Ukraine leaps into unknown after comic elected president

Yahoo – AFP, Anna SMOLCHENKO and Olga SHYLENKO, April 22, 2019

Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is set for a landslide win in Ukraine's presidential
election (AFP Photo/Genya SAVILOV)

Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine leapt into the unknown Monday after comedian Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president on promises of change but with just a vague blueprint of what he might do as leader.

Zelensky, whose previous political experience was playing the president on a TV show, crushed incumbent Petro Poroshenko in a stinging rebuke to the establishment fuelled by voters' anger over war with separatists and social injustice.

Ukrainians looked to the future with hope and anxiety after the performer took 73 percent of the vote on Sunday, according to nearly complete official results.

Zelensky at 41 will become Ukraine's youngest ever president when he is sworn into office by early June. It remained unclear Monday who would fill top positions in his governement, including prime minister.

The star of "Servant of the People", a sitcom now in its third season, has vowed to press ahead with the pro-European course set out by Poroshenko.

But he has also said he wants to improve ties with arch-enemy Russia.

On election night, however, he appeared to taunt the Kremlin when he told people in fellow post-Soviet countries that "everything is possible."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday it was "too early to talk about President Putin congratulating Mr Zelensky, or about the possibility of working together."

Ties between Ukraine and Russia were shredded after a bloody uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime in 2014, prompting Moscow to annex Crimea and support insurgents in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has claimed around 13,000 lives.

Outgoing Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (C) conceded defeat shortly 

after polls closed (AFP Photo/Sergei SUPINSKY)

Poroshenko pledges to return

Poroshenko, 53, quickly conceded defeat and said he was ready to coach the successor.

But on Monday evening he told a rally he planned to take back the country's top job during the next presidential polls set for 2024.

Several thousand supporters, who gathered outside the presidential offices, chanted they wanted him back "in a year".

"With God's help," Poroshenko replied.

"We will unite to secure our common victory in the near future.".

Poroshenko's faction has the most seats in the legislature and new parliamentary polls are due to be held in October.

The Ukrainian president has strong powers over defence, security and foreign policy but will need parliament backing to push through reforms.

On the streets of Kiev earlier Monday, many praised the elections as a fair and peaceful transfer of power after popular uprisings of 2004 and 2014.

"People showed that they want change," 28-year-old Karina told AFP.

"We had the most honest polls in the history of Ukraine," she added.

Zelensky shunned traditional campaign rallies, instead performing comedy gigs, and implied he would use the same unorthodox style to run the country of 45 million that depends on international aid.

Zelensky's campaign started as a joke but struck a chord with voters frustrated by

social injustice, corruption and a war with Russian-backed separatists in eastern 

Ukraine (AFP Photo/Sergei SUPINSKY)

US President Donald Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron called the political novice to congratulate him, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged support.

G7 ambassadors said they looked forward to working closely with the new leader but also recognized the progress the country had made under Poroshenko since 2014.

OSCE observers praised Ukraine's election as "competitive and held with respect for fundamental freedoms", while regretting that the campaigns were thin on substance.

'Political honeymoon'

The Kremlin said it respected the choice of the people but questioned the legitimacy of the polls, noting that "three million" Ukrainian citizens living in Russia could not vote there.

Kiev refused to open polling stations at its diplomatic missions in Russia.

Zelensky has said that among his top priorities are securing the release of Ukrainians being held prisoner by Russia and rebooting moribund Western-brokered peace talks.

But many doubt the political neophyte will be able to stand up to Putin and revive the struggling economy.

Questions have also been raised over his close ties to Israel-based tycoon Igor Kolomoysky.

Victoriya, a 74-year-old pensioner, said she liked the new president-elect but expressed concern that he may not last long.

"He has not met this pack of wolves yet," she said.

Analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said that Zelensky's political "honeymoon" would last two or three months before reality kicks in.

Ukrainians want to see a quick end to the war in the east and pay less for utility bills, Fesenko told AFP.

"It will be extremely difficult to meet these expectations," he said.

Kerry visits divided Cyprus to boost peace talks

Yahoo – AFP, Alice Hackman and Nicolas Revise, 4 Dec 2015

US Secretary of State John Kerry (C) shakes the hands of Cypriot President

 Nicos Anastasiades (R) and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci (L) ahead

of a dinner in Nicosia on December 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jonathan Ernst)

Nicosia (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that an end to the four-decade division of Cyprus was "within reach" as he visited both sides of the Mediterranean island to support peace talks.

Hopes have grown for a peace deal since leaders in the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot-held north resumed UN-brokered negotiations in May, with meetings in recent weeks intensifying to their highest level in years.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis

 Kasoulides (R) welcomes US Secretary

 of State John Kerry in Nicosia on 

December 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Behrouz Mehri)

"In recent months it has become clear that the ground really is shifting. And tangible progress is being made," Kerry said after separate talks with the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders.

"I am more convinced than ever that a resolution to the longstanding division of Cyprus is within reach, and with it, the many benefits of unity for all the people of the island," he said.

A UN-controlled buffer zone -- the "Green Line" -- runs across the island and through Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital, separating the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) from the Republic of Cyprus.

Kerry met with both Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades, who embarked on a new round of peace talks towards reunification after Akinci won elections in April.

"Both leaders underscored something we strongly believe in the United States: not only will a just, comprehensive, and lasting solution for Cyprus have an enormously positive impact on the island, it will lift up the entire region," Kerry said.

"A united Cyprus will stand as a beacon of hope in a tumultuous part of the world at a time when people need that beacon. It will be a model for other places in search of a peaceful, multi-ethnic future.

"With a lasting settlement to this decades-long conflict, Cyprus could also become a regional energy and commercial hub," he said, adding, "We believe this is Cyprus's moment."

'Cautiously optimistic'

Kerry is the second senior US official to travel to Cyprus after Vice President Joe Biden in 2014 became the highest level American visitor since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1962.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades (R) greets US Secretary of State

John Kerry in Nicosia on December 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jonathan Ernst)

He arrived in Cyprus from Belgrade, where he had taken part in the annual ministerial council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The visit comes amid an international push for a solution to the Cyprus issue, as UN peace envoy Espen Barth Eide last week announced "further progress" in talks, the most intensive in years.

"They now feel more hopeful and confident that the outstanding issues could be resolved in the near future," the Norwegian diplomat said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Cyprus on Wednesday, a day after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made his first visit to the north since assuming office, expressing his support for a "viable, just and peaceful solution".

Rival leaders have failed to come up with a power-sharing formula for four decades, struggling with issues including lost property, Turkish soldiers in the north and landmine clearance.

But after Akinci was elected on a mandate to pursue further talks, he and Anastasiades announced several confidence-building measures, including a promise to hand over maps detailing 28 Greek Cypriot minefields in the north, scrapping visa requirements for Greek Cypriots and connecting electricity grids.

Ankara and Washington voiced hope that 2015 could be the year that Cyprus was reunited.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci (R) meets with US Secretary of State 

John Kerry (L) on December 3, 2015 in north Nicosia, in the self-proclaimed 

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AFP Photo/Jonathan Ernst)

Mete Hatay, a TRNC-based political analyst, said he was "cautiously optimistic" but did not expect negotiations to find a solution by the end of the year.

"The negotiations look good, but it's not easy," he said.

During the Turkish invasion, around 200,000 people fled in a population exchange, Greek Cypriots to the south and Turkish Cypriots to the north, leaving behind their homes and land.

Their lost property -- as well as territory -- will be "the last issues that are going to be on the table," Hatay said.

Iceland MPs vote to abolish blasphemy laws

Iceland's parliament has abolished its 75-year-old laws against blasphemy, approving a bill introduced by the country's minority Pirate Party. The group says it is a step forward for freedom of expression.

Deutsche Welle, 4 July 2015

 

A photo taken on 27 October 2013 shows an exterior view of the Icelandic
Parliament building in the country's capital Reykjavik.

Parliamentarians in the Nordic country overwhelmingly passed the bill on Thursday, with 43 yes votes to just one no. Speaking to DW, Helgi Hrafn, a member of the party which proposed the bill, said it was a law he had been wanting to put forward for a long time.

"The Pirate Party in Iceland wishes to defend and expand freedom of expression. This particular article is the most glaring fault in the general criminal code, which is why we proposed it," he said. Legal protections from hate speech and incitement remain in place.

On its website the Pirate Party states its core policies are the protection of civil rights, freedom of information, transparency and direct democracy. The group brought up the legislation in January of this year, shortly after the extremist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Hrafn acknowledged that although there was "a connection with the timing" between the two, blasphemy being against the law is a "profoundly barbaric and backwards idea."

"We're not going to be scared of freedom of expression because somebody does something bad. We can't allow that," he told DW.

"Freedom of expression is not going to bow down to threats."

The group's ratings have surged since it won three parliamentary seats in 2013, with one recent opinion poll making the Pirates Iceland's most popular party.

OSCE media freedom representative (.@OSCE_RFoM) welcomes decriminalization of blasphemy in Iceland http://t.co/Vl2t0JKwAT

— OSCE (@OSCE) July 3, 2015

A dangerous precedent

Under the previous code, accused blasphemers could face prison time if found guilty. Hrafn argued the criticism that the law was rarely or never applied was untrue, and cited a 1997 case against an Icelandic comedy group as an example of it being used to silence people. "Because of pressure from the clergy the police questioned them, and for a few months they had to wonder if they would be prosecuted," he said.

Several countries have become notorious for their hardline stance on crimes such as blasphemy. In Pakistan on Friday, a Muslim cleric was arrested for supposedly leading a mob against a Christian couple accused of desecrating the Koran. It followed death sentences for a man with a history of mental illness and a Christian woman last year. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, France has cracked down on anyone it sees as supporting terrorism, leading to comedian Dieudonne being convicted for Facebook comments he posted in the days after the attack.

Germany too has seen calls for its blasphemy laws to be scrapped, with a member of the country's Protestant church ealier this year saying that while it may be distasteful, legally it was "an exercise of fundamental rights." Those who break the country's 144-year-old law could be handed prison terms of up to three years, at least in theory. Yet Germany has been a vocal opponent of Saudi Arabia's jailing and flogging of blogger Raif Badawi for "insulting Islam."

Freedom of speech again became a 

hotly-debated topic following the Charlie

Hebdo attack

'Practice what we preach'

Hrafn says it was "obnoxious" laws like these that undermine complaints over other nations' curbs on free speech. "If we are to honor freedom of expression it's not enough for us to point at somebody else and brag about how Western culture is supposedly much better at freedom of speech, we have to practice what we preach," he told DW. "We have to allow speech that goes no further than to offend the occasional person.

"People do not have a right to never be offended."

The Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association described Thursday's decision as sending "a vital message to the rest of the world."

"Nations which maintain blasphemy laws with serious consequences should not be able to point to Iceland and say that it has the same kind of law," a statement read.

Despite the law's abolishment, Hrafn insists that Iceland is far from perfect. "Iceland is by no means any sort of a role model when it comes to freedom of expression - not on the legal books," he said. "There are many problems here, and this is the most silly one, but there are more to be fixed."

EU brokers Russia-Ukraine gas deal amid mild optimism over truce

Russia and Ukraine have agreed a deal that will ensure Kyiv receives gas until the end of the month, after Moscow threatened to cut off supplies. Meanwhile, leaders expressed mild optimism about the Ukraine ceasefire.

Deutsche Welle, 3 March 2015

A deal was finally struck after tense talks in Brussels late on Monday, effectively securing the gas supply to Ukraine and the European Union until the end of the winter.

The two countries have had several gas price disputes in past years, with Moscow's threat to turn off the taps to Ukraine also placing supplies to the European Union in jeopardy. Russia had been threatening to shut off the pipeline on Tuesday unless it received outstanding prepayments from Kyiv for the fuel.

A European Commission statement said both sides had confirmed their intention to "fully implement" a deal agreed in October. The agreement saw Moscow promise to deliver gas to Ukraine until the end of March, provided the prepayments arrive.

"I am satisfied that we managed to safeguard the full application of the winter package for the supply needs in Ukraine," said EU energy chief Maros Sefcovic after mediating the emergency talks between Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Demchyshyn.

Sefcovic said he was also confident that the "supply of gas to EU markets remains secure," with the Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom having struck a deal over payment.

Ukraine itself had threatened to
cut off gas to the rebel-held areas

The sides agreed to leave the gas supply to rebel-held areas of Luhansk and Donetsk - described as "highly complex in legal, technical and political terms" - out of the talks.

The EU receives about a third of its gas from Russia, much of it through Ukraine.

'Some progress, more needed'

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. The parties agreed that "progress has been made, but the situation must be improved further," according to a French presidency statement.

Poroshenko's office has formally appealed to the UN and EU for peacekeeping troops to be sent to the disputed area.

Before the leaders spoke, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met for talks in Geneva. Both agreed that implementation of the deal struck in Minsk on February 15 was on the right track.

'Cherry picking' of Minsk truce

Kerry, however, said there had been "a kind of cherry-picking, a piecemeal selectivity to the application of the Minsk agreements."

Although fighting has been broadly halted along the front line in eastern Ukraine, an incident of shelling over the weekend claimed the life of Ukrainian photojournalist Sergiy Nikolayev. Eight government soldiers were also injured by rebel fire, with Kyiv claiming one of its soldiers had been killed.

Although both sides have begun their withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line in accordance with the truce, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has said it is too early to confirm whether a full pullback has taken place.

The UN said on Monday that more than 6,000 people have died in Ukraine in less than a year since all-out fighting in the eastern regions began.

rc/bk (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

Tajik vote overshadowed by ruble slump

Voters have cast ballots in Tajikistan for a new parliament likely to be held by President Emomali Rakhmon's secularists. Many migrant Tajiks have returned to the Central Asian nation because of Russia's economic slump.

Deutsche Welle, 1 March 2015

Ex-Soviet Tajikistan voted on Sunday with few signs of genuine parliamentary opposition to the 22-year-old rule of President Rakhmon. Election results are expected on Monday morning local time.

Campaigning had been hardly visible, said monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). They added that online news sources had been "intermittently blocked" and local journalists were practicing "self-censorship," fearing intimidation.

Rakhmon's secular government defeated Islamist rebels in a bitter 1992-97 civil war. In the last election in 2010, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which includes many former fighters, won only two seats.

Its leader, Muhiddin Kabiri, said the IRPT hope to win at least five seats to form its own parliamentary caucus or faction - despite what he said were attempts to "blacken" the party's reputation via social media.

Firm hold in past parliament

Rakhmon won a fourth term
as president in 2013

Since 2010, Rakhmon's People's Democratic Party has held 55 mandates in the 63-seat Assembly of Representatives, parliament's lower chamber.

The president himself was re-elected in 2013 to a fourth seven-year term.

Voters thronged to polling stations in sunny weather in the capital Dushanbe on Sunday, with some expressing fears about their economic prospects.

Extra jobs for returning migrants

During campaigning, the government promised 200,000 extra jobs for Tajiks returning from Russia, where manual jobs, such as cleaning and snow clearing, no longer generate adequate remittances given the ruble's sharp decline.

Money sent to families back home has until recently accounted for up to half of Tajikistan's gross domestic product (GDP).

Russia's economy has suffered under Western sanctions linked to the Ukraine crisis and plunging prices worldwide for oil and gas sales.

A migrant workers' association in the western Russian city of Saint Petersburg said last week that migrants from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were increasingly adverse to "meager" pay.

Social tensions

Tajik political analysts have warned that social tensions could rise further in Tajikistan as a result.

Alexander Knyazev, a Central Asian analyst, said a return of a large number of disgruntled workers might leave President Rakhmon facing social unrest.

Tajikistan, a mountainous nation of 8.3 million people, hosts 7,000 Russian soldiers, making it the largest contingent stationed abroad outside Crimea.

ipj/gsw (dpa, Reuters, AFP)

First death-free day of Ukraine ceasefire, US sees no compliance

Yahoo – AFP, Marc Burleigh with Jo Biddle in Washington, 25 February 2015

Ukrainian servicemen check documents of a local resident at a checkpoint 

near Slavyanoserbsk, in the region of Lugansk on February 25, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

Kiev (AFP) - A UN-backed ceasefire showed signs of finally taking hold in Ukraine on Wednesday, with no deaths reported on the front for the first time since the truce took effect 10 days ago.

However, Secretary of State John Kerry told US lawmakers: "To date, neither Russia nor the forces it is supporting have come close to complying with their commitments," renewing warnings that Moscow would face further sanctions.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks 

during a hearing of the House Foreign

Affairs Committee on February 25, 2015

in Washington,DC (AFP Photo/Brendan 

Smialowski)

A day earlier, Kerry had said the Russians were persisting in "lies... to my face" about their activities in Ukraine. The US dismisses Moscow's denials about giving military backing to the separatists in east Ukraine.

Russia has in turn warned it could cut off gas supplies to Ukraine within days -- and, by extension, to parts of the European Union.

The geopolitical tensions between the old Cold War foes overshadowed a lull in fighting that produced the first day without fatalities since the ceasefire came into effect on February 15.

"Over the past day, one soldier was wounded but there were no dead," Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists in Kiev. The rebels also reported no deaths on their side.

There was still no confirmation, though, from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) of a pull-back of heavy weapons from the frontline -- the other key plank of the truce.

Rebels insisted they were withdrawing artillery, rocket launchers and tanks from some areas, and journalists saw a column of howitzer guns being driven along a road near the separatist stronghold of Donetsk.

But the OSCE mission in Ukraine said the warring sides had not provided the information needed to determine what, if any, arms withdrawals have occurred.

Kiev says it will not carry out an arms pull-back until a full and "comprehensive" ceasefire is observed and has accused Russia of continuing to send military hardware in to bolster the rebels.

Exasperation with Russia

Pro-Russian rebels move heavy-artillery

 from close the eastern Ukrainian town of 

Starobecheve, on February 25, 2015

 (AFP Photo/Vasily Maximov)

The West has thrown its hopes of finding a negotiated solution to the 10-month conflict fully behind the truce, which last week won unanimous backing from the UN Security Council.

But continued breaches by rebel forces -- especially their assault on Debaltseve, a strategic transport hub, and attacks on Ukrainian army positions near the port city of Mariupol -- have exasperated the EU and US.

British Prime Minister David Cameron this week announced his country will send up to 75 soldiers to Ukraine on a "training mission". He said they would not be sent to the conflict zone.

Poland on Wednesday announced its own plans to send a small contingent of troops to Ukraine to help train Kiev's military officers.

Cameron urged the EU to look at wide-ranging sanctions on Russia's economy, which is already toppling into recession because of a drop in oil prices.

View galleryThe key industrial hub of Mariupol has become the latest …

The key industrial hub of Mariupol has become the latest hotspot in the conflict in east Ukraine, st …

Russia, though, is flexing its muscles in readiness for any additional sanctions.

Its state-run gas giant Gazprom has warned it could cut off supplies to Ukraine, amid a dispute over payment.

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Ukraine had paid only enough "for three or four days' gas supplies. Unless there is a prepayment, Gazprom... will terminate the supply," according to the Interfax news agency.

Much of the gas that flows through Ukraine goes on to supply the EU market.

Putin, in televised comments, also claimed Ukraine had cut off gas supplies to separatist-held territories in the east in what "smacks of genocide."

Workers of the Separate Repair - Recovery Battalion restore tanks, armored personel 

carriers and other heavy weapons in a factory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk 

on February 25, 2015 (AFP Photo/Andrey Borodulin)

Russian drill

The instability is torpedoing Ukraine's fragile economy. The country's central bank on Wednesday increased currency controls in a bid to stop a free-fall of the hryvnia.

Also of concern to EU neighbours is a Russian military drill launched near the borders with Estonia and Latvia.

Some 1,500 Russian paratroopers were to descend from the skies en masse in an exercise to capture and destroy an enemy's airfield, defence ministry spokeswoman Irina Kruglova told AFP. She said the drill was to continue into Saturday.

Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, Russia has staged a series of wargames that have alarmed its post-Soviet neighbours and the West.

Lithuania said on Tuesday it would return to limited conscription later this year because of "the current geopolitical environment".

Related Articles:

Ukraine military: withdrawing heavy artillery from front lines - New

Putin criticises sanctions but says Russia does not want war

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a cabinet meeting outside 

Moscow, on February 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Michael Klimentyev)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Feb 8, 2015)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Aug 3, 2014)

Archangel Michael: Peace on Earth is Not a Dream

Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, February 13, 2015

Archangel Michael will find a way to get his message out. Linda was not planning on giving a reading today, but a caller begged her. And in the course of the reading, AAM sent a message to all of us. Here it is:

Greetings I am Michael, Archangel of Peace, Warrior of Love, bringer of news.

Our time is at hand and you know this. As we nudge, encourage and conjoin with so many upon the planet to bring forth in form not merely in heart but in form, not only the promise of peace but the actuality of peace.

This is not a dream. This is not an unreality. This is not, as some think, ‘pie in the sky.’

This is what our partnership, our sacred union, our co-creation together, is capable of. And always has been. Only now the human vibration, frequency and knowingness has risen to a level where humans are consciously aware that they are able and capable of anchoring peace on Earth with us right now.

This is not merely an exercise of intent, but of will and action. It is a glorious day. It is not a day of defeat. It is not a day of fear. It is not a day of worry. It is a glorious day!

So I reassure you, my beloved one, and I reassure many, peace is at hand. And I thank you for all the assistance, the diligence, all the consistency that you have offered to and with me – you are cherished.

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Merkel and Hollande in last-ditch diplomatic effort in Russia

Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, and Vladimir Putin held closed-door talks for hours on the Ukraine conflict. Putin seemed unlikely to bend as the separtists gained ground.

Deutsche Welle, 6 Feb 2015

France's Francois Hollande and Germany's Angela Merkel left Moscow after several hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin without reaching an agreement to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. There were no photo-ops with handshakes or smiles, no press conference, only three tense faces around a small table in an ornate room in the Kremlin.

The last-minute dash to Moscow is the first for Merkel since the start of the Ukraine crisis while Hollande made a brief stopover in December. The European duo hoped to curb the rising tide of violence in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists, but no one was particularly optimistic about the outcome of the meeting.

The French president said he and Merkel would present "a new proposal for a comprehensive settlement based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine," to Putin and denied rumors that the plan actually came from the Kremlin.

Speaking in Berlin before her own flight to Moscow, Chancellor Merkel said she was "convinced that there is no military solution to this conflict," but took a realistic view of her Russian trip, saying no one could be sure they would "manage to achieve a truce through these talks."

An official speaking anonymously to Reuters news agency said that it is unlikely Putin would make any concession, as he "does not appear to have any incentive to back down now" while the separatists are gaining ground.

Top NATO commander Philip Breedlove also warned on Friday that any ceasefire must be monitored by a group like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), because the last truce agreed upon in Minsk in September was used by the separatists to regroup and rearm.

Ukraine at the top of the agenda in Munich

The situation in Ukraine also took highest priority at an international security conference in Munich, where the debate over whether or not to arm Ukraine showed cracks between the EU countries, who flatly rejected such an idea, and the United States, which appears to be considering it.

Ursula von der Leyen opened the
conference attended by dozens of
world leaders and defense ministers

In her opening speech at an international security conference in Munich, Merkel's defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, warned that arming Ukraine - something Ukrainian officials have repeatedly asked for - could backfire.

"The support with arms from Russia to the separatists is potentially unlimited. And do we really count on being able to provide as many arms to the Ukrainian army that they could potentially conquer the other side?" von der Leyen asked the conference.

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon echoed von der Leyen's concerns, saying that sending weapons would only "escalate the conflict."

The Franco-German peace effort is an attempt to reestablish a truce to a conflict that has killed more than 5,000 people before European leaders met next week to discuss imposing new economic sanctions on Russia.

es/bw (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Related Article:

Merkel says 'weapons won't help' resolve eastern Ukraine crisis