Minsk agreements were signed on February 11. This is the first of a series of weekly updates aimed to describe the implementation status of the first three crucial point of the agreement:
1. Immediate and full bilateral ceasefire (to take effect from 00:00 local time on February 15),
2. Withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides,
3. Effective monitoring and verification regime for the ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons.
Minsk agreement has not been respected. Almost two weeks have passed since the meeting in Belarus capital on February 11 and the situation in Ukraine is basically unchanged. Both sides have not held to the first three relevant points of the agreement: the ceasefire has been violated, heavy weapons are still on the frontline, and OSCE monitoring mission has found some serious obstacles. OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM)[1] that fighting has continued in and around Donetsk airport and in several other locations in the Donetsk region.
Among all of the eleven key points composing the new Minsk agreement, there are three of them that should be considered as crucial:
Seven days has passed since the meeting in Belarus capital and there has not been much of a change on the field.
Eyes will be on Minsk on February 11 as Russian, French, German and Ukrainian leaders are about to discuss a peace plan to solve Ukrainian crisis since the previous agreement signed in September 2014 has not been successful: the crisis has been growing in intensity instead of slowly fading away.
France and Germany called this meeting as they fear that a point of no return might be close to being overpassed. However, there is not so much room for optimism: as UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, it would be wrong to call it Minsk Plus since there is no official deal yet. In Belarus capital, discussions are expected to be focused on some basic measures aimed to slow the crisis down and which would lead to a new and permanent peace agreement.
January 26, 2015. Nine months and eleven days have passed since Ukraine’s acting President Olexander Turchynov announced the beginning of an anti-terrorist operation on April 15 (2014) aimed “to protect Ukrainian citizens, to stop the terror, to stop the crime, to stop the attempts to tear our country [Ukraine] apart”[1]. Whoever thought it could have been a fast and easy campaign, has been proved wrong.
April-June 2014. Ukrainian forces initially focused on Donetsk. Then, on April 22, a military operation was launched to take back separatist-controlled territory in the East. The heaviest fighting involved the cities of Sloviansk and Lugansk and Donetsk.
July 2014. Ukrainian military forces succeeded in retaking control over Sloviansk while separatists were reported fleeing the city. (July 5). Until the end of July, the army and pro-Russia rebels kept engaging each other mainly near Donetsk and Lugansk. According to the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC), separatists were slowly losing their positions near Donetsk as well as in mid-southern areas of Lugansk Oblast.
August 2014. By the end of August, on the one hand, Ukrainian army progressively retook control over relevant portions of southern previously separatist-controlled territory (near Donetsk) but, on the other hand, Ukraine progressively lost control over part of its border with Russia. At the same time, separatist forces succeeded in obtaining a bridgehead in southern Ukraine and took control over Novoazovsk.
The way Netanyahu appeared during Paris march against terrorism shows the desire of the Israeli Prime Minister to change the recent American and European pressure that Netanyahu is suffering from his role in derail Kerry’s peace proposal, refusal to stop the settlements etc. suddenly Paris attacks turned to be a manifestation of an anti-Semitism, and Jews of Europe became the main target of these attacks.
Finally, the European Union has decided, governments and security forces will have to work more closely in order to control the threats and violence of terrorism such as those that took place in Paris last week.
Like France has deployed its troops in the streets, the Hungarian prime minister formally asked Europe to close the doors to immigration, and many EU countries are considering to change the rules of travel "without a passport".
Pubblicato in data 8 dicembre 2014:
With the list of countries targeted by terrorism growing, we are starting to see an impact on the internal policies of various other countries also impacted. Concern is particularly growing in Europe as a result of the level of involvement many of its citizens and residents have in these terrorist groups.
Concern is growing amongst citizens, security officials believe the risks are increasing and Europe is a potential target and are calling for an effective strategy to be implemented. There are growing signs of radicalization across Europe. Aside from exploitation of human rights, social services and the more effective facilitation of daily life are major challenges that Europe already faces.
After two and a half days of tracking, 3 suspected jihadists killed and at least four hostages dead, two simultaneous actions of fire in Paris (Porte de Vincennes) and Dammartin-en-Goele, the nightmare began with the massacre in the preparation of Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, seems to be over. France and all European countries are wondering what kind of "monster" are facing.
Very serious situation in Europe, confidential sources indicate Italy and Spain as the next possible target of terrorist actions.
Secret Service and the Interior Ministry have already activated the planned procedures to prevent and combat.
