GulfStreamBlues
Dave Keating | age: 29 years old | city: Brussels (BEL) | activity: Journalism.
My webpage: http://www.davekeating.net
I speak : eng and also fre
Who am I?
My name is Dave, I’m an American journalist currently living in London and Brussels. I grew up outside New York City and my past reporting beats have included covering city politics in Chicago, national politics in Washington DC, university administration in Boston, finance in New York, Eastern European government in Prague, European politics in Brussels and venture capital in London. I'm currently based between Brussels and London covering environmental issues.
food I don’t really have a favourite dish, but I do miss American-style ice cream and peanut butter! /
europe_is a passion. I studied European history at university and since then I’ve been hooked. I’m fascinated by the EU integration process and by the potential for the block to become a ‘third superpower’ in the 21st century, acting in a centre ground between the United States and China. I am equally as interested in the enormous challenges the union faces in achieving this, and in whether or not the people of Europe have signed up to the idea! /
preferred_website Well this probably wouldn’t be of much interest to Europeans but it’s www.wonkette.com. It’s a DC politics gossip site. /
why_participate Outside of my professional reporting I keep a blog covering ‘European politics from an American perspective’ at www.GulfStreamBlues.com. I thought this would be a good forum to further engage with Europeans on the subject, and hear points of view from around the continent. /
living_places Paris, France /
My contributions and my activities
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-03-02 13:20:53
A tea party for Britain?
If you want a laugh this afternoon, check out this video of Tory MEP Daniel Hannan on Fox News in America talking about his efforts to bring the anti-government “tea party” movement to the UK. The idea that this rag-tag movement of disaffected, gun-toting right-wingers with funny hats could ever catch on in the United Kingdom is laughably absurd. I probably couldn’t think of a more un-British phenomenon. But perhaps the most amusing part of this clip is watching Fox’s Neil Cavuto pretend that he knows anything about European politics. Who knows how many people actually turned up to Hannan’s little gathering, I certainly didn’t hear anything about it in the British media (a quick check reveals about 100 people showed up). But though he may be on the fringe of British politics and is an unwanted thorn in the side of Tory leader David Cameron, it is important to remember Hannan is still a Tory politician. His brand of populist, anti-government rhetoric is just an extreme representation of a strain of thought that is still deeply engrained in the Tory psyche. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-02-03 18:11:35
Obama 'snubs' Europe
Given that this is a blog about EU-US issues, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the sad, sad tears that are being shed today over Barack Obama’s decision to ditch the planned EU-US summit in Madrid in May. Spain appears to be livid about it, while papers across Europe seem to be responding not in anger but rather in a rather depressed and humiliated shrug. The White House announced yesterday that Obama would not be attending the planned joint summit, which apparently came as quite a shock to its organisers. Apparently EU officials found out about the decision, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, through the news media. Spain, which currently holds the rotating EU ministerial presidency (not to be confused with the newly-created council presidency), is now saying it will postpone the summit until the president can attend. Holding it without him would be humiliating for Europe and would lack symbolic significance. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-02-03 11:49:07
No red carpet for pope in Britain
Back in September I wrote about my surprise when, during a visit to Prague, I was prevented from entering Prague Castle because the pope was paying a visit. I wasn't surprised that they weren't letting visitors in during the papal visit, that stands to reason. What seemed curious was the fact that we had been in Prague three days, made the journey all the way up the the castle, and all that time we had no idea the pope was visiting the city. Indeed, there was absolutely no sign of the visit - no banners, no news reports, nothing. People on the street outside the castle seemed to either be unaware or apathetic about it. I suppose that's not surprising in the most atheistic country in Europe. But at the time, I contrasted it to the huge pomp and ceremony that accompanied the pope's visit to Paris while I was living there in the fall of 2009. You couldn't get away from all the fuss during that visit! When I learned this week that the pope is planning a visit to the UK, another of Europe's most atheistic countries, I wondered how the visit will contrast to the ones I've witnessed in Paris and Prague. I suspect it will be an animal all its own, but disinterest may not be the main reaction from the public. The Czech Republic may be a majority atheist country, but it is still nominally Catholic. So it isn't so unusual or notable that the pope would visit. The UK is very much not a Catholic country. Historically it and Prussia were always the most virulently anti-Catholic states in Europe. Not only does the UK have a protestant state religion (with the Queen as church leader), it is also still technically illegal for an heir to the throne or a government leader to be a Catholic. One of the main holidays here actually celebrates burning Catholic effigies. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-01-28 17:46:10
Tony Blair the scapegoat
The UK has been in frenetic anticipation this week of Tony Blair’s long-anticipated testimony tomorrow in front of the Iraq War show trial, er I mean, inquiry. The British media has been baying for a dramatic finale to the three week grilling of former cabinet officials who made the decision to join the war, which so far has failed to deliver the “smoking gun” of conspiracy they’ve wanted. My inbox this week has been flooded with emails from activists and NGOs demanding this or that question be asked of Blair. Anticipation is so high that Channel 4 News actually spent 15 minutes last night doing a staged enactment of how the proceeding might go on Friday. But despite the high theatre that will surround tomorrow’s testimony, the fact is this is all a rather silly side show. Given that the panel focused so relentlessly on the accomplice rather than the perpetrator of the Iraq War, did anyone really expect this to reveal anything illuminating? One could have expected similar results if after World War II the allies had held an inquest with the Austrian government to “unearth the truth” about the invasion of Poland. The British public has been demanding an inquest into why Britain went to war in Iraq for some time. At first it was supposed to be conducted behind closed doors, but Gordon Brown bowed to intense public pressure last year and agreed to have it be televised. Day after day this month the morning papers have recounted the various uninteresting details unearthed by the panel. This or that lawyer thought the war was illegal, this or that minister knew the war would be a disaster. But the big fish all along has been Tony Blair, and the public wants blood. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-01-28 12:34:22
How individualism shapes the US healthcare debate
Of all the activities I expected to be engaged in Saturday night, finding myself at a bar in Switzerland vociferously defending the right to name a child Adolf Hitler was not one of them. But as it happens, this curious discussion about European naming regulations gave way to a very interesting conversation about the healthcare hullabaloo in the US – a debate that has perplexed Europeans over the past eight months. The two very different attitudes in the conversation about whether the government should get involved in the naming of a baby was symptomatic of a larger divide between the Anglo-Saxon English-speaking world and continental Europe. Being reminded of this vast difference helped me to put into perspective Americans’ huge resistance to increasing healthcare coverage. Talking about the US, a German friend of mine who lives in Zurich said he thinks it's strange how Americans give their children crazy names like Apple Blossom or Stapler, and such a thing would never happen in Germany. Of course the most extreme example of a bizarre name, widely reported in Germany, was the case of the neo-Nazi man in Pennsylvania who complained when a local supermarket refused to write his son’s legal name (Adolf Hitler) on a birthday cake. In Germany, where it is illegal to use any of the imagery of the Nazi party, people couldn’t believe that the government would allow someone to give their child such a name in the first place. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-01-21 17:18:14
When 40 is more than 60: Why Republicans always win
In the wake of Tuesday’s game-changing Republican victory in Massachusetts I’ve been inundated with expressions of bafflement from perplexed Europeans. How is it, they ask incredulously, that one year after Barack Obama came into office on a wave of popular euphoria, he has somehow come to attract the rage of the very Americans he’s been trying to help. So for my European readers, I’ll make an attempt to explain what’s going on – particularly in light of that fact that I’ve seen some pretty inept analysis from the British media over the past two days. The answer lies in this not-often-observed reality: despite the fact that voters banished them from the leadership of every branch of government in the 2006 and 2008 elections, the Republicans have been able to wage one of the most successful oppositions in American history since Obama’s inauguration. Though the Grand Old Party is in the midst of a leadership vacuum and has given up on coming up with any actual policy ideas, it’s somehow managed to stymie the Obama agenda to such a degree that in practice they are practically a co-equal power in government. You’ve got to hand it to them, it’s truly a remarkable feat. They’ve managed to get the American public demanding a return to the party of George W. Bush. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-01-19 11:36:22
Today's election could doom Obama presidency
Without hyperbole, one can say that today’s special election in Massachusetts is the most important poll of Barack Obama’s first term. Stunned into action, Democrats are madly criss-crossing the state today to prevent a shocking political defeat that could not only kill the healthcare bill, but could also doom prospects for passing climate change legislation and financial reform. In other words, the result of today’s election could deal the new president such a grievous injury that he will be unable to recover, and will spend the next three years in lame duck status. Exaggeration? Not really. The special election is to fill the senate seat held for 40 years by the legendary Democrat Ted Kennedy, who died last year. Massachusetts (often derided as “Taxachusetts” by the right) is without a doubt the most liberal state in America, and it is almost entirely dominated by Democrats. The entire congressional delegation (both senators and all ten representatives) are Democrats. In the Massachusett’s 200-person state legislature, only 21 representatives are Republicans. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
INVESTIGATION
2010-01-18 12:07:00
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-01-15 17:38:22
Who wants an EU grammy?
I’ve just been alerted via a press release to the existence of something called the “European Border Breaker Awards”, which is apparently an award show put on by the European Commission for European music acts that “cross borders”. It’s an interesting idea but taking a look at it , I think the way its structured is kind of silly. It seems to ignore a fairly obvious fact – if they were being honest about the awards, almost all of them would go to British acts. Apparently this award show has been going since 2004, and previous winners include France’s Carla Bruni, Germany’s Tokio Hotel, Italy’s Tiziano Ferro and Benito Benasi, Sweden’s Basshunter and Britain’s The Ting Tings. This year’s awards took place last night in the Netherlands, hosted by the BBC’s Jools Holland. Intrigued by the concept, I did a little basic esearch and found that the objective of the awards, sponsored by the Commission and the European Broadcasting Union, is to “highlight the success of 10 debuting European artists in selling albums and touring outside their home territory” to “stimulate the cross-border circulation of artists' works”. On the blog gulfstreamblues.
BLOG / gulfstreamblues
2010-01-15 17:37:22
London plans 'USA Day', and I'm moving to Brussels
Well it’s been up in the air for awhile now but today it became official: my company is moving me to Brussels. I will be heading over there 1 March. In the past year of doing this job covering the EU I’ve been living in London (where the company is based) and just going into Brussels when required. But someone in our Brussels office is leaving, so I need to be over there full-time now. I’m looking forward to it actually. Covering the EU from London has been a bit like trying to cover the US Congress from New York. You can do it (people do) but you can’t do it very well. Sure, you can hop on a Eurostar or Amtrak train to attend the key hearings, press conferences and events. But if you’re not immersed in the EU or DC bubble, you’re just not fully connected On the blog gulfstreamblues.
