June 23, 2018
By Emily Tamkin
European governments, (click here) already nervous for what next month’s NATO summit could hold, have been thrown for yet another loop: President Donald Trump is reportedly set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on his trip to Europe. With trade tensions already rising and Trump continuing to insist that Europeans owe the United States for defense spending, some European diplomats worry whether Trump will present a message of transatlantic unity and strength to Putin, with whom he seems to want badly to get along.
It isn’t that Europeans, some of whom, prior to this administration, were seen as softer on Russia than their US counterparts, are inherently against a US president meeting his Russian counterpart. “We are always in favor of dialogue … There are lots of issues where we must find common ground with Russia, including Syria, Ukraine etc.,” one European diplomat wrote in an email to BuzzFeed News. “We have disagreements, they should be addressed as well.”
“It is not bad news per se that they meet,” agreed another.
A UK official, far from confirming reports that Whitehall is aghast, wrote, “We agree with Secretary General Stoltenberg. There is nothing contradictory in Trump seeing NATO allies and Putin in quick succession. The Prime Minister has always been clear that our approach with Russia is to engage but beware.”...
For the record, Crimea is an occupied territory and eastern Ukraine is engaged in a civil war.
22 June 2018
The Embassy of Ukraine (click here) in the United States has criticized the world map published by Bloomberg where the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which is now under the temporary Russian occupation, was defined as a neutral territory.
"Journalism should be correct. Bloomberg Business, don’t play into Russian aggressive games&propaganda! Crimea is temporarily under Russia’s occupation, but it is & will be an integral part of Ukraine’s territory Please, correct the map," the embassy wrote on Twitter, asking to mark the peninsula with the same color as mainland Ukraine....
The latest Russian sanctions was the second passed by the USA Congress and signed into law by the President. Trump needs an ankle bracelet to know where he is and when he becomes inappropriate and/or breaks the law. Trump believes Russian sanctions are a burden, but, Iran sanctions should be dissolved and the Iran Agreement incinerated.
29 January 2018
By Natasha Turak
...Frustration (click here) has grown within Congress over Trump's apparent reluctance to act on highly popular and bipartisan demands to punish Russia for alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and for its military activities in Ukraine.
While enacted in July, CAATSA was only signed in August amid much protest from the president. Suspicion over Trump's ties to Russia grew when the White House missed a pivotal CAATSA deadline in October to name Russian defense and intelligence entities slated for new sanctions. The Trump administration has consistently denied any ties with Russia, insisting that it solely aims to pursue a warmer relationship with the longtime U.S. adversary....
The US Congress needs to act to at least censure reprimand and/or censure Trump. This is outrageous indignation toward the legislature. Trump is ruling the country as a dictator and that should never stand. Even when the US House and Senate pass an immigration bill it is refused because of any compromise made with Democratic members.
Donald Trump is not a good president and needs to be formally regarded as such.
June 23, 2018For the record, Crimea is an occupied territory and eastern Ukraine is engaged in a civil war.
The Embassy of Ukraine (click here) in the United States has criticized the world map published by Bloomberg where the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which is now under the temporary Russian occupation, was defined as a neutral territory.
"Journalism should be correct. Bloomberg Business, don’t play into Russian aggressive games&propaganda! Crimea is temporarily under Russia’s occupation, but it is & will be an integral part of Ukraine’s territory Please, correct the map," the embassy wrote on Twitter, asking to mark the peninsula with the same color as mainland Ukraine....
The latest Russian sanctions was the second passed by the USA Congress and signed into law by the President. Trump needs an ankle bracelet to know where he is and when he becomes inappropriate and/or breaks the law. Trump believes Russian sanctions are a burden, but, Iran sanctions should be dissolved and the Iran Agreement incinerated.
29 January 2018
By Natasha Turak
...Frustration (click here) has grown within Congress over Trump's apparent reluctance to act on highly popular and bipartisan demands to punish Russia for alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and for its military activities in Ukraine.
While enacted in July, CAATSA was only signed in August amid much protest from the president. Suspicion over Trump's ties to Russia grew when the White House missed a pivotal CAATSA deadline in October to name Russian defense and intelligence entities slated for new sanctions. The Trump administration has consistently denied any ties with Russia, insisting that it solely aims to pursue a warmer relationship with the longtime U.S. adversary....
The US Congress needs to act to at least censure reprimand and/or censure Trump. This is outrageous indignation toward the legislature. Trump is ruling the country as a dictator and that should never stand. Even when the US House and Senate pass an immigration bill it is refused because of any compromise made with Democratic members.
Donald Trump is not a good president and needs to be formally regarded as such.
The government of Ukraine (click here) has added 30 legal entities and 14 individuals to its blacklist of those sanctioned over Russia's annexation of Crimea and Moscow's backing of a separatist campaign in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council posted on June 22 that the list now included 1,759 individuals and 786 legal entities.
The new additions include Russian political parties and other institutions that were involved in the conduct of Russian elections in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea.
The Russian Central Election Commission, the United Russia party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, the Russian Communist Party, and others were among those added to the list.
Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg and members of his family were also put on the blacklist.
A number of Russian defense enterprises and the Luhansk Aircraft Maintenance Plant were also added.
More than 10,300 people have been killed in the fighting between the separatists and Ukrainian government troops since it broke out in April 2014....
The corruption in Ukraine has been an issue that Europe and other trading partners wanted stopped. Ukraine now has an anti-corruption court. Ukraine is doing all the hard work to be considered a serious and legitimate democracy and valued trading partner. That should not be met in the USA as a frivolous accomplishment by meetings with Vladimir Putin.
PUTIN BROKE A TREATY OBLIGATION.
Treaties do mean nothing if there is no enforcement of them. Trump is circumventing the authority of the USA to render enforcement of the treaty that Putin not only broke but then invaded Crimea and started a civil war at the eastern border of Ukraine. His military shot down a commercial airliner passing over Ukraine and killed 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
Trump has no respect for the USA or it's allies. He is self-serving and nothing more.
23 June 2018
The German government (click here) considers the creation of an Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine an important and courageous step.
Representative of the German Foreign Ministry Christofer Burger stated this at a briefing in Berlin on Friday, when asked about this issue by an Ukrinform correspondent.
"We have always said that the creation of the Anti-Corruption Court is an important step on the path of reforms in Ukraine and an important signal of determination in the fight against corruption," said Burger....
