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VILNIUS, Lithuania - European Union leaders lashed out at Russia Friday after missing a major opportunity to spread its influence deep into eastern Europe and bluntly accused Moscow of pressuring Ukraine from signing a landmark deal on closer association. Even if the EU extended its geopolitical reach eastward by initialing association agreements with Georgia and Moldova, the belated refusal of Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych to sign up to a similar deal largely spoiled the two-day summit with the EU's eastern partners. Most EU leaders accused Russia of using threats and bullying to keep Ukraine in step with Moscow. "We may...

Despite their misbegotten and expensive quest to forcibly restructure their energy sectors with subsidies and special treatment for what they’ve decided are so-called green energies (and they’ve got the higher electricity prices to prove it), plenty of European countries — including Germany and France, the eurozone’s two largest economies — have roundly and robustly refused to encourage energy companies to institute the practice of drilling for oil-and-gas supplies via hydraulic fracturing. Now, of course, that the evidence is mounting that both natural gas and fracking are even cleaner and safer than everyone first thought, Europe is years behind the United...

Due to the background of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the half-Chechen half-Avar brothers who bombed the Boston marathon, many Americans are suddenly very interested in the tortured history of the North Caucasus. I can’t credibly claim to be an expert on the multitudinous ethnic and linguistic groups that populate the area, so if you’re looking for in-depth analysis of Chechen politics, a data-driven account of the economics of Dagestan, or a blow-by-blow account of the past 20 years of the region’s history you should look somewhere else. If you’re still wondering “where in God’s name is Chechnya?” or “why are...

Must See. Jeanine Pyrro Slams Chechen Jihad Mom Zuby Tsarnaeva.

Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili admitted responsibility of Georgia for the outbreak of the war in August of 2008. He stated that the actions of the authorities of the country before crossing the border of Georgia by Russian forces were inadequate. This statement will have tangible consequences, first of all, for President Mikhail Saakashvili. "The political noose" around the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's neck is getting tighter. He is not yet being investigated, but the new authorities have already talked about the possibility of his interrogation about the events of 2008. The country may begin a new investigation into...

On March 21, the Georgian Parliament passed constitution amendment limiting presidential powers with the vast majority of votes. Georgian President Mikhael Saakashvili will no longer be able to sack the Georgian Parliament with one swift stroke now that the amendment was passed with 135 votes. People have been wondering who was going to win the big showdown in the Georgian Parliament on March 21, 2013. Well, it depends on who you ask and still there are those who think Saakashvili's ability to land on his feet is like a cat. No doubt Saakashvili will try to make a big thing...

The Obama State Department is once again flexing its muscle in what has become an ongoing and unrelenting effort to aggressively promote the radical gay agenda across the globe, and the latest target is the Czech Republic, where the Obama administration has joined with other "outside pressure groups" to push the radical gay agenda in the Czech Republic, in direct opposition to the will of the overwhelming majority of the Czech people. This latest action has prompte  121 other national and international pro-family organizations, under the umbrella of The World Congress of Families, to officially protest the State Department's participation...

President Barack Obama's recent statement to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, for incoming President Vladimir Putin, that he would be more willing to give into Russian demands after the election indicates re-election of Obama could be a disaster for the United States. Obama's statement is particularly disturbing because it comes on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred because Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev thought President John Kennedy's mishandling of the Bay of Pigs and weak response to the Berlin Crisis of 1961 indicated Kennedy was indecisive and weak. Khrushchev thought the Soviet Union could take...

MOSCOW: The Ukrainian women activists who tore up the Indian flag in a topless act in Kiev last month to protest India's reported tightening of visa rules for young women from Ukraine may land in jail for up to four years. Carrying placards that read "Ukraine is not brothel" and "I am not prostitute", the women had climbed up to the balcony of the Indian ambassador's residence in the Ukrainian capital, after stripping up to the waist braving sub-zero temperatures to lodge a novel protest. They were enraged over the Indian Foreign Ministry's reported instructions to carry out detailed checks...

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress Feb. 2 of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Poland of F-16 support and munitions, as well as associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $447 million. The Government of Poland has requested a possible sale of 93 AIM-9X-2 SIDEWINDER Block II Tactical Missiles, 4 CATM-9X-2 Captive Air Training Missiles, 65 AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, 42 GBU-49 Enhanced PAVEWAY II 500 lb Bombs, 200 GBU-54 (2000 lb) Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) Bombs, 642 BLU-111 (500 lb) General Purpose Bombs, 127 MK-82 (500 lb) General...

While the neo-conservative Polish Bishops lead the country slowly into the abyss, the apostolate of the SSPX blooms in the land. (kreuz.net) The apostlate of the Society of St. Pius X is growing "surprisingly fast" even for the conditions of the Society. This was written by the District Superior for East Europe, Fr. Karl Stehlin in his Christmas letter. The Society can only devote twelve priests in eastern Europe. Actually, the present pastoral work would require thirty priests -- so says Father Stehlin. In Warsaw the Fathers will be shortly leading a third old Mass on Sunday. Every week there...

SAN DIEGO, November 29, 2011— During his time as President of the United States, Ronald Reagan became a leading anti-Communist champion alongside Great Britain’s Lady Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. He famously described the former Soviet Union as “the Evil Empire,” inspiring individuals in that troubled country to seek an alternative to Marxist-Leninism. It is undeniable that he was a champion for freedom here and aboard. People from all walks of life, political persuasions, and dispositions revered Reagan as a man. More importantly, people around the world continue to embrace this conservative stalwart’s message.

The Czech Republic announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing from plans to participate in the United States missile defense program out of frustration at its diminished role in the system... The administration of President George W. Bush had initially proposed stationing 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic. But in September 2009, the Obama administration scrapped those plans and proposed a revamped program with an unspecified role for the Czechs. Two months later, it offered the Czech Republic the possibility of hosting a separate early warning system. The shift prompted accusations from Republican critics...

EASTERN EUROPE: A new game is in town, it's called "300" like the movie and is being practiced in the forests of Poland,Byloruss,Latvia,Russia,Romania and other eastern european countries.

Gulag Boss: A Soviet Memoir by Fyodor Vasilevich Mochulsky, Oxford University Press, 2010 The Firm: This Inside Story of the Stasi by Gary Bruce, Oxford University Press, 2010 An entire American generation has come of age since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe. The new threat is Islamic radicalism, and only North Korea, a nation that has developed a nuclear weapons program and missile delivery systems, which it sells to other rogue regimes, gets much attention as a holdover of the "second world" -- the Communist nations that were for...

Bosnian Serbs in the Republika Srpska are glad that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled the Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence was legal. The Bosnian Serbs have wanted to exit Bosnia and join Serbia for quite some time. The Bosnian government officially says its borders are fixed, but then, Serbia's are not. One Bosnian Serb official made the interesting argument that the ICJ's ruling supersedes the Dayton Accords which ended the Bosnian War and established Bosnia's current government. In August several other Balkan countries also indicated they are very interested in the ICJ's July 22 decision. The court declared...

Regulators on Friday shut down a big community bank based in Chicago that has been known for its social activism but racked by financial troubles in recent months. It was the 114th U.S. bank to fail this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over ShoreBank, with $2.16 billion in assets and $1.54 billion in deposits. Urban Partnership Bank, a new institution comprised of several big Wall Street banks and a private foundation, agreed to assume ShoreBank's deposits and nearly all its assets... In an unusual move, the FDIC allowed some of ShoreBank's executives to continue running the restructured bank......

<p>The United States will deploy SM-3 interceptor missiles in Poland between 2015 and 2018 under its plan to defend NATO allies in Europe from possible Iranian attack, a Polish official said on Thursday.</p> <p>The interceptors, which target short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, are part of President Barack Obama's revamped missile defence system.</p>

Crisis-hit Romania cannot afford to purchase second-hand F-16 combat aircraft this year, Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu said. - There is no money for the F-16s, I can't see where we could get one percent of GDP (gross domestic product) in order to buy military equipment - Vladescu told Money Channel TV station. - Such an expense is downright impossible at this moment - he added. Romania had announced in March its decision to purchase 24 F-16 aircraft currently used by the US air forces, at a cost of 1.3 billion dollars (1.1 billion dollars), in order to replace its ageing,...

A U.S. Patriot missile battery has arrived in Poland as part of an agreement to upgrade the NATO ally's air defenses, the U.S. embassy said on Monday, in a deployment likely to irritate neighboring Russia.The battery, manned by up to 150 U.S. troops, will be stationed for about one month four times a year in Morag, northern Poland, close to Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad. Its main mission is to train Polish military personnel. U.S. troops were unloading 37 railway cars of equipment on Monday, the embassy said. U.S. and Polish officials are due to visit the site on Wednesday and...