“Christ did not write denunciations!” Protest at mounting repression in Russia
Courageous believers have held a third picket in Moscow affirming that denunciations and prosecutions for ‘offending believers’ feelings’ run counter to Christ’s teachings. Their protest came as Russia’s upper house of parliament passed a law which criminalizes failure to denounce others and makes it possible to prosecute...
Kremlin Donbas Proxies launch Russian-style ‘fight against Ukrainian extremism’
While Russia continues, without any credibility, to deny its undeclared war against Ukraine, the Kremlin’s proxies in Donbas are introducing measures to ‘combat the ideology of extremism and terrorism’ copied straight from the Russian original. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30, 28 June 2016
This report is for media and the general public. In Donetsk region the SMM recorded fewer ceasefire violations compared to the previous reporting period, with most of the fighting recorded in Avdiivka and Svitlodarsk. In Luhansk region the SMM continued to note a calm situation with two single shots of small-arms fire recorded. It monitored...
Former Moldovan Prime Minister Gets Long Prison Term
Vlad Filat says he’s being made a scapegoat for the “theft of the century” bank fraud scandal. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Friends With Benefits? Russian-Chinese Relations After the Ukraine Crisis
Facing sanctions from the West after the annexation of Crimea, Russia has reoriented its economy toward China. The results of the shift are mixed, but if trends continue, Moscow is likely to drift further into Beijing’s embrace. An asymmetrical interdependence is emerging, with global implications. …read more Source: Carnegie...
The Juggernaut Stumbles
The Grim Fate of Russia’s Energy Economy …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30, 27 June 2016
This report is for media and the general public. In Donetsk region the SMM observed more ceasefire violations compared to 26 and 27 June respectively, particularly in the southern Donetsk region. In Luhansk region the SMM recorded no ceasefire violations. It conducted crater analysis in Horlivka, Troitske and Popasna. The Mission noted weapons in...
Belarus Experiments With New Kind of Money: Coins
Banknotes to shed four zeroes in leader Lukashenka’s latest bid to slow inflation. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
From Opportunity to Crisis: NATO’s Eastern Perception Problem
With its rapid eastward expansion following the Soviet collapse, NATO lost an unprecedented opportunity for east-west cooperation. Since then, its rhetoric and further expansion have only entrenched its negative perception in Russia, which the Ukraine crisis revealed to be problem a serious danger to European stability. In future, NATO must make...
NATO’s Article V: Iron Clad Commitment or Paper Tiger?
NATO’s ironclad Article V is continually referred to when a threat of any kind is made to a member. Yet, Russia’s hybrid warfare in Ukraine, coupled with the article’s ambiguity, demonstrate that we must question Article V’s reliability and longevity; it is worth considering other, more proactive forms of collective...
