GLOBAL JOURNALIST: Squabbles, crises ensnare European Union

Byron Scott, professor emeritus, Missouri School of Journalism: It's been a season of discontent in the so-called United States of Europe. Political squabbles among the 27 nations of the European Union are customarily absent over the vacation months. But in recent weeks, the EU has been embroiled in controversies. Some topics may be familiar here in the United States — immigration, financial bailout — and others, like the absence of government in the Netherlands and Belgium, seem downright bizarre.