Section: Research Organizations & Think Tanks about Ukraine
FTAC – On the Persistence of the Feudal Mode in Statecraft
The Kingdom is not a NATO member, much less one applying for European Union accession. It’s alliance with the west may be based on its defense of its own power and prestige in Sunni Islam (vs the Shiite anchorage in Iran) and on related defense, development, and trade needs. Turkey no longer teeters on the “brink of Islamization”. Over the...
Nord Stream 2: the Gazprom pipeline accelerating the reconfiguration of European gas flows
By Nolan Theisen. Photo|tomtunguz.comFollowing the cancellation of South Stream, Nord Stream 2 (NS2) represents Gazprom’s last opportunity to effectively bypass Ukraine entirely for continental European deliveries, a troubling development in Brussels. At the same time, it offers a direct line to western European markets with declining...
Come dine with me
Following the last few days, it would seem the Brexit negotiations have begun to turn sour. EU leaders have accused the Prime Minister of “living in a different galaxy” and suggested that her demands are “delusional” – terms hardly conducive to a cooperative and collaborative negotiating atmosphere. High level leaks of Juncker and May’s...
World Trade Organisation gives Australia’s plain tobacco packs the (draft) thumbs up
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has reportedly backed Australia’s laws on plain tobacco packaging implemented from December 2012. The apparent decision marks the end of the last of three cases brought against Australia’s plain packaging; it will almost certainly open the floodgates and see other nations implementing the measure....
Anton Naumlyuk honoured for vital coverage of Ukrainian political trials in Crimea & Russia
Anton Naumlyuk, a Russian journalist who has fearlessly reported on numerous politically motivated prosecutions of Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians in occupied Crimea and Russia, has become one of the laureates of the 2017 Free Media Awards …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Armed searches & jail for deleted reposts to silence protest in Russian-occupied Crimea
Tofik Abdulgaziev and his family were subjected to an armed search on Thursday, almost certainly as a warning to stop reporting cases of repression. In the meantime, the jailing of civic activist Remzi Bekirov, purportedly for a 7-year-old post on a long-deleted VKontakte page, has been upheld …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights...
Failure to Register
KleptoCast 15: Casey Michel talks to Laure Brillaud of Transparency International about a new report on European anti-money laundering efforts. Listen to previous episodes on iTunes. http://kleptocracyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/15.-EU-Beneficial-Ownership-Schemes-Laure-Brillaud-5.3.17.mp3By Casey Michel Last year’s Panama...
Kleptocracy Daily: May 4, 2017
News A firm co-founded by Donald Trump’s initial campaign manager quietly agreed to lobby for the oil company Citgo as the company, which is owned by the leftist government of Venezuela, was becoming increasingly embroiled in tensions involving the United States, Venezuela and Russia. U.S. government-backed Voice of America has suspended...
It’s time to tackle pensioner benefits
The IFS has produced one of its characteristically insightful analyses of the UK’s fiscal situation in the run-up to the General Election. Much of it is familiar territory, covering the large rise in taxes of recent years, taking us to levels seen previously in the late 1980s. It also notes the work still to do in eliminating the deficit....
Living Arrangements in the Workers’ Paradise
In a centrally planned socialist economy like the one that existed in the Soviet Union, the government determined every detail of the national economy. This also meant that it determined the details of its workers’ personal lives, including where they lived, what jobs they took up, and where they could move. The Soviet Union had extensive...
