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EU tells Moldova to sanction Russia

RT | November 14, 2023

The European Union expects Moldova to fully implement sanctions against Russia in order to demonstrate “European values,” the bloc’s ambassador in the former Soviet republic said on Tuesday.

If Chisinau truly wants to join the EU some day, it needs to implement all of the bloc’s laws, rules and regulations – as well as foreign policy, Ambassador Janis Mazeiks said in an interview for the Moldovan channel TV8.

“Sanctions are not introduced just like that. For each of them, there was a reason why it was introduced,” the Latvian diplomat who represents Brussels told host Anatoly Golya in the Russian-language broadcast. “Therefore, we expect those countries that want to join the EU to gradually increase their adherence to sanctions.”

Mazeiks was addressing Golya’s claim that Moldova was already 78% in compliance with the bloc’s embargo on Russia, introduced to support Kiev in the Ukraine conflict.

“I hope this percentage will increase, as we look at the Republic of Moldova as a future EU member,” the diplomat said, adding that it was important for Brussels to see the implementation of all EU laws and regulations, “including joining the EU sanctions, since this is also a manifestation of our values.”

Moldova, which is located between Romania and Ukraine, became an independent state in 1991. Its government has been pushing for EU and NATO membership since 2020, going so far as to ban critics and ask Brussels to sanction those opposed.

The policies of President Maia Sandu defy the wishes of the Moldovan people, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev warned last week, accusing the government in Chisinau of “Romanianization, rejection of sovereignty and national identity,” and making Moldova “a new victim of the Western colonialist policy.”

Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) faced backlash in the local elections earlier this month, losing almost all major cities and Chisinau itself. The party’s deputy chairman insisted that the “pro-European choice has won confidently across the whole country,” however.

November 14, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

Hungary to introduce new ‘sovereignty’ law

RT | November 14, 2023

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party is set to introduce a bill to the nation’s parliament which will create a special office to monitor activities that “threaten the sovereignty of the country.”

The new department would be tasked with overseeing the inflow of foreign funding to political parties, media, and public organizations thought to be targeted for influence or manipulation by hostile governments or financial interests, such as Hungarian-American billionaire and serial financier of liberal causes George Soros.

Gergely Gulyas, the chief of staff for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, declined to give specifics of the new office’s remit on Thursday, when he announced the impending submission of the draft legislation, merely stating that it “could probe all sorts of activities … that would violate the sovereignty of the country.”

When plans to create the new authority were made public in September, a Fidesz party member suggested the measure could apply to “left-wing journalists, quasi-civil organizations,” and political parties.

Orban had recently complained at a party meeting that foreign actors were manipulating the levers of Hungarian society through civil society groups and media “financed by Brussels or through the Soros network.”

“They have openly said that they want a change of government in Hungary,” he said in a speech earlier this year, accusing his enemies of using “every means of political corruption to finance the Hungarian opposition.”

Orban and other Fidesz lawmakers have specifically accused the EU of interfering in the country’s political process by withholding €28 billion ($30 billion) in funds until it fulfills a laundry list of 27 judicial, media, and economic reforms. While Brussels has long accused Hungary of failing to meet EU standards regarding the rule of law, Budapest has argued such accusations are politically motivated.

Hungary previously passed legislation in 2017 targeting NGOs receiving foreign funding, a law condemned by the EU Court of Justice for allegedly introducing “discriminatory and unjustified restrictions” on fundamental rights.

Critics, like the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, have similarly argued the current legislation aims to “limit participation in public life and the operation of the free press.” Noting that political parties are already justifiably banned from accepting foreign funding, the group’s strategy director Stefania Kapronczay told The Guardian the new authority is likely to further the government’s narrative that any foreign funding runs contrary to Budapest’s interests.

November 14, 2023 Posted by | Corruption | , | Leave a comment

Banning the AfD would be dangerous for democracy, says hard-left firebrand Wagenknecht

BY THOMAS BROOKE | REMIX NEWS | NOVEMBER 14, 2023

The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has found an unlikely defender in Sahra Wagenknecht, the hard-left firebrand nationalist who called moves by establishment politicians to ban the increasingly popular party “completely wrong” and dangerous for democracy.

In an interview published on Sunday with the ARD broadcaster, Wagenknecht insisted that attempts to suppress political adversaries with unconstitutional bans are contradictory to Germany’s democratic principles.

“I think the call for a ban on the AfD is completely wrong, and I find the discussion about it dangerous. Banning unpopular parties because they are becoming too strong is incompatible with a free society,” she told viewers.

The former Die Linke leader, who recently split from her old left-wing party to form a new political group, BSW — For Reason and Justice, called for unsavory parties to be beaten on the political battlefield and their ideas challenged, rather than martyring them and creating further civil unrest among an increasingly disillusioned electorate.

Wagenknecht added that she hoped her new party could win around voters thinking of supporting the AfD based on its policies, instead of simply eradicating the opposition.

“I will be happy if AfD voters choose us in the future because they find our offer more serious and convincing,” she told the broadcaster.

Wagenknecht’s new political outfit shares the same view as the AfD when it comes to uncontrolled mass migration and calls for greater restrictions on newcomers to the country. The left-wing politician even praised her political competition for bringing the issue of mass migration to the forefront of the political debate in Germany.

“Because (the AfD) has become stronger, the question of ‘How do we reduce uncontrolled migration’ has finally arrived in politics,” she said.

Wagenknecht revealed her belief that the longstanding pro-migration policies of her previous party, Die Linke, would struggle to resonate with an electorate becoming increasingly more socially conservative on the issue, and expressed her desire for the party to change course and “find itself” once more.

There is no political desire for a party that advocates “open borders, the right to stay for everyone, and radical climate activism,” she claimed.

On this point, the former communist reserved unlikely praise for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who she claimed was right to stand up for the interests of his own citizens, even if she disagrees with him politically.

“I don’t have to like Orbán to say that what he’s doing is wiser in terms of the interests of his country,” she said.

Orbán has been a staunch opponent of Brussels’ proposed migration pact, which would see EU member states obliged to receive migrant quotas or face financial penalties for non-compliance. He has remained opposed to the continuous funding of the Ukraine war and is a long-standing advocate for peace in the region.

His administration has continued to import Russian gas and oil despite protestations from Brussels and recently became the first EU leader to shake hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Moscow’s invasion of eastern Ukraine in February last year as he attempts to navigate a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.

November 14, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Economics | , , | Leave a comment

The media’s Nord Stream lies just keep coming

Why do billionaires and governments scramble to control the media? Because the power over our minds is the greatest power there is.

BY JONATHAN COOK | NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Want to understand why the media we consume is either owned by billionaires or under the thumb of government? The latest developments in the story about who was behind the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines that brought Russian gas to Europe provide the answer.

Although largely forgotten now, the blasts in the Baltic Sea in September 2022 had huge and lasting repercussions. The explosion was an act both of unprecedented industrial sabotage and of unparalleled environmental terrorism, releasing untold quantities of the most potent of the greenhouse gases, methane, into the atmosphere.

The blowing up of the pipelines plunged Europe into a prolonged energy crisis, tipping its economies deeper into a recession from which they are yet to recover. Europe was forced to turn to the United States and buy much more expensive liquified gas. And one of the long-term effects will be to accelerate the de-industrialisation of Europe, especially Germany.

There can be almost no one in Europe who did not suffer personal financial harm, in most cases significant harm, from the explosions.

The question that needed urgently answering at the time of the blasts was one no media organisation was in a hurry to investigate: Who did it?

In unison, the media simply recited the White House’s extraordinary claim that Russia had sabotaged its own pipelines.

That required an unprecedented suspension of disbelief. It meant that Moscow had chosen to strip itself both of the lucrative income stream the gas pipelines generated, and of the political and diplomatic leverage it enjoyed over European states from its control of their energy supplies. This was at a time, remember, when the Kremlin, embattled in its war in Ukraine, needed all the diplomatic influence it could muster.

The main culprit

The need to breathe credibility into the laughably improbable “Russia did it” story was so urgent at the time because there was was only one other serious culprit in the frame. No media outlet, of course, mentioned it.

The United States had both the motive and the means.

US officials from Biden down had repeatedly threatened that Washington would intervene to make sure the Nord Stream pipelines could not operate. The administration was expressly against European energy dependency on Russia. Another gain from the pipelines’ destruction was that a more economically vulnerable Europe would be forced to lean even more heavily on the US as a guarantor of its security, a useful chokehold on Europe when Washington was preparing for prolonged confrontations with both Russia and China.

As for the means, only a handful of states had the divers and technical resources enabling them to pull off the extremely difficult feat of successfully planting and detonating explosives on the sea floor undetected.

Had we known then what is gradually becoming clear now, even from establishment media reporting – that the US was, at the very least, intimately involved – there would have been uproar.

It would have been clear that the US was a rogue, terrorist state, that it was willing to burn its allies for geostrategic gain, and that there was no limit to the crimes it was prepared to commit.

Every time Europeans had to pay substantially more for their heating bills, or filling up their car, or paying for the weekly shop, they would have known that the cause was gangster-like criminality by the Biden administration.

Evidence ignored

Which is precisely why the establishment media were so very careful for the first months after the explosions not to implicate the Biden administration in any way, even if it meant ignoring the mass of evidence staring them in the face.

It is why they ignored the incendiary report by legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh – who has broken some of the most important stories of the last half century – detailing exactly how the US carried out the operation. When his account was occasionally referenced by the media, it was solely to ridicule it.

It is why, when it became obvious that the “Russia did it” claim was unsupportable, the media literally jumped ship: credulously reporting that a small group of “maverick” Ukrainians – unknown to President Volodymyr Zelensky, of course – had rented a yacht and carried off one of the most daring and difficult deep-sea stunts ever recorded.

It is why, later, the media treated it as entirely unremarkable – and certainly not worthy of comment – that new evidence suggested the Biden administration was warned of this maverick Ukrainian operation against the whole of Europe. It apparently knew what was about to happen but did precisely nothing to stop it.

And it is why the latest reporting from the Washington Post changes the impossible-to-believe “maverick” Ukrainian operation into one that implicates the very top of the Ukrainian military. Still, the paper and the rest of the media steadfastly refuse to join the dots and follow the implications contained in their own reporting.

The central character in the new drama, Roman Chervinsky, belongs to Ukraine’s special operations forces. He supposedly oversaw the small, six-man team that rented a yacht and then carried out the James Bond-style attack.

The ingenuous Post claims that his training and operational experience meant he was “well suited to help carry out a covert mission meant to obscure Ukraine’s responsibility”. It lists his resistance activities against Russia. None indicate that he had the slightest experience allowing him to mastermind a highly challenging, extremely dangerous, technically complex attack deep in the waters of the Baltic Sea.

Prior knowledge

If the Ukrainian military really was behind the explosions – rather than the US – all the indications are that the Biden administration and Pentagon must have been intimately involved in the planning and execution.

Not least, it is extremely unlikely that the Ukrainian military had the technical capability to carry out by itself such an operation successfully and undiscovered.

And given that, even before the war, the Ukrainian military had fallen almost completely under US military operational control, the idea that Ukraine’s senior command would have been able to, or dared, execute this complex and risky venture without involving the US beggars belief.

Politically, it would have been quite extraordinary for Ukrainian leaders to imagine they could unilaterally decide to shut down energy supplies to Europe without consulting first with the US, especially when Ukraine’s entire war effort was being paid for and overseen by Washington and Europe.

And of course, Ukrainian leaders would have been only too aware that the US was bound to quickly work out who was behind the attack.

It would be telling indeed that, in such circumstances, the Biden administration would apparently choose to reward Ukraine with more money and arms for its act of industrial sabotage against Europe rather than punish it in any way.

It would be equally astonishing that the three states supposedly investigating the attack – Germany, Sweden and Denmark – would not also soon figure out for themselves that Ukraine was culpable. Why would they decide to cover up Ukraine’s attack on Europe’s economy rather than expose it – unless they were worried about upsetting the US?

And of course, there is the elephant in the room: the Washington Post’s earlier reporting indicated that the US had prior knowledge that Ukraine was planning the attack. That is even more likely if the pipeline blast was signed off by Ukrainian military commanders rather than a group of Ukrainian “mavericks”.

The Washington Post’s new story repeats the line that the Biden administration was forewarned of the attack. Now, however, the Post casually reports that, after expressing opposition, “US officials believed the attack had been called off. But it turned out only to have been postponed to three months later, using a different point of departure than originally planned”.

The Washington Post simply accepts the word of US officials that the most powerful country on the planet fell asleep at the wheel. The CIA and Biden administration apparently knew the Ukrainian military was keen to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines and plunge Europe into an energy crisis and economic recession. But US officials were blindsided when the same small Ukrainian operational team changed locations and timings.

On this account, US intelligence fell for the simplest of bait and switches when the stakes were about as high as could be imagined. And the Washington Post and other media outlets report all of this with a faux-seriousness.

Ukrainian fall guy

Either way, the US is deeply implicated in the attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure and the undermining of its economy.

Even if the establishment media reporting is right and Ukraine blew up Nord Stream, the Biden administration must have given the green light, overseen the operational planning and assisted in the implementation and subsequent cover-up.

Then again, if as seems far more likely, Hersh is right, then there was no middle man – the US carried out the attack on its own. It needed a fall guy. When Russia no longer fitted the bill, Ukraine became the sacrificial offering.

A year on, these muffled implications from the media’s own reporting barely raise an eyebrow.

The establishment media has played precisely the role expected of it: neutering public outrage. Its regimented acceptance of the initial, preposterous claim of Russian responsibility. Its drip-feed, uncritical reporting of other, equally improbable possibilities. Its studious refusal to join the all-too-visible dots. Its continuing incuriousness about its own story and what Ukraine’s involvement would entail.

The media has failed by every yardstick of what journalism is supposed to be there for, what it is supposed to do. And that is because the establishment media is not there to dig out the truth, it is not there to hold power to account. Ultimately, when the stakes are high – and they get no higher than the Nord Stream attack – it is there to spin narratives convenient to those in power, because the media itself is embedded in those same networks of power.

Why do billionaires rush to own media corporations, even when the outlets are loss-making? Why are governments so keen to let billionaires take charge of the chief means by which we gain information and communicate between ourselves. Because the power to tell stories, the power over our minds is the greatest power there is.

November 14, 2023 Posted by | Deception, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Ukraine ‘cynically’ not interested in minority rights – Hungary

RT | November 13, 2023

Ukraine has no intention of resolving concerns about its treatment of Hungarians and other minorities living in its western province, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters in a meeting broadcast on his Facebook page on Monday.

Instead, the government in Kiev has focused on duping the rest of the world into believing the minority rights issue is “resolved or almost resolved” – even as the situation for Hungarians living in the province of Transcarpathia “deteriorates” even further.

“I think it’s very cynical on the part of Ukrainians that, as can be clearly seen, they in no way want to resolve issues that are important to us, in no way want to return the rights taken away from Transcarpathian Hungarians,” Szijjarto said.

To illustrate the minority’s worsening plight, Szijjarto described a letter sent by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education instructing schools that the Ukrainian language “should be used as the state language not only during classes, but also during breaks between teachers and students,” even in schools where the majority of students – and teachers – are Hungarian.

Last month, Szijjarto demanded Ukraine repeal several laws seen as impinging on the rights of ethnic Hungarians, warning that Budapest would block Kiev’s efforts to join the EU so long as the discrimination continued.

Hungarian President Viktor Orban took things one step further, declaring Hungary would not support its neighbor “on any issue in international life until it restores the laws that guaranteed the rights of Transcarpathian Hungarians.”

Approximately 156,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine have seen their situation worsen dramatically since 2015, according to Szijjarto. The nation’s other ethnic minorities – including 150,000 Romanians and 250,000 Moldovans – have similarly suffered under a series of laws mandating the use of the Ukrainian language in official settings.

The legislation, which has come under fire from human rights groups and the Council of Europe, has led to the closing of some 100 Hungarian schools in Ukraine, leaving just 20% of the country’s Hungarian population receiving lessons in their own language.

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission urged Ukraine to improve the recognition of its national minorities if it hopes to enter the EU in a report published earlier this year. Its proposed reforms include publishing official state documents in minority languages, delaying the introduction of Ukrainian as a principal language in schools, providing interpreter services at Ukrainian public events, and ditching Ukrainian-language content quotas for minority media outlets. Currently, just 10% of a media outlet’s content can be broadcast in the minority language.

November 13, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , | Leave a comment

Czech Republic prosecuting citizens for supporting Russia

RT | November 12, 2023

Czech law enforcement is dealing with a growing number of cases linked to the public approval of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, iRozhlas media outlet reported on Saturday, citing police data. The EU nation’s authorities have made it a crime to publicly express support for Moscow in its conflict with Kiev.

Endorsing Russia’s military operation in Ukraine at demonstrations or on the internet, as well as praising or supporting senior Russian officials can be treated as ‘approval of a crime’, or “denying, questioning, approving or justifying a genocide” under the Czech Criminal Code, the nation’s Public Prosecutor’s Office warned in February 2022.

Police say they have investigated hundreds of complaints related to these types of actions since the beginning of the conflict. The number of criminal cases opened over public endorsements of Russia has reached 384, Police Spokesman Ondrej Moravcik told iRozhlas. Almost 100 people have been charged, he added.

According to the spokesman, the courts have already passed judgment in some of the cases. The official did not reveal how many cases reached the courts or if anyone has received time in prison for supporting Russia. According to Moravcik, the police stop following these cases after handing them over to the prosecutor’s offices for indictments.

Under the Czech Criminal Code, approval of a crime is punishable by up to one year behind bars. Those found guilty of denying or justifying “genocide” could spend between six months and three years in jail.

The Czech authorities have faced heavy public criticism over its support for Kiev and its ties to the US. In September, around 10,000 people took part in a rally in the capital, Prague, demanding the government resign due to its pro-Western policies.

The demonstration was organized by the opposition Law, Respect, Expertise (PRO) party. The protesters demanded that Prague veto any attempts by Ukraine to join NATO, adding that the Czech Republic should withdraw from the US-led bloc.

November 12, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , , , | Leave a comment

Ukraine says it is ready to meet Hungary’s demands on minority rights

MANDINER | November 10, 2023 

Ukraine is ready to reach an agreement with Hungary on meeting EU requirements for the protection of the rights of national minorities, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna told a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

She vowed to guarantee the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority living in modern-day Ukraine, but rejected claims that Hungarians were particularly affected by the ongoing Russian aggression in the country.

“The Hungarian minority has suffered much less than, say, the Greek minority in the Azov region,” she noted.

The Ukrainian minister said that Hungary reserves the right to arbitrarily block Ukraine’s EU accession process, but stated that she did not believe the Hungarian problem should be the main obstacle in the EU enlargement process.

“I am confident that we will be able to overcome this challenge. I am confident that we will find political understanding,” she stressed.

Hungary has been at odds with Ukraine for years mainly on account of the erosion of rights for its 100,000-strong ethnic Hungarian minority there, mainly based in the Transcarpathia region. Besides nationalist threats against Hungarians, there have also been reports that Ukraine conscripts ethnic Hungarians above their ratio in the overall population.

Stefanishyna noted that a dialogue is ongoing with the EU on how Ukraine is preparing to improve the protection of the Hungarian community in Ukraine. The Ukrainian delegation presented a detailed roadmap to Hungary in September, which included both practical steps, such as the provision of textbooks for Hungarian-speaking children, and plans for legislative amendments.

Asked whether Ukraine had any “red lines” for legislative changes, the deputy prime minister said that these amendments must “in no way affect knowledge of the Ukrainian language.”

November 11, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Dispute over history may block Ukraine’s EU accession, says Polish official

WPOLITYCE.PL | November 09, 2023

Ukraine will not join the EU if there is no resolution with Poland regarding a dispute over the exhumation of Polish victims of a wartime massacre by Ukrainians, said Deputy Polish Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński.

Between 1943 and 1944, around 100,000 Poles were slaughtered by the ultra-nationalist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in the Volhynia and Eastern Galicia regions of pre-war eastern Poland (today part of western Ukraine).

The killings still cast a shadow over Ukrainian-Polish relations despite the close bonds between the two countries forged by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Although there were many killings across several villages, the slaughter is collectively referred to as the Volhynia Massacre.

Pawel Jablonski said that a “significant dispute” over Polish demands to exhume victims of the massacre must be settled if Poland is to be an advocate for Ukrainian membership in the bloc.

Speaking to commercial radio station Radio Zet on Tuesday, Jabłonski defended the government’s record on exhumations.

“Exhumations in the first location, which have been the subject of talks with Ukraine, have already started (…) This is not actually Volhynia, it is another part, but they are also victims of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army,” Jabłonski said.

In response to the observation that this involved only a search operation with no consent yet for exhumations, the deputy minister replied: “We will work further on this so that it occurs as quickly as possible.”

“In our opinion, without a solution to this issue – and many Ukrainians already realize this – Ukraine cannot dream of joining the European Union,” Jabłoński added.

He warned that without a solution to the issue, “long-term reconciliation with Ukraine” cannot be achieved.

November 11, 2023 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Barcelona dock workers refuse to deal with weapons ships heading to Israel

MEMO | November 7, 2023

Workers at the Spanish port of Barcelona announced their refusal to allow any ships carrying weapons to operate inside the port, rejecting the violence practiced by Israel in the occupied territories, and accusing the UN of failing to carry out its role.

The workers said in a statement to their association that it is their duty to adhere to and defend the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, at a time when the signatory countries have forgotten about it.

The statement continued: “We decided within the association not to allow ships containing war materials to operate in our port, for the sole purpose of protecting any civilian population, regardless of their location, as there is no justification for sacrificing civilians.”

The statement called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the search for peaceful solutions to conflicts, and for the UN to stop its complicit and negligent behaviour in order to maintain international peace and security and defend international law.

Earlier last week, the Belgian transport workers’ unions called on their members to refuse to load or unload arms shipments being sent to Israel.

“While genocide is under way in Palestine, workers at various airports in Belgium are seeing arms shipments in the direction of the war zone,” the trade unions said in a joint statement.

A Belgian government spokesman declined to comment on whether weapons were being shipped to the region via Belgium.

The unions said that loading or unloading these weapons means contributing to supplying regimes that kill innocent people.

The unions added: “We, several unions active in ground logistics, call on our members not to handle any flights that ship military equipment to Palestine/Israel, like there were clear agreements and rules at the start of the conflict with Russia and Ukraine.”

November 7, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hungary calls for new European security architecture

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses the 5th Demographic Summit in the Fine Arts Museum in Budapest on September 14, 2023. © Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP
RT | November 3, 2023

Hungary wants to see the creation of a new security architecture in Europe that would take into account both Russian and Ukrainian interests, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

Speaking at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Friday, the Hungarian leader stated that the West’s strategy of supporting Ukraine with money and arms had failed and, against this backdrop, Budapest was “advocating a plan B.”

The initiative, he continued, “is aimed at a ceasefire, peace negotiations and the construction of a new European security architecture that will be reassuring for Ukraine and acceptable to the Russians.” According to Orban, Türkiye, which has remained neutral in the stand-off between Moscow and Kiev while acting as a mediator between the two, will also play a prominent role in this potential arrangement.

Since the start of open fighting in the Ukraine conflict, Budapest has consistently urged Kiev and Moscow to engage in talks, while also resisting calls to support EU sanctions against Russia, particularly in the energy sector, arguing that the measures are detrimental to the bloc’s own economy. In May, Orban also predicted that “poor Ukrainians” would not be able to prevail over Russia given the circumstances, particularly NATO’s reluctance to send its troops directly to the battlefield.

Hungary, along with Slovakia, also opposed an aid package to Ukraine to the tune of €50 billion ($53.5 billion) approved by the European Parliament last month. The two nations pointed in particular to concerns about corruption in Kiev and argued that the aid was not working.

While Moscow has never closed the door on talks with Kiev, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree last autumn barring all talks with Moscow, after four former Ukrainian regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.

In December 2021, shortly before the years-long Ukraine conflict moved to open fighting, Russia submitted proposals To NATO and the US on security guarantees, demanding that the West ban Ukraine’s accession to the military bloc and insisting that the alliance retreat to its borders of 1997, before it expanded. The overture in late 2021, however, was rebuffed by the West.

Orban is not the only EU leader to have raised the prospect of security guarantees as hostilities continued. Last December, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that Western capitals should consider setting up a security architecture that would take into account Russian interests, once Moscow and Kiev engage in talks. These remarks, however, triggered outrage, both in Kiev and in several EU member states.

November 3, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spanish MP calls for coercive measures against Israel

Palestine Information Center | November 3, 2023

MADRID – Spanish MP and member of the European Parliament Idoia Villanueva has condemned what is happening in the Gaza Strip as a “real genocide in 2023 with complete impunity and complicity from the international community, the US administration and the European Union as well.”

“The ongoing atrocities and war crimes committed by Israel, the colonial power, against the population under occupation are considered a war crime, and all this is done in the dark,” she said.

“The cutting off of supplies, electricity, water and fuel exacerbates the situation and further harms the civilian population, which is another crime against the international humanitarian law, causing hospitals to stop functioning and causing massive loss of life,” she said.

“The attempted forced displacement of populations is also a war crime and contrary to the international humanitarian law, and a few days ago, communications and the internet were cut off in an attempt to carry out this genocide,” Villanueva said.

The Spanish MP called on the international community to do much more, adding that “it is unfortunate that the European Union is lost in the maze of expressions and words calling for a ceasefire.”

She called for coercive measures, such as arms embargoes and sanctions, against Israeli officials, as well as the suspension of European funds to Israeli arms companies currently contributing to these systematic human rights violations.

Villanueva also called for “the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement due to these crimes and violations, accountability before the International Criminal Court, and moving forward with the recognition of the State of Palestine in order to somehow pressure Israel.”

“If the international community and Europe do not act and put an end to this genocide, they will carry a horrific stigma,” the lawmaker warned.

November 3, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

EU may become complicit in ‘genocide’ – Spanish official

RT | October 30, 2023

Spanish Social Rights Minister Ione Belarra has urged European leaders to take immediate action against Israel, including severing diplomatic ties and imposing economic sanctions, amid the intensified bombing and expanded ground operations against Hamas militants in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

She also called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be prosecuted for the alleged war crimes committed against civilians in Gaza.

“After this hellish night in Gaza, I have a very simple but very important message for European leaders. Do not make us complicit in genocide. Act. Not in our name,” Belarra said in a passionate video message on X on Saturday.

More than 8,000 Palestinians, including 3,342 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s air campaign began, according to the latest figures from the Gaza Health Ministry. The unprecedented Hamas raid into Israel, as well as hundreds of rocket strikes on Israeli territory earlier this month, left around 1,400 people dead, while 230 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Addressing the severity of the current situation in Gaza and Israel’s disproportionate retaliation, the minister highlighted the termination of internet and telephone services in the strip, claiming that the move “has a very clear objective” of guaranteeing that “Israel commits crimes against humanity without consequences.”

“Our inaction is turning us into accomplices,” the minister stressed, arguing that “Israel believes that its international alliances guarantee its impunity.”

“We have to act now, tomorrow will be too late,” she continued, voicing her message to the EU leaders: “Cut diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. Carry out exemplary economic sanctions against those responsible for this genocide. And without a doubt, let’s take Netanyahu before the International Criminal Court, so that he can be tried for what he is, a war criminal.”

She also appealed to EU citizens to take to the streets and raise their voice so that “this genocide” comes to an end.

The IDF escalated air and ground attack on Gaza on Friday, causing a near-total communication blackout. Connectivity was partially restored over the weekend, but the Israeli blockade of Gaza continues; Netanyahu announced the “second stage” of the war against Hamas on Saturday.

October 30, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

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