Written by The progress of the ‘star wars’ (AKA missile shield) affair, which Russia seemed willing to aggravate by talking about plans to station missiles in Kaliningrad, without any concerns whatsoever for the welfare of Kaliningraders and Europeans, should make the European Union reexamine its current policy under the Kaliningrad Strategy, of collaborating with Russia by facilitating [...]
READ MORE »Posts in category European Union
Accession of Turkey to the European Union: A Quick Reference of Common Pros and Cons
Spanish President (i.e. Prime Minister) José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero promised he will personally support Turkey’s accesion to the European Union for 2010, because – he says – “that great country has been waiting for too long at the doors of Europe”. That is probably a follow-up of his concept of the Alliance of Civilizations, which [...]
READ MORE »About the European Union’s arcane language: the EU does seem difficult for people to understand
Mark Mardell asks in his post Learn EU-speak: Does the EU shroud itself in obscure language on purpose or does any work of detail produce its own arcane language? Of course it is not just the lingo: the EU does seem difficult for people to understand. What’s at the heart of the problem? His answer [...]
READ MORE »A simple FAQ about the “advantages” of Esperanto and other conlang religions: “easy”, “neutral” and “number of speakers”
This is, as requested by a reader of the Association’s website, a concise FAQ about Esperanto’s supposed advantages: Note: Information and questions are being added to the FAQ thanks to the comments made by visitors. 1. Esperanto has an existing community of speakers, it is used in daily life, it has native speakers… Sorry, I [...]
READ MORE »How many words do we use in daily speech? A new study from the Royal Spanish Academy on language acquisition
According to the members of the Royal Spanish Academy (the Real Academia Española), humanities have experienced a decrease in importance for younger generations, English is becoming predominant, language in general is poorer in the Media and in all public speeches, classical languages disappear, people play less attention to reading, and computer terms are invading everything. [...]
READ MORE »Bronze Age village discovered in central-western Romania, in the region of Transylvania
The official Agerpres news agency reported on Wednesday that a village established in the Bronze Age has been recently discovered near Zalau town, northwestern Romania. The discovery was made following an archeological discharge relating to 2 square kilometers in Recea, close to Zalau. “It is for the fist time in Transylvania, central-western region of Romania, [...]
READ MORE »Is euroscepticism gaining momentum in Ireland, as it supposedly did in France and the Netherlands?
Less than half of the Irish population voted on the Lisbon Treaty, the so-called Constitution of the European Union. In other words: 862,415 votes against and 752,451 in favour, giving a majority of 109,964 against, decided this time the future of nearly 500 million Europeans. Some pro-Europeans are asking now what eurosceptics have often asked [...]
READ MORE »Air Berlin against the use of Catalan when flying to and from Catalan-speaking regions – Where is the European Union language policy based on “multilingualism” when one really needs it?
I don’t like to write about ‘domestic’ problems, so to speak, and I don’t usually do it because I cannot be neutral, but I think this one has transnational implications that go beyond Spain’s language policy – or, better, the language policy of Spain’s Autonomous (i.e. ‘slightly less than federal’) Communities – to reach the [...]
READ MORE »