Castro's death: flowers and tears in Russia

               Why do some Russians and  other post-social countries’ citizens sadden about the death of Fidel Castro? President Putin stated that “the whole era went away along with the death of Castro”. But what was that era? Maybe the era of imprisonment of 5% of Cuba’s population, economical stagnation, significant poverty in the entire state which had a developing economy before the revolution? We are used to praise the people who stands for progress both in human rights and in improvement of human being conditions. What is going to happen with societies which starts to praise persons who were cruel to its people in the name of ideas that do not implicate to any kind of progress? 

Russia and the International Criminal Court

             Russia withdraws from the International Criminal Court (ICC), though it had never ratified the agreement at the first place. It might seem like Putin is bothered by the accusations of Crimea’s occupation or other investigations against Russia. However, it is just another way of making it clear to the world that Russia does not care much about what is going on. Kremlin does not respect the international organizations which serves them as a platforms to show their power and bias. Up until now Russia has not ratified the Paris agreement on Climate Change. It is also another tool to make the rest of the countries to consider Russia as an important partner for negotiations in the international arena.

Magnitsky: tragedy of whistleblower in Russia

    Seven years ago a Russian citizen, Sergei Magnitsky, died being imprisoned in Moscow jail without a trial. Magnitsky was an auditor specialized on civil law investigating the case of Hermitage Capital Management that has been indicted of tax evasion. During the investigation he detected the involvement of police, tax officials and Russian mafia in the big corrupt scheme. Magnitsky was accused of covering a fraud committed by Hermitage. The tragedy reveals the dramatic level of corruption spreaded in the entire Russian system starting from police and judiciary and ending in organized crime. Today citizens of Russia state that corruption is the third biggest problem in Russia besides economy and health care. Nevertheless, the corruption is the problem number one that causes all other problems.

Obama: US supports democracy in Ukraine

                President of the United States Barack Obama is currently in Greece with his last foreign visit as a President. Today in his speech at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center in Athens he has unfolded the essence of democracy nowadays. He also outlined that US supports Ukraine and its citizens on the way of bringing the democracy and the rule of law to their state. According to Obama the democratic states with strong democratic institutions are more stable and prosper more. His words rang out in the country where democracy was born long time ago – in Ellada. However, there are still vast numbers of countries where people cannot use fully their rights as citizens.

TrA(m)p situation: the new US president is elected

                People of US have made their choice – the next US President is Donald Trump. The world has reacted differently on the news. Regular people, markets, politicians, there was no indifference, the world seemed to divide. Somehow it concerns everyone. This is the reason why US election's results have place among Eastern European affairs.
               Maybe there is  pointless to discuss why people vote for populists, however, it is important to acknowledge that through the eight years of Obama’s policy not efficient in many areas, Americans decided they needed someone like Trump that time. A perception of Hillary as an another person coming from establishment, a “clan”, made her chances to win smaller. Churchill said: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others” but let’s remember there are still the strong democratic institutions that will impact the US policy besides Trump. 

Saakashvili: the reformer not a puppet

               Today Mikheil Saakashvili resigned from the position of the Governor of Odesa Oblast’ (Ukraine). He was appointed on this position by the President Petro Poroshenko last year. Saakashvili has a reputation of corruption combater in Georgia by implementing very successful reforms starting in 2003. If Ukrainians hoped for a miracle like it happened in Georgia, they would be disappointed. There is no only one person or element that would magically fix the things. The key element of success in combating corruption is a political will. Apparently, there is neither a strong political will nor the power of people to support the changes in the corruption system of Ukraine.  

US elections: when the whole world is watching

     One of the biggest political tension of the year will be resolved this week. Tomorrow the US citizens will choose their next president. The outcome of this elections will change dramatically not only the domestic affairs but it will impact the US foreign policy. Everyone is aware of it. Putin will fight for presidency of Trump till the very end and after it. He understands that no matter how unpopular US president Hillary Clinton will become, but her position towards Russian’s aggression will be tough. And he cannot let happen. Tomorrow the people of USA will vote not only for the future of their country, they will vote for the future of the world. There is no a bipolar world anymore, but the feeling is very similar.

Bialowieza forest in France

             It was a big pleasure and great experience to present our project “Bialowieza forest – European natural heritage” in Nantes, France last week. Besides the opportunity to explain the importance of the oldest forest in Europe and to show pictures of amazing nature and animals to the participants of the forum, we have received a great feedback! Radio of Nantes broadcasted the interview with me and my project partner last Friday and I hope people from Brittany discovered Bialowieza forest as their next tourist destination. Early next year we will confirm the project implementation and its form more precise: it will be an art installations inspired by Bialowieza and a workshop with an expert from Belarus in Warsaw. We will be grateful for any additional support!