“Stand firm and hold the handrail”: A Traveller’s impressions of a summer of summitry. Egmont Security Policy Brief No. 99 September 2018
Journal: Archive of European Integration (AEI) (University of Pittsburgh)
Year: 2018

“Stand firm and hold the handrail”, a friendly female voice repeats over and over on the escalators in the Beijing subway. That is good advice in world politics too. Don’t be intimidated by capricious or aggressive world leaders; don’t overreact either; stand firm and calmly defend your position. But just as one would wish for a handrail in today’s volatile environment, there doesn’t seem to be one in sight.