Для начала выскажусь по теме, которой стараюсь не касаться,– по ситуации на Украине и конкретно по ситуации в Сумах. В ее раскрутку Киевом были вложены колоссальные ресурсы и подключены – в основном как «полезные идиоты» - ряд игроков и в России. Согласен с многими коллегами, что «новую Бучу» раскрутить не удалось. Тому две причины:
Во-первых, слишком противоречивой была ситуация как таковая, ее раскрутка велась при очень слабой предварительной подготовке. И, конечно, американцам сразу было понятно, что там произошло, и все эти рассказы о том, что погибли только гражданские, разгонявшиеся «независимыми блогерами», на них не действовали.
Во-вторых, произошло изменение отношения, но не к России и ее интересам, а к «хунте Зеленского-Ермака». Фактически, из значимых американцев в этой ситуации играл только госсекретарь Рубио, напомню, один из авторов пресловутого «Ультиматума Рубио-Ермака» в адрес России. Ему просто деваться некуда. А остальные отсиделись.
Рискну выдвинуть гипотезу: комбинация, в которой в различных формах играют практически все западники, но с разной степенью вовлеченности и с разным «заданным результатом», имеющая единую заданную цель – смещение Зеленского, вступила в фазу окончательного согласования новой конфигурации власти на Украине. Кстати, при таком понимании лучше понятна суть и вброс Кита Келлога про раздел Украины: это заявка жестко проукраинских групп в США о новой структуре пространства. Она пока «не зашла», поскольку остальные участники процессы «переформатирования власти» на Украине изначально поняли ее нереалистичность. Но то, что дело дошло до «представления хотелок», говорит о высокой степени продвинутости процесса.
В такой ситуации вписываться в любые действия, прямо или косвенно направленные на усиление позиций Зеленского, - совершенно нежелательно. Поэтому и реакция западников была «для галочки», причем именно «гуманитарной» с тоном порицания России. И здесь будет «вилка»: либо в Киеве новую ситуацию осознают и начнут метаться, либо попытаются пойти на более высокий уровень обострения. Пока я не стал бы делать окончательные выводы на основании странных заявлений Зеленского, резко поднявшего цифры потерь ВСУ.
В частном канале сегодня будет несколько «бусинок» про ситуацию вокруг Украины, но также и по внутриполитическим российским делам, а также отношениям с США.
…
Продолжу вчерашний разговор в основном канале про возможность резкого обвала в США. Подчеркну то, что, возможно, не совсем четко выразил: этот обвал может быть только комплексным, политико-экономическим. То есть, обвал финансового рынка в результате рискованной и политически мотивированной игры Трампа «первым номером». И от нее не получится, как сейчас, «откатить», поскольку аппаратные возможности в США будут окончательно «разболтаны» внутренними скандалами. В этом сценарии, конечно, не хватает крупной, равновесной Трампу фигуры со стороны его противников. Боюсь, одними «правдорубами» не обойдутся.
Но все же Трамп кое-чего добился в первом туре того, что внешне выглядело тарифной войной с Китаем, а в действительности было финансово-инвестиционной войной с ЕвроАтлантикой.
Я говорил, что он заставил своих противников «вскрыть» структуру коалиций. Но я не предполагал, что это будет настолько глубоко. Обратите внимание на заявление Дж.Йеллен по поводу того, что «реиндустриализация Трампа» недостижима (а в сущности - и не нужна). Не надо быть конспирологом, чтобы понять, что это говорит не столько Йеллен (она более чем не случайный человек в американской элите, и не самый глупый) и не Трампу, а представителям консервативного истеблишмента, обозначенным мной как «американские атлантисты». Это и по форме, и по сути - объявление войны и Трампу, и тем в американском обществе, кто поверили в идеи Трампа, вне зависимости от их реалистичности. Если Трамп рискнет, он может сейчас своих противников запросто объявить «врагами народа».
Заявления Уиткоффа и стратегия Трампа. Что происходит с переговорами по Украине
Заявление Стива Уиткоффа, что после переговоров с Путиным приближается сделка по завершению войны в Украине, многих удивило. Потому что, судя по ситуации на фронте и прочим признакам, перспективы близкого мира вроде как не просматриваются.
Однако, важно понимать общий мировой контекст и стратегию Трампа, в которую вписаны переговоры по Украине.
Несмотря на шок от действий Вашингтона по введению пошлин, в них, как мы уже писали, есть своя логика. И она связана со стремлением ликвидировать внешнеторговый дефицит США, который приводит к росту госдолга и создает огромные риски для американской финансовой и экономической системы.
Поэтому Трамп и предлагает всем странам сделку – либо покупайте больше американских товаров и получайте за этот доступ на рынок США, либо против вас будут введены пошлины. Китай сразу пошел в отказ и потому с ним у Америки продолжается торговая война. Но многие остальные страны изъявили желание договариваться. В том числе и Евросоюз. И уже обсуждаются проекты закупок у США европейцами оружия на сотни миллиардов долларов, а также увеличение поставок энергоносителей из Штатов, чтоб возместить дефицит американо-европейской торговли.
Китай, однако, ведет свою игру, пытаясь создать антиамериканский альянс. В том числе, ведет свою игру и с Европой.
И КНР видится сейчас для Трампа главной угрозой, в сравнение с которой меркнет все остальное.
Стратегическая устойчивость Китая и его экономки обеспечивается, в том числе, и расширением торговых связей с РФ и доступом к российским природным ресурсам. Причем, доступом сухопутным, который, в отличие от морских путей, американцы, в случае обострения ситуации, никак перекрыть не смогут. Плюс к тому – Россия единственная страна в мире, которая имеет сопоставимый с американским арсенал ядерного оружия, что делает для США невозможным военное решение вопроса с любым альянсом, в котором будет находится РФ.
Соответственно, задача Трампа не допустить дальнейшего укрепления связей России и Китая, а в идеале – сделать Россию частью «глобального Запада», который, в таком случае превратится «в глобальный Север» - самодостаточное в военном и ресурсном отношении сообщество, которое будет определять всю мировую геополитику на десятилетие вперед.
И это радикальное изменение американского подхода, который ранее заключался в том, что путинская России априори не может быть партнером и союзником Запада, а потому нужно добиться либо смены власти в Москве, либо контролируемого распада РФ через преобразование ее в конфедерацию с расширением прав регионов.
И нынешняя война в Украине виделась не как проблема, а как способ достижения указанных выше целей, а также укрепления связей с США европейцев, напуганных российским вторжением.
Впрочем, еще до прихода к власти Трампа, подобная стратегия начала буксовать. Перспективы нанесения поражения РФ, которое могло бы привести к смене власти в Кремле или к распаду России, становились все более призрачными после неудачи контрнаступления ВСУ и провала мятежа Пригожина, а риски продолжения войны возрастали. В первую очередь речь идет о риске втягивания в нее западных стран (с угрозой начала ядерной войны) и о дальнейшем укреплении антиамериканского альянса РФ и Китая.
Поэтому изменение западных подходов к войне и к отношениям с РФ могло бы произойти, вероятно, даже если б Трамп не победил на выборах. Но его приход к власти, с концентрацией на «китайской угрозе», резко ускорил этот разворот.
Однако, для реализации стратегии Трампа «прочно пристегиваем к США Европу, заставляем ее покупать больше американских товаров, а Россию отрываем от Китая и делаем союзницей Запада» есть, как минимум, четыре главных препятствия.
Первая – Британия. Мы уже писали о скрытом геополитическом противостоянии Лондона и Вашингтона. В условиях нарастающей геополитической неопределенности британцы пытаются восстановить свое влияние в мире, создавая альянсы с различными региональными игроками. Например, с Турцией, а, потенциально, также и с Украиной, Польшей и Прибалтикой. Причем с последними - на базе противостояния с РФ, что прямо противоречит линии Трампа. Правда, в силу экономической и военной слабости нынешней Британии ее возможности вести свою геополитическую ограничены. Но серьезные сложности Вашингтону в реализации его стратегии Лондон создавать может. Например, через блокирование судоходства в российские порты в Балтийском море (о чем говорят все чаще), что может быть расценено Россией как акт объявления войны и поставит РФ и НАТО на грань вооруженного конфликта.
Вторая проблема – нарастающее внутреннее противостояние внутри Запада между правоконсервативными кругами (их вождь – Трамп) и леволиберальными элитами, которые сосредоточены в Демпартии США и правят в крупнейших странах Европы. Для них Трамп - это «фашист» и «диктатор». А потому они крайне не хотят, чтоб он добился успехов в своей стратегии, так как это резко укрепит его положение и в США, а также увеличит влияние в Европе его правых союзников. И, тем более, они не хотят вступать в какое-либо партнерство с Путиным. Правда, с учетом зависимости Европы от США в военном плане, пока открыто европейцы опасаются вступать в конфликт с Трампом, но нарастающая неприязнь ощущается сильно и некоторые тревожные для Вашингтона звоночки уже прозвучали. Например, ЕС утвердил введение ответных пошлины на американские товары, которые были остановлены только после того, как Трамп по тарифам взял паузу на 90 дней. Также европейцы сходу не отбрасывают предложения Китая начать переговоры по координации торговой политики. Также Европа пытается вести свою линию и в отношении Украины, хотя пока и осторожно из-за все той же военной зависимости от Штатов.
Третья проблема – Россия. Путин, понимая значение РФ для стратегии Трампа, может выставить слишком много условий своего согласия, которые США выполнить просто не смогут или не захотят. Кроме того, вообще не факт, что он готов создавать какие-либо альянсы с Западом. Судя из его заявлений и действий, он видит Россию как самостоятельный центр силы, а не младшего партнера Китая или США. Предпочитая балансировать на противоречиях между ними, извлекая свою выгоду (как это делает, например, Турция во время войны в Украине). Кроме того, ни у кого нет уверенности, что политику Трампа продолжит следующий президент США, который в состоянии обнулить все достигнутые договоренности. Да и входить в конфронтацию со своим крупнейшим соседом – Китаем, для России опасно. Тем более, нет никакой уверенности, что США одержат победу в торговой войне с КНР (этот момент, кстати, объясняет выжидательную позицию и многих стран мира, которые следят за тем, кто одержит верх в американско-китайском противостоянии).
В то же время, все это не исключает того, что Путин может согласиться на остановку войны в Украине если договорится с Трампом по условиям и если придет к выводу, что продолжение войны для РФ несёт больше рисков, чем возможностей, мешая России сосредоточиться на более интересных и менее рискованных геополитических направлениях.
При этом после завершения войны Кремль продолжит вести свою линию, которая может и не совпадать с линией американцев.
Четвертая проблема - Украина. Проблема пока потенциальная, однако может иметь место, если Зеленский решит вдруг открыто выступить против Трампа, сыграв на стороне политических противников президента США на Западе. Хотя, как показали последствия скандала в Овальном кабинете, конфликт с Трампом для Украины крайне опасен, так как чреват потерей американской военной помощи. И хоть европейские лидеры и сторонники Демпартии США Зеленского энергично словесно поддержали, однако на практике ничем компенсировать прекращение поставок оружия и разведданных из США не смогли. И, по итогу, Зеленский был вынужден написать "покаянное письмо", признав "лидерство" Трампа, а затем и согласиться на прекращение огня по линии фронта, хотя ранее выступал резко против этого. Однако, будет ли и дальше Зеленский поддерживать курс Трампа - вопрос открытый. Уже появляются сигналы о нарастающих разногласиях Киева и Вашингтона. В частности, по сделке по недрам. Трамп снова начал критиковать Зеленского. Кроме того, еще неизвестно какие условия он, по итогу, выдвинет для Киева по завершению войны. И примет ли их Зеленский, особенно, если среди этих условий будет его уход с поста президента. При нарастании конфликтов, нельзя исключать, что отношения Украины и США вновь подойдут к грани полного разрыва, а Зеленский сделает ставку на внутризападных врагов Трампа, став одним из центральных элементов "антитрамповской" коалиции. И подобно тому как ранее противоречия вокруг Украины разрушили российско-европейские отношения, так и теперь "разворот Зеленского" (если он произойдет) может окончательно расколоть США и ЕС. Для самой Украины это может привести к катастрофическим последствиям. Помимо России Киев получит врага в лице еще и Штатов. При этом приобретет ли он каких-либо надежных союзников - вопрос открытый. Европа прямо признает, что не сможет "вытянуть" самостоятельно военную поддержку Украины без США. Да и в самом ЕС нет единства относительно Трампа и политики в отношении Украины. От далекого Китая поддержка вряд ли придет - для Пекина отношения с Москвой, в условиях противостояния с Америкой, намного важнее, чем с Киевом. То есть, разрыв с Вашингтоном может привести к резкому ослаблению внешней поддержки Украины и, соответственно, к ухудшению позиций на поле боя и в переговорном процессе. Поэтому, по логике, Зеленскому сейчас нет резона бить горшки с Трампом. С другой стороны, начинать перепалку в Овальном кабинете никакого смысла то же не было. Так что, варианты развития событий могут быть очень разные. Хотя, в базовом сценарии, Зеленский, безусловно, рвать отношения с Вашингтоном не собирается, а делает ставку на то, что Путин откажется прекращать огонь, Трамп за это на него разозлится, усилит давление на РФ и продолжить помогать Украине.
Но в целом, как видим, новая геополитическая реальность с резким усилением противоречий между крупными державами и внутри Запада, создает для Киева огромные риски. Что повышает важность для Украины скорейшего завершения войны.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Командование воздушно-космической обороны Северной Америки (NORAD) сообщает, что вчера, 14 апреля, оно обнаружило и отследило несколько российских военных самолетов, действующих в опознавательной зоне ПВО Аляски (ADIZ). Самолеты оставались в международном воздушном пространстве и не входили в американское или канадское суверенное воздушное пространство, за ними велось наблюдение до тех пор, пока они не покинули ADIZ.
Цитата:
Russian war planes detected flying off coast of America
Russian warplanes have been detected off the coast of Alaska in a terrifying escalation, military officials said Tuesday.
Officials with the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Russian aircraft never entered American or Canadian airspace.
Authorities did not name the type of Russian aircraft, how many flew close to the coast nor what their purpose was.
The Russian planes remained in international airspace, but reportedly crossed into a region named the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which is beyond sovereign US airspace.
Aircraft are expected to identify themselves in the ADIZ, and NORAD says it surveils the area to maintain national security.
It comes just two months after US fighter jets were scrambled to the ADIZ region twice in three days when Russian military aircraft, including bombers, were also detected.
That incident first saw two bombers and two fighter jets buzz near Alaska, and after they were shadowed away by US aircraft, Russia followed it two days later by sending two more jets in a show of force.
And in September, Russian aircraft came dangerously close to colliding with a US fighter jet as shocking footage showed the Russian pilot turn at the last second to avoid a crash.
Russian warplanes have been detected off the coast of Alaska (pictured in a stock) in a terrifying escalation, military officials said Tuesday
Russian military aircraft have been spotted in the ADIZ airspace at least two more times in recent months, as experts say the nation is stepping up its hostile approach to the US
US officials say instances of Russian aircraft violating ADIZ airspace come as the nation has been stepping up its hostile approach to the US.
NORAD said Tuesday that although the incidents are repeating, the aircraft spotted near Alaska this week were 'not seen as a threat.'
Спілкування зі ЗМІ Президента України Володимира Зеленського та Генсека НАТО Марка Рютте 15.04.2025
Цитата:
Putin is building military facilities on Finland's border and 'testing to see if NATO will go to war', army chief warns
Russia has begun building new military infrastructure along its border with Finland, in a move Finnish army officials have described as a deliberate attempt to test NATO's alliance and resolve.
Lieutenant General Vesa Virtanen, Finland's Deputy Chief of Defence, expressed concerns over Russia's actions, stating that the Kremlin is 'deliberately testing NATO's unity' to see if it will trigger Article 5 - the alliance's collective defence clause.
Speaking to German newspaper Welt, Virtanen claimed: 'Russia has been testing Article 5 the whole time with mass migration, with cyber attacks, with GPS jamming, and attacks in the information space'.
He believes Russia are testing to what extent it can act without Article 5 being triggered, as their latest move sees the country erecting new equipment to station Russian troops along its border.
'During the war there were about 20,000 soldiers stationed and about four standby brigades, now we see that Russia is building new infrastructure and as soon as they can, more troops in this region,' Virtanen warned.
The army chief explained that they are reorganising themselves from the brigades and there would likely be around four to five divisions, an army corps, and a supporting unit.
'So there will be more troops there in the future than before the Ukraine war,' he added, while reassuring that Finland has been ready to defend its allies for decades.
The move comes after Finland's accession to NATO on April 4, 2023, which extended the alliance's border with Russia by over 1,300 kilometers.
Finland's Deputy Chief of Defence warned that Russia is building new military infrastructure along its border with Finland. Pictured: Border guard stands near a fence marking the boundary between Finland and the Russian Federation near the border crossing of Pelkola, in Imatra, Finland on November 18, 2022
The army chief explained that Russian troops are reorganising themselves from the brigades and there would likely be around four to five divisions, an army corps, and a supporting unit along the border
Virtanen claimed Russia are testing to what extent it can act without Article 5 being triggered. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin
In response to Finland's NATO membership, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the establishment of the 'Leningrad Military District' near the Finnish border and the deployment of additional military units to the area.
Despite these actions, Putin has dismissed concerns over a potential attack on NATO members as 'complete nonsense,' asserting that Russia has no interest in engaging in conflict with the alliance.
Finnish officials have also reported an increase in hybrid tactics employed by Russia, including the orchestrated movement of asylum seekers to the Finnish border, which Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described as a 'hybrid attack' aimed at destabilising Finland and the EU.
In anticipation of potential threats, Finland has initiated the construction of a 200-kilometer border fence to enhance security and reduce reliance on Russian border controls.
Similarly, Poland and the Baltic states last year demanded the EU strengthen its 2,400km eastern border as it warned of a 'looming threat' from Russia and Belarus.
In their letter, the leaders of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania urged the 27-nation EU to 'spend more and coordinate on defence initiatives within the EU and with NATO' in order to protect the bloc of 450 million people.
'Building a defence infrastructure system along the EU external border with Russia and Belarus will address the dire and urgent need to secure the EU from military and hybrid threats,' they said.
Finland's defence strategy involves allowing an invading force to initially cross the border, only to be met with a robust counteroffensive.
'The Finnish thinking has been to allow the enemy to advance a little inwards and then beat them back,' military policy expert Lieutenant Colonel Juhani Pihlajamaa told Finnish broadcaster Yle last year.
European leaders have said the invasion of Ukraine could soon break out into a 'global' war
This approach is supported by Finland's maintenance of a large reserve force and significant artillery capabilities, ensuring readiness in the face of aggression.
As tensions escalate, Finland's integration into NATO's defense framework continues, with the establishment of a new NATO command center in Mikkeli, less than 200 kilometers from the Russian border.
NATO officers assigned to the Multi Corps Land Component Command (MCLCC) will begin arriving in Mikkeli later this year, according to the city's mayor, Janne Kinnunen.
Kinnunen told Yle last week that between 10 and 15 officers will begin arriving in the city as early as autumn this year, although the number of arrivals is expected to climb much higher.
But Finland is not the only country foucisng on their defence against Russia and a possible expansion of the bloody war.
In March, the EU pushed for every household in the 27-nation bloc to have a three-day survival kit ready in case of war or natural disasters.
EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib said the proposals would be formally presented as part of a broader 'preparedness strategy'.
Brussels is hoping to ensure every citizen is equipped for 72 hours of self-sufficiency amid the growing threat of continental conflict breaking out.
EU citizens will be told to stock up on a dozen key items, including matches, ID documents in a waterproof punch, bottled water, energy bars and a flashlight, as part of their 'resilience' kit.
European leaders have said the invasion of Ukraine could soon break out into a 'global' war.
Some Scandinavian countries have already stepped up their preparation by distributing war survival guides.
Детские конкурсы, особенно единоличные, сами по себе, вещь очень сложная.
Юные участники, в отличии от взрослых, ещё не в состоянии подавлять дух личного лидерства в пользу культуры состязания, когда участник может добиться победы, только путем уважения и сотрудничества со своими соперникам.
Коммерческие детские конкурсы, даже с национальной основой, всегда прежде всего шоу сами по себе и развиваются, как правило по законам массовой культуры.
Или русским языком говоря такие конкурсы, как писал Николай Васильевич по поводу облика чёрта из «Ночь перед рождеством» – «мерзость мерзостью».
Но, с точки зрения нашей профессии – это именно то, что должно нас интересовать, по тому, что это этно-культурные произведения политической и коммерческой рекламы.
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Irish Dancing Teens Parade of Champions 2023 - NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
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World Irish Dancing championships in Dublin: 5,000 gravity-defying young competitors battle it out with fake tan, high kicks and even higher hair
Fake tan, bouncing bouffants, eyelash extensions and sparkling tiaras descended on Dublin's Convention Centre for the opening day of the Irish World Dancing Championships on Saturday.
The week long competition attracts 5,000 competitors and 25,000 spectators each year from over 30 countries.
Incredible photos show young dancers - aged nine to 11 - showing off their skills in the Irish capital with high kicks and jumps in perfect position.
At one point, dancers lined up on stage dressed in crisp white socks, sparkling tutus and glittering bodices as they impressed judges with their tap dancing skills.
Kicking off the competition, known locally as the Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, were best friends Madison Daniel and Brigid Hull, who travelled from Colorado in the US to compete.
Coming from either further afield was Talitha Lin from Perth, Australia, while Orlaigh Garrish made the short hop across the Irish Sea from England, as did Faith Hogan from Chorley.
Two young boys were among the local competitors, including John Joe Moroney from County Clare and James Wall from Sligo, who sweetly posed with his teddy bear 'Buddy' backstage.
Dublin City Council has commissioned a special commemorative badge which will be given to each competitor.
Fake tan, bouncing bouffants, eyelash extensions and sparkling tiaras descended on Dublin's Convention Centre for the opening day of the Irish World Dancing Championships on Saturday. A competitor is pictured
Kicking off the competition, known locally as the Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, were best friends Madison Daniel and Brigid Hull, who travelled from Colorado in the US to compete.
Competitors await their turn side stage during the opening day of the Irish World Dancing Championships at the Convention Centre
Flags have also been placed along the River Liffey and a light projection was projected on Samuel Becket Bridge to mark the opening.
During the opening ceremony, spectators were wowed by the world premiere of the 'Ha'penny Bridge', a specially composed 8-hand céilí dance.
The competition began with the youngest competitors with both boys and girls aged 10-12 showing off their dance skills.
'We are thrilled to host the 2025 Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne in Dublin, a city synonymous with Irish culture and dance,' said Sandra Connick, Chairperson of CLRG.
'This event not only showcases the incredible talent of our competitors but also celebrates the cultural connections that bind us all.
'The ' Ha'penny Bridge', choreographed by esteemed CLRG member, Mary McElroy, is a testament to the significance of this organisation and will be an exciting premiere for participants and audiences alike.'
At one point, dancers lined up on stage dressed in crisp white socks, sparkling tutus and glittering bodices as they impressed judges with their tap dancing skills
Incredible photos show young dancers - aged nine to 11 - showing off their skills in the Irish capital with high kicks and jumps in perfect position
Dancers wait to go on stage during the opening day of the Irish World Dancing Championships
Dancers watch on as they await their call to the stage during the opening day of the Irish World Dancing Championships at the Convention Centre
Coming from either further afield was Talitha Lin from Perth , Australi (left) a while Orlaigh Garrish (right) made the short hop across the Irish Sea from England, as did Faith Hogan from Chorley
Faith Hogan from Chorley, England poses backstage for a picture during the opening day
Male competitors poses for the camera during the opening day of the Irish World Dancing Championships
John Joe Moroney from County Clare poses backstage for a picture during the opening day (left) James Wall from Sligo, Ireland poses with his teddy bear 'Buddy' backstage (right)
Judges watch the competitors during the opening day
Male competitors are seen during the line call during the opening day of the Irish World Dancing Championships
Самое время отдохнуть…
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Танец "Коляда" из хореографической сказки "Снегурочка".
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Scoop: Senate Dems hit GOP on Social Security in first 2026 ads
The campaign arm of Senate Democrats is launching its first advertising campaign of the 2026 election cycle, targeting two incumbent Republicans on Social Security.
Why it matters:
Democrats plan to make the Trump administration's targeting of Social Security a central issue of the party's bid to take back a Senate majority.
• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) will launch a digital ad campaign against Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.) on Tuesday, Axios has learned.
• The ads highlight the Trump administration's plans to cut phone services for Social Security — a move the White House has since backed off.
• The digital ads, which will be placed on Meta, are meant to reach seniors and those who would be impacted by cuts to Social Security in North Carolina and Maine.
The big picture:
Collins and Tillis are just two of the many Republicans who will likely face a year of Democratic attacks over possible cuts to social safety net programs.
• On top of the White House's targeting of Social Security services, congressional Republicans are moving forward with a budget reconciliation bill which could include cuts to Medicaid.
• "In 2026, voters will hold Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, and Senate Republicans accountable for their toxic plan to slash Social Security in order to pay for a tax giveaway to billionaires," DSCC Communications Director Maeve Coyle said in a statement.
Between the lines:
Collins was the author of the Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law by President Biden and restored full benefits for millions of public sector workers.
• Top congressional Republicans have said they have no plans to reduce Social Security benefits.
Zoom out:
Maine and North Carolina are the best opportunities to flip a Republican-held Senate seat next year.
• Outside of Collins and Tillis, there are limited pickup opportunities for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has a narrow path to regaining his majority.
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DOGE takes a slice out of America's 250th birthday
DOGE's cost-cutting may get in the way of the "grand celebration" President Trump, has ordered for July 4, 2026 — America's 250th birthday.
The big picture:
State humanities councils planning 250th anniversary celebrations all over the country have had their funding slashed, and those organizations tell Axios they likely won't be able to execute the big, patriotic plans they had been making.
• Trump has called for an "extraordinary celebration" next summer, and signed an executive order in his first few days in office creating a federal task force to plan it.
• The chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities is part of that task force, and state humanities councils across the country had a leading role in planning public events to mark the occasion.
But 80% of the NEH's staff
was placed on administrative leave earlier this month, according to the Federation of State Humanities Councils.
• Those layoffs came just days after the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils were alerted that their funding grants were being terminated.
• "These were funds that were already appropriated, that had already been distributed through a competitive process, and they had already been under contract to be provided," said Julie Ziegler, the CEO and executive director of Humanities Washington.
The latest:
The National Endowment for the Humanities on Monday opened applications for 250 challenge grants, worth up to $25,000 each, for projects related to the "founding of the American nation, key historical figures, and milestones that reflect the exceptional achievements of the United States" in honor of the anniversary.
• But state officials say the cuts have already prompted them to shed staff and suspend new programming, so even the possibility of new anniversary-specific funding would not fill the massive gap.
Zoom in:
Georgia's humanities council was preparing to roll out a wide array of programming for the big 250, president Mary McCartin Wearn told Axios.
• The council planned to give grants to local communities to support their own programming, coordinate a state speakers bureau to platform speakers across the state, partner with the state's public library services to build a digital reading initiative and more.
• Now, it's unlikely they'll have the funds or resources to support such events.
• The NEH cut "threatens our very existence," McCartin Wearn said.
What they're saying:
"This commemoration ... is an extraordinary opportunity to talk about the things we most hold dear: freedom, equality, independence, our interdependence," said Gabrielle Lyon, the executive director of Illinois Humanities.
• Now, "the programs that we have already started to outline are all going to be jeopardized," she told Axios.
The White House
and the NEH did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
What's next:
The impact on state and jurisdictional councils will stretch far beyond the anniversary commemorations.
• "This isn't one event that would be affected by terminating all of our general operating grants," said Michele Anstine, the executive director of Delaware Humanities. "It's all of the work that we do."
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UK carrier strike – full operating capability on final approach
The UK Carrier Strike capability is nearing a critical milestone. Full Operating Capability (FOC) for the F-35B should be achieved during the forthcoming CSG25 deployment. Here we look at latest progress with the jet and the wider carrier strike capability development.
Lightning FOC
According to the annual Government Major Projects Portfolio report published in January 2025, FOC for F-35 was progressing but was rated ‘amber’, indicating risks in meeting the deadline. The specialised nature of the airframe, which combines complex stealth coatings, vertical lift hardware, and high-voltage electronic systems, places exceptional demands on maintainers. Efforts to boost retention and attract qualified personnel have been launched, but results will take time to materialise.
FOC for the F-35B is defined as the ability to deploy two squadrons simultaneously to separate global theatres. The two existing frontline squadrons, RAF-badged 617 and RN-badged 809 Naval Air Squadron must be fully trained, equipped, and certified to operate from either carrier or land base. An RAF statement published this week implies FOC will be achieved: “Operation Highmast is poised to be a landmark event, with plans to declare full operational capability for both the jets and the Carrier Strike Group within the year”.
The two front-line units are based at RAF Marham together with 207 Squadron operational conversion unit (OCU), while 17 Squadron conducts test and evaluation (TEU) work from Edwards AFB in California. Although with many caveats, the Lightning Force is maturing slowly. 617 Squadron is now commanded by a Royal Marine, Lt Col Mike Carty, the first RM to lead a fighter squadron in the UK. 809 Squadron which recommissioned in December 2023 is commanded by Cdr Mick Smith and will deploy, having declared Initial Operating Capability.
The F-35B’s integration with the Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile will mark a significant leap in the aircraft’s lethality. Flight tests carried out at NAS Pax River during November 2024 have confirmed the successful carriage and release parameters of Meteor from the F-35s internal weapons bay, paving the way for future full integration. Once fielded on F-35, this combination will offer unmatched reach and kill probability in contested airspace.
The Meteor integration process is closely tied to the F-35 Block 4 upgrade, which includes the Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware suite. This upgrade is necessary to support Meteor and the SPEAR-3 precision stand-off missile, but delays in the software to accompany the TR-3 development have impacted the overall timeline for these integrations. F-35 must fly without Meteor or SPEAR-3, probably until 2030, a scandalous situation impacting the power and reach of the whole carrier programme but the MoD has little power to accelerate progress.
At present, the Lighting force has 35 jets and deliveries of the remaining jets that make up the first tranche of 48 are expected to conclude by the end of this year. In parallel, discussions are underway for a second batch of 27 aircraft, subject to the decisions of the now much-delayed SDR. If secured, this would bring the future fleet to 74 aircraft by the early 2030s. A third operational squadron is also planned, though its identity and formation timeline remain undisclosed.
809 NAS and RAF 617 Squadron engineers washing down a jet on HMS Prince of Wales’ aircraft lift, exercise Strike Warrior, October 2024.
Crowsnest debacle
As a cornerstone of Carrier Strike, the F-35B Lightning is expected to operate seamlessly with the QEC aircraft carriers and the CROWSNEST Airborne Surveillance and Control System (ASaC). Any delay in one element risks derailing the coordinated progress required across all three pillars of the capability.
It remains current MoD policy to withdraw the Merlin-based Crowsnest ASaC at the end of 2029 as has been the plan since 2015. The system has not yet even achieved FOC as a result of the disastrous design and procurement process that has been ongoing over a decade. The original price tag was £269M but by December 2023, £425.7 million had been spent with costs still rising. If and when FOC will be achieved remains uncertain, although the system will be deployed as an integral part of the CSG25 deployment, whatever its limitations. Details of the performance shortfalls are classified but are believed to be primarily software related. Integrating the new ASaC system with the existing Merlin Mk2 avionics has also been challenging.
To compound the colossal expense, its is planned the system will only serve for 5 years, although this will depend on a very rapid procurement of a UAS-based alternative which is supposed to be in service by 2030. To procure a novel solution, test, and integrate with the carriers before the end of 2029 appears highly optimistic. Either ASaC capability would be gapped, or more likely, it will be extended in service to allow time for the replacement to mature.
Dispensing with CROWSNEST will, at least, allow the modest fleet of 30 Merlin Mk2 helicopters to concentrate fully on their core ASW role. The Merlins are going be extended in service until 2040 and the airframes will also have to cycle through the factory at Yeovil for substantial refurbishment (possibly including new engines), which will reduce overall availability in the early-mid-2030s.
Demonstrating the intention to dispense with CROWSNEST as soon as possible, the MoD recently published a Request for Information (RFI) inviting industry input on potential replacements. Although not specified in the RFI, the solution is expected to be based on an uncrewed air vehicle. The replacement system is expected to meet the same requirement for persistent 24-hour surveillance with advanced detection capabilities against both surface and airborne threats, including anti-ship missiles. The major difference is that data collected by the sensors will have to be sent back to the carrier or shore station to maintain a human in the loop, even if more of the analysis is automated. Initial entry into service is anticipated between 2030 and 2035 in a project with a very broad cost envelope estimated between £0.5 and £1.5 billion.
The ideal solution would be a long-endurance fixed-wing UAS that could attain higher altitudes than rotary-wing platforms. Aircraft such as the General Atomics MQ1C Mojave or MQ-9B Maritime Protector Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) would probably be the optimum type of solution but vehicles of this size would require substantial modifications to the carriers to fit small-medium size catapults and arrestor gear. It is far from certain the RN will be properly funded to fulfil its ambitions for the carriers and a RWUAS platform such as the Leonardo Proteus might be more a more affordable option.
CROWSNEST – another fine procurement mess.
FOC for the wider Carrier Enabled Power Projection (CEPP) was due to be declared by March 2026, although official sources have gone very quiet on this. This will certify the ability to deploy a fully integrated Carrier Strike Group, composed of an embarked air wing of 24 F-35Bs, CROWSNEST, supporting warships and auxiliaries, and a command staff able to operate independently for extended periods. The lack of solid support ships, surface escorts and missing integration of Meteor missile and SPEAR-3 stand-off weapons on F-35 means that the original ambition for full CEPP cannot be met next year.
On a more positive note, carrier strike capability is slowly improving, the forthcoming deployment will see HMS Prince of Wales sail with by far the most powerful air group the RN has put to sea since the 1970s, outmatched only by US carriers (and the French carrier, depending on capability metrics).
UK’s oldest Indian restaurant under threat in row with Crown Estate
Restaurant which catered for Queen Elizabeth II accuses Crown Estate ‘cultural philistinism’ over eviction bid
The UK’s oldest Indianrestaurant is facing eviction from its historic central London home of 99 years, in a row with King Charles’s property company.
Veeraswamy has been frequented by a host of royalty and dignitaries from Britain and overseas during its decades spent in Victory House at 99 Regent Street, with notable guests including Princess Anne, Winston Churchill, Indira Ghandi and Charlie Chaplin.
The restaurant even believes it was the only outside caterer ever to have been invited by Queen Elizabeth II to cater a function hosted by the late monarch at Buckingham Palace in 2008, an honour repeated in 2017 during a visit by the Indian president.
The Queen herself then accepted an invitatation to dine at the restaurant with Veeraswamy’s owners, but the plans were disrupted by the Covid pandemic, Ranjit Mathrani, co-owner of its parent company MW Eat told The Independent.
But Mr Mathrani now fears Veeraswamy will be forced to close after the Crown Estate opted not to renew the restaurant’s Regent Street lease, which expires in June – in a dispute over a space roughly the size of the back of a transit van.
Veeraswamy pictured in 1947 (Supplied)
After being informed of the decision last year, MW Eat is now taking the Crown Estate to court in a bid to delay their eviction – in the expectation that around two years would ideally be needed to reopen the restaurant at a new location.
Mr Mathrani warned that, if the Crown Estate refuses to allow Veeraswamy to remain at the site until it can find an alternative, it would be forced to close prior to reopening elsewhere, potentially putting the jobs of its 50 staff at risk.
“It would be the end of a very significant living institution,” said Mr Mathrani. “The thing about Veerswamy which is different is: it’s not a mausoleum – a sarcophagus. It’s a living, legendary institution which has been sustained and maintained over the years to be at the top of the game.”
The Crown Estate said it needs to carry out a major refurbishment of the building, with limited options because of its grade II-listed status. The offices on the upper floors of Victory House are reported to have been empty since late 2023 following a flood in the basement, which affected the power supply to parts of the building.
Veeraswamy has been situated at Victory House since 1926 (EPA)
A Crown Estate spokesperson said: “We need to carry out a comprehensive refurbishment of Victory House. This includes a major upgrade to the offices and improving the entrance to make it more accessible.
“Due to the limited options available in this listed building we need to remove the entrance to the restaurant, which means we will not be able to offer Veeraswamy an extension when their lease expires.”
Instead, once the entrance has been removed in order to create a reception area for the offices above, the restaurant will also be converted into new offices as part of the planned renovation, according to The Times.
Veeraswamy has been serving customers on Regent Street since 1926 (Supplied)
Mr Mathrani told the newspaper that the Crown Estate had insisted it would not be possible to create a new entrance for the building, and has so far been unable to find suitable place nearby for the restaurant to relocate to once the lease expires.
“I think it’s an outrage. This is cultural philistinism,” Mr Mathrani told The Independent.
“Here is an institution supposedly with some regard for history given its legacy and its social objectives. And it is basically subordinating everything to the homogeneity of having a uniform office building.”
Cuttings show historic adverts for Veeraswamy, including on its opening day in 1926 (Supplied)
In court documents, Mr Mathrani alleges that “Crown Estate representatives made it clear to me that the historical significance of Veeraswamy is not a material consideration for them, because they are currently driven by an imperative instruction to maximise financial returns to the Treasury”.
He adds: “The general view at the Crown Estates, is that they can only do this by maximising offices and retail, and not our restaurant. However, at no stage have they asked us to match the returns they would receive from the offices or the retail unit.”
Speaking to The Independent, Mr Mathrani said he believed that, “if the Crown were being constructive and were mindful of their social responsibilities”, they could achieve their objectives by keeping Veeraswamy at Regent Street.
“It’ll be a tragedy if we were to end up – as we’re going down the path of – with long expensive court cases of no benefit to either side,” he said, adding: “It is sad and unfortunate that they’ve been unwilling to actually engage ... I hope it’s not too late for them to reconsider.”
A chef at the Veeraswamy Indian restaurant in May 1973 (Barette/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Established in 1926 – on the same day Queen Elizabeth II was born – by retired Indian army officer Edward Palmer, grandson of the Mughal princess Faisan Nissa Begum, and taken over by MP William Stewart in 1934, Veeraswamy played host to a long list of famous figures over the past 10 decades, including Marlon Brando and Laurence Olivier.
The restaurant is also said to have given rise to the tradition of pairing beer and curry, after Prince Axel of Denmark visited Veeraswamy and had a barrel of Carlsberg sent to the restaurant. It has held a Michelin star since 2016, and hosts around 80,000 diners each year, the majority of whom it says are visitors to London.
Guests pictured at Veeraswamy in 1973 (Barette/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty)
Noting that it “has a duty to generate value for the nation, while acting as responsible stewards for this historic part of London”, the Crown Estate added: “We appreciate this is upsetting for Veeraswamy and have offered to help find new premises elsewhere on our portfolio having explored other options to accommodate their needs.
“Veeraswamy has been a valued part of Regent Street for many years. We thank them and their customers for their contributions to the West End.”
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Как мы помним, ЕСО>ИСО (например Мелкобритания) всегда обвиняют ИСО>ЕСО (например Россию) в том, что собираются делать сами:
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Апти Алаудинов… ВСУ атакуют из церквей и храмов в Курсков области….
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В Литве допустили, что РФ может ударить по Украине на Пасху
Министр иностранных дел Литвы Кястутис Будрис считает, что Россия может совершить еще более жестокую атаку по регионам Украины, чем недавнюю на Сумы, в грядущие Пасхальные праздники.
Об этом он сказал в интервью литовским СМИ, цитирует вещатель LRT, передает "Европейская правда".
Будрис назвал "варварской" российскую атаку по Сумам, в результате которой погибли по меньшей мере 36 человек, и заявил, что не сомневается, что Москва может совершить еще более жестокую и ужасающую атаку в грядущие Пасхальные праздники.
В то же время, по мнению главы литовской дипломатии, такие действия Кремля могут стать новой точкой отсчета в мобилизации западного давления на Россию.
"Эта неделя – Страстная неделя, мы дойдем до Пасхи – я не сомневаюсь, что сделает что-то еще более ужасное на Пасху. Возможно, это станет переломным моментом, когда мы скажем: ладно, смотрите, надо усилить санкции", – сказал он.
По словам политика, трагедия в Сумах стала своеобразным толчком для стран Европейского Союза к более решительным шагам – как в плане новых экономических ограничений против Кремля, так и в вопросе дополнительной поддержки Украины.
Однако министр отметил, что пока остается открытым вопрос, сможет ли этот импульс перерасти в реальные политические решения.
В то же время по его словам, если Европа не сможет достичь существенного прогресса в этих вопросах, а сопротивление отдельных стран заблокирует процесс принятия решений – сообщество окончательно потеряет свою роль геополитического игрока.
"Если мы не откроем переговорные блоки с Украиной в этом семестре, если мы отступим в вопросе санкций, тогда уже нельзя будет говорить о какой-то геополитической субъектности Европейского Союза, нельзя будет говорить, что мы имеем хоть какое-то влияние в мире", – добавил он.
Напомним, 14 апреля американский президент Трамп, комментируя предложение Украины приобрести американские зенитно-ракетные комплексы Patriot, намекнул, что Владимир Зеленский "начал войну".
Трамп также заявил, что "не имеет ничего общего" с войной России против Украины, и утверждал, что ему сказали, что якобы Россия допустила ошибку в Сумах.
Агентство Bloomberg писало, что США заявили союзникам из G7, что не поддержат заявление с осуждением российской атаки на Сумы.
Читайте также анализ "ЕП" после удара РФ по Сумам: От наказания к примирению: что изменилось в реакции мира на военные преступления России.
Цитата:
В Кремле пока не готовы сообщить точный час окончания моратория на удары по энергообъектам Украины, заявил Дмитрий Песков.
Дания отправит солдат для прохождения обучения в Украине
Вооруженные силы Дании планируют отправить датских солдат на курсы в Украину
(выделено а.п.).
Об этом сообщил в интервью TV 2 командующий сухопутными войсками Дании генерал-майор Петер Бойсен, передает "Европейская правда".
Несколько команд датских солдат планируется отправить в Украину.
Команды
будут отправлены невооруженными
(выделено а.п.) и будут происходить из разных полков армии.
Особенно датское командование заинтересовано в опыте трехлетней войны с беспилотниками на фронте
(выделено а.п.).
"За 42 года моей службы в Вооруженных силах я еще не видел, чтобы события развивались так быстро", – говорит командующий армией, который наблюдал за тренировками разведывательного полка с новыми ударными беспилотниками, подобными тем, что используются на фронте в Украине.
Для Вооруженных сил Дании новые системы вооружения и методы ведения боя являются результатом двух визитов в Украину за последние месяцы, которые совершил сам командующий армией.
Теперь он хочет ускорить этот процесс, отправив больше команд датских солдат в тренировочные лагеря в Украине.
Количество курсов еще не определено окончательно, но начальник армии сообщил TV 2, что планируется, что как инструкторы, так и военнослужащие пройдут курсы продолжительностью от одной до двух недель, которые начнутся как можно быстрее. Возможно, уже этим летом.
"Мы отправляем туда несколько команд и посмотрим, какой опыт имеют украинцы – из первых рук. Поэтому приезжайте и получите этот опыт"
(выделено а.п.), – сказал он.
"Да, я был там несколько раз. Но эти солдаты не едут туда, чтобы принимать активное участие в войне. Они едут туда, чтобы получить определенный опыт, и это по приглашению моего коллеги, командующего украинской армии"
[/b](выделено а.п.), – говорит Бойсен.
При этом
российское посольство в Копенгагене возмущено тем, что Вооруженные силы Дании планируют отправить солдат в тренировочный лагерь в Украине
(выделено а.п.).
"Направление датских военнослужащих в Украину, в том числе для изучения боевого опыта, втягивает Данию все глубже и глубже в конфликт в Украине и провоцирует его дальнейшую неконтролируемую эскалацию", – говорится в письменном комментарии посла Владимира Барбина для TV 2.
Начальник штаба армии Петер Бойсен подчеркнул, что датские солдаты будут невооружены и размещены далеко от фронта. Скорее, ближе к учебному центру на западе Украины.
"Они
должны проходить обучение вдали от линии фронта, например, во Львове на западе Украины. И если произойдет ракетная атака, то у украинцев есть действительно хорошие системы предупреждения и хорошие укрытия. Я сам провел время в одном из них в Киеве"
(выделено а.п.), – говорит он.
В конце марта информировали, что Дания предоставит 130 млн евро гарантий для своих компаний, которые готовы инвестировать в украинский оборонно-промышленный комплекс.
Недавно "коалиция дронов", в которую также входит и Дания, выделила 20 млн евро из общего фонда для того, чтобы закупить разведывательные дроны (ISR) тактического уровня для Сил обороны Украины
(выделено а.п.).
Цитата:
Датских солдат отправят на обучение в Украину
Вооруженные силы Дании планируют отправить своих военных на обучение в Украину, чтобы перенять опыт ВСУ, в частности в противодействии дронам, полученный за три года войны.
Col. Jacques Baud: The EU is orchestrating its own downfall
Цитата:
В Еврокомиссии ответили на заявление Фицо о параде в Москве 9 мая
Словакия еще в 2022 году взяла на себя обязательства в рамках соответствующего решения Совета ЕС отклонять приглашения принять участие в любых политических мероприятиях на территории России и должна придерживаться этого обязательства.
Об этом во время брифинга 16 апреля в Брюсселе сообщила пресс-секретарь Еврокомиссии Анитта Хиппер в ответ на просьбу прокомментировать критическое заявление премьер-министра Словакии Роберта Фицо о том, что "никто не может указывать ему", ехать в Москву или нет, передает корреспондент "Европейской правды".
Хиппер подчеркнула, что еще в 2022 году государства ЕС договорились отклонять все приглашения из России на мероприятия, подобные параду 9 мая, и Словакия согласилась это делать.
"Россия использует чествование окончания Второй мировой войны для оправдания своей агрессивной войны против Украины... С нашей стороны важно не придавать этому легитимности, участвуя в таких мероприятиях, как этот парад. И, собственно, у нас также есть решение Совета по этому поводу: государства-члены, включая Словакию, согласились в 2022 году отклонять такие приглашения", – заявила пресс-секретарь Еврокомиссии.
На уточняющий вопрос относительно возможного визита в Москву главы государства-кандидата на членство в ЕС – президента Сербии Александра Вучича, ответил другой представитель Еврокомиссии Гийом Мерсье, ответственный за вопросы расширения ЕС.
"Сербия подала заявку и ведет переговоры о членстве в ЕС. Решение Сербии означает, что страна хочет присоединиться к ЕС, в том числе и в вопросах внешней политики. Следовательно, ЕС хочет видеть Сербию надежным европейским партнером, который разделяет общие принципы, ценности, вопросы безопасности и процветания, и нам нужно, чтобы Сербия заверила нас в этой стратегической позиции", – заявил он.
Как сообщалось, премьер-министр Словакии Роберт Фицо заочно обратился к главе дипломатии ЕС Кайе Каллас и сказал, что "никто не может указывать мне, куда я должен или не должен ехать".
Премьер Словакии в очередной раз подтвердил, что 9 мая его можно будет найти в Москве.
Главный дипломат Европейского Союза Кая Каллас 14 апреля призвала европейских лидеров не участвовать в военных празднованиях в Москве 9 мая, вместо этого продемонстрировать солидарность с Украиной.
Европейский Союз также дал четкое указание государствам, которые являются кандидатами на вступление в ЕС, не посещать парад в Москве 9 мая и не совершать визиты в Россию.
Цитата:
Почти пятая часть словаков хотят, чтобы Россия победила Украину в войне
Более 18% словаков хотят победы России в ее войне против Украины.
Об этом свидетельствуют результаты опроса общественного мнения, проведенного компанией Ipsos для независимой организации Central European Digital Media Observatory (CEDMO), опубликованные во вторник изданием Denník N, передает "Европейская правда".
Согласно опросу, лишь треть словаков хочет, чтобы победила Украина.
Кроме того, 33% опрошенных хотят, чтобы конфликт завершился временным миром, без победы одной из сторон.
Более 16% респондентов заявили, что не знают или им безразлично, чем закончится конфликт.
Победа Украины имеет наименьшую поддержку среди избирателей сильнейшей правительственной партии – Smer премьер-министра Роберта Фицо. Лишь 3% из них хотят ее победы, а 43% – хотят победы России.
Целых 44% избирателей внепарламентского движения "Республика", которое образовалось путем откола от Народной партии "Наша Словакия" Марьяна Котлебы, хотят победы России, и только 6% избирателей этого движения поддерживают Украину.
Похожая ситуация и с коалиционной Словацкой национальной партией. 31% ее избирателей хотят, чтобы победила Россия, и лишь 4% – чтобы победила Украина. Избиратели другой коалиционной партии, "Голос", более склонны поддерживать Украину (27%), чем Россию (14%).
Больше всего сторонников Украины среди избирателей оппозиционного движения "Прогрессивная Словакия" (75%) и внепарламентской партии "Демократы" (63%) во главе с бывшим министром обороны Ярославом Надем. Лишь 4% избирателей "Демократов" и 1% избирателей "Прогрессивной Словакии" желают победы России.
53% избирателей Христианско-демократического движения желают победы Украине, и только 4% избирателей движения поддерживают Россию. Что касается партии "Свобода и солидарность" (SaS), то 50% из них желают победы Украине, и только 4% избирателей SaS держат кулаки за Россию. В случае Словацкого движения 47% избирателей на стороне Украины.
Лишь 7% людей в возрасте от 16 до 24 лет желают победы России, в возрастной категории от 35 до 44 лет – таких уже 18%, в возрастной категории от 55 до 64 лет – 20%, а среди избирателей старше 65 лет – даже до 26%.
Напомним, палата депутатов Словакии отклонила проект резолюции оппозиции, который призывал Россию вывести свои войска из Украины и осуждал российские атаки на Кривой Рог и Сумы.
Премьер Роберт Фицо также отказался прямо осудить нападение России на Сумы, отметив, что у него "недостаточно информации".
Фицо также отверг призыв главы дипломатии ЕС Каи Каллас к европейским лидерам не посещать Москву по случаю так называемого парада победы 9 мая.
BEC a cerut eliminarea a 609 „materiale publicitare politice cu conţinut ilegal”. 149 erau postate de persoane fizice.
Biroul Electoral Central anunţă, marţi seară, că a dispus, în perioada 4-12 aprilie, eliminarea de pe marile platforme online a 609 materiale publicitare politice cu conţinut ilegal. 149 dintre acestea erau postate de persoane fizice, restul fiind postate de „actori politici care candidează ori deţin funcţii elective ori alte funcţii publice”.
”În perioada 4.04 – 12.04.2025, au fost emise un număr de 175 decizii de admitere a plângerilor care vizau materiale publicitare politice cu conţinut ilegal, respectiv un număr de 104 decizii de respingere”, a transmis, marţi seară, BEC, într-un comunicat de presă. Potrivit documentului citat, din cele 175 decizii de admitere a plângerilor, 41 au vizat materiale publicitare politice cu conţinut ilegal postate în mediul online de către persoane fizice care nu deţin funcţii elective ori alte funcţii publice, dar sunt actori politici în sensul art. 3 pct. 4 lit. g din Regulamentul UE 2024/900. ”Prin deciziile de admitere s-a dispus înlăturarea de pe platformele online foarte mari a unui număr total de 609 materiale publicitare politice cu conţinut ilegal, din care un număr de 149 au fost postate de către persoane fizice care nu deţin funcţii elective ori alte funcţii publice- dar care sunt actori politici- fără respectarea dispoziţiilor legale care reglementează semnalarea prin etichetare a materialelor de propagandă electorală, iar cu privire la restul de 460 s-a constatat fie că aparţin unor actori politici care candidează ori deţin funcţii elective ori alte funcţii publice fără respectarea dispoziţiilor legale care reglementează semnalarea prin etichetare a materialelor de propagandă electorală, fie că au fost postate pe conturi a căror autenticitate nu poate fi verificată”, a mai transmis BEC. Anterior, BEC a precizat că, în situaţiile în care persoanele fizice postează pe conturile personale, deschise pe platformele online foarte mari, în mod preponderent şi repetitiv, materiale de propagandă electorală, atunci acestea dobândesc calitatea de actori politici cu potential de influenţare a electoratului şi se activează în sarcina titularilor postărilor obligaţia etichetării respectivelor materiale în scopul atenţionării şi informării corecte a publicului. În plus, BEC a statuat că situaţiile în care materialele postate fac referire la modul de îndeplinire a atribuţiilor în exercitarea funcţiilor deţinute în prezent ori în trecut de către candidaţi, fără a conţine un îndemn direct ori indirect de a vota ori de a nu vota, nu califică respectivele materiale drept materiale publicitare politice.
Цитата:
В Молдове рассылают фейковые сообщения от имени налоговой службы с призывом поддержать PAS
Жители Молдовы получают сообщения с просьбой «поддержать PAS» и направить 2% подоходного налога в пользу правящей партии. Депутат Раду Мариан заявил, что это фейк.
Граждане стали получать сообщения якобы от имени Государственной налоговой службы, в которых их просят «поддержать PAS» и направить 2% подоходного налога в пользу партии.
Депутат от PAS Раду Мариан заявил в своем Telegram-канале, что партия не имеет никакого отношения к этим сообщениям. По его словам, это очередная попытка дискредитировать PAS, за которой стоят «преступные группировки и коррумпированные политики».
«Будьте внимательны к сообщениям, поступающим из анонимных источников», — написал депутат.
_________________
С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
JK Rowling celebrates after Supreme Court rules trans women are NOT legally women in landmark judgment linking gender to biological sex that could end transgender access to single-sex spaces
JK Rowling celebrated today after the Supreme Court ruled trans women are not legally women in a landmark judgment that could have momentous implications.
Britain's top judges unanimously found that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, not acquired gender.
The decision is being hailed by gender-critical campaigners as a major victory, with the Harry Potter author saying it would protect 'the rights of women and girls across the UK'.
The court's decision will have huge consequences for how single-sex spaces and services operate across the UK, experts said today.
The written Supreme Court judgment gives examples including rape or domestic violence counselling, refuges, rape crisis centres, female-only hospital wards and changing rooms.
The court ruled that trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if 'proportionate'.
It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle between the Scottish government and women's group For Women Scotland over the definition of a 'woman' in Scottish law.
The case centred on whether somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be protected from discrimination as a woman under the Equality Act.
The Scottish government had argued that such people were entitled to sex-based protections, meaning a transgender person with a GRC certificate identifying them as female would count towards women's quota.
But campaign group For Women Scotland claimed they only applied to people born female.
The Supreme Court has now ruled that the words 'sex', 'man' and 'woman' in the Equality Act must mean 'biological sex', rejecting any alternative interpretations as 'incoherence and impracticable'.
The judgement was celebrated by women's rights groups who opened a bottle of champagne. Pictured: Susan Smith (centre left), Marion Calder (centre right) and Helen Joyce (right)
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, pictured in March 2022, has welcomed today's ruling
The Supreme Court has announced that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex in a landmark ruling. Pictured: Campaign group For Women Scotland celebrating the judgement
Lord Hodge said that five Supreme Court justices had unanimously decided that 'the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act refer to a 'biological woman and biological sex'
Marion Calder (centre), Helen Joyce (centre left) and Maya Forstater (left) celebrate outside the Supreme Court
The ruling comes after years of campaigning by gender-critical figures including Harry Potter author Rowling, who reacted today by posting on X: 'It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they've protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. @ForWomenScot, I'm so proud to know you.'
She later added: 'Trans people have lost zero rights today, although I don't doubt some (not all) will be furious that the Supreme Court upheld women's sex-based rights.'
In an 88-page ruling published today, the justices said: 'The definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.'
They stated: 'A person with a Gender Recognition Certificate in the female gender does not come within the definition of a 'woman' under the Equality Act 2010 and the statutory guidance issued by the Scottish ministers is incorrect.'
High-profile cases which have caused controversy in recent years include that of a transgender double rapist who was jailed for eight years in February 2023 after raping two women in West Dunbartonshire and Glasgow.
The sex attacker was charged with the offences as Adam Graham, but changed gender while waiting to stand trial and took the name Isla Bryson.
The case sparked public outcry, including from JK Rowling, after Bryson was sent to the all-female Cornton Vale prison outside Stirling, before later being transferred to a male prison.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has praised today's Supreme Court ruling as a 'victory' for women and said it meant the 'era of Keir Starmer telling us women can have penises has come to an end'.
JK Rowling has been posting on X, formerly Twitter, about today's Supreme Court verdict
For Women Scotland directors Susan Smith (left) and Marion Calder (right) celebrate the landmark ruling
In handing down the court's judgement, Lord Hodge said he recognised 'the strength of feeling on both sides' and cautioned against seeing the judgment as a triumph for one side over another, stressing that the law still gives trans people protection against discrimination.
He said: 'The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological woman and biological sex.
'In a judgement written by Lady Rose, Lady Simler and myself, with whom Lord Reed and Lord Lloyd-Jones agree, we unanimously allow the appeal.'
Lord Hodge added: 'But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph for one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not…
'The Equality Act gives transgender people protection not only against discrimination through the protected characteristics of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, and harassment, in substance in their acquired gender.'
He recognised the 'strength of feeling on all sides' which lies behind the case, adding: 'On the one hand women, who make up one half of the population, have campaigned for over 150 years to have equality with men and to combat discrimination based on their sex. That work still continues.
'On the other hand, a vulnerable and often harassed minority, the trans community, struggle against discrimination and prejudice as they seek to live their lives with dignity.'
The judgment was celebrated by women's rights groups, who cheered outside the court, opened a bottle of champagne and broke into song after the ruling was handed down.
But a furious protester shouted, 'Trans rights are human rights' at those gathered, adding: 'Even if you kill every last one of us another will be born tomorrow.'
Marion Calder, co-director of FSW which successfully challenged the Scottish Government, told the Daily Mail that she was 'absolutely' delighted by the judgment - 'as I'm sure the vast majority of women across Great Britain feel', she added.
'Even today we had absolutely no idea which way this was going to go.
'We're just a grass routes organisation that started up in my living room ten years ago with absolutely nothing but a plan to fight back to maintain women's rights.
'We actually thought that if we just spoke to governments either here in Westminster or up in Scotland that they would listen, but we were unfortunately mistaken.'
She said that she 'certainly hopes' it draws a line under the gender debate, adding: 'In day to day life, you can go around and it doesn't really matter what your sex is.
'But in certain circumstances it is very important, such as prisons or women's sport, changing rooms or rape crisis centres. This is where it's actually important.
'Especially for the lesbians who intervened in this case, if they hadn't actually won today it would have been illegal for lesbians, or gay men, to have a group of more than 25 people if they didn't admit the opposite sex and we'd have the ridiculous notion of a lesbian with a penis.'
Maya Forstater, chief executive of human rights charity Sex Matters which intervened in the case, also said she was 'delighted' by the outcome.
She added: 'We are delighted that the Supreme Court has accepted the arguments of For Women Scotland and rejected the position of the Scottish Government.
'The court has given us the right answer: the protected characteristic of sex - male and female - refers to reality, not to paperwork.'
Conservative party leader Mrs Badenoch praised campaign group FWS.
'Saying 'trans women are women' was never true in fact, and now isn't true in law either,' she said.
'This is a victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious. Women are women and men are men: you cannot change your biological sex.
'The era of Keir Starmer telling us women can have penises has come to an end. Well done to For Women Scotland!'
Mims Davies, the shadow minister for women, hailed it as a 'clear victory for common sense'.
The UK Supreme Court decision is a 'victory for women across the United Kingdom', the leader of the Scottish Tories has said.
…
Russell Findlay hailed the decision, which confirmed that the definition of woman in the 2010 Equality Act refers to biological women, as an 'abject humiliation for the SNP'.
Kate Barker, chief executive of LGB Alliance which intervened in the case, described the judgment as a 'profound relief'.
She said it marks a watershed moment in the fight for lesbian rights following years of mounting attacks, in particular from proponents of gender identity ideology.
'The ruling confirms that the words 'gay' and 'lesbian' refer to same-sex sexual orientation and makes it absolutely clear that lesbians wishing to form associations of any size are lawfully entitled to exclude men – whether or not they possess a GRC,' she said.
'It is difficult to express the significance of this ruling: it marks a watershed for women and, in particular, lesbians who have seen their rights and identities steadily stolen from them over the last decade.'
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: 'Today the Supreme Court ruled that a gender recognition certificate does not change a person's legal sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.
'We are pleased that this judgment addresses several of the difficulties we highlighted in our submission to the Court, including the challenges faced by those seeking to maintain single-sex spaces, and the rights of same-sex attracted persons to form associations.
'As we did not receive the judgment in advance, we will make a more detailed statement once we have had time to consider its implications in full.'
Women were seen celebrating and hugging after the landmark ruling that trans women are not legally women
The United Nation's special rapporteur on violence against women and girls praised the ruling as a 'triumph of reason and facts'.
'I welcome this decision by the UK Supreme Court holding that the term 'man' 'woman' and'sex' in the Equality Act of 2010 refers to biological sex,' Reem Alsalem said.
'It represents the triumph of reason and facts based deliberations and the return of common sense.
'Congratulations to For Women Scotland and all their allies that have supported them in their quest to uphold the rights of women to equality and non-discrimination.
'The ruling is a recognition that the erasure of the ordinary meaning of sex in law and in policies has rendered it impossible to upholding the protection [of] women, including lesbians on the basis of the characteristic of sex. Beyond the UK, I hope other jurisdictions are paying attention to this groundbreaking ruling.'
Lara Brown, Policy Exchange Senior Research Fellow for culture and identity, said: 'By confirming that 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 means 'biological sex', the Supreme Court has secured women's sex-based rights – rights to which they have always been entitled as a matter of law.
'While this is a welcome victory, it should never have been left to the courts to answer the question of 'what is a woman?.
'Had the Government used their statutory powers to clarify that sex in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex, when Policy Exchange called for them to do in 2023, the Scottish Ministers would never have been able to issue unlawful advice on the subject.'
Activists celebrate after hearing the outcome of the Supreme Court's ruling on how to define a 'woman'
Ceri Williams, from Labour Women's Declaration, told the Mail: 'The Labour Government has repeatedly stated its commitment to the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act for biological women. It was in their manifesto.
'The work starts today to make sure that all governments departments and public bodies review and revise all their policies to bring them in line with this common sense judgement from the Supreme Court.'
Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC said former Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon owes her an apology.
'I'm a long-term feminist. I'm a lesbian who came out in the '80s and campaigned against Section 28,' she said.
'I've had to put up with my own party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, calling me a bigot and a transphobe for sticking up for the rights of women and lesbians.
'I think she owes all of us, not just me, and more importantly the women of Scotland, an apology.'
TV writer Graham Linehan, who was outside court following the decision, said: 'I think for 10 years we've had we've had two things fighting each other, which is women's rights and the desire of some men to be considered women in all circumstances.
'And today that that is no longer tenable. I think that, people have been harassed out of their jobs have been put in prison cells, dragged through tribunals or have had to launch tribunals themselves.
'I think that's all over. So I couldn't be happier.'
But a pro-transgender grup has claimed that the gender-critical campaigners have 'links to the global far-Right'.
Activists celebrate after hearing the outcome of the Supreme Court's ruling on how to define a 'woman'
'The Supreme Court's decision is hugely disappointing, and a result of ceaseless lobbying from a well-funded anti-trans network with links to the global far-Right,' Labour for Trans Rights said.
'We will continue to fight against all attempts to strip trans people of their rights, and will use all levers within the Labour Party to make trans voices heard.'
In an 88-page judgment, Lord Hodge, Lady Rose and Lady Simler said that while the word 'biological' does not appear in the definition of man or woman in the Equality Act, 'the ordinary meaning of those plain and unambiguous words corresponds with the biological characteristics that make an individual a man or a woman'.
The justices added that interpreting biological sex with GRCs would 'cut across the definition of the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way'.
They continued: 'We can identify no good reason why the legislature should have intended that sex-based rights and protections under the EA 2010 should apply to these complex, heterogenous groupings, rather than to the distinct group of, biological, women and girls, or men and boys, with their shared biology leading to shared disadvantage and discrimination faced by them as a distinct group.'
The justices said that transgender people are still protected from discrimination, but that 'gender reassignment and sex are separate bases for discrimination and inequality'.
They said: 'This conclusion does not remove or diminish the important protections available under the Equality Act 2010 for trans people with a GRC as we have explained.
'To the contrary, this potentially vulnerable group remains protected in the ways we have described.'
The judgement could have far-reaching implications on how sex-based rights apply, including how women-only spaces are allowed to operate
Their judgement also ruled that the certificated sex interpretation would have 'rendered meaningless' a section of the 2010 Equalities Act dealing with protection from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
This interpretation would mean 'a trans woman (a biological male) with a GRC (so legally female) who remains sexually oriented to other females would become a same-sex attracted female, in other words, a lesbian' and would lead to an 'inevitable loss of autonomy and dignity for lesbians' as well as impacting lesbian clubs and associations.
The judgment continues: 'Read fairly, references to sex in this provision can only mean biological sex. People are not sexually oriented towards those in possession of a certificate.'
A Government Spokesman said: 'We have always supported the protection of single sex spaces based on biological sex.
'This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs.
'Single sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.'
The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 is a piece of legislation intended to increase the proportion of women on public boards in Scotland.
In 2022, FWS successfully challenged the original act over its inclusion of trans women in its definition of women.
…
The Court of Session ruled that changing the definition of a woman in the act was unlawful, as it dealt with matters falling outside the Scottish Parliament's legal competence.
Following the challenge, the Scottish Government dropped the definition from the act and issued revised statutory guidance - essentially, advice on how to comply with the law.
This stated that under the 2018 Act the definition of a woman was the same as that set out in the Equality Act 2010, and also that a person with a GRC recognising their gender as female had the sex of a woman.
FWS challenged this revised guidance on the grounds sex under the Equality Act referred to its biological meaning and said the Government was overstepping its powers by effectively redefining the meaning of 'woman'.
However, their challenge was rejected by the Court of Session's Outer House on December 13, 2022.
The Inner House upheld that decision on November 1, 2023 - but did grant FWS permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
The appeal at the Supreme Court before Lord Reed, Lord Hodge, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lady Rose and Lady Simler was heard last November and, after the two-day hearing, the judges said they would 'take time to consider very carefully' before issuing the judgment on April 16.
During the hearing, Aidan O'Neill KC, for FWS, told justices the Scottish ministers' position that sex, man and woman in the Equality Act refer to 'certificated sex'- as the sex on a person's birth certificate which could be amended by a GRC - is 'just wrong and should be rejected by the court'.
But Ruth Crawford KC, for the Scottish Government, said a person who becomes a woman 'in consequence of a GRC' is entitled to those protections 'just as much as others enjoy those protections who are recorded as a woman at birth'.
She also said the 'inevitable conclusion' of the FWS challenge is that trans women with GRCs would 'remain men until death for the purposes of the Equality Act'.
The court was also told that since the Gender Recognition Act was passed in 2004, 8,464 people in the UK had obtained a GRC.
When the group's legal argument was published ahead of the appeal last year, FWS director Trina Budge said: 'Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise of 50% men, and 50% men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation.
'However, the ramifications of this case are much more far-reaching and all sex-based rights protected by the Equality Act are at risk.
'The stakes are high and the court's decision will have consequences for everyday single-sex services such as toilets and hospital wards.
'It will determine whether a pregnant woman with a GRC is entitled to maternity leave, what it means to be same-sex attracted, and whether a man with a GRC's entitlement to join a group of lesbians takes priority over their right to freely associate with only women.
'Trans rights are protected under the separate category of gender reassignment but to fully guarantee women's rights it is increasingly clear that a consistent, biological and factual understanding of sex is the only workable solution.'
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The dark side of Irish dancing: Outrage grows over tween dancers caked in make-up and fake tan - after circuit was rocked by allegations of sex bribes and contest fixing
Irish Dancing's most prestigious competition - the World Championships - kicked off in Dublin on Saturday. However, the show-stopping footwork has been overshadowed by fierce criticism over the way competitors - some as young as eight - are dressed while on stage.
Some 5,000 dancers are currently performing during the week-long championships, known locally as the Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, at the Irish capital's Convention Centre - with female competitors in every age category sporting heavy fake tan and make up, bouffed-up hair pieces, sparkling tutus and glittering bodices.
On X this week, one spectator raged that it was 'absolutely shocking the way the kids have to dress. Fake tan, wigs etc. It used to be about the dancing!'
Another said the traditional dance, which has been practised in Ireland for centuries and is characterised by quick footwork, high kicks and an upright body position, had become 'Americanised'.
They wrote: 'Copious amount of make up fake tan fake hair and costumes so gaudy they wouldn't look out of place in American pageants! Sorry it's time to go back to basics and let their feet do the talking'.
It's not the first time the sport has faced scrutiny, with the circuit still recovering from an 'explosive' scandal just three years ago.
In 2022, the Irish dancing community was left shocked by accusations of a cheating and bribes for sex scandal, alongside claims that children pursuing the sport at the highest level faced 'brutal' training regimes - one journalist claimed the Irish dancing world was being 'run like the Mafia'.
With a global following - performers from around 30 countries are currently competing in Dublin, it was a US dancer, Owen Luebbers, who grew up in Philadelphia, who first spoke out to expose a murkier side to the wholesome sport that's loved by millions.
Competitors at this year's Irish World Dancing Championships in Dublin; some have criticised the 'gaudy' outfits and heavy makeup of the dancers, some of whom are as young as eight
A young competitor poses backstage wearing a dazzling neon pink and green ensemble, full make up and a bright blonde hairpiece
Criticism: Some who've seen performers at this year's World Championships in Dublin have compared the outfits of the performers to those seen in American beauty pageants
In a 2023 three-part BBC One documentary, The Year that Rocked Irish Dancing, Luebbers, who still competes in the sport, said he was terrified of voicing his concerns for fear of being marked down at future competitions.
The then 25-year-old revealed he'd achieved major success at the World Championships in 2017 with former dance school owner Kevin Broesler - only to later be left questioning his win when he was alerted to text messages last year suggesting a judge had helped the young dancer bag the trophy.
Luebbers said he's since questioned whether he deserved the 2017 World Championships title, saying: 'Obviously at the time, I wouldn't have thought anything of it but after having seen the text and seeing that my name was mentioned specifically.
'It does make me wonder. I go back and question "Did I deserve it?"'.
The dancer, who recently graduated with a screenwriting degree, won the senior men's World Championships title a year later. Broesler, who ran the Broesler School of Irish Dance, suspended himself from his own school following the allegations.
Dublin-based journalist Ellen Coyne revealed in the documentary how she first received an anonymous email alerting her to potential match-fixing during the competition in 2022.
Coyne said while the anonymous emails then began coming into her inbox thick and fast, no one would speak out, comparing the scenario to like the 'omerta that you would see in Italian mafiosos'.
Some 5,000 competitors will perform until April 20th at this year's championships, known locally as Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne
One critic of the championship's costumes on X said the girls competing 'wouldn't look out of place in American pageants!' adding 'it's time to go back to basics and let their feet do the talking'
This image from 2001 shows longer hemlines, simpler hairdos and certainly no fake tan or make-up
The Letterkenny Fleadh dance festival in 2006: While more glitzy costumes had started to creep in and girls wore tiaras and their hair in ringleys, fake and and make-up had yet to creep in
In New York, editor of Irish Central Kerry O'Shea, told the programme that she had received a similar message at the same time as Coyne, with details attached of messages alluding to match-fixing - and one suggesting a sexual bribe - allegedly being shared between teachers and judges.
O'Shea said she was shocked by the note, which read: 'Will you be writing anything about the twisted world of Irish Dancing and the sick f**** involved in it'.
The journalist reflected on the messages landing in her inbox, saying the judges and teachers were 'basically using young competitors as pawns in seeking your own gratification - it just seemed wild to me.'
The emails would ignite a scandal that unearthed dozens of messages that appeared to be related to competition fixing.
In one exchange, a judge tells a teacher that 'other forms of appreciation' are accepted and the teacher responds by saying that if they can get a particular student to first place then they can have 'anything you want ;)'
The judge also says: 'Is it not time you came to my room?'
Other graphic messages alleged to have been shared included: 'Do you swallow?', 'You know the way to 100' and 'I'll suck your d*** at the world (dancing competition) as a thank you'.
Up to a dozen Irish dance teachers and judges were investigated after being accused of colluding to award podium finishes at the All-Ireland Championships - after a whistleblower leaked messages to the press in Dublin and New York.
TikTok and Irish dancing star Owen Luebbers, who grew up in Philadelphia but trained in Dublin, told BBC documentary The Year that Rocked Irish Dancing how he was reluctant to speak out on a major cheating and sex bribe scandal that sparked a 2022 investigation because he feared he would be marked down in future competitions
The US dancer, left on stage, was alerted to text messages in 2022 which suggested a judge had helped the then young dancer win a major competition in 2017
Luebbers, who recently graduated with a screenwriting degree, said in 2023 that the scandal made him question whether he'd won medals via his own merit
Messages leaked to the press appeared to show judges and teachers colluding; with the main investigation focusing on the All-Ireland Championships in 2017
Owen Luebbers' former coach Kevin Broesler, left, resigned shortly after the investigation into allegations - which were eventually dropped - began
An Irish dance teacher based in the east coast of America passed on the messages and dozens more to Irish dancing governing body, An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG).
The whistleblower, who doesn't want to be identified, said she wanted to lift the lid on what she believes in the fixing of competitions that makes it impossible for some dance schools to compete.
In all, the whistleblower supplied screenshots of WhatsApp conversations showing 12 Irish dance teachers requesting a fix in major competitions.
The WhatsApp messages show that one teacher sent the name and competition number of her niece and asked the judge to give the girl a high score. She then mentions she has another niece also dancing.
'How many effin' nieces do you have?' the judge asks, while agreeing to give them a good score.
The competition fixing was alleged to have occurred both in the Republic and Northern Ireland during All-Ireland Championships and qualifying rounds.
…
Several teachers were alleged to have asked favourable judges to sit in on competitions in which their own children or pupils were dancing.
One judge is alleged to have sent messages to a dance teacher during an All-Ireland Championship.
A teacher at the competition asks the judge: 'Are you on boys u12? If you are, he's number [competition number of dancer]. Thank you x.'
The judge replies: 'Yes, got it'.
The next day, the teacher has another request: 'Hiya. Have a really good girl u14 no [competition number]. Could be podium. Have a girl u15 that needs to qualify no [competition number].' This gets a 'thumbs up' symbol from the judge.
Another teacher sent photos of two of her pupils to a judge, so that the judge could identify them. 'Girls u11 tomorrow. Don't have [competition] numbers as I'm not going til the morn. [first name and surname] and [first name and surname] are the names'.
The judge replies with a winking emoticon.
Another teacher begs for a high score for his students and also for the judge to ensure that other favourable judges are appointed to the same competition.
After the judge gave a good mark to one of his students, the teacher writes: 'Thanks for today. Do u know what you are on tomorrow? Begging if you are on [child's name] to do what you can Xxx.'
The judge replies: 'I know.'
The teacher then asks: 'Are you on the 18s?' When the judge confirms that they are, the teacher replies: 'Thank god!!! Who else is with you? Is it bad?'
The judge asks: 'Who do you want?'
The teacher then names four judges he doesn't want.
The highly-competitive world of Irish dancing sees schools across the world compete for prizes - with those given top awards able to charge more for places at their institutions (file image of Irish dancing contest)
The judge replies that the teacher won't have the first judge on the list but he is not sure about the second.
Another judge tells a teacher that they 'accept other forms of appreciation', and in response is told: 'If you can get [name redacted] to give [name redacted] First anything You want ;)'
At the time, then deputy Irish PM Leo Varadkar called for a full investigation by an external body saying the allegations risked 'reputational damage' for Ireland.
Following an independent investigation, 44 cases proceeded to a full disciplinary hearing, which commenced in August 2023.
However, teachers and judges involved were told in 2024 that they would face no further action after the sport's biggest governing body, Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG), dropped the proceedings.
The World Irish Dancing Championships, for which Dublin City Council has commissioned a special commemorative badge which will be given to each competitor, runs until April 20th.
_________________
С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Ukrainians roll eyes at Witkoff, reject border changes
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff has conveyed Moscow’s desire for peace in exchange for five regions in Ukraine.
KYIV — Ukraine’s determination to defend its territorial integrity will never flag, Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday, brushing aside a claim by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff that a permanent peace deal with Russia hangs on Kyiv’s relinquishing five regions currently under Moscow’s control.
“Ukraine is a sovereign country, united within internationally recognized borders. This position of Ukraine is immutable and will never change. I can tell you: never. No matter how many years, months, it will never change. Ukraine, as it was, will be within internationally recognized borders,” Tykhyi said.
Tykhyi once again outlined Ukraine’s three red lines in peace talks with Moscow: that Kyiv will never recognize the occupied territories as Russian; that it will never agree to any limitations on its defense capabilities or foreign aid; and that third countries will not have a veto over Ukraine’s choice of which unions or alliances to join.
“This all is Ukraine’s right under international law, not just a wish list” Tykhyi added. “Russia has no right to dictate anything to Ukraine. It’s an aggression, where there’s a state that was attacked and the attacker state. There should not be equalizing of the two.”
Earlier this week, Witkoff, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 11, said that Russia wants a permanent settlement and that the peace deal Moscow has proposed includes “five territories of Ukraine”.
Witkoff did not specify which territories he meant, but Reuters reported that he had embraced the Russian position in talks with Trump. POLITICO could not independently verify this claim.
Moscow considers Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula in the Black Sea that it illegally occupied and annexed in 2014, as Russian territory.
In 2022 Russia conducted sham referendums in four other Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — and annexed all four, even though it still doesn’t fully control those territories.
Since last summer Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the four regions, including the city of Zaporizhzhia, which was never occupied, and the city of Kherson, whose residents celebrated their liberation by Ukrainian forces in fall 2022.
While Kyiv acknowledges it doesn’t have the military means to recover the occupied territories by force, it hopes that goal can be achieved through diplomacy and international pressure on Russia.
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The untold story of how Trump shocked Europe in a few short days
When the world changed, here’s how it looked to political insiders.
PARIS — European leaders knew Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president would be a challenge. But the magnitude and speed with which Washington broke from decades-long defense policies forced governments across the continent to confront the unthinkable: Is the U.S. now more of a threat than a partner?
POLITICO reporters have dug deep into the events of a couple of weeks in February when everything changed. Europe experienced a series of Trump-induced geopolitical shocks that shook the transatlantic relationship to its core and rattled Europe’s faith in its most crucial ally.
It prompted leaders in Berlin and Warsaw to reverse — in a matter of days — their security doctrines, and diplomats to try to salvage what remains of the post-World War II order.
Since Trump entered the White House for the second time in January, Europe has had to ride a rollercoaster that’s swerved from policies on Gaza to Greenland, from Ukraine to a trade war.
While actual policy announcements have been hard to follow, especially as they’re often blurred or reversed by overnight social media posts, the key message on the transatlantic relationship was sent loud and clear soon after Trump took office: Europe should fend for itself and America’s military umbrella, extended over the continent since 1945, shouldn’t be taken for granted.
And what European leaders were even more worried about, according to the officials POLITICO spoke to, is that much of Trump’s rhetoric felt to them hauntingly close to the Kremlin’s own messaging. Top of the list: The inaccurate claim that Ukraine was responsible for starting its war with Russia.
The goodies and baddies
The first sign of the drama to come happened mid-February when U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to Brussels to deliver Europe bad news.
At a meeting of NATO defense ministers, Hegseth said Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy should give up hope of taking back all the land Russia has seized and returning to pre-2014 borders. It’s “an illusionary goal,” he said, as he quashed Ukrainians’ hopes of joining the military alliance in the near future.
Two seats to Hegseth’s left was the United Kingdom’s Defense Secretary John Healey, who had little time to process what he was hearing.
Later in the afternoon, as Healey was halfway through a press conference after meeting NATO chief Mark Rutte, details of a call between Trump and Putin started to emerge. An aide rushed up to Healey once he’d finished speaking and showed him Trump’s Truth Social post on his phone.
“We agreed to work together, very closely,” the U.S. president had posted. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation.”
After Hegseth had given his counterparts from NATO governments a blunt heads up about what the substance of Trump’s plans for Ukraine were, he tried to reassure them behind closed doors.
Don’t worry, he told them, according to a senior European official. “We know who the goodies are. We know who the baddies are.”
As panic started to envelop the continent’s defense-watchers, the U.K. delegation found solace in a brief festive moment: The second day of the NATO gathering was Healey’s 65th birthday. After the ministerial meeting he went with aides to the fourth floor of NATO HQ, where Britain has its base, and officials presented him with a birthday cake.
Nobody was in much of a mood to celebrate, though. Behind closed doors, Hegseth told his NATO counterparts that any lasting peace deal would have to include so-called security guarantees, meaning a commitment from other countries to protect it from future aggression by Russia.
Europeans were counting on some form of U.S. participation, with the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, telling reporters: “We shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations even started because it plays to Russia’s court.”
Yet Hegseth ruled out the strongest, most protective option for Ukraine — NATO membership. It was music to the Kremlin’s ears.
On the night after the Trump-Putin call, Russia attacked Ukraine with 140 drones, shelled residential buildings in the city of Kherson and carried out 10 aerial strikes on communities in the front-line region of Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The threat from within
Germany’s Munich Security Conference took place over the following days. It has seen many tensions and flare-ups over the years as presidents, generals, diplomats, and power brokers have discussed the world’s fate under the grand chandeliers and polished wood panels.
Even so, attendees this year were bracing for impact. Among the most high-profile guests was U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a staunch advocate of Trump’s America First foreign policy. He was making his debut on the international stage.
They were right to be worried. Europeans “understood in a day in Munich that Ukraine’s survival and Europe’s survival are in their hands,” French Senator Claude Malhuret said.
But Vance went further than Ukraine. He chastised European governments for supposedly ignoring the will of their people, ignoring religious freedoms and refusing to act to halt illegal migration.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” he told the audience. “And what I worry about is the threat from within.”
The fiery speech, lasting 19 minutes and referencing various hot-button issues, included punches aimed at the U.K., Romania and Germany, among others.
“What the fuck was that? I had my mouth open in a room full of people with their mouth open,” a former House Democratic staffer said. “That was bad.”
The interference in European countries’ domestic affairs brought the audience of diplomats, policy wonks and defense experts to a standstill.
A German official watched on aghast as Vance put into words some governments’ worst fears: “This is all so insane and worrying.”
It prompted European leaders into action — with an unusual dose of improvisation.
The day after Vance’s shock address, Feb. 15, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski broke the news on the conference’s main stage that an emergency meeting of leaders in Paris was in the works.
“I’m very glad that President Macron has called our leaders to Paris,” he said during a panel discussion alongside his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot.
Barrot grinned nervously as Sikorski spoke. Plans for the impromptu summit weren’t public yet, and the French wouldn’t confirm it for another 24 hours.
‘Once in a generation moment’
But it did happen. The crisis meeting, held in Paris on Feb. 17, followed by another two days later, kickstarted two weeks of frantic diplomacy, with European countries scrambling to get a seat in discussions on how to stop the war in Ukraine, cajole Trump back into what they saw as reason — and sketch out a plan for their own security.
Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer each played host to meetings, and both planned trips to Washington. Meanwhile, leaders in countries closer to Russia ramped up the pressure on their peers to increase defense spending.
The format for the meeting was strange, with leaders from France, Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as senior EU officials, in attendance, but ― breaking with the EU’s obsession with consensus in the name of greater efficiency ― not representatives from countries on the Eastern border, such as the Baltic States.
Dubbing it a “once in a generation moment,” Starmer raised the stakes by announcing hours before that he was “ready and willing” to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce a peace deal, rallying Macron’s idea for sending peacekeepers.
As his peers were crossing the Elysée’s front yard that late afternoon, saluted by red-crested gardes républicains, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs pitched in from afar with some concise advice. “Never stop panicking,” he said.
A fresh salvo fired from the other side of the Atlantic soon justified his advice.
Speaking to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump launched an attack on Zelenskyy, after the Ukrainian president raised worries about being excluded from talks.
“Today I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years,” Trump said on Feb. 18. “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
Trump further derided Zelenskyy the day after, describing him as not only an incompetent leader but “a dictator without elections,” borrowing from the Kremlin’s talking points.
Trying to keep cool heads amid the fury, Starmer and Macron kept in touch with Trump throughout.
The former was scheduled to visit the American president the week after. Macron called Trump and lobbied for his own trip ― jumping the queue to become the first European leader to visit the White House since his inauguration.
While the U.K. and France coordinated closely, there was the slightest hint of rivalry. A U.K. official said Britain had deliberately avoided scheduling Starmer’s visit on the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But this left a window for Macron to sweep into, they said.
Interrupting Trump
In Washington, where he slept at Blair House, the U.S. president’s guesthouse on Pennsylvania Avenue, Macron sought to rekindle what his advisers described as a special relationship with his American counterpart.
But between all the pleasantries and manly hand-holding, tension broke through when discussing substance. After Trump inaccurately described European aid to Ukraine as being just a loan, Macron leaned over to interrupt Trump and contradict him.
In private, Macron lobbied hard for Trump to also welcome another leader, according to one of his aides: Zelenskyy.
That was to prove fateful.
Over in Kyiv, top EU officials and leaders of Spain, the Nordic and Baltic countries, along with other NATO members, staged a show of force, designed to signal that the bloc stood firmly behind the Ukrainian president.
And back in Washington, a group of EU lawmakers witnessed for themselves the badly damaged state of the transatlantic relationship.
Eight conservative members of the European Parliament had arranged meetings with think tanks, transatlantic players and policymakers interested in the defense sector. But barely one day into their trip, doors started shutting.
“The general message was, démerdez-vous [just deal with it],” French lawmaker François-Xavier Bellamy, who was heading the delegation, said.
A Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives canceled them with 24 hours notice, his staff said.
“It was a general policy,” Bellamy said. “The line was, ‘you can’t meet with Europeans. You can meet with French, British or Italian [politicians], but not ones with the EU label.’”
Meanwhile, the U.S. sided with Moscow in a high-profile U.N. vote aiming at condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Slashing aid
In London, Starmer made his own surprise move in an effort to woo Trump ahead of his own trip to Washington.
On Feb. 25, he announced what he described as the “biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War” — paid for in Trumpian style by slashing funds for international aid.
Defence Secretary Healey rushed from Starmer’s parliamentary statement to his department to call Hegseth, who told him the policy was “a great leadership step,” according to a person with knowledge of the discussion.
Starmer had been privately discussing the plan with his finance minister, Rachel Reeves, for weeks but deliberately kept other ministers out of the loop — even his closest allies who were helping him gameplan the U.S. visit. His minister for humanitarian aid, Anneliese Dodds, was only told the day before the announcement. She decided to resign from government but delayed making that public until Starmer met Trump.
On the flight there, walking to the back of the plane for a customary off-camera interview with travelling journalists in Adidas trainers, a dark blue shirt and black blazer, Starmer made a point of saying he would “keep his answers pretty tight” because the meeting with the U.S. president was so critical.
He said he’d press Trump for a security “backstop” to protect European peacekeeping troops in postwar Ukraine. Officials later confirmed the intended format of this was aerial intelligence, and air cover as a last resort if Russia attacked western troops.
But around an hour after he had spoken Trump pulled the rug from under his feet. “I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” Trump told his Cabinet. “We’re going to have Europe do that.”
Downing Street officials simply had to watch news of Trump’s latest comments appear on their phones midway across the Atlantic. Starmer — behind a gray curtain at the front of the plane — did not come down to speak to journalists again, and aides declined to comment further.
“A lot of them [U.S. officials] wake up in the morning just waiting for what [Trump] is going to say today,” said a senior U.K. official.
As Starmer and his delegation were bracing for the high-stakes visit, Macron in Paris was making friends with someone he hoped would become a key ally in the tumultuous times ahead, Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz. He traveled to Paris fresh off his election victory for an intimate dinner with the French president.
Just minutes after winning Germany’s vital snap election the weekend before, the conservative leader vowed “independence” from Trump’s America — a startling shift away from his country’s historic pro-American position and something that, by his own admission, he “never thought [he] would have to say.”
Pulling out the stops
Starmer spent several hours preparing for his Trump meeting at the U.K. embassy. In his half hour in the Oval Office with Trump, in front of a table laden with gold coasters and with a map of the “Gulf of America” in the corner, he took a leaf out of Macron’s book by touching Trump on the arm — and adopted the president’s hyperbolic language when whisking a letter from King Charles III out of his pocket inviting the president for a state visit.
Trump made positive noises but, ominously, he said British peacekeeping troops could “take care of themselves” if attacked by Russia.
Despite the warning signs Starmer was upbeat on the flight back to the U.K. He came briefly to the back of the plane, gave a thumbs-up and said he was “happy.”
‘I have to take this’
He had reasons to be at least slightly optimistic. Two days before, in between Macron’s and Starmer’s visits, the Ukrainian presidency confirmed what was thought to be a significant breakthrough: Washington and Kyiv had “agreed on the text” of a minerals deal, with Trump hinting that Zelenskyy could travel to Washington to sign the day after Starmer’s visit.
As Zelenskyy prepared to fly to Washington, Ukrainian aides were full of optimism, briefing lawmakers and journalists about the positive step this represented.
In Brussels, a senior Ukrainian official was giving an interview to POLITICO when news of Zelenskyy’s trip was confirmed via the president’s office. The official’s phone rang. “I have to take this,” they said, disappearing into another room.
A few minutes later they returned to announce that Zelenskyy would be going to Washington, then he would meet leaders in London. “It’s a win — he is meeting Trump before Putin meets him,” said the official.
What’s more, the “sequence” was beneficial for Ukraine, the official said. Zelenskyy would sign the minerals deal, hopefully extract some language on security guarantees for Ukraine, then present the results to European and U.K. leaders in London.
As it turned out, the part on security guarantees was ill-fated. After nearly 40 minutes of polite exchanges with Trump and Vance, Zelenskyy’s insistence on guarantees was partly what set off the now infamous fiery exchange between him and his U.S. hosts.
‘This is really bad’
“It made me want to throw up,” a Paris-based ambassador said of the Oval Office spat. “On a very human level … it shows nothing is sacred.”
Because the news broke on a Friday night in Europe, many U.K. officials had to start working at home. “There was a lot of WhatsApp traffic,” said the British official quoted above. “It was people at home trying to have a night off, but then instantly realizing — fuck me, this is really bad.”
One French minister, whose portfolio is not directly impacted, was in his constituency in a remote part of France when a friend pulled him aside to flag what just happened. “I went back home and got stuck in front of my TV until 1 a.m.,” he said.
Macron, on a visit to Portugal, was in the middle of a TV interview when wire reports started to drop. After the interview, he immediately watched the footage and, as he was shuffled to his plane to get back to Paris, picked up the phone to call Zelenskyy from the aircraft.
Merz was sent the footage by a member of his staff as he made his way home to the Sauerland, a three-hour car ride from Hamburg, German magazine Stern reported. Merz immediately made several calls from the car, and wrote a solidarity post for Zelenskyy on X.
Three days later, Merz informed the party leadership of his CDU during a video conference about one of the biggest U-turns in recent German history: the planned relaxation of the debt brake for defense spending and a €500 billion special fund to stimulate the economy.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy was blindsided too. He landed at Heathrow Airport, upbeat after a meeting with his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio that aides felt had gone well. His team spent much of the day dealing with the news that Dodds, the aid minister in his department, had resigned. But this frenzy was soon forgotten after Zelenskyy’s Oval Office trip.
Starmer studiously avoided publicly criticizing the Oval Office scene, instead picking up the phone to call both Trump and Zelenskyy within four hours of it happening.
The Ukrainian president traveled to London the next morning, where he was greeted by Starmer on the steps of No. 10 Downing Street. The British PM walked towards him and immediately threw his arm around him.
Starmer used the London summit to try and rally European countries to form a “coalition of the willing,” announcing that he and Macron would take the lead on coming up with a draft peace plan to bring to Trump.
Zelenskyy went straight from the summit to meet and pose for photos with King Charles III — days after Starmer promised royal-loving Trump a trip to see the monarch. Such meetings are arranged by royal palaces, but tend to be done in coordination with the U.K. government. “People definitely saw it,” one U.S. official said.
Trump was said to have been rankled by the events of that Sunday — not merely Zelenskyy’s royal visit, but the sight of Europe hugging him close. A U.K. official said Trump’s team “didn’t like the look of it … the way the whole love-in landed,” and suggested the U.S. reaction pushed Britain toward putting more pressure on Ukraine to come to the table in the days that followed.
Zelenskyy freshly enraged Trump that Sunday evening by holding a 72-minute interview with journalists in a small room at London’s Stansted Airport, just before he left the U.K. In it he said a peace deal was still “very, very far away.” Some officials believe this was the “trigger” that prompted Trump to halt military aid to Ukraine barely 24 hours later.
Игра на опережение. Почему Зеленский продлевает военное положение и что это значит для переговоров с США и РФ
Верховная Рада сегодня в 15-й раз продлила действие военного положения и мобилизацию до 6 августа. Но, в отличие от всех предыдущих 14-ти голосований, сейчас этот процесс вызвал политическое бурление. Впервые с начала полномасштабной войны в Раде прозвучала критика продления.
И это, вероятно, и является одной из причин по которой Зеленский внес вопрос в Раду сильно заранее до истечения срока действия военного положения.
Несмотря на распространенный скептицизм относительно перспектив прекращения огня на фоне того, что Путин выдвинул условия, которые не факт, что Трамп сможет или захочет выполнить, все ж таки в Киеве далеко не все уверены в том, что переговоры между Вашингтоном и Москвой зайдут в тупик и закончатся провалом.
На Банковой есть определенное беспокойство относительно общения представителя Трампа Уиткоффа и Путина. Особенно возросло оно после того, как Трамп на днях заявил, что ожидает хороших предложений по прекращению огня, а Уиткофф сказал о прогрессе в переговорах и что "мы стоим на пороге чего-то очень важного".
В Киеве имеются опасения, что американцы могут согласиться на ряд российских условий завершения войны, которые для Зеленского категорически неприемлемы. В том числе - и касательно проведения выборов с намеком на необходимость ухода действующего президента Украины с занимаемого поста.
Слухи об этом ходят упорные и уже давно. Правда, никаких подтверждений, того, что американцы выдвигают или намерены выдвинуть такие условия пока нет.
Однако есть и другой, параллельный, процесс, который также для украинских властей потенциально опасен в плане отношений с США - обсуждение сделки о недрах. В западных СМИ пишут, что американцы от своих главных требований не отступают (фактическое признание уже оказанной Украине помощи в качестве долга перед Америкой), хотя в Киеве считают их заведомо неприемлемыми. Трамп уже пригрозил Зеленскому "большими проблемами", если тот откажется подписывать сделку. И уже пошли слухи, что Вашингтон готовит санкции против ближайшего окружения президента Украины, включая Ермака.
Да и риторика Трампа в отношении Зеленского вновь становится негативной.
То есть, на 100% нельзя исключать вариант, при котором Вашингтон решит оказать жесткое давление на Зеленского для принуждения его к заключению сделки по недрам и/или для согласия на условия прекращения огня, которые Киев сейчас принимать не хочет.
В такой ситуации, Офис президента, похоже, решил сыграть на опережение.
"Сейчас можно собрать всех депутатов призывами сплотиться, напоминаниями о трагедиях Кривого Рога и Сум. Но никто не знает, как будут обстоять дела через две недели, если просочится информация о возможных договоренностях между Вашингтоном и Москвой. И если будут проступать контуры некоего соглашения, и прекращение огня станет его частью, то депутаты начнут колебаться, задавать вопросы. Тогда собрать их для голосования за продление военного положения будет значительно сложнее. Поэтому Банковая и решила сыграть на опережение", - говорит "Стране" источник в парламенте.
Важный момент и по поводу продления мобилизации. Как известно, ее остановка является одним из двух публично озвученных условий Путина для согласия РФ на перемирие (второе условие - прекращение поставок западной помощи Украине). Зеленский, продлевая мобилизацию, показывает, что это условие выполнять точно не намерен.
А обществу дают понять, что не нужно ждать скорого возвращения к мирной жизни. Даже если вдруг в ближайшие недели будет достигнуто прекращение огня, то страна все равно до августа продолжит жить по законам военного времени с принудительной мобилизацией, границами на "замке" для мужчин, с отсутствием для военных возможности демобилизации. Но как на это отреагирует армия и общество - это отдельный вопрос. Если будет объявлено перемирие, но границы продолжат оставаться закрытыми, мужчин будут как и раньше ловить военкомы, а военные не смогут демобилизоваться, и при этом еще и выборы непонятно когда будут, то это может вызвать сильное внутреннее напряжение в стране. Потенциально для власти очень опасное.
Правда, Зеленский имеет возможность отменить военное положение досрочно просто своим указом даже без утверждения его Радой.
Но, в любом случае, через продление военного положения президент как бы хочет показать всем, что именно он будет решать когда состоятся выборы и состоятся ли они вообще в обозримом будущем, стремясь таким образом в зародыше пресечь внутриполитическое брожение на фоне не очень пока понятных перспектив и условий переговорного процесса по завершению войны.
Однако, это его планы и стратегия укрепления собственной позиции, которые могут войти в сильное противоречие с тем, как видит ситуацию Трамп со всеми вытекающими отсюда последствиями.
Впрочем, такая ситуация может возникнуть только в одном случае: если Россия договорится с США об условиях прекращения огня, среди которых будет, например, отмена военного положения и мобилизации, а также проведение выборов. После чего Трамп начнёт побуждать к этому Зеленского.
Но пока очень большой вопрос сможет ли Москва вообще о чем-либо договориться с Вашингтоном по Украине. И этот вопрос ключевой. От него зависят все дальнейшие события.
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Две примечательных статьи из «The Guardian» содержащие жалобы либералов на действия Трампа &Со напрочь игнорирующие свой собственный опыт недавнего прошлого, когда они сами, подобно Трампу &Со сейчас, боролись с традиционными ценностями своих народов.
ЛГБТ и ЛГБТ + практики в России запрещены.
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In Trumpland, ‘defending free speech’ means one thing: submission to the president
By claiming that any regulation is censorship, the White House is bullying Britain to abandon online safety laws and digital taxes
C ompared with many countries around the world, the US is still a great democracy, but a much lesser one than it was four months ago. The constitution has not been rewritten. Checks and balances have not been dissolved. The difference is a president who ignores those constraints, and the impotence of the institutions that should enforce them.
Which is the true US, the one enshrined in law or the one that smirks in contempt of law? If the latter, should Britain welcome its embrace as a kindred nation? That is an existential question lurking in the technical folds of a potential transatlantic trade agreement.
If JD Vance is to be believed, the prospects of such a deal are looking up. The US vice-president reports that Donald Trump “really loves the United Kingdom”. The two countries are connected by a “real cultural affinity” that transcends business interests.
This is a more emollient Vance than the one who earlier this year denounced Britain, alongside other European democracies, as a hotbed of anti-Christian prejudice and endemic censorship. In a speech to the Munich Security Conference in February, Vance told his audience that Europe’s greatest threat comes not from Russia or China, but “from within”. He saw a continent in retreat from the “values shared with the United States of America”. Vance returned to the theme when Keir Starmer visited the White House, rebuking the prime minister for “infringements on free speech that … affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens”.
That was a swipe at the Online Safety Act, which makes social media companies, websites and search engines responsible for “harmful content” published on their platforms. The law had a tortuous genesis between 2022 and 2023. Its scope expanded and contracted depending on what was deemed enforceable and desirable under three different Conservative prime ministers.
The version now on the statute book focuses on unambiguously nasty stuff – incitement to violence, terrorism, race hate, encouraging suicide, child abuse images. Technology companies are required to have systems for removing such content. Those mechanisms are assessed by the regulator, Ofcom. Inadequate enforcement is punishable with fines. Refusal to comply can result in criminal prosecutions.
That was the theory. The question of how the law should be implemented in practice was deferred. The answer seems to be not much if Britain wants a trade deal with the US.
Last month, Ofcom received a delegation from the US state department, which raised the Online Safety Act in line with the Trump administration’s mission “to affirm the US commitment to defending freedom of expression in Europe and around the world”. Last week, answering questions from the parliamentary liaison committee, Starmer confirmed that diluting digital regulation was on the table in trade talks when he acknowledged that “there are questions about how technology impacts free speech”. The prime minister also conceded that the UK’s digital services tax, which aims to clamp down on international tech companies avoiding tax by hiding their profits offshore, could be up for negotiation.
These demands from the White House have been flagged well in advance. In February, Trump signed a “memorandum to defend US companies and innovators from extortion overseas”. The administration promised to take a dim view of any attempt to raise taxes from US tech companies and any use of “products and technology in ways that undermine free speech or foster censorship”.
Regulation that impedes the operation of US digital behemoths – anything short of blanket permission to do as they please – will apparently be treated as a hostile act and an affront to human liberty.
This is an imperial demand for market access cynically camouflaged in the language of universal rights. The equivalent trick is not available in other sectors of the economy. US farmers hate trade barriers that stop their products flooding European markets, but they don’t argue that their chlorine-washed chickens are being censored. (Not yet.)
That isn’t to say digital communications can be subject to toxicity tests just like agricultural exports. There is wide scope for reasonable disagreement on what counts as intolerable content, and how it should be controlled. The boundaries are not easily defined. But it is also beyond doubt that thresholds exist. There is no free-speech case for child sexual abuse images. The most liberal jurisdictions recognise that the state has a duty to proscribe some material even if there is a market for it.
The question of how online space should be policed is complex in principle and fiendishly difficult in practice, not least because the infrastructure we treat as a public arena is run by private commercial interests. Britain cannot let the terms of debate be dictated by a US administration that is locked in corrupting political intimacy with those interests.
It is impossible to separate the commercial and ideological strands of Trump’s relationship with Silicon Valley oligarchs. They used their power and wealth to boost his candidacy and they want payback from his incumbency. There is not much coherence to the doctrine. “Free” speech is the kind that amplifies the president’s personal prejudices. Correcting his lies with verifiable facts is censorship.
That warped frame extends beyond the shores of the US. It is shared by Kemi Badenoch, who considers Vance a friend. Asked about the vice-president’s Munich speech, the Conservative leader said she thought he was “dropping some truth bombs, quite frankly”. Badenoch’s own speeches consistently fret about the capture of Britain’s elite institutions, especially the Whitehall bureaucracy, by repressive woke dogma.
There is a school of militant leftism that is tediously censorious, stretching liberal piety to illiberal extremes, and there always has been. But it is very far from power. Maybe Badenoch ramps up the menace to appeal to a fanatical audience on social media. Perhaps she radicalised herself by reading about it there. Either way, to fixate on campus protest politics as the main threat to western democracy when a tyrant sits in the Oval Office requires an act of mental contortion that, if not actually stupid, does a strong imitation of stupidity.
Britain doesn’t have to take instruction on political freedom from a regime that suffocates media independence with bullying and vexatious litigation; that demands universities teach the ruling party’s orthodoxies; that courts dictatorships while sabotaging democratic alliances; that kidnaps and jails innocent people with no regard for due process, then ignores the court rulings that say they should be free.
These are the “values” that Vance is talking about when he laments that Europe and the US are drifting apart. This is the model of “free speech” that a Trump trading partner is expected to endorse; to protect. Is that the stuff of “real cultural affinity” that earns Britain a deal? Let’s hope not.
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Trump-style book censorship is spreading – just ask British librarians
UK schools are coming under pressure to remove titles from their shelves. It’s not coming from the place you might think
F or all its talk of free speech, the Trump administration seems remarkably comfortable with censorship. Earlier this year, children studying at Pentagon schools (serving US military families) were prevented from accessing libraries for a week while officials reviewed their shelves for titles that might be “related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics”. Trump’s presidency has injected new energy into the book-banning movement that has been simmering for years on the US right. You might think that censoring school libraries would be totally unimaginable in Britain. You’d be wrong.
I worked as a librarian for 10 years, and now I teach on the library and information studies master’s programme at UCL. After the pandemic, I began noticing signs of an eerily similar trend. It erupted in the spring of 2022, when a Catholic school in Croydon invited Simon James Green, a prominent gay children’s author, to give a talk. The US anti-LGBT website Catholic Truth ran a campaign encouraging readers to contact the school and protest against the event (one reader said, somewhat implausibly, that Green’s visit to the school was “100% as much of an issue as the ongoing war in Ukraine”). The commission responsible for the school released a statement suggesting the event should be cancelled, teachers went on strike, and the story reached the national press.
It got me thinking: how many school librarians had come under pressure to remove books from their shelves? One survey conducted later that year found 26% of librarians had “occasionally” been asked to censor materials. In 2024, meanwhile, Index on Censorship surveyed 53 school librarians, more than half of whom had been asked to remove books. I was keen to hear from librarians about where these requests were coming from, and how they were dealing with them, so I decided to do my own study. I interviewed 10 school librarians across the UK about the challenges they had faced. Their responses were interesting – and alarming.
Most of the requests to remove books came from parents, and almost all of these requests related to books that explored LGBT+ themes. Some books came up repeatedly: Alice Oseman’s series of Heartstopper graphic novels, which centre on a relationship between two schoolboys; Billy’s Bravery by Tom Percival, about a boy who dresses up as his favourite superhero, Nature Girl, for World Book Day; and This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson. Some librarians had received signed letters from parents asking them to remove particular books. Other times, the letters had been sent anonymously. One librarian told me they had found a leaflet produced by a rightwing religious American group, not dissimilar to Catholic Truth, on one of the desks in their library.
Based on what I’ve seen and heard, it seems there has been an increase in these requests since the pandemic. Perhaps that’s because parents became more aware of what their children were reading during the intense period of home schooling. Perhaps it’s also a symptom of our febrile political culture. Over the last three years, drag queen story events – a popular format involving considerable amounts of glitter and storytelling aimed at children – have been targeted by protests organised by Turning Point UK, a British offshoot of the far-right US political organisation, and by the white nationalist group Patriotic Alternative. Would it be so surprising if the huge amount of coverage the British press has devoted to culture war subjects spilled over into some parents asking for certain books to be removed from school libraries?
I find it hard not to see these requests as an insult to school librarians. These professionals undertake years of training and devote a huge amount of time and care to curating a selection of books that will enrich children’s learning and expand their horizons. They’re also careful about ensuring books are age-appropriate and respond to the curriculum (LGBTQ+ content is included as a statutory part of relationships and sex education teaching). Unfortunately, librarians are often at the lowest end of the school hierarchy. They’re mostly women, and mostly on very low salaries. Their sector is vulnerable: some secondary schools have closed their libraries due to funding pressures. A quarter of schools in Wales don’t have a library, while two-thirds of school libraries in Scotland have no library budget at all.
It’s far easier to write a letter to a librarian asking them to remove a book than it is to address the truly inappropriate and harmful material that children are exposed to (which, by the way, has nothing to do with books such as Billy’s Bravery). Social media platforms have been blamed for encouraging bullying and eating disorders, and promoting influencers who drive misogyny. Banning books will only drive young people online for answers, where they are more likely to encounter content produced by people who have no interest in equipping them with the information and skills they need to navigate the world. In this age of digital exposure and misinformation, librarians play a more vital role than ever. We should trust them to do their jobs.
British tennis player Harriet Dart 'sorry' after saying opponent should put deodorant on
The British No 4 has apologised after footage showed her telling an umpire that her opponent, French player Lois Boisson, "smells really bad".
A highly ranked British tennis player has apologised for saying an opponent "smells really bad" and requesting she put deodorant on.
Harriet Dart said in an Instagram story she "truly regretted" her comments made about Lois Boisson, to whom she lost 6-0, 6-3 in the first round of the clay-court Rouen Open on Tuesday.
The French player quickly hit back with a tongue-in-cheek response, and posted an Instagram photo of her on court... with deodorant superimposed into the shot.
"@Dove apparently need a collab," she quipped - throwing in a couple of emojis for good measure.
The British No 4 had made the comments during a changeover in the second set, with Boisson seemingly out of earshot at the back of the court.
In footage Dart can be heard saying to the umpire: "Can you tell her to wear deodorant? Because she smells really bad."
The 28-year-old apologised for her comments saying "it was a heat-of-the-moment comment that I truly regret".
She added: "That's not how I want to carry myself, and I take full responsibility.
"I have a lot of respect for Lois and how she competed today. I'll learn from this and move forward."
...
_________________
С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Umstrittener Besuch: Russischer Botschafter gedenkt Weltkriegstoten
Im Zweiten Weltkrieg ist es das blutigste Gefecht auf deutschem Boden: die Schlacht auf den Seelower Höhen vor 80 Jahren. Doch das Gedenken wird vom erbarmungslosen russischen Eroberungskrieg in der Ukraine überschattet. Der russische Botschaft nimmt teil - ohne Einladung.
Wird nicht müde, den russischen Überfall auf die Ukraine zu rechtfertigen: Sergej Netschajew.(Foto: dpa)
Der russische Botschafter in Berlin, Sergej Netschajew, hat an einem Gedenken an die Schlacht auf den Seelower Höhen vor 80 Jahren teilgenommen. Das Auswärtige Amt hatte davor in einer Handreichung an Länder, Kommunen und Gedenkstätten davon abgeraten, dass Vertreter von Russland und Belarus bei Gedenkveranstaltungen zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs dabei sind. Netschajew wurde nicht aktiv von den Veranstaltern eingeladen, aber auch nicht an der Teilnahme gehindert, sondern freundlich begrüßt. Die Schlacht um die Seelower Höhen war die größte Schlacht des Zweiten Weltkriegs auf deutschem Boden.
Der russische Botschafter äußerte sein Bedauern über den Ausschluss Moskauer Vertreter bei deutschen Gedenkfeiern zum Kriegsende. Das gereiche den Initiatoren nicht zur Ehre, sagte Netschajew der kremlnahen Moskauer Zeitung "Iswestija". "Die Erwägungen der unmittelbaren politischen Konjunktur dürfen nicht Vorrang vor den Fragen der historischen Erinnerung und der historischen Versöhnung der Völker unserer Länder haben." Allerdings begründet Russland seinen Überfall auf die benachbarte Ukraine damit, angeblich erneut gegen Faschismus zu kämpfen. Diese Darstellung wird von der Ukraine und der Bundesregierung strikt zurückgewiesen.
Bei der Schlacht auf den Seelower Höhen kurz vor Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs fielen laut Landkreis Märkisch-Oderland 33.000 Soldaten der Roten Armee, 16.000 deutsche und 2000 polnische Soldaten.
Scharfe Kritik von Botschafter Makeiev
Der ukrainische Botschafter Oleksii Makeiev kritisierte die Teilnahme Netschajews scharf. Dass Netschajew dabei das Sankt-Georgs-Band getragen habe, ein russisches Militärabzeichen, sei "eine klare Verhöhnung der Opfer - der Opfer von vor 80 Jahren und der Opfer von heute", sagte Makeiev der Deutschen Presse-Agentur.
Makeiev verwies darauf, dass bei den russischen Angriffen in Krywyj Rih und Sumy zuletzt 55 Zivilisten, darunter 11 Kinder, getötet worden seien. "Der Mann mit der Georgsschleife steht für den Staat, der die alleinige Verantwortung für diese Kriegsverbrechen trägt und sich erlaubt, den künftigen deutschen Bundeskanzler als 'Nazi' zu bezeichnen", sagte Makeiev. "Wer mit ihm an der Gedenkfeier teilnimmt, lässt sich instrumentalisieren und relativiert Russlands heutige Kriegsverbrechen."
Das Sankt-Georgs-Band hat sich ab 2005 in Russland zum wichtigsten Symbol für den sowjetischen Sieg über Nazi-Deutschland im Zweiten Weltkrieg entwickelt. Zunehmend bedeutet das orange-schwarze Band aber auch Unterstützung für den Kurs von Präsident Wladimir Putin. Deswegen ist das Symbol in der Ukraine verboten, andere Staaten der früheren Sowjetunion schränken die Verwendung ein. Historisch geht das Band auf den militärischen Verdienstorden des Heiligen Georg im Zarenreich zurück, die Sowjetunion führte es im Krieg 1942 wieder ein.
Außenamt will Instrumentalisierung verhindern
In der Handlungsempfehlung des Auswärtigen Amts heißt es, im Inland solle es grundsätzlich keine Teilnahme offizieller Stellen an Veranstaltungen auf Einladung von Russland und Belarus sowie keine Einladung an russische und belarussische Vertreter zu Gedenken von Bund, Ländern und Kommunen geben. Dabei soll auch vom Hausrecht Gebrauch gemacht werden können. Auch der Gesandte Botschaftsrat von Belarus in Deutschland, Andrej Schupljak, nahm an dem Gedenken in Seelow teil.
Das Außenministerium will eine Instrumentalisierung des Zweiten Weltkriegs durch Russland zur Rechtfertigung des russischen Angriffskriegs gegen die Ukraine verhindern und verteidigt die Empfehlung. "Von russischer Seite steht eben zu erwarten, dass es instrumentalisiert wird und für die Rechtfertigung seines Angriffskriegs gegen die Ukraine missbräuchlich in Verbindung gebracht wird", sagte ein Sprecher. Das Ministerium wird noch geschäftsführend von Annalena Baerbock von den Grünen geführt.
Wegen des russischen Angriffskriegs gegen die Ukraine wird in Deutschland darüber diskutiert, wie die Rolle Moskaus bei der Befreiung Deutschlands von der Diktatur unter Adolf Hitler gewürdigt werden soll. Netschajew sagte, dass etwa auf kommunaler Ebene vielerorts russische Vertreter zum Beispiel zu Kranzniederlegungen eingeladen seien.
Kritik an der Handreichung
Zum stillen Gedenken in Seelow waren die Vertreter von Russland und Belarus nicht aktiv eingeladen. Der Kreis Märkisch-Oderland und die Stadt Seelow legten ihnen aber auch nicht nahe, den Ort zu verlassen. Russische Vertreter nehmen traditionell am dortigen Gedenken teil. Als Moskaus Botschafter in Seelow eintraf, sagte er zu Vize-Landrat Friedemann Hanke von der CDU: "Ich bin bei Ihnen wie zu Hause."
Der stellvertretende Landrat von Märkisch-Oderland kritisierte, den höchsten Vertreter eines Landes von einem Gedenken an die eigenen Landsleute auszuschließen. "Das ist ja absurd", sagte Hanke vor der Veranstaltung. "Wenn es Störungen gibt, werden wir von unserem Hausrecht Gebrauch machen."
"Der Angriffskrieg von (Russlands Präsident Wladimir) Putin ist zu verurteilen, ganz klar", sagte die brandenburgische SPD-Landtagsabgeordnete Sina Schönbrunn Reuters TV. "Aber wir gedenken hier, wir haben hier eine Erinnerungskultur und die ist ganz wichtig aufrechtzuerhalten." Die Veranstaltung finde jedes Jahr statt. Man könne nicht vom Hausrecht Gebrauch machen, wenn jemand seiner gefallenen Landsleute gedenken wolle.
Die Brandenburger SPD/BSW-Koalition hält die Handreichung ebenfalls für falsch. "Ihnen untersagen zu wollen, an die Gräber ihrer Vorfahren zu gehen, finde ich absolut unakzeptabel", sagte BSW-Fraktionschef Niels-Olaf Lüders. Der kulturpolitische Sprecher der AfD-Bundestagsfraktion, Götz Frömming, kritisierte, dass in Seelow keine Vertreter der Bundes- und Landesregierung an der Gedenkfeier teilgenommen hätten. Dies widerspreche dem Gedanken der Völkerverständigung. Man wisse, wieviel Leid das NS-Regime über andere Länder gebracht habe. Es sei wichtig, sich "über den Gräbern die Hand zu reichen und zu sagen 'Nie wieder'".
Police chief hits out at people who report 'fluff and nonsense' and says officers must stop dealing with 'guff' and prioritise real crimes
Police should stop wasting their time investigating ‘guff’ and tell people reporting ‘fluff and nonsense’ on social media to ‘grow up’, one of Britain’s top chiefs has said.
Stephen Watson, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police believes officers should not be detaining people for using ‘tasty language’ online and suggested the public lose confidence in police when forces are ‘pontificating on social media issues’ like gender identity.
The leader of one of Britain's biggest police forces spoke out after another force came under fire for arresting parents who complained about their child's school on a WhatsApp group.
Last month it emerged that six officers from Hertfordshire Police had arrested two parents in Borehamwood who complained about their daughter's school on a private group.
The force later discontinued the case due to lack of evidence.
But Mr Watson told Times Radio: ‘I, like the rest of the public, I'll see an image of half a dozen officers turned up to what is apparently a perfectly innocuous thing.
‘It might be that people have used tasty language online but it's not unlawful and it's not actually for the police to involve themselves. So, of course one is concerned.’
Chief Constable Stephen Watson outside GMP Police HQ
Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine who were arrested for messages on their school WhatsApp.
Mr Watson stressed that police should investigate all reports of crime, but quickly tell people reporting ‘fluff and nonsense’ to ‘grow up’.
He said officers need to stop dealing with ‘guff’ after a number of high-profile cases of people being arrested for minor infractions have caused outrage.
In February, the Metropolitan Police arrested six female supporters of Youth Demand, an activist group, at a Quaker meeting house in London, before later releasing the suspects without charge.
Mr Watson added: ‘The officers don't necessarily know in advance of visiting that, actually, this is all going to come to mean a load of guff that ought never to have been touched by the police.’
He said: ‘Those process-type systems ought to be capable of differentiating between, yes, taking reports seriously, reacting appropriately, looking after the public and also being able to have the confidence to say, “That is guff, it's not for the police, let's speak to whomsoever reported it and candidly tell them to grow up”.’
In a wide-ranging interview, he was also critical of police getting caught up in issues of ‘critical race theory and gender identity- inflamed by social and political activists.’
The outspoken chief, whose back-to-basics approach has transformed his force’s approach to crime, claims officers should concentrate on what is important to victims.
He said: ‘If we are seen to be pontificating on social media issues, we lose the public.’
When he took over in the summer of 2021, Greater Manchester Police had been placed in ‘special measures’ after failing to record 80,000 crimes and emergency 999 response times were the worst in the country.
Now Mr Watson says every crime is investigated and emergency response times are among the best in England and Wales
Last year Mr Watson declared that policing is not about ‘going down all manner of contemporary rabbit holes,’ and responding to woke causes on social media.
‘Whether it be through adulterating the uniform with pins and badges and having all manner of florid social media accounts – these are all things that I don’t think have a place in policing,’ he concluded.
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Полиция Словакии начала проверку из-за дипфейка с "заключенным" Фицо
Словацкая полиция начала проверку из-за записи, созданной с помощью искусственного интеллекта (ИИ), на которой изображены ведущие политики страны якобы в тюрьме.
Об этом правоохранители сообщили 16 апреля, пишет "Европейская правда".
В видео под названием SEN фигурируют президент Словакии Петер Пеллегрини, нынешний премьер-министр Роберт Фицо, министры внутренних дел и обороны Матуш Шутай Эшток и Роберт Калиняк, а также вице-спикер парламента Андрей Данко.
Все они показаны в тюрьме, где "Фицо" и "Калиняк" встречаются с осужденным бизнесменом Марианом Кочнером – последнего обвиняют в заказе убийства журналиста Яна Куцяка, после смерти которого в 2018 году Фицо подал в отставку с поста премьера для урегулирования политического кризиса.
"Сразу подчеркиваем, что мы не имеем ничего против развлечений и не ведем никаких уголовных производств по этому делу. Мы лишь оцениваем все это дело на основе ваших предположений и оперативной информации из СМИ", – заявили в полиции Словакии.
Там добавили, что все чаще сталкиваются с использованием искусственного интеллекта мошенниками, которые пытаются выманить у людей личную и другую информацию или обмануть их.
Словацкие СМИ обратили внимание, что видео SEN также распространил в соцсетях бывший премьер-министр и председатель оппозиционного Движения "Словакия" Игорь Матович.
В начале года сообщалось, что власти французского острова Реюньон начали расследование в отношении мошенников, которые обманули женщину на 830 тысяч евро с помощью сгенерированных искусственным интеллектом изображений Брэда Питта.
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French ministry asks to replace dark-skinned actor in advertisement with white person
The government’s recommendations left one participant in the campaign “perplexed” and “uncomfortable.”
PARIS — The French agriculture ministry is facing heat for suggesting racially motivated casting choices in an organic foods advertisement.
Emails seen by POLITICO show that Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard's office asked that the production company in charge of the ad "cast a Caucasian" in the first scene of the ad. While the emails do not define the actor's ethnicity, a slideshow from the production company includes a photograph of an adolescent who is not white.
The ministry also requested that couscous — a dish that traces its origins to North Africa but is extremely popular in France — be replaced in another scene with cassoulet, a staple of southwestern French cuisine.
The production notes, first reported by Libération, will likely stoke the long-running debate on what it means to be French. Modern France is supposed to be colorblind republic where citizenship transcends race, gender and religion, but the reality is much more complex — and makes the request from Genevard's office regarding the race of actors all the more controversial.
Genevard's office did not deny the content of its recommendations and told POLITICO that their public relations campaign "aims to speak to everyone."
The requests prompted some pushback, with one industry representative involved in the promotional operation saying they were "perplexed and even uncomfortable" in the email exchange.
While the couscous-to-cassoulet change requested by the ministry was implemented, the casting suggestion could not be followed. Other, less contentious recommendations included changing the title of one clip, swapping olive oil for sunflower oil in another, and replacing orange and avocado smoothies with something zucchini-based.
The ad is scheduled to air on May 22.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Russland würde Taurus-Einsatz als "direkte Beteiligung" Deutschlands werten
Seitdem Friedrich Merz eine Lieferung des Taurus-Marschflugkörpers erneut ins Spiel gebracht hat, gibt es aus Moskau gewohnt scharfe Töne. Eine als Hardlinerin bekannte Sprecherin erhöht nun erneut den Druck. Experten haben gängige Kreml-Behauptungen hingegen bereits mehrfach richtiggestellt.
Jeder Angriff mit Taurus-Marschflugkörpern auf russische Ziele würde nach Angaben des Außenministeriums in Moskau als eine "direkte Beteiligung" Deutschlands an dem Konflikt aufgefasst. "Ein Schlag mit diesen Raketen gegen russische Einrichtungen (...) wird wie eine direkte Beteiligung Deutschlands an den Kampfhandlungen an der Seite des Regimes in Kiew aufgefasst, mit allen Konsequenzen, die das mit sich bringt", wurde die als Hardlinerin bekannte Außenamtssprecherin Maria Sacharowa von russischen Nachrichtenagenturen zitiert.
Der Einsatz der Marschflugkörper sei "ohne direkte Unterstützung von Soldaten der Bundeswehr nicht möglich", behauptete Sacharowa. Der Ex-Nato-General Erhard Bühler sagte hingegen einst im MDR-Podcast "Was tun, Herr General?": "Die Taurus-Marschflugkörper könnten ohne deutsche Soldaten in der Ukraine eingesetzt werden. Die Ukrainer müssten natürlich ausgebildet werden. Das ist wie bei jedem anderen Waffensystem auch." Operative Ziele für Angriffe könnten die Ukrainer selbst auswählen, so der Ex-Nato-General.
Der Militärexperte Nico Lange verwies bei ntv auf Spanien und Südkorea, die Taurus ohne deutsche Soldaten einsetzen. "Mit einer Lieferung würde Deutschland nicht zur Kriegspartei werden. Das internationale Recht ist da vollkommen klar", sagte Lange.
Moskau durch Merz-Aussagen aufgeschreckt
Am vergangenen Sonntag hatte der voraussichtlich neue Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz die Lieferung der Taurus-Marschflugkörper an die Ukraine in Abstimmung mit europäischen Partnern in Aussicht gestellt. Als Reaktion auf die Äußerungen des CDU-Chefs warnte der Kreml wie auch schon bei diversen anderen Waffensystemen vor der Gefahr einer "Eskalation" des Konflikts in der Ukraine. Der scheidende Kanzler Olaf Scholz hat Taurus-Lieferungen stets abgelehnt.
Russland hatte dem Westen zuvor bereits wegen der Lieferung von US-Raketen des Typs ATACMS und britischen Storm-Shadow-Marschflugkörpern an die Ukraine gedroht. Nach dem ersten Einsatz dieser Waffen bei Angriffen auf Ziele in Russland feuerte die russische Armee ihre angeblich neuartige Hyperschallrakete vom Typ Oreschnik auf die Ukraine ab. Moskau drohte außerdem damit, die Rakete erneut einzusetzen.
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Russia’s Arming For Space War I, Targeting SpaceX Satellite Systems
[img]https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/6774a29d6867463490697098/SpaceX-Launches-Falcon-9-Rocket/960x0.jpg?format=jpg[/img]
SpaceX Starlink satellites - shown here being launched by a SpaceX rocket - have been beaming down / Getty Images
As Russia deploys advanced fighter-bombers and missiles in its battle to obliterate SpaceX Starlink terminals across Ukraine, it is also developing weaponry that might be used in an all-out Space War I with the West, according to Victoria Samson, Chief Director of Space Security and Stability at the Secure World Foundation.
Following a barrage of threats — fired off by Vladimir Putin’s lieutenants at United Nations outposts in Geneva and New York— to shoot down Western satellites aiding Ukraine, Moscow is now testing its Nudol anti-satellite missile. This system has already been launched to blast a Soviet-era spacecraft in low Earth orbit. In the future, Samson told me in an interview, it could, theoretically, smash into any of SpaceX’s 7000 satellites.
Samson, one of the world’s leading experts on space security and space arms, says the Russian defense ministry might be considering arming these Nudol ASATs with nuclear warheads. But, she was quick to add, that the evidence is not yet conclusive.
In an extensive chronicle of the latest advances across the world’s competing space weapons programs, which Samson co-authored, she writes the systems associated with the Nudol transporter-erector-launcher have features "typically associated with nuclear-armed missiles.”
In fact, the Russian company that produces the direct ascent missile has even pitched the Nudol as a potential threat to every U.S. spacecraft in low Earth orbit, Samson reveals in the report.
Spacecraft within the Nudol’s range would include everything from the colossal International Space Station to the SpaceX Starlink satellites beaming broadband connections to besieged Ukrainians. The Planet Labs imagery spacecraft producing high-resolution photographs of Russian tanks and missile brigades on the front lines would also be within range.
Samson adds in the report, “Global Counterspace Capabilities 2025,” that the Russians previously fielded a similar nuclear-tipped interceptor, which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization called “Gorgon,” as part of Moscow’s missile defense system during the twilight era of the Soviet Union.
If the Kremlin’s weapons specialists are still racing to develop new nuclear warheads for the Nudols, that would make it the second class of atomic arms delivery systems that Russia could use in potential space wars.
This might seem like science fiction, but it’s not far from confirmed facts we already have. In 2024, the White House revealed that American intelligence agencies discovered a top-secret Russian project to produce nuclear-armed spacecraft that would perpetually stalk Western satellites in low Earth orbit. There have been no signs the Kremlin has abandoned that quest.
Although Putin — a onetime KGB agent trained in the art of deception — has denied the existence of this clandestine project, the U.S. called him out by introducing a resolution in the UN Security Council last April. The resolution called for all the nations of the world to reaffirm allegiance to the Outer Space Treaty’s ban on stationing nuclear weapons in orbit.
Despite Moscow’s ratification of that treaty, Putin’s emissary at the UN abruptly vetoed the resolution, prompting Jake Sullivan, then National Security Advisor, to remark: “We have heard President Putin say publicly that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution.”
Samson, who previously served as a senior researcher at the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, tells me it is still unclear how many nuclear-armed satellites Moscow could launch.
“I would guess more than one, just to have back-up in case there are issues with the first one,” she says, “but it would be such an effective ASAT weapon, a whole fleet would not be needed.”
The detonation of a powerful nuclear bomb in orbit could not only destroy thousands of satellites, but also swiftly cause the deaths of any nearby astronauts, Samson added.
Indeed, the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, who conducted a series of simulated nuclear explosions at varying altitudes in orbit, stated in a sweeping report that the explosion of a 5000-kiloton nuclear bomb near the ISS would bring swift deaths to all its spacefarers.
The blast, the report predicted, “would cause radiation sickness to the astronauts within approximately one hour and a 90% probability of death within 2-3 hours."
When the Kremlin last tested the Nudol — without a nuclear weapon aboard —on the eve of launching its battle to crush the democratic pro-Western leadership of Ukraine, it shattered a massive inactive satellite. This creating a speeding minefield of shrapnel that quickly approached the orbital pathway of the ISS and its international crew.
“NASA flight directors ordered the crew onboard the ISS to take emergency shelter in the Dragon and Soyuz lifeboats,” Samson says.
“The US military condemned the test,” she adds, “stating that it demonstrated a ‘deliberate disregard for the security, safety, stability, and long-term sustainability of the space domain for all nations.’”
With the start of their missile blitzkrieg on Ukraine, the Russian invaders attempted to destroy the internet infrastructure across the country, while their cyber-shock troops attacked the ground stations of the ViaSat satellite system Kyiv’s government and military elites were using to communicate with each other and map out the nation’s defenses.
With bombs bursting across the country, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, sent out an urgent SOS, via Twitter, pleading for Elon Musk’s help:
“@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations.”
Within days, SpaceX began sending hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of life-saving Starlink terminals to Ukrainian medical centers and bomb shelters, government enclaves and universities, and activated the satellites flying above.
The airlift saved Ukraine’s leaders from being blockaded inside a new Russian Iron Curtain, but infuriated the Kremlin.
Since then, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency has issued a stream of dispatches charting Moscow’s all-out assault on Starlink stations - depicted as high-value military targets - across Ukraine: The Kremlin has deployed sophisticated Su-34 fighter bombers, Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems and Lancet kamikaze drones to seek out and destroy these Starlink transceivers.
Musk told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. had personally told him the use of Starlink technology by Ukraine’s resistance fighters could impel Moscow to respond with tactical nuclear weapons. The democracy’s defenders, he told Isaacson, had devised a squadron of robotic unmanned submarines “packed with explosives” that would autonomously cross the Black Sea and ambush the Russian fleet stationed around Crimea.
They ingeniously reverse engineered SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system to develop an advanced navigation technology to guide the drone subs on their clandestine mission. In a terse Twitter exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Musk warned: “Trying to retake Crimea will cause massive death, probably fail & risk nuclear war.”
When SpaceX’s founder began rushing the Starlink stations into Ukraine, Samson says, he warned users of the potential for Russian forces to track their ground-to-space satellite transmissions, and to target the terminals.
Musk also revealed that Moscow’s specialists in electronic warfare had mounted sporadic attacks aimed at jamming Starlink communications, and that SpaceX was fighting digital skirmishes, via software updates to the terminals, to counter these campaigns.
“Russia places a high priority on integrating electronic warfare into military operations and has been investing heavily in modernizing this capability,” Samson explains in the new Counterspace 2025 report.
Recent upgrades include tactical systems that can jam satellite user terminals, and interfere with the guidance systems of drones and guided missiles.
“Russia has a long history of using electronic warfare during conflicts,” Samson says, and since the start of the Ukraine war has sent some of its top electronic warriors into the fight.
It is also enhancing its Tobol system - designed to attack foreign satellite transmissions. “Leaked US military documents,” Samson says, “suggest that Russia has used at least three Tobol installations to try to disrupt Starlink commercial satellite signals over Eastern Ukraine.”
Since last year, she adds, Ukrainian military units have reported scattered interruptions in their Starlink connections.
The Kremlin is also developing a new attack technology, called Kalinka, “intended to detect and disrupt signals to and from Starlink satellites,” Samson says.
“Starlink has proven to be very useful for the Ukrainian military to communicate,” Samson tells me, so “Russia is trying to take away that battlefield advantage.”
Even while the Kremlin expands its deployment of counterspace weapons across Ukrainian battlefronts, Samson says, Russia’s overarching focus is on trying to recapture the near-parity it once held with the U.S. in overall space power during the Cold War.
While Russian power swiftly declined upon the break-up of the Soviet Union a generation ago, she says, Putin’s weapons designers are now attempting to catch up with the U.S.
After observing American defense strategists integrate space technologies into their war maneuvers over the last decades, she says, “The Russian political and military leadership has come to see the military aspect of space as essential to modern warfare and winning current and future conflicts.”
As a result, Samson adds, “the Russian military is aggressively pursuing capabilities to degrade or destroy adversary space-based assets.”
Yet Russia has never truly regained its status as a space superpower, or as a military peer of the U.S., says Elena Grossfeld, an expert on Moscow’s military space program and nuclear modernization drive in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.
But the Russian Federation does retain one feature of its superpower past - as holder of the world’s largest nuclear weapons stockpile - so brandishes its atomic arsenal in face-offs with the West, she says.
“Russia is indeed capable of putting a nuclear warhead on its ASAT missile,” Grossfeld says.
“I am, however, skeptical of their intent to actually use it in any case except for a full blown war.”
While some defense experts have predicted that the Kremlin might detonate one or more nuclear warheads in space as an asymmetric attack that could wipe out at least part of the far superior American rings of satellites, Grossfeld says that strategy would carry immense risk for Russia.
If the atomic attack in orbit destroyed even one American satellite deployed to monitor Moscow’s nuclear-capped ICBMs, she points out, “that in itself could be viewed as a precursor to a nuclear attack,” and in turn trigger a devastating U.S. counterattack, with its own silo- and submarine-based thermonuclear missiles hitting targets across Russia.
“I think the threat of the Russian nuclear ASAT is more useful as a saber-rattling device - since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine there have been multiple instances of that - than actually taking out U.S. satellites.”
Putin, despite his nuclear brinkmanship over the last three years, may not want to ignite a doomsday atomic war with the 32-nation NATO alliance.
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Briten testen neue Waffe gegen Kampfdrohnen-Schwärme
Kampfdrohnen verändern den Krieg - das zeigen auch die Kämpfe in der Ukraine. Großbritannien setzt nun auf ein neues System, das ganze Schwärme der Flugkörper außer Gefecht setzen soll.
Großbritannien entwickelt eine neue Waffe zur Drohnenabwehr. Das System soll Schwärme von Kampfdrohnen mit elektromagnetischen Wellen außer Gefecht setzen. Es sei in Wales erfolgreich getestet worden, teilte das Verteidigungsministerium in London mit. Es sei die bisher größte Übung der britischen Armee zur Drohnenabwehr gewesen.
Das System nutze gezielt Funkwellen, um wichtige elektronische Komponenten in Drohnen zu stören oder zu beschädigen, hieß es in der Mitteilung. Das führe dazu, dass sie abstürzten oder nicht mehr richtig funktionierten. Das System wird vom französischen Rüstungshersteller Thales entwickelt und trägt den Namen RapidDestroyer. Es kann Luftziele in einer Entfernung von bis zu einem Kilometer abwehren und ist wirksam gegen Bedrohungen, die nicht durch elektronische Kampfführung gestört werden können. Durch das Projekt würden sogar 135 hochqualifizierte Arbeitsplätze in Nordirland und im Südosten Englands entstehen.
Die britische Regierung verweist auch auf den russischen Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine, wo Drohnen zunehmend an der Front eingesetzt würden. Geheimdienste gingen davon aus, dass sich die Ukraine im vergangenen Jahr gegen mehr als 18.000 Drohnen habe verteidigen müssen, schreiben die Briten.
Bei geschätzten Kosten von zehn britischen Pence (umgerechnet knapp neun Cent) pro Schuss könne das System, wenn es bis zur Einsatzreife entwickelt werde, eine kostengünstige Ergänzung zu herkömmlichen Raketensystemen sein, schrieben die Briten. Großbritannien arbeitet auch an einem Laser zur Bekämpfung von Drohnen ("Dragonfire").
Judge rules Google holds illegal ad monopoly
It’s the latest in a series of blows by Washington against the trillion-dollar tech giant.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that Google holds an illegal monopoly in two online advertising markets — the latest in a series of blows by Washington against the trillion-dollar tech giant.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema wrote that Google violated U.S. antitrust law by “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” over web advertising. Brinkema said Google illegally tied together its products to maintain its monopoly.
The ruling represents Google’s second major antitrust loss in less than a year. In August, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found that the search giant illegally monopolized the online search and advertising markets over the prior decade.
The ruling adds to a whole suite of issues facing Google in Washington. On Monday, Mehta is set to consider the Department of Justice’s request to break up the company over its control of the search market. And top Republicans in Congress are calling Google on the carpet over its perceived unfairness to conservatives, adding political friction to its legal challenges.
Google’s adtech case will now move to the remedies phase, where both parties will submit arguments on what penalties and changes the tech giant should face. The DOJ is also seeking a Google breakup of its adtech monopoly.
Rassistische Azubi-Suche in Sachsen: Dachdecker will keine "Bimbos"
Deutschland fehlen Fachkräfte, nicht zuletzt im Handwerk. Ein Dachdeckermeister aus dem sächsischen Sebnitz meint, bei der Suche nach Auszubildenden dennoch "wählerisch" sein zu können. Das ist allerdings an seiner aktuell im Sebnitzer Amtsblatt geschalteten Anzeige noch das geringste Problem. Schwerwiegender ist, wen er alles nicht als Azubis in seinem Betrieb haben will. In der Anzeige heißt es: "Ausbildungsplatz ab 2026 ABER: keine Hakennasen, Bimbos, Zeppelträger!" Sprich: Er will keine Juden und keine Schwarzen ausbilden. Der Begriff Zeppelträger ist eher unbekannt. Es wird angenommen, dass es sich auch dabei um eine diffamierende Bezeichnung für schwarze Männer handelt. Einer anderen Deutung nach bezeichnet es Maskenträger, also noch ein Begriff aus der Coronazeit. Es gibt aber auch Hinweise, dass damit Muslime gemeint sind und "Zeppel" zwiebelförmige Kopfbedeckungen wie Turbane meint. (Danke an Leser Jürgen Harms für den Hinweis).
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Die Internet-Community ist auf der Zinne. Die Stadt Sebnitz distanziert sich in einer Facebookseite von der rassistischen Anzeige. Dort heißt es: "Im aktuellen Grenzblatt ist auf der letzten Seite der Druckausgabe eine private Anzeige mit verachtendem und ausländerfeindlichem Inhalt zu lesen. So etwas zu lesen, ist beschämend und untragbar. Wir sind ebenso bestürzt und versuchen aktuell die Lage aufzuklären. Wichtig ist zu wissen, dass die Stadt Sebnitz ausschließlich für den redaktionellen Teil des Grenzblattes verantwortlich ist und den Anzeigenteil bis zur Veröffentlichung auch nicht kennt. Dieser liegt allein in der Verantwortung des Verlages."
Sebnitz ist eine Kleinstadt mit knapp 10.000 Einwohnern an der Grenze zur Tschechischen Republik. Bei der Bundestagswahl holte AfD-Kandidat Steffen Janich 57,4 Prozent der Erststimmen. Der zweitplatzierte Kandidat von der CDU hatte knapp 40 Prozentpunkte weniger. Auch bei den Zweitstimmen errang die Partei mit 54,6 Prozent der Stimmen die absolute Mehrheit.
Цитата:
Dachdecker in Sachsen schaltet rassistische Anzeige im Amtsblatt
Im Amtsblatt der Stadt Sebnitz schaltet ein Dachdeckermeister eine Anzeige. Er sucht Auszubildende für das nächste Jahr. "Hakennasen, Bimbos oder Zeppelträger" bräuchten sich nicht zu bewerben, schreibt der Mann. Das Rathaus reagiert auf die Annonce - jedoch zu spät.
Im sächsischen Sebnitz entwickelt sich die Suche nach einem Auszubildenden zu einem handfesten Rassismus-Eklat. Ein Dachdeckermeister schaltete im Amtsblatt der 9500 Einwohner zählenden Stadt eine Anzeige für seine offene Lehrstelle. Diese sei ab 2026 frei, Interessierte könnten sich bewerben - "ABER: keine Hakennasen, Bimbos oder Zeppelträger!", schrieb der Unternehmer aus dem Landkreis Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge.
Hakennasen verwendete der Dachdecker als Synonym für Juden, Bimbos für Schwarze. Zeppelträger ist sprachlich nicht geläufig, es könnte Inder bezeichnen. Die von ihnen getragene Turbane, eine zwiebelförmige Kopfbedeckung, wird hin und wieder "Zeppel" genannt. Einer anderen Deutung nach bezeichnet es Maskenträger, also noch ein Begriff aus der Coronazeit.
Im Netz sorgte die Ausgabe, die offiziell erst ab heute verteilt wird, schon gestern für einen Aufschrei. Die Begriffe Zeppelträger, Amtsblatt, Ronney (so lautet der Vorname des Dachdeckers) waren Topthemen in den Trends auf X.
"Antisemitismus und Rassismus gehen oft Hand in Hand, insbesondere in der rechten Szene", schrieb beispielsweise Brandenburgs Beauftragter zur Bekämpfung von Antisemitismus, Andreas Büttner, auf seinem X-Profil. Er nannte die Anzeige "eines der ekelhaftesten Beispiele" dafür. Es spreche Bände, dass so etwas ausgerechnet im Amtsblatt der Kleinstadt veröffentlicht wurde.
Stadt Sebnitz distanziert sich
Die Stadtverwaltung bemühte sich bereits um Schadensbegrenzung. Die Stadt gebe zwar das Amtsblatt heraus, doch verantworte nur den redaktionellen Teil, schrieb ein Sprecher auf Facebook. Bis zur Veröffentlichung kenne die Verwaltung die Anzeigen in dem Blatt angeblich nicht. "Wir distanzieren uns ausdrücklich und entschieden von den in der privaten Anzeige verwendeten Ausdrücken sowie dem menschenverachtenden Gedankengut, das ihr zugrunde liegt", so die Erklärung. "Volksverhetzung, Antisemitismus und Ausländerfeindlichkeit haben bei uns keinen Platz und werden in jeder Form abgelehnt."
Das Rathaus habe Strafantrag gegen den Dachdecker sowie den Verlag, der den Anzeigenteil verantwortet, gestellt. Ebenso die Linke. Deren Vorsitzende im Landkreis, Lisa Thea Steiner, sprach auf Instagram von einem "politischen Alarmsignal". Sie und ihre Mitstreiter wollen am Ostermontag auf dem Marktplatz in Sebnitz demonstrieren. Die Partei fordert zudem die "umfassende Überprüfung der redaktionellen Verantwortung des Amtsblattes".
Fremdenfeindlichkeit in Sebnitz keine Seltenheit
Die gedruckte Zeitung ist zwar weiter mit der ausländerfeindlichen Annonce im Umlauf. Die Onlineversion des Amtsblattes wurde allerdings bearbeitet. Die Lehrstellenanzeige ist inzwischen entfernt worden.
Fremdenhass ist in der sächsischen Region eher nicht die Ausnahme. Immer wieder kommt es zu Übergriffen auf Flüchtlinge. Für deutschlandweites Aufsehen sorgte beispielsweise ein Vorfall im Sommer 2023: Ein Sebnitzer stürmte ein Wohnhaus, in dem Geflüchtete leben. Der damals 20-Jährige attackierte zwei Bewohner im Alter von 16 und 18 Jahren mit einer Stange und rief ausländerfeindliche Parolen. Die Polizei konnte ihn wenig später schnappen. Es wurde bereits Anklage erhoben, der Prozess steht allerdings noch aus.
Bei der letzten Bundestagswahl holte die AfD 54,6 Prozent der in Sebnitz abgegebenen Zweitstimmen. Ihr Kandidat Steffen Janich erhielt gar 57,4 Prozent der Erststimmen.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow accuses other countries of ‘trying to disrupt’ peace talks with US
Russia continues aerial bombardment of Ukraine as Europeans gather in Paris to plead Kyiv’s case to top Trump allies
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Russia’s top economic negotiator has claimed that some countries are trying to disrupt Moscow’s “very useful” dialogue with the United States, as senior European and US officials meet in Paris to push for peace in Ukraine.
As Donald Trump’s reported Easter deadline for a truce rapidly approaches, his secretary of state Marco Rubio and Moscow-friendly envoy Steve Witkoff are in the French capital for what Washington billed as talks with French officials over the war in Ukraine.
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With the talks under way, Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev was quoted as telling reporters: “There are a lot of people, structures, countries trying to disrupt our dialogue with the United States. There is a very active propaganda against Russia going on in the United States in various mass media.”
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Цитата:
France says Ukraine ceasefire must ‘start from reality’ after US meetings
The Elysée spun the meetings as the the start of a “positive process in which Europeans are involved.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said that any Ukraine ceasefire agreement would need to “start from reality,” comments likely to further fuel concerns in Kyiv that it will be forced to cede territory to Russia.
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Lo «scudo spaziale» di Trump (e degli amici Musk, Thiel e Luckey)
Una «cupola dorata» per proteggere lo spazio aereo americano dai missili. Sistemi a terra e centinaia di satelliti in orbita: la struttura prevista nel 2030
Gli uomini d’oro per la «cupola d’oro», lo scudo anti-missile Golden Dome «ordinato» da Donald Trump pochi giorni dopo il suo insediamento. La società
SpaceX di Elon Musk, la Palantir del miliardario conservatore Peter Thiel e l’Anduril di Palmer Luckey
si sono alleate per portare avanti il progetto e, secondo la Reuters, potrebbero essere in vantaggio su altre compagnie.
Perché i loro leader hanno appoggi, godono del consenso del presidente, si sono spesi e hanno speso soldi per farsi largo nell’entourage di The Donald. E ne hanno già parlato, probabilmente, in contatti diretti.
Le crisi mediorientali, il conflitto in Ucraina, le mosse cinesi e le continue provocazioni nordcoreane hanno dimostrato come le guerre siano combattute anche con sistemi a lungo raggio.
Sono armi in mano a piccole e grandi potenze, in grado di fare danni
. E gli Stati Uniti, assieme a Israele, hanno sviluppato un ombrello che ha limitato i colpi ma anche dimostrato di essere, in alcuni casi, perforabile da vettori neppure troppo sofisticati. I pasdaran, in una rappresaglia, hanno comunque raggiunto un’importante base dello Stato ebraico che ha insistito, all’opposto, sull’efficacia della difesa.
Le batterie di
Patriot e i più moderni Thaad
— trasferiti di nuovo in Medio Oriente — hanno svolto il loro compito ma c’è l’urgenza di parare la minaccia di ordigni intercontinentali. Così Trump, appena arrivato alla Casa Bianca, tra i primi ordini esecutivi ha firmato quello del Golden Dome, ribattezzato così per la passione che il tycoon ha per l’oro. Una decisione tanto simbolica quanto importante a indicare quali siano le priorità della sua amministrazione.
Con l’obiettivo di avviare i «lavori» il prima possibile: secondo le previsioni, il tutto dovrebbe essere attivo entro il 2030, sempre che la tabella sia rispettata e non spuntino ostacoli.
È composto da
tre «cerchi»
. Il primo è rappresentato dai sensori che devono individuare e tracciare i «proiettili» sparati da un nemico. Siamo in un settore al quale gli Stati Uniti hanno dedicato molte risorse: dispongono di apparati a terra, velivoli e altra tecnologia che garantisce un buon livello di allerta.
Il secondo è lo snodo comando-controllo
: deve coordinare «scoperta» e risposta. Il terzo è l’anello più complesso, quello dell’intercettazione dei missili in arrivo con l’uso di laser o di «proiettili». È stato calcolato che dovrebbero essere messi in orbita diverse centinaia di satelliti — forse un migliaio —, suddivisi tra le «sentinelle» incaricate di monitorare lancio, traiettoria e i mezzi che devono stopparli. Una prima valutazione fatta dai contabili di SpaceX ritiene che solo questa fascia potrebbe comportare un costo che oscilla tra i 6 e i 10 miliardi di dollari. Non poco.
Per alcuni esperti non c’è la certezza assoluta che la rete «stesa»
possa frenare tutti gli ordigni e rilanciano dubbi sulla «compattezza». Del resto, alcuni test svolti in passato sulla costa occidentale Usa, prove elaborate considerando il pericolo rappresentato dai vettori di Kim Jong-un dove sono stati usati dei missili, hanno confermato che i tempi di reazione sono stretti ed è necessario avere un network tanto ampio quanto multiplo. Se gli americani studiano le contromisure, lo stesso fanno i loro potenziali avversari.
Nella ricostruzione della Reuters c’è poi un aspetto controverso.
Musk and company hanno proposto di affittare «l’ombrello» al Pentagono:
in sostanza, i militari non sarebbero proprietari dei dispositivi sofisticati ma avrebbero accesso alla tecnologia. Un’estensione, in un settore però strategico, della pratica dei contratti. Un modo per velocizzare il tutto superando protocolli a volte rigidi. Infatti, non poche attività, comprese alcune legate all’intelligence, sono state appaltate a società esterne. Facile però comprendere che la formula susciti dubbi tra i generali in quanto ci sono ragioni di opportunità e sicurezza. Siamo, per il momento, all’inizio del percorso. Dai corridoi di Washington dicono che ci sono altre imprese interessate a entrare in gioco e che hanno molto da offrire. Ma poche godono della corsia preferenziale costruita da Musk e i suoi «fratelli».
Епископа Молдавской митрополии Маркелла не пустили из Кишинева в Израиль за Благодатным огнем, сообщает Sputnik Молдова. По словам епископа, сотрудники провели досмотр, составили протокол, но причины запрета на выезд не объяснили.
«Сегодня — Чистый четверг. Всякая плоть да молчит. Не хочется разглагольствовать... Причину, по которой меня не выпустили в Израиль, я так и не понял. Несмотря на то, что я священнослужитель, провели досмотр, составили протокол, но ничего не объяснили. Паспорт вернули уже после того, как самолёт улетел», — сказал он.
Отмечается, что до вылета, как и положено по закону, епископа Маркелла никто не уведомил о том, что он не может покидать пределы страны. Какие бы то ни было юридические причины для этого отсутствуют.
Russia says new Estonian legislation threatens Baltic shipping security
MOSCOW, April 17 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Estonia's adoption of legal amendments allowing the country's navy to use force against foreign vessels was a provocative action that poses risks to shipping and security in the Baltic Sea.
Zakharova said that Russia would react proportionately to instances of aggression against its vessels.
Last week Estonia seized the Kiwala, which has been under EU sanctions since February as part of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet", a term Western countries use for ships they say Moscow deploys to circumvent international sanctions. The ships are typically not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers.
(This story has been corrected to say that Maria Zakharova was referring to Estonian legislation regarding foreign vessels, not the seizure of ship last week, in the headline and paragraph 1)
Цитата:
Россия отреагирует соразмерно рискам и угрозам, исходящим от Эстонии как члена НАТО, в случае противоправных действий в отношении российских кораблей на Балтике, заявила Мария Захарова.
Цитата:
We started checking Russian shadow vessel insurance. Now what?
As these rules-busting, dangerous ships keep sailing our waters, posing enormous risks to other vessels and the environment, it’s time to focus on finding the shady operators behind them.
Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, the author of the award-winning “Goodbye Globalization” and a regular columnist for POLITICO.
Last December, just days before the shadow vessel Eagle S reportedly damaged an energy cable in the Gulf of Finland, a group of Baltic Sea countries and the U.K. collectively announced they would start inspecting the insurance documents of suspected vessels.
The countries thought they’d finally found the solution that would allow them to crack down on shadow vessels without violating any rules, as shadow vessels are thought to lack proper accident insurance, and the documentation they show inspectors can be worthless or downright fraudulent.
“The United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland and Estonia are tasking respective maritime authorities to request relevant proof of insurance from suspected shadow vessels as they pass through the English Channel, the Danish Straits of the Great Belt, the Sound between Denmark and Sweden, and the Gulf of Finland. Information collected by the participating states, including relating to those vessels that choose not to respond to requests, will be assessed and acted upon together with our international partners,” they declared.
But insurance inspections alone won’t solve the problem.
The idea itself was sensible, as Western insurers — known as P&I clubs — massively dominate maritime accident insurance and aren’t allowed to insure sanctioned vessels. So, if a shadow vessel was asked for insurance documentation, which is mandatory for all commercial vessels, it likely wouldn’t be able to show any, providing officials with a perfectly legitimate reason to ask it to leave — or so the reasoning went.
Nine days later, however, the Finnish Coast Guard observed the Eagle S performing mysterious movements on top of the EstLink 2, the undersea interconnector linking Finland and Estonia. A suspected shadow tanker flagged in the Cook Islands — a shadow vessel favorite — the Eagle S has also been greylisted and blacklisted by the international organizations that document ship safety. Thus, the Finns dramatically boarded and seized the vessel, detaining its crew.
Alas, catching shadow vessels in the act of cutting cables like this is, and will, remain the exception. Far from sabotaging cables, most shadow vessels simply sail through other countries’ waters in all their unseaworthy glory, posing risks wherever they go — another reason why it makes so much sense for affected nations to inspect insurance documentation.
But even though Finland and Denmark have been inspecting insurance certificates ever since, the darndest thing has happened: Virtually every time a shadow vessel has been stopped for inspection, it seems the officer in charge has been able to produce the requested documents. Of course, the documents in question may not actually be proof of functioning insurance — in fact, they might be little more than a piece of paper.
Sundry commentators and social-media users have reacted to the shadow fleet’s blatant and extremely regular journeys through the Baltic Sea by suggesting the coastal states ought seize these vessels, or even sink them, and detain their crews, but it’s not as simple as that either. Stopping shadow vessels is actually far more complicated due to global maritime rules — rules that are violated by shadow vessel owners but should nonetheless be observed by Western countries.
So, as the public grows increasingly frustrated that hundreds of rules-busting, dangerous ships keep sailing the Baltic Sea — and in some cases the English Channel — posing enormous risks to other vessels and the maritime environment, our governments should focus more on finding the shady operators behind the shadow fleet. And while we’re at it, everyone with investigative skills can help identify them too.
The maritime world is based on professionalism. Coast guard officers merely ensure ships carry insurance certificates — they’re not in a position to investigate the veracity of the information, let alone whether the purported company exists.
Last month, for example, one such insurance outfit — Ro Marine — attracted the attention of Norway’s financial inspectorate. Based in Norway and led by a Russian businessman based in St. Petersburg, the company says it insures 250 ships, but according to a report from Norway’s national broadcaster NRK and the Danish investigative journalist group Danwatch, 70 of them belong to the shadow fleet and 40 of them are sanctioned.
Ro Marine also claims to be certified in Norway, but the report states that the documentation allegedly proving this is fake. The company even purports to be located at the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association’s office in Oslo, which is a lie. And in early March, when a Ro Marine-insured ship left Russia, sailing through the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic and passing the Danish Straits, its crew was able to show an insurance certificate and sail on.
And rogue insurance is a serious risk on the high seas. “it’s not simply that these vessels lack adequate insurance that protects their own assets,” said Simon Lockwood, head of the shipowner practice at global insurance broker WTW. “The costs fall back to the innocent parties, and they suffer the financial burden of the actions of rogue operators.” If a Ro Marine-insured ship had hit another vessel, for instance, the other vessel would have struggled to receive compensation.
Shipping used to be chaotic and Darwinian. But over the past century, governments built an impressive edifice of rules, treaties and conventions to make the high seas safer for all involved. The shipping sector added its own rules too, and insurance is part of this construct. Though, again, it mostly depends on voluntary compliance.
The Baltic Sea nations and Britain can call on the owners and crews of shadow vessels to obey the rules; they can call on Russia to obey the rules; they can inspect insurance certificates all they want. If someone has their mind set on subverting the maritime order, no agency can stop them. There are no global maritime police, let alone global maritime court.
But we’re not at the complete mercy of these rule-breakers. Everyone with investigative skills can help restore some manner of maritime order by researching the shadow fleet’s activities. The companies and individuals who sell ships into the fleet, the companies and individuals who buy them, the operators who set up bogus insurance outfits — none of them want their activities to be known.
Let’s expose them.
Anti-spying phone pouches offered to EU lawmakers for trip to Hungary
Budapest has faced EU scrutiny over the use of spyware against the opposition and civil society in past years.
Members of the European Parliament were offered special pouches to protect digital devices from espionage and tampering for a visit to Hungary this week, a sign of rising spying fears within Europe.
Five lawmakers from the Parliament’s civil liberties committee traveled to Hungary on Monday for a three-day visit to inspect the EU member country’s progress on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
One lawmaker on the trip confirmed to POLITICO that the Parliament officials joining the delegation were offered Faraday bags — special metal-lined pouches that block electromagnetic signals — by the Parliament's services and were also advised to be cautious about using public Wi-Fi networks or charging facilities.
Hungary has previously come under fire from EU lawmakers for its use of spyware. The Parliament's special inquiry committee into the use of spyware (PEGA) in 2023 conducted a fact-finding mission after revelations that intrusion software had been used against opposition figures, journalists and civil society in the country.
Hungary also faced EU scrutiny after Belgian and Hungarian media reported late last year that its intelligence agency had spied on EU officials visiting the country in 2015-2017, searching their hotel rooms and recording their phone conversations. The Hungarian government dismissed the reports.
Budapest and Brussels have been on a collision course for years over EU criticism that the government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has curtailed fundamental rights and democratic checks and balances. The EU triggered a formal Article 7 procedure over rule-of-law issues against Hungary in 2018.
The delegation of civil liberties lawmakers this week is headed by Dutch Greens' member Tineke Strik. It includes Belgian liberal member Sophie Wilmès, Spanish left-wing member Pernando Barrena Arza, Polish social democrat member Krzysztof Śmiszek and Polish center-right member Michał Wawrykiewicz.
Faraday bags are used to keep devices safe from interference from hackers, as well as from other kinds of tracking or surveillance, by blocking incoming and outgoing signals.
Two officials with knowledge of the Parliament's security policies, granted anonymity to discuss internal protocols, told POLITICO that the use of the pouches was not common for members' trips and travel.
The European Commission in 2018 also published a call for tender to suppliers of the special pouches.
EU burner phones
The news of the use of the anti-spying pouches comes shortly after a report in the Financial Times that some Commission officials heading to the United States were being issued burner phones and basic laptops to avoid espionage risks.
The Commission in a statement on Tuesday denied giving guidance to its staff recommending the use of burner phones while on official missions in the U.S.
The EU executive occasionally gives burner phones to its top officials for sensitive travel, if they're handling extremely confidential matters.
Such a protocol is more common for trips to countries like China that pose a heightened risk of state espionage and surveillance.
The European Parliament member said the officials that joined the Hungary trip this week were not proactively given devices such as burner phones or basic laptops.
When asked whether these kinds of devices were made available to Parliament officials on the Hungary trip or other missions, a press officer at the Parliament's spokesperson service declined to give details.
“All the necessary assessments are in place to ensure the development of committee fact-finding missions while ensuring [the] Parliament’s duty of care for [elected] members and staff,” the press officer said in a statement.
Lawmakers are “periodically briefed” on security and cybersecurity measures while on mission and “supporting materials in this regard are also made available to MEPs," the statement said.
Russia on Ukraine - Security Council Media Stakeout | United Nations.
Цитата:
Внешняя разведка РФ предложила США совместно противостоять «еврофашизму».
СВР России выпустила заявление под заголовком «Еврофашизм, как и 80 лет назад, общий враг Москвы и Вашингтона». В нем проводится линия, что текущие разногласия между США и Евросоюзом могут создать почву для сближения Москвы и Вашингтона, «как это уже не раз бывало в прошлом».
В качестве примера приводится недавний скандал вокруг заявления французского депутата Европарламента Рафаэля Глюксмана, потребовавшего у США "вернуть" статую Свободы из-за поддержки "тиранов" (то есть, намерений вести переговоры с Путиным). Что вызвало гневную отповедь из Белого дома.
В заявлении утверждается, что "еврофашизм" проявлялся как в прошлом, так и в современных политических процессах, включая поддержку Украины.
Также акцентируется внимание на прецедентах, когда США и Россия выступали единым фронтом против европейских держав. В первую очередь - во время Второй Мировой войны. А также, например, во время Суэцкого кризиса 1956 года (тогда США и СССР совместно выступили против интервенции франко-британских войск в район Суэцкого канала).
Также в СВР вспоминают о «симпатиях части американского общества к России» во время Крымской войны в середине XIX века - когда французы и англичане высадились в Крыму. Ту коалицию в Москве сравнили с нынешней «коалицией желающих», которая планирует ввести войска в Украину.
В СВР при этом напоминают, что британцы сожгли Капитолий и Белый дом в 1814 году, когда оккупировали Вашингтон.
Также внешняя разведка РФ утверждает, что британцы в лице Черчилля втянули США и СССР в «холодную войну». В СВР пишут, что Лондон и сейчас играет «ведущую деструктивную роль» в украинском конфликте, в том числе через поддержку радикальных элементов, «связанных с идеологией нацизма».
Постпред РФ при ООН Василий Небензя после закрытой консультации СБ ООН по Украине о прекращении огня.
Цитата:
WATCH LIVE: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives press briefing after crucial Ukraine talks(«Nothing personal, just business!»: примечание а.п.)
Цитата:
Итоги большого дня переговоров. Реально ли прекращение огня в ближайшее время?
Итак, сегодня завершились переговоры в Париже, которые посланники Трампа с представителями Украины, Франции, Британии и Германии. Затем госсекретарь Рубио перезвонил главе МИД РФ Лаврову и проинформировал об итогах встреч.
Комментарии от всех сторон идут пока без негатива. Даже от России. Там заявили, что американская делегация говорила с Украиной и европейцами в «русле тематики» консультаций, проводимых ранее между Вашингтоном и Москвой, включая недавнюю встречу Путина с Уиткоффом. Также там сказали о готовности к дальнейшей работе с США в этом направлении, правда, при условии «надежного устранения первопричин украинского кризиса».
Дополнительную интригу внес Трамп, который сказал, что ждет от России ответа о перемирии до конца недели. Хотя, при этом, Макрон заявил, что на следующей неделе в Лондоне запланирована еще одна встреча американской, европейской и украинской делегаций для продолжения разговора. То есть, не факт, что произойдет нечто уже в ближайшие дни. Но, судя по настрою Белого дома, там ждут развязки в ближайшие недели. То есть – до начала мая.
Что в реальности происходит? Сопоставив информацию из разных источников, можно составить следующую картину.
1. На прошлой неделе Уиткофф встречался с Путиным в Санкт-Петербурге, после чего он заявил, что стороны приблизились к договоренностям и «мы стоим на пороге чего-то великого». Судя по всему, спецпредставитель Трампа обсудил условия согласия Путина на прекращения огня. Что это за условия – достоверно неизвестно. Ходят очень разные слухи. От признания российскими пяти украинских регионов, до изменений во внутренней политике Украины, гарантий нейтрального статуса Украины, отсутствия войск стран НАТО на ее территории, отмены мобилизации и военного положения, проведения выборов, уход Зеленского, снятия санкций с РФ и т.д.
2. Далее американская делегация отправилась в Париж, чтоб рассказать об этих условиях украинцам и европейцам. В делегации был Уиткофф, который мог донести информацию о переговорах с Путиным «из первых уст». Правда, опять же, неизвестно как Вашингтон относится к условиям Кремля - поддержал ли он их (взявшись «продавить» их на переговорах с Европой и Украиной), либо «принял к сведению», затем обсудил их в Париже с украинцами и европейцами, чтоб дать Москве «встречное» предложение.
3. Отдельно стоит отметить, что в переговоры включены европейцы. По ним есть, как минимум, два вопроса. Во-первых, ввод европейских миротворцев после прекращения огня. Москва уже заявила, что категорически против присутствия на территории Украины войск стран НАТО. И, как пишут западные СМИ, Трамп к идее миротворцев относится негативно и добивается, чтоб Макрон от нее отказался (видимо, воспринимая эту тему как фактор, который может сорвать прекращения огня). Правда, официально такая позиция Вашингтона не подтверждалась. Трамп сегодня уклончиво сказал, что позитивно относится к любым миротворцам, но решение по ним должны принимать те страны, которые их хотят отправлять. Второй вопрос по европейцам – это санкции против России. Значительная их часть (например, по отключению РФ от SWIFT) введены странами ЕС. И, если встанет вопрос о том, что после прекращения огня часть этих санкций нужно снимать, то с Европой об этом так или иначе говорить необходимо.
4. Дальнейшее развитие событий зависит от того, как Украина и Европа отреагируют на условия РФ, которые озвучил Уиткофф. Отвергнут ли они их полностью, примут ли их частично, будет ли Вашингтон «продавливать» выполнение этих условий? Возможно, на эти вопросы уже есть ответы сейчас, после встречи в Париже. А возможно ответ будет после переговоров в Лондоне на следующей неделе. И затем уже будет реакция России на «встречное предложение» - согласится она с ним или нет. Возможно, будет еще неоднократный обмен «встречными предложениями». Хотя, судя по заявлению американцев, вряд ли этому процессу дадут затянутся. А значит будет ли прекращение огня или нет мы узнаем уже в ближайшие пару недель. Или, если верить Трампу, даже в ближайшие дни.
Противоречит конституции России: Россия не просит – Россия требует.
Цитата:
Спецпредставитель Трампа Уиткофф дал понять, что когда он говорит о передаче России пяти украинских регионов, он говорит не о всей их территории, а только о той их части, которую РФ сейчас уже и так контролирует
.
При этом он заявляет, что Украине могут быть «менее важны» ее русскоязычные регионы, пишет The Wall Street Journal ссылаясь на комментарий Уиткоффа.
«Уиткофф сказал, что
Путин [на переговорах] был зациклен на украинской земле в их дискуссиях
(выделено а.п.). По его словам,
Россия может получить часть регионов, но не все»
(выделено а.п.), - сообщает издание.
Представитель Трампа также предположил, что «Украину могут меньше волновать некоторые регионы, если они русскоязычные».
«Когда вы начинаете рассматривать эти пять регионов — Россия заинтересована в них, и, кстати, Украина тоже, — но если часть из них в основном русскоязычные, то, может быть, Украину они могут меньше волновать?» — сказал он.
Напомним, из пяти регионов, об аннексии которых объявила Россия (Крым, Донецкая, Луганская, Запорожская и Херсонская области), на данный момент РФ полностью контролирует только Крым.
Меморандум – договор о намерениях, а мы помним куда ведёт устланный ими путь.
Цитата:
Украина и США подписали меморандум по недрам, сообщила министр экономики Свириденко.
«Сегодня сделали шаг к общему с США соглашению об экономическом партнерстве. Украина и Соединенные Штаты Америки подписали меморандум, удостоверяющий конструктивную совместную работу наших команд и намерение финализировать и заключить соглашение, которое будет выгодно обоим нашим народам. Впереди финализация текста соглашения и его подписание. Далее - ратификация парламентами», - написала Свириденко в Фейсбуке.
Напомним, Трамп анонсировал подписание соглашения в следующий четверг.
То есть, сейчас подписали не соглашение (сделку) по недрам, а «декларацию о намерениях» ее подписать.
Судя по всему, нынешний меморандум - примерно тот же довольно абстрактный документ, который хотели утвердить во время визита Зеленского в Вашингтон 28 февраля. Но подписание сорвалось из-за скандала в Овальном кабинете.
Правда, возникает вопрос, зачем сейчас было подписывать меморандум о намерениях, если само соглашение должно быть подписано, как заявил Трамп, уже через неделю?
То ли, чтоб сделать некую позитивную новость сегодня на фоне переговоров в Париже. То ли с подписанием самого соглашения не все так просто, а потому сейчас и решили подписать хоть какой-то документ, чтоб показать, что «дело движется».
Уровень доступа: Вы не можете начинать темы, Вы не можете отвечать на сообщения, Вы не можете редактировать свои сообщения, Вы не можете удалять свои сообщения, Вы не можете голосовать в опросах
Владимир Нерюев, заместитель генерального директора коммуникационного агентства Аура поделился мнением, какие изменения произошли или произойдут в профессии PR-специалиста.
Генеральный директор агентства мобильного маркетинга Mobisharks (входит в ГК Kokoc Group) — об эффективном мобильном маркетинге и примерах успешных стратегий.
За последние пару лет реклама банков изменилась. Появились новые сюжеты и герои. Реклама по-прежнему — не только инструмент продвижения услуг, но и способ формирования доверия к финансовым организациям. Главный тренд, который отмечают эксперты,— переход от сухого перечисления выгод к эмоционально окрашенным коммуникациям.
Антитрендами наружной рекламы в текущем году стали прямолинейность и чрезмерная перегруженность сообщений. Наружная реклама продолжает показывать рост: число рекламных конструкций за последний год увеличилось более чем на 2 тысячи.
Чего не хватает радио, чтобы увеличить свою долю на рекламном рынке? Аудиопиратство: угроза или возможности для отрасли? Каковы первые результаты общероссийской кампании по продвижению индустриального радиоплеера? Эти и другие вопросы были рассмотрены на конференции «Радио в глобальной медиаконкуренции», спикерами и участниками которой стали эксперты ГПМ Радио.
Деловая программа 28-й международной специализированной выставки технологий и услуг для производителей и заказчиков рекламы «Реклама-2021» открылась десятым юбилейным форумом «Матрица рекламы». Его организовали КВК «Империя» и «Экспоцентр».
28 марта в Центральном доме художника состоялась 25-ая выставка маркетинговых коммуникаций «Дизайн и реклама NEXT». Одним из самых ярких её событий стал День социальной рекламы, который организовала Ассоциация директоров по коммуникациям и корпоративным медиа России (АКМР) совместно с АНО «Лаборатория социальной рекламы» и оргкомитетом LIME.
На VII Международном форуме «Матрица рекламы», прошедшем в ЦВК «Экспоцентр» в рамках международной выставки «Реклама-2018», большой интерес у профессиональной аудитории вызвала VI Конференция «Интернет-реклама».
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