Europe – Page 4

March 30, 2006

How Can They Tell?

Headline: “Protests Bring France to Standstill“

Europe

March 24, 2006

Clouds Over the Minsk Spring

Who among us is as brave as these people? The crackdown began just after 3 a.m., when police officers wearing black riot helmets and masks arrived on six large trucks and surrounded the small encampment in October Square. The demonstrators, who had been protesting a rigged presidential election last Sunday, stood their ground while the officers dismounted and jogged into place in lines, cutting off any chance of escape. The US and EU have finally agreed on something; both will...

Democracy/Europe/Human Rights

March 23, 2006

Brussels Update

The Chosun Ilbo reports: International pressure on North Korea to improve its dismal human rights record increased on Wednesday, when the European Parliament decided to link humanitarian aid to the issue while a conference highlighting abuses in the North opened in the EU capital Brussels. Thursday sees the first hearing on North Korean human rights before the European Parliament. At the conference, which was led by activist groups from the U.S. and across Europe, Hungarian member of the European Parliament...

Activism/Europe/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/Refugees

March 1, 2006

Putting Us to Shame

From Radio Free Asia: Seven Western European countries including Germany, Britain, Denmark, and Sweden have granted political asylum to a total of 280 North Korean escapees since the late 1990s, according to the European Union statistical service Eurostat. A further 700 North Koreans have applied for political asylum.

Defectors/Europe/Human Rights/Refugees/Uncategorized

February 21, 2006

A Modest Drumbeat

The Chosun Ilbo and the Donga Ilbo are looking at their calendars and seeing a slew of events that will further publicize human rights conditions in North Korea. Will this be the year our nascent movement finally demonstrates some media sophistication? March: The State Department will publish its new human rights report (although I don’t have any reason to suspect anything earth-shaking to come of it). March 23rd: European Parliament hearings on North Korea; Freedom House conference in Brussels (we’re...

Activism/Appeasement/Europe/Human Rights/Korean Politics/North Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views

February 19, 2006

Europe Takes Up N.K. Human Rights Mantle

The EU’s human rights dialogue with North Korea’s regime may be predictably “moribund,” but a new report shows that Europe is outperforming the United States in accepting refugees: Seven European nations have granted asylum to 280 North Korean defectors since the mid-1990s, Radio Free Asia reported on Saturday. RFA said Germany, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway gave asylum to 280 out of 700 North Korean refugees who applied there. Germany topped the list, accepting 232 out of...

Defectors/Europe/Human Rights/Korean Politics/North Korea/Refugees

February 17, 2006

Paxil for the Lot of You: Cartoons Don’t Kill, Idiocy Does

[Updated] Not a good week for the idea of peaceful coexistence with the undiagnosed and insane. It may be time to revisit the subject of secretly medicating city water supplies. “We are a nation that drinks blood, and we know that there is no blood better than the blood of Jews.” Fortunately, my blood is only half delicious. “Riots in Pakistan spurred by the publication in Europe of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad spilled over to a South Korean...

Anti-Americanism/Europe/Humor/Satire/Media Criticism/Terrorism/Iraq/WTF?

Category: Europe