NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned European lawmakers yesterday that the European Union cannot rely on its vaunted soft power. Speaking before the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defence, Rasmussen warned against continuing cuts in Europe's defense capabilities.

The French and the Germans have a duty to shape a new European vision. Precisely because we are different, precisely because our histories and our cultures are sometimes so antagonistic, only we have the size and credibility to outline a new European compromise.

Days before the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas erupted in November, international diplomats gathered at the French Consulate General in Jerusalem to discuss an ambitious diplomatic initiative that would convene Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, the Gulf states, and the European Union to jointly support the construction of a Gaza desalination plant that would ultimately help secure clean water access for the coastal enclave.

Women in the Balkans are leading a political revolution. Historically given little say in the politics of the conservative region, they are increasingly taking top leadership posts, signaling that the traditional rules are changing as Balkan countries shake off their war pasts and move toward membership in the European Union.

Congolese rebels are plundering the country’s natural resources to finance guns and materiel, but the EU remains powerless to compel companies to disclose whether they are buying vital minerals supplied by armed groups in Congo and other conflict states.

The political, business and academic elites at the World Economic Forum expressed renewed optimism at the global economy, with more liquidity, more unity in Europe and the fiscal cliff scaled by U.S. politicians. But other risks -- especially that of not doing enough to combat persistent corruption -- are emerging as new threats to a fragile global economy beset by challenges. "In my view, the mood actually bordered onto complacency," said Axel Weber, chairman of UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, which he acknowledged has a poor image due to a series of big corruption scandals.

And silky smooth, Rolls Royce bureaucrats, honed in the dark arts of diplomacy, but who have never been near a business in their lives, mutter menacingly about the threat to the economy if we were excluded from the Single Market. Of course, it may be possible to be outside the EU but still in the Single Market, like Norway, or outside both but enjoying most of the benefits, like Switzerland.