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ALMATY, 14 May 2015 – The OSCE-supported sixth annual Central Asian Forum on Internet Development began today in Almaty with a focus on the role of the Internet and the security of those who use it.

The two-day event was co-organized by the OSCE Programme Office in co-operation with the International Centre for Journalism MediaNet and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. It brought together some 120 government officials, representatives from civil society, media-related non-governmental organizations, professional associations, experts and journalists from all Central Asian countries, Bulgaria, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. Michael Unland, Senior Adviser from the OSCE Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media, spoke on freedom of the media and national security issues.

Participants will discuss information security and cybersecurity, the Internet as a platform for information wars, children’s safety in the virtual space and the ways to prevent the use of Internet for terrorist purposes. They will also focus on the trends and challenges in developing the Internet and exchange views about potential threats to the free flow of online information and the legal basis for Internet development in Central Asia.

“With enhancing the Internet’s role as a major media and communication platform, the state should take every step to ensure the protection of the virtual space against this new emerging threat,” said Natalia Zarudna, the Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Astana. She added that since 2005, the OSCE has consistently promoted and facilitated implementation of targeted measures to thwart the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes and countering cybercrimes with a focus on respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Meiram Begentaev, Deputy of Parliament noted: “The World Wide Web offers huge opportunities for every country’s economic, cultural and social development in line with information society goals.  In this context, cybersecurity becomes one of the state’s priorities. Other priorities include telecommunications infrastructure development, the wide use of social networks for promoting society’s cohesion.”

As a result of the discussions, participants will develop a set of recommendations related to the Forums topics that will be disseminated among government agencies, other stakeholders in Central Asia and the Internet community at large.

The forum is part of the Office’s work in promoting freedom of expression and freedom of the media in Kazakhstan and the Central Asia region.

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Der Ausbau und die Verbesserung der vorhandenen Breitbandinfrastruktur gelten als wichtige Voraussetzung für wirtschaftliches Wachstum und steigenden Wohlstand. Insbesondere in ländlichen Gegenden ist der Zugang zu Breitbandinternet eng verknüpft mit der Entwicklung von Beschäftigung, Einwohnerzahlen und Wirtschaftskraft. Dies macht den Breitbandausbau auch zu einem bedeutenden Thema für Kommunen.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accused Russia of increasing its military presence in his country, something Moscow firmly denies, and said that Ukraine would fight “Russian aggression” “until the last drop of blood."

YEREVAN, 14 May 2015 – Co-ordination between different players to prevent crime among youth and children is the main focus of a roundtable discussion organized today by the Children’s Support Centre, the police and the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

It aims to introduce the newly developed Guide on organizations which provide social services to children and their families and launch a new project to work on the development of juvenile crime prevention strategy. The guide is based on mapping of all social services in the country and includes information on 236 public organizations, 23 foundations, 3 associations and 10 services provided by 8 church units.

“We very much hope that this initiative will be useful and instrumental for child protection and welfare specialists in joining and doubling their efforts in strengthening the protection of the rights and best interests of a child, which forms an essential part of the OSCE Human Dimension Commitments acknowledged by the OSCE participating States,” said Lilian Salaru, Acting Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. He said that close partnerships including families, schools and communities will be vital in developing juvenile crime prevention strategy in Armenia consistent with child-friendly justice standards.

The event brought together representatives from various state and non-state institutions including police forces, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, National Assembly Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, Child Protection Units of the municipalities, regional administrations and civil society, which deal with juvenile crimes.

Mira Antonyan, the Executive Director of the Children’s Support Center, said: “We would like to call on our partners and all stakeholders to co-operate in the framework of the new project which strives to assist the efforts of the state bodies aimed at development of juvenile crime prevention”.

The roundtable follows a series of forums held last year in different regions of Armenia by the Children’s Support Center Foundation with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan to ensure better co-ordination and closer cooperation among different state and non-state agencies dealing with juvenile offenders.

The guide available only in Armenian can be found here: https://www.osce.org/yerevan/157266

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BISHKEK, 15 May 2015 – In co-operation with the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Parliament hosts a two-day international conference on the role of Parliaments in achieving gender equality. The event is organized in the context of the Beijing +20 process marking the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for the advancement of women and girls. The high-level meeting is held on 15-16 May.

International and national parliamentarians, including members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, representatives of the Kyrgyz government, the international community, civil society and media from a large number of the OSCE participating States and beyond will review and discuss new challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality in all areas of public life. Prominent political figures including Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament, Asylbek Jeenbekov, and the former Kyrgyz President, Roza Otunbayeva, will provide opening remarks. Daniyar Narymbaev, first deputy head of the Presidential office will deliver a speech on behalf of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Almazbek Atambaev.

“Parliaments play a key role in promoting and strengthening gender equality in our societies,” says Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek. He added that the OSCE counts on the Kyrgyz Parliament achieving at least 30 per cent of women MPs in the next legislature, setting an example for many other OSCE participating States in the region.

Three OSCE-supported international experts will share OSCE experience on women’s leadership in parliament, on implementing United Nations Resolution 1325 on women’s participation in conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction, as well as enhancing the opportunities of women in political participation.

The conference is supported by the British Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, UN (UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women), NDI, USAID and others.

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By Paul McLeary with Ariel Robinson

Well, that’s news. Washington has big plans for stationing advanced weaponry in Australia, senior Defense Department officials say, in what would be a military first for the two close allies.

During testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, the Defense Department’s Assistant Secretary for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear said that in addition to the movement of U.S. Marines and Army units around the region, “we will be placing additional Air Force assets in Australia as well, including B-1 bombers and surveillance aircraft.”

The plans come just as Washington considers sending ships and aircraft to South China Sea to assert the right of free passage and challenge Beijing’s recent island building spree there, including airstrips in a bid to expand its scope of influence.

Requests for comment to the U.S. Pacific Command and Pacific Air Forces have not been returned, but stationing bombers in Australia is not an entirely new idea. Back in 2013, then-commander of the Pacific Air Forces Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle (who is now Commander of Air Combat Command) floated the idea, but nothing came of it.

But now U.S. officials are adamant. “We claim the right of innocent passage in such areas, and we exercise that right regularly, both in the South China Sea and globally,” Shear said. Earlier in the day, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said that “international law does not recognize man-made islands as an extension of the mainland, and in this case, nor do we.”

“No matter how much sand you pile on a reef in the South China Sea, you can’t manufacture sovereignty,” Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told the Senate committee.

The new crew. We wouldn’t exactly call them “fresh faces,” but if the Senate signs off on their nominations, the Joint Chiefs of Staff will have three new members come this fall. We’ve already tracked the nomination of Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs, but now we have two more: Gen. Mark Milley as Army chief of staff and Adm. John Richardson as chief of Naval operations.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s fingerprints are all over the nominations. Richardson is the top nuclear officer in the Navy, and has been plucked three years into an eight-year assignment with the Energy Department to take over the sea service. Remember, Carter is a former nuclear weapons analyst who has promised to make modernizing the nation’s aging nuclear weapons infrastructure a key part of his tenure. And Carter praised his work with Milley when the latter was the No. 2 commander in Afghanistan in 2013, and Carter was second-in-command at the Pentagon.

Of note: Reporters were told Wednesday morning that Carter would make a few brief remarks introducing the nominees and neither he nor the nominees would take questions, which is becoming the norm in his Pentagon. Earlier this month, as an example, the secretary also bolted after making a few brief remarks in announcing the rollout of the Defense Department’s latest sexual assault report. But this time the AP’s Robert Burns – a gentlemanly institution at the Pentagon – called out, “Mr. Secretary!” to Carter as he was about to walk away from the podium. For a second the possibility hung out there that Carter might actually have an unscripted moment, but he was quickly swallowed in a crush of military brass and moved out. Carter has only held two press conferences since taking over in February.

All together now! The Obama administration is huddling with senior leaders from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations this week in Washington, and whenever a meeting like this occurs, it’s a sure bet that a series of expedited weapons shipments and foreign military sales announcements will follow.

So, why isn’t Israel protesting the possibility of more weapons being shipped to its neighbors?

One reason, FP’s John Hudson writes, is that is that the Obama administration is being careful about how it assists Gulf allies in facing the Iranian threat without overstepping Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge, “a calculus the executive branch is required by law to take into account as it licenses the transfer of weapons to Middle East governments.” Another reason for Israel’s “relaxed temperament,” Hudson reports, is Israel’s “newfound kinship with Arab countries who share its concerns about Iran’s rise in the region.” As David Ottaway, a Gulf expert at the Wilson Center, noted, “The Israelis have cared less about the deals happening this week because there’s a feeling in Israel that they now have an undeclared ally in the GCC against Iran.”

Yoda’s back! Sort of. When the 93-year-old Andrew Marshall retired from his perch as the Defense Department’s top futurist at the Office of Net Assessment in January, a huge hole as left in the building’s, but also in conspiracy theorizing.

But the drought appears to be over. The Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe on Wednesday reported that Ash Carter has picked a younger Yoda – if no less brainy — to fill Marshall’s shoes.

Jim Baker, a retired Air Force colonel who currently serves as a top adviser to Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, is being tasked with doing things a little differently. “His selection reflects Carter’s desire to shift the focus of the office, which has concentrated on long-term threats to the United States that were often overlooked by a Pentagon consumed by more immediate concerns.” Jaffe writes.

Welcome to a very special edition of the Situation Report, where we celebrate the accomplishment of making it to Thursday! Pass along your notes, tips, and events to paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary.

Who’s Where When?

At 8:30 a.m. a group of think tankers from the Center for a New American Security, American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies speak at at the Senate Russell office building about defense reform. Also speaking are Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, Chairman, House Committee on Armed Services, and Democrat Rep. Adam Smith, Ranking Member, House Committee on Armed Services. 10:00 a.m. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work speaks in the Pentagon courtyard at the first-ever DoD Lab Day showing off some of the leap-ahead tech the Defense Department is investing in. 12:00 p.m. Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Lukman Faily and Pakistan’s Defence and Army Attaché Brigadier Chaudhary Sarfraz Ali speak at The Potomac Institute about combating terrorism.

Middle East

A senior Israeli intelligence official says Egypt is buying the Russian S-300 ground-to-air defense system. Dan Williams reports for Reuters. Neither Egypt nor Russia has confirmed the sale.

The Lebanon Daily Star writes that Hezbollah and the Syrian army have gained control of the highest mountain in the Qalamoun region along the Lebanese border. Syrian state TV thanked the Syrian army and “the Lebanese resistance.”

Europe

Authorities in the Czech Republic blocked a shipment of “sensitive technology usable for nuclear enrichment” to Iran after “false documentation raised suspicions,” Louis Charbonneau and Robert Muller write for Reuters.

Estonian officials say that they have a pretty solid plan for dealing with any “little green men” – the moniker Western officials have given to Russian special forces operatives working undercover who sprung up in the early days of the Ukraine crisis last year — according to the country’s chief of defence. “They will be shot,” reports the Financial Times.

Afghanistan

At least one American and two Indians were killed in an attack on a guest house in Kabul Wednesday evening. The attack came after “gunmen opened fire at a meeting of Muslim clerics in the southern province of Helmand, killing at least seven people, police said,” writes Mirwais Harooni for Reuters.

Congress

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain on Wednesday rejected a request “for changes in federal law to let the two largest U.S. arms makers use more Russian rocket engines to compete for military satellite launches against privately held SpaceX,” Andrea Shalal reports for Reuters.

 

A napokban megkezdődött a Lion Effort 2015 elnevezésű hadgyakorlat a csehországi Čáslav légibázison, ahol a mai napon, május 14-én spotternapot, május 23-án, szombaton pedig nyílt napot is rendeznek, melynek keretein belül megünneplik a cseh Gripen üzemeltetés 10. évfordulóját is. A Gripent üzemeltető légierők közül - a gyakorlatot rendező csehek mellett - Magyarország és Svédország érkezett Gripenekkel, ebből 5 gép (egy cseh, két magyar, két svéd) kiegészülve egy L-159ALCA-val és egy CASA C-295 típusú szállítógéppel a keddi napon már egy légifotózáson is részt vett! A fotókat most Olvasóinknak is megmutatjuk!

Russia advanced to 26th place in the Human Capital Report 2015 index, beating out South Korea overall and Japan among 15-25 year olds.

President Obama is convening delegations from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations at Camp David today to discuss pressing security issues across the Middle East. The summit is foremost an opportunity for the president to make assurances to the Gulf about their security if a nuclear agreement is reached with Iran, but will also include discussions about the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, the continuing Syrian civil war, and the fight against the Islamic State.

President Obama met with Saudi delegates yesterday, including Interior Minister Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Defense Minister Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa are skipping the summit in what has largely been perceived as a snub of the Obama Administration. President Obama is expected to offer the Gulf states a large package of defense systems to ensure the GCC’s security but has already quashed the idea of a NATO-like defense pact advocated by some Gulf diplomats.

Islamic State Deputy Reportedly Killed

The Iraqi Defence Ministry reported yesterday that Abu Alaa al-Afri, the Islamic State’s top deputy to the organization’s self-appointed caliph, has been killed in an airstrike in the city of Tal Afar. They also released video of a strike and photos of his body. The U.S. government has cast doubt on the Iraqi government’s report, saying it did not conduct a strike on the mosque in Tal Afar, where Afri was reportedly killed, and some have noted that the video released by the Iraqi government may be the same as one released by the United States depicting a May 4 strike in Mosul.

Headlines

• The Vatican announced it is preparing to sign its first treaty with the Palestinian leadership, days before a visit from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; the Vatican has recognized Palestine as a state since 2013.

 

• Iranian parliamentarians are backing away from a bill that would halt nuclear negotiations with the United States until Washington apologizes for perceived threats; some said that they were not aware of plans to fast-track the legislation, while others said they were duped into signing what they didn’t even realize was a bill.

 

• The Yemeni government warned Iran yesterday that it “bears complete responsibility for any incident that arises from their attempt to enter Yemeni waters” if it does not allow the search of a cargo ship purportedly carrying humanitarian aid; the United States has urged Iran to direct aid through the U.N. hub in Djibouti.

 

• Syrian opposition groups have declined to meet with U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura for preliminary peace talks, citing his comments supporting a role for Assad in a potential political transition.

 

• The British government said it would opt-out of any quota system approved by the European Union for a burden-sharing redistribution of migrants fleeing to Europe from Libyan ports.

-J. Dana Stuster

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

The Ukrainian Parliament has renamed the Russian airport "Simferopol" after Amet-Khan Sultan, a national hero for the Crimean Tatars. The decision was supported by 240 MPs, with the minimum of 226 required votes.

Oroszország újabb, szám szerint a 26. humanitárius segélyeket szállító konvojt indított csütörtökön Donbasszba - értesült az Interfax orosz hírügynökség.

TIRANA, 13 May 2015 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will hold a press conference in Tirana on Friday, 15 May for the formal opening of the election observation mission for the 21 June 2015 local elections in Albania.

Ambassador Audrey Glover, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission, will introduce the role of the mission and its upcoming activities. The press conference will also provide an opportunity for questions from journalists.

The OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission will partner with a delegation from the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities for observation and the release of a preliminary statement of findings and conclusions on the day after the elections.

The mission's deployment follows an invitation from the Albanian government.

The OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission and the OSCE Presence in Albania operate separately and independently under their own mandates.

Journalists are invited to attend the press conference at 13:00, Friday, 15 May, in the Teuta Room of the Tirana International Hotel, Scanderbeg Square, Tirana, Albania.

For further information, please contact Elma Sehalic, Media Analyst with the election observation mission, at +355 69 257 5055 or at elma.sehalic@odihr.al

or

Thomas Rymer, ODIHR Spokesperson, at + 48 609 522 266 or thomas.rymer@odihr.pl.

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Cérémonies du 9 mai à Moscou : que diable la Serbie va-t-elle faire dans cette galère ?
Serbie : « inéluctable » réhabilitation du mouvement tchétnik ?
« Au nom du peuple » : anticommunisme et révisionnisme à la sauce serbe
Serbie : les ONG montent au front contre la réhabilitation de « Draža » Mihailović

/ Draza, Courrier des Balkans, Serbie, Histoire

Az idegenellenesség még soha ilyen magas szinten nem állt Magyarországon.

Az Egyesült Államok először ismerte el, hogy Kijev nem tartja be a minszki egyezményeket – idézi a TASS Alekszej Puskov, az orosz Állami Duma nemzetközi ügyekért felelős képviselőjének szavait, aki kommentálta John Kerry, az USA külügyminiszterének nyilatkozatát. „Úgy gondolom, hogy Kerry látogatásának célja nem az USA álláspontjának előremozdításáról szól, hanem a megszakadt párbeszédek helyreállításáról. Ha az USA helyreakarja állítani a párbeszédet, akkor legalább valahol tiszteletben kell tartania az orosz álláspontot” – mondta Puskov, aki szerint ez abból állt, hogy Kerry beismerte - Kijev nem tartja be a minszki egyezményeket.

CHISINAU, 14 May 2015 – The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today formally opened a limited election observation mission for the 14 June local elections in Moldova. The mission’s deployment follows an official invitation from the authorities of Moldova.

The mission is led by Kimmo Kiljunen and consists of a core team of 12 experts based in Chisinau and 14 long-term observers to be deployed in teams of two across the country.

The mission will observe the elections for their compliance with OSCE commitments, with other international obligations and standards for democratic elections and with national legislation. Observers will closely monitor the candidate and voter registration, campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant governmental bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, campaign finance, the media environment and the resolution of election-related disputes. As part of the observation, the mission will also monitor the media coverage of the campaign.

In the course of its observation, the mission will meet with representatives from state authorities, political parties and candidates, and with representatives from civil society, the media and the international community.

While the mission will visit a limited number of polling stations on election day, systematic observation of voting, counting or tabulation of results on election day is not envisaged.

The OSCE/ODIHR limited election observation mission will join with a delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Council of Europe in issuing a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions on the day after the elections. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be published by ODIHR approximately two months after the completion of the electoral process.

The OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission and the OSCE Mission to Moldova operate separately under their respective mandates.

For further information, please contact Giuseppe Milazzo, Media Analyst with the limited election observation mission, at +373 68 671 251 or at giuseppe.milazzo@odihr.md.

or

Thomas Rymer, ODIHR Spokesperson, at + 48 609 522 266 or at thomas.rymer@odihr.pl.

 

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A kereskedelmi és a szolgáltatási árak - összehasonlítva a márciusi és április adatokat - 14 százalékkal emelkedtek – írja a TASS az ukrán statisztikai hivatal adatai alapján. Leginkább a közüzemi díjak árai emelkedtek.

Communication and Media Relations Section The New-Med Track II Network

A workshop on a multilateral approach to Libya and ungoverned territories in the Mediterranean region, hosted  by the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Istituto Affari Internazionali (International Affairs Institute), as part of the New Med network, supported by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, in co-operation with the OSCE, took place on 13 May 2015, in London.

Leading Libyan and regional experts, high-level officials and representatives of the international community, discussed dynamics and policy options, as UN-mediated talks to solve the internal crisis enter their final and critical stage.

The workshop also provided a forum for discussing strategies to counter the many negative regional spillovers of the Libyan conflict, including the resulting humanitarian crisis, as well as rising energy insecurity and the spread of terrorist organizations including the self-proclaimed “Islamic State”.

The New Med network of experts, established in 2014, is analysing the situation in Libya and evolving regional influences in order to assess how multilateral support for the country’s security could look when Libya restores internal security. The network provides forward-looking and complementary input to the discussions about Libya taking place within the OSCE, thus supporting and expanding the political dialogue.  

Libya has applied to become an OSCE Partner for Co-operation in 2013. 

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Albanie : Ilir Meta est le nouveau président de l'Assemblée nationale
3 morts en Albanie : la manifestation de l'opposition vire au drame
Albanie : le vice-Premier ministre Ilir Meta a démissionné
Corruption en Albanie : la justice innocente l'ancien vice-Premier ministre Ilir Meta
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L'Albanie après les élections : l'imagination au pouvoir ?

/ PS Albanie, Albanie, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, Politique intérieure