Migrants clash with police at Greece-Macedonia border

Hundreds of refugees stranded at the Greece-Macedonia border tried to break through a border fence and enter Macedonia from Greece, where more than 7,000 people are stranded. The situation provoked clashes and anger mounted over barriers that had been put up to prevent entry of migrants flooding into Europe. This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 1 March 2016.

There wre clear signs of deepening divisions within Europe as German Chancellor Angela Merkel lashed out at Austria and Balkan states for introducing tight limits on migrant entries - that left Greece stuck with refugee boats continuing to arrive from Turkey. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has warned that once Austria reaches its cap of a maximum 37,500 migrants transiting through this year, the refugee route through the Balkans will have to close. Macedonian police had to fire tear gas at the border as some 300 migrants forced their way through a Greek police cordon and raced towards a railway track between the two countries. There was a stampede and at least 30 people, many of them children, had to be given first aid in the stampede. This has been informed by the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The protest took place several hours after Macedonia allowed just 300 Syrians and Iraqis to cross.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Germany agrees to send 1200 soldiers to Syria but will not take part in frontline combat

It is gradually becoming obvious that the threat posed by ISIS is assuming global dimensions and Germany has, now, approved the deployment of 1,200 soldiers to Syria to help fight ISIS. However its soldiers will not engage in any front line combat.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 1 December 2015.

Germany's move is in response to France's request to support its operations against the jihadists following the deadly Paris terror attacks in which 130 lives were lost.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has committed to play a symbolic role in the conflict and her troops will undertake only support roles.
The decision requires parliamentary approval but, the bill has been endorsed by ministers and is expected to be passed since Merkel's party enjoying a large majority.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has indicated to the media that he does not expect Germany to have 1,200 soldiers participating at any one time. Germany's plans are to send reconnaissance aircraft, tanker planes and a warship to the region.
Germany's decision comes on the heels of a crunch vote by British MPs about whether the UK will extend its bombing campaigns to Syria. In case parliament does vote to extend the strikes, Britain will double its fleet of aircraft stationed in Cyprus.
The plans appear to be to send at least two extra Tornado GR4 fighter jets and six Typhoon attack aircraft to RAF Akrotiri within days. They will combine with the eight aircraft already stationed at the base and carrying out missions over Iraq. They will be used to cut off the ‘snake’s head’ of Islamic State by using laser-guided missiles.

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Germany to mark 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall had been built around West Berlin in 1961 by the German Democratic Republic – in their terminology, it was called it the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart" and its main purpose was to prevent defections to the west.
However, on 9th November 1989, the first of the East Germans started to clamber across the divide into the west to bring to an end the great divide.
To commemorate the moment of the fall of the Berlin Wall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel would release 8000 balloons along a nine-mile stretch of the former concrete frontier. The time has been set for 7.18pm local time, the moment when the first men crossed over from the East to the West.
The Berlin Wall had been there for 28-years from 1961 to 1989 and had come to be a potent symbol of the Cold War with its watchtowers and so-called "death-strip" where an estimated 5,000 people risked their lives to escape the hardline regime. Cracks started to appear as a result of bloodless revolutions in Poland and Hungary that heralded the loosening of communism's grip in Eastern Europe.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gave momentum to the breakup by his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). The 83-year-old Gorbachev is expected to be in Berlin to join the commemoration ceremonies. While referring to the current standoff between the west and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, he has indicated that such signs could be harbinger of bad tidings like a new Cold War.
Among the programs is a concert at the Brandenburg Gate and the reopening of a museum dedicated to the Wall.

Topless Femen protesters take to the streets as Putin and Porosheko meet in Milan

Topless Femen agitators have taken to the streets to protest the meeting of Putin and Poroshenko in Milan. It is a two-woman demonstration against Vladimir Putin theguardian.com - the two protesters stood in front of Milan’s cathedral and poured buckets of red wine over their bare tops – the red wine was symbolic of the blood of Ukrainian people.
The message on the chest of one woman was “Stop ignoring Ukrainian bloodshed” and her companion made direct reference to the two-day summit of more than 50 European and Asian leaders. The message on her chest was: “ASEM allies of Putin.”
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, are scheduled to meet at a breakfast on Friday morning. The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, will also host David Cameron, Angela Merkel, François Hollande and the top officials of the EU.
There are possibilities of Putin and Poroshenko meeting face-to-face in a separate bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit. It seems Poroshenko has reportedly said that the whole world had “high expectations” of his talks with Putin.

CIA stops spying on friendly European nations

The US is Big Brother and, he is worried about terrorism activities especially from European extremists who have fought in Syria. Then there is the response of Europe to Russian aggression and European hostility to American technology companies following revelations that the companies turned over data to the NSA.
In view of these ground realities, the US used to maintain a network of communication with agents in foreign countries in Europe who used to provide useful information.
This was in addition to official meetings of CIA officers with their counterparts in the host country's intelligence service in order to conduct joint operations with host country services.
But – contacts that are not official have now been stopped.
This current stand-down is believed to be a result of the fallout from the July 2 arrest of a 31-year-old employee of the German intelligence service. He was suspected to be spying for Russia, and he has admitted to the authorities that he had passed on 218 German intelligence documents to the CIA.
Then in a second case, authorities searched the home and office of a German defense official who was suspected of spying for the U.S., but he denied doing so, and no charges have been filed against him.
Following these revelations, Germany asked the CIA station chief in Berlin to leave the country.
This was an unprecedented demand from a U.S. ally and demonstrated how seriously the Germans were taking the situation, because they had already been stung by revelations made by Edward Snowden, a former NSA systems administrator, that the agency had tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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Russia hoodwinks Ukraine – sends military equipment in guise of humanitarian aid

Russia has played a game of deceit by sending into Ukraine military supplies in the guise of humanitarian aid news.sky.com. It seems the 200 aid trucks were in reality carrying production equipment from two military plants.
The convoy of 200 vehicles has entered Ukraine without obtaining permission of the authorities and left after depositing the cargo.
The military spokesman Andriy Lysenko has said that the trucks had taken equipment from a factory in Luhansk that makes firearm magazines and a Topaz plant that produces radars. Following the departure of the convoy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Kiev for talks with Ukraine's pro-Western leaders on the conflict – this conflict has already claimed over 2,200 lives.
Ukraine has kept up the pressure on the pro-Russian group and has continued to pound rebel strongholds like Luhansk and Donetsk, where water has been cut off and supplies of essential goods are dwindling.
The plans of Angela Merkel call for a bilateral ceasefire ahead of talks between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. In her opinion, there must be two sides to be successful because one cannot achieve peace on his own.
She is hopeful that the talks would be successful – as she remarked: the plans are on the table - now actions must follow.
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