Germany: Olaf Scholz dreams of a larger Europe - Opinion

It was a typical Olaf Scholz speech: the chancellor spoke very calmly, almost emotionlessly. And yet there was a great deal of content: the European Union should become a powerful global player, a top region for business and technology, a large, sovereign, and pragmatic community of values that can defend itself. Who wouldn't agree with that?

Scholz clearly declared his support for further rounds of enlargement. Above all, the states of the Western Balkans, but also Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine should all become members of the European Union, according to Scholz. In the foreseeable future, this could mean 36 EU countries

Read more at: Opinion: Olaf Scholz dreams of a larger Europe | Opinion | DW | 30.08.2022

Ukraine Crises: Russia: Fewer independent media outlets every day

It sounds like something out of George Orwell's dystopian classic "1984," but it is a bitter reality for Russian journalists: In their coverage of Russia's war against Ukraine, they are no longer allowed to use certain words such as war, invasion and attack, as announced by Roskomnadzor, the Russian government's media watchdog agency.

Those who spread "false information," according to the Kremlin, are also liable to prosecution. This so-called "false information" includes, among other things, the statement that the Russian army is attacking civilian targets in Ukraine. All lies, according to Moscow ― people should only believe "correct" information, which comes solely from official state sources.

But every day the rest of the world sees new footage of destroyed residential buildings in Ukrainian cities like Kharkiv, where dead bodies are pulled from the rubble.

Read more at: Russia: Fewer independent media outlets every day | Europe | News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 03.03.2022

Britain an "Island" again: How U.K.'s Separation From EU Will Affect The Country

New Year's Eve - the ball drops, the champagne corks pop and the United Kingdom finally officially finishes its divorce from the world's largest trading bloc, the European Union. Brexit has huge consequences for business, travelers and regular people who built lives based on a Europe that spanned the English Channel. This is a big gamble for the U.K., one that started more than four years ago when one of the biggest cheerleaders for Brexit was a former London mayor named Boris Johnson.

Johnson and his fellow Brexiteers had no real plan for how to actually untangle decades of economic and legal integration with Europe. And so a country known for effective, sometimes dull governance was plunged into years of political chaos that cost two prime ministers their jobs; first, David Cameron, the man who called the referendum, even as he urged Brits to vote against it.

From the perspective of a political scientist, you could not have hoped to live through a more interesting time to study the politics of your country. The other thing for me that is fascinating, though, is that many - for many people who supported Brexit, leaving the European Union wasn't an end in itself. It was a means to an end. That is to say if we leave the European Union, then we can, dot, dot, dot. You fill in that blank as you want - become a more activist international player, deregulating the way the European Union would never let us. So actually, the real test of Brexit in many ways is yet to come, which is now you've got that freedom. What the hell are you going to do with it? And how are you going to make people's lives better because of it, despite the fact that you're in charge of an economy that is growing less fast than it would have done had we not left in the first place?

Read more at: How U.K.'s Separation From EU Will Affect The Country : NPR

EU poll - Large majority of Europeans say in Poll that Europe should chart its own course in world affairs

EU should 'chart its own course' in world affairs, Europeans say in Poll

 

Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/10/eu-should-chart-its-own-course-in-world-affairs-europeans-say

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USA: AP-NORC Poll: Majority of Americans favor Russia probe

A slim majority of Americans favor an independent investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with the Russian government, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that showed public views about the controversy driving congressional investigations are sharply divided along party lines.

Amid questions swirling in Washington that have forced the resignation of one top Trump official and the scrutiny of several others, most Americans say they're at least somewhat concerned about the possibility that the Republican businessman's campaign had inappropriate contacts with the Russian government, but less than half say they're very concerned.

More than three-quarters of Democrats favor an independent investigation into Trump's Russian ties while only one-quarter of Republicans do. Overall, 52 percent of Americans favor such a probe, while 23 percent are opposed. Another 22 percent say they neither favor nor oppose an investigation. Asked if they favor an independent investigation into the issue of Moscow's meddling in the 2016 campaign, Americans broke along similar margins.

"Russia has always been an enemy of the United States and of democracy across the world. Our politicians have no business making secret deals with them. That's not the America I know," said John Dodd, 68, who runs a bowling alley in Big Spring, Texas. "Every day, I turn on the news and it feels like there's more to it. For our country's sake, I hope it leads to nowhere. But I am afraid it does."

Questions about possible ties between Trump's associates and Russian officials have dogged the White House.

Since July, the FBI has been conducting a counterintelligence investigation into Russia's interference in the election and possible coordination with Trump associates. House and Senate intelligence committees, led by Republican lawmakers, are also investigating. Some Democratic leaders have called for an independent investigation, saying the congressional probes, particularly the House investigation, has been tainted by political interference from the White House.

Read more: AP-NORC Poll: Majority of Americans favor Russia probe

Russia-EU: Are we finally witnessing a thaw in Russia-EU relations? - by Bryan MacDonald

The process seemed to begin on the morning of May 25 when Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned Ukraine's Nadiya Savchenko, whose detention and conviction had caused Western outrage. Immediately, EU officials were falling over themselves to celebrate the move.

By the weekend, the German news weekly Der Spiegel, which is often regarded as the house journal of Angela Merkel's CDU party, was reporting that Berlin was considering the relaxation of sanctions against Russia.

Of course, the motives here might not be totally benevolent. After all, some EU leaders – most notably in France, Italy and Greece – have expressed dissatisfaction with the policy. As a result, Merkel may feel that retaining unity on the issue, as things stand, is impossible and that compromise is needed to preserve EU consensus.

Whatever the reasons, the fact that Der Spiegel carried the story almost certainly means that it reflects German government thinking. And talk of sanctions rollback is music to Moscow's ears right now.

Then, just when the Kremlin was digesting the notion of the embargo easing, up popped Jean-Claude Juncker with even better news. On May 30, the EU Commission president revealed that he will attend next month's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, widely known as the "Russian Davos." His spokeswoman said that "he will use this opportunity to convey to the Russian leadership as well as to a wider audience the EU's perspective regarding the current state of EU-Russia relations."

Leonard Cohen once wrote that "there's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Yet, it has taken a long time for Brussels and Moscow to uncover a luminous crevice. Russians will now hope that this diplomatic winter is finally over. So will many of the European businesses that have suffered under Moscow's counter-sanctions.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully this thaw in the frozen relationship between the EU and Russia will also signal the beginning of a more independent foreign policy for the EU. A foreign policy which is more focused on the interests of the EU, rather than tagging along with the US on their foreign military adventures, which so  far have not been very successful or beneficial to the EU, to say the least.

Read more: Are we finally witnessing a thaw in Russia-EU relations? - UPI.com