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...Shock of the New. Not to generalize about old people, like the typical Academy member, but every one of them is resistant to change or novelty. Anything new in movies seems less like progress and more like a renunciation of the artistic standards they were nurtured on. Consider that in 1942, the Academy gave its top awards, Best Picture and Director, to John Ford's How Green Was My Valley, a poignant evocation of a Welsh mining town. Fine, honorable, fully worthy. The film it beat: Citizen Kane. Who needs all those low-angle shots, the deep-focus cinematography...
...first of three strategic errors Europe is making. One does not have to be a geopolitical genius to figure out where Europe's main long-term challenges are coming from. The E.U. may be a comfortable oasis of peace now, free of the threat of wars between member states. But an aging Europe cannot ignore the rising population and Islamic anger in North Africa and the Middle East, the divisions in the Balkans and the Caucasus, and an angry Russia. Europe has not worked out any coherent or consistent long-term geopolitical strategy to handle these challenges. (See pictures...
...also need someone who will look for a European perspective on things governments think of nationally. I chair the E.U.'s Foreign Affairs Council, which is a monthly meeting of foreign ministers, where we come together over an agenda, set by me, based on what I know member states want to discuss. It aims to find consensus. My job is to lead the development of European foreign policy ideas. But I recognize that on some issues, there will not be a consensus. There will be different views. (See pictures of immigration in Europe...
...cope with a situation when those ideals are brought into question? Europe might want to see progress on democracy, but one member might choose not to make that a priority. What if, say, Germany strikes business deals with Russia? There is no difference to how Germany approaches Russia and any other member state's approach. Russia is a key player in our relationship. Russia is part of the Middle East "quartet." We also have a strong trading relationship. We would like Russia in the World Trade Organization. We have regular summits and dialogues with them at different levels...
...third, a key interlocutor with countries like China, Russia, India and Brazil. And providing the right level of support in areas like Afghanistan, Yemen, in the Middle East. So a much more coherent voice, built up from the 27 member countries working together. We are the beginning of that. The treaty gives us the legal basis to do it, but the development will come in the next few years. I'm only into month three. I don't even have a full team yet. But as time goes on, we'll get better...