The 1985 “Schengen” agreement was hailed as the gateway to an eternal utopia of open borders throughout a Europe of 29 countries and 450 million people. Noting the rising number of countries defying EU regulations and restoring national border controls, Lauren Smith in The European Conservative wonders whether the whole Schengen experiment is unravelling under the stresses of uncontrolled illegal migration, crime and social decay.
Toppling a Communist Empire for $2.7 Million
Though widely thought of as focused on waterboarding terrorists or poisoning foreign potentates, it was by smuggling paper that the CIA achieved its most monumental triumph. R.M. Gerecht in a book review for The Washington Free Beacon charts how the late Cold War-era operation to flood Poland with Western books, magazines, printing supplies and audio recordings fatally weakened the country’s Communist dictatorship, setting the stage for the downfall of the entire Soviet empire. Total cost: US$2.7 million.
