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Whenever we say that dual standards are being applied we are really speaking about an erosion of principles, and when we say this about the way the bodies of the European Union are behaving it is because it is sometimes rather difficult to conclude from …
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I now want to make some related observations as I did then. First, that this untrustworthy country still desires to gain entry in to the WTO, what EU is eagerly promising; and second, that Russia's goal of domination in the Caucasus was given priority of …
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I cannot forget my first visit to Budapest in 1989, to the Congress of MDF (the Hungarian Democratic Forum). Its participants raised national flags - they had symbolical holes in them - as they met our delegation from Sajudis (the Lithuanian Reform …
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Lithuania were to meet again to welcome the twenty-first century as free states once more, and we approached the doors of both the EU and of NATO together. What is the situation today, Hungarians? Just a two years ago, the new ruler of Russia visited …
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with limitations to our freedoms being threatened by dictation from a potential single energy supplier, and Hungary appears to be on the crossroads of European history again. Russian money lies in one balance of the scales of value, while the ideals of …
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A meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2006 discussed the case of the Russian military journalist Grigory Pasko, who was a prisoner of conscience after having publicised the gross pollution of international waters by nuclear …
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Another point at which the credibility gap appears is the situation in Moldova, which should probably now be characterised as a lasting tragedy. That state has been steadily reduced to the level of the poorest country in Europe. It was dismembered with …
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against Lithuania's independence were Catholic Christians and not totally influenced by Communists, so it was that Gorbachev's policies failed! Unfortunately, they succeeded to get well orchestrated bloody confrontation of nationalities in South Caucasus …
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Either we must learn to say No to Russia, or to plan living without her. Otherwise, Europe has a chance to become Great Russia. Partnerships between countries can usually be expected to yield mutual benefits. But the Russian view is that your partner is …
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fact that Russia does not have yet a legitimate border with the EU. So, in Russian eyes the EU’s friendliness does not inspire respect. In fact there is plenty of evidence that Russia prefers to deal with individual states, promoting dissent within the …
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Russia's Central Savings Bank has robbed the Lithuanian people of billions of roubles, which were removed from Lithuania in 1990 as a punishment for announcing national independence. Not a penny has been returned. Formally, the money belongs to the …
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projected Nabucco pipeline for transporting natural Caspian gas from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. It would run from Erzerum in Turkey to Baumgarten, a major natural gas hub in Austria. The project is backed by the EU and the United …
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whereby every year one of Russia's neighbours finds its energy supply cut off, raising doubts about Russia's reliability as a supplier, he said. More recently he has warned that the state energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft may be on the verge of default …
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IV ON CHECHNYA To say “unfortunately” would be too little. Chechnya remains the bleeding wound of Europe and shames us. It seemed that the epoch of bloody colonialism was finally over, at least, for European nations. The last problem, there until 1991, …
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national name Ichkerya) was not a biggest problem for the Russia of Boris Yeltsin. He too was striving then for reform, freedom and democracy. So, in the early nineties Russia, even if it was far from being happy with the events, was ready to negotiate …
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was already elected in free and fair national election, observed and approved by CE and OSCE. Together with the other agreements, it granted recognition of Ichkerya as a subject of international law, thus giving birth to a new post-Russian and post-Soviet …
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Chechnya today is the newest colony in Europe, being occupied anew by its previous metropolis. The fundamental right of the Chechen people to live and retain in freedom is yet to be put on the agenda of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization by any …
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Russia was conducting a war in Chechnya and for it , which was nothing more than a continuation of the colonial wars and conquests of the second half of the nineteenth century. In fewer than ten years the Russian armyhas invaded Chechnya twice. It is well …
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The ongoing war in this occupied territory had acquired new distortions, including the use of landmines. Lot of ‘children of enemy’ lost their legs. There have been punitive acts of revenge against the civilian population by the losing Russian army, and …
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individual case of Ruslan Alikhadzhiev, the former Speaker of the legitimate Ichkerian Parliament of the Chechen Republic until the second invasion. Both PACE and OSCE monitored the 1997 elections and confirmed their validity. I had parliamentary contacts …
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without any greater protest of democratic societies and governments only because the executioner was too big. Those turning their eyes aside are similar to collaborators in crime. og 140 CROSSROAD OF …
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After the European indifference, which at first accompanied the killing and raping of the Bosnian Muslims, we have to ask whether the indifference to the Chechen tragedy had been determined by their being Muslim‘ Ifit is true that the old-established …
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D.Dudaev. He was married on soft and careful Russian woman, artist and poet, now living in Lithuania. Thus seemingly winning, Russia lost Chechnya because after such unbelievable cruelties nobody will love Russia there anymore. ES 142 CROSSROAD OF …
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ON COMMUNISM When the former Soviet Army at the end of Occupation, already formally restructured and renamed as ‘Troops of the Russian Federation, finally left Lithuania in the summer of 1993, its officers and soldiers said, and scribbled on the barrack …
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and parallel doctrines served them both equally well. (That is perfectly presented by Latvian documentary “The Soviet Story”). The slogans and the exhortations which gave dominance to base instincts of unrestricted control were little changed. The …
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the good spirit of India who has a lot of experience in Kashmir (where he has argued with the fighters that it is better to live than to kill), as well as in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and even the Balkans, has explained the problem: “They are anti-riches, …
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German as Heidekrug) which also served both the Nazi and the Soviet occupiers as a place of imprisonment and extermination of human beings. These are poignant reminiscences. They may help explain why historical memory and knowledge about Communism, along …
