Eastern European Politics

Surprising no one, but it's still galling to hear out loud.

Trump winning is a very real possibility and Europe needs to figure something out if it happens. I hope they learn that they can't rely on the US to bankroll European defense forever.

I feel that one of the few things in Trump-era politics that is beneficial in terms of making NATO go for 2% with the member countries.

And I'm being kind on this one.

BBC reports that the Policija in Lithuania responded to an incident where a hammer was used to thwack the face of Leonid Volkov, one of Navalny’s allies.

He’s also with the Russian opposition.

https://theatlasnews.co/brief/2024/03/17/geolocation-of-transnistria-drone-attack-targeted-helicopter-unused-for-20-years/

https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/03/17/drone-attack-destroyed-russian-helicopter-in-moldovas-transnistria-photos-video/

A supposed false flag op conducted in Transnistria in order to blame Ukraine for it.

https://new.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1bmbpq4/poland_scrambles_f16s_to_intercept_russian_attack/

Polish F-16s mobilized due to missiles fired at Ukraine going over Polish airspace.

https://www.rferl.org/a/latvia-russia-diplomat-expelled/32880163.html

Latvian government had a Russian diplomat expelled and declared "persona non grata".

Another political turmoil might be brewing in Hungary right now.

The ex-husband of the former minister of justice who had to retire from politics after that big scandal a few months ago that toppled the president released an Engineered Public Confession of Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! in the judicial branch. Fidesz is trying to smear him as a wife-beater in order to destroy his credibility, but that only raises other uncomfortable questions:

• If the upper echelons of Fidesz knew for years that one of their own cabinet members was suffering from domestic abuse, as their top publicist claims, why didn't they do anything when they claim they're oh-so-family-friendly?
• If the minister of justice, ie. a member of the cabinet, is assaulted by her husband, how come her government-appointed bodyguards didn't uphold their legal obligation of reporting it to the authorities?

And for the extra cherry on top, this minister claiming domestic abuse was the very same one who voted down Hungary's ratification of the Treaty of Istanbul for the legal protection of women from domestic abuse under the excuse that the current laws are sufficient.

Edited by amitakartok on Mar 28th 2024 at 3:40:28 PM

A traditional family is one where the husband is absolute master of his wife, and beating her is a part of that.

It's getting even better because he now claims she is the one who hit him, several times.

https://insightnews.media/czech-republic-exposes-russian-bribery-scheme-targeting-eu-politicians/

News that the Czechs exposed a pro-Moscow bribery scheme to pay out EU politicians and make them spew out pro-invasion rhetoric.

Hearing that the Slovaks got a new president who shares the same views as Fico.

Poland also had elections. PiS got the most votes percentage-wise, but the governing coalition got more in total.

Who's Fico?

Three-time Prime Minister of Slovakia. Controversially known to declare he won't have Slovakia provide material aid to Ukraine any longer.

Edited by HallowHawk on Apr 9th 2024 at 6:26:41 AM

Slovakia's current prime minister. Economically left, but social right. Populist and pro-Russia.

Edited by Risa123 on Apr 9th 2024 at 3:26:52 PM

Peter Pellegrini (Voice – Social Democracy) is the current Slovak president. His party's pro-left though, but they're known to be "catch alls".

https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-cis-mirzoyan-meeting/32898572.html

Armenian FM not going to upcoming CIS meeting in Belarus.

@amitakartok: Specifically, the local elections for local seats of power. The spread of power across the voidvoiships is about 50/50.

The Left came out the worst of this; not only KO is looking to steal some of their voterbase by very slowly inching to the left, the increasingly disappointing fusion of Trzecia Droga and Poland 2050 is holding on in its spot. There's been some fights in the coalition, chiefly about the abortion. The theocrat in charge of the fusion Hołownia, together with his like-minded cronies, has been trying to shift the blame for the coalition's non-decisive victory on the Left. Because how dare they talk about "ideological things" like -checks- abortion and women's rights.

This country sucks even when it's not ran to the ground by PIS.

While I know this is serious news, I still can't help but chuckle every time I read PiS. It's just one letter away from being either "piss" or PoS (the acronym for "piece of shit").

For myself, I have noticed the piss possibility. I thought it was funny that a party acronym was close to my opinion of said party.

, It's not lost on us even in Polish; members and followers of PIS are sometimes referred to as "Pisiors", which is just a crude (if slightly infantile) word for a penis.

https://twstalker.com/ColbyBadhwar/status/1780011459646234752

A post made on Twitter (Using TW Stalker now since Twitter is hard to use) that says Russia can use fires (as in set fires?) to interdict reinforcements to help the Baltic states.

PSA: That site's got malware-infected ads. Be very careful before clicking that link.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68843542

Anti-Fico (and to an extent, anti-Pellegrini) Slovaks are pitching in to help Ukraine get the needed stuff for their military.

Bratislava says that they won't intervene in it.

EUFOR Althea has a video on the EUFOR Strategic Reserve Force in training to assist the Bosnian military.

The Bosnian troops are in MARPAT-based camo.