The ongoing row between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas supplies to Europe appears to be deepening. This comes just days after the European Union announced what was supposed to be a breakthrough agreement to get gas flowing again to at least 15 European countries, leaving millions in the cold. EurActiv.com reports that the ongoing crisis between Moscow and Kiev appears to be a strategy of “delusion, reminiscent of the Cold War.” Along those lines, an official at the Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom went so far as to accuse …
With the New Year dawning across Europe, already several crises are competing for headlines. Buried somewhere in the news, you might have read that the United States is not the only international actor facing a transition of power–change is afoot in the European Union as well. From the conflict in Gaza to the ongoing global economic woes, the Europeans appear determined to play a leading role–that is, if internal squabbling doesn’t get in the way first. Already, some are concerned that the EU’s role in world affairs may not be …
A European Union court yesterday annulled a new move by the E.U. to freeze the assets of an exiled Iranian opposition group in the latest in a string of legal setbacks to its blacklist of suspected terrorist groups. This is a setback for European efforts to fight terrorism. The group that was involved, the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), has a long history of supporting terrorism and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. The PMOI is a non-democratic Marxist terrorist group that was part …
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is heading to Poznan, Poland, next week to take part in the U.N. climate talks being held there. Kerry will serve as one of several congressional emissaries who have been charged with reporting back to President-elect Barack Obama. But just as Kerry tells Grist magazine that he hopes the talks will lay tracks for the much heralded Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen next December (where the successor to Kyoto is expected to be hammered out), the wheels appear to be coming off of the European …
In a taped message shown yesterday to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Governors Global Climate Summit,” President-elect Barack Obama reiterated much of the same rhetoric from the campaign trail: a federal cap-and-trade system, cutting carbon emissions by 80% by 2020, $15 billion a year in new spending, and 5 million new green jobs. The globe-trotting delegates at the posh Beverly Hills conference swallowed every word. London-based Climate Group chief executive Steve Howard told attendees: “It looks as if we’re about to have a climate emissions Terminator in Washington.” Let’s leave aside …
When a member of the European Parliament, “Red” Daniel Cohn-Bendit, said in a plenary session that there was a possible financial link between the Irish “No to Lisbon Treaty” campaign and the Pentagon and CIA, it was easy to dismiss the accusation as a storm in a tea-cup from one of Parliament’s more eccentric members. However, while at dinner in Brussels last night, I was told that an official European Parliamentary delegation will raise the matter with US Congressmen next month during a visit to Miami. EUOBSERVER has confirmed the report today, …
European Union ministers are pressuring Poland and Lithuania to endorse the EU’s business-as-usual approach toward Russia, despite the fact that Russia remains in violation of the EU-negotiated truce over the Russian-Georgian war. The EU apparently wants to have Poland and Lithuania on board for this scurrilous betrayal, so that it is seen to “speak with one voice” on foreign policy. Poland and Lithuania are right to stick to their guns on this one and put their principles above political expediency, not to mention their own security. Russia recently announced that …
According to the Tax Policy Center, Barack Obama plans raise the tax burden on all Americans by $627.1 billion over the next 10 years. Defending this policy on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Joe Biden told Americans they should enjoy paying higher taxes because “it’s time to be patriotic … time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut.”Apparently, the rest of the world does not view higher taxes as “patriotic” as Biden does. Over the last decade almost every …
Heritage’s Sally McNamara discusses the concerns for the West now that Russia invaded Georgia. In the video she highlights three main reasons why we need to be concerned: 1. The Invasion was illegal and immoral 2. Europe’s response has been wholly inadequate 3. The West should stress to Russia that actions have consequences. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtqvpb_KzgI[/youtube] Read more about this conflict: Russia’s Recognition of Independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia Is Illegitimate: They Are Not Kosovo The EU Must Express Solidarity with Georgia at Its Emergency Summit
Despite promises to withdraw their troops, Russian forces are still manning checkpoints in undisputed Georgian territory and demanding advance notification of all travel through the central Georgian city of Gori. Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utishvili commented: “This is ridiculous. If they ask you to get a Russian visa if you want to travel from Washington to Baltimore, that’s what it looks like.” How did we get here? For the first time since the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was created in 2002, President Vladimir Putin attended the April 2008 NATO Summit …
