Section: US & Canada
After Ukraine, Kazakhstan Wary of Ethnic Russians Broaching Autonomy
In the city of Kostanay in northern Kazakhstan, the ribbon of St. George, a black-and-orange symbol of resurgent Russian patriotism that was adopted by separatists in Ukraine, hangs from every second car’s rear-view mirror. Most people in this town and the surrounding region are ethnic Russians, distinct from the mainly Muslim ethnic...
Brazilian Police Question Ex-President in Corruption Probe
RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazilian police on Friday were questioning former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searching his home and other buildings linked to him as part of the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. Silva’s spokesman, Jose Crispiniano, confirmed that police were at addresses belonging to Silva, including his...
It Is High Time for EU to Stand Up To Creeping Illiberal Democracy in Europe
The Founders Fathers of the European Union (EU) believed that economic integration was the key to political prosperity in Europe. They integrated the coal and steel industries of Germany and France to disincentivize the main Continental European rivals from starting a Third World War. Since the modest start in 1951 the EU has grown into the most...
Podcast: The Russian Fronts
Are Russia’s hybrid war in Ukraine and its intervention in Syria two fronts in a larger war Moscow is waging with the West? Listen to the latest Power Vertical Podcast. …read more Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio...
Behind closed doors: Ukraine’s panicked meeting ahead of Crimean seizure
Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has published a previously top-secret transcript of a closed-door meeting it held on February 28, 2014 – just a few days before Moscow’s seizure of Crimea. The 37-page document shows the new authorities – in power for less than a week – in a state of near panic as […] …read more...
Jaresko emerges as top candidate for prime minister
KYIV – Chicago-native Natalie Jaresko, the current finance minister of Ukraine, is among the top candidates to succeed the embattled Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister, according to Kyiv insiders and recent news reports. She has already begun forming a Cabinet of Ministers consisting of technocrats, reported the rbc.ua news site on February 26,...
Verkhovna Rada first vice-chair visits Ottawa
OTTAWA – The first vice-chairman of Ukraine’s Parliament, Andriy Parubiy, held a number of fruitful meetings with Canadian government officials and politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, during a late February visit to Ottawa. During his meeting with a group of senators led by the chair of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and...
Ukrainian side says no elections without full security in Donetsk-Luhansk
Negotiations in the Minsk Contact Group on political issues are so configured as to push Ukraine into recognizing the Moscow-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (DPR, LPR), first de facto and then de jure, through local elections and a “special status.” For its part, Ukraine shows increasing tenacity in resisting that push....
Surkov and Gryzlov: Russia’s new negotiators on Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently appointed Vladislav Surkov and Boris Gryzlov to negotiate – in two separate formats – an outcome to Russia’s war in Ukraine’s east (Censor.net.ua, January 15, 2016; TASS, December 26, 2015). Messrs. Surkov and Gryzlov have long-standing personal ties to Mr. Putin and will report to him on...
Berlin and Paris soften up Kyiv ahead of ‘decisive’ Normandy meeting
In Kyiv, on February 22-23, while a working visit, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier portrayed the “Normandy” group’s upcoming March 3 meeting in Paris as a make-or-break event, designed to overcome the diplomatic deadlock over “the Ukraine crisis.” The diplomatic process is stuck in a crisis of its own, Mr....
