EU foreign ministers confer on tougher sanctions against Russia - Washington Post
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
 Reuters Blogs |
EU foreign ministers confer on tougher sanctions against Russia
Washington Post BERLIN — Foreign Ministers from the European Union gathered Tuesday in Brussels, where a bloc of nations led by Britain was pressing for tough new sanctions if Russia does not immediately alter course in Ukraine after the downing of a Malaysia Airlines ... European shares up as Ukraine rebels allow improved accessReuters How far do EU-US sanctions on Russia go?BBC News Forcing Putin to think againFinancial Times NEWS.com.au -CTV News -CBC.ca all 609 news articles » |
In the tangled aftermath of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster, two narratives have emerged -- one that most of the world subscribes to, and another that Russia and the rebels are pushing.
EU Ministers Threaten Russia with Sanctions but Action Unsureby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
European Union foreign ministers threatened Russia on Tuesday with harsher sanctions over Ukraine, but tougher talk may not be matched by much action after France's president signaled the disputed delivery of a warship to Moscow would go ahead. The 28 EU ministers met under growing pressure from the United States and Britain to step up sanctions after the downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane last week in an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists. German...
 |
Explosions could be seen and heard over Gaza City in the early hours of Tuesday morning, as Israel continued to launch airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Report by Claire Lomas.
|
From: ITN
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 01:33 | More in News & Politics |
Kerry Discusses Gaza with Arab League, Egyptian Officialsby webdesk@voanews.com (Scott Stearns)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cairo for talks with Egyptian and Arab League officials on finding an end to fighting in Gaza. Kerry told Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri that he is here to help push for an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. "I look forward to a good conversation to talk about how we can build on it and hopefully find, not only a way to a cease-fire, but a way to deal with...
A hostile takeover, now a downed plane. Jim Sciutto unpacks the events that led to the current crisis in Ukraine.
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 2
As bodies from Thursday's air disaster reached a facility Tuesday in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian government ratcheted up its accusations against Moscow, saying a Russian officer shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
 The Guardian |
EU Debates Arms Embargo on Russia
Wall Street Journal BRUSSELS—As European Union foreign ministers gathered for their first meeting since a passenger plane crash over eastern Ukraine, a more pronounced split emerged between those arguing it was time to transform completely Europe's relationship with ... EU foreign ministers confer on tougher sanctions against RussiaWashington Post European shares up as Ukraine rebels allow improved accessReuters British PM David Cameron calls on European Union to introduce tough ...NEWS.com.au Bloomberg -CBC.ca -Fox Business all 668 news articles » |
 The Daily Star |
Consumer Prices in US Rise as Gasoline Jumps by Most in Year
Businessweek The cost of living in the U.S. rose in June, paced by a jump in gasoline that is now reversing, bolstering Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's view that recent increases were temporary. The consumer price index increased 0.3 percent after a 0.4 percent gain ... Consumer Prices Rose 0.3% in JuneWall Street Journal Consumer prices rise 0.3% in June led by gasolineMarketWatch US consumer prices likely to show smaller gain in June than MayFox Business Macauhub -DailyFX all 33 news articles » |
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan soldiers and officials began moving hundreds of families on Tuesday out of a half-built 45-story skyscraper that dominates the Caracas skyline and is thought to be the tallest slum in the world.
 |
In one of the deadliest strikes in Gaza, Israel said it was targeting a Hamas operative. But the strike killed 26 people, including 19 children. Anne Barnard reports. Produced by: Mona El-Naggar...
|
From: The New York Times
Views: 2
0 ratings
|
| Time: 01:49 | More in News & Politics |
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 3
Swedish flight tracking service Flightradar24 AB posted a flight map on its Twitter account showing the change in the route of Malaysian Airlines flight MH4 to London.
Alexander Litvinenko. This photo released by the family of Alexander Litvinenko shows former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko in his hospital bed, at the University College Hospital in central London in this Monday Nov. 20, 2006 file photo. Poisoned Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006 in an intensive care ward, London's University College Hospital said. Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, suffered a rapid deterioration in his health, but doctors had been unable to determine the cause of his death, a spokesman said in a statement. (AP Photo/Family Hand Out) ** NO SALES **
The train pulled into a station in the eastern Ukrainian city, where Dutch investigators leading a probe into the disaster are due to take charge of the bodies.
Four days after flight MH17 crashed from the sky over Ukraine, rebels handed over the Boeing 777's recorders (pictured) last night. The delay has led to fears about if the data has been compromised and Malaysian investigators will be studying the data to try and determine what happened
Updated July 21, 2014 12:38 p.m. ET
Russian President Vladimir Putin Associated Press
To understand what Vladimir Putin is really up to in Ukraine—why he is willing to take the kinds ofrisks that produced the destruction of a civilian airliner, and why the U.S. and its allies should see his power play as an effort to alter not just the arc of Ukraine but all of Europe—it's necessary to look at the tale of two countries.
The first is Poland, a country of 38 million. After the end of the Cold War, this former Warsaw Pact nation turned westward. It almost immediately sought membership in the European Union and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1999. After modernizing its economy, it officially became part of the EU in 2004.
Next door to Poland lies Ukraine, a country of 44 million. After the end of the Cold War, this former Soviet satellite didn't turn west but rather stayed focused on its traditional relationship with Russia to the east.
Related Video
After the bombing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, global leaders have ramped up their criticism of Vladimir Putin and the Russian backing of separatists in Ukraine. President Obama has several options when it comes to sanctions on Putin's government and the Russian economy, but he needs the support of his European allies. Photo: AP
President Obama speaks on the situation in Ukraine, urging Russia to compel separatists to cooperate. WSJ's Tim Hanrahan and the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute deputy director William Pomeranz join Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero to discuss. Photo: Getty
What has happened to these two neighbors in the quarter-century since the Berlin Wall fell? In a nutshell, they have moved in opposite directions.
Poland, the country that integrated itself into the Western economy, has grown almost twice as fast as Ukraine. Last year, its growth rate was three times larger. Though it's the slightly smaller of the two neighbors, Poland now has a gross domestic product more than twice the size of Ukraine's. It has only half the share of its population living under the poverty line as does Ukraine.
This is the contrast that must scare Mr. Putin. It also is the one that set off alarm bells when Ukraine, emulating neighboring Poland, began to pivot westward earlier this year. To allow that turn to happen, in the most important of Russian satellites, would have been the end of any near-term dreams of rebuilding a Russian empire.
In short, the goal of re-creating a Russian sphere of influence was colliding head-on with the spread of a Westernized, EU model for Europe, which was seeping toward Russia's doorstep. Mr. Putin faced a historic choice: swim with the tide or try to turn it. He chose the latter.
"I think [Russia's] goal is a weak and divided Ukraine, and a bigger goal is a weak and divided Europe—a weak and divided EU," says Robert Hormats, under secretary of state in the first Obama term. Moreover, to the extent a country such as Poland prospers, he adds, "it creates a very, very stark contrast to the troubled economic prospects in Russia" itself.
Mr. Putin had to move quickly to reverse those trends, for he is at a moment of relative but passing strength. Today, Western Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas gives him some economic leverage. As Europe has gobbled up more of Mr. Putin's gas, EU trade with Russia has tripled in value over the last decade.
This Russian economic advantage doesn't figure to last; eventually, Europe will wean itself away from its dependence on Russian carbon fuels. But for now, Mr. Putin must have calculated, he could make his play in Ukraine and face a muted Western response.
And if that was his calculation, he was mostly correct. Business interests, not just in Europe but in the U.S., have resisted toughening economic sanctions. Perhaps the downing of an airliner has changed that; we'll learn more at a meeting of EU leaders Tuesday.
This also explains why Poland looks with alarm at Russian bullying of Ukraine, and at the Western response so far. Poland knows from history that it is vulnerable to being yanked back toward the east, so it seeks more help from the Western club to which it now belongs.
"The crisis in Ukraine could have been prevented," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in an interview with German journalists published over the weekend. "Europe has done too little to influence Russia's behavior in the different stages of the conflict. When a Russian trade boycott against Ukraine was imposed last year to punish it for its European course, I pleaded with my colleagues to take action." If the West had moved then, he added, today's "escalation" probably would have been avoided.
If Poland is indeed the success story, it's a particularly troubling note for President Barack Obamathat a Polish magazine last month quoted Mr. Sikorski as saying, in a leaked tape of a private conversation, that Poland's defense ties to the U.S. were "worthless."
In his weekend interview he was more diplomatic but still argued for more Western defense help to avoid Ukraine's fate. "The reality [is] that there are large [Western] military bases in countries that are safe. And there is a hesitation to build these bases in states that feel threatened."
Write to Gerald F. Seib at jerry.seib@wsj.com
Read the whole story
· · · · ·
MH17 black boxes handed over by pro-Russia rebelsby Shaun Walker in Donetsk and Harriet Salem in Torez
Malaysian officials receive flight recorders from downed plane in ceremony after 12 hours of negotiations
Four days after the Boeing 777 came crashing down into the fields of eastern Ukraine, the black box recorders from flight MH17 were finally handed over to the Malaysians at a surreal night-time ceremony in Donetsk.
Continue reading...
Read the whole story
· ·
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 4
Flight 17: Will Russia pay? by CNNInternational
 |
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
|
From: CNNInternational
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 04:37 | More in News & Politics |
MH17 black boxes handed over to Malaysia by CNNInternational
 |
Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine have handed over flight data recorders from MH17 to Malaysia officials. Phil Black reports.
|
From: CNNInternational
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 02:36 | More in News & Politics |
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comments
Post a Comment