Reflectii

NATO envoys failed to reach a consensus Wednesday on whether to start membership talks with Finland and Sweden, diplomats said, as Turkey renewed its objections to the two Nordic countries joining.

The envoys met at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels after Finland and Sweden’s ambassadors submitted written applications to join the military organization, in a move that marks one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s war on Ukraine — and which could rewrite Europe’s security map.

The plan to outsource the processing of asylum applications overseas — if it survives legal challenges that are certain to come from human rights groups and the European Court of Human Rights — could become a model for other European countries seeking to crack down on illegal immigration.

While Europe gets ready to tune into this year’s Eurovision Song Contest taking place Saturday in Turin, Italy, European Union officials in Brussels are engaged in a competition of their own: to spin the outcome of the recently concluded Conference on the Future of Europe that EU leaders say will shape the future of the 27-member union.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his country is “not favorable” toward Finland and Sweden joining NATO, indicating Turkey could use its membership in the Western military alliance to veto moves to admit the two countries.

“Sacramento police want your guns in exchange for gas money,” says a May 6 Sacramento Bee headline. The department asks residents to give away their firearms, which the Second Amendment authorizes them to keep and bear, for a $50 gas gift card that would not even provide a fill-up for many vehicles.

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy Ministry of International Situation, and one of Russia’s most incisive foreign policy analysts wrote a trenchant column for Kommersant titled the Ministry of the International Situation. In the column he argued that Russia, because of its own decisions, will no longer be able to use the foreign policy tools that had improved its position since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Instead of a foreign policy, Russia will have to adapt to an international situation that poses more challenges than opportunities. In an argument that appears to echo Josef Stalin’s 1929 “Socialism in One Country” policy, Lukyanov believes that foreign policy will take a back seat to internal development to assure Russia’s survival and development. Russia’s success will depend succeeding in the daunting task of establishing a system where the rulers and society trust each other.

For close to 80 years, the US dollar has reigned supreme as the world’s premier reserve currency.

It’s a state of affairs that gives the US what former french president, Valery Giscard d’Estaing famously termed its “exorbitant privilege” in world affairs.

While the meaning and practice of “colonialism” hardly needs to be described, the meaning of “neo-colonialism” is far less understood. This is because neo-colonialism is much less evident to the eye, unless, that is, one cares to look for it. Let us begin our search with the dictionary definition of the term. Merriam-Webster defines “neo-colonialism” as: “The economic and political policies by which a great power indirectly maintains or extends its influence over other areas or people.” Here the operative word is ‘indirectly’ though I suggest that instead of ‘influence’ a more accurate definition is: ‘control’, i.e. control over other areas or people including control of their natural resources and labor.

Most Finns would accept permanent NATO presence. Most Finns would allow permanent NATO military bases on their soil ahead of the country’s possible application for NATO membership, a survey conducted by media house Uutissuomalainen found.