Peace March for Hungary & Co. since 2012: Last editition 29th March 2014 @ Heros square

CÖF president, Laszló Csizmadia expeced a million people, ther were quite a few hundred thousand.

From all around Hungary Fidesz buses brought the right wing protestors to the final destination of the peaceful Peace March: Heroes Square.

The Hand that Rocked the Cradle, or the final campaign count down in Budapest, on 29th March 2014.

Standing in font of the stairs of the Expostition Hall Műcsarnok, where he was listened by a whole country looking for freedom in a new age, thought to be the age of democracy, nearly 25 years ago,Viktor Orbán talked to people of the Peace March today.

Supporting the governor party Fidesz and its leader, the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, since end of January 2012, the 6th Peace March organized by the Forum of Civic Cooperation (CÖF, Civil Összefogás Fóruma) joined today afternoon the  the Fidesz closing campaign event on Heroes square, in order to listen to the Hungarian prime minister speech.

Peace March for Hungary & Co. since 2012

Peace March for Hungary seems to be a real Hungarian Brand. Still supporting the governor party Fidesz and its leader, the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, the 6th Peace March organized by the Forum of Civic Cooperation (CÖF, Civil Összefogás Fóruma) will join the Fidesz closing campaign event on Heroes square on Saturday, 29th March.

The March will take the following route: Leaving at 1.30 p.m. Kossuth Square, Alkotmány Street, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Road, Andrássy Avenue, and the final destination of the peaceful Peace March is Heroes Square, where Viktor Orbán will talk to the public at 3 pm. Even though this is the reverse direction of the first March (21st January 2012), the political orientation remains the same.

CÖF, and its leaders – László Csizmadia (president of CÖF, lawyer), Zsolt Bayer (journalist), Tamás Fricz (political analyst), András Bencsik (journalist), and Gábor Széles (businessman, owner of quite a few right-wing media) – have been providing support for Fidesz since the beginning of 2012. The Opposition claims that the support is reciprocal and CÖF is financed by Fidesz.

Laszló Csizmadia is expecting a million people to participate and considers the March as a bridge to the happy future over harmful intrigues, the polgarportal.hu writes.Tamás Fricz clearly states on the news portal, MNO, in his article published on Monday, 24th March, that the reason for the sixth Peace March is the intention to finally close the post-communist period and launch the age of national sovereignty-based democracy.

CÖF launched a series of publications, in the right wing journal Magyar Hírlap, on the management of Hungarian national assets between 2006 and 2010. The investigated period does not include the last 3 years, since Fidesz is now the governing party.

The first four Peace Marches in Budapest :

Hungary elections 2014, and participation of more that 200,000 people of Hungarian voter diaspora

Probably more than 200,000 voters without permanent home address in Hungary and and 23,000 with permanent home address but not staying in Hungary, want to express judgement on the last 4 years of Hungarian politics.

Slightly more than 231,000 people with a right to vote but no permanent home address in Hungary applied for vote in letter, according to the Hungarian elections office. Mr. János Áder, President of Hungary set the date of the parliamentary elections in Hungary for Sunday, April 6, 2014. Letters must be received by the Hungarian elections office by the 5th of April. 1472 vote have been already sent to the Hungarian elections office and 1210 to the representation offices abroad, but they can be opened only after 7 p.m. next Sunday.

By now 195,000 of the 231,000 are eligible to receive a voter’s package, 36,000 rejected and

Frenchmen in Budapest or exercise in style by the group Accordzéâm Budapest

Sting, Star Wars or the Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Brahms, classical version or “néotard”, the musicians of Accordzéâm group , which consists of five young men, two of which are undoubtedly handsome twin brothers, play all and they really play it well . They are always musicians as their song says too.

They advertise on the website a Hungarian tour : " And this year, we won’ arrive with empty hands because we carry in our suitcases a new "single" record: Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Brahms in a special version of Accordzéâm ! " And the above mentioned néotard version of the Hungarian dance No. 5 by Brahms has switched the applauding machine on, in club New Orleans.
Three concerts were planned in the Budapest program . Friday, March 21 , a great concert at the New Orleans Club, followed by an acoustic session Saturday night at Café Jederman, from 23h. Finally a concert at the French song contest in the French Institute of Budapest. They will return to France passing by the Netherlands Saturday, March 29 , for a dance workshop and a dance at the University of Enschede . The French public will have the pleasure to see them again in April.
But before, on the 26th, Accordzéâm and the Hungarian singer Boggie accompany the main event of the Festival de la Francophonie in Hungary, the French song contest. This is however not the first time the guys of Accordzéâm share the stage with Boggie . Friday night at Club New Orleans we could see them together make a vitalizing music "body and soul ", in French.« corps et âme ».

see more shots on Eastland Baguette!

Crimea is being annexed to Russia in 3 remaining steps/ 1

Russia has finalized the legal process of taking Crimea under its sovereignty, writes the RT. 

The ratification of the treaty is done:

1. signed by leaders of Russia and Crimea, 
2. approved by the Constitutional Court 
3. and then be ratified by the parliament.

Putin completed the annexation of Crimea by signing new law amending the Russian constitution to reflect the transition of the peninsula to the Russian Federation .

155 DA
The upper chamber of the Russian parliament, 155 senators voting unanimously, has ratified an international treaty with Crimea, which accepts the former Ukrainian region as a new part of Russia, and they also passed a bill amending the Russian constitution to allow for the addition of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the list of administrative parts of the Russian Federation and Putin signed.-writes RT.

Further deadlines of the annexation process, according to RT

• Citizenship would be given automatically to all except those who explicitly opt out of it till end of April 2014.
• The actual transition of Crimea to existing under Russian laws and regulations may take until next year.
• The current interim authorities of Crimea will be replaced with new ones after elections, which will be held in September 2015.

sources: RT, The Guardian

Yad Vashem boycott on official Hungarian memorial project of Holocaust

A letter From Yad Vashem to House of Fates Project led by Dr. Mária Schmidt published on 20th of March 2014 on the House of Fates Project facebook page and on the website of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ)

"Dear Dr. Schmidt,

In regard to your invitation to representatives of Yad Vashem to attend an international meeting of experts regarding the House of Fates project that you lead, please be informed that Yad Vashem will not be sending representation to such a meeting.

Torches in the wind against “The Living Horror” and its controversial monument

Members of the Hungarian opposition alliance organized a torch protest, for the windy evening of the 70th anniversary of Hungary's German occupation ,and agianst the planned monument called the memorial to the German occupation of Hungary. 

Szabolcs Kerék-Bárczy, Csaba Horváth, Gábor Fodor, Gergely Karácsony, Zsuzsanna Szelényi (in the order of appearence, see below) spoke against the planned monument to victims of Hungary's 1944 occupation by the Nazis, called the memorial to the German occupation of Hungary, to the few houndreds of protesters gathered on Szabadság sqare, where the monument is planned to be.

The inagurationwas planned for 19th of March and has been postponed to 31st of May.

The monument depicts the Archangel Gabriel, a symbol of Hungary, being defeated by an eagle symbolizing Germany, suggesting by this composition that Hungarians were not responsible of the suffering of Jewish during the occupation.

Hungarian Jewish leaders slammed the plans of the monument for placing blame solely on Nazis and made clear that they boycott events marking a parallel 70th anniversary of the Holocaust, unless plans for the statue were scrapped. 

Orban said in his letter to Jewish leaders about the contested plans of the monument, that he was sure they could work together "to promote mutual respect and understanding and cooperation among our nation's communities."

Krisztián Ungváry, Hungarian historian of 20th century political and military history, especially known for hiswork on the siege of Budapest in World War II and his research of the work of the secret service under the communist period of Hungary, published an article on the memorial to the German occupation of Hungary: “The Living Horror”, end of January.

Crimea is being annexed to Russia in 3 remaining steps/ 2...

update:
Russia's Constitutional Court has approved the treaty between President Vladimir Putin and the Crimean authorities, wrote the Moscow Times, adding that, the court head Valery Zorkin told Interfax that the body had decided in a meeting that the treaty was constitutional and no public hearings were conducted on the contestable parts, because no contesting party was present.

"The Constitutional Court recognizes that the Treaty corresponds to the Russian Constitution," - Zorkin said.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_19/Russian-Constitutional-Court-says-Crimea-deal-complies-with-int-l-laws-2729/

As a next step, according to Russia's procedure for adopting new subjects, the agreement and changes to the 65th article of the Russian Constitution must be ratified by the State Duma, event scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, and the Federation Council,scheduled for noon on Friday.

The Treaty will be effective since its signing and comes into effect since its ratification - recalls the THE VOICE OF RUSSIA

By now in order to have Crimea annexed to Russia, the only steps remains the ratification of the treaty that was to be:

1. signed by leaders of Russia and Crimea, 
2. approved by the Constitutional Court 
3. and then be ratified by the parliament.

Crimea is being annexed to Russia in 3 remaining steps/ 3...

update:
Russian and Crimean leaders signed a treaty Tuesday to incorporate Crimea into Russia's territory.- reports the foxnews addig that - The agreement has to be endorsed by Russia's Constitutional Court and ratified by both houses of parliament to take effect, but those steps are considered mere formalities.

President Vladimir Putin informs parliament formally of Crimea's request to joinRussia and approves a draft bill on absorbing the peninsula - reported the bbc 3 hours earlier.
The treaty to annex Crimea has to be:

1. signed by leaders of Russia and Crimea, 
2. approved by the Constitutional Court 
3. and then be ratified by the parliament.

source: bbc, foxnews

Crimea is being annexed to Russia

Putin approved draft bill for annexation of Crimea by Russia
Putin says Crimea has always been 'inseperable part of Russia'. Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine’s acting president, said the country is ready for negotiations with Russia on Crimea but would never accept an annexation, meanwhile the United States, the European Union and Ukraine's new government refused to recognize the Crimean referendum and discussed sanctions against Russia.- writes the america aljazeera.

The rumors on Russia's exclusion from the G8 are not anymore rumors.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said the G8 suspended Russia’s participation in their meetings. However, President Putin is still invited to visit France on June 6 reports the rt.

briefing history

Sunday
Crimea voted Sunday to join Russia on a referedum with a turnout of 83,1%. with final result was 96.77 % to rejoin Russia and 2.51 % against.

Monday
Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as a sovereign and independent state, Russian media reported on Monday, shortly after the peninsula declared independence after voters on Sunday overwhelmingly chose to secede from Ukraine.

Tueasday
Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday approved a draft bill for the annexation of Crimea.
The decree signed by Putin was posted on the official government website.
The treaty to annex Crimea has to be

1. signed by leaders of Russia and Crimea, 
2. approved by the Constitutional Court 
3. and then be ratified by the parliament.

Crimeans vote overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia

The ballot paper for Sunday's referendum (16 March 2014) asked Crimean voters two questions. The first was: "Are you in favour of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reuniting with Russia as a constituent part of the Russian Federation?" The second was: "Are you in favour of the 1992 constitutional restoration, and for Crimea to be part of Ukraine?"

Even though the second question seems to offer an option for Crimea to stay with Ukraine, it doesn’t really, writes the HindustanTimes, adding that the 1992 constitution was adopted immediately after Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union and gave Crimea the option to decide which path to choose, including joining Russia. The 1992 constitution was then rejected and replaced by another, created by Ukrainians, in 1995.

Crimean election spokesman, Mikhail Malyshev, announced that the final result of the referendum was 96.77 percent to rejoin Russia and 2.51 percent against. The turnout was 83,1 percent, with a total of 1,274,096 people voting. Of those participating, 1,023,002 voted to join Russia, 31,997 voted to stay with Ukraine, and 9,097 votes were invalid, Malyshev said, according to The Washington Post. After only 50 percent of the votes were counted, more than 95 percent showed support for joining with Russia.

"Not everyone wants to vote for Crimea uniting with Russia. ...

March in March in Sydney against Abbott

Sydney protesters gathering at central Sydney's Belmore Park on Sunday, the 16th March, to protest Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s stance on asylum-seekers, the environment, industrial relations, free trade and gay marriage, deliver a statement of no confidence in the current Australian Government.

The Sydney March in March, one day before St Patrick's day 

Anti-government demonstrations were held across the north coast in Australia over the weekend.
Lismore's protest drew an estimated 7,000 people and those behind Byron's Sunday march said there was a crowd of 3,500.-writes the abc news.
March in March national convenor Tim Jones said according to initial reports from ‘‘news sources’’, 112,000 people had attended about 20 marches around the nation, with 12,000 turning up in Sydney -reports the The Sydney Morning Herald. The abc news reported 10,000 protesters based on Sydney police information. 

Cat Rose, the convenor of Community Action Against Homophobia, said that ‘‘it’s pretty clear that Tony Abbott’s homophobia alone disqualifies him from government’’ - writes the The Sydney Morning Herald.

China Express presents: Guangzou

Three shots from or travelling stylist from Pullman Guangzhou Baiyun Airport on the wonderful old city of Guangzou, in China.

15th March, 2014: Delegation Next on the grey carpet - the invitees V.I.P. leaving

after speeches of Hungary's leaders on Kossuth square on 15th March, national holiday celebration opening.

15th March, 2014: Hoisting of the national flag in front of the Hungarian Parliament and some more fun

on the renovated Kossuth square.

The renovation of Kossuth square was a symbol of the renewal of the Hungarian State, according to the president of Parliament, László Kövér who pronounced a detailed speech on the renovation.

In fact only the garage and the center of visitors left to be built and the big office building that hides th metro station will be transformed somehow too, somewhen.
Kövér did not mention but the many other renovations has been done by the 14th March. The Ferenciek tere and its underpass for exemple.

The Hungarian extreme right party has been misunderstood...

and miscommunicated by media, at least the supporters feel so.

15th March is one of the 3 national holidays in Hungary. It is the celebration of the springtime national holiday of Hungary, the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, that started on 15th March with mass demonstration in Buda and Pest and then turned into a war for independence.

For a couple of years the same main points of the city of Budapest are occupied by mass demonstrations linked to political parties, such as Deak square, which is the place of the extreme right party's demonstrations.
See below the order of love by stellashots

This year supporter of Jobbik marched along Andrássy avenue and told to reporters that love is a governor force of their party.

Hungary goes green

The increased purchasing power in the Magyar country, as in other EU states, makes common growing product announcements "bio" looming on television or in supermarkets in cities like Budapest, Debrecen and Szeged. The question is: what does it really mean to be "bio"?

Since the start of the recession in the European economy in 2007, the consumption of organic products in Hungary was reduced significantly due to its high price compared to conventional products.  However, in the last two years the demand for organic products in the country of paprika has not stopped growing. The key is to recognize products that have been grown naturally from those that have suffered any modification during their growth, transport or handle.

Szatyor or the power of true "bio"

"Now there are many in Hungary called 'bio' shops but it is difficult to find something truly 'live' in them because 70 % of the products you find there are not Hungarians". As Erika Karman, one of the owners of the Szatyor ("pocket"), explains a very large amount of the Hungarian production is exported to Germany for processing and then sell it again in Hungary. So 85% of Hungarian organic products are exported and then are re-purchased in the country of origin.



Szatyor is the largest store for organic products in Budapest. With the help of a volunteer group, Erika organizes weekly various conferences with farmers, workshops on how to make your own ketchup or makeup, or trips to organic farms in order to educate their customers about the importance of responsible consumption. "When we started this project, people looked at us like we were crazy, but two years ago everyone started to think about the use of chemicals in cosmetics and health, and began to understand that what media tells you is not always what you need".


The rise of organic farms

Last year, Mónika Sobják and 20 other friends decided to buy some land in Margaret Island to grow food 100 % ecological and thereby fulfill their dream of being able to taste the same products they ate when they were little. "Every Friday we agree with our customers, explains Mónika, to deliver the boxes with the products they have previously ordered us and with what we get we pay the person who works on our crops".

In Hungary, more and more people like Mónika, associate and seek alternative growing and distributing organic products through social networking ways.

Among these "eco-farmers" highlights the elongated figure of Professor Matthew Hays, an English man who has been living in the small town of Zsámbok for 14 years and has a clientele of 40,000 people. Despite having suffered a year of floods, a dry summer and a winter that has come in advance, this professor at the University of Gödöllő does not lose the smile: "It is a matter of mentality, if you value the importance of organic food, but do not have much money, you will spend on it before buying a new pair of Nikes".

Amelia Ochoa
proofread by Jeremy Stanford

Unitiy Kitty is not alone!

Unity Kitty, this is a good news for you, You are not alone. Another brand new campaign face of the Hungarian opposition alliance is this sweet little doggy pretending that the best protection is a protest.

And best messaging is PETition...

Additionnally, this is indeed a good idea to put these poster on the walls, instead of portaits of politicains.
A poor little baby doggy could not do anything wrong in the last 25 years, so only undoubtedly bad spirits could write on them swar words.

The below poster featuring the formar PM Gordon Bajnai  and a blaming phrase, that is unseen here, belongs to the Fidesz campaig...  and inspires some people to add their opinion. 

Watch out! Kitty on the left

Eastland Cup Online is pleased to present You: The Hungarian opposition alliance campaign's new face:

the first Hungarian baby kitty with political ambitions:

The UNITY KITTY

UNITY KITTY for president!
...
And worldpeace!

International Women Day

 see THE FULL SERIES

Queensland Express presents: a real...

RAINBOW

at Cairns Esplanade, Queensland, Australia

Queensland Express presents: the Village in the Rainforest

Kuranda

Have you ever seen a railway station in a rainforest? Me not. So it was to my greatest pleasure to see my friend, Robert's shot. Just look at this one in Kuranda.

Kuranda, a town surrounded by tropical rainforest and adjacent to the Wet Tropics World Heritage listed Barron Gorge National Park, is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia, 25 kilometres from Cairns.

Then, as he used to, he rotated his camera  +90 and  went on shooting.

 platfrom 2 

the Barron Falls

Butterfly in the Kuranda Butterfly house

Kuranda is well known as the Village in the Rainforest and has been attracting visitors for well over a century. Initially people came to admire the mighty Barron Falls, while artisans were attracted to the region's natural beauty and decided to call it home, creating a vibrant arts and craft culture.- writes the http://www.kuranda.org/

photos: Robert Szabo©

We know what you've done in the last 25 years of politics

It looks like a trailer for a thriller movie. In fact, it's a campaign video for the Hungarian Green Party, LMP, that strikes hard at every actor in Hungarian politics.

The video accuses the new Green party, PM (Dialogue for Hungary), of weakness for joining the Together 2014 electoral alliance, led by Gordon Bajnai, the former technocrat prime minister. And  former LMP party colleague, Gergely Karácsony, is roundly branded a traitor. In fact, LMP seems  to attack the whole political establishment.

The final scene of a dramatic divorce

For those enticed by films about political battles, this video might be better described as a classic, divorce case drama. The new green party, PM, was founded by former LMP members a little more than a year ago, on 17th February 2013, after a series of unsuccessful negotiations on the subject of cooperation with other opposition parties.

Russia Tomorrow

Will Putin’s Eurasian Union rise this spring? Pretending to protect Russians within Ukraine from violence by ultra-nationalists, Putin takes power in Crimea to show his strength to the world.

Reacting possibly to EU leaders' emergency summit in Brussels that aimed to put pressure on Russia to ithdraw troops from Crimea, the mission of observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was stopped from entering Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula by unidentified armed forces in military fatigues, Reuters reported. The Russian-controlled region’s deputy prime minister, Rustam Temirgaliev, said the decree making Crimea part of Russia was already in force and Ukrainian troops still on its territory would be treated as occupiers and forced to surrender, or leave.

"Ukraine’s government is illegitimate and Russian troops are not in control of Crimea", Russia’s Foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said in Madrid previously.

Just a day earlier, armed men stopped a special representative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Ukraine's Crimea region. Robert Serry had been threatened, but had not been kidnapped, reported Reuters, based on information from Ukraine's foreign ministry.

While the leaders of America and the European Union discussed measures to take, or not to take, against Putin, Crimea’s parliament voted in favour of joining Russia and said it had asked Russian President Putin to “start the procedure” of allowing Crimea to be “reunited with its motherland”. Crimean MPs also voted to hold a referendum on the status of Crimea within 10 days, reported Euronews.

Two questions were put on the 16th March referendum ballot: 1. Do you vote for the reunion of Crimea with the Russian Federation, as a subject of the Russian Federation? 2. Do you vote for restoration of the 1992 constitution, and for Crimea to be part of Ukraine? Sixty percent of Crimea’s population claims to be ethnic Russian. Has the die been cast in Crimea?

Timothy Snyder, a Housum Professor of History at Yale, is the author of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and a contributor to periodicals such as The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Prospect and The Nation. On the New York Review of Books website, on 1st March, 2014, he posted an exhaustive summary on the present Ukrainian revolution and the related propaganda machine.“From Moscow to London to New York, the Ukrainian revolution has been seen through a haze of propaganda...," Snyder began. And he continued “...Whatever course the Russian intervention may take, it is not an attempt to stop a fascist coup, since nothing of the kind has taken place. What has taken place is a popular revolution, with all of the messiness, confusion, and opposition that entails. The young leaders of the Maidan, some of them radical leftists, have risked their lives to oppose a regime that represented, at an extreme, the inequalities that we criticize at home.” Snyder added, “It is entirely possible that a Russian attack on Ukraine will provoke a strong nationalist reaction: indeed, it would be rather surprising if it did not, since invasions have a way of bringing out the worst in people. If this is what does happen, we should see events for what they are: an entirely unprovoked attack by one nation upon the sovereign territory of another.”Read the entire article on: www.nybooks.com
Meanwhile, on 3rd March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Geneva "violence of ultra-nationalists threatens the lives and the regional interests of Russians and the Russian speaking population". And that is also what Sergei Markov, professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations wrote in The Moscow Times on 6th March, “ The current crisis is not about Crimea. It is about the rights of Russian-speakers throughout Ukraine whom the Kremlin wants to protect from violence and discrimination. Russia does not want a military intervention in Crimea and does not want to take Crimea from Ukraine.”

Black and bloody dollars of East and West

On newrepublic.com, Timothy Snyder published a much briefer article on 1st March calling for action, and listing Putin's vulnerable spots. He started by noting that by invading Crimea “Russia has violated international law”, and more specifically, the Budapest Memorandum, signed in 1994 by the United States, Great Britain, and Russia, which “guaranteed Ukraine’s territorial inviolability in exchange for Kiev’s agreement to destroy its stockpile of nuclear weapons”. He added that the United States is a relevant military power in this context, as “Ukraine borders four members of NATO”.He suggested the response should be through the tourism and bank accounts of the Russian middle class in the European Union, plus “a general reconsideration of overall EU-Russian relations” concerning trade and, in particular, an energy policy that was too dependent on oil. Snyder wrote, “General restrictions on tourist visas, a few thousand travel bans, and a few dozen frozen accounts might make a real difference.” And he continued, “A simple announcement of the intention to investigate Norwegian and American hydrocarbons might make a difference. Over the long run, of course, the EU has every incentive to develop fusion and other alternatives that would free it from its artificial dependence upon a bellicose petrol state.”

The Budapest Memorandum was also recalled by Julia Tymoshenko who posted the following statement on the website of her Batkivschyna Party on Sunday, "We are not alone in this confrontation with Russia. In 1994 Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum with the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia guaranteeing our security in exchange for giving up our nuclear arsenal. Russia today is flagrantly violating its obligations and invading our territory. But I'm confident that the United States and Britain will never violate this memorandum and will do everything they can to ensure peace in Ukraine."

Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein have already frozen the bank accounts and assets of Ukraine’s ousted President, Victor Yanukovych, and his son, as well as those of more than a dozen other Ukrainians. The EU has also announced an assets freeze on Victor Yanukovych and 17 other senior officials and family in his entourage (such as Mykola Azarov, former Prime Minister, and his son, and Viktor Psonka, Ukraine's former chief prosecutor). According to information from Euronews, the US says it is issuing visa restrictions against a number of Ukrainian and Russian officials.However, not everyone shares an optimistic vision of being able to force Putin to do, or not to do, anything. A much darker picture is painted by Ben Judah in Politico Magazine, “Russia is confident there will be no Western economic counter attack. They believe the Europeans will not sanction the Russian oligarch money. They believe Americans will not punish the Russian oligarchs by blocking their access to banks. Russia is certain a military counter attack is out of the question.”

The author states that Putin feels he has nothing to lose, and nothing to fear, especially from the European Union as European bureaucrats are corrupt. Financially weaker countries, like Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Hungary are seeking to trade with Russia; but France and Britain are also in many ways engaged with Russian partners too. The only exception seems to be Germany, he writes, “Brussels today, Russia believes, talks about human rights but no longer believes in it. Europe is really run by an elite with the morality of the hedge fund: Make money at all costs and move it offshore”. Judah calls Crimea “Russia’s Club Med and imperial romanticism rolled into one”, and portrays the situation as an eventual perfect triumph that will allow Putin the simple, but extremely big, reality he wants to hide: Russia's many billions of dollars held in European banks – while Europeans are moving their money offshore. He reminds us of an old wisdom, that on both sides it’s all about the money.

sources: euronews, newrepublic.com, nybooks.com, cnn.com, index.hu, reuters

edited by Csilla Katona proofread by Jeremy Stanford www.copyfit.co.uk

Russia Today - the anchors speak out

“Just because I work here, for RT, doesn't mean I don't have editorial independence and I can't stress enough how strongly I am against any military intervention in sovereign nations' affairs. What Russia did is wrong... military intervention is never the answer. And I will not sit here and apologize and defend military aggression."

Russia Today channel anchor, Abby Martin, says what Russia did is wrong, 3rd March 2014
At the very end of Monday, March 3rd's episode of Russia Today's Breaking the Set programme, anchor Abby Martin delivered a monologue, explaining her own personal position over Russia and the United States playing with the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people, and spoke against any military aggression.

In the wake of Martin's remarks, RT (formerly Russia Today) released a statement saying that all RT journalists are “free to express their own opinions, not just in private but on the air", and that “there will be absolutely no reprimands made against Ms. Martin." However, RT also announced that Martin would be sent to Crimea, the site of the Russian invasion: “In her comment Ms. Martin also noted that she does not possess a deep knowledge of the reality of the situation in Crimea," an RT spokesperson said. “As such we'll be sending her to Crimea to give her an opportunity to make up her own mind from the epicentre of the story." - wrote Josie Ensor on telegraph.co.uk, on Tuesday, March 4th. Martin’s reaction on Twitter was: “ ...thanks for your article. But I am not going to Crimea despite the statement RT has made.”
As the first invitee of CNN's Piers Morgan Live Blog on Wednesday night, Abby Martin said that at least her program offers editorial freedom, and that she's experienced support from her network since the incident, suggesting that other media outlets aren't allowed the same leeway. "“You guys are beholden to advertisers that you cannot criticize. That's why I work for a station that I can criticize," she said. (Piers Morgan denied not being allowed to say anything he wanted.)

Say NO for agression

Former PM, Gordon Bajnai and his allee the party called PM, Dialogue for Hungary, in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Budapest, to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Former PM, Gordon Bajnai and his allee the party called PM, Dialogue for Hungary, in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Budapest, one step from Andrassy avenue

bbc: armed invasion

Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, accused Russia of carrying out an armed invasion by sending naval forces to occupy Sevastopol airport in the Crimea region - wrote the bbc on last day of February.

"I consider what has happened to be an armed invasion and occupation in violation of all international agreements and norms," Mr Avakov said on his Facebook page.-reported the bbc.

cnn update at 4:30 p.m 02.03.2014

As per today's breaking news update at 4:30 p.m. on CNN, based on the information from a senior U.S. administration official: Russian forces now "have complete operational control of the Crimean Peninsula", and the United States estimates there are 6,000 Russian ground and naval forces in the region.

After an Obama administration official, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Kiev on Tuesday.

irresponsible talk of EU and Nato membership"With irresponsible talk of EU and Nato membership, the West has badly mishandled relations with Ukraine– and with Moscow" -writes Rodric Braithwait in yesterday edition of the independent.co.uk

Happy Birthday Dialogue for Hungary (PM)

Tímea Szabó, singing member of the party, on the first birthday celebration of the Párbeszéd Magyarországért (Dialogue for Hungary)