Rise of the Right in the EU Parliament

Now that they have formed an official caucus in the European Parliament called "Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty," the right are looking to spread their ultranationalist ideals throughout the continent. Putting aside previous differences, they hope that the $1.5 million they receive for being a coalition will be more than enough to keep the somewhat disparate group together. On a more local level, appeals to nationalism in French politics aren't just limited to Le Pen (who, by the way, is "confident" about his campaign). Le Monde reports on Presidential candidate Philippe de Villiers, thankfully polling at 1-2%, whose campaign is based on "reviving French pride" in the face of "globalism" and "communitarianism."

The Conservative government wants to purchase big military planes to end their dependence on potentially unreliable Russian rentals. Though there is opposition about the 'rationale,' I think this is a good idea. If we really want to be a serious peacekeeping nation, we need unfettered access to long-distance planes so we can move troops and equipment quickly to potential hotspots. Though this story has the usual anti-Russian spin seen in this blog (that I would argue, needless to say, is not unjustified given the conditions there), I found this article from the CSM that takes a more balanced look at the problems between Russia and the West.

Finally, in local news, it snowed here in Britain. You would think that this isn't really news, but that's only if you don't know the apocalyptic relationship the Brits have with snow. On recent reports that 5-15cm of snow might fall, the main weather site in Britain crashed under the weight of people verifying the big 'news.'

Also,
- 26 percent of farmland in South Lebanon has unexploded cluster bombs strewn about, courtesy of Israel.
- Palestinian peace talks open in Mecca.
- Germany is facing more German emigrants than immigrants for the first time since the late 60's.
- Presidential candidate Nicholas Sarkozy defends the Muslim political cartoons.
- Kodak decides to market new printers that have cheap ink.
- Steve Jobs lobbies for the end of DRM.
- A poll by Thinkprogress, a left-wing site, shows that only 13 percent of Republicans think global warming is real.
- The NYT covers the newest particle accelerator - the International Linear Collider.
- Ben and Jerry's + Stephen Colbert = this?