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Europe
Poland
7 February 2025 On February 5, during an interview with internet channel Kanał Zero, Poland’s President Duda, an ally of the opposition Conservatives (PiS), has said he was concerned that European Union institutions may interfere in the country’s May presidential election based on the experience of events in Romania. Brussels “does not like Conservatives ruling in Poland”, he said, adding that the current centre-left government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk might overrule the result of the election should the PiS win. Events in Romania “have worried me a lot and I have many doubts” about them, the President said. In December 2024, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the election the previous month that had been unexpectedly won by a ’right-wing’ candidate Georgescu. The court claimed it did so based on 'evidence' of Russian interference. Duda claimed Brussels interfered in Romania’s recent presidential election. ’Prominent members of the European Commission have admitted they interfered in the Romanian case’. The President may have been referring to the remarks made by ex-commissioner Breton who had said in a media interview that the cancellation of the Romania ballot was done with involvement of Brussels. Duda asked whether “today’s elections in individual countries can only be won by those accepted in Brussels?' adding: “I have this impression and I don’t like it very much.” The President argued that the European Commission had form in interfering in Polish elections, too. He cited the fact that the body blocked EU pandemic funding for the former PiS government and unblocked them immediately on the election of the centre-left government led by Tusk in 2023. Duda called the actions of the commission with regard to Poland political manipulation, involving “blocking funds because the government was not liked by the EC”. He said that was because of its different approach to many issues such as environmental protection, migration and the rule of law. Poland’s head of state also said he feared interference of the Romanian variety should the Polish result go against the present government’s main candidate, Warsaw mayor Trzaskowski. He claimed he feared the way the government was refusing to recognise the Supervisory Chamber of the Supreme Court, charged with certifying the election result, could be the precursor of a decision by parliament to refuse to recognise the outcome on the grounds that no “appropriate” judicial body had certified the poll. The first round of the Polish presidential election is due to take place on May 18, with the second round set for June 1. Duda’s second and final term as president expires in early August. (Source: Brussels Signal, published by Remedia Europe SRL, Brussels)
Russia
7 February 2025 The General Prosecutor's office today morning announced that the journalist-owned Barents Observer newspaper, media based in northern Norway is added to Russia's list of so-called 'undesirable organisations.' ’A significant part of the newspaper's materials have a clearly expressed anti-Russian character.’ ’The articles are aimed at stimulating protest motions among the population in north Russian regions, tighten anti-Russian sanctions [and] boosting NATO's military presence by our borders,’ the Russian state authority writes. The Barents Observer are ’discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,’ the notice reads. The newspaper's journalists are propagating ’untraditional values,’ the General Prosecutor argues. It also underlines that the editorial staff of the Barents Observer includes Russian journalists in exile, among them people who are on Russia's so-called 'foreign agent' list and the list of ’extremists and terrorists.’ Yesterday the small Norwegian newspaper won a court case in the European Court of Human Rights against Russia's censorship agency Roskomnadzor. (Source: The Barents Observer, based in Kirkenes, Norway)
United Kingdom
2/7/2025 Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud. The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies. Its application would mark a significant defeat for tech companies in their decades-long battle to avoid being wielded as government tools against their users. The office of the Home Secretary has served Apple with a document called a technical capability notice, ordering it to provide access under the sweeping U.K. Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which authorizes law enforcement to compel assistance from companies when needed to collect evidence. The law, known by critics as the Snoopers’ Charter, makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government has even made such a demand. A consultant advising the United States on encryption matters deemed it shocking that the U.K. government was demanding Apple’s help to spy on non-British users without their governments’ knowledge. A former White House security adviser confirmed the existence of the British order. At issue is cloud storage that only the user, not Apple, can unlock. Apple started rolling out the option, which it calls Advanced Data Protection, in 2022. The service is an available security option for Apple users in the United States and elsewhere. (Source: MSN / The Washington Post = U.S.)
North America
United States
February 7, 2025 The decision by U.S. President Trump to freeze for 90 days the aid provided by Washington poses new challenges to rights groups in Russia and Belarus. The aid came directly from or via the partners of the U.S. Agency for International Development, ’as well as from other entities funded by the U.S. government’. 'Organizations could have done much more significant things if it weren’t for this situation', an activist with Center-T, a prominent Russian trans group, told. Center-T’s core staff moved abroad after the Russian Supreme Court designated what it called the LGBTQ+ movement as extremist, outlawing all LGBTQ+ activism. Center-T lost ’only a fraction’ of funding, because they ’almost didn’t have U.S. funding,’ its staffer said. Members of Russian and Belarusian rights groups and independent media organizations described varying effects of the action. Some said they don't know which of their partners are linked to U.S. aid and whether more will withdraw support. Many get funding elsewhere, like private donations. Some Russian organizations said they'll still operate but knew of others in bigger jeopardy. OVD-Info, a Russian rights group that tracks political arrests and offers legal aid, is largely funded by “private donations from a large number of people,” so the freeze “has little direct and immediate impact,” said OVD-Info spokesman Anisimov, but 'other groups that help it with certain activities' are affected. An editor of an independent Russian news outlet operating in exile cited ’crowdfunding’ as one reliable revenue sources. The outlet lost less than 10% of the budget in frozen grants. Kovcheg - Russian for “arc” - a group helping Russians fleeing abroad with shelter, legal and psychological support, training and other support, lost 30% of its budget, said its founder, Burakova. Kovcheg is more or less stable, thanks to crowdfunding and advertising, Burakova added. She formerly headed a legal aid group in St. Petersburg backed by exiled tycoon-turned-opposition-figure Khodorkovsky. Most Russian rights groups and independent news outlets have been designated as foreign agents by the Russian authorities - a label that turns potential donors away with its negative connotation. Russia has banned advertising with them. Others have also been labeled undesirable, a category that outlaws any dealings with groups so designated, exposing donors to prosecution. In light of the aid freeze, Khodorkovsky and Russian philanthropist Zimin this week offered $600,000 'to affected Russian and Ukrainian' projects. It's not clear how much U.S. aid Russian organizations were receiving. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it was unable to comment. Pro-democracy forces from Belarus were receiving about $30 million U.S. aid, for over half of all of their Western funding, they told. It comes from both USAID, either directly or through 'partners, entities like the U.S.-government funded National Endowment for Democracy'. Dozens of nongovernmental organizations and several independent media groups are on the brink of closure, they said. ’Opposition leaders recently prepared a report for Western governments’, outlining the effects of the freeze - Belarus and Russia will likely fill the void by strengthening state propaganda and authoritarian control in Belarus. Out of 30 Belarusian media groups working abroad, six said they lost funding completely and are on the brink of closing. ’According to the opposition's report, $1.7 million in U.S. aid is frozen' – more than half of all foreign aid to independent media forced to flee Belarus’ after President Lukashenko unleashed a widespread crackdown on dissent in 2020. Now, small independent newsrooms are laying off employees. Dozens of media projects will inevitably cease. Resuming later is almost impossible. A YouTube show, A Regular Morning, with videos regularly drawing over 100,000 views, said it was shutting down but asked for donations and said it would keep going through March. Rights groups also are affected. 60-80 groups face possible mass layoffs, ending programs or closing for good. Programs to support political prisoners will be drastically cut, Belarusian youth will lose access to alternative educational programs, and activists will lose their platforms. There are over 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus. Viasna is the country’s leading human rights group, whose imprisoned founder Bialiatski won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. Thousands of activists, including some freed from prison, have moved abroad. ’Groups that received U.S. funding were helping them and their families”. Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled activist is urgently looking for ways to keep afloat the ’independent media and the civil society’ of Belarus, Viačorka, a senior aide to opposition leader told. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the State Department’s European and Eurasian Bureau. (Source: ABC News – Australia /Associated Press – U.S.)
February 7, 2025 President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba at the White House today and said the U.S. will have relations with North Korea, with Kim. (Source: Fox News – United States)
07 February, 2025 Trump sanctions the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to its issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 'Illegitimate Israel, US investigations' - referring to ICC probes into alleged war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza. He ordered asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their family members, along with anyone deemed to have helped the court's investigations. Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the court. (Source: The New Arab - Headquartered London, United Kingdom, owned by a Qatari company)
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