Category: Євросоюз

As Germany moves to implement sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, its efforts seem to be at odds with a private business in Berlin. Poised to tighten financial screws on a regime that is making steady progress toward a nuclear-tipped missile that can threaten the U.S. mainland, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution in November 2016, which for the first time included a prohibition on using any property that North Korea owns or leases for purposes other than diplomatic activities. Five months after its passage, Germany stated in an implementation report submitted to the U.N. that it had begun …

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Catalonians are rallying in Barcelona to protest the Catalan government’s push for secession from Spain. Police say 350,000 demonstrators attended, while organizers say more than 900,000 people joined in. “We have perhaps been silent too long,” one protester told the French news agency on Sunday. Last week, Catalonians voted overwhelmingly for independence.  In that poll, deemed illegal by Madrid, 90 percent voted to break with Spain, but the turnout was well under half of the electorate. Opinion polls have consistently suggested more Catalans favor remaining in Spain than declaring independence. Organizers say the slogan for Sunday’s rally is “Enough, let’s …

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The new U.S. ambassador to Russia said Saturday that restoring Ukrainian sovereignty and bringing North Korea to the negotiating table would be central issues as he works to improve U.S.-Russian relations. Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. said trust is at a low point as many Americans believe Russia wants to undermine U.S. democracy amid investigations into Russian election meddling. “It is no longer a partisan issue at the political level, either,” he said. Huntsman takes over at a precarious time between the two countries. He said he wants to improve relations, but the first step is returning Ukrainian control …

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Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s groundbreaking visit to Russia this week saw billions of dollars signed in investment deals in energy and defense that will deepen ties between Moscow and Riyadh, despite their confrontational past. But analysts say self-interests and Middle East alliances will hamper the forming of a deeper partnership. During this first trip to Russia by a Saudi king, the two sides agreed on billions of dollars in projects involving space exploration, nuclear energy and oil, including a $1 billion fund on energy cooperation and a $1 billion fund on high-tech investment. Even the king’s 1,500-strong entourage, …

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Supporters of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny staged nationwide protests on Saturday to coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 65th birthday, with police making scores of arrests. Rallies and pickets were held in dozens of Russian cities, including Moscow, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita and Stavropol, with protesters demanding that Navalny be allowed to participate in the country’s March 2018 presidential election. The Moscow-based OVD-Info, a group that monitors politically motivated arrests, said there had been at least 271 people arrested at protests in 26 cities as of 9 p.m. No harsh crackdown There was no harsh crackdown by police as …

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the start of Turkish military operation into Syria’s Idlib province. “There is a serious operation in Idlib at the moment, and this will continue,” Erdogan announced in a speech Saturday to his party members. The military offensive is aimed at ending the jihadist control of the Idlib area. Much of Idlib is controlled by the jihadist Tahrir al-Sham alliance, which is made up of large elements of a former al-Qaida affiliate that changed its name last year from the al-Nusra Front. “We have to help our brothers who arrived in Idlib after fleeing …

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Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Saturday that he would not rule out using constitutional powers to take away Catalonia’s autonomous status if the region declared independence. Rajoy made the remark to the newspaper El Pais. “I don’t rule out anything that is within the law,” he said, adding, “I would like the threat of an independence referendum to be withdrawn as quickly as possible.” Earlier Saturday, thousands of protesters gathered at rallies in Barcelona, Madrid and other Spanish cities as Catalonians continued to push for secession after last Sunday’s independence referendum. Organizers of the Catalonia secession rally had asked …

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Experts from Europe’s top human rights body on Friday expressed concerns over decrees issued by Turkey’s government that removed elected mayors from posts and replaced them with unelected officials. Following last year’s coup attempt Turkey declared a state of emergency that allows the government to rule by decrees, largely by-passing parliament. Turkey says the emergency powers are needed to deal with the coup-plotters and thwart security threats. The Council of Europe’s advisory body — known as the Venice Commission and made up of constitutional law experts — said it was “particularly worried” by the use of decrees to sack elected …

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U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass is criticizing the arrest of a local U.S. Consulate employee in Istanbul, saying it was motivated by “revenge rather than justice” on the part of elements within the Turkish government. Bass made his comments Friday in the case of Metin Topuz, who was taken into custody Wednesday on terrorism charges. “There is a big difference between pursuing justice and pursuing vengeance in terms of the rule of law and the democratic norms that this country, and my country, have committed themselves to, both through the Helsinki Charter and their own constitutions,” Bass said at …

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The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN. The group consists of close to 500 organizations in over 100 countries working toward global nuclear disarmament. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the award is widely seen as a political statement at a time of high geopolitical uncertainty. …

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One hundred years ago, the flamboyant, rabble-rousing Italian poet and playwright Gabriele D’Annunzio marched into the disputed city of Fiume on the Adriatic with 2,000 squadristi and set up a farcical Italian regency, appointing himself Duce. For 15 months, D’Annunzio rehearsed rituals that later would be imitated to tragic effect by Benito Mussolini — the stiff-armed Roman salute, balcony speeches punctuated by Achilles’ war cry from Homer’s epic The Iliad, rhetorical dialogues with adoring crowds. The grandiose D’Annunzio electrified his supporters as he practiced politics in the grand style and promoted the idea of an expanded Mother Italy. Ignominiously, the …

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The investigation into Russian influence on the US elections has renewed attention to the Russian ban on US adoptions – a response to American sanctions about 5 years ago. Donald Trump Jr. said that was the topic when he met with a Russian lawyer during his father’s election campaign. As Svetlana Prudovskaya of VOA’s Russian service reports, the adoption ban has impacted families and children in both countries. …

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The team captain of Spain’s storied football club Barcelona, which has become a focal point of secessionist Catalan sentiment, is urging politicians in Madrid and the Catalan capital to start negotiating about the future of Spain’s restive northeast province. “Before we do ourselves more damage, those in charge must open dialogue with each other. Do it for all of us. We deserve to live in peace,” Andrés Iniesta wrote on his Facebook page, apologizing at the same time for weighing in on “situations that are complex.” His appeal came as a top EU official Thursday warned that the separatist dispute, …

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Eberhard van der Laan, Amsterdam’s popular mayor, has died of lung cancer, the city said Friday. Van der Laan informed city residents of his illness in January, saying the prognosis left “little reason for optimism.” When he retreated from public life three weeks ago, thousands gathered in front of his canal-side house to applaud for several minutes in a display of support. Van der Laan, 62, was known as an effective, pragmatic and sometimes combative mayor with a sense of humor. When an “Occupy” tent camp arose in front of the stock market in October 2011, Van der Laan was …

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Sixteen people were killed Friday when a train slammed into a bus that had broken down at a level crossing near Moscow, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement. The bus, which was carrying migrant workers from Uzbekistan, was pushed several hundred meters down the track, Russia’s Rossiya 24 TV channel reported. Footage showed fragments of what was left of the bus strewn across the track. The train itself appeared to have sustained no visible damage. “The bus stalled on the track,” Vladimir Myagkov, a spokesman for Russian Railways, told Rossiya 24 at the crash site. “Some people say the …

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The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)  was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Friday. “We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, in announcing the award. News of the coalition’s peace prize comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Iran and North Korea about their nuclear abilities.  The U.S. leader will likely decertify the nuclear deal with Iran, a pact he has called the  “worst deal ever negotiated.” Trump also recently suggested at …

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Protesters in Catalonia have demonstrated for and against independence. Thursday, both sides gathered outside Barcelona over the deployment of national troops in the region. Spanish authorities have sent thousands of police and Civil Guard to Catalonia to block moves for independence. Spain’s Constitutional Court has ordered a suspension of Catalonia’s parliamentary session next week, in which regional leaders plan to vote for a unilateral declaration of independence. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has visited Belarus, emphasizing plans to bolster military ties with the ex-Soviet nation. Speaking at the start of Thursday’s talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Maduro said that “cooperation in the military sphere has been very successful and we need to expand it.” Maduro didn’t elaborate and details of military cooperation aren’t immediately known. Lukashenko said that Belarus would like to develop cooperation with Venezuela in energy, agriculture and construction. Belarus, Russia’s neighbor and ally, has exported wheat, fertilizers and medicines to Venezuela. Maduro’s visit to Belarus comes a day after his trip to Russia, where …

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Europe-based Russia experts are receiving news of Jon Huntsman’s ambassadorship with a mix of skepticism and eager anticipation that strained ties between Washington and Moscow could improve during his tenure. The new U.S. ambassador to Russia presented his diplomatic credentials Tuesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Kremlin ceremony, a move that marks the beginning of his appointment. Receiving Huntsman, Putin characterized the current state of bilateral relations as unsatisfactory, but called for “constructive, predictable, and mutually advantageous cooperation,” and expressed his hope that Huntsman’s arrival will mark the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral relations. Huntsman, a …

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Spain’s Constitutional Court has ordered the suspension of a Catalonian special parliamentary session next week, during which regional leaders plan to vote to break away from Spain. A spokeswoman for the court said judges “ordered the suspension of the plenary that has been called for Monday in the [Catalan] parliament” as the constitutional court hears appeals against it. Catalonian lawyers have said the session would be illegal because it deals with the referendum vote over the weekend, which had already been suspended by the Constitutional Court. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also called on Catalonian authorities to cancel plans to …

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