Today is a busy day again. A strong wind and a headache haunted me while we went to the bank and I was finishing a lawsuit with my wife’s former employer to collect back wages. I want to file it tomorrow while my wife is here and can sign all the papers.
Today, the Kyiv Defense Council, referring to the threats of missile attacks and the penetration of russian sabotage and intelligence groups, decided to take measures to limit the gathering of people and introduce other restrictions.
https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2024/03/28/novyna/bezpeka/zahroza-raketnyx-atak-ta-pronyknennya-drh-rada-oborony-kyyeva-uxvalyla-kilka-rishenI can imagine how russian sabotage and intelligence groups are secretly sneaking into Kyiv with the sole purpose of gathering together for a large rally. Obviously, fears of losing power, as happened with former President Yanukovych, who fled to russia in 2014 as a result of the Maidan, are becoming stronger. I remember Orwell's words “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.” again.
“Sometimes the Ukrainian government may resist the kind of freedom of information that’s normal for us,” said the State Department’s James Rubin. “Some days, war reporters report things that aren’t necessarily in the interest of Volodymyr Zelensky,” he continued. “But in a democracy that we hope and increasingly see Ukraine becoming … they can understand that having war reporters cover the war, even if occasionally there’s bad news, is a far better life than the controlled environment that Russia has placed on all of its people.”
While Ukrainian and Western journalists have pressed for greater access to the front lines, authorities in Kyiv have limited reporting from sensitive zones in the conflict and have denied a stronger role for state broadcasting, on the grounds that the restrictions serve to stifle Russian disinformation campaigns.
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-needs-to-be-more-open-about-sharing-battlefield-truths-says-us-diplomat-james-rubin/“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
― George Orwell, 1984
MEP Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, German politician and a member of the European Parliament's delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee and is, in fact, the spokesperson of her group in the European Parliament on the topic of Ukraine.
She explained why, on the eve of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she said that "the Ukrainian authorities are probably using drugs."
"Because your favorite speaker accused all Westerners of spreading panic. Moreover, he stated that everyone who warned of a full-scale Russian invasion was only going to destroy the economy and devalue the currency. I was shocked when I read it. My first reaction: What is wrong with this guide? Do they use drugs? Why didn't they take intelligence warnings from Washington and London seriously? Why not prepare and protect your own population with civilian measures? Why not switch to a military economy? But instead we were ridiculed as warmongers. After 4 weeks, a full-scale invasion began.
So I think there's clearly unity in reforming the country, putting the right bills forward, making sure that everything is according to the European track. So from our side, there is no criticism, I would say. But there's also a second angle and that means governance and governance means inclusiveness, means rights of the opposition, parliamentary pluralism, means inclusion of civil society, means working with, let's say, experts on the ground and not just with very few people in the presidential administration.
I see that there is room for improvement. There is potential for improvement. It's about governance, it's about the question of democratic standards in the parliament, here in the country, and we see some, let's say worrisome indications, and we see some crazy draft bills which do not fit in the EU acquis, which do not fit in this ambition of becoming a member. So yes, the reforms are there, but institutional-wise and democracy-wise, they have to be as ambitious as the other parts of the reforms."
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/interview/mep-viola-von-cramon-wobbliness-of-some-eu-1711611336.htmlEarlier, the former member of the Bundestag, Viola von Kramon, commented on the draft law of People's Deputies Maryana Bezugla and Halyna Tretyakova, in which it is proposed to imprison Ukrainians for communication with foreign officials. Maryana Bezugla called her recent bill a "joke", but after criticism, she deleted the post and wrote a new one, where she already called it a "provocation".
"Is she serious? A legislator in the Verkhovna Rada introduces draft laws to do what? Provoke? I hoped that here, in Kyiv, we would deal with more mature colleagues," Kramon said.
https://bukvy.org/nas-vysmiyuvaly-yak-pidburyuvachiv-vijny-kramon-pro-poperedzhennya-ukrayiny-shhodo-vtorgnennya-rf/Good news - today a russian military plane crashed over the occupied Crimea.
