Europe and some Member States

•   Czech protest against US military radar site enters third week
•   New Slovakian law points to decreasing free speech in eastern Europe
•   Thousands at Ukraine protest
•   Small turnout for Belarus protest
•   Protest Organizers: Bulgaria's Government Panicked
•   Latvia Protest Sparks Clashes Outside Parliament; 126 Detained
•   Lithuanian protest turns violent
•   Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia
•   Montenegro Protests Turn Violent
•   Albania Opposition Issues 10-Day Deadline to PM Sali Berisha
•   Prussia, the core of the modern Germany
  

Europe and some Member States

Dr. Jožko Šavli
January 12, 2010

At the end of the 80s, the Soviet Union crumbled. This Union was officially proclaimed to be the State of workers and farmers and was based on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. In fact, this ideology was merely a mask for the great-Russian imperialism. Yugoslavia disintegrated approximately at the same time. The creation of Yugoslavia was based on the ideology of the Southern Slavs, which should have shaped them into a unique nation.
And Belgrade tried to unite all Southern Slavs into a Yugoslav nation, in order to successfully resist German and Italian expansionism. That, however, was only a pretext for great-Serbian unitarism. It brought Yugoslav unitarism to a collapse. Czechoslovakia was to suffer the same fate, splitting into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia.

One puts the question to himself: Has the time come for other multinational States in Europe dealing with ethnic conflict - like Spain, Italy, France Great Britain, Belgium, Croatia? Only federal Germany and Switzerland seem to be, from this point of view, solid political formations.

One thing is certain. In future, in Europe, a State will not be created based on ideology, neither on base of a great nation, nor on proletarian brotherhood. The decisive factor  will be the ethnic identity of a people.
  
Czech protest against US military radar site enters third week
May 13, 2008

A group of Czech Greenpeace activists are set to begin their third week occupying the site of a proposed US 'Son of Star Wars' base in the Czech republic. About 20 Greenpeace activists broke into the Brdy military zone south of Prague on April 28th. After establishing a base camp in nearby woods, they entered a wooded area inside the military installation and hung a 60 ft banner carrying the message "We don't want to be targets" across a series of tree-platforms.

The US wants to build an X band radar at Brdy - like the one the Labour government controversially gave go ahead for at Fylingdales in Yorkshire - as part of the European end of their proposed 'Son of Star Wars' missile defense system.

Czech flag and arms



The plans have sparked major opposition in the Czech Republic - where polls have repeatedly shown that more than six out of 10 Czechs oppose hosting the US facility. The Greenpeace occupation is one of a whole series of protests against the plans over recent weeks and months.

Despite this opposition the Czech and US governments still appear to be closing on a deal to place the radar base in Czech territory, although the last minute cancellation of the signing ceremony by US Secretary of State Condoleza Rice earlier this week have raised hopes of opponents.
  
New Slovakian law points to decreasing free speech in eastern Europe
Posted by Kelley Vendeland on April 30, 2008

Press freedom appears to be shrinking in eastern Europe, as evidenced by a series of recent laws constraining free speech rights.  

The latest repressive legislation comes out of Slovakia, where a new media law, set to come into practice on June 1, will give anyone named in an article "sweeping rights to an equally prominent rebuttal," reports the Economist. Media watchdogs have condemned the law and Slovakian newspapers are protesting by publishing issues with blank, black-framed front pages.

Right-of-reply rules are common in some European nations, but Slovakia's is the most punitive. While the Slovakian government insists the law will make the media more responsible, the concern is the potential exploitation of the law by Slovakia's Prime Minister, Robert Fico, who has a tumultuous relationship with the media.

Slovakia flag


Bulgaria and Romania as well have laws on the books that criminalize defamation of public figures. In 2007, 100 cases went to court in Bulgaria for attacks against "honor and dignity," up from 60 the year before. And as of last year, Romania's constitutional court restored legislation making "insult" illegal, although press freedom is also curtailed by the ownership of mainstream media by politically active tycoons.  

Moreover, the annual report of Freedom House, a New York-based lobby group, shows the sharpest decline in media freedom in the world in eastern Europe, behind Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Granted the situation is not as bad as in Russia, where Vladimir Putin shut down a paper after it ran a scandalous story on his love life. It is though a worrisome trend in a region has prided itself on its newfound freedom.

  
Thousands at Ukraine protest
April 3, 2009

KIEV - TENS OF thousands of protesters gathered in the Ukrainian capital on Friday to hear the ex-Soviet state's opposition leader demand the resignation of the country's leaders for failing to tackle the economic crisis.
President Viktor Yushchenko, meanwhile, said he was prepared to consider early elections for both president and parliament - two days after parliament called an October presidential poll, earlier than anticipated. That vote was a resounding and rare consensus in the chamber aimed against the president.
Up to 20,000 protesters denouncing hardships linked to the financial crisis battering Ukraine, poured into Independence Square, focal point of the 'Orange Revolution' that swept Yushchenko and other pro-Western politicians to power in 2004.

The demonstration, the second in as many weeks by the opposition Regions Party, was the largest in Ukraine since the 2007 parliamentary election campaign.
'I think everyone in this square has one big wish - change life for the better. And there is only one way to do this, when we are rid of those now in power,' Viktor Yanukovich, Regions Party leader and former prime minister, told the crowd.

'The faster they go, the faster we will restore order together in the country, the faster our factories will be back at work and the faster our economy will start to grow.'

Ukrainian flag and arms


Yanukovich said he was suspending protests to give Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government until April 14 to present a programme to counteract the crisis, which has hit markets for steel and chemical exports and cut jobs and living standards. Ukrainian politics since Yushchenko's election has been dominated by constant sniping between him and Tymoshenko - twice appointed prime minister.
The government has drafted a series of measures to offset the effects of the crisis and parliament last week passed two measures to restore the flow of suspended credits under a US$16.4 billion loan agreed with the International Monetary Fund.
But Yanukovich's party, the largest in parliament, disrupted the chamber's proceedings for two days this week, demanding an overall anti-crisis plan. It has long called for early elections of both the president and parliament.
Yushchenko said he would agree to two early elections if such a decision took account of other measures to be undertaken. – Reuters
  
Small turnout for Belarus protest
October 14, 2007

Some 6,000 demonstrators marched through Belarus's capital to denounce the policies of President Alexander Lukashenko, accused in the West of crushing fundamental rights.
The number was smaller than the 10,000 to 30,000 that organisers had hoped would turn out for the European March to try to show the ex-Soviet state wants to move closer to Europe.
Some protesters gathered initially in the city centre in sunny, but chilly, autumn weather.

They split into two groups before a small crowd massed in a remote park - the only site authorised by city authorities.

"We have staged this march for the benefit of a free Belarus, to say that we are moving towards Europe," said Alexander Milinkevich, the opposition leader who challenged Lukashenko in elections last year.

"People ask me how often we will do this - I say we will do so until we win." Milinkievich said more than 50 opposition activists had been detained in the run-up to the protest.




Neither he nor other opposition leaders appeared at the later rally in the park. Demonstrators shouted Long live Belarus and Belarus in Europe. Many carried blue European flags and the banned red-and-white Belarussian national flag. Minor scuffles erupted with police, who showed restraint in trying to keep marchers off major thoroughfares.

The liberal and nationalist opposition achieved rare unity last year in backing Milinkevich, an academic, in the election which Lukashenko won in a landslide. Lukashenko, who was re-elected to a third term, was accused of hounding opponents, muzzling the independent media and systematically rigging elections.

The opposition, disparate and fractious at the best of times, split earlier this year, but had announced it was staging Sunday's event as a united front. Differences clearly persist between their various groups on how to confront the president. Speaking before the rally, Milinkevich said the march showed Lukashenko was afraid of the opposition even on the issue of moving towards Europe.

"For the first time, we are coming out in favour of something: Europe, the path to Europe," he said.

"And they are afraid of even this though they say they want to cooperate more closely with Europe."

The president has been in power since 1994 and is generally popular, especially outside the capital, in the country of 10 million wedged between Russia and three EU states.
  
Protest Organizers: Bulgaria's Government Panicked
January 14, 2009

Wednesday's protest rally in downtown Sofia was a civic initiative, which served no one's political interests, and that is why it scared the government.

This is said in a statement to the Bulgarian media distributed by the Association for Development and Civic Control, which organized the joint protests of college students, environmentalists, and farmers.

About 10 000 people who demanded the immediate resignation of the government and the adjourning of the Parliament took part in the protest, according to its organizers. There were people in the rally, however, who started to provoke violence and clashes with the police.

Bulgarian flag
Coat of arms


"When we all knelt down in silence to honor the memory of the 20-year-old student Stoyan Baltov (who was killed in Sofia on December 5 in an unprovoked street attack), the provocateurs remained standing. This showed their motivation to instigate violence", the statement of the civic organizations reads.

"We, the organizers, succeeded in managing the protest but the police did not. We are not going to succumb to these provocations, and we will continue to fight by peaceful means for Bulgaria's future, and Bulgaria's children", the organizers declared.

They pointed out that one of the organizers, Miroslav Dzhokanov, had been detained by the police, and asked for his immediate release.

The organizers' statement concludes by declaring that the citizens of Bulgaria had gathered before the Parliament on Wednesday to show that they were against the mafia, and to call for the resignation of the corrupt officials.

They invited all Bulgarian citizens to take part in the follow-up protest at 11 am on Thursday before the Parliamentary building.
  
Latvia Protest Sparks Clashes Outside Parliament; 126 Detained
By Aaron Eglitis and Ott Ummelas

Jan. 14, 2009 (Bloomberg) -- Latvian police detained 126 people after a peaceful protest by about 10,000 people calling for a referendum and elections turned into a riot, said Sigita Pildava, a police spokeswoman.
Police used pepper spray and batons to disperse protesters who had gathered in Riga’s old city, chanting “dissolve parliament,” and some crowd members broke windows in the Finance Ministry and a liquor store. A police car was set on fire, windows in the parliament were shattered and 28 people were injured, the Leta newswire reported.

Latvian flag
Coat of arms


The protest, organized by opposition political parties, trade unions and non-governmental organizations, called on the president to hold a referendum leading to new parliamentary elections less than a month after the country secured financial aid to bolster its economy.
Latvia received a 7.5 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) international aid package in December from a group led by the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the Nordic countries. The Latvian economy contracted 4.6 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier and the government took over the country’s second-biggest bank.
“We ask the Latvian president for new elections and to dissolve the Saeima,” said Artis Pabriks, a member of an opposition party, the Society for Different Politics, in a speech at the rally. “We want to see more-honorable and more-competent politics,” said Pabriks, who’s also a former foreign minister.
Similar protests in 2007 led to the resignation of the prime minister. Latvia’s four-party coalition government has 52 votes in the 100-seat legislature.
  
Lithuanian protest turns violent
January 16,  2009

Standard;VILNIUS - What began as a peaceful protest near the Lithuanian parliament building has turned violent as protesters clash with police.

The Baltic Times estimates that at least 5,000 people attended the protest, which was aimed at expressing discontent over the government's failure to address the worsening economic situation in the country. The protest began at noon and erupted into violence at about 1:30 p.m.

Preliminary reports indicate that one officer has been hospitalized and three protesters have been detained. Police have reportedly been forced to use violence to subdue some of the protesters.

Protesters who were initially pushed away from the parliament reportedly returned to attempt to storm the building again, but were again rebuffed by police.
Lithuanian flag and arms


Police have now largely subdued the protesters and put an end to the violence.

Though the protest began as a peaceful demonstration, a group of protesters soon began throwing snowballs, rocks and glass bottles and attempting to break into the parliament building. Approximately 300 police were in attendance.

Officers have deployed tear gas and shot rubber bullets to help keep the protesters at bay.

The violent protest came just days after a similar protest in Riga turned into a riot, injuring numerous people and causing thousands of euros in damages.

(Were you at the riots in Riga or Vilnius? We would like to hear from you. Tell us about your experiences or send us your photos at talis@baltictimes.com)
  
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 and has been recognized by 52 UN member states, including 22 European Union members and all bordering states except Serbia. KWN and other civil society groups contend that the new UN proposal would threaten Kosovo's territorial sovereignty, violate its constitution, and jeopardize the fragile peace that has been secured in Southeast Europe.

The protesters also point out that many Serbs who live in enclaves in Kosovo are opposed to increased Serbian governmental influence. Kosovo's constitution already guarantees Serb representation in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, seats as Ministers and Deputy Ministers, access to media in the Serb language, representation on the Kosovo Judicial Council and national language rights. Efforts have also been made to include Serb citizens in public institutions, such as the police force.

KWN and other civil society organizations are calling for international pressure on Serbia to accept the independence of Kosovo and the deployment of the EULEX mission. They also want the Serbian government to support the Kosovo Status Settlement, proposed by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. This would grant Kosovo a flag, anthem, and the right to make international agreements and seek membership in international institutions.

Such recognition, as well as retribution for crimes committed against the citizens of Kosovo in 1998 and 1999, should be a precondition for Serbia to join the EU, they said.
  
Pro-Serbian opposition supporters rally in Podgorica to protest Montenegro's recognition of Kosovo

Montenegro Protests Turn Violent
October 14, 2008

Police in Montenegro have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators at a mass rally against a government decision to recognise the independence of Kosovo.

At least 34 people, including 23 policemen, were injured and admitted to Podgorica's emergency medical centre, its manager, Vladimir Dobricanin, said.

Most of those hospitalised suffered slight injuries caused by stones or "direct clashes", he said. Police said they had detained 28 people.
Earlier some 10,000 pro-Serb opposition supporters rallied to demand that the government of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic revoke its recognition of Serbia's breakaway province.

But as the demonstration officially ended, some protesters broke the police cordon in front of the parliament building in central Podgorica, throwing stones and breaking windows, according to witnesses.

Police then fired tear gas and broke up the crowd. Several groups of hooligans continued running through the capital, breaking windows and setting fire to containers.

Montenegro flag


Police blocked Podgorica's main boulevard, Sveti Petar Cetinjski, and surrounding streets, cordoning off government buildings. The situation calmed down in the evening but a major police presence remained.

Police said in a statement: "New protests will be banned considering violent behaviour at the rally." Last week Montenegro recognised the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo, despite strong opposition from its former federal partner Serbia and pro-Serb opposition parties in Podgorica.

The protest, called by four opposition parties in favour of closer ties with Serbia, set a deadline of Wednesday at 11am for the government to revoke its "illegal decision" and for parliament to call a referendum on whether Montenegro should recognise the independence.

Protesters chanted "treason, treason" and "Kosovo is Serbia", as well as slogans against Mr Djukanovic, accusing him of "betraying Kosovo". Bishop Amfilohije Radovic of the Serbian Orthodox Church said: "This is the most shameful decision in the history of Montenegro."

There is a strong Serb community in Montenegro, with more than 30% of the 650,000 population describing themselves as Serbian. Montenegro separated from Serbia and proclaimed independence in 2006 after a majority of Montenegrins approved the move in a referendum.

Kosovo proclaimed independence in February and has so far been recognised by 50 nations, including the UK, most EU countries and the United States.

The latest to do so were Serbia's neighbours bordering Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia, sparking an angry reaction from Belgrade, which in turn asked ambassadors of the two former Yugoslav republics to leave Serbia.
  
Thousands of Albanians took to the streets of the capital Tirana, in an Opposition protest
demanding a recount of disputed electoral votes.

Albania Opposition Issues 10-Day Deadline to PM Sali Berisha
November 23, 2009

Albania’s Socialist opposition ended a three-day protest in the capital, Tirana, with demands to the Prime Minister that contested election ballot boxes be opened.

The mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama, who led the protest, issued a 10-day deadline to Prime Minister Sali Berisha to allow the boxes to be opened, for a partial recount of disputed votes cast in the June parliamentary election.

Thousands had gathered throughout the weekend in the center of the capital, waving banners and projecting slogans reading "Where is my vote?" and "Open the ballot boxes!" onto the walls of Berisha’s offices.

The opposition has boycotted the Albanian parliament since June, claiming that a recount of the votes would put them in power. Currently, Berisha's Democrats have just 70 seats in the 140-seat parliament, and the Socialists 66. The Democrats rule with support from the four Socialist Integration Movement seats.

"Unless the ballot boxes are opened, we will not just refuse to return to parliament, but shall escalate our protest. If the boxes are not opened, we shall powerfully call for the government to go and call for snap elections," Rama said, threatening a nationwide protest.

Albanian flag and arms


"There won't be an opening of the election ballot boxes because the state institutions cannot be above the legal ones, which decided there there will not be an opening," stated a defiant Berisha on Albanian state television.

Rama has claimed that Berisha had stifled the judiciary, distorted the media and ruined free competition. Each man accuses the other of corruption.

Western observers had declared the June vote was an improvement on previous Albanian elections but had fallen short of the highest international standards.
  
From the book ‘Behind the Scenes in Warring Germany’

Prussia, the core of the modern Germany

The Duchy of Prussia or Ducal Prussia was a duchy in the eastern part of Prussia from 1525 - 1701. It was the first Protestant (Lutheran) duchy with a dominant German-speaking population, as well as Polish and Lithuanian minorities. In old texts and in Latin the term Prut(h)enia refers to Ducal Prussia, its western neighbour Royal Prussia and their common predecessor Teutonic Prussia alike. The pertaining contemporary adjective is Prut(h)enic.

In 1525 during the Protestant Reformation, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert, secularized the order's Prussian territory, becoming Albert, Duke of Prussia. His duchy, which had its capital in Koenigsberg (Polish: Krolewiec), was established as fief of the Crown of Poland. It was inherited by the Hohenzollern prince-electors of Brandenburg in 1618; this personal union is referred to as Brandenburg-Prussia. Frederick William, the "Great Elector" of Brandenburg, achieved full sovereignty over the territory in the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau, which was confirmed in the 1660 Treaty of Oliva. The Duchy of Prussia was elevated to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701.

The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, a Baltic people related to the Lithuanians and Latvians. In the 13th century, "Old Prussia" was conquered by the Teutonic Knights. In 1308 Teutonic Knights conquered the formerly Polish region of Pomerelia with " Gdansk" (Danzig). Their monastic state was mostly Germanized through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south it was Polonized by settlers from Masovia. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) Prussia was split into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the eastern part, since 1525 called Duchy of Prussia, a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701.

Prussia attained its greatest importance in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century, it became a great European power under the reign of Frederick the Great (1740 - 86). During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck pursued a policy of uniting the German principalities into a "Lesser Germany" which would exclude the Austrian Empire.


Flag of Prussia 1892 – 1918 and coat of arms of Royal Prussia 1466 – 1772


Eastern Prussia before WW2, it was the historical core of the Prussian Duchy and Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Prussia dominated northern Germany politically, economically, in population, and was the core of the unified North German Confederation formed in 1867, which became part of the German Empire or in 1871.

With the end of the Hohenzollern monarchy in Germany following World War I, Prussia became part of the Weimar Republic as a free state in 1919. It effectively lost this status in 1932 following the Preußenschlag decree of Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen; Prussia as a state was abolished de facto by the Nazis in 1934 and de jure by the Allies of World War II in 1947.