Putin puts troops in western Russia on alert in drill

[Cybran]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/...ne-crisis.html

Ukraine's interim leaders on Wednesday pushed a plan to allow the regions a greater say over their affairs, but the exclusion of separatists from round table talks cast doubt over whether the move could defuse the crisis.

The talks brought together politicians and civil groups in an effort to quell a pro-Russian rebellion in the industrialised Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, which has triggered fears of a break-up of the former Soviet republic.

In the rebel redoubt of Slaviansk on Wednesday, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-appointed mayor, said he had heard nothing of the round table.

"The Kiev junta organised that? ... Our first condition for talks with the Kiev junta is the immediate pullout of all the troops of the Ukrainian army from the territories of the Donetsk, Kharkov and Lugansk regions... As long as they are on our territory there will be no talks," he declared.

There have been no public negotiations between separatists and the government since the crisis began in early April.

"There is no reason to expect any concrete decision (from the talks)," independent analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said.

"If there are not people in authority from the east at these talks this round-table will lose all sense."

So the unelected muppets in Kiev hold talks about the crisis without any of the local groups from Eastern Ukraine. What a joke.

[Deleted]

True.

Based on kill count, comparing Putin to America is like comparing Bob the thug to Hitler.

We're just going to talk about invasions? Not the horrible human rights breaches in Russia? The ethnocentric politics? The harrasment of neighbouring countries? The attempts at destabilizing Europe for the sake of blind nationalism?

[Cybran]

I have yet to see any actual evidence of this beyond isolated incidents.

http://www.france24.com/en/20131020-...-unemployment/

Anger directed at Germany

Much of the anger in Brittany has been directed at Germany, who French meat-packing businesses accuse of unfair social dumping. They say German competitors are employing Eastern European abattoir workers for just three or four euros an hour under the country’s “mini-job” regime.

In a letter to Hollande this week, the French Coordination Rurale farmers’ union, called on the president to “make EU countries, and Germany in particular, listen to reason,” in order to stop a practice they said was, “devastating and contrary to the vision of the founding EU fathers.”

Germany’s “mini-job" workers can earn up to 450 euros per month without paying taxes or having money withheld for pensions. In addition, their employers don’t have to contribute to the social security system on their behalf.

French farmers are not the only ones nursing a gripe with Germany. In April, Belgium sent a letter to the European Commission complaining about the low wages in the German meat-packing firms.

France has yet to file a similar complaint to the EU Commission, but pressure is piling up on Hollande’s government to take further measures.

On Saturday, Breton fishermen joined farmers and truck drivers in a protest against the ecotax that blocked traffic in one of Brittany’s main highways.

“No to social dumping, yes to a European minimum wage,” many of them shouted.

The meat industry is just one of MANY examples where Germany is screwing over it's neighbours by underpaying migrants from Eastern Europe.

take more in EU funding than it contributes, right?

You have no clue how that works. Every country contributes a fixed percentage of it's Gross national product 1.2% and a fixed percentage of it's Value added taxes. Countries that make more money pay more money to the EU while countries who's GDP per capite is lower than the EU median get more money in order to catch up. But the EU subsidies are capped at 2.5% of GDP so countries with low GDP can't catch up fast enough regardless.

For example people in Luxemburg get 3000 Euro a year from the EU while people in Romania and Bulgaria get 160 euro a year. Is that fair?

[Jackmoves]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...in-Sweden.html



8 countries in Europe are already caught in a deflation cycle just like Japan in the 90s. What this means is that there is no demand and prices decrease which causes investors to keep their money and wait for prices to drop before buying. This in turn drives demand down and causes more deflation until everyone is fucked.

The ECB ignored the warnings for months and now they are trying to do something desperate about it.

I dont think they are caught in a deflation cycle, granted everyone was suprised in March, but its bounced back a bit in April(0, 0) in my country at least. Hopefully it will increase, the Riksbank is really divided on what to do atm though. Will see how May looks. I wouldnt be suprised if they lower the rates in the summer though.

[pateuvasiliu]

We're just going to talk about invasions? Not the horrible human rights breaches in Russia? The ethnocentric politics? The harrasment of neighbouring countries? The attempts at destabilizing Europe for the sake of blind nationalism?

Implying invasions didn't breach human rights.

[Elegiac]

Implying invasions didn't breach human rights.

Actually, no. Americans tend to go out of their way not to breach human rights - part of the reason why they never win asymmetrical wars.

[TooMuch]

Actually, no. Americans tend to go out of their way not to breach human rights - part of the reason why they never win asymmetrical wars.

Haha, like private companies doing their work and giving them the same rights so they can not be pulled before court... This is a massive breach of human rights, especially when companies like Blackwater kill and rape people...

[High Marshal Sigismund]

Is Putin in bed with the Jews?

That is the question.

[burek]

We're just going to talk about invasions? Not the horrible human rights breaches in Russia? The ethnocentric politics? The harrasment of neighbouring countries? The attempts at destabilizing Europe for the sake of blind nationalism?

the gay shit is not a horrible human rights breach. killing innocent civilians of other countries is horrible in every possible way. harassment by flying planes near the border? who gives a shit? if you are talking about ukraine when mentioning destabilizing, its eu and usa who did the destabilizing

[Tziva]

This thread is way, way, way off the rails at this point.

This situation is a big deal and worthy of attention from the world, but since people are mostly arguing about whether the gays corrupt children and other inappropriate and off-topic stuff, I'm closing this.