note:
People shouldn't make fun of him. This man is ill. And his illnes is called alcoholism.
The Kosovo Blunder: Moves towards a Standing Army
There never is a time not to worry in the Balkans. The next conflict always seems to be peering around the corner with a malicious enthusiasm, eager to spring at points of demagogic advantage and personal suffering. The centerpieces of future disaster in the region tend to be Kosovo and Bosnia. The former is now intent on formalizing military arrangements, thereby fashioning a spear that will be able to be driven deep through the heart of Serbian pride. On Friday, the Assembly of Kosovo passed three draft laws with overwhelming numbers that it would form an army. (Serbian lawmakers boycotted the session.) The current Kosovo Security Force of 3,000 lightly armed personnel is to become somewhat more formidable: 5,000 active troops backed by 3,000 reservists in the next decade. This move was brazenly chest beating in nature, an assertion that security, as provided by the 4,000 NATO troops forming KFOR (the Kosovo Force), was inadequate and, more to the point, to be bypassed altogether. ...
source: american herald tribune
French police warn the government: 'We're at breaking point'
French police have sent a stark warning to the government after another weekend of violence in cities around the country left them "at breaking point". The protests began in France four weeks ago against the government's planned fuel tax hikes and got off to a mainly peaceful start. But since then they have grown increasingly violent and the list of grievances and gripes against President Emmanuel Macron and his government have ballooned. While the anger and hatred of protesters is directed at the president, it is being taken out on the country's police forces. For the last three Saturday's they have come under a hail of cobblestones and bottles, had fireworks aimed at them and at times simply been given the run around by rioters and looters. ...
source: the local
Yellow Vests: Saturday, December 8, a helicopter was ready to exfiltrate Macron of the Elysee
The Élysée was in castle mode Saturday December 8 for Act IV of the Yellow Vests. If Emmanuel Macron remained on the spot, everything was ready to take him away from the bustle of Paris if something would have wrong. ...
source: le dauphine
source: le dauphine translate
All or Nothing
EU Prison of Nations
Berlin and Brussels’ refusal to grant even the slightest concessions concerning the so-called backstop was the ultimate trigger for escalating Great Britain's government crisis. The backstop stipulates how to proceed, if London and Brussels cannot agree on consensual arrangements for their future relations: The UK would stay in a customs union with the EU and Northern Ireland would also stay in the single market. Remaining in the customs union is unacceptable for Brexit proponents, because it deprives London of the strategically important option of concluding its own free trade agreements. On the other hand, Northern Ireland’s special treatment arouses indignation even among numerous proponents for remaining within the EU: It would lead to permanent trade controls between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and to a division of the country. This would be tantamount to - using a German example - establishing permanent customs controls between Bavaria and Baden Wurttemberg. Even if a majority in the British establishment may have tolerated these two annoyances for a limited period, that also has been undermined by the EU. It insists on the backstop being permanent - and that London may only evade it with EU consent. This would possibly lock the United Kingdom into the customs union and a divided national situation - from now on. ...
source: german foreign policy
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