UK and EU and their Brexit deals

The Brexit saga looks a big complicated soap.

More than once it looked like the United Kingdom and European Union agreed on a new Brexit deal, and the British Prime Ministers Theresa May and afterwards Boris Johnson announcing that they had "a great new deal".

At one point Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the EU Commission, also described the deal as a "fair and balanced agreement" that is "testament to our commitment to find solutions."

However, the many proposals and worked out deals did not get the approval of the UK Parliament to pass into law.

Johnson's predecessor Theresa May, was voted down three times by the House of Commons, forcing the UK to seek an extension to the original Brexit deadline of March 31 this year. May's deal was criticized heavily on all sides of the political spectrum, with some arguing it left the UK too closely aligned with the EU, and others saying that it failed to protect workers' rights and would damage the economy.

This time the prime minister Boris Johnson said he would abandon his Brexit bill and call for a general election if MPs voted down the government’s three-day timetable. Johnson told parliament if the programme was rejected and the EU confirmed a delay to the 31 October exit, he would instead push for a general election.

Boris Johnson paused his attempt to get his deal through parliament after MPs refused to allow him to fast-track it. Despite MPs having decided to pass the legislation that would implement the deal to the next parliamentary stage, Johnson took it off the agenda because they refused to agree to accede to his demand for a three-day timetable.

For the so maniest time it looks like the English receive another delay from the European Union. The European council’s president, Donald Tusk, said he would recommend the extension be signed off and it was suggested that 31 January 2020 would be set as the new deadline, though it would be superseded if there was an earlier ratification of Brexit by MPs.

After display of unity back to disunity

European countries according to the EU (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Back to reality After a display of unity in Rome, it was back to disunity in Brussels as EU countries split - again - over how to deal with refugees in the block. Interior ministers discussed how to boost “returns” (deportation, to you or I) and had the now traditional row about relocating refugees across the EU.  “We had an honest and frank discussion,” said Dimitris Avramopoulos, the commissioner responsible for migration.

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Fight against nationalism main struggle for feminists today

For Feminist activist Sasha Shevchenko, "the main struggle for feminists today", apart of "the fight against patriarchy, the Church, the sex industry and any kind of totalitarianism", is "the fight against nationalism" and "Nazi ideas" that are "growing like mushrooms after the rain". 

VoxEurop

During a debate at the European parliament in Brussels, Shevchenko and fellow Femen activists Oxana Shachko and Yana Zhdanova, said that

"the situation in Ukraine is much worse today than it was under former president Viktor Yanukovich", but their main concern today is "the situation of refugees in Europe."

"As we are refugees ourselves" – the three women fled Ukraine and have applied for asylum in France – "we see that society does not accept easily refugees. Although we are white women, we face many obstacles in getting asylum. Bureaucratic obstacles and also politicians using the refugee crisis for their own purposes. We don't want to be manipulated by Marine Le Pen and other populist politicians. The European Union should stay united and spread the idea of a place that accepts everyone. Nazi – meaning far-right – ideas spread across Europe and are the major threat to it. People should fight Marine Le Pen and the likes the same way they fought Hitler."

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A stain of shame for the European Union

Relief map of Europe and surrounding regions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A smudge of shame unto Europe by the Danish lawmakers who voted on Tuesday in favour of controversial legislation empowering authorities to seize cash and valuables from asylum seekers to help cover their expenses.

Such a law not only discriminates people willing to enter a country of the European Union, it also creates  a possibility for police constables to steal from those entering the country.

When the police officers may seize valuables worth more than 10,000 Danish kroner (about $1,453) and are given the choice to take off items which they do consider of no "special sentimental value" such as "wedding rings, engagement rings, family portraits, decorations and medals" opening is given to lots of variety.

Once more in Europe the extreme right is given more power to put certain groups of people in the corner and to threaten them.

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Russian take-over of Crimea

The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, erupted in violent demonstrations and street clashes in late January, culminating with the removal by Parliament of President Viktor Yanukovych. Tensions mounted in the Crimea region, where additional Russian troops and armoured vehicles were reportedly deployed.

Ukrainian Presidential Election October 2004 - Viktor Yanukovych (First Round) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last few days we saw how how the Crimean people could only give two votes in Sunday's referendum of which we can question if it was legally installed. The referendum in which 96.8 percent of Crimean residents voted in favour of the secession could also been seen as a voice of the majority. The voter turnout in the referendum stood at 83.1 percent. Those who did not turn up to give their vote in a certain way can now not complain.
It for sure did not resolve in Ukraine the country’s ongoing political crisis.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday, March 17 the proclaimed independence from Ukraine, will further worsen the situation around Ukraine. 


Ban Ki-moon is “deeply concerned and disappointed” that this weekend’s Crimea secession referendum will only exacerbate an “already complex and tense situation.”

Since the beginning of the crisis, the UN chief has urged all parties to avoid “hasty steps” that could exacerbate tensions.

“He encourages all parties to work for a solution that is guided by the principles of the United Nations Charter, including respecting Ukraine’s unity and sovereignty,”

 said Mr. Dujarric.

What we in the West hear is only that most Tartars stayed at home and did not go to vote. So you could wonder if they now can complain. Looking at the results,in case they where received honestly the majority of the voters in Crimea overwhelmingly supported leaving Ukraine and joining Russia. The referendum caps months of political unrest, triggered by the Government's decision last November not to sign an agreement on broader European integration. The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, erupted in violent demonstrations and street clashes in late January, culminating with the removal by Parliament of President Viktor Yanukovych. Tensions mounted in the Crimea region, where additional Russian troops and armoured vehicles were reportedly deployed.

In his statement today, the Secretary-General condemned the violence which occurred over the weekend in eastern Ukraine and which resulted in injuries and loss of life on all sides.

“The Secretary-General once again urges all parties to refrain from violence and to commit themselves to de-escalation and inclusive national dialogue in the pursuit of a political and diplomatic solution,”

 said Mr. Dujarric, adding:

“A deterioration of the situation will have serious repercussions for the people of Ukraine, the region and beyond.”  

The UN chief also urged all parties in Ukraine and those with influence to avoid any steps that could further increase tensions.

“Above all, the Secretary-General urges all concerned to intensify their efforts and engage constructively toward a peaceful solution to this crisis, with the aspirations of all the people of Ukraine foremost in mind,”

said Mr. Dujarric, adding that Mr. Ban remains ready to work with all parties to resolve this situation.


Moscow and Kiev are on the brink of conflict following a breakdown in relations in the wake of last month's overthrow of Ukraine's former Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.
On Tuesday, Putin signed a treaty absorbing the Ukrainian region of Crimea into Russia and on Wednesday pro-Russian troops stormed a Ukrainian naval headquarters on the peninsula.
 
Much of the international community, including the United States and the European Union, rejects the annexation of Crimea as illegal, but Moscow in turn refuses to recognise the Ukrainian government. 

The Secretary-General will travel to Kiev on Friday, where he will hold talks with top Ukrainian officials, members of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission and representatives of civil society.
The statement said the visit was "part of (Ban's) diplomatic efforts to encourage all parties to resolve the current crisis peacefully". Key elements of the charter include respect for fellow U.N. member states' sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the peaceful resolution of international disputes.

The Christadelphian brothers and sisters in Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Crimea thankfully can report that they are all well, and unaffected so far by the protests and the Russian take-over of Crimea. However their cost of living will increase as the grivna devalues against foreign currencies, and imports cost more.

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• The Ongoing Crisis in Ukraine (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
  The statement comes in the wake of an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council on Saturday, at which the 15-nation body was blocked from adopting a resolution urging the international community to affirm Ukraine’s national borders and declare the referendum in Crimea invalid, owing to a “no” vote from Russia, a permanent member.  China – who is also a permanent member, along with France, United Kingdom and the United States – abstained in the vote. 
• EU mulls further sanctions on Russia over Crimea (seattletimes.com)
  Pro-Russian forces seized three Ukrainian warships Thursday and Ukraine said its troops were being threatened in Crimea as the U.S. announced a new round of sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
  Tensions in the region remained high despite the release of a Ukrainian naval commander held by pro-Russian forces.
  Shots were fired but there were no casualties as the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky was seized in Sevastopol, according to an AP photographer at the scene. Another ship, the Lutsk, was also surrounded by pro-Russian forces. An AP photographer later saw Ukrainian servicemen disembarking a third ship, the Ternopil corvette.
  
• Crimea crisis: Ukraine prepares to withdraw troops from region (descrier.co.uk)
  
  Ukraine is preparing to "quickly and efficiently" withdraw its troops and their families from Crimea, according to Kiev's security chief.
  Andriy Parubiy explained more details of Kiev's position regarding Crimea at a news conference, and said that Ukraine was seeking UN support to designate Crimea a "demilitarised zone", which would involve the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops to continental Ukraine as well as the withdrawal of Russian troops.
  He went on to say that Kiev are also drawing up plans to evacuate any Ukrainians that do not wish to live in an "occupied territory", and that Ukraine will be leaving the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alliance.
  
• Pro-Russian Mobs Seize Two Ukrainian Warships in Sevastopol Harbor (matthewaid.com)
  Pro-Russian crowds seized two Ukrainian warships Thursday and Ukraine said its troops were being threatened in Crimea as the European Union considered new sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
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  In an address to the German Parliament in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU was readying further sanctions and that the G-8 forum of leading economies had been suspended indefinitely. Russia holds the presidency of the G-8 and President Vladimir Putin was due to host his counterparts, including President Barack Obama, at a G-8 summit in Sochi in June.
  "So long as there aren’t the political circumstances, like now, for an important format like the G-8, then there is no G-8," Merkel said. "Neither the summit, nor the format."
• Ukraine to withdraw troops from Crimea (therebel.org)
  On Wednesday, Andriy Parubiy, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said the Kiev government would ask the United Nations to declare Crimea a demilitarized zone as it seeks to relocate military forces and civilians from the Russian-controlled peninsula to mainland Ukraine.
  The development comes as the ultimatum that Ukrainian interim President Oleksandr Turchynov issued to Crimean authorities to release the country's Navy commander held by pro-Russia forces has come to an end.
  
• Ukraine would accept Russia's annexation of Crimea as new reality (drabdulruff.wordpress.com)
  Russians celebrate the annexation of Crimea – perhaps as the first ever Russian victory in the post-Soviet era. Many Russian leaders applauded Putin’s courage. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has defended Russia’s takeover of Crimea, saying that the referendum among the peninsula’s voters corrected a historical “mistake.” Gorbachev, the recipient of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, added that international sanctions — such as those the U.S. and European nations have brought against Russia — would be justified only on very serious grounds, but the takeover of Crimea had failed to provide that.
• Ukraine would accept Russia's annexation of Crimea as new reality (abdulruff.wordpress.com)
  Many Russians have used Crimea’s history as a reason to legitimate Russian military intervention in the peninsula, which harbors a 60 percent Russian-speaking population and voted in favor of joining Russia in a referendum. Crimea was part of Russia until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev handed it over to Ukraine in 1954, in a symbolic gesture that had little significance at the time since both countries were part of the Soviet Union. In 1991, the leader of the Russian Soviet Republic, Boris Yeltsin, and his counterparts from Ukraine and Belarus signed a deal breaking up the Soviet Union and establishing new independent states. Gorbachev did not participate in the 1991 meeting.
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  Given its military prowess and influences, perhaps Russia’s inexorable seizure of Crimea is unavoidable. Humbled but defiant, Ukraine lashed out symbolically at Russia by declaring its intent to leave the Moscow-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of 11 former Soviet nations. The last nation to leave the group was Georgia, which lost a brief war with neighboring Russia in 2008 and ended up losing two separatist territories.
  Moscow says it reserves the right to “defend” Russian speakers in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. Moving closer to the EU does not preclude Ukraine maintaining good relations with Russia, Yatsenyuk said. Beyond the grander political gestures of the day, Parubiy said Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry had been instructed to introduce a visa regime for travel between the two nations. The move could badly affect Ukrainian migrant laborers, many of whom work in Russia and send home money. It came against the backdrop of claims that Russian citizens were pouring across the Ukrainian border to foment secessionist unrest in bordering eastern regions.
• Europe mulls response to Russia's absorption of Crimea (dnaindia.com)
  The EU faces tough decisions in finding a credible response to an explosive security crisis on its eastern frontier, with biting sanctions likely to hurt member states with strong economic links to Russia.
  Kiev said it was looking to withdraw its embattled troops from Crimea after pro-Moscow forces seized naval bases and detained Ukraine's naval chief in a tightening of Russia's grip on the peninsula.
  
• Putin adds Crimea to Kremlin fort, defends the action! Ramifications! (abdulrubb.wordpress.com)
  In a fiercely patriotic address to a joint session of the Russian
  parliament in the Kremlin, punctuated by standing ovations, cheering and
  tears, Putin lambasted the West for what he called hypocrisy. Western
  nations had endorsed Kosovo’s independence from Serbia but now denied
  Crimeans the same right, he said. “You cannot call the same thing black
  today and white tomorrow,” he declared to stormy applause, saying Western
  partners had “crossed the line” over Ukraine and behaved “irresponsibly”.
  The strong man of Russia thanked China for what he called its support, even
  though Beijing abstained on a UN resolution on Crimea that Moscow had to
  veto on its own, and said he was sure Germans would support the Russian
  people’s quest for reunification, just as Russia had supported German
  reunification in 1990.
  Putin has repeatedly accused the new leadership in Kiev of failing to
  protect Russian-speakers from violent Ukrainian nationalists. Ukraine’s
  government has accused Moscow of staging provocations in Russian-speaking
  regions of eastern Ukraine to justify military intervention.
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  EU foreign ministers agreed to subject 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials
  to visa restrictions and asset freezes. US President Barack Obama imposed
  sanctions on 11 Russians and Ukrainians blamed for the military seizure of
  Crimea, including Yanukovich, and two aides to Putin. Putin himself,
  suspected in the West of trying to resurrect as much as possible of the
  former Soviet Union under Russian leadership, was not on the blacklist.
  The US list targeted higher-profile Russian officials close to Putin while
  the EU went for mid-ranking officials and military commanders more directly
  involved on the ground. Washington and Brussels said more measures could
  follow in the coming days if Russia formally annexes Crimea. The EU also
  said its leaders would sign the political part of an association agreement
  with Ukraine on Friday, in a gesture of support for the fragile coalition
  in Kiev.
  
• Ukraine to withdraw troops from Crimea after being forced out of its own naval HQ by masked Russian soldiers (thisismoney.co.uk)
  Ukraine now plans to relocate armed forces to the mainland

UK forces EU to lift embargo on Syria rebel arms

The president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar Al-Assad during a visit to Congress Português do Brasil: Brasília (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Europe's sanctions regime against Syria was plunged into uncertainty after Britain, backed by France, forced a lifting of the EU arms embargo on what it identifies as the moderate opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. Britain claimed victory in a long day of acrimonious negotiations, winning an easing of the arms embargo. The vast majority of EU states opposed the shift, but assented in order to preserve a semblance of unified policy. A meeting of EU foreign ministers descended into recrimination with a vast majority against lifting the arms embargo, but William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, blocked a compromise deal. Hague sounded satisfied, however, although others said 25 of 27 EU governments opposed the Anglo-French policy. "EU nations agreed to bring the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition to an end. This was the outcome that the United Kingdom wanted," Hague said.

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As usual Europe was divided over this decision. Europe is hardly ever united. There are of course 27 governments all with their own agendas so it is hardly surprising. The Bible speaks of Europe in this way in Daniel 2 v 41. However what is interesting in this decision is how Britain pretty much stood alone in pushing through the lifting of the embargo of arming the Syria rebels. France was the only other nation backing the UK.

Britain is increasingly at odds with the rest of Europe. It has a different agenda. When it comes to Syria Britain’s imperial instincts kick in and it believes that more arms given to the rebels will help overthrow Assad. Britain is Bible prophecy’s king of the south. It is pushing into the territory of the ancient king of the north (Syria.) America is also part of the king of the south and it has begun talking of a no fly zone over Syria. All this is “pushing” the ancient king of the north (Syria) and the new king of the north (Russia)

Andy Walton

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And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

Daniel 11:40

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find out more about the happenings this week: CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S WWW 

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