Turning points: Russia – USA. The new START after the “reset”.
The world is a little bit safer today after the agreement among former foes on the most complex part of the Cold War legacy. The U.S. Senate passed the New START treaty by a vote of 71 to 26 on Wednesday, while the Russian parliament may give its approval to the pact soon. Moscow becomes [...]
Non sempre le elezioni anticipate sono la soluzione di tutti i problemi. La Bulgaria è il classico esempio.
I risultati delle parlamentari danno avanti i conservatori di Gerb dell’ex premier Boiko Borisov al 31%, seguiti al 27% dai socialisti di Stanishev. A superare lo sbarramento del 4% per avere una rappresentanza parlamentare sono anche il partito della minoranza turca Dps con il 10 ed i nazionalisti di Ataka con il 7. 
Alla chiusura delle urne migliaia di persone sono scese in piazza a Sofia per protestare. Il rinvenimento di ben 350mila bollettini falsi da parte della polizia alla vigilia della consultazione ha ulteriormente acceso gli animi.
Il rischio di stallo politico è adesso altissimo. Considerando le dichiarazioni della vigilia e l’esito delle votazioni, nessuna formazione ha la forza per governare da sola. A meno di sorprese servirà un accordo sul tipo delle “larghe intese”. Nel febbraio scorso Boiko Borisov fu costretto alle dimissioni, quindi alle elezioni anticipate.
La Bulgaria, dal 2007 membro dell’Unione europea, vive un momento particolarmente difficile. La crisi economica, la corruzione e i bassi standard di vita hanno provocato delusione ed apatia tra la popolazione. La disoccupazione si aggira ufficialmente sul 12%, mentre secondo altre fonti sarebbe invero del 18%.
«43-й год. Немецкие солдаты стоят на русской земле. Перед ними — полдюжины русских крестьян. Целятся. Стреляют. Русские крестьяне падают. Все, кроме одной девушки. Она стоит, глядя на немцев огромными от ужаса глазами. А те ругают новобранца: «Говнюк, промазал! Ты жалкий трус!». Командир подзывает самого надежного убийцу: «Фридгельм!» Фридгельм поднимает карабин и в упор расстреливает девчонку. 
Фридгельм — один из героев немецкого телефильма «Наши матери, наши отцы». Фильма о немецких солдатах, превращающихся в преступников. Как говорит Вильгельм, старший брат Фридгельма: «Мы были героями. А стали убийцами» …
Немцы редко снимают кино о войне. А когда снимают, получается очень мрачно: «Мост» (о том, как пара пацанов погибает, пытаясь в самом конце войны защитить родину); «Лодка» (как погибает команда подводной лодки); «Сталинград» (все персонажи-немцы гибнут); «Бункер» (как сдох Гитлер). Короче, немцы не снимают военные фильмы. Они снимают антивоенные фильмы…
Дело в том, что герои смотрят на войну глазами современного молодого поколения немцев: скептично с самого начала, без капли ненависти к евреям и славянам….
Именно поэтому фильм посмотрел 21 миллион немцев. Именно поэтому в стране началась бурная дискуссия….
Парадокс. Немцы снимают кино о массовых преступлениях немцев в Советском Союзе. А официозная Россия бесится, что негодяи немцы умалчивают о массовых преступлениях немцев…
Поверьте, немцы знают о преступлениях своих предков не хуже вас. Просто немецкая молодежь не воспринимает проигранную прадедами войну как личное поражение, не чувствует личную ответственность за их зверства. Никого ведь не судят за преступления, совершенные до того, как он родился.
И не обижайтесь, если в Германии и в остальном мире не каждого русского автоматически приравнивают к его прадедам-героям. Уважение и моральный авторитет в мире каждое поколение должно заработать себе само… »
Статья - Штефан Шолль Московский Комсомолец № 26223 от 27 апреля 2013 г. Stefan Scholl Moskovskij Komsomolets.
Georgia’s Olympic Committee decided that its athletes will compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, scotching earlier suggestions they would boycott the event being hosted by arch-foe Russia. “Today the Georgian National Olympics Committee, at its extraordinary session, decided that Georgia’s Olympic team will take part in the 2014 Olympic Games,” the committee’s first vice-president Elguja Berishvili told AFP. 
The Games will be held in Sochi, near Russia’s border with the breakaway region of Abkhazia, which Georgia claims as part of its territory, while Russia considers it independent and maintains a large military presence there.
The debate over a boycott reflects Georgia’s political fault lines. The party of President Mikhail Saakashvili has floated the idea of a boycott, while his implacable opponent Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said Georgia will “definitely” take part.
Large scale military actions were launched in South Ossetia in Georgia on August 8 2008. Later Russian troops occupied Tskhinvali and expelled the Georgian military. Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia late in August. Tbilisi ended diplomatic relations with Moscow in response and has announced the two unrecognized republics to be occupied territories.
Relations between the two countries have thawed since billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s coalition triumphed at parliamentary elections last October. Ivanishvili has made normalising ties with Russia his foreign policy priority.
ECHR-Ukraine, Tymoshenko arbitrarily detained.
30 Apr 2013 In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Tymoshenko v. Ukraine (application no. 49872/11), which is not final, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: 
a violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights;
a violation of Article 5 § 4 (right to a speedy review of the lawfulness of detention);
a violation of Article 5 § 5 (right to compensation for unlawful detention);
a violation of Article 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) in conjunction with Article 5;
and it held, by a majority, that there had been no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) in respect of Ms Tymoshenko’s alleged ill-treatment during her transfer to hospital on 20 April 2012 and the effectiveness of the investigation of those complaints.
The case concerned complaints related to the detention of the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko. The Court held in particular: that Ms Tymoshenko’s pre-trial detention had been arbitrary; that the lawfulness of her detention had not been properly reviewed; and, that she had no possibility to seek compensation for her unlawful deprivation of liberty. The Court also found that, given that the judge had referred to her alleged hindering of the proceedings and contemptuous behaviour, her right to liberty had been restricted for other reasons than those permissible under Article 5.
Press Release – European Court of Human Rights April 30th, 2013.
«Саша и Артем живут в Италии. После четырех лет мытарств они были усыновлены семьей, которая их очень любит. Новые родители до сих пор не могут найти слов благодарности России за то, что они смогли осуществить свою долгожданную мечту иметь детей… 
Саше и Артему повезло. А другим? «Трагедия невиновных» — так, прямым текстом, надо называть ситуацию, в которой находятся примерно 700 тысяч российских детей, брошенных в приютах и в детдомах по всей России. Даже во время и после Второй мировой войны не было такого количества несчастных…
В истории человечества россияне не раз совершали настоящие подвиги. Они остановили Чингисхана, Наполеона, Гитлера. Они первыми полетели в космос. Сейчас российское общество стоит перед современным вызовом сопоставимого значения: спасти «своих» и гарантировать им достойную жизнь. На мой взгляд, разговор нужно вести именно так. Слишком уж долго (почти два десятилетия), как говорят у нас в Италии, пыль была скрыта под ковром. Пришла пора действовать. Или все рассуждения о «миссии» русского народа и о защите «своих» — только лишь разговоры?
В этом деле добрые иностранцы мало чем могут вам помочь. Масштаб детской трагедии колоссален. Как объяснила в Думе социальный вице-премьер Ольга Голодец, усыновления ждут в России 118 тысяч детей. В 2012 году граждане России усыновили или взяли под опеку 61 тысячу сирот, в то время как иностранцы усыновили почти в 30 раз меньше — около 2,5 тысячи (из них 749 находятся в Италии). Причем, как можно понять из слов госпожи Голодец, с каждым годом ситуация ухудшается…
«Что делать?» — вот вопрос, на который вам нужно побыстрее ответить… »
Статья – Джузеппе Д’Амато Московский Комсомолец № 26211 от 13 апреля 2013 г. Giuseppe D’Amato Moskovskij Komsomolets.
Russia. Navalnyj, l’anti-Putin alla sbarra.
27 Apr 2013Montatura per vendetta politica o l’ennesimo caso di imbroglio ai danni dello Stato? Il processo contro Aleksej Navalnyj, il blogger anti-Putin, diventato il punto di riferimento dell’opposizione russa, divide il gigante slavo. Le parti sono contrapposte e vie di mezzo non ve ne sono, assolutamente. 
Le accuse mosse contro il blogger, che ha inventato lo slogan “Russia Unita, il partito dei ladri e dei manigoldi”, appaiono assai deboli. Navalnyj viene processato lontano da Mosca, a Kirov, per appropriazione indebita, quando nel 2008-2009 era consigliere del locale governatore regionale. Avrebbe messo in piedi una vendita svantaggiosa di legname per fini personali. Rischia fino a 10 anni di carcere.
A metà aprile il processo era stato aperto ed immediatamente rimandato per dare tempo agli avvocati dell’uomo, oggi il più indigesto per il Cremlino, di conoscere gli incartamenti. E mercoledì 24 ben due sono state le interruzioni con il giovane giudice indeciso sul daffarsi, mentre all’esterno del Tribunale fans del blogger e militanti filo-governativi si fronteggiavano con tanto di striscioni infamanti.
Nel corso del dibattimento i testimoni dell’accusa non sono nemmeno riusciti a ripetere in aula quanto deposto durante le indagini. Avevano dimenticato dettagli importanti.
Le organizzazioni per la difesa dei diritti umani e rappresentanti diplomatici stranieri, presenti a Kirov, osservano preoccupati gli eventi. Human Rights Watch ha addirittura avvertito Mosca di stare violando gli impegni internazionali presi. Di recente Amnesty International ha reso pubblico un rapporto, dal titolo “Libertà minacciata”, sul primo anno del terzo mandato presidenziale di Vladimir Putin, in cui sono messe in luce sistematiche limitazioni e violazioni della libertà di espressione, riunione ed associazione.
“L’analisi dei documenti ufficiali pubblicati sul caso Navalnyj – ha scritto sul quotidiano Vedomosti l’ex oligarca, ora in carcere, Michail Khodorkovskij – non lascia dubbi: in un processo giusto ed equo tali accuse sono inapplicabili. La motivazione politica del procedimento è evidente”.
Il blogger, dal canto suo, non pesa affatto le sue parole. Anzi ha puntato il dito direttamente contro il Cremlino, che avrebbe inventato la vicenda “da capo a piedi”. I guai giudiziari di Navalnyj, considerato un possibile futuro antagonista di Putin per la Presidenza, non finiscono qui: alcuni giorni fa lui e suo fratello sono stati inquisiti per una frode postale.
Se condannato l’opposizione rischia di ritrovarsi senza uno dei suoi leader più amati. Nei mesi passati Navalnyj ha pubblicato diversi documenti – non si sa da chi ricevuti – che hanno portato alle dimissioni di diversi parlamentari di Russia Unita, il partito del Cremlino.
La sensazione è che lo scontro tra potere ed opposizione sia adesso passato dalle piazze alle aule di giustizia. I russi sono stanchi di una politica che non li appassiona non in grado di risolvere gli enormi problemi sociali.
Afghanistan, The Istanbul Process goes on.
26 Apr 2013 Almaty hosted the Third Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan with the participation of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev. More than 50 delegations, led by the foreign ministers of the participating states, supporting countries and heads of international organizations, attended the Almaty Conference. The participants fully supported the plans of the regional countries to cooperate on Afghanistan and confirmed their willingness to purposefully expand and deepen regional cooperation based on the principles of friendship, respect and mutual benefit. 
In his welcoming remarks, President Nursultan Nazarbayev highlighted the importance of regional cooperation and outlined Kazakhstan’s role in the international community’s plans on Afghanistan. He noted that Kazakhstan had been providing political, economic and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan starting from the 1990s directly or through international efforts.
Following the Conference, the participants adopted a final declaration, in which the parties confirmed their intention to continue to support Afghanistan’s engagement in the economic and political life of the region. The Conference participants highlighted the importance of these measures in the context of the withdrawal of International Security Assistance Forces from Afghanistan. They also adopted specific action plans for each of the six packages of the confidence-building measures of the Istanbul Process.
The third Ministerial meeting of the foreign ministers of the Istanbul Process has allowed the regional countries to harmonize their approaches on conducting a policy dialogue with Afghanistan and identify concrete measures of cooperation in the fields of education, economy, fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, and natural disasters, as well as the development of regional infrastructure.
The supporting countries and international organisations expressed full support for the intentions of the regional states and identified forms and conditions of their participation in the development of cooperation measures on behalf of Afghanistan. The sides emphasized their willingness to work closely in the context of international and regional organisations such as the UN, SCO, CICA, OSCE, CSTO, ECO and other.
A number of side events took place during the Almaty Conference. These included a presentation by the mayor of Almaty Akhmetzhan Yessimov on the opportunity to turn the city into a regional hub of multilateral diplomacy; an expert level seminar of the relevant bodies of the member countries of the Istanbul Process on Kazakhstan’s potential as a transit and transport corridor; an exhibition of Kazakhstan’s goods and products for export to Afghanistan.
Kazakhstan remains a reliable foreign partner of Afghanistan. Astana is committed to the development of political contacts with Kabul both in bilateral and multilateral formats.
In accordance with the adopted Declaration, the next Conference of the foreign ministers of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan will be held in China in 2014. In this regard, Kazakhstan expresses its gratitude to the Chinese side not only for their willingness to host the fourth meeting, but also for full support and contribution to the development of the Istanbul Process.
Statement from MFA Kazakhstan
Poland does not expect the EU Council to lift this year the Excessive Deficit Procedure, an EU mechanism for enforcing fiscal rules. The country missed its public-deficit target for 2012 according to the recently released data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS). 
Warsaw has been subject to scrutiny from Brussels since 2009 for running public deficits above the EU’s limit of 3% of gross domestic product. Despite initial plans to shrink the gap to 2.97%, the 2012 deficit ended up at 3.9% of GDP, GUS said.
“The Polish government believes it will reduce its general government deficit to 3.5% of GDP in 2013, thus paving the way to lifting excessive deficit procedure in 2014 versus previously expected 2013”, Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski said at a news conference.
Of the EU’s 27 members, 20 are currently under an Excessive Deficit Procedure for missing deficit targets.
Poland is the only European Union country to have avoided a recession since the Lehman Brothers’ collapse in 2008, but its expansion decelerated to 1.9% last year from 4.5% in 2011, according to recent data.
With the prolonged troubles of the eurozone undercutting the country’s export industries, rising unemployment, and pressure on private consumption and investment, the finance ministry cut its growth forecast for 2013 to 1.5%
Poland. Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 70 years later.
23 Apr 2013“The Polish capital of Warsaw marked the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, when hundreds of young, poorly armed Jews staged an ultimately doomed revolt against the Nazis.
from Wikipedia
Poland was once a Jewish bastion in Europe, 90% of the country’s 3.3 million pre-war Jewish residents were dead by 1945.
One synagogue remains in Warsaw, but it is tucked discreetly away among the skyscrapers and apartment buildings of the capital’s downtown area. To honour the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the uprising, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews is now open. The museum is funded by the Polish state, the city of Warsaw, and several private donors.
The Warsaw Ghetto was the biggest of all of Nazi-occupied Europe’s Jewish Ghettos during World War II, but Germans razed the neighbourhood and the post-war communist regime later built houses directly over the rubble. Three small fragments of the ghetto’s wall survived”.
Article – France 24 – April 2013.
«Дело «МК» как зеркало времени.
11 Apr 2013«Отнюдь не каждый политический материал газеты «МК» вызывает у меня восторг как у журналиста. Тем более что как немец я всегда ищу волосок в супе. Но в ставшей знаменитой статье большевичка Любовь Яровая, которая «сдает» собственного мужа, — убедительный прототип современных «танков в юбке». И фактура убедительная… 
Но все-таки я сомневаюсь, что женщины в современной российской политике, и конкретно в Госдуме, опередили коллег-мужчин в стремлении подстраивать свои убеждения под актуальные потребности власти ради сиюминутных, а еще лучше постоянных выгод. Беспринципность и оппортунизм — были и пока остаются прерогативой преимущественно мужского пола. Сколько представительных мужчин — и в Думе, и вне ее — ходят в нравственных юбках гораздо короче, чем у женщин-политиков?
Критиковать статью Георгия Янса можно только за то, что он недостаточно широко обрисовал образ современного российского политика. Подобных, кстати, хватает и вне России…
На Западе считают, что любой бред дезавуируется сам по себе. Поэтому до судебных разбирательств дело доходит редко. В Бундестаге все заканчивается ритуальными выговорами, иногда не менее ритуальными извинениями. В других случаях дело выносится на суд общественного мнения. И тогда обиженный деятель либо удовлетворяется поддержкой широкой публики, либо осознает, что его ругали по делу и не стоит дальше лезть на рожон.
В России, как видим, другие обычаи…
Статья – Штефан Шолль – Московский Комсомолец Stefan Scholl Moskovskij Komsomolets
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