The Mazeika Report
August 27, 2008
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British Submission
By Douglas StoneFrontPageMagazine.com 8/21/2008
Foot baths for Muslim students at Michigan universities? Muslim cabbies in the Twin Cities who refuse to carry seeing-eye dogs? The FBI and other government agencies taking sensitivity training from radical Muslim organizations? You think we’ve lost the plot over here? Take a look at British submission to Islamofascist demands and threats, as that once great nation succumbs to creeping dhimmitude.
It has reached the point that in mid-April, the British Foreign Office instructed the Royal Navy not to return pirates to jurisdictions sporting sharia law (such as Somalia) for fear that their human rights will be violated. They have even been discouraged from capturing pirates, because the freebooters might ask to be granted asylum in Britain, a request with which the UK might have to comply under international and European Union human rights law.
This for a Navy that almost singlehandedly defeated piracy in the early 19th century, and a nation that retained the death penalty for this scourge of the high seas until the late 20th century.
Welcome to Britain today.
Another recent outrage involves special handling of a traffic violation. Seems that a Muslim driver was stopped by police while speeding between two homes in the north of England. When he appeared in court, he explained his high speed – over twice the speed limit – was necessary to accommodate his two wives. His explanation was accepted, and he was allowed to keep his license.
That comes fast – very fast – on the heels of a decision by the British government to grant full spousal benefits to multiple wives. It won’t affect more than an estimated 1,000 individuals. And it mercifully won’t affect the indigenous Christian, Hindu or Jewish population, as traditional bigamy laws apply. Britons may rest easy, as it will only cover multiple wives married in a jurisdiction that practices Sharia law, such as Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.
These are not isolated instances; there are a myriad more: Swimming periods at pools restricted to Muslims only; the establishment of a BBC Arabic language station staffed by Arab broadcasters and managers with track records of being anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-Western; the refusal of female Muslim medical students to wash their arms as that practice might reveal the forbidden flesh between wrist and elbow; an attempt by a national union of university lecturers to call for a boycott of Israeli academics; and, a local Council ban on pig-themed toys, porcelain figures and calendars on workers’ desks because it might offend Muslims.
No comment from the Home Office or No. 10 Downing Street. No comment from the government, because it has been their policy to appease Britain’s large Muslim population in response to menacing behavior up to and including the bomb outrages of July 7, 2005.
It’s no coincidence that Muslims constitute a substantial portion of the Labour Party’s electoral support in London and in much of its heartland in northern England. In the expected close election for Parliament that will be held by mid-2010, an increasing Muslim population may be the difference between victory and defeat for the Labourites.
But Labour’s bien pensant hardly needs convincing. Like most on the left today, they fancy themselves champions of the underdog and the oppressed, and sympathy for Islam, and Arab and Muslim causes fits neatly into their intellectual program. Along with America and Israel-bashing, it goes to the very heart of how liberals view themselves and, more important, how they wish to be viewed by others. It supplies them with the appearance of a self-abnegation that is supposed to relieve their Western, middle-class guilt with a cleansing humility but is nothing but moral exhibitionism; and, as always, involves other people’s money, other people’s freedom, and other people’s comfort – never or very rarely their own.
A classic of political correctness run amok, wonderful as a burlesque if it weren’t slowly undermining Britain’s way of life and its will to oppose extreme Islamism.
Worse is that acceding to this nonsense gives Islamofascists confidence that they are on the winning side of history. That if they just shout a little louder and push a little harder, they may expect more of the same that becomes increasingly normative until it convinces the longer-settled among the UK’s population that they have no power to stop, let alone reverse, the process.
One might have become inured to the gutless behavior of France or Italy, but many in the U.S. are still under the impression that, like other countries in the Anglosphere, the British remain clear-eyed, realistic and most importantly resolute about the threats with which the West is confronted. But they aren’t; and while these cultural changes are in the realm of the comical right now, they are beginning to affect British public policy, domestic as well as foreign.
Why is this important to us? Because the ZaNuLabour Party’s tendency to pacifism and appeasement, and its devotion to political correctness, victim ideology, cultural relativism and liberal guilt is shared by our own Democrats.
Look for more of it in Britain, and don’t be surprised when it arrives full force here in America.
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Printable.aspx?GUID=F5BFAB45-7CB7-4FEB-8BF3-7E75014BE5BB
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For all intents and purposes, we see the fake "Russian recognition" of puppet Russian enclaves, illegally and forcibly seized and annexed from a democratic nation, by the Russian state in violation of international law and conventions. This is a replay of Nazi Germany's seizure of Czechoslavkia and Klaipeda in 1939, Stalin's invasion of Finland, and the eventual seizure of the Baltic republics in 1940. As is often repeated, "if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it".......Tony Mazeika
Russia recognises Georgian rebels
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Russian president speaks to BBC
President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that Russia formally recognises the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Mr Medvedev told the BBC Russia had tried to preserve Georgian unity for 17 years, but that the situation had changed after this month's violence.
He said Moscow now felt obliged to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as other countries had done with Kosovo.
Georgia said Russia was seeking to "change Europe's borders by force".
In a televised address on Monday evening, President Mikhail Saakashvili said the declaration was completely illegal and vowed to begin a "peaceful struggle" to restore Georgia's territorial integrity.
Russia has made an extraordinary strategic mistake and has badly damaged its place in modern international relations Mikhail Saakashvili Georgian President
Earlier, the US and France called the Russian move regrettable, while the UK said it categorically rejected it. Nato said the declaration violated numerous UN Security Council resolutions that Russia itself had endorsed.
However the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have had de facto independence since the early 1990s, thanked Russia.
Fighting between Russia and Georgia began on 7 August after the Georgian military tried to retake South Ossetia by force.
Russian forces subsequently launched a counter-attack and the conflict ended with the ejection of Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia and an EU-brokered ceasefire.
'No easy choice'
In an announcement on Russian state television, President Medvedev said he had signed a decree to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.
He instructed the Russian foreign ministry to open negotiations on formal diplomatic relations with the two regions and called on other states to follow his country's example.
Mr Medvedev said he had "taken into account the expression of free will by the Ossetian and Abkhaz peoples" and accused Georgia of failing over many years to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the problem.
"That was no easy choice to make, but it is the sole chance of saving people's lives," he added.
The move followed votes in both houses of parliament on Monday, which called on Moscow to recognise the regions' independence.
In an interview with the BBC at his residency in Sochi, on the border with Abkhazia, Mr Medvedev later said Russia had been obliged to act following a "genocide" started by his Georgian counterpart against separatists in South Ossetia.
The president compared Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to the West's recognition of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008.
He also denied that Russia had breached the ceasefire agreement with Georgia, saying pursuing the security of the two regions included addressing their status.
"The most important thing was to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe to save the lives of people for whom we are responsible, because most of them they are Russian citizens," he said. "So we had to take a decision recognising the two states as independent."
Mr Medvedev said relations with the West were deteriorating sharply and that a new Cold War could not be excluded, but that Russia did not want one.
"There are no winners in a Cold War," he said.
Violation
Later, Georgia's President Saakashvili accused Russia of trying to "break the Georgian state, undermine the fundamental values of Georgia and to wipe Georgia from the map".
"Today's step by Russia is completely illegal and will have no legal basis, neither for Georgia nor for the rest of the world," he said.
"Russia has made an extraordinary strategic mistake and has badly damaged its place in modern international relations."
SOUTH OSSETIA & ABKHAZIA South Ossetia
Population: About 70,000 (before recent conflict)
Capital: Tskhinvali
President: Eduard Kokoity Abkhazia
Population: About 250,000 (2003)
Capital: Sukhumi
President: Sergei Bagapsh
Mr Saakashvili described the declaration as "the first attempt in Europe after Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union to... change the borders of Europe by force".
Western countries, including the US, Germany, the UK and France also condemned Russia's move.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking from the West Bank city of Ramallah, said the decision was "regrettable".
"Since the United States is a permanent member of the Security Council this simply will be dead on arrival in the Security Council," she said.
Late on Monday, the US state department had warned that recognition of the two provinces' independence would be "a violation of Georgian territorial integrity" and "inconsistent with international law".
In a statement, it said President George W Bush had called on Russia's leadership to "meet its commitments and not recognise these separatist regions".
In the two breakaway regions, however, Moscow's move was warmly welcomed.
The leader of South Ossetia's separatist government, Eduard Kokoity, said he would ask Moscow to set up a military base on his territory.
In the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali there were scenes of jubilation while residents in Abkhazia took to the streets to celebrate the news, firing into the air.
"We feel happy," said Aida Gabaz, a 38-year-old lawyer in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi.
"We all have tears in our eyes. We feel pride for our people."
'New understanding'
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia cancelled a visit by Nato's secretary general, one of a series of measures to suspend co-operation with the military alliance.
Russia's ambassador to Nato said the trip would be delayed until relations between the two were clarified.
Dmitry Rogozin said a "new understanding" needed to be reached between Russia and Nato.
The BBC's Humphrey Hawksley, in Moscow, says the recognition is bound to dramatically heighten tensions in Russia's already fragile relationship with the West.
He says this and a series of other announcements indicate that Russia is preparing itself for a showdown.
Although most of Russia's forces pulled out of the rest of Georgia last Friday, it is maintaining a presence both within the two rebel regions and in buffer zones imposed round their boundaries.
Port control
Some Russian troops also continue to operate near the Black Sea port of Poti, south of Abkhazia, where Russia says it will carry out regular inspections of cargo.
HAVE YOUR SAY Russia is right to recognise South Ossetia and guarantee its security Branco, Bulgaria
The US said on Tuesday that its warships would deliver aid to Georgia's port of Poti, which is under Russian control. The move could mean US and Russian forces coming face to face.
Earlier, the head of European security organisation, the OSCE, Alexander Stubb, accused Russia of trying to empty South Ossetia of Georgians.
Speaking to the BBC's Europe Today programme, he said: "They are clearly trying to empty southern Ossetia from Georgians, which I don't think goes by any of the books that we deal with in international relations".
At a checkpoint in South Ossetia, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse said a South Ossetian commander said many Georgian civilians had already left of their own accord, because they were scared of the guns.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7582181.stm
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Next Steps on Georgia
As Russia violates the cease-fire it signed, there's plenty the United States can do in response.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008; A12
ASTREAK of defeatist thinking about Russia's continuing occupation of Georgia has had it that there is little the West can do about the crisis, first because Moscow's cooperation is needed for more important matters, such as the containment of Iran, and second because the United States and Europe lack practical means of leverage over Vladimir Putin's regime. Several days ago we addressed the first part of this canard, pointing out that the "strategic partnership" that President Bush once sought to build with Mr. Putin has been little more than an illusion. Now, with Russian troops still dug in around the Georgian port of Poti in blatant violation of a cease-fire agreement, it's becoming urgent to reexamine that second assumption about Western impotence. Fortunately, it, too, is groundless: There is, in fact, much that could be done to raise the cost of the ongoing occupation and to weaken Mr. Putin and the sinister circle around him.
The reason Russian troops are still blockading Georgia's largest port, planting mines along its railroads and stopping traffic on main road arteries is that Russia has yet to accomplish its central objectives: to depose Georgia's president and destroy Georgia's fragile democracy. The United States and its allies can still prevent that from happening, if they act quickly and energetically -- and thereby inflict an endgame defeat on Mr. Putin. Mr. Bush's order that U.S. ships and planes deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia was a good first step. But what's needed now is a large and conspicuous supply and reconstruction operation that will ensure that the Russian occupation cannot cause a collapse of the Georgian economy. Promised international observers -- which Moscow agreed to -- must meanwhile be deployed as quickly as possible, to keep Russian forces from staging provocations that might lead to further fighting.
The Russian economy, dependent on Western investment and technology, has already suffered a sharp reversal thanks to the invasion: Foreign currency reserves plummeted this month as investors withdrew money from the country at the fastest rate since the 1998 ruble crisis. Steeped in nostalgia for the ways of the Soviet Union, Mr. Putin may be insensitive to Russia's vulnerability to the pressures the U.S. Treasury can apply in 21st-century capital markets. But the corrupt circle of oligarchs around him, who have deposited billions in Western banks and bought up mansions and soccer teams, could quickly and legitimately be squeezed. There is certainly no reason why U.S. and international agencies should not vigorously pursue the numerous allegations of corrupt practices by Russian firms. If Kremlin-connected companies violate Georgian or international law through their actions in the occupied provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, their assets -- gas stations in the United States, for example -- could be subject to seizure.
The Bush administration, we're told, is planning to withdraw a nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia from Congress. It retains the options of abrogating the bilateral U.S.-Russian agreement needed for Moscow's membership in the World Trade Organization and suspending negotiations on arms control. If Mr. Putin does not comply with the cease-fire agreement in the coming days, such bilateral sanctions will be needed. In the meantime, the administration should be working hard to ensure that Georgia's government and economy emerge stronger from the crisis -- and that Russia realizes it will only be weakened by its continuing occupation of a neighboring nation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/25/AR2008082502212_pf.html
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Russia: Recognition for Georgia's Breakaway Regions
Summary
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed decrees Aug. 26 granting formal recognition to the Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The move is a response to the West’s approval of Kosovo’s independence earlier in 2008 and effectively shatters Georgia’s territorial integrity. However, the recognition will put Russia’s own secessionist regions on edge and could give the Georgian public — and the international community — a rallying point.
Analysis
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has signed decrees Aug. 26 formally recognizing the independence of the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The move comes just weeks after Russia and Georgia went to war over the two regions. Yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel explicitly warned Russia not to extend formal recognition to the republics.
But Moscow and Medvedev upped the ante when, in a live television announcement from Sochi, Medvedev declared recognition for the regions’ independence. Russia’s logic for doing this is simple: The West recognized Kosovo earlier in 2008 both to entrench the Balkans firmly in the Western sphere of influence and to show that Russian power was a fragile thing that could be ignored in that sphere. By recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia is turning that idea on its head and entrenching the Caucasus in the Russian sphere of influence while demonstrating that Western power is something that can be ignored in Russia’s near abroad.
Both moves are about consolidating borders, drawing lines in the sand and demonstrating the other side’s impotence.
Related Special Topic Page
Crisis in South Ossetia
For Russia, the next steps will be formalizing a relationship with these new “states.” There is also always the possibility that Russia could outright annex the two republics. But either path will certainly include bolstering military support for South Ossetia and Abkhazia that will absolutely preclude Georgia’s unity for the foreseeable future.
The recognition brings up three problematic situations next.
First, Moscow’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has put Russia’s own secessionist regions — of which there are dozens — on edge. Russia has created a double standard. Russia’s own secessionist regions have just as long and bloody a history with Russia as other secessionist regions such as Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia do with their own rulers. But Moscow feels comfortable that, in the short term, it can hold its own regions together (mostly by physical force). Still, Moscow will have to look to the longer term to keep regions like Chechnya from demanding their own independence, especially as the West searches for various levers inside Russia’s borders to strap Moscow down. In fact, even the vast bulk of the Russian-dominated, Russia-friendly states in the former Soviet Union will shy away from recognizing a decision that could spark separatist movements within their own borders.
The second, larger issue is what Georgia will do now. Russian troops still occupy parts of Georgia and all of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Georgian military is also depleted and fractured from its week-long war with Russia. Moreover, though Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili continues to rail against the Russians, most Georgians just want the aggressions on all sides to cease. The recognition of the secessionist regions changes things. Saakashvili — the leader who led his country into the disastrously failed war — has seen his ability to influence his people fall. In some ways, the Russian action is precisely what he needs to rally everyone around the flag once again. Russia formally is breaking Georgia into pieces, and Tbilisi now must decide if it wants to bow and break or rise again — though the latter is nearly impossible without outside help.
This is where the largest wildcard comes in: international response. Western powerhouses like Germany and the United States will not follow Russia’s lead in recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s independence; they have stated that repeatedly. They also did not come to the aid of Georgia — which is up for NATO membership — when Russia invaded, essentially throwing it to the wolves. Russia is now crossing the line once again with Georgia, baiting a Western response.
The stakes have been raised once again across the board. While NATO warships sail into the Black Sea near Georgia, Russia is again goading Georgia and the West into action — pushing the issues of whether Georgia wants to remain a state and whether the West has the wherewithal to stand up to a strong Russia again.
http://www.stratfor.com/
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Russia warns Moldova against "Georgian mistake"
Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:31am EDT
By Denis Dyomkin
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned ex-Soviet Moldova on Monday against repeating Georgia's mistake of trying to use force to seize back control of a breakaway region.
Russia sent peacekeepers to Moldova in the early 1990s to end a conflict between Chisinau and its breakaway Transdniestria region and is trying to mediate a deal between the two sides.
Transdniestria, one of a number of "frozen conflicts" on the territory of the former Soviet Union, mirrored the standoff between Georgia and its rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia until they erupted in war earlier this month.
Russia sent troops to Georgia to crush Tbilisi's military push into South Ossetia and Moscow says Georgia has now lost the chance of ever re-integrating the breakaway provinces.
"After the Georgian leadership lost their marbles, as they say, all the problems got worse and a military conflict erupted," Medvedev told Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin.
"This is a serious warning, a warning to all," he added. "And I believe we should handle other existing conflicts in this context."
As the two leaders spoke in Medvedev's Black Sea residence in Sochi, Russian lawmakers were voting non-binding resolutions urging the Kremlin to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.
That would be a nightmare scenario for Moldova which fears Russia could recognize Transdniestria, a pro-Moscow region in Moldova.
Medvedev, keen to limit diplomatic damage caused by the Russian operation in Georgia, made clear Moldova had no reason to worry for now.
"We have agreed ... to meet and discuss the Transdniestria settlement," he told Voronin. "I think there is a good reason to do this today. I see good prospects of reaching a settlement."
Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova later told reporters the two leaders had agreed to hold a fresh round of talks on Transdniestria soon.
"Russia is ready to continue its efforts towards finally solving the Transdniestrian crisis," she told reporters.
Russia is currently trying to forge a deal between Chisinau and Transdniestrian separatists which would keep the rebel region as part of Moldova but give it broad autonomy.
The Russian-brokered deal would also allow Transdniestria to leave Moldova should the former Soviet state decide to join their ethnic kin in EU member Romania.
Several years ago, Moldova rejected a similar deal under a strong pressure from NATO. But now Voronin appears to treat the Russian mediation more favorably.
The Moldovan leader told Medvedev he had indeed learned the lesson: "Thank God, during all these years...we had enough brains and reserve not to allow a similar deterioration of situation."
"Frozen conflicts are a real volcano which can blow up anytime," Voronin added. "That is why taking into account what had happened elsewhere it would be useful if we exercised again such wisdom not to allow such things to repeat in our country."
(Writing by Oleg Shchedrov; Editing by Jon Boyle)
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USLP59197620080825
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MEP Tunne Kelam calls to boost NATO's military presence in Estonia
10:33, 25. august 2008TALLINN, Aug 25, BNS - Member of the European Parliament Tunne Kelam in his speech at a rally in Tallinn over the weekend called to beef up the military presence of NATO in Estonia because of military threat from Russia, SL Ohtuleht reported.
Against the backdrop of increased risk of aggression, Estonia should also increase defence spending, Kelam said at a meeting on Saturday to mark the passage of 21 years from the landmark 1987 Hirvepark rally in Tallinn held on the anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty and its secret protocols.
The remarks from Kelam, of the conservative Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), came on the same day when a prominent US military analyst called to increase NATO's presence on the ground in the Baltic countries.
Kelam told SL Ohtuleht he didn't know about Kagan's article before his speech and the article came as a surprise for him.
Such coincidences show that the situation's ripe for change, he added.
Ain Seppik, vice chair of the opposition Center Party group in parliament and member of the parliamentary committee supervising the work of the country's secret services, described Kelam's idea as alien to him.
"I don't like foreign troops in Estonia in principle," he said.
Seppik said that Estonia can demonstrate its NATO member's status also in other ways and that this is being done enough already in Afghanistan and Iraq. Seppik did agree, however, that NATO has done relatively little for Estonia for the time being.
"NATO should better supply our defence forces and thus boost Estonia's military capabilities," Seppik said.
Just like Kelam, Seppik underlined that Estonia's expenditures for national defense must increase and no cuts must be made in them even under the austerity plan.
Senior Reform Party policymaker Jurgen Ligi, former minister of defense, said in his comments to the daily that first one must remember that Estonian military installations already are NATO bases and that the Amari air base, for instance, is a NATO air base.
Ligi said he considers Kelam's line of thinking to be right, as it is namely in the framework of NATO that Estonia must build its security.
"Russia's actions now are based on the logic of criminals -- if you beat someone, you get respect," Ligi said, adding that therefore it would not be bad if NATO showed its strength.
Fred Kagan, the intellectual author of the successful US "troop surge" plan in Iraq, believes NATO's presence in the Baltics must be massively strengthened to pre-empt the risk of them being invaded in the same way as Georgia.
Kagan, an expert on the Russian military who has the ear of hawks within the US administration, said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that the West needs to match words with deeds if it is to stop Russia turning into an "intolerable, aggressive imperialistic" power.
"We need to help these countries develop sophisticated air defense and anti-tank capabilities that don't pose any offensive threat to Russia, but promise the possibility of very high casualties were they to attempt what they did in Georgia," said Kagan.
"NATO has to make a fundamental decision here about its legal and ethical obligations, and the only way we can really fulfil them is to help these countries defend themselves in advance of an attack," he said.
At present, Kagan pointed out, there would be little to prevent Russia rolling across the border as they did into South Ossetia. Despite all the three Baltic countries now being members of NATO, the alliance has done little to help them build up robust anti-tank capabilities, sophisticated air defense systems, or large reserve armies.
Although any Russian action against a full NATO member would be a far greater act of aggression than its recent incursion into Georgia, Moscow might be tempted to try it in the Baltics as a way of testing NATO's resolve, knowing that the alliance might dither about deploying even conventional forces straightaway. Turning each country into a defensive "porcupine", Kagan argues, would make such a move almost unthinkable in the first place.
"I think that Russia does have designs on the Baltic states, and they have established a precedent in Georgia where they think they can use force to defend Russian minorities in other countries," he said.
Alastair Cameron, head of the European Security Program at the Royal United Services Institute, agreed that the invasion of Georgia had caused "tremendous concern" within the Baltics as to whether existing defences were adequate, but doubted that there would be any dramatic ramping up straightaway.
"Had Lithuania or Estonia been the target of the recent Russian campaign, they would have been in a position to take ground in a very similar way to how they did in Georgia," he said.
"I think we are still very much at the diplomatic level in terms of dealing with these kind of disputes at present, but I would think that something like might be on the table in terms of long-term defensive planning measures," he told The Sunday Telegraph.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8862, sise@bns.ee
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Subject: RUSSIA/GEORGIA: STATEMENT FROM THE FOREIGN SECRETARY DAVID MILIBAND
RUSSIA/GEORGIA:
STATEMENT FROM THE FOREIGN SECRETARY (British)
Today's announcement by President Medvedev that Russia will recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia is unjustifiable and unacceptable. It will also not work. It is contrary to the principles of the peace agreement, which Russia recently agreed, and to recent Russian statements. It takes no account of the views of the hundreds of thousands of Georgians and others who have been forced to abandon their homes in the two territories.
Today's announcement further inflames an already tense situation in the region. We fully support Georgia's independence and territorial integrity, which cannot be changed by decree from Moscow. We again call on Russia to abide by international law as the basis for resolving this crisis; and to implement urgently and in full Russia's commitments to withdraw forces from Georgia to pre-7 August positions.
I am holding talks today with international partners and will be visiting Ukraine tomorrow to ensure the widest possible coalition against Russian aggression in Georgia.
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Baltic states condemn Russian recognition of Georgian regions
Posted on : 2008-08-26 Author : DPA News Category : Europe
Riga - The Baltic states on Tuesday condemned Russia's decision to recognize two breakaway Georgian regions, saying it would not help finding solutions for peace in the region. Russia's decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia was a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia, Lithuania's Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said.
"Russia's move is a deliberate breach of international law and the principles of stability in Europe," Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said.
"Estonia, like all European Union and NATO member states, adheres firmly to the principles of Georgia's territorial integrity. This decision does nothing to help stabilize the situation or improve the prospect of peace in the Caucasus," he added.
"This decision will only complicate looking for solutions in the region," Latvia's Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins told Latvian national radio.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/228122,baltic-states-condemn-russian-recognition-of-georgian-regions.html#
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Window on Eurasia: Yeltsin Laid the Foundations for Putinism, and Putin is Laying Groundwork for Something Even Worse
Paul Goble
Vienna, August 25 – Boris Yeltsin's support for the rise of the oligarchs and the latter's decision to turn to the siloviki in order to protect themselves from any challenge from the people laid the foundations for Vladimir Putin to construct his increasingly authoritarian regime, according to the leader of the liberal Yabloko party.
But as depressing as that trend has been, several articles in the Russian press today called attention to the appearance of a new history textbook for Russian school children which argues that Stalin's terror was justified as "an instrument of development," a message which suggests Putin has plans for an even more draconian system than the one he oversees now.
During a news conference last Thursday that was overshadowed by events in the Caucasus, Yabloko head Sergei Mitrokhin presented his argument step by step, suggesting that Russia's democrats must better understand both what has gone wrong since 1991 and how they failed to counter it (www.annews.ru/news/detail.php?ID=165604).
"The Yeltsin regime," Mitrokhin said, "established the oligarchy under the cover of democracy." The oligarchs played "the key role in economics" and thus took "part of [political] power" into their own hands. Fearful that "society could overthrow this system, the oligarchs called for the help of the siloviki," the Russian term for those in the security apparatus.
But it rapidly turned out, the Yabloko leader said, that "the siloviki did not become simple marionettes" as the oligarchs had expected, but established their own rules," rules that meant the oligarchs could continue to play a dominant role in the economy but only if they allowed the siloviki to control politics.
"And those oligarchs who did not want to live according to the rules established by the officers of the special services," Mitrokhin continued, "have suffered."
According to the Yabloko head, Russia's democrats must not only understand this but "acknowledge their own past mistakes since some of them supported the Yeltsin system and others insufficiently effectively struggled against it." And they must be prepared to revise their understanding of democracy.
"Over the course of the 20th century," he said, "the communists wanted to construct a just society without freedom. This experiment failed after 70 years. At the end of the 20th century, [Russia's] democrats attempted to construct a free society, sacrificing justice in pursuit of that aim. That attempt failed after ten years."
If they are to have a role in Russia anytime soon, he concluded, Russia's democrats must draw as the most important lesson of the 20th century: "there is no freedom without justice and there is no justice without freedom." Those who speak "only for freedom," he said, "have not learned any of the lessons of the past."
But as unfortunate as Russia's moves away from democracy over the last decade have been, a new development, reported today by "Vremya novostei" among other Russian news outlets, points to an even more depressing future because it involves what the Kremlin wants Russian children to learn about the Stalinist past (vremya.ru/2008/154/51/211168.html).
The Russian educational establishment is preparing a new textbook on "The History of Russia, 1900 to 1945," and has already sent out guidance to teachers about the new book's most important conclusions so they will be ready to inculcate them in the minds of the pupils for whom they are responsible.
This textbook, in the words of its authors, focuses "on the explanation of the motives and logic of the actions of those in power." In short, the history students are supposed to absorb and master, the newspaper says, "is in the first instance the history of the powers that be." "There is no history of the people."
And because this text focuses on one of the most politically controversial periods of Russian history, its authors clearly have sought to reflect the views of those who are in power now, the paper continues. And it provides a long list of the specific conclusions the book offers. Among the most tendentious are the following:
The book insists that the Russian Revolution followed the model of the French revolution, that "in the civil war, the Bolsheviks were guilty but at the same time, the White movement represented an alternative pro-fascist direction," that "there was no organized famine in the countryside of the USSR," and that the Soviet Union in the 1930s built not socialism or capitalism but "an industrial society."
Moreover, it insists that "the Molotov-Ribbentrop was a response to the Munich accords," "the introduction of Soviet forces onto the territory of Poland in 1939 was for the liberation of the territories of Ukraine and Belarus," and the absorption of the Baltic states and Bessarabia was appropriate because "earlier they were part of the Russian Empire."
The Finnish winter war, the textbook says, was won by the Soviet Union which gained what it sought. And it suggests that Stalin was preparing for "a preventive strike against Germany" but had not had time before Hitler struck to develop the Soviet military sufficiently to make such a strike effectively.
And among other things, the new instructional tool, while acknowledging that the NKVD did shoot Polish military prisoners at Katyn, argues that this was "a response to the lost of many (tens) of thousands of Red Army en in Polish prisons after the 1920 war, the initiator of which was not Soviet Russia, but Poland."
But the most disturbing passages concern Stalin and the Great Terror. According to the textbook, Stalin launched the great terror in order to maintain power and to block the actions of some kind of "fifth column" guided by Trotsky or some group of foreign states against him and his regime. The textbook tells teachers that "it is important to show that Stalin acted … in a completely rational way, as the protector of the system and as a consistent supporter of the transformation of the country into an industrial society, administered from a single center, as the leader of a country which was threatened with a big war in the most immediate future.
Thus, the book says, "terror was put to the service of the tasks of industrial development," with the organs dispatching engineers and other specialists "needed for the solution of defense and other tasks to the Far East and to Siberia. And it says that "the terror was transformed into a pragmatic instrument for the solution of economic tasks."
Last year, when the same group of textbook authors put out another text making some of the same points, including advancing the argument that Stalin was "an effective manager," there was an outcry among educators, commentators, and others throughout the Russian Federation. And many assumed that the new book would be different.
But now, the paper notes, "a year has passed. The effective manger has become the 'successful administrator. And mass terror has been explained from 'a rational point of view.' What has taken place in our country over the course of the year that the authors continue to advance such claims?"
But there is a larger question than that, on whose answer may depend the future of the Russian Federation and of the world. What kind of a country will Russia be and what kind of a government will Moscow have in a decade if its young people are taught such lessons – and what kind of relations will it and they have with the rest of the world?
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Russia takes one step closer to a new Cold War
by Taras Kuzio, Special to Kyiv PostAug 26 2008, 10:06
TARAS KUZIO
The Russian parliament's unanimous endorsement of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is a dangerous step towards conflict in the former Soviet Union and another step towards a new Cold War. In both instances Russia loses.
Western and Ukrainian apologists of Russia's new imperialism can no longer say, as they did until recently, that the Russian parliament undertook policies that were not always endorsed by the president.
This was the argument that was used under President Boris Yeltsin. Under President or Prime minister Vladimir Putin this argument is bogus. The Russian parliament is no longer an independent institution and, since Russia's last two elections, both houses of parliament are controlled by the executive as part of Russia's managed democracy and militocracy.
After recovering from its nationalistic hangover Russia, in promoting territorial expansionism towards Georgia, will lose the new Cold War.
Russia's de facto annexation opens up a pandora's box among former Soviet republics and within the Russian Federation itself. If South Ossetia and Abkhazia can be independent, then why not Transdniestr, Nagorno-Karabakh or Chechnya?
Russia's relations with its Commonwealth of Independent States neighbors will deteriorate, leading to a negative impact on Russia's hopes for CIS integration. The loss of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will make it easier for Georgia to enter NATO, just like the loss of Kosovo has made it easier for Serbia to join the European Union.
Russia's imperialism in Georgia will also return support levels in Ukraine for NATO membership to their pre-Iraqi invasion levels when a third of Ukraine's population backed membership. Obtaining 51 percent in a referendum is easier to accomplish when your starting base is 33 percent, rather than 20 percent. Any attempt at repeating the Putin Doctrine in the Crimea would increase support in Ukraine for NATO membership to over a third.
Russia will lose out in any Cold War confrontation with the West, as the USSR lost in the 1990s when it competed with Ronald Reagan's USA. Russia's highly corrupt autocratic regime has neither the resources, ideology nor allies that the USSR possessed, factors which still did not prevent the Soviet Union from losing the Cold War and disintegrating. Perhaps Russia's new rulers should be advised to watch the recent U.S. film "Charlie's War" on U.S. support to the Afghan freedom fighters in the 1980s.
Russia's new imperialism will increase the chances that U.S. Sen. John McCain will win this year's U.S. elections, the candidate least liked by Moscow.
The near unanimous Western criticism of Russian imperialism in Georgia (even the passive EU has called an extraordinary meeting on Sept. 1) has pushed many non-committal NATO members towards support for Ukrainian and Georgian inclusion into NATO Membership Action Plans at the December review meeting.
Russia's new imperialism is the last stage of the disintegration of the Soviet empire that was delayed during the Yeltsin era by many years of alcoholism, mass corruption and a brutal invasion of Chechnya. As in the 1980s, Russia will ultimately lose again and face its own disintegration.
http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/oped/29483/print/
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Congressman Thaddeus McCotter Central and Eastern Europe Policy Recommendations
*President Bush should publicly urge the European Union to accelerate accession and partnership negotiations with Ukraine and Georgia.
*Congress should authorize a large-scale Foreign Military Financing (FMF) assistance package to CEE countries (possibly authorizing American military advisors to be placed in CEE- with the permission of host countries).*Congress should authorize qualified, non-NATO CEE allies to receive the same Foreign Military Sales (FMS) preferential treatment as NATO+3 (Australia, Japan, and NZ). *Congress should authorize additional Economic Support Funding (ESF) to Georgia to repair its damaged infrastructure.
* President Bush has directed the United States Permanent Representative to NATO to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at NATO to ensure NATO offers Membership Action Plans (MAP) to Georgia and the Ukraine and indefinitely suspends high level NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meetings, the President and Congress should continue these efforts.
*Congress should enact a series of triggers to end Russia's PNTR and sanction Russia with Column Two Tariff Rates if they attack a CEE country.*Congress should enact Representative Chris Smith’s Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act.*Eventually, Congress and the President need to agree to classify large-scale, organized cyber attacks against government web sites constitute an act of aggression.
*Convene a Joint Session of Congress for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to address the vital importance of maintaining the sovereignty, security, and liberty of the Georgian people and her CEE neighbors.
How to contact your congressman about Russian invasion of Georgia
1. Dail 1-202-225-3121 and you will be connected to the main Congressional switchboard, the operator will answer.
2. Ask the operator to transfer you to your Representative’s office.
3. Your call will be transferred to your congressman’s office, and when the person answers, simply say “Hello, my name is________, I live in_________(name your city), and I would like Congressman________ to sign Congressman McCotter’s letter which invites Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilli to address a joint session of congress.”
4. Often, the congressional office will ask for your name and address so the Member of Congress may acknowledge your call by writing you a letter. Do not worry that you will be asked to justify or explain the policy behind your phone call. These are routine calls that each office is accustomed to, and it will go smoothly and quickly.
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From Saul Anuzis’ Blog:
It's Time For Congress To Take Stand Against Russian Aggression
Posted by: saul_anuzis
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 04:08PM
..........
Throughout the past decade, Lt. Colonel Putin has led Russia back to an authoritarian model of governance, including: the repression of a free media, harassment of opposition political parties, nationalizing business interests or passing ownership to former KGB leaders, and menacing its neighbors. While this is different from Soviet totalitarianism in certain respects, it is every bit as insidious when Russian tanks roll through a free and sovereign country to serve Putin’s goal of reestablishing a grip on Russia’s "near abroad."
Over the past few days, I’ve reflected on Ronald Reagan’s strong convictions about human liberty, his alliance with Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II, and the power of Reagan’s policies and words. His leadership helped transform the former "Captive Nations" into free nations. This has served as an encouragement to me to engage this battle to support Georgia and to try to mobilize others.
One of my favorite recollections about Reagan came from former Soviet "refusenik" Nathan Sharansky, one of the great human rights activists who worked to topple the Soviet Empire, Sharansky tells us about the aftermath of Ronald Reagan’s "Evil Empire" speech, which was met with great derision by the politically-correct left-leaning intelligentsia in the West. But in the cells of Moscow’s notorious Lubyanka Prison, and throughout the gulag, prisoners tapped out code to their neighboring cells passing along Reagan’s powerful words and convictions about freedom. Sharansky once wrote:
“The first time I met President Reagan I told him this story. I felt free to tell him everything. I told him of the brilliant day when we learned about his Evil Empire speech from an article in Pravda or Izvestia that found its way into the prison. When I said that our whole block burst out into a kind of loud celebration and that the world was about to change, well, then the president, this great tall man, just lit up like a schoolboy. His face lit up and beamed. He jumped out of his seat like a shot and started waving his arms wildly and calling for everyone to come in to hear "this man's" story. It was really only then that I started to appreciate that it wasn't just in the Soviet Union that President Reagan must have suffered terrible abuse for this great speech, but that he must have been hurt at home too. It seemed as though our moment of joy was the moment of his own vindication. That the great punishment he had endured for this speech was worth it.”
It’s time. For geo-political strategic purposes, and because it is the right thing to do, let’s make our voices heard in this important time.
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Latvia pulls out of joint military exercise with Russia
25/08/2008 17:53 RIGA, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - The Latvian government has decided not to send troops to take part in a regional military exercise in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, the government press service said Monday.
The Latvian Defense Ministry said the decision to stay away from the Balex Delta exercise, due to take place on August 26-28 in the Kaliningrad region, had been caused by "a change of NATO's general priorities."
Relations between Russia and NATO soured following Russia's military operation in Georgia.
Earlier, a number of Western countries announced their refusal to participate in joint exercises with Russia, while Moscow said it would not allow a U.S. warship to call at a port on the Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.
The United States refused to let a Russian ship participate in NATO's Operation Active Endeavor naval antiterrorism exercise.
Russia's NATO envoy announced Thursday that the Russian Defense Ministry was temporarily suspending military cooperation with NATO until a political decision on relations had been made.
NATO foreign ministers said after talks last Tuesday that the alliance was freezing contacts with Russia until it pulled its troops out of Georgia, but stopped short of stronger measures.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080825/116267017.html
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Chkhikvadze: Russia did not, is not and will not threaten Lithuania
Petras Vaida, BC, Vilnius, 26.08.2008.
Although Russia finds Lithuania"s position on the military conflict in Georgia unfair, Moscow will strive for the bilateral relations between Lithuania and Russia to develop positively, Russian Ambassador to Lithuania Vladimir Chkhikvadze claims.
Vladimir Chkhikvadze.
After the meeting with Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas on Monday, the ambassador assured that Russia does not intend "to reckon with those who fail to agree with us." "We did not, are not and will not threaten Lithuania. We do not feel threat from Lithuania to Russia"s national security either (...). We are interested in normal development of our bilateral relations, most importantly for the neighborhood relations to be good, and to countries" relations to be considered," Chkhikvadze told ELTA journalists.
On the other hand, the ambassador claimed that in Moscow"s opinion, Lithuania"s position to actively support Georgia was "single-sided and unfair." Moreover, the ambassador is concerned about the purportedly "obviously unfriendly statements towards Russia" expressed by some officials.
I have expressed concern regarding the fact that the actions against Russia were organized, initiated and provoked by those people who have high state or public posts and to whose opinion people listen," Chkhikvadze claimed.
Vaitiekunas also expressed hope that differing attitudes will not determine the worsening of bilateral relations. "No threats or political direction to worsen these relations have been expressed," Vaitiekunas said after the meeting with the ambassador.
On the other hand, according to the minister, it has been acknowledged that the positions of Lithuania and Russia differ. "We stated that our positions on this issue differ, especially when the Russian Duma has now passed a statement, urging the Russian Government to acknowledge the independence of Abkhazia and [Southern – ELTA] Osetia," Vaitiekunas claimed.
The head of the Lithuanian diplomacy also denied rebukes that Lithuania unfairly evaluated the military conflict between Russia and Georgia.
"I think that Lithuania looks at this crisis between Russia and Georgia in a very objective way. I have expressed Lithuania"s position – it, similarly to the positions of the EU and NATO, is based on the acknowledgment of Georgia"s territorial integrality and sovereignty," Vaitiekunas said.
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/baltics_cis/&doc=4492
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Jursenas: EU countries should soften relation with Belarus
Petras Vaida, BC, Vilnius, 26.08.2008.
Lithuanian Seimas Speaker Ceslovas Jursenas thinks that European countries should soften relations with Belarus.
Ceslovas Jursenas.
According to the Lithuanian Radio, the head of state is going to express such a suggestion at the conference of the heads of parliaments of the Nordic and Baltic states, which is scheduled to begin in Jurmala on Tuesday. Lithuania considers the release of political prisoners in the country to be a serious signal from Belarus to the Euro-Atlantic community. In the middle of Augustm the Belarussian president ordered to release Aleksandr Kozulin, one of the opposition leaders, his former rival in the presidential elections in 2006.
According to Jursenas, these facts should encourage the West to reconsider its position. "The position on Belarus could change, because we have seen bright new facts – the release of political prisoners and especially that of Kozulin. This is not a simple thing, this is a real event and I think that this should encourage thinking whether further harsh isolation policy towards Belarus is necessary. Maybe it should be softened a bit," the Seimas speaker claimed.
Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas also shares this opinion.
"Belarus is changing its position towards the West, I think we should also think about accepting these signals sent by this county," he said on Monday. Currently official relations with Belarus are not developed properly and president Aleksandr Lukashenko is not permitted to go to the EU member states.
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/baltics_cis/&doc=4467
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http://www.zenit.org/article-23443?l=english
ZE08082208 - 2008-08-22Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-23443?l=english
Envoy Named for Centenary of Lithuania Apparitions
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 22, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI named the archbishop of Cologne, Germany, to be his special envoy at the 400th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Lithuania.The Holy See announced Thursday the appointment of Cardinal Joachim Meisner for the Sept. 13-14 event in Siluva.Mary appeared in Siluva in 1608 to non-Catholics. Little shepherds saw what they described as a beautiful woman, dressed in white and blue, with a baby in her arms, enveloped in gentle splendor. The Lady wept bitterly and suddenly disappeared.
Subsequently, the Virgin, again weeping, appeared to a crowd that had formed at the site where the children indicated. The town's Calvinist pastor was among the group.
An icon of the Virgin that had belonged to the village's former Catholic church was found in the place of the apparitions. The icon had remained hidden for almost 100 years. In the wake of those events, and after several miraculous cures, this apparition brought Lithuania to return to the faith after 80 years of Calvinism.
The event was recognized by a papal decree published by Pius VI on Aug. 17, 1775. Siluva is now Lithuania's most important Marian shrine. The Pope will be in France during the festivities, marking another anniversary of Marian apparitions: the 150th anniversary of the Virgin's appearances at Lourdes.
Compliments: Ramute Zukas
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Average earnings in Lithuania in II quarter of 2008 increased by 25.2%
Vilija Lapėnienė, Statistics Lithuania, 26.08.2008.
Statistics Lithuania informs that average monthly gross earnings in the whole economy (excluding individual enterprises) in II quarter 2008 made LTL 2236.8 and against II quarter 2007 increased by 22.5%, in the public sector – LTL 2287.2 (increased by 23.8%), in the private sector – LTL 2208.0 (increased by 21.7%).
In II quarter 2008 against I quarter 2008, average monthly gross earnings increased: in the whole economy – by 4.0%, in the public sector – by 5.0%, in the private sector – by 3.4%.
The rise in earnings over II quarter 2008 as compared to I quarter 2008 was conditioned by the higher number of working days, the rise in salaries and wages for health care employees from 1 May and rise in salary coefficients for teachers.
Average monthly net earnings in the whole economy (excluding individual enterprises) in II quarter 2008 made LTL 1713.1 and against II quarter 2007 increased by 25.2%; in the public sector – by LTL 1749.8 and were by 26.5% higher than in II quarter 2007; in the private sector – by LTL 1692.0 and were by 24.4% higher as compared to II quarter 2007.
Average monthly net earnings in II quarter 2008 against I quarter 2008 in the whole economy increased by 3.8%, in the public sector – by 4.7%, in the private sector – by 3.2%.
Real earnings in the whole economy (excluding individual enterprises) in II quarter 2008 and against II quarter 2007 increased by 11.7%, in the public sector – by 12.8%, in the private sector – by 11.0%.
In II quarter 2008 against I quarter 2008, real earnings increased: in the whole economy – by 0.7%, in the public sector – by 1.6%, in the private sector – by 0.1%.
Table 1. Average monthly gross earnings by economic sector 1, category of employees and sex, 2008, by quarter, LTL
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In June 2008 industrial new orders growth in Latvia and in Lithuania – among highest in EU
Danuta Pavilenene, BC, Vilnius, 25.08.2008.
In June 2008 compared with May 2008, the euro area (EA15) industrial new orders index fell by 0.3%. In the EU27 new orders decreased by 0.1% in June 2008, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, reports.
In June 2008 compared with June 2007, industrial new orders fell by 7.4% in the euro area and by 6.6% in the EU27. In June industrial new orders growth in Lithuania was one of the highest in the EU, writes ELTA.
In June 2008 compared with May 2008, new orders for textiles & textile products grew by 2.2% in the euro area and remained stable in the EU27. Electrical & electronic equipment increased by 1.4% in the euro area, but fell by 0.6% in the EU27. Manufacturing of chemicals & chemical products rose by 1.0% and 2.0% respectively. Basic metals & fabricated metal products increased by 0.8% in the euro area and by 1.6% in the EU27. Machinery & equipment fell by 1.1% in the euro area, but gained 2.2% in the EU27. Transport equipment decreased by 3.7% and 6.0% respectively.
In June 2008, among the Member States for which data are available, total manufacturing working on orders rose in nine and fell in nine. The highest increases were recorded in Latvia (+31.0%), Portugal (+8.0%) and Hungary (+6.1%), and the largest decreases in Denmark (-21.8%), Ireland (-9.7%) and Germany (-3.5%).
In June 2008 compared with June 2007, new orders for basic metals & fabricated metal products increased by 4.6% in the euro area and by 6.1% in the EU27.
Manufacturing of chemicals & chemical products rose by 3.8% and 3.2% respectively. Machinery & equipment decreased by 2.8% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU27. Manufacturing of electrical & electronic equipment dropped by 3.7% and 3.0% respectively. Textiles & textile products declined by 9.6% in the euro area and by 8.0% in the EU27. Transport equipment fell by 29.8% and 26.2% respectively.
In June 2008, among the Member States for which data are available, total manufacturing working on orders rose in eleven and fell in seven. The highest increases were registered in Romania (+27.8%), Latvia (+26.9%) and Lithuania (+22.9%), and the most significant falls in France (-16.9%), Spain (-6.5%), the Czech Republic and Germany (both –6.0%).
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/analytics/&doc=4416
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Chinese immigrants in Vilnius don’t want to leave the country
Danuta Pavilenene, BC, Vilnius, 25.08.2008.
The Chinese illegally living in Vilnius will be most likely deported from Lithuania by force. The foreigners living on the campus in Sauletekis state that they do not want to leave the country, because they might lose their earned 15,000 dollars.
Under the decision of Vilnius City Migration Service, six Chinese were to leave Lithuania till Saturday. Four of them agreed to do that and the remaining two refused to go to the airport, despite the persuasion of the police and Gintaras Baguzis, head of the Migration Service, informs ELTA.
It is likely that the Chinese have been deceived by the alleged representatives of fraud employment agency. The Chinese were promised to receive a big payment for their work, but neither the job nor the promised money was given to them.
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