Category: Євросоюз

The Kremlin and Chinese Communist Party are learning from each other in shaping and conducting information warfare aimed at exacerbating political divisions in the West and undermining trust in democracy, according to a new study. While there’s only limited evidence of explicit cooperation, there are instances of narrative overlap, said the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington-based research organization. According to the report, which focuses on disinformation campaigns since the late-2019 discovery of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, Beijing’s information warriors largely began by following the Russian “disinformation playbook,” copying disinformation narratives, tools and techniques, but now some simultaneous …

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The United Nations marked the day of remembrance of victims of genocide with a warning that the crime has not been relegated to the history books but remains a threat today. The U.N. set the tone for its observance of the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime with a video of scenes of violence and devastation in Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq — countries that have experienced the horrors of genocide. The video also contained scenes of reconciliation and the voices of young people calling for …

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The United States is seeking to reassure Kyiv that Washington’s strategy to prevent a Russian military invasion will work, despite Washington’s refusal to send ground troops to help defend Ukrainian soil. U.S. President Joe Biden spent nearly an hour and a half on the phone Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, updating Ukraine’s leader on his discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week. Biden also sought to “underscore our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity … and his commitment to respond with strong measures in the event of a Russian military escalation,” White House press secretary Jen …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has until now been able to maintain good relations with his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts, but now analysts warn that escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine could mark the end of that balancing act. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

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To mark “International Anti-Corruption Day,” the Biden administration announced a raft of sanctions Thursday on 15 foreign government officials and companies it says are involved in corruption. The announcement of sanctions covering people and companies in Central America, Africa and Europe came as Biden opened a virtual “democracy summit.” Among those targeted by the U.S. Treasury Department measures are officials from El Salvador and Guatemala whom the Biden administration accuses of corruption in the procurement of COVID-19-related medical supplies. It said Salvadoran Chief of Cabinet Martha Carolina Recinos De Bernal allegedly was involved in “suspicious procurements” of medical supplies. A …

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More than one thousand people, many of them young children, are living in a makeshift refugee camp amid freezing temperatures in eastern Belarus, a humanitarian crisis that critics say is political. Europe nations accuse the disputed president Alexander Lukashenko of using migrants as a weapon against Poland. For VOA, Jamie Dettmer narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in Belarus. …

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A small but influential group of Western nations has announced diplomatic boycotts of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, citing its record of human rights abuses. The boycott allows the nations to send athletic delegations to the Games while refusing to send any high-ranking officials or dignitaries as an official delegation. The nations involved in the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games include: United States: White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the U.S. “will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games, but said the nation will be behind the members of Team USA “100% as we …

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Two journalists, one from the Philippines and the other from Russia, will receive the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo Friday. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring the pair for their efforts to safeguard press freedom. The Nobel Peace Prize is the latest accolade for Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa, who has received numerous awards for her fight for press freedom in the Philippines.  “There’s a part of me that is happy (to accept the Nobel Peace Prize), yes, but also angry, and hoping for a better future,” Ressa told reporters at the Manila airport …

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Two journalists from Russia and the Philippines will receive the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Friday. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring the pair for their efforts to safeguard press freedom. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said his aides are preparing a discussion document outlining the Kremlin’s views on what is needed for strategic stability and security on the continent of Europe, which will also further detail Moscow’s objections to Ukraine joining NATO.  The document will be shared with Washington within a week, Putin said.  In his first public remarks since a high-stakes, two-hour video conference with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Putin once again accused NATO of being “openly confrontational against Russia” and “quite hostile to us,” but added, “We don’t want confrontation with anyone.” Putin spoke during a press …

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A man who was arrested Tuesday at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in connection with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been released from custody because of mistaken identity, prosecutors said Wednesday.  Khashoggi, who self-exiled in the United States, was strangled inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 before his body was dismembered. He was a columnist at The Washington Post and a critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  French police identified the person shortly after his arrest as Khaled Aedh al-Otaibi, a former Royal Guard of Saudi Arabia who was …

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Germany’s parliament has elected Olaf Scholz as the country’s ninth post-World War II chancellor, opening a new era for the European Union’s most populous nation after Angela Merkel’s 16-year tenure.  Scholz’s government takes office with high hopes of modernizing Germany and combating climate change, but faces the immediate challenge of handling the country’s toughest phase yet of the coronavirus pandemic.  Scholz won the support of 395 lawmakers on Wednesday. His three-party coalition holds 416 seats in the 736-seat lower house of parliament.  Scholz was to be formally named as chancellor by Germany’s president and sworn in by the speaker of …

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Since the 1950s, the British army’s prestigious Sandhurst has often been the first choice for developing countries to send their best military officers for further training, and in the past 70 years around 5,000 international students from 120 countries have completed courses at the academy southwest of London.  Some Sandhurst graduates went on to command the armed forces of their own nations and to head governments.  But China is stepping up its foreign military training programs and appears to be targeting especially military officers from Commonwealth nations, formerly governed by the United Kingdom, who in record numbers are enrolling in …

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In a virtual summit on Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden laid out to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the steps that the U.S. would take should Moscow decide to invade Ukraine. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. Produced by: Mary Cieslak    …

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The communist party in the Czech Republic lost all of its 15 seats in the country’s 200-member Chamber of Deputies following elections earlier this year, marking a new political low for the party that once ruled the former Soviet satellite state.   The incoming government is composed of a five-party coalition that bears no resemblance to an era when a single political party, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, was labeled – by the constitution – as the sole leading force of the state and society.   Czech voters, led by younger generations aged 18 to 30, “totally rejected the old …

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U.S. officials are hopeful of developing a good working relationship with Germany’s incoming chancellor, Olaf Scholz, whose new coalition government featuring the Social Democrats, the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats, has already indicated it will observe a longstanding nuclear sharing arrangement allowing the U.S. to continue to deploy 20 atomic bombs at an airbase in western Germany. Since early on in the Cold War, Germany has allowed American tactical nuclear weapons to be based in the country, but the arrangement has been opposed by luminaries on the left among Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD). In their election manifestos, both the …

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Angela Merkel was assured of a place in the history books as soon as she became Germany’s first female chancellor on Nov. 22, 2005. Over the next 16 years, she was credited with raising Germany’s profile and influence, working to hold a fractious European Union together, managing a string of crises and being a role model for women. Now that near-record tenure is ending with her leaving office at age 67 to praise from abroad and enduring popularity at home. Her designated successor, Olaf Scholz, is expected to take office Wednesday. Merkel, a former scientist who grew up in communist …

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U.S. President Joe Biden will speak Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin via video call, amid what appears to be a Russian troop buildup along the Ukrainian border, raising fears of a Russian invasion. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House. …

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U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a high-stakes virtual summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Tuesday amid a massive buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border.  President Biden is expected to make a series of diplomatic overtures to President Putin in an effort to de-escalate the situation, along with clear warnings of likely sanctions if Russian troops invade its smaller neighbor and former Soviet republic.  WATCH: US and Russia leaders to meet  Administration officials say Moscow has launched a massive cyberspace disinformation campaign against Ukraine’s government that echoes Russia’s 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea. The U.S. intelligence community released …

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Three 2021 Nobel Prize laureates said Monday that climate change is the biggest threat facing the world — yet they remain optimistic — as this year’s winners began receiving their awards at scaled-down local ceremonies adapted for pandemic times.  For a second year, COVID-19 has scuttled the traditional formal banquet in Stockholm attended by winners of the prizes in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and economics, which were announced in October. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded separately in Oslo, Norway.  Literature laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah was first to get his prize in a lunchtime ceremony Monday at the Swedish ambassador’s grand …

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