#democracies

#democracies

Roman Emperor Domitian is remembered for only one joke.It's a terrible thing to be an emperor, Domitian said, because everything thinks your paranoia about being assassinated is groundlessuntil you're actually murdered!Soon after Domitian was assassinated.Extreme vigilance is the essential mood of tyranny, which must inhabit that condition not just first because it is indeed in danger of overthrow and surrounded by enemies but also because it requires its people to be fearful and isolated, therefore conditioned for extreme solutions.

Ukraine's top military leaders are determined to face down the Russian onslaught in Bakhmut, President Voldoymyr Zelenskyy said.He discussed Bakhmut with the military command, who told him they were unanimously in favour of defending the eastern sector that includes Bakhmut."There was a clear position of the entire general staff: Reinforce this sector and inflict maximum possible damage upon the occupier," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has made a surprise visit to Ukraine Friday to attend a war crimes conference and to pledge his support.AILSA CHANG, HOST: Attorney General Merrick Garland has made a surprise visit to Ukraine today to attend a war crimes conference and to pledge his support.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) MERRICK GARLAND: I'm here because the battles that Ukrainians are fighting in Ukraine are not only for Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed in his mission to divide Europe, damage democracy and take Ukraine quickly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told lawmakers in Berlin.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin had made a fundamental miscalculation by  sending troops into Ukraine, adding that the Russian president had not achieved "a single goal" set before the attack.

The French parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the European Union to formally label Russian mercenary force Wagner a "terrorist group".Published: 10 May 2023 09:08 CEST The resolution, which is non-binding and symbolic, passed with unanimous support across the political spectrum.

French parliament told that Wagner mercenaries follow the geo-political polices of Russian President Vladimir Putin.The French parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the European Union to formally label Russia's mercenary Wagner force a terror group as reports emerged that the United Kingdom also appears poised to designate the group a terror organisation.

The day the Ukrainian Parliament declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991, I witnessed the historical moment from the gallery with my wife and a group of Western expatriates.Below us, amid rapturous applause, a huge Ukrainian flag was carried into the hall on the shoulders of many of Ukraine's founding fathers.

Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin warned an Australian audience Friday that a Russian victory over Ukraine would empower other aggressors and urged democracies against forming critical dependencies on authoritarian states such as China.Marin was speaking in Sydney at the end of the first-ever visit by a Finnish prime minister to Australia and New Zealand.

22 minutes ago22 minutes ago London has stripped Chinese firm CGN of its stake in the nuclear plant.British lawmakers were visiting Taiwan and China's London ambassador was summoned over the alleged assault of a BBC reporter as tensions mount.The United Kingdom on Tuesday stripped China General Nuclear (CGN) of its stake in the Sizewell C power station.

There's a hardening view in Washington that China seeks to supplant the United States as the leading world power and remake the international system in its illiberal image.China has of course fed these fears by building up its military, pressing disputed territorial claims, partnering with a revanchist Russia and with its own rhetoric.

Architects must stop using the vacuous buzzwords that dominate the profession if they are to make a positive difference in the world, writes Reinier de Graaf."A civilizational revolution that puts humans first"."An unprecedented urban living experience"."A model for nature preservation and enhanced human livability".

Despite most 2020 election deniers losing their bids for statewide public office in 2022, more than 100 were elected in U.S. House and state legislative races.Many news outlets covered the 2022 elections from a pro-democracy point of view - highlighting facts about electoral results from prior elections, previewing the multiple safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the 2022 elections, and either minimizing attention to false claims of fraud or reporting the claims with clear declarations of the verifiable truth about previous elections results.

MP Han Dong says he has retained a lawyer and plans to sue Global News after it published a story alleging he advised a senior Chinese diplomat in February 2021 that Beijing should hold off on freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor the two Canadians being held by China at the time.Dong, who left Liberal caucus last week, confirmed to Global that he had a discussion with Consul General Han Tao but emphatically denied that he had advised Beijing to delay releasing the two Canadians.

What creature is that?Lauren Ambrose asked, craning her neck during a video interview from her home in the Berkshires.I see this, like, crazy hawk sitting on a tree outside my window.It just caught my eye.The setting was fitting, since Ambrose is about to become bonded with, and haunted by, the natural world.

The world is seeing a generational struggle for the future of the global order, the head of Britain's armed forces has said.Admiral Sir Tony Radakin warned that these are extraordinarily dangerous times, with tensions rising between the West and Russia, Iran, North Korea and China.In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London on Wednesday, he said: As 2022 draws to a close, we have a world in which four separate geopolitical crises are unfolding in parallel.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday held the first round of government consultations in Tokyo as they seek to strengthen economic and defense ties in a global landscape dominated by China's growing influence and the war in Ukraine.Scholz brought six of his ministers for talks with Japanese counterparts to deepen cooperation in the economy and national security in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as other global issues including China's assertiveness in pressing its maritime territorial claims and its closer ties with Russia.

Looking ahead to a likely spring offensive, the U.S. and Germany are sending Ukraine an array of armored vehicles, including 50 tank-killing Bradleys, to expand its ability to move troops to the front lines and beef up its forces against Russia as the war nears its first anniversary.The vehicles don't fulfill Ukraine's request for combat tanks.

Senior US generals issued stark warnings to lawmakers about what they described as an aggressive expansion of Chinese influence in South America and the Caribbean encroaching on American interests in the region.The [People's Republic of China] has the capability and intent to eschew international norms, advance its brand of authoritarianism, and amass power and influence at the expense of these democracies, Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of US Southern Command, said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - A key lawmaker says his subcommittee will consider the idea of having a Space Force-like independent cyber military service, but he said he wants to study the idea more to make sure it wouldn't complicate the challenging mission further.The idea was floated on Thursday by Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber Technology and Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who told the House Armed Services Committee's (HASC) cyber, innovative technologies and information systems (CITI) subcommittee that it needs to examine "if the current design of the Cyber Mission Force is what we need for the 21st century, or should we be considering an independent cyber force as we've recently done with the Space Force."

01/11/2023January 11, 2023 A leading German lawmaker visiting Taiwan says Germany will not provide the island with weapons and has not been asked to do so.China has warned that foreign politicians who visit the island are "playing with fire."A senior politician in German defense circles told a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday that Berlin had no plans to send weapons to the democratically-ruled island.

A group of German lawmakers said their visit to Taipei is a gesture of "solidarity."The visit has sparked criticism and condemnation from the Chinese government.Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen thanked Germany for its support following a meeting with a delegation of senior German lawmakers on Tuesday.

Every little bit helps.(Bloomberg)When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed a joint session of the US Congress just days before Christmas - his first trip abroad since Russia's invasion 10 months ago - he described a triumph against the Kremlin in the "battle for the minds of the world."

What to Expect in 2023:Today is the first day of the rest of your life, as the cliche has it.In that vein, 2023 will be the first year after the Zeitenwende.That's Germany's official Word of the Year for 2022.It means something like "turning point" or "revolution."German Chancellor Olaf Scholz used the term in addressing the Bundestag after Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine in February.

The police raid was apparently the largest in postwar German history.Early on Wednesday morning, some 3,000 officers from various branches of federal and regional law enforcement swept across 11 of Germany's 16 states as well as locations in Austria and Italy, arresting at least 25 people - including a Russian woman - and questioning many more.

23 minutes ago23 minutes ago Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed in his mission to divide Europe, damage democracy and take Ukraine quickly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told lawmakers in Berlin.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that Vladimir Putin had made a fundamental miscalculation by  sending troops into Ukraine, adding that the Russian president had not achieved "a single goal" set before the attack.

The release of WNBA star Brittney Griner after 10 months of Russian detention is cause for justifiable celebration.It has spared Griner from the possibility of years in a Russian penal colony, a punishment that far exceeded her alleged offense, and reunited her with friends and family.President Joe Biden deserves credit for his commitment to bringing her home.

MPs on a prominent Commons committee are visiting Taiwan from Tuesday and will meet dignitaries over the next few days amid strained UK relations with China.The Foreign Affairs Committee said its members will be on the island, which China claims as its territory, until Saturday.It follows heightened tensions between the West and Beijing over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to the self-ruling island in August.