Refugee crisis update: Commission still in panic while Turkey is to be added in the equation

It was only last Wednesday that Russia officially launched airstrikes in Syria which are supposed to target terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS). The attacks however aim at western Syria where “strangely” IS has no activity. Consequently, while Russia is mitigating the war in Syria backing-up Assad and his government, refugees continue leaving massively the […]

What the world will look like after the Iran and 5+1 deal; the US emerges as major power broker in Middle East

The first to travel to Tehran after the nuclear agreement was struck last week between Iran and the 5+1 (France, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States plus Germany) are the German Vice Chancellor Zigmar Gabriel and Laurent Fabius the French minister for Foreign Affairs. Understandably, French and German dignitaries are more welcomed […]

Who is to lose from the 6-month extension of the EU economic sanctions against Russia?

The European Foreign Ministers gathered in Luxembourg two days ago and decided to continue imposing economic sanctions to Russia for another six months. This shows the strong intention of Europe to weaken Russia’s power in Ukraine and thus put a stop on Russia’s imperialistic plans. However, Russia claims these sanctions as “illegal and unfounded” and will fight […]

The G7 adopted dangerous views about Ukraine and Greece

Last weekend the leaders of the G7 countries in reality acknowledged their impotency or probably unwillingness to effectively confront the expansion of the destructive and unlawful activities of the “too big to fail” banks and the shadow banking sector. After that, they decided that Ukraine and Greece have to go on bleeding in order not […]

The hostilities in south and eastern Ukraine resume; where could they lead?

The resumption of hostilities in south-eastern Ukraine is blamed by the West to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow reportedly wants to help the pro-Russian separatists who prevail in the Luhansk and Donetsk region to gain control of Mariupol a key port in this area on the Black Sea. However, the heavy fighting that took […]

Can Obama attract Iran close to the US sphere of influence?

The best indications about the fairness of a deal are that all the parties directly involved in it can claim victory, and when it comes to the detailed terms they feel they didn’t get exactly what they wanted. This is exactly what happened after the six major world powers (the P5+1 group of countries, the […]

Have Europe’s Ukrainian wounds begun to heal?

The wounds the Ukrainian civil war has inflicted on Europe have now stopped bleeding and if not begun healing at least they claim no more fatalities. The Minsk II agreement is holding well and the Europeans, most of them, have made clear to the Americans that there is no chance of starting a new war […]

Greece lost a month that cannot be found neither in “mini Summits” nor in Berlin

It has been one long month since the Greek deal on the Eurogroup of 20 February where Greece and the rest of the Eurozone agreed to give to the former a four-month extension of the loan agreement. However, the Greek government does not seem to cooperate with the three institutions (ECB, IMF, EU) to actively and urgently […]

Can the US-Iran rapprochement change the world?

The United States global gendarmes and the Shiite Iran were brought together in a common fight against the Islamic States murderers in Iraq and Syria, thus opening the way for a wider understanding between the two until recently sworn enemies. The American government saw one more major geostrategic advantage in the rapprochement with Tehran. And […]

Can Greece’s democratic institutions keep it in Eurozone?

Paris, Washington and Brussels categorically reject the idea of a Grexit, while Berlin is still loudly insisting that the Eurozone can weather at a cost Greece’s secession. Behind closed doors though, the German decision makers are also not at all sure about that. Greece’s exit from Eurozone has lately become the talk of the town […]

Only the Americans are unhappy with the ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine

Despite the fact that the Minsk ceasefire agreement is holding more or less well and the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine has stopped, the Americans seem quite unhappy. They insist on the need to supply the Ukrainians with heavy armaments to continue the war, this time clearly against Putin’s Russia. Let’s follow the facts. On 25 […]

The West and Russia accomplished the dismembering and the economic destruction of Ukraine

With the Minsk Agreement the West and Russia finally got what they wanted or close to that from Ukraine, not minding much about leaving the miserable country in ruins, its map ruthlessly chopped and the economy in a perfect chaos. On the one side the EU or rather Berlin and Paris plus Washington and on […]

European Energy Union: Integration of markets and need for in-house energy production

The European Commission (EC) official convened in Brussels two days ago to discuss and decide about the crucial matter of the European Energy Union. The strategy of the implementation of this Union was presented and according to Maros Šefčovič, vice-president of the EC, would be “the biggest energy project since the Coal and Steel Community”. However, […]

Europe, US and Russia haggle over Ukraine’s convulsing body; Russians and Americans press on for an all out civil war

Germany and France are alarmed at the prospect that the Americans could turn Ukraine into an unbelievable inferno, by overtly delivering heavy armaments to Kiev. In such an event implications on Europe’s security will be vast. The French President François Hollande and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel rushed to Moscow last Friday and met the […]

“As German Chancellor I want to be able to cope with the merger of the real and digital economy”, Angela Merkel from Switzerland; the Sting reports live from World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos

At the second day of the World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos the world was expecting the German Chancellor, Mrs Angela Merkel, in one of the most awaited sessions, titled “Global responsibilities in a digital age”. Mrs Merkel’s speech was warm and stimulating covering the hot issues of the European political agenda. To a disappointment […]

“China is the only BRICS country to have either met or possibly slightly surpassed my expectations”, BRICS inventor Jim O’ Neil from Switzerland; the Sting reports live from World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos

Being at the second day of the World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos a session that monopolised the interest of the world was titled “The BRICS Agenda”. It was there where everybody was anticipating to see how the BRICS countries contribute to the global economy. Most importantly we were eager to see the reasons behind their […]

Can Kiev make face to mounting economic problems and social unrest?

The time of truth for the European Union’s strategy on the Ukrainian question finally came. Brussels is about to let the poor country not only be dismembered, but what will be left of it will be pushed into an economic and political inferno. As it happens, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker essentially ‘ordered’ Kiev to “bring […]

EU’s Mogherini visits Turkey “to step up engagement” and highlight interests

As announced last week through an official European Union statement, EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and two other senior EU officials are visiting Turkey this week. The High Representative of the EU, together with Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement, Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, […]

The West definitively cuts Russia off from the developed world

Last weekend’s G20 Summit in Brisbane Australia in a direct way ineradicably mapped the abyss now dividing the West from Russia. American and European leaders including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and David Cameron threatened Russia with more sanctions, meant to completely cut her off from western markets and besiege her economy, if Moscow doesn’t stop […]

Brussels wins game and match in Ukraine no matter the electoral results

Yesterday’s election in Ukraine, even if after countless countings over the next days it gives President Petro Poroshenko’s Block a clear victory, is not expected to change anything to the better for the war-torn country. Kiev held this election in the loyal regions and the pro-Russian rebels in Luhansk and Donetsk are to hold theirs […]

Russia accepts what the EU has to offer and settles to negotiate with Ukraine

This time the Europeans did it without the Americans in Ukraine. They managed to convince Russia to guarantee unobstructed natural gas supplies for the war-torn country and the EU for ‘at least’ during this winter. They did it last Friday in Milan, northern Italy, during the EU-Asia leaders meeting. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel took […]

Can one FTA and 110 lobby meetings make the dirty oil clean in Europe?

So it happens again. The EU is compromising its own policies to endorse trade and business. What’s wrong with that? Just an equivalent environmental damage of 6 million cars in the European roads by 2020. It was only yesterday morning that the European Commission issued a controversial proposal that undermines its own 2020 targets to […]

EU cracks under the weight of its policy on the Ukraine-Russia nub

The Ukrainian civil war, with the two sides patronised respectively by the West (EU and US) and Russia, has now deeply divided the entire Old Continent. On Friday 26 September Hungary decided to cut off its secondary supplies of Russian natural gas to Ukraine. Last June, after Moscow cut its direct deliveries of gas to […]

Ukraine-EU deal sees the light but there’s no defeat for Russia

While the ceasefire between Ukraine’s military forces and the separatists appears to be holding since the September 5th truce, something “historic” – as leaders called it – might have happened yesterday. Ukraine ratified a landmark trade-and-political deal with the European Union, officially moving towards the West. The moment was crucial not only for the importance […]

EU’s new sanctions on Russia into force “in the next few days”: strength, weakness or strategy?

Last Saturday appeared as the possible beginning of a new phase for the Ukraine-Russia question, after a ceasefire was signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, between the Ukrainian government and rebels on Friday. Although both sides claimed on Saturday that the other had violated the ceasefire, the Associated Press reported that Donetsk was relative calm, the […]

European Council: Choosing new leaders for the EU betrays efforts for a wider arrangement

The special meeting of the European Council held last Saturday 30 August, despite or probably because of the alarming news about the new fall of inflation to the crisis level of 0.3% last month, was almost totally devoted to the Ukrainian crisis. Unfortunately, the new inflation coming close to zero means that the millions of […]

What next after more sanctions against Russia, will the Ukrainian civil war end?

Even if the Kiev government accomplishes the conquest of eastern Ukraine by the force of arms, the West in general, cannot be sure of a viable solution in the long-term. It is impossible to pacify this region, without some form of autonomy. The obvious reason is the great numbers of the Russian speakers, the majority […]

The MH17 tragedy to put a tombstone on Ukrainian civil war

The anthropoid beast that pressed the button to release the missile which brought down the MH17 Malaysian Airlines flight, killing all the 298 people aboard must be held responsible before humanity. Probably though, it will never be clarified for sure who was behind this hideous crime. The search for the culpable party may start from […]

Is continuous sanctioning the way to resolve the Ukrainian crisis?

The E.U. together with the U.S. decided to impose harsher economic sanctions against Russia last Wednesday. This action was expected since Russia continued to further scale its violent military intervention in eastern Ukraine despite the warnings that were given by the U.S. and E.U. U.S. sanctions focus on financial and energy sectors The U.S. are taking advantage of what is […]

Europe might not avoid new partitioning on Ukrainian crisis

It seems that a confrontational paranoia is engulfing our world. The British Prime minister is waging an aggressive campaign (which may end up being self-destructive) against the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker for the Presidency of the Commission. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is encountering this British challenge with an all-out offensive having organized a continental […]

Macro-Financial Assistance: Europe’s way to control Ukraine?

The European Commission (EC) paid out €500 million to Ukraine on Tuesday, a financial support to be the first loan tranche of the second Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) programme of the EU. While the crisis in Ukraine is still raging and the need for economic reforms is more crucial than ever, the EU is adding to International […]

Moscow’s Eurasian Union lost significance after the crisis in Ukraine

Last Thursday 29 May, the Presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the last and most important document, the founding Treaty for their Eurasian Union, to have effect as from 1st January 2015. Four more countries Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have also expressed strong interest to adhere to this new politico-economic entity. The EaU […]

What options the new President of Ukraine has?

Petro Poroshenko, the new Ukrainian President elect, is one of the wealthiest men of his country, but he is not an oligarch in the sense that he hasn’t made his fortune by getting government contracts and concessions. He actually is the only exception to the rule, that all business tycoons of this badly governed state, […]

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