Tag: European Court of Human Rights

Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! We are past the gloomiest day of the year (last Monday, according to general understanding, but no science at all), so we can expect things to be brighter from here on. I mean once Christmas passes, I am so over winter weather anyway, I can’t wait for it to be summer already… How about you? Here’s some weekend reading that unfortunately will not cheer you up, but I hope you’ll enjoy them nontheless. How Multilateral Cooperation Can Stop the Coronavirus Outbreak From Spreading This is yet another example when internationalism and international organizations are indeed helping humankind. One…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Christmas! I was thinking about skipping this week’s Sunday Smack altogether, because I though no-one would read it on Christmas Eve. But then I saw the flood of issues and posts from the course of this week, which made me decide I can’t take the week off. So, here’s a couple of not at all christmassy reads for you today. UN Vote on Jerusalem Tests the Power of Trump’s Threats and Ultimatums Hopefully he will think twice before such a dumb move. The Well Respected UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is Leaving Because His Job Has Become Impossible…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! I hope all is well with you all. I am still not in a chatty mode, but I have several posts and even a big change planned on this site. Until then, I hope you’ll enjoy this weekend’s reading. Saudi Power Play Sends Shockwaves Abroad More than one week on, it is still not clear where this all leads. A Coup in Zimbabwe? Robert Mugabe is Seemingly Deposed It does indeed seem like the end for one of the longest ruling leaders in Africa. Hopefully the change will serve the people of Zimbabwe in all positive ways. The…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday, everybody! I hope you are all safe and well! When I complained about being short of news, I didn’t exactly wish for anything close to this. One of my politics professors used to say that the greatest guarantee we have against a third world war is the nuclear bomb itself. Because all parties are very well aware that once it’s out, all hells will break loose. I do hope he was right. Also, I will repeat that any policy that encourages people to hate others for what they are or where they are coming from is wrong. And…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday, Everybody! This was an eventful week in a lot of ways. The reason I chose this photo to define it is in part because I am such an admirer of traditional protocol, of which there is no greater source today than royal events as such. The other reason is a personal one, during the summer I started to up my Spanish skills with an intensive training, and I was so proud of myself listening to and understanding most of King Felipe’s state banquet speech! And also the gowns and tiaras, but that’s like an obvious reason, not to…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Easter, Everybody! I hope you are having a peaceful and relaxing holiday weekend, whether you celebrate Easter or not. As you might have heard, President János Áder signed the legislation making Central European University’s operations in Hungary impossible into law this week. Demonstrations in Hungary keep going on, now the aim is to get MPs to refer the law to revision to the Constitutional Court (and the whole regime to leave, while we’re at it). The demonstrators are mostly university students, protesting peacefully against this irrational, outrageous and outright stupid act of the government. Meanwhile, on Easter Monday, there will…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Spring, Everybody! This week was yet another sad reminder of the times we live in now. I am leaving for London just this coming week for a short trip (more on this later), and what happened on Westminster Bridge made me think about a lot of things. It is easy to say that we are not going to be frightened (we are not!), but harder not to think I could have been there on the bridge at that very moment. Or not to think whether it is just statistics, like there are so many people in a city like…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday, everybody! I really can’t believe it is almost December already, and it’s less than four weeks to go until Christmas. Another year has gone by so quickly. Due to Thanksgiving, we weren’t overwhelmed with earthshaking news this week, except for the death of a certain dictator, perhaps. Meanwhile I suffered a moderate cold and a major exhaustion this week, so after finishing off a project on Wednesday, I took two days off to do nothing, but things I enjoy (which more or less I did). For one thing, I am done watching ¾ of the Gilmore Girls revival,…

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Sunday Smack

Happy Sunday! And happy Mother’s Day for all the mothers (mine especially! ♥), as we are celebrating it on the first Sunday of May on this side of the pond. Speaking of which, happy May too! That’s a whole lot of happy occasions! 🙂 And these are for your reading pleasure today: What the Failure of the Geneva Talks Means Forcing Assad to step down might be an uneasy task to say the least, but finding a worthy and capable successor proves even more difficult. One Europe, from the Arctic to Lampedusa Why I have only recently come across Federica…

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Sunday Smack

You might have noticed that despite my promises there was no update on the blog this week. I have several unfinished posts and a bunch of excuses that I will not bother you with. So, no promises this time. Let’s all just accept whatever might come. Like these readings now to finish off your Sundays. ISIS Was Born In An American Detention Facility (And It Wasn’t Gitmo) This is equal parts interesting and disturbing. Julian Assange and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention This was pretty big news this week, with people speculating whether it has any implications for…

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