Anti-government rally in Ukraine

Russia Today

About a thousand protesters have flocked to the streets of the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, to rally against the government’s handling of the economy.

They called for the government’s resignation and new and fair elections.

“President Yushchenko, the government of Tymoshenko and the parliamentary majority consisting of oligarchs and NATO henchmen, who have shown that they are unable to get the country out of the crisis,” read a resolution of the rally participants. “Ukraine needs a total change of power, otherwise it will face famine, ruin and death.”

Many protesters headed to the city from other towns in Crimea to rally against growing unemployment and spiralling living costs.

France in NATO: What would de Gaulle say?

A betrayal of General de Gaulle’s independent foreign policy, or a timely rejection of knee-jerk anti-Americanism? France’s imminent return to NATO’s command structure has triggered fierce debate.

While the move will make little difference on the battlefield — French forces have long played a key role in NATO missions from Afghanistan to the Balkans — its symbolic quality has ruffled France’s political class.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has made it clear that he will confirm France’s formal return to NATO’s military command before the Alliance’s summit in Strasbourg and Kehl on the Franco-German border on April 4.

According to some critics, the nominally Gaullist Sarkozy is turning his back on a proud legacy created by President Charles de Gaulle in 1966, when France left NATO in order to establish a proper distance from Washington.

Others argue that a nuclear-armed France is already a de facto pillar of the alliance and would have more influence on policy from within NATO’s chain of command than it has simply sitting on its political councils.

“This has gone beyond a rational debate, we are caught up in symbolism,” warned Yves Boyer, from the Strategic Research Foundation.

Medvedev speech at the Gala Evening Celebrating Defenders of the Motherland Day

 

http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2009/02/21/1248_type127286_213230.shtml

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Comrades! Veterans! Friends! I want to wish you and all of the Russian Armed Forces’ staff and civilian personnel a happy Defenders of the Motherland Day. For many years now, this day of recognition has been more than simply a professional holiday, and has essentially become a national holiday. It is a tribute of deep respect toward all those who serve the Motherland today, who defend the sovereignty and national interests of our country, and who continue its tradition of victory. 

Today, my first and most heartfelt congratulations go out to veterans of the Great Patriotic War, a truly great generation that defended our beloved land and maintained our freedom. Next year, we will be celebrating the 65thanniversary of the Victory. It is our sacred duty to care for our veterans, the people who demonstrate a good example to the younger generation of our nation’s citizens, and, of course, to preserve and defend the memory of the Great Patriotic War standing up against any attempts to distort it, upholding the truth about the decisive input of our country in the destruction of fascism and victory in the Second World War.