THE NEW YORK TIMES: The president is also considering deploying warships and aircraft to NATO allies, in what would be a major shift from its restrained stance on Ukraine.
WASHINGTON — President Biden is considering deploying several thousand U.S. troops, as well as warships and aircraft, to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, an expansion of American military involvement amid mounting fears of a Russian incursion into Ukraine, according to administration officials.
The move would signal a major pivot for the Biden administration, which up until recently was taking a restrained stance on Ukraine, out of fear of provoking Russia into invading. But as President Vladimir V. Putin has ramped up his threatening actions toward Ukraine, and talks between American and Russian officials have failed to discourage him, the administration is now moving away from its do-not-provoke strategy. » | Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt | Published: Sunday, January 23, 2022 ; Updated: Monday, January 24, 2022
Showing posts with label eastern Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eastern Europe. Show all posts
Monday, January 24, 2022
Monday, January 17, 2022
Eastern Europe Tests New Forms of Media Censorship
THE NEW YORK TIMES: With new, less repressive tactics, countries like Serbia, Poland and Hungary are deploying highly effective tools to skew public opinion.
Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, last week. Like other countries in Eastern Europe, Serbia is adopting new forms of censorship to constrict the space open to critical voices and tilt public opinion in favor of those in power. | Marko Risovic for The New York Times
BELGRADE, Serbia — When Covid-19 reached Eastern Europe in the spring of 2020, a Serbian journalist reported a severe shortage of masks and other protective equipment. She was swiftly arrested, thrown in a windowless cell and charged with inciting panic.
The journalist, Ana Lalic, was quickly released and even got a public apology from the government in what seemed like a small victory against old-style repression by Serbia’s authoritarian president, Aleksandar Vucic.
But Ms. Lalic was then vilified for weeks as a traitor by much of the country’s news media, which has come increasingly under the control of Mr. Vucic and his allies as Serbia adopts tactics favored by Hungary and other states now in retreat from democracy across Europe’s formerly communist eastern fringe.
“For the whole nation, I became a public enemy,” she recalled.
Serbia no longer jails or kills critical journalists, as happened under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s. It now seeks to destroy their credibility and ensure few people see their reports.
The muting of critical voices has greatly helped Mr. Vucic — and also the country’s most well-known athlete, the tennis star Novak Djokovic, whose visa travails in Australia have been portrayed as an intolerable affront to the Serb nation. The few remaining outlets of the independent news media mostly support him but take a more balanced approach. » | Andrew Higgins | Monday, January 17, 2022
BELGRADE, Serbia — When Covid-19 reached Eastern Europe in the spring of 2020, a Serbian journalist reported a severe shortage of masks and other protective equipment. She was swiftly arrested, thrown in a windowless cell and charged with inciting panic.
The journalist, Ana Lalic, was quickly released and even got a public apology from the government in what seemed like a small victory against old-style repression by Serbia’s authoritarian president, Aleksandar Vucic.
But Ms. Lalic was then vilified for weeks as a traitor by much of the country’s news media, which has come increasingly under the control of Mr. Vucic and his allies as Serbia adopts tactics favored by Hungary and other states now in retreat from democracy across Europe’s formerly communist eastern fringe.
“For the whole nation, I became a public enemy,” she recalled.
Serbia no longer jails or kills critical journalists, as happened under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s. It now seeks to destroy their credibility and ensure few people see their reports.
The muting of critical voices has greatly helped Mr. Vucic — and also the country’s most well-known athlete, the tennis star Novak Djokovic, whose visa travails in Australia have been portrayed as an intolerable affront to the Serb nation. The few remaining outlets of the independent news media mostly support him but take a more balanced approach. » | Andrew Higgins | Monday, January 17, 2022
Wednesday, August 04, 2021
My Gay Exorcism - LGBT Demonic Possession in Orthodox Eastern Europe
This video is very informative, but bizarre. It is redolent of the Dark Ages! That people in the twenty-first century still believe such nonsense about the power of Demons is beyond any rational person’s comprehension. Until I watched this, I thought such thinking was confined to the Middle East, where such belief in nonsense is rife. Clearly, we all have a long way yet to go to civilize this broken world! I take my hat off to this young and gentle man for having the courage and fortitude to endure such a ‘conversion therapy,' such a sham exorcism. Can Orthodox Christians really believe that such beliefs and behaviour are what Christianity is all about? Give me a break! Give us all a break! Stay away from charlatans, quacks and faux 'men of the cloth'!
Never put yourself through any 'conversion therapy'! Gays are gay because they are born that way. It is nonsense to believe that it is a 'lifestyle choice.' It is NOT! People should disabuse themselves of that notion. If one wishes to bring God into the equation, then being gay is in one's nature. Gays are gay because God, the Creator, intended them to be that way: gay. If He hadn't, He'd have created everyone straight!
Personally, I am not 100% comfortable with this 'God thing' anyway. My reasons are too complicated to go into now in such a short comment as this. But if we are to believe in God then, in many ways, we gays have privileges too. In any case,who would want to be straight anyway? How boring would that be? We're okay as we are; so let's celebrate! And if someone has the temerity to call you queer, thank that dude! Thank him for the compliment! And walk away. – © Mark
Friday, September 28, 2018
Right-Wing Eastern European States Honor Nazi-Collaborating Fascists as 'Heroes'
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Will Eastern European Countries Be Drawn Into Russia-U.S. Conflict?
Monday, June 13, 2016
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Refugee Crisis: EU Divided as Hungary Attacks Migrant Quota as 'Unrealisable and Nonsense'
The EU migrant quota plan to relocate thousands of migrants across the continent is “unfeasible, unrealisable and nonsense”, Hungary's foreign minister said, as Europe's east-west division was laid bare on Wednesday.
As EU leaders meet in Brussels on Wednesday to approve a plan to relocate 120,000 attacked by eastern European countries, Péter Szijjártó called the quota scheme a waste of time.
Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary voted against the plan to take in refugees and migrants from Italy and Greece but it was forced through on Tuesday.
Under the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker's plan, Hungary would receive 1,294 of the 120,000 to be shared by the EU countries. But instead, the Hungarian government supports a pan-EU Greek border protection initiative which would deploy helicopters and infrared cameras to catch migrants, with Frontex and Greece setting numbers on troops and border guards.
Budapest suggested that the EU should then fund refugee camps for Syrians and finance new camps if required.
Mr Szijjártó described the plan as a waste of time and said: "The plan is unfeasible, unrealisable and nonsense."
He added: “This is the beginning of a new world order; we are not talking about a refugee crisis, but about a wave of mass migration."
…
The Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban accused German chancellor Angela Merkel of "moral imperialism" and of trying to impose her vision of an open EU on the rest of the bloc. (+ video) » | Dan Nolan at the Hungarian-Croatian border | Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Monday, September 07, 2015
East-West Divide: Clashes in Budapest, Eastern Europe Rejects Migrant Sharing Quotas (September 4, 2015)
Thursday, April 19, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The EU has warned Switzerland that its decision to impose new restrictions immigrants from Eastern and Central European countries is in "breach" of a free movement treaty.
Switzerland, which is not an EU country, has a special agreement that allows Swiss people to benefit from Europe's open borders travel zone.
In return, the Swiss are supposed not to discriminate against immigrants from any EU country, with the exception of time-limited restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Thursday, April 19, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The "hotline" site has been set up by the anti-immigrant Freedom Party to gather allegations of "nuisance and pollution" caused by an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 East European migrant workers from EU countries in Holland.
The website invites respondents to tick "yes" or "no" when asked whether they have experienced loud noise, parking, drunkenness, squalor or "degeneracy" at the hands of migrants.
"Do you have trouble? Or have you lost your job to a Pole, Bulgarian, Romanian or other Central or Eastern European? We would like to hear," the site asks.
Viviane Reding, the EU's human rights commissioner has attacked the website and, hinting at possible legal action, warned "intolerance has no place on our continent".
"Citizens of the 27 EU Member States should feel at home no matter where they decide to move. The website runs totally counter to these principles. It is openly calling for people to be intolerant," she said.
"Europe is facing difficult times. We will only solve our problems by increasing solidarity, not by denouncing fellow citizens."
Geert Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party, the third largest in the Dutch parliament, dismissed the EU criticism.
"Europe can get stuffed. We've had more than 32,000 complaints. This website has really hit the mark. We're looking for facts, so talk about discrimination is fantasy and nonsense," he said. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Extremkälte friert Europa ein: Deutschland genießt trotz Dauerfrost die Sonne - in Osteuropa aber haben die Minustemperaturen bereits Dutzende Menschen das Leben gekostet. Und es wird noch schlimmer: Jetzt nahen die kältesten Nächte des Jahres. » | ala/siu/dpa/dapd/AFP | Mittwoch 01. Februar 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
REUTERS.COM: More than 60 people have died in a cold snap across Eastern Europe, authorities said on Tuesday, forcing some countries to call in the army to help secure food and medical supplies and set up emergency shelters for the homeless.
The temperature in Ukraine sank to minus 33 degrees Celsius (minus 27 Fahrenheit), the coldest in six years, while eastern Bosnia experienced lows of minus 31C and Poland, Romania and Bulgaria minus 30C.
Forecasters said the cold spell would last until Friday with further heavy snow expected across the region on Wednesday.
At least 30 people, most of them homeless, have died in Ukraine in the past five days, the Emergencies Ministry said. Another 500 people were treated in hospital for frostbite and other cold-related ailments. » | Reuters | Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth in Kiev, Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia, Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo, Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; Writing by Janet Lawrence; Editing by Mark Heinrich | KIEV | Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Big Freeze Hits Eastern Europe »
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Friday, September 18, 2009
NZZ ONLINE: Kommentar zu Obamas Verzicht auf die Raketenabwehr in Ostmitteleuropa
Noch bleibt undurchsichtig, was genau zur Schubladisierung der amerikanischen Pläne für eine Raketenabwehr in Ostmitteleuropa geführt hat und ob Präsident Obama im Gegenzug etwas dafür in Russland herausgeholt hat. Sicher aber ist, dass diese Entscheidung eine markanten Änderung des amerikanischen Kurses bedeutet.
In der Regierungszeit von Obamas Vorgänger Bush hatten die Vereinigten Staaten die Entwicklung der Technologie zur Zerstörung gegnerischer Interkontinentalraketen ausserhalb der Erdatmosphäre noch mit aller Kraft vorangetrieben. Was in den achtziger Jahren als Idee à la «Star Wars» belächelt worden war, ist in der Zwischenzeit der technischen Reife recht nahe gekommen. 2004 nahmen die USA in Alaska ihre erste Abfangraketen-Basis in Betrieb; sie war Amerikas Antwort auf die Entwicklung nordkoreanischer Raketen mit immer längeren Reichweiten.
Die falschen Signale
Die Abwehrbasis in Polen und die dazugehörige Radarstation in Tschechien wurden analog dazu als Vorkehrungen gegen das islamistische Regime in Teheran projektiert. Angesichts der Fortschritte, die Iran beim Raketenbau und auf dem Weg zur Atombombe gemacht hat, erscheint die damalige Entscheidung auch heute noch als korrekt. Obama hat sich denn auch nicht völlig davon losgesagt, sondern nur eine Warteschlaufe angeordnet. Falls die iranische Bedrohung im nächsten Jahrzehnt akut wird, wie manche Geheimdienste annehmen, so wird kein amerikanischer Präsident – ob Demokrat oder Republikaner – zögern, die Raketenabwehrpläne wieder hervorzuholen. >>> Von Andreas Rüesch | Donnerstag, 17. September 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PARIS — The leaders of the European Union gathered Sunday in Brussels in an emergency summit meeting that seemed to highlight the very worries it was designed to calm: that the world economic crisis has unleashed forces threatening to split Europe into rival camps.
An urgent call from Hungary for a large bailout for newer, Eastern members was bluntly rejected by Europe’s strongest economy, Germany, and received little support from other countries. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, facing federal elections in September, said countries must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
“Saying that the situation is the same for all Central and Eastern European states, I don’t see that,” Mrs. Merkel told reporters. She spoke after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of Hungary warned, “We should not allow that a new Iron Curtain should be set up and divide Europe.”
With uncertain leadership and few powerful collective institutions, the European Union is struggling with the strains this crisis has inevitably produced among 27 countries with uneven levels of development.
The traditional concept of “solidarity” is being undermined by protectionist pressures in some member countries and the rigors of maintaining a common currency, the euro, for a region that has diverse economic needs. Particularly acute economic problems in some newer members that once were part of the Soviet bloc have only made matters worse. >>> By Steven Erlanger and Stephen Castle | Monday, March 2, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
Thursday, December 04, 2008
ISLAMONLINE: CAIRO — New Muslims in several East European countries are being given the lion's share of free hajj packages offered by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz.
"The Islamic Center of Brno has received 20 free hajj packages from the Saudi Embassy," Munib Hassan Al-Rawi, the director of the Islamic Waqf Society in the southern Czech city of Bruno, which runs the center, told IslamOnline.net.
"The priority was given to new Muslims with the hope that the spiritual journey would further strengthen their new beliefs."
Al-Rawi noted that the Saudi Embassy has given most of the free hajj packages to Czech's only two Islamic centers in the capital Prague and Brno.
Nearly 100 pilgrims, including 50 beneficiaries of the Saudi grants, will be flying to Istanbul, Turkey, en route to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.
Every able-bodied adult Muslim — who can financially afford the trip — must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.
The Czech Republic, which has a population of more than 10 million people, is home to around 15,000 Muslims.
The number of new Muslims is estimated between 1500-2000, many of them embraced Islam in the 1990s.
In 2004, Prague acknowledged Islam as an official religion, giving Muslims rights on equal footing to Christians and Jews. >>> By Hani Salah | December 3, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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