https://freerepublic.com/tag/jenniferrankin/ en-us Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:42:13 GMT Focus Forum 15 https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4216729/posts Vladimir Putin wanted Russia to join Nato but did not want his country to have to go through the usual application process and stand in line “with a lot of countries that don’t matter”, according to a former secretary general of the transatlantic alliance. George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led Nato between 1999 and 2003, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. “They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time,” he said. The Labour... The Guardian https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4216729/posts#comment Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:42:13 GMT https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3773061/posts ec President says call for removal without alternative proposal signals support for hard border Donald Tusk has rejected Boris Johnson’s request to strip the backstop out of the Brexit deal, with a thinly-veiled message that the British government was refusing to admit the lack of realistic alternatives. ...Tusk wrote: “The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found. Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support re-establishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.”...A spokeswoman for the commission welcomed the UK... The Guardian https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3773061/posts#comment Tue, 20 Aug 2019 12:41:35 GMT