently facing, it still and an unmissable he writes to Major General Wyl- abroad with some suspicion. He Way of Doing Things. What better a classically-educated clique, he Henry Root may find the Brexit move- a romanticised, faded past. Romans subsequently turned into a papal resi- dining experiences, however. promises to be a city which you will treat for anyone debore-Smythe of the Conservative writes to the Greek Ambassador, subtitle could there have been for would surely be proud. At one point, ment has a new thing against which to can equally be brusque at times, but dence during the fourteenth century. It One fantastic experience for any- be yearning to return to in the near with a sweet tooth Party. “What’s the price of getting an asking if the activities of a certain the Brexit Party rally on 31st March he outlines a sociological project protest most strongly: him. ■ the majority are very welcoming and is now open for all to see. one desiring the best that Rome has to future. ■ 22 CULTURE theconservative.online theconservative.online CULTURE 23 CULTURE NORBERT Daniel Töchterle Photo: DIGEST NIEDERKOFLER The best of Europe’s art and culture Masterpieces of Mountain Chef who made Kunsthalle Bremen: Die Ägyptische Helena From Delacroix to Beckman Until 23rd November, an art out of thinking differently Until 16th February 2020, Teatro Alla Scala, Italy Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain Tatiana Bilbao This will be the first ever staging Until 5th April 2020, The This exhibition of the German of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Architect’s Studio, Louisiana How an Alpine chef revolutionised his cooking by collection at Kunsthalle Bremen Hofmannsthal’s opera at La Scala Museum of Modern Art, digging deeper into local culinary practices brings a pioneering engagement and draws upon the Greek works Copenhagen, Denmark with modern art by juxtaposing its by Euripides and Stesichorus The Mexican architect, Tatiana French and German masterworks to create a rich and imaginative Bilbao, explores and interprets by Bruce Palling from the nineteenth and first score conducted by Franz her country’s historical and half of the twentieth century. Welser-Möst. building traditions from the Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana Collaborating with Guggenheim rural to the urban. Bilbao’s Four performances between Bilbao, the exhibition highlights emphasis on collaboration, with November 9th and the 18th, how the Kunsthalle collection philosophers and sociologists, Concertgebouw, Netherlands was influenced by contemporary has led to wide ranging and In a large-scale staging, Dutch discourses on modern art innovative works in Mexico, conductor Raymond Janssen and and its early reception in including a botanical garden over 130 musicians will perform Germany, the country that first in Culiacán. This is the third Carmina Burana, the German embraced Impressionism and exhibition in a series at composer’s masterpiece. Don Carlo Post-Impressionism. Louisiana’s Architect’s Studio. Until 23rd November, Opéra Bastille, Paris, France Verdi appears again, this time at Opéra Bastille in Paris: Don Carlo is a grand opera in the French style that interweaves political, romantic and family conflicts in Verdi’s signature style.

round the turn of the cen- Curiously, he was ini- I recently flew to Ven- Ferran Adrià, who has several restau- tury, Alain Passard of tially inspired by restau- ice and took a three-hour rants in Barcelona,­ including Miche- L’Arpège, had a major rants as diverse as Ferran car journey north to spend lin-starred Tickets and Enigma. change of heart about Adrià’s El Bulli in Spain and Interestingly, there are no local a long weekend with Nor- Albert had never been to the South whatA he liked to cook – he decided to René Redzepi’s Noma in people working in Norbert’s St bert, just before he ended Tyrol and hadn’t even met Norbert remove all red meat from his menu. Copenhagen, not because his Summer/Autumn sea- before the event, which was held in Days of Jewish Culture Hubertus restaurant but instead th The catalyst was the spread of Mad he in any way replicates son before reopening in AlpiNN, Norbert’s James Bond-style Leonardo da Vinci Until 17 November, various Cow Disease in Britain plus a general them, but the fact that they the 20 or so people in the December for the ski sea- modernist restaurant in Kronplatz at Neo Rauch. Paintings from Until 24th February 2020, locations around Berlin, Germany uneasiness about celebrating portions were thinking outside the kitchen come from all over Italy. son. There is nothing bor- the peak of Plan de Corones, reachable 2009 to 2019 The Louvre, France Now in its 31st year, the annual of dead animals on his plates. This was box inspired him to do the ing or predictable in his only by a 20 minute cable car ride to Until 12th January 2020, Uffizi An unprecedented new Day of Jewish Culture comprises La Traviata not without risk, as he was considered same. “Everybody was run- They have obviously learned signature dishes, starting the 2,300 metre peak. Gallery, Florence, Italy exhibition and ten years in the of a series of events taking place Selected nights in November, one of the great French chefs and it ning behind them and so a lot by their exposure to his with a dish called “Toma- Albert arrived with his sous chef Considered to be one of Haydn-Quartett making: Leonardo da Vinci over a ten day period in the Bolshoi Theatre, Russia was by no means certain that he would there was no sense in copy- approach as his former workers toes?”. This originated and managed to conjure up several Germany’s greatest living artists, 7th November, Wiener brings together as many of the German capital to celebrate One of the most important works maintain his rank and status if he sud- ing everything. So I started after Valentin, one of his of his own dishes in this surreal envi- this is the first exhibition of Musikverein, Austria old master’s paintings as possible the full range of Jewish culture from Verdi’s “middle period” and denly devoted himself to making veg- to think about what to do now hold 15 Michelin stars fruit and vegetable sup- ronment with views stretching over the Leipzig-born artist in Italy The London quartet, world around the five core works in that exists there. The festival adapted from Alexandre Dumas’s etables his predominant ingredients. next, started to ask ques- throughout the country. pliers, brought in sev- the Austrian Alps to the north and the and comprises 37 artworks leading in period string the Louvre’s collection – The opener will have a Russian focus fils novel. The story concerns Fortunately, he managed to pull it off tions about what my diners eral hundred ripe plums. craggy Dolomites to the south. While made between 2008 and instruments, performs Virgin of the Rocks, La Belle and include performances from the life and death of a Parisian to such an extent that the celebra- wanted when they came Rather than use them Norbert offered simple but superb 2019 including several pieces Beethoven, Haydn and Ferronnière, the Mona Lisa, the Moscow violinist Yury Revich courtesan and is the first staging tion of vegetables as main ingredients here. I realised that although very lit- important. We reset the whole type in a dessert dish, Norbert and his renditions of barbequed lambs’ hearts conceived specifically for the Brahms at Austria’s premier Saint John the Baptist, and the and the Moscow Male Jewish of the famous opera at the became a worldwide trend in haute tle was written down about Alpine of cuisine – we started to use every- sous chef decided to ferment them or his famous char tartare, Albert Pitti Palace. Musikverein. Saint Anne. Capella Choir. Bolshoi Theatre in many years. cuisine. Cuisine, there were oral traditions thing, especially with the meat, so we and check out the different flavours offered classically executed dishes of Shortly after this, Norbert Nied- and culture and especially sustain- use the entire animal. In one way it is month by month. By five months, lettuce soup with avocado and fresh erkofler, a young chef from the Dolo- ability, which affects everything.” respect for the animal and in another it had a rich Umami taste with a pistachio or charcoal grilled lobster mites in Northern Italy, made a On the back of this reflection, he we help the farmer because he can dash of acid and they discovered by cured in aged ox fat. The alternate similarly abrupt decision to funda- developed a concept called “Cook sell the entire carcass, so it works out adding some basil leaves and sour dishes couldn’t have been more con- ACROSS 54. Soldier at Gallipoli 25. “Not ____ many words” mentally change his cuisine, start- the Mountain”, which is shorthand really well.” breadcrumbs, it tasted exactly like trasting but with dishes of this calibre, 1. Scanned bars, briefly 57. Features on some 26. Tremble 5. Talk show host Jay and deserted islands 27. Source of some ing with removing his signature dish for making your immediate environ- Then they decided they wouldn’t bruschetta with tomato. there were no complaints from the family 62. Crowd reaction temporary tattoos of foie gras four ways. Nearly 90% of ment the source of virtually all of your use any citrus fruits because at 1,700 The point of starting with this hundred or so guests. 10. Cutty ____ 63. Poll 28. Throws a fit his clients at St Hubertus at the Rosa ingredients. This is relatively easy to metres above sea level, there were no dish is to show how with a creative Interestingly, there are no local 14. Trough chow 66. Bo’s’n’s superior 29. Charlottesville sch. Alpina Hotel in San Cassiano, used to do in the summer, as approach, it is possible people working in Norbert’s St Huber- 15. Provide (with) 67. Be 31. Adam or Will order this dish, along with more exotic there are all of the usual to substitute local ingre- tus restaurant but instead the 20 or 16. German foreign 68. A, in Germany 32. Honolulu porch exchange student on “The 69. Boors 33. Stethoscope users, international produce like abalone vegetables along with St Hubertus - rosalpina.it - Menus: €200 – €300 dients to become a stim- so people in the kitchen come from Simpsons” 70. “Wrong!” at times from Tasmania or catfish from Nor- local asparagus, though AlpiNN Food Space & Restaurant - alpinn.it - Menus: from €35 ulating alternative to all over Italy. They have obviously 17. With humanity 71. Heredity carrier 38. Get dirty way. Norbert’s decision to abandon it only has a season of classic ingredients. learned a lot by their exposure to his 19. Mythical queen of 40. Kitchen appliance foie gras wasn’t because he was squea- five weeks or so. Norbert Another example was approach as his former workers now Carthage DOWN 41. Wetland mish about removing fattened livers realised he would have to dig deeper citrus trees in the neighbourhood. “Tartare di Coregone” or raw char. hold 15 Michelin stars throughout the 20. Card game that uses 1. Gomer Pyle’s org. 44. Reagan-era program, four jokers 2. Courtroom bargain for short from unsuspecting geese or the feel- into local practices, which included Vinegar became a useful substitute. The flesh was seasoned in salt and country. 21. Kind of column, in 3. Type of meal or pone 45. Fathers and sons ings of eviscerated abalone. Instead, fermentation of products for the win- When it came to olive oil, that was also sugar and served at room tempera- Spreading the word is something architecture 4. Pet savers’ org. 46. Sincere it was a realisation that here he was ter months. “So, for the past decade, eliminated and replaced with rape ture with its scales dehydrated, fried that Norbert takes enormous pride 22. Footnote indicator 5. Lane-crossing turns 49. Hankers (for) in the middle of a mountain range and I have been building up a network of seed oil with the addition of various and then sprinkled on top with its in – “I have shown that you can reach 26. Hedge plant 6. Line that extends for 50. Michael Steele’s org., instead of exploring the culinary pos- farmers and now we have 50 that are local herbs. bones and guts reduced for the sauce. all the way up to three Michelin stars, 30. Inauspiciously 24,902 miles once “When you close one door, you have The next dish was an exquisite herb purely using local produce. Before, 34. Strain to lift 7. Void, in French 53. Kept an ___ the ground sibilities of his region, he was ship- working directly with us. Initially, we 35. Floor coverings 8. “Black gold” 54. Chevron competitor ping in rarefied luxury ingredients were ordering everything through to look around and you end up open- salad of twenty or so local examples everyone thought you had to use 36. Old-time actress West 9. Snoop 55. Weather research agcy. from all around the globe. He was also middlemen and then when it arrived ing ten. We have a lot more work in – something that is only available in French products or other luxury ones 37. Chronicles 10. Numbers game 56. German typographer bored, like many of us, of always com- we were not happy with the product, the summer because we have to store the summer months. Then there was from abroad – I have nothing against 39. In the __ (soon to come) 11. Had ____ ear (was Hermann of Dingbats ing across the same French-inspired so we eliminated all the intermedi- things for the winter and it is always a kaleidoscope of local mushrooms, French products, but young people in 42. Chess piece (abbr.) tone-deaf) 58. 10 C-notes haute cuisine dishes, whether he was aries and spoke directly to the farm- a bet on nature, because you have to which were served with an exception- say Sicily, or Naples or Calabria, can 43. Dept. of Labor branch 12. Quick, in product names 59. Jon Arbuckle’s pooch 47. Indicate a price change 13. Fast-food magnate Ray 60. Senator Sam in Helsinki, Munich, New York or ers. They are all in the Alpine region, take what the farmer produces and ally memorable glazed eel. also achieve what I have, merely using 48. Classic film featuring 18. Deadly 2003 hurricane 61. Hook’s first mate Melbourne. The Michelin inspectors including Austria – I am not bothered then learn how to preserve it and now The main event of the week- the products around them – I am not Captain America 21. Film speed standard 63. Cartoon chihuahua agreed and last year, he was awarded about zero kilometres as it doesn’t the biggest problem is we are running end was a four hands dinner with going to change the world, but this is 51. “It’s ___ Kiss” (1964 hit) 23. Ostrich relative 64. Outer (prefix) 52. Part of the military 24. Fix, in a way 65. Healthy three Michelin stars. work – mountain culture is more out of space.” Albert Adrià, the younger brother of the best message I can offer.” ■ & sudoku crossword LEADING EUROPE’S CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT

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