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Tom Cullem

Because, as so often has been the case, the EU and its minions in members government, doesnt give a tinkers curse with those in these alleged democracies really want.

If Juncker told me it was raining, I wouldnt pull the umbrella out until Id opened the window and checked for myself.

Well, Dutch voters, you backed off voting for the people who would never have agreed to this, and now you have your reward. The EU iron fits comes down again: our way or the highway.

Posted on 5/30/17 | 3:00 PM CEST

Oof. Common sense prevails in the Senate.

We need to support the Ukraina for ethical, moral, and geopolitical reasons. This is a way to do that that wont cost us very much but will help the Ukraina significantly.

Any concerns that this treaty is a backdoor to get another poor country into the EU have been adequately addressed by means of a claryfying treaty addendum.

So, there is no longer any reason to be against, and the Netherlands Senate just now agreed after the House earlier came to the same conclusion.

Alls well that ends well, one might say.

Not so for professional EU-bashers apparently. They are disappointed and as determined as ever to find fault with the EU no matter what. They are also determined never to let any facts or balanced reflection to get in their way.

Well, at least they are consistent and predictable.

Posted on 5/30/17 | 3:27 PM CEST

Well, another affirmation of the famous European values: the people vote in one way, and the government decides the opposite.

And consider that they are the same gentlemen who then hold political ethics lessons for the governments of Hungary and Poland !

Posted on 5/30/17 | 4:03 PM CEST

Together with Brexit and the Turkey escalation, thats now 3 major ongoing debates around a country bordering EU and wanting a deep EU trade agreement but without political union or freedom of movement. As an EU citizen, I continue to think there would be a lot of value in handling this through a regional FTA or customs union between EU / EFTA countries / UK / Turkey / Ukraine, without any goal of political union. Decision making on standards and regulations should not be centered around EU like EFTA is today, but it should have EU as one of the equal partners around the table. It could be an evolution of EFTA or a separate treaty altogether, that would probably be up to the EEA and EFTA members to decide.

In retrospect, I wish _that_ was the vision that Theresa May would have pushed for when she made her big Global Britain speech, positioning the UK as the leading EFTA member, pushing for trade without political union.

Posted on 5/30/17 | 4:07 PM CEST

@Jodocus4

The EU megaphone has spoken and as usual uses 100 words but 10 will do.

Posted on 5/30/17 | 4:18 PM CEST

The rest is here:
LATEST: Dutch Senate backs EU-Ukraine trade deal - POLITICO.eu

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Russia is attempting to weaponize the way people share information. The West is only now understanding what this new form of warfare is and how to defeat it.

Long before Russia intervened in the U.S. presidential election last year and in the French elections this year, Ukrainian lawmakers were sounding the alarm over Russian interference. The Ukrainian term for Russian cyberattacks is hybrid warfare and the Ukrainian government finally took action against it this month.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko following a decision by the National Security and Defense Council banned Russian social media sites and propaganda outlets that were masquerading as legitimate news sources. The decision is part of a larger set of sanctions against Russia designed to restore nothing short of the cyber sovereignty of Ukraine.

The ban affects Russias equivalents of Facebook called Vkontakte (aka VK) Odnoklassniki and Yandex. These sites have been routinely monitored and mined for data by Russias spy agency, the Federal Security Service. The danger to Ukrainians from this activity cannot be overstated. Ukraine has long been a testing ground for new types of Russian aggression. In Ukraine, Russia has employed both physical and psychological methods. The goal: to sew discord and destabilize Ukraine.

During Russias 2014 invasion of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula and the ongoing conflict in East Ukraine, Russia has marshaled a smorgasbord of propaganda techniques and cyberattacks. Using personal data gleaned by mining the Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki social-media platforms, it has targeted ethnic Russians with carefully tailored messages in an attempt to ignite ethnic tensions. In addition, a pro-Russian terrorist group called the Somalia Battalion, which has fought Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine, used Vkontakte to recruit unwitting volunteers into military service.

More recently, an online phenomenon known as Blue Whale that encourages children and teens to commit suicide was propagated and promoted by some of these same Russian outlets. On Vkontakte, Blue Whale looks like an online game, but it has caused many, tragic deaths. Worse yet, the Russians ability to target young people has undoubtedly been bolstered by the Kremlins ability to collect and analyze personal data from Ukrainian users of Russian based social media sites, such as Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki.

Russian media outlets such as Russia Today, the television network, have also been blacked out in Ukraine. RT has been the cornerstone of recent Russian propaganda blitzes. Russia uses RT and similar television channels to spread false information and fake news. Democratically elected Ukrainian leaders are routinely referred to as the Kiev junta in power illegitimately. The stations are also fond of describing U.S. and Ukrainian policy as similar to that of Nazi Germany.

Ukraine is happy to push back against such dangerous lies. Its national security is at stake.

To be clear, Ukraine continues to uphold the rights of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. But those freedoms dont apply in this case. No one has the right to spread falsehoods nor can anyone collect personal data to promote them. Even the director of Ukraines Mohyla School of Journalism, Yevhen Fedchenko, defended the Russian media shutdowns as the greatest contribution to the protection of information sovereignty of Ukraine ever.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) came to a similar conclusion: The Ukrainian government has made clear that this decree is an issue of security, not one of freedom of speech. Neither the United Nations nor any government in the West has spoken out against Ukraines actions.

Critics from Russia and its allies will no doubt continue to compare Ukraine to North Korea and its far-reaching media controls. But they miss the real comparison to South Korea, which routinely blocks the propaganda websites peddled by its northern neighbor. They also surely will neglect to mention that there is one easy way for Russia to have the sanctions removed. All it has to do is end its war with Ukraine and withdraw its soldiers from Ukrainian soil.

Dmytro Shymkiv is the deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine and secretary of the National Reform Council.

More:
Ukraine shut down Russian social media outlets - Washington Times

Members of the Donbass Battalion, a volunteer militia group devoted to ensuring a united Ukraine, look for pro-Russian separatists in the village of Shyrokyne. Photo: AFP

An Austrian suspected of war crimes in eastern Ukraine has been extradited from Poland, Austrian prosecutors said Tuesday.

The 25-year-old, named as Benjamin F., was detained in late April at thePolish border post of Dorohusk as he was trying to cross over into Ukraine.

The ex-Austrian army soldier is alleged to have killed unarmed prisonerswhile fighting on the Ukrainian side against Russia-backed separatists in May 2016.

Austrian authorities had issued a European arrest warrant in February afterhe gave an interview to Austrian newspaper Der Kurier about his activities inUkraine.

The suspect was extraditedon Mondayand is "currently in police custody",said Erich Habitzl, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the start of a pro-Russianinsurgency in April 2014 which Kiev and the West accuse Moscow ofmasterminding.

Although the violence has ebbed in the wake of several ceasefire accords,efforts to secure a peace deal have ground to a halt amid sporadic clashes,and neither side appears prepared to make concessions.

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Poland extradites Austrian suspected of killing unarmed prisoners in Ukraine - The Local Austria

Miami Herald

Germany to host Ukraine talks in Berlin as fighting persists Miami Herald Germany's Foreign Ministry says envoys from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet this week in Berlin to try and push forward the implementation of a peace deal for eastern Ukraine. Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters Monday that, ... Germany to host meeting on Ukraine crisisRadio Pakistan (press release) all 7 news articles »

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Germany to host Ukraine talks in Berlin as fighting persists - Miami Herald

The Jerusalem Post

Ukraine reportedly requests to extradite former cabinet minister for embezzlement The Jerusalem Post Eduard Stavytsky, a former cabinet minister in the Ukraine, fled to Israel to escape Ukrainian and INTERPOL arrest warrants in October 2014. Eduard Stavytsky. (photo credit:Wikimedia Commons). Ukraine has reportedly made a formal request for ...

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Ukraine reportedly requests to extradite former cabinet minister for embezzlement - The Jerusalem Post