Jeffrey White Online

On pirates and Nazis

2009-04-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Today a group of German lawyers arrived in Kenya, where they will attempt to defend several Somali pirates being held there for attacking a German ship earlier this month. With a new pirate attack happening nearly every day off the eastern coast of Africa, the coverage has skewed towards tales of capturing these guys, not who will defend them in court. I wrote a piece about this German defense team, which appeared recently in the Christian Science Monitor.

Also in the Monitor recently I write on John Demjanjuk, 89, currently fighting deportation to Germany on the grounds that he was a former Nazi SS guard responsible for the death of some 30,000 Jews.

Essay on Czech EU presidency in Prague Post

2009-04-02T05:15:00.000-07:00

If you're following the G-20 summit in London, you'd be forgiven for assuming there are only four major European powers present: Germany, France, Italy and the UK. But in fact, the whole of the European Union is in the British capital, under the representation of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

The major focus of the G-20, of course, is whether global powers can somehow toss aside their differences and find a measured, common plan for dealing with the economic crisis. But among the dozens of smaller stories playing out at the margins of the meeting is whether outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek can somehow regain a degree of relevancy on the EU stage following a disastrous few days last week, when his government collapsed and he insulted President Barack Obama in a speech to the EU Parliament.

In an essay published today in the Prague Post, I argue that Topolanek can indeed recover and that the Czechs can still have an impact on the EU's agenda, especially when it concerns Eastern Europe, during the latter half of their presidency.

Whether Czechs deserve to, given their shameful lack of confidence in the very idea of the EU, is of course another matter altogether.

Goodbye, Christian Science Monitor...

2009-03-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

...Well, at least to the print version for the Monitor. After 101 years, the venerable independent newspaper is halting its daily printed version, in a move that will be watched closely by the newspaper industry. In many respects, the Monitor is going to become much more daily, as its Web site is going to be the nucleus for a new, 24-hour news operation, complemented by a weekly in-depth magazine.

I wrote a piece about the German car industry that was published in today's final print edition of the newspaper, a nice break that allows me to be a small part of this collector's item.

The online version of the story appears in the Monitor's "Rebuilding the Economy" blog.

From Latvia, with love

2009-03-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from Latvia, where I was reporting on the country's dire economic situation. It seems while most of Europe is waiting for the "next Iceland," Latvia is trying perhaps harder than anyone from owning that claim to fame. It was an interesting trip, especially given that the last time I was in the country was nearly four years ago. Even during this short period of time change, and prosperity (or at least spending) was evident everywhere I went.

My report appears today in the Christian Science Monitor.

Breaking the silence

2009-03-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting the blog these last few months, I know, but these have also been some quiet times. I've been doing some traveling, but mostly I've been either working on or outlining some long term projects that will develop during the course of the year.

I've gotten word that Esquire is to publish a short story of mine this coming fall, but I do not know much beyond that. I'll definitely keep you posted on that.

In immediate publication news, I wrote yet another essay on tax havens (I swear, it's becoming a speciality with me), this one for Legal Week, which appears today.

Here come the Czechs

2009-01-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

A new year, and a new "president" of the European Union: The Czech Republic.

The EU's rotating presidency, largely a symbolic carrot thrown out to the bloc's members to give each a chance to spend six months setting Brussels' agenda, took on a heightened role during the latter half of 2008 with France at the helm during a war in Georgia and the worst financial crisis in Europe in more than 50 years. Add to that the pressing challenges of climate change and the EU's continuing struggle to pass a constitution and it was a busy time.

Now come the Czechs, not widely known throughout Europe as being the most embracing of the EU experiment -- despite most everyday Czechs saying they are in favor of their country's membership in the 27-member bloc.

I write a little bit about Europe's uneasiness with the Czech EU presidency -- and in particular, with the country's appallingly contrarian president, Vaclav Klaus -- in a piece that appears today in the Christian Science Monitor.

A dormant December

2008-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a very quiet December, on the publication front. I've mostly been on the road, back in the US and making my way between appointments of various kinds.

A series of pieces I wrote on the global financial crisis and its impact on European regulation appears in the current (Dec/Jan) double issue of Top Legal International.

This month I also returned proofs for a piece in the upcoming Winter 2009 edition of Focus Europe, also concerning the financial crisis and its impact on Europe's beloved tax havens. It has just been published (unfortunately, available by subscription only).

Other than that, I have to reach back to late November for any other piece of note, this one being a short essay on the glories of the rock bank Midnight Oil, which appeared as part of Gadling "Sounds of Travel" series.

Europe's carmakers hitting the breaks

2008-11-24T10:04:00.001-08:00

Just back from a quick jaunt down to the Czech Republic to report a story on the state of Europe's carmakers during the economic downturn. It appears today in the Christian Science Monitor.

What's next? Upcoming pieces about the adoption of the euro and the prospects of a Czech EU presidency.

And I hit the road tomorrow for a month of travel in the US. It will be nice to be back after a fairly long absence this go around. I'll check in soon.

Sick in Kosovo, and considering the short fiction of Ian Fleming

2008-11-14T02:35:00.000-08:00

Overall it's been a pretty slow month for publication news, owing largely to the fact that several pieces will be coming out in a few magazines either at the end of this month or during next. Much of the writing in November has been legal in nature -- I'm coming to the end of a string of assignments, which will be finished when I return some edits back to The American Lawyer this weekend.

But I do have some news to report.

Gadling recently asked some of its regular contributors to take on the subject of "catching the travel bug." My essay about getting sick in Kosovo appears this week.

Also, just in time for the newest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, my review of the complete James Bond short stories of Ian Fleming, recently re-issued by Penguin, appears in Pop Matters.

Eastern Europe driving financial crisis fears

2008-10-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

The financial crisis seems to add a chapter nearly every day. The major concern now is about emerging economies, especially in Eastern Europe, which have been on a credit spree that far surpasses the US.

Today I write in the Christian Science Monitor about how many of these countries' currencies are nosediving -- and how that is stoking panic in Western Europe.

On Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise"

2008-10-24T04:13:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, Pop Matters asked some writers for short essays describing their desert island, indispensable DVD -- you know, that one movie you've watched over and over through the years, the movie about which one likes to say, "It's important to me."

The result is a pretty eclectic list of 30 DVDs that Pop Matters is calling its Cinema Qua Non.

For the series I contributed an essay on Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise." You can read it on this page.

Finding different angles to the financial crisis

2008-10-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges, as all this financial crisis business continues, is to find different ways to tell this story, or at least to explore different aspects of it. I'm interested, for example, on how this is really affecting people. We hear a lot of doomsday stuff coming out of the TV and in our newspaper, but is your average Joe feeling this? I live in central Europe, so my thoughts are turning these days to the Czech farmer, or the Hungarian shop owner, and wondering how they feel the pinch, if they do at all. My thinking is as soon as the coverage can really paint a picture of a definitive, visual, everyday impact, then people can move out of the abstract with all of this and consider it in much more simple terms.

That's my thinking, at least. I'm going to look into that farmer...

Capping off a busy week, I write today in the Christian Science Monitor on the philosophical differences between Europe and the US underpinning reactions and responses to the financial crisis.

The lighter side to tax havens

2008-10-09T03:31:00.000-07:00

A lot about the legal world can be pretty matter-of-fact, dry and dull. So when there's an opportunity to take a lighter approach to the field, it's nice.

Legal Week asked me recently to write an essay on the lighter side of tax havens, known in the legal world as offshore jurisdictions. It appears in the magazine today.

More on the financial crisis

2008-10-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

I wrote a short follow-up to the European Union financial summit, which appears today in the Christian Science Monitor.

Not surprisingly, the summit did not produce any unified approach for Europe to deal with the financial crisis. Instead, with several countries now rushing to guarantee all private savings in their banks, you're seeing a strategy emerge that will have individual EU members doing what each feels it needs to do to keep its own financial house in order, instead of a pan-European response.

I talked a little bit about this in an interview I did with PBS' World Focus this evening.

Financial crisis spreading across Europe

2008-10-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

The global financial crisis continues to be big news, especially here in Europe, which has seen a host of bank failures in the last week. Tomorrow, European Union leaders will meet in Paris to see if they can agree on a pan-European response.

A piece I wrote previewing that meeting appears today in the Christian Science Monitor.

Resilient Africa

2008-09-26T02:50:00.001-07:00

As Congress debates a huge Wall Street bail out and financial markets continue to roil worldwide, many are wondering just how much the current economic mess in the United States will reverberate globally.

The credit crisis doesn't just impact investment houses and other corporations, but obviously legal practices as well -- and many are seeing the lucrative deals common in the recent past start to seriously dry up.

Legal Week recently tapped me to write a long essay about Africa, with a particular focus on the South African market. It appears in the current issue of the magazine.

Shake-up at the top of Germany's Social Democrats

2008-09-14T05:58:00.000-07:00

Fall has arrived here in Germany -- at least it feels that way, with most days now clouded over, the air brisk and slightly damp. Another can't-miss sign? Politicians have begun campaigning for the next national election, which will be held here a year from now.

A short piece I wrote about the recent shake-up at the top of Germany's oldest and most storied political party appears in the Christian Science Monitor.

New review: Life and Death in the Third Reich

2008-09-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

The slow month of August is over, and September is already shaping up to be busy, with a few legal essays scheduled for publication and a piece on German politics, among other things.

My review of Peter Fritzsche's well-researched Life and Death in the Third Reich appears in Pop Matters.

More soon, I hope.

JeffreyWhiteOnline is up and running!

2008-08-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

JeffreyWhiteOnline is now finally up and running! O.K., it's no great shakes, and I designed and launched it largely for professional purposes. But I'm going to keep it updated regularly (like this blog), and you can find a fairly substantial publication history there, along with my latest whereabouts.

Anyway, check it out!

The Georgia and Russia stand-off

2008-08-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

This has been a tense few weeks in the Caucasus, with Russia and Georgia seemingly at war.

A piece I wrote exploring the energy security stakes in this conflict -- mainly focusing on a long anticipated, European Union-backed natural gas pipeline -- appears in the Christian Science Monitor.

Cheers.

Immigration and fiction

2008-07-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

It would seem that with all the talk of immigration policy in Europe today, a novel touching on the arduous journey thousands make to the continent's shores every year would be fertile ground for fictional exploration. Sadly, in the hands of France's Laurent Gaude, it's not.

My review of Gaude's recent novel, ElDorado, appears in Pop Matters.

Happy August, a few days early.

Cheers.

Obama-mania taking on Europe

2008-07-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama is winding down his world "listening" tour, and passed through Berlin yesterday in a much-hyped appearance that, no matter where your politics fall, you'd have to give a nod to whoever on Team Obama dreamed up this Berlin stopover. There's a lot you can say against it, but being there, it was certainly a spectacle.

I've published a shorter version of a diary I kept during the day on Gadling.

I also wrote an essay/report about Obama's speech, which appears today in World Politics Review.

Lastly, I did radio interviews after the speech, for NPR in Los Angeles and WDEL in Delaware, and I will be a guest tomorrow morning on the Warren Pierce Weekend Morning Show, broadcast on ABC radio. Perhaps they can be found online.

Cheers,

Jeff

Albania, Albania

2008-07-11T10:44:00.001-07:00

O.K., so I'm re-imagining the Clapton song, but that Balkan country really has been the theme of the publication news during the past month.

Another, fuller piece regarding Albania's problem with blood feuds appeared very recently in the English version of Der Spiegel.

Other than that, I recently completed a series of "Letters from Albania" for AOL's travel blog, Gadling. The pieces are certainly not meant to be the last word on Albania -- far from it. Rather, I wanted to record my impressions and reactions to the place and try, however unsuccessfully, to connect the dots between what I saw and where the country has been and is going.

As I say, if you want pretty much the most interesting travel experience Europe has the offer right now, head to Albania. But realize there is another side to the nice sheen travel guide books like to put on the place -- and you're likely to hone in that first, I'm sorry to say.

Cheers.

Making peace in Albania

2008-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Agim Loci, pictured, is an interesting guy. Most days, he's a gun-toting bodyguard for the Albanian Ministry of Justice, protecting ministers and foreign VIPs. But it's what he does in his spare time that is making a difference in Europe's second poorest country.

Loci is one of the leading coordinators for Albania's Committee for Nationwide Reconciliation, a nonprofit group that tries to broker piece between Albanian families caught in the murderous cycle of blood feuds, an ancient Albanian custom of "an eye for an eye" that has seen a resurgence in recent years.

I recently spent a day a day with Loci in and our the Albanian capital, Tirana. My profile of him appears today in The Christian Science Monitor.

In other publication news, a piece I wrote about Switzerland's battle with corporate hostile take overs appears this month in the magazine Focus Europe and should be online soon. It grew out of some reporting I did in Switzerland earlier this year for a long essay that appeared in Legal Week at the end of January.

Cheers.

Home sweet home

2008-06-18T15:54:00.001-07:00

I'm back, finally, in Berlin, after three months in the Balkans. I'm heading back down there in a few weeks for one more short (i.e 10 days or less) visit, but mostly I'm looking forward to getting back to my old routines here at home.

In publication news, Pop Matters has published my review of Ghettostadt: Lodz and the Making of a Nazi City, by Gordon Horwitz.

I'm still in the process of writing a handful of pieces from Albania, which I hope to finish by the end of the month.

Tschuess.

Review: AK47: The Story of the People's Gun by Michael Hodges

2008-05-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

Just recently back from Albania, a grim place that I perhaps was not prepared for. Am currently working on a series of "letters" from there, which I should complete soon for Gadling. Am also researching the subject of blood feuds there and might be returning for more reporting.

In publication news, my review of Michael Hodge's AK47: The Story of the People's Gun appears in PopMatters.

Cheers.

New Spiegel and Monitor articles

2008-05-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

Things have been hectic down here in the Balkans, where I've been living since late February. Anyway, in terms of recent (or kind of recent) publication news, a piece I wrote from Ukraine appeared in Der Spiegel last month.

Also, the fruits of some early and sustained reporting from my current home base in Montenegro appeared last week in the Christian Science Monitor .

What else is new? I just returned final edits for a piece on Switzerland for The American Lawyer and turned in a book review of Michael Hodges' AK47: Story of a Gun to Pop Matters . I'm currently working on an essay from a botched trip to Kosovo, and preparing to leave on a weeklong trip to Albania at the end of this week.