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Post by DavidH on Mar 6, 2017 21:07:06 GMT
Mark MacKinnon @markmackinnon 42 minutes ago Only three more countries need to ratify to make tiny Montenegro the 29th NATO member: Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States. Foreign Policy CANV @canadafp Today, Canada proudly ratified Montenegro's accession to NATO.  |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 6, 2017 21:09:19 GMT
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Post by DavidH on Mar 7, 2017 10:24:56 GMT
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Post by DavidH on Mar 7, 2017 19:55:31 GMT
Jack Losh @jacklosh 27 minutes ago Nasty spike in fighting in eastern Ukraine. Frontline villages near Mariupol endure explosions every 4 seconds during one fruitless clash.  |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 8, 2017 10:24:54 GMT
Rail blockade by Ukraine patriots creates headache for KievMove to halt trade with separatists could cost country $3.5bn and up to 75,000 jobs. With the blockade cutting three of the four working railway junctions carrying goods to and from the east, the implications are serious. Seven of Ukraine’s 15 thermoelectric power stations can only burn anthracite coal, mined exclusively in the east, without expensive retooling. Steel output fell 19 per cent in February from January, and several mines and steel plants in separatist regions were forced to stop production as coal movements to, and iron ore shipments from, Ukraine-controlled areas were halted. Valeria Gontareva, Ukraine’s central bank governor, warned last week that if the blockade continued for the rest of the year, it could halve forecast economic growth of 2.8 per cent. But if Kiev tries to lift the blockade by force, it risks clashing with its own war veterans. Leaders of the separatist republics, who set a March 1 deadline for Kiev to lift the blockade, have now moved to establish “external management” of Ukrainian-registered businesses — a step Moscow said was “understandable”. If the rebel leaders did take over businesses in their territories, these would come under the Kiev and international sanctions regimes and Ukrainian and other companies could no longer legally trade with them. Closing the enterprises would put tens of thousands of workers out of jobs, risking social unrest in regions where unemployment already tops 50 per cent. www.ft.com/content/9fac31cc-0266-11e7-ace0-1ce02ef0def9
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Post by DavidH on Mar 8, 2017 13:06:29 GMT
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Post by DavidH on Mar 8, 2017 17:57:59 GMT
Stars and Stripes @starsandstripes 1 hour ago US military accuses Russia of deploying land-based cruise missile in violation of Cold War-era nuclear arms treaty. US general says Russia has deployed banned missile The U.S. military for the first time is publicly accusing Russia of deploying a land-based cruise missile in violation of a Cold War-era nuclear arms treaty. Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House panel on Wednesday that the missile's deployment presents what he called a "risk to most of our facilities in Europe" and that the move is a deliberate effort by Russia to pose a threat to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. www.stripes.com/us-general-says-russia-has-deployed-banned-missile-1.457570#.WMBFsRIYnqS |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 8, 2017 17:59:33 GMT
Hromadske Int. @hromadske 2 hours ago Estimated 500-1000 people marched in centre of Kyiv for equal women rights and opportunities.  |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 8, 2017 18:00:49 GMT
ICRC Ukraine @icrc_ua We believe that between 1000 and 2000 people are missing from the conflict in Ukraine. During the war, up to 2,000 people disappeared in the Donbas, the Red CrossThis was stated by the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer, Ukrinform reports. "Many people have disappeared as a result of the conflict in the east of Ukraine, but no one knows their exact number - perhaps between 1,000 and 2,000. Finding answers to questions and supporting families of such persons is one of our priorities," Maurer said. 24today.net/open/724094 |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 8, 2017 18:04:06 GMT
Dominik P. Jankowski ~dpjankowski Mar 6 Some of the capabilities to be deployed on NATO's eastern flank with enhanced Forward Presence.  |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 9, 2017 9:57:27 GMT
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Post by DavidH on Mar 9, 2017 9:59:02 GMT
Lucian Kim @lucian_Kim 1 hour ago "We're facing biggest risk to Donbas industry in our history." Donbass plants develop a strategyUntil the last day no one knew whether the worker would be paid money. And if the salary comes, then whether the former owner will pay it or it will be paid out of the budget of the republic subsidized by Russia. "As a result, yesterday, two-thirds of the salary came to us on the cards, as it was all the last months," one of the workers of the Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant told Kommersant. At other enterprises in the territory of the DNR, the situation for workers is less favorable. "The last salary was in the beginning of February, now the production is frozen," the employee of the unloading department of the Enakievo Iron and Steel Works. On March 1, the plant was blocked by people with automatic weapons, all control systems were stopped. www.kommersant.ru/doc/3236732 |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 9, 2017 10:11:53 GMT
RFE/RL @rferl 39 minutes ago Belarus President Lukashenka says collection of controversial tax on unemployed people will be suspended for one year. Belarusian President Suspends Collection Of 'Parasite' Tax On Jobless People Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has announced that collection of a tax on unemployed people will be suspended for one year, stepping back from a policy that has prompted widespread protests in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic. Lukashenka told a government meeting in Minsk on March 9 that the law imposing the tax will not be revoked, but said payments "will not be collected for the tax year of 2017." www.rferl.org/a/belarus-lukashenka-parasite-law-suspended/28359382.html |
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Post by DavidH on Mar 9, 2017 13:06:24 GMT
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Post by DavidH on Mar 9, 2017 15:03:36 GMT
'No Turning Back' On Kosovo Army Despite NATO, U.S. WarningsKosovar President Hashim Thaci says there is "no turning back" from his plan to transform the Balkan country's lightly armed security force into a national army, brushing off strongly voiced concern from NATO and the United States. The security force "will be transformed into a Kosovo army," Thaci told RFE/RL on March 8, seeming to dismiss warnings from the U.S. Embassy and the Western military alliance against making the change without amending the constitution. www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-moves-create-regular-army-over-serbian-objections-thaci-vucic/28356811.html
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