When Neutrality Isn’t an Option
The new US sanctions against Russia overwhelmingly passed Congress. But in parts of Europe, they are far less popular. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel last week called them “more than problematic.” In diplomatese, that means the Germans oppose them. The Association of European Businesses, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of European...
Little prospect of regime change in Russia short of a popular uprising – and that’s unlikely
Niocr25/ShutterstockVladimir Putin’s power in Russia can often look unassailable. However much Western media might champion potential opponents, the president maintains a tight grip, and it’s easy to see why. Any successor to Putin who was not a puppet would very likely seek to establish their anti-corruption credentials and...
Three risks and three scenarios for Ukraine
Between 2014 and 2017, Ukraine’s leadership failed to transform the country’s old post-Soviet Russia oligarchic system into a European and Western-style democracy. The transformation is inefficient and slow, and this entails risk, writes Roman Rukomeda. …read more Source:...
Putin’s Russia rehabilitates Stalin, prosecutes Last Address Activist for Plaque to Victim of the Terror
In yet another move in Russia to silence those telling the truth about the Great Terror and Stalinism in general, Dmitry Kozlov has been fined for erecting a Last Address plaque, part of the civic initiative honouring the memory of individual victims of the Terror. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
August 17th, 2017
CHINA Hong Kong Democracy Campaigners Jailed Over Anti-China ProtestsTom Phillips, THE GUARDIAN Hong Kong’s democracy movement has suffered the latest setback in what has been a punishing year after three of its most influential young leaders were jailed for their roles in a protest at the start of a 79-day anti-government occupation known...
Donbas Militants Coordinate Fake ‘Ukrainian Saboteur’ Arrests with Russian FSB
A day after Russia’s FSB produced a video of a Ukrainian ‘confessing’ to his part in an SBU plot to commit acts of sabotage in Crimea, Donbas and Russia, Kremlin-backed militants have come up with their own videoed arrest. The alleged saboteur is seen supposedly being seized in the middle of summer wearing a jersey, leather jacket and...
Kleptocracy Daily: August 17, 2017
News Brazilian prosecutors plan to investigate last year’s controversial sale of the Argentine subsidiary of Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company. [Prosecutors were now looking into it as part of Brazil’s sweeping “Car Wash” anti-corruption investigation.] The state-appointed lawyer defending former Ukrainian...
Valga and Valka – Where Estonia and Latvia Work Together
Two twin towns, Valga and Valka, on the border of Estonia and Latvia, have launched a project to ease integration into other countries’ job markets and to help with language barriers, qualification confirmation and documentation. As underlined by the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund member of the board, Piile Liimal, this new project...
Ukraine’s Q2 Growth Climbs
In Q2 2017, Ukraine’s GDP growth rate reached +0.6 per cent, compared to -0.3 per cent in Q1. According to Vasily Astrov, a senior economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), there are several reasons for this growth. “The very high statistical base in Q4 2016 (because of a record harvest), and the negative...
Poland and the EU: looking for the exit door?
Until recently Poland was heralded in the EU as a remarkable success story. It joined the club in 2004 and since then its status and importance were growing till 2015, as testified by the election of Poland’s former Prime Minister Donald Tusk to the post of President of European Council in 2014. When joining the EU Poland’s GDP was...
