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According to the EU Commission, more than a million people could flee Ukraine. US President Joe Biden organizes talks with allies. In view of the growing tensions in the Ukraine conflict, the Vice President of the EU Commission, Margaritis Schinas, assumes that more than a million refugees could come to the EU in the event of a military escalation. "It is estimated that between 20,000 and more than a million refugees could come," Schinas told the newspaper Die Welt. The EU is "ready to mobilize significant humanitarian aid and help with civil protection". Schinas pointed out that 20,000 EU citizens live in Ukraine alone and that "there is also a sizeable population group that has its roots in the EU". The Greek EU Commissioner emphasized that refugees – just as before in Belarus – could be instrumentalized against the EU and deliberately used as a means of exerting pressure. NATO Sees No Evidence Of Russian Troops Withdrawing It is believed that Ukrainian ...

Countries not sending representatives to the Olympics have a long history. China has played a central role in the Olympic boycott in the past. The US-Americans would politicize the Winter Olympics, China's leadership complained - most recently in a telephone call between the two foreign ministers Wang Yi and Antony Blinken at the end of January. The Biden government announced in early December that it would not have any political or diplomatic representatives from the United States will be traveling to the games. The US government no doubt has geopolitical motives for the boycott, but it cites good reasons: serious human rights abuses are being committed against minorities in China. Hundreds of thousands of people from the Uyghur people and other Muslim ethnic groups in the north-west of the country were or are being interned in re-education camps. Human rights experts bring this close to at least cultural genocide. In addition, Beijing today treats the citizens of the until recent...

China's strict corona measures worked, the economy grew during the pandemic. Now Omicron has reached the country and many fear the consequences. Chinese state television 's announcement this week sounded whimsical: "Minimize the purchase of overseas goods from countries with a high incidence," the CCTV website reads.   And if so, it went on to say, packages and envelopes should be opened outdoors if possible and the recipients should definitely wear masks and gloves. In short: There is a warning about postal items as a potential way of spreading the coronavirus. Various local health authorities had previously whispered in press releases that the first Omicron case registered in the capital, Beijing, may have come via a package from Canada, the United States and Hong Kong. The person is said to have infected two other people, and a case with the Delta variant was also reported in the capital. From a scientific point of view, such transmission routes are considered impl...

Travel bans and asset freezes are said to put pressure on the military junta in Myanmar. Opponents of the regime called for a strike in the country. Great Britain , together with the USA and Canada, has launched new sanctions against  the military leadership in Myanmar . The government imposed travel bans on leading representatives of the military regime and arranged for the assets of the persons concerned to be frozen, according to the British Foreign Office. It is responding to the most serious human rights violations, including the persecution and killing of civilians for their religious beliefs, it said. The former Burma has been falling into chaos and violence since a coup on February 1st. The generals had disempowered the de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi and charged with several alleged offenses. This week, the politician was sentenced to several years in prison. Any resistance to the regime is suppressed. There are hardly any mass d...

Human rights activist Osman Kavala has been in Turkish custody without judgment for years. Diplomats from European countries had asked for his immediate release. In the dispute over the imprisoned Turkish human rights activist Osman Kavala, Head of State Recep Tayyip Erdogan has the German ambassador, the US ambassador and eight other ambassadors declared "undesirable persons".  Erdoğan said that he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to declare the diplomats persona non grata "as soon as possible". The ambassadors made a joint appeal earlier this week to demand the release of Kavala, which aroused the anger of the Turkish government. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs then summoned the ambassadors of Germany and nine other countries, including the USA, France, Canada and Denmark, because of the demand. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu had said that a recommendation by the ambassador to the judiciary in an ongoing process was unacceptable. Kavala has been detai...

After the focus of the G7 summit on a counterweight to the growing influence of China, the People's Republic criticized the participating countries. "The days when global decisions were made by a small group of countries are long gone," said a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London. All states, big or small, strong or weak, poor or rich, are the same. "World political affairs should be settled through consultations of all countries." According to a draft of the summit's final declaration, the G7 countries agreed on a tougher course with regard to China. They want to act against Chinese trade policy, human rights problems such as the internment of Uyghurs in re-education camps and the dismantling of freedoms in Hong Kong. It is the first time that criticism of the country is so clearly formulated in a final G7 document. In dealing with the second largest economy, the G7 states want to "agree on a collective approach to contest policies and practices...

War is not against Islam, it is against terrorism  French President Emmanuel Macquarie has said he understands the feelings of Muslims, but that  hardline Islam is a threat to all President McKeown made the remarks in an interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera news channel. In the conversation, they discussed the controversial sketches of the Prophet of Islam, the deaths caused by the knife attack in Nice, and the strong reaction from Muslim countries to his statements. A teacher has been assassinated in France this month for showing controversial sketches of the Prophet of Islam. This was followed by large-scale demonstrations in France. The sketches were published in the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo. President McKeown has defended the controversial propaganda of the Prophet of Islam on the basis of freedom of expression. He said he would take strong action against Muslim extremist organizations. President McKeown said:  'I understand the feelings of those Muslims w...