Section: Main news
AIIA National Conference: Contributing to Global Issues
Professor Brian Schmidt AC, Nobel Prize in Physics and incoming Vice-Chancellor of the ANU: “Australia’s future prosperity will be tied to the science we engage with.” With his opening comment, Professor Schmidt postulated that science was an international pursuit, with knowledge and science a shared, almost entirely open, global asset. He...
National Security and Defense Council:Ukraine withdraws tanks in Donetsk sector
Kyiv, October 21, 2015. Ukraine started withdrawing tanks in the Donetsk sector near Artemivsk (Bakhmut). Artillery systems and mortars are planned to be withdrawn in the nearest time. The OSCE mission is monitoring the process. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission keeps registering violations of weaponry withdrawal on the part of militants. The...
Battle to End Pharma Corruption Makes Progress, Needs Push
As the ceasefire in the Donbas takes hold, Ukraine can now face its other existential threat: the endemic corruption that threatens the country’s long-term stability and prosperity.While graft within the Ukrainian government is widespread, corruption is perhaps most threatening in the area of government procurement. Public procurement...
Ukrainians Face Another Election Headache
People are more important than political interests. This party will never betray you. Fair wages and pensions. People, not politicians. Let’s unite for Ukraine! Order and justice.These are just a few of the messages blaring at Kyiv residents from billboards. Ukraine’s capital is awash with campaign tents manned by students and...
Assad in surprise visit to Russia
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Moscow to personally thank Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his military support. ||| Moscow – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Moscow on Tuesday evening to personally thank Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his military support, in a surprise visit that underlined how Russia has become a...
“No Fighting” in Ukraine is Not “Peace”
The main problem with the West’s approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin is that it doesn’t seem to know who it’s dealing with. In an excellent article in Foreign Policy, Raymond Tanter states the bleatingly obvious—the Russian leader is nothing but a bully and should be treated as such. While the United States and Europe...
Europe’s Refugee Crisis Shows Ukraine’s Resilience
Ukraine Has Absorbed 1.5 Million Displaced; Soon It Must Employ Them This article originally appeared on the US Institute of Peace blog, the Olive Branch. With Europe awash in more than a half-million refugees from Middle Eastern and other wars, it might be easy to overlook Ukraine’s response to its own population—nearly three times the...
National Security and Defense Council:Militants will start withdrawing weaponry on October 20
Kyiv, October 19, 2015. Weapons withdrawal from the frontline is in progress. OSCE observers have verified weaponry withdrawn thus far. The first stage of withdrawal in Luhansk sector will be finished following publication of the mission’s official report. Militants’ withdrawal of heavy armament will start on October 20. No militant provocations...
Ukrainians Eager to Go to Polls
In less than a week, Ukrainians go to the polls to elect mayors, city councils, and regional councils, and they’re eager to do so. A recent poll carried out by the International Republican Institute found that 75 percent of Ukrainians are very likely or somewhat likely to vote on October 25. A new law requires a runoff election if no...
Ukraine Can Beat Its Political Corruption
Ukraine’s politics suffer from a vicious circle of corruption. Its elections are extremely expensive. Large amounts of gray and black funds are needed to finance them. Criminals, called gray cardinals, handle this black financing, extracted from the state treasury and state companies. To corrupt all, the gray cardinals and their political...