Arms Spending Surges in Ukraine, Baltics; Turkey Slams Pope’s Armenian ‘Genocide’ Mass
Plus, no invite for Putin to G7 summit, and Kaczynski accuses the Polish government of deceit in the Smolensk crash probe. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Spot report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine: Renewed Intensive Fighting in the Shyrokyne Area, 12 April 2015
Following an SMM-facilitated, three-day period of relative calm, at 18.35hrs on 11 April, the SMM – positioned on the eastern outskirts of government-controlled Berdianske (2km west of “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”)-controlled Shyrokyne) – heard a tank round being fired. It assessed it to have been fired from government-controlled...
Corrupting Civil Society in Post-Maidan Ukraine?
Civil society now plays an outsized role in Ukrainian politics. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Security Service Suspects Moscow Behind Explosions Shaking Ukrainian Cities
Although, for now, the ceasefire agreements reached in February 2015 appear to be mostly holding in eastern Ukraine, nationwide feelings of anxiety and stress persist. This is not only due to the fear that Vladimir Putin may restart the war in May, but also due to the growing challenge of petty terrorism. In various cities across the country,...
Are Russian Military Exercises in the North Caucasus a Signal to Azerbaijan and Georgia?
Russian defense and interior ministry troops have each staged large-scale military exercises, one after another. Military drills take place across Russia practically year-round, but what was interesting about a recent series of exercises is that they were conducted in the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus. Russia’s borders with...
Europe’s Nightmare: Ukraine’s Massive Meltdown
If Ukraine enters a new round of massive instability, it could become a vortex into which Russia and the West will be sucked-with unpredictable and likely dire results. What Ukraine needs today is for the West to lean hard on Kiev in support of economic and political reform. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
OSCE trains border officials on protecting human rights in securing borders from terrorism
150626 Complying with human rights standards when countering terrorism at borders was the focus of training organized jointly by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) from 6 to 10 April 2015 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The training course, bringing together 23 mid- to...
Why the U.S. should ignore Belarus’ unlikely appeal
Desperate times call for desperate measures. This is likely what Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was thinking last week when calling on the United States, which dubbed him “Europe’s last dictator.” In a rare interview with Western media, Minsk’s strongman urged Washington to engage in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis and...
Kyiv Sets Goal of NATO Membership, Latvia Set to Host Gay Pride Festival
Plus, the UN tells Kazakhstan to clean up its filthy environment; support for Russia’s takeover of Crimea sees Yugoslav star Goran Bregovic dumped by Polish music festival. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Gazprom made concessions to Naftohaz not to lose the Ukrainian market
Ukraine relies on natural gas supply from the EU states; we need a contract with Gazprom just to be safe. This was stated by Director of Energy Programmes of the Razumkov Centre Volodymyr Omelchenko, informs the website From ua. According to the expert, a decrease in gas supply to Ukraine from Hungary may be caused by several reasons. It may be...
