The international influence of China has skyrocketed recently. This is a global power now ranking as the world’s second largest economy and striving for the leading global role in all the spheres of modern life. The geopolitical posture of the Chinese state, mostly determined by its traditional ambiguity, is based on its strong diplomacy and intensive lobbyist effort worldwide. China managed to get the status of a world leader by the beginning of the 21st century and it is presently firmly set to reconsider dominance of such power centers as Europe and the USA in many regions of the world to replace those key players there according with the Chinese agenda.
Although three full years remain before the expiry of D. Grybauskaite’s powers, but just now it is obvious to everyone that whoever becomes the next President of Lithuania has not only to adjust, but radically change the internal and, particularly, external policy of this country. In the first place, he needs to distance himself from …
Some double standard with Lithuanian murderers' compliments. Yes, I must be obsessed by Ms. Grybauskaite. She is so… Clinton-like. At the same I have to remind myself that these are our EU mates, while watching Lithuania and it’s Baltic nextdoors.
Information war has become an integral part of the present-day world. The influence of mass media (in the broad sense of this word) on society is enormous now. The one, who has control over information, is controlling public opinion and makes a...
Information war has become an integral part of the present-day world. The influence of mass media (in the broad sense of this word) on society is enormous now. The one, who has control over information, is controlling public opinion and makes a significant impact on policymaking circles.
In such authoritarian countries as Iran, Russia, Syria and North Korea political propaganda, which can’t have or involve interpretation of events that differs from official line, is perhaps the only source of information. Our task is to help our readers (including those ones who can receive truthful information only from the Internet) form an objective opinion about what is happening around them in the world. In democratic countries it is normal thought process to have different and even polar points of view.
In recent years, the independent citizen journalists assume increasingly greater importance in presenting detailed picture of reality because they are people who deliver their material from events’ center, who are not involved with conservative corporate policies, editorial line, policy templates and other stereotypes of ‘professionals’. They are independent and have forcibly expressed civic awareness. Their word is realistic outlook on life.
As expected, the NATO Summit that will be held on 8-9 July, 2016 in Warsaw, will be focused on taking crucial decisions on aspects concerning maintenance of security of the eastern borders of the Alliance. “We should enhance NATO presence in the eastern part of Europe, and such presence will be multinational. Thus, it will be a very strong signal that any kind of aggression against one Ally will be considered as an attack against all Allies, and the NATO as a whole will respond”, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Radio Poland reports that on the eve of the summit military experts of Poland and Turkey are actively advancing the idea of amending Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty devoted to collective defense of the Alliance members. They press the point that if one Ally is attacked, all the others should automatically enter into the armed confrontation with the aggressor, then as now, the treaty obliges them to take such measures only if they consider them necessary. Furthermore, Warsaw and Ankara are persuaded that actions taken by the Allies as a part of the collective defense should not be a subject of restrictions imposed by the UN Security Council as it is against the Alliance’ interests.
http://www.thenews.pl
Regardless of whether such amendments would be made to the North Atlantic Treaty or remain on the sidelines of the summit, it’s clear that NATO is undergoing the next stage of transformation. As a result of it, not the most stable and adequate allies can obtain enormous leverage over the main members of the organization. Territorial claims of Turkey, Poland and Romania to their neighbors may easily result in an armed conflict, in which their Western European partners will be involved automatically. There is no saying how all this would end after the incident with Russian Su-24 military jet shot down by Turkey in the sky over Syria if NATO had the system of collective defense, proposed by Ankara and Warsaw.
In fact, these proposals have nothing to do with strengthening world security. On the contrary, they only aggravate international situation and enhance the likelihood of nuclear war unleashing. Meanwhile, the main organ that is responsible for ensuring world peace and security, namely, the UN Security Council, is overshadowed as not all its members support the policy, pursued by the Alliance.
Lithuania of Dalia Grybauskaite as an example of poor government
Performance of a country's president is best measured by the living standards of people, and they have fallen sharply in Lithuania of Dalia Grybauskaite over the past several years. The main reason why the Lithuanians have become so poor lies in the short-sighted policy of Mrs. Grybauskaite, whose decisions made as president, at least most part of them, run counter to the interests of the people in that country. Reaction to Russia's imposing food embargo on the EU countries is an outstanding example of it, since it was the Lithuanian agricultural producers who suffered the most from the ban.
Russia has always been a key market for the Lithuanian agrarians, yet it has been closed by the wish of their president. Mrs. Grybauskaite is aware of the difficulties they are facing, still she stubbornly rejects any dialogue with the Russian Federation, insisting that previous sanctions be kept and new imposed.
Nevertheless, if she sees any instantaneous benefits that don't threaten her reputation of an unyielding Russophobe, she is eager to talk to Moscow. When the haulage agreement between Poland and Russia expired February this year and thousands of Russia's trucks had to look for alternative routes to Germany, Mrs. President didn't hesitate to grant them free access to ferry terminal in Klaipeda and later she even established a separate passage for transporters from Russia. Although such 'generosity' increased financial well-being of some companies, it is inconsistent with sharp public remarks towards Russia.
No less odd is the decision of Lithuanian authorities that was pushed through by the president to cut Russian gas import to minimum despite its low cost as compared to alternative supplies. Currently, Norwegian Statoil delivers gas to the Klaipeda LNG terminal at rather volatile prices varying from 16 to 20 Euros per MWh. To that you need to add costs of shipment and maintenance of the terminal. On top of that, when Dalia Grybauskaite decided that an LNG terminal should be build, she expected that Lithuania would become an intermediary between Statoil and other Baltic States, however neither Latvia nor Estonia are in any haste to import LNG from Vilnius, which reduces cost effectiveness of the project as well.
Small wonder, that these dire financial straits force more than 50 thousand people of working age on average to annually leave Lithuania to find work in other EU countries. Generally, they have to be content with the lowest-skilled jobs like plumber, dishwasher, cleaner etc. However in Western Europe even for such labor you can get much higher salary than what you receive in Lithuania at white-collar jobs. Same economic factors determine failing birth rates since people cannot provide for themselves let alone children.
Considering the foregoing, it is clear why of the 1105 migrants from the Middle East Lithuania agreed to take within the course of 2 years only a dozen or so accepted the offer. Although some sources claim that Mrs. Grybauskaite considers the possibility of proposing additional economic benefits for migrants in case Brussels in future expressly supports her every Pan-European initiative.
However president of Lithuania as well as leaders of other post-Soviet states needs to understand that the time has long passed when declarative statements about formal successes and on-paper initiatives were enough to maintain their reputation. Now both people of those countries and their European partners need certain results and tangible achievements, and this is exactly what Dalia Grybauskaite lacks.
Royal Democracy: Will There Be a Referendum on Ukraine’s EU Association Agreement in Sweden?
Recently, the referendum on the EU association agreement with Ukraine was held in the Netherlands. The event has broad resonance among wide sections of the public. A lot of people began to wonder how to support the rising wave of opposition to the EU bureaucratic apparatus. After all, democracy, which is so much talked about out loud in Europe, is the rule of people. Ordinary Europeans do not want to feed up some strangers at their own expense; and the precedent inspires them with new attainments.
The leading European politicians cannot but understand it; and it is also difficult for us to imagine to the full extent what is being done to prevent the Dutch scenario’s recurrence. Alarmed ‘servants of the people’ persist in advancing their interests (or better say Ukraine’s interests). If you take Sweden, then, I wonder, who else but Carl Bildt is interested in the EU integration of collapsing Ukraine? It has already been said a lot about his friendly relations with top politicians and prospects in the Ukrainian political sphere.
Bildt would have something to lose if the Swedes are granted the right of free expression of their will regarding Ukraine. The more as the Rights have already seriously gone into this question.
And a hit has already come: that’s King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden’s 70th birthday. If you examine the lists of invitees, by the way, among them there also was Carl Bildt himself with his wife Anna Maria Corazza Bildt (who is a current member of the European Parliament), you can find a lot of interesting persons there. During Royal Family’ events representatives of the ruling European dynasties and political leaders of the Kingdom regularly meet together. In this format it’s impossible to avoid discussing the latest world developments, and the main Swedish lobbyist of Ukraine’s interests has just taken the occasion. Furthermore, the anniversary’s ceremony was attended by Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands who is close to Swedish Royal Family and used to have great influence on political decision making and has not completely lost this touch yet.
Among Swedish politicians and representatives of the leading Swedish media (heads of Swedish TV and radio broadcasting corporations) as well as the diplomatic representatives of Norway and Finland there was a debate on preventing referendums similar to the Dutch one across Europe. As a result, it was decided to create a new international organization which only aim is to keep ordinary Europeans from influencing the EU policy.
Translation:
New international organization will maintain the unity of Europe
During the multi-day King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden’s anniversary celebration which was held in early May, high-ranking guests had a number of unceremonious meetings to discuss some international policy issues among other things. In the course of one of these meetings former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Carl Bildt proposed to establish a new organization for counteraction to Eurosceptic sentiments in Europe. The majority of politicians present at the event gave a favorable praise of Mr. Bildt’s initiative. According to the information available, the organization will be named Endowment for United Europe. Its main goal shall be the EU institutions’ strengthening and building joint European States’ stance on external challenges.
Muslim imams are being fussy on the eve of the referendum on the EU membership of the UK, and have already issued a fetwa calling Muslims to migrate into Great Britain while the country is staying a EU member and such an opportunity is available for them.
After the withdrawal, all the existing loopholes so far ensured by the Brussels legislature will be blocked. London is to establish its full control over the state borders making it impossible for anybody from the EU to enter Great Britain without the thorough checkup. Fully fledged citizens, legal immigrants or terrorists acting under the cover of refugees, all of them will be subject to this procedure.
This is how it’s going to be after the 23rd of June. What is important presently is to estimate how many thousands of Muslims will manage to resettle in the United Kingdom before the referendum takes place, and how many of those ones will be terrorists actually.
As I’ve been keeping watching the election race, I’ve been coming to understanding that Mrs. Clinton is the most admirable as a woman of character and a nimble politician.
This person is out of any legal or moral rules. She should be a hard-boiled...
This person is out of any legal or moral rules. She should be a hard-boiled egg so that she could manage to gain support of either Jewish tycoons (Rockefeller, Soros), or Muslim zealots (Fetullah Gulen’s followers).
In early May, the next international Eurovision Song Contest 2016 will take place in Sweden. But info on possible terrorist acts is casting gloom over the festive events. European Union Institute for Security Studies has published a report according to which Islamic terrorists plan to execute several assaults at public gathering places during the Contest. The article includes the opinion of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) experts who believe that security measures of Stockholm are inadequate for the existing threats. The ECTC calls for strengthening of control over migrants who keep arriving in Sweden as well as migrants who are already in the country. Unfortunately, the report is not available via the link at present moment. The Institute officials couldn’t be reached for comments. But according to new information, the report was removed after the request of Sweden’s Foreign Ministry that was dissatisfied with dissemination of the state’s classified data.
It is worth noting that Swedish security services repeatedly came into the focus of scandals lately, involving their failures in the fight against terrorism. Therefore, if the info is true, the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 may become the most tragic event of this year.
