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Europe Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 28, 2016 21 Comments
Turkish officials have confirmed a terrorist attack has killed 36 people and injured 147 others at Istanbul's main airport in the international terminal. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed Islamic State for the attack. https://twitter.com/AFP/status/747978224563433472 One of the suicide bombers "first opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated himself" near the entrance. Istanbul Ataturk is the third largest airport in Europe and a major hub for international travel.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 24, 2016 18 Comments
So last night the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Of course, everyone has an opinion. When I say everyone I mean everyone. This is by far the best reaction. Of course, I'm biased since I'm American. https://twitter.com/GlomarResponder/status/746146090198700033 Second best tweet:

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 23, 2016 35 Comments
The United Kingdom has voted to stay or leave the European Union. They closed the polls and people have started counting the votes. The results remained close, but the Leave campaign is inching closer and closer to reality. https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/746186028239683585 https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/746187969980076033 This is the best #Brexit tweet so far: https://twitter.com/GlomarResponder/status/746146090198700033

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 22, 2016 19 Comments
Members inside GOP presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign said that Paul Manafort has taken over as campaign manager:
Three people close to the campaign said some of Trump's staff viewed Lewandowski as opposing strategic changes and staff hires urged for the general election campaign by Paul Manafort, a strategist hired in April partly for his experience on presidential campaigns that Lewandowski lacked. The three, a campaign staffer and two people in regular contact with Trump advisers, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by Trump to discuss the firing. Manafort will take over as campaign manager, said Carl Paladino, co-chairman of the campaign's operations in New York state. "Paul's in charge," Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee's communications director, said in an interview.
Trump brought in Manafort in late March as an advisor. People may not know Manafort, but those like me who have covered Ukraine since 2013 know the name all too well since he once advised ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. The man who advised the Moscow-backed president of Ukraine is now managing the campaign of the GOP candidate. While Manafort has consulted numerous unsavory individuals, Yanukovych remains fresh since his downfall has led to the worst tensions between the West and Russia since the Cold War.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 21, 2016 10 Comments
The Social Democrat minority government proposed legislation in Sweden to limit the number of refugees since the asylum seekers have stretched the country thin. They allowed in 160,000 people last year. From The New York Times:
The government said that under the new rules, individuals who want to bring over family members but do not apply to do so within three months of arriving in Sweden, would have to prove they can financially support them; current regulations require sponsors to demonstrate only that they can support themselves. Permanent residency for asylum-seekers under the age of 25 would be restricted to those who have completed high school and can support themselves. People who are formally granted refugee status would be able to bring over family members from abroad, but the legislation would circumscribe the family members who are eligible.
The asylum seekers have overwhelmed the public system since only 494 found employment. That's the tricky thing with socialism. You need people to fund it, but too many people can cause a collapse.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 21, 2016 12 Comments
Mexican flags will greet GOP presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump when he visits.....Scotland. Yes, the residents around Trump's Aberdeenshire golf course have raised the flag to "show solidarity" with the country since Trump wants to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Donald ticked off these people when he built his golf course because he wanted to buy their lands. https://twitter.com/STVNews/status/745230658214170624 David Milne raised one of the Mexican flags:
Mr Milne said: "I am currently flying a Mexican flag along with my usual Saltire just for solidarity along with those worldwide who Trump has decried, insulted and threatened over the years, and will continue to decry, insult and threaten."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2016 11 Comments
British Member of Parliament (MP) Jo Cox died after a middle aged man shot her on the street in Birstall, located near Leeds. The police arrested Thomas Mair, 52. Some eyewitnesses said he yelled "Britain first!" when he shot her, but others dispute the claim. Some in Britain have pushed the country to leave the European Union. Mair attacked Cox after she held her weekly office hours with constituents:
"The gun went off twice and then she fell between two cars and I came and saw her bleeding on the floor," shop owner Hichem Ben Abdallah told ITV News. Clarke Rothwell told the BBC that the suspect, who was wearing a baseball hat, lunged at Cox with a knife after he opened fire. "People were screaming and running from the area," Rothwell added.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 07, 2016 4 Comments
Russia has moved soldiers to their border with Ukraine as NATO launches the largest war games in Eastern Europe since the Cold War went to sleep over 20 years ago. From Reuters:
A Reuters reporter who visited the Russian town of Klintsy, about 50 km (30 miles) from Ukraine, saw a makeshift army camp, large numbers of newly-arrived servicemen and military vehicles. Two soldiers in camouflage gear who were manning a checkpoint in a forest turned the reporter away, saying they were guarding a "special military site". Last year, Reuters also reported on construction of two other bases further to the south on Russia's border with Ukraine. The defense ministry has not acknowledged the deployment of troops to Klintsy, which usually serves as a stop for truck drivers traveling between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
Mother Russia apparently feels threatened since NATO allies, including non-member Ukraine, have pulled off Anaconda-2016 in Poland. The Kremlin said these drills "do not contribute to an atmosphere of trust and security." Someone needs to remind the Kremlin that they started this mess in March 2014.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 03, 2016 5 Comments
Devastating floods have forced officials to shut down the Louvre and evacuate priceless works of art. The Louvre houses the Mona Lisa, but workers assured people she will remain protected on her upper floor. But the most visited museum in Europe must shut down:
"Due to the level of the river Seine, the Musée du Louvre will be exceptionally closed to the public on June 3, 2016 to ensure the protection of the works located in flood zones. We apologize for any inconvenience caused," the museum said on its website.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 31, 2016 12 Comments
German police have arrested three Pakistani men who sought asylum in connection to numerous sexual assault complaints at a music festival. They are still looking for numerous other suspects. A spokesperson for the Schlossgrabenfest music festival said 26 women spoke with police about sexual assault. The police then said that 14 reports "involve several women and only after further investigations will it become clear how many of the women were victims of sexual assault." Three women told the cops the group of men "encircled" them and proceeded to harass and grope the women.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 27, 2016 2 Comments
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) continues to take advantage of the migrant issue by blending their fighters and shipping them through Europe. Smuggler Abu Walid told CNN that ISIS has contacted people in his business in Libya in the past two months, offering up to $40,000 for 25 people. Libyan officials told the new outlet they have found ISIS members attempting to sneak into Europe disguised as migrants seeking a better life:
A senior Libyan military intelligence official in Misrata, Ismail Shukri, said that ISIS militants sought to disguise themselves by traveling with "their families, without weapons, as normal illegal immigrants." "They will wear American dress and have English language papers so they cause no suspicion."

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 26, 2016 8 Comments
Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers to the rescue again! He tackled a protestor who attempted to interrupt a memorial service in Dublin. The name should ring a bell since Vickers shot gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau in 2014 when he ambushed Parliament Hill. Vickers served as the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms at the time.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 26, 2016 1 Comment
Portuguese intelligence officers have decided to search for other moles after they discovered one of their own passed NATO secrets to Russia. Italian police arrested Frederico Carvalhão, a senior officer in Portugal's SIS intelligence service, along with an alleged Russian SVR intelligence agent. However, SIS believe others helped Carvalhão extract confidential and sensitive information. The Telegraph reports:
Augusto Santos Silva, the Portuguese foreign minister, confirmed on Wednesday that there was “an ongoing judicial investigation” into the case. The focus is believed to be on discovering who helped Mr Carvalhão extract top-secret documents from Ameixoeira Fort, the SIS headquarters in Lisbon. The use of USB sticks is prohibited inside Ameixoeira, access to all printed documents is registered and those classified as secret have an invisible watermark to allow for the detection of anyone who has removed them. Yet Mr Carvalhão was allegedly caught while handing over six "top secret" documents covering Nato defence systems, the communication infrastructure between member countries and military bases.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 24, 2016 10 Comments
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French Prime Minister Manuel Valls he wants to hold a one-on-one meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas instead of a multinational conference in Paris. Netanyahu thinks Abbas will use the conference as a way to ignore direct negotiations with Israel. France has scheduled the peace talks for the beginning of June without Israel or Palestinian Authority representatives. From The Times of Israel:
“The Palestinian Authority does not see the French initiative as an inducer for negotiations, but as a way to avoid them,” he said. Instead, Netanayhu said, he would be willing to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “in Paris or wherever,” and hold face-to-face negotiations without international mediation. “Every difficult issue will be on the table,” he said.
France plans to host another conference with Israel and Palestine in the autumn.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 23, 2016 5 Comments
Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, backed by the Green Party, has become Austria's new head of state. He barely beat Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer. The Interior Ministry counted over 700,000 ballots, almost 12% of the country's registered voters, to determine the winner. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka announced the results:
Van der Bellen reached 50.3 percent, 49.7 Hofer . In absolute terms, the scarcity of the result is visible: 2,254.484 votes could gather Van der Bellen, Hofer 2,223.458. The difference amounts to just 31,026 votes. The turnout was 72.7 percent, significantly higher than the first ballot reached 68.5 percent.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 15, 2016 8 Comments
A few Russian officials have demanded a Ukraine boycott after singer Jamala won Eurovision with her song "1944," which is about the USSR deportation of the Crimean Tatars. Well, maybe if Russia did not invade east Ukraine or annex Crimea, people would not hate them so much. Jamala, a Crimean Tatar, drew inspiration for the song from her great-grandmother. USSR dictator Josef Stalin deported over 200,000 Crimean Tatars to central Asia on suspicion of corroborating with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The 72nd anniversary of the deportation falls on May 18.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 14, 2016 2 Comments
The United States and Poland have broken ground on the site of the new defense missile site, which will probably anger Mother Russia. But what else is new? Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work tried to assure by reminding them the site will only protect NATO members:
"Today we stand at a strategic inflection point and a change in the strategic landscape," Work said at this Polish military base situated in a northern village. Europe and NATO face a range of new and complex security challenges, he said. Addressing those challenges will require a "more capable NATO alliance, one that continues to evolve and adapt to threats," he said. In efforts to protect the alliance, NATO is making important investments, including in missile defense, he said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 13, 2016 7 Comments
The new U.S. missile defense system in Romania has sent Russia into quite a tizzy. So much so that the Kremlin mentioned nuclear war. Andrey Kelin, a senior official in the Russian Foreign Ministry, said the actions "by NATO can only exacerbate an already difficult situation." Tensions have risen between the West and Russia since the latter invaded east Ukraine and annexed Crimean in March 2014.
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