Europe Watch

Germany intensifies security-state crackdown on its second-largest political party – Standing for Freedom Center– www.standingforfreedom.com

pgnewser May 9, 2025 0

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Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has declared Alternative for Germany (AfD) a “right-wing extremist group” and “opposed to the basic democratic order,” allowing the country’s intelligence apparatus to intensify surveillance efforts against the nation’s second-largest political party.

Late last week BfV delivered its 1,100-page report (which is not publicly available) to the Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, who is leaving office after her party, the Social Democratic Party, finished third in Germany’s February elections.

Allegedly the report states, “Central to our assessment is the ethnically and ancestrally defined concept of the people that shapes the AfD, which devalues entire segments of the population in Germany and violates their human dignity.”

The report claims that AfD, which campaigned on immigration reform and the assimilation of Muslim migrants, seeks to exclude Muslims from society.

Slovakian and Serbian leaders defy EU to attend Russian military parade | Slovakia– www.theguardian.com

pgnewser May 9, 2025 0

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Despite warnings from European Union officials, Slovakia’s Moscow-friendly prime minister, Robert Fico, shook hands with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin before becoming the only EU leader to attend Russia’s 9 May parade of military forces waging war on Ukraine.

The Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, whose country aspires to join the 27-nation bloc, also accepted the Russian president’s invitation to attend the annual Victory Day celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in the second world war.

The pair were the only European leaders to travel to Moscow after strong injunctions from EU officials not to do so. On Thursday, the bloc’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said: “All those who truly support peace cannot stand side-by-side with Putin. Those who truly support peace should be in Ukraine tomorrow, not Moscow.”

Ukrainian Drone Attacks Paralyze Russian Airports, Stranding Thousands of Passengers– www.themoscowtimes.com

pgnewser May 7, 2025 0

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Ukrainian drone attacks across Russia triggered hours of travel chaos late Tuesday and early Wednesday, with repeated airport closures in Moscow and its surrounding regions.

Aviation authorities grounded flights at Moscow’s Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports, as well as in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Yaroslavl, Kazan and others, warning of possible cancellations.

“The restrictions were imposed to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights,” said Artyom Korenyako, a spokesperson for Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency.

Major airlines, including Aeroflot, Pobeda and S7, told passengers to expect disruptions and announced the cancelations of hundreds of flight for Tuesday and Wednesday. S7 promised to issue a full refund for passengers with canceled flights or exchange tickets for other flights if there are available seats.

Europe launches a drive to attract scientists and researchers after Trump freezes U.S. funding– japantoday.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025 0

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The European Union launched a drive on Monday to attract scientists and researchers to Europe with offers of grants and new policy plans, after the Trump administration froze U.S. government funding linked to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“A few years ago, no one would have imagined that one of the biggest democracies in the world would cancel research programs under the pretext that the word diversity was in this program,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the “Choose Europe for Science” event in Paris.

“No one would have thought that one of the biggest democracies in the world would delete with a stroke the ability of one researcher or another to obtain visas,” Macron said. “But here we are.”

Taking the same stage at the Sorbonne University, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU’s executive branch would set up a “super grant” program aimed at offering “a longer-term perspective to the very best” in the field.

Germany’s Friedrich Merz falls short in 1st vote for chancellor bid – National– globalnews.ca

pgnewser May 6, 2025 1

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In a historic first, conservative leader Friedrich Merz ’s bid to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since World War II failed by six votes in parliament on Tuesday, a stunning defeat as he had been widely expected to win smoothly.

A candidate for chancellor has never failed to win on the first ballot since the end of the war. The loss triggered a stock market slide: the DAX, the index of major German companies, was down 1.8 per cent following the vote.

Merz needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes. He only received 310 votes — well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition, which is also one of the slimmest postwar majorities. Because the vote was held by secret ballot, it was not immediately clear — and might never be known — who had defected from Merz’s camp.

Merz’s coalition is led by his center-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union. They are joined by the center-left Social Democrats, outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party. The parties were now to regroup to discuss the next step but it was also unclear how long the process could take.

Europe’s human rights watchdog urges Greece to end summary deportation of migrants– abcnews.go.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025 0

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ATHENS, Greece — ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece was urged Tuesday to implement stronger legal safeguards at its borders and adopt a “zero-tolerance approach to summary returns” as reports of illegal deportations of migrants continue despite mounting international criticism.

Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, issued the recommendations following a visit to Greece in February.

“The commissioner is concerned about the allegations received during his visit regarding persistent practices of summary returns — also referred to as ‘pushbacks’ or ‘informal forced returns’ — at both land and maritime borders,” the Council of Europe memorandum said.

‘Just being right-wing is not forbidden’ – Influential mayor of Tübingen and former Green Party member criticizes German government actions against AfD– rmx.news

pgnewser May 5, 2025 1

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The influential mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, is harshly criticizing the Office of the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the powerful German domestic spy agency, after it labeled the Alternative for Germany (AfD) a confirmed “right-wing extremist” party. The former Green Party politician, who won Tübingen despite switching to run as an independent, said the secret, 1,000-page report used to justify the AfD’s designation basically just listed public incidents already known to the media.

“Unless Der Spiegel is simply poorly informed, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has compiled primarily what is publicly known,” wrote Palmer.

US, Ukraine May Wait Decade Or More To See Revenue From Minerals Deal– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser May 5, 2025 0

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The financial payoff from a new minerals deal between Ukraine and the US is likely to take a decade or longer as investors face many hurdles to getting new mines into production in the war-ravaged country.

Developing mines that produce strategically important minerals in countries with established mining sectors such as Canada and Australia can take 10 to 20 years, mining consultants said on Thursday.

But most mineral deposits in Ukraine have scant data to confirm they are economically viable. Investors may also baulk at funnelling money into a country where infrastructure such as power and transport has been devastated by Russia’s three-year-old full-scale invasion and future security is not guaranteed.

“If anyone’s thinking suddenly all these minerals are going to be flying out of Ukraine, they’re dreaming,” said Adam Webb, head of minerals at consultancy Benchmark Minerals Intelligence.

Romanian Presidential Elections: MAGA-Inspired George Simion Wins BIG First Round With 41% of the Vote, Will Face Euro-Liberal Nicusor Dan in the Runoff on May 18 | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com

pgnewser May 5, 2025 1

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Simion heads to the second round of the Romanian Presidential Election as the clear favorite.

The Globalists’ nightmare is fast becoming a reality, as MAGA-influenced, right-winger George Simion – who is against military support for Ukraine and skeptical about the EU – won a major victory in the first round of ‘redo’ of the presidential election in Romania.

BBC reported:

“George Simion came first with 40.96% of the vote, and will go into the runoff on 18 May as the clear favorite against the liberal mayor of Bucharest.

Nicusor Dan narrowly beat Crin Antonescu, candidate of the governing coalition, with just under 21% of the vote.”

Calin Georgescu and George Simion.

The presidential election in Romania was cancelled last December over unproven allegations of campaign fraud and Russian interference after Calin Georgescu had an unexpected landslide victory.

Europe launches ‘super grant’ to attract US researchers hit by government cuts– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 5, 2025 0

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The grant, which will be offered between 2025 and 2027, comes as the Trump administration has cut more than 380 domestic grant programs in the last month. Trump justified the cuts by saying they violated his executive order, which prohibited funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion directives.

French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen discussed the grant at the “Choose Europe for Science” event in Paris.

“A few years ago, no one would have imagined that one of the biggest democracies in the world would cancel research programs under the pretext that the word diversity was in this program,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “No one would have thought that one of the biggest democracies in the world would delete with a stroke the ability of one researcher or another to obtain visas,” Macron said, but here we are.”

‘Hopefully they will do it this week’: Donald Trump’s big hint on Russia-Ukraine ‘deal’– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

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US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement “this week,” possibly to end their war of more than three years. He also said the two rivals could then do “big business” with the United States and “make a fortune.”

“Hopefully Russia amd (sic) Ukraine will make a deal this week. Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a big fortune!” Trump posted to his Truth Social network.

However, he did not share details of any progress in peace talks Washington has sought to push forward between Moscow and Kyiv, since he took over from Joe Biden in January.
The US president’s Truth Social post comes just days after his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned that Washington could “move on” from its push to broker an agreement to end the conflict, which began in February 2022.
“We need to figure out here now within a matter of days whether this is doable in the short term, because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio said on Friday in Paris, after high-level discussions with European and Ukrainian leaders.

Russia sends terrifying WW3 threat to UK warning ‘we will kill all British people’– www.mirror.co.uk

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

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A Russian propagandist has taken to state TV to issue a direct threat of nuclear war against the UK, as well as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s coalition of the willing

Vladimir Solovyov threatened the West with nuclear war(Image: (Image: Getty))

Vladimir Putin’s mouthpiece has threatened Sir Keir Starmer and his “coalition of the willing” with nuclear warfare. Vladimir Solovyov, a well-known conduit for the Russian leader’s rhetoric and an avid commentator on Russia’s involvement in Ukraine, delivered the dire warning as a retort to Western media narratives and European countries’ aid to Ukraine.

During his ‘Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov’ broadcast, the figurehead of Kremlin thinking declared the UK and US “are directly waging war against us”.

And in a direct threat to the West, he warned world leaders they would “feel their consequences” the same as the soldiers on the frontline.