Russian President Vladimir Putin has by decree named a regiment of the Russian air force after the Estonian capital, Tallinn. In the former Soviet republic this has been regarded as a provocation, with good reason.
Estonia could become the first country in the world with virtual currency, the Estcoin. The problem is that the country’s official currency is Euro and membership in the Eurozone does not allow having any other parallel cryptocurrency.
Since its accession to power, the national conservative government, appointed by the PiS party (Law and Justice), is systematically altering the state in order to secure its power on a permanent basis. The opposition is having a hard time. The fact that the electoral law should now be adapted to the party’s needs is not really surprising.
The Lithuanian Social Democrats have withdrawn from the governing coalition led by the Peasant-Greens, making it a minority governmnent. Of the three Social Democrats Ministers, only Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius will leave his party to remain in the government.
Creating robotic Twitter accounts which generate automatic content on a selected topic became one of the most useful tools in the Kremiln’s disinformation propaganda. Over 80% of Russia-language tweets and almost half the English-language tweets on the NATO presence in Eastern Europe is created by pro-Kremiln robotic accounts.
A new survey focused on relations of V4 countries towards the EU is finally out. Politically stable and prospering Czechs are traditionally the most Eurosceptic ones, whereas Poland and Hungary – lately a very popular target of criticism from the EU – remain adamant supporters of the EU membership.
Despite the craziness of the whole situation, this affair should not be underestimated. Given the escalating relations between Russia and Poland, it is not a very wise move for Warsaw to open another battlefront with Germany. If Poland should hold its positions against Russia, it needs as many strong allies as it can get.
The Cleveland Congress of the Grand Old Party in Ohio will make the history books. Not only because Donald J. Trump, the alleged outsider, real estate mogul and reality TV star, was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate – it was also a Congress of internal disunity, blunders and anger.
Merkel’s criticism of Orbán’s domestic politics came through clearly via independent media. The visit made it very clear how far Orbán is from the mainstream European opinion on issues of democracy and rule of law.
Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom proudly presents its latest publication: The European Union – Catalyst for Economic Freedom? As the name itself suggests, the collection of papers, including contributions by by Steffen Hentrich, Emmanuel Martin, Danko Tarabar and Andrew Young, is devoted to the issue of economic freedom within the EU.
