Russia attacks Sikorski on comments about U.S. troops in Poland

Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — A member of the Russian parliament has criticized Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski for his comments during his visit this week to Washington, but the Polish foreign ministry has disputed the accuracy of Russian news reports quoting Sikorski’s statement. READ MORE

Obama diplomacy lost in confusion

TedLipien.com, SAN FRANCISCO — Speaking softly to dictators while insulting faithful allies seems to be the essence of President Obama’s confused diplomacy. The Obama administration has repeatedly offended Poland’s pride in recent months, making Polish officials extremely suspicious and anxious about foreign policy and military commitments of the new U.S. administration. READ MORE

U.S. media ignore Russia’s simulated attack on Poland

Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — Mirroring the Obama Administration’s diminished interest in Eastern Europe and unwillingness to challenge Russia’s aggressive foreign policy in the region, mainstream U.S. media ignored Polish and British news reports about a simulated attack on Poland, which Russian troops conducted during military exercises in Belarus in September. Polish news magazine Wprost reported that Russian aircraft practiced the use of nuclear weapons in the attacks. Wprost also reported it has obtained documents which show that the military exercises portrayed Poland as “a potential aggressor.”

Mainstream U.S. media, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, ignored this story. READ MORE

America’s New Partnership with Central Europe

Atlantic Council – In his remarks in Bucharest, the U.S. Vice President Biden celebrated the democratic and economic development of Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of communism twenty years ago.

Read more from the original source:
America’s New Partnership with Central Europe

President George H.W. Bush on the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Atlantic Council – I am delighted to join the Atlantic Council in commemorating the 60th Anniversary of NATO and the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The Fall of the Wall was first and foremost a testament to the spirit of the German people. read more

Continue reading here:
President George H.W. Bush on the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Trans-Atlanticism Renewed: The Path to Force Effectiveness

Although NATO today faces threats from more unconventional enemies, its need to forge a strong trans-Atlantic Alliance remains as essential to its success as ever, says Thomas Enders.

Original post:
Trans-Atlanticism Renewed: The Path to Force Effectiveness

Margaret Thatcher: Reflections on Winning the Cold War

As the world celebrates 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall it is right that we should reflect on the impact of those momentous months.

Read more:
Margaret Thatcher: Reflections on Winning the Cold War

1989 Started New Era of Globalization and Geopolitics

The fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989 was an exceptional event in German and world history. As a German-speaking Swiss national living in Zurich at the time, I was deeply moved by the events

Go here to see the original:
1989 Started New Era of Globalization and Geopolitics

Zbigniew Brzezinski on the End of the Cold War

Atlantic Council president and CEO Frederick Kempe interviewed Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter and a member of the Atlantic Council International Advisory Board, for Freedom’s Challenge , a publication commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

View post:
Zbigniew Brzezinski on the End of the Cold War

Defenders in Danger — Rights Watch #19

Human Rights Watch (HRW) – Journalist Elena Milashina continues to document abuses at the hands of the Russian government — even though several of her colleagues have been killed for their work.

Originally posted here:
Defenders in Danger — Rights Watch #19

Россия: уголовное дело о клевете против Олега Орлова

(Москва) – Российские власти должны немедленно прекратить уголовное преследование руководителя правозащитного центра «Мемориал», заявила Хьюман Райтс Вотч.

Link:
Россия: уголовное дело о клевете против Олега Орлова

Russia: Drop Criminal Libel Charges Against Activist

(Moscow) – Russian authorities should immediately drop criminal libel charges against Oleg Orlov, the prominent activist who heads Memorial Human Rights Center, Human Rights Watch said today. The charges stem from Orlov’s statement that Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, was responsible for the murder of Natalia Estemirova, Memorial’s leading researcher in Chechnya.

See original here:
Russia: Drop Criminal Libel Charges Against Activist

U.S. Embassy blames diplomatic gaffe on a Polish translator

TedLipien.com, SAN FRANCISCO — Bill Clinton might have asked what the “enhanced” definition of  ”to enhance” IS?  The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw is busy blaming a Polish translator for mistranslating U.S. Ambassador Lee Feinstein’s TV interview answer about Polish troops in Afghanistan,  which caused a diplomatic READ MORE

Biden: Missile defense is not about Russia

Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — In a speech in Bucharest, Romania, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden categorically denied that President Obama’s new missile defense proposal was meant to appease Russia.

“Some — maybe even understandably — jump to the conclusion that this new missile defense approach was meant to appease Russia at the expense of Central Europe. Nothing could be further from the truth. READ MORE

Memorandum in advance of EU-Russia Human Rights Consultations

Human Rights Watch appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing preparations for the November 5-6, 2009 EU-Russia human rights consultations in Stockholm.

See the article here:
Memorandum in advance of EU-Russia Human Rights Consultations

More diplomatic confusion between U.S. and Poland

Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. media has not yet picked up on the latest diplomatic controversy between Poland and the U.S. But the public disagreement between president Obama’s new ambassador in Warsaw Lee A. Feinstein and the Polish defense minister over plans to send additional Polish troops to Afghanistan is drawing media attention in Poland. READ MORE

Opinia.US: Little on the White House Blog about Biden in Poland

Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — The White House Blog had nothing specific about Vice President Biden’s visit to Poland. Biden’s national security advisor Tony Blinken wrote a general post in the White House Blog Thursday about Mr. Biden’s visit to Central Europe. He focused, however, on his boss’s visit to Romania and posted two photos from Bucharest. READ MORE

Press Freedom Group Concerned over Europe, Welcomes U.S. Progress

The eighth annual Reporters Without Borders ranking of the state of media freedom in 175 nations and political entities shows a decline in some European countries and dramatic declines in Israel and Iran, but the organization also welcomes progress by the United States over the past year.

Unfortunately, this U.S. State Department America.gov report mentions nothing from the annual Reporters Without Borders document about the media situation in Russia.

America.gov does report that RSF said the state of press freedom in Iran is now only better than in Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, “where the media are so suppressed they are nonexistent.”

 Sourced from: America.Gov Latest Items from Washington

Bearing Witness in Chechnya: The Legacy of Natalia Estemirova

PEN American Center, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, CUNY’s School of Journalism, and WITNESS present: Bearing Witness in Chechnya: The Legacy of Natalia Estemirova Featuring

Continue reading here:
Bearing Witness in Chechnya: The Legacy of Natalia Estemirova

What an Olympic Glow can’t Mask

(Copenhagen) – Corks popped this month in Copenhagen, with Rio de Janeiro voted as host city for the 2016 Summer Games and the convening of the XIII Olympic Congress, the first since 1994. Meanwhile, in a dark cell in Fuzhou, a coastal city on the East China Sea, Ji Sizun has no cause to celebrate. The 59-year-old legal activist was sentenced to three years in prison in January. His crime? He took the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Chinese government at their word when authorities set up three official protest zones during the Beijing Games and said that any citizen could apply to protest.

Read this article:
What an Olympic Glow can’t Mask