🇪🇺❌🇭🇺 European Court of Justice fines Hungary 200 mil. Euros with an additional 1 mil. EURs added for each day past the deadline over Budapest's refusal to take in migrants.

The dispute dates back to December 2020, when the court first ruled that Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, had limited access to asylum procedures for those seeking international protection in the country, making it "virtually impossible" to file applications. The Hungarian authorities were also censured for unlawfully keeping asylum seekers in so-called "transit zones" under conditions that amounted to detention and violating their right to appeal.

This "systematic" practice, the court said back then, also involved police officers forcibly escorting third-country nationals that had arrived illegally in Hungary to the other side of a fence erected a few metres from the border with Serbia, "to a strip of land devoid of any infrastructure."

The judges conclude that Hungary is "disregarding the principle of sincere cooperation" and "deliberately evading" the application of the bloc's asylum legislation, which has ripple effects on the borderless bloc.

"That conduct constitutes a serious threat to the unity of EU law, which has an extraordinarily serious impact both on private interests, particularly the interests of asylum seekers, and on the public interest," the judges say.

Since Hungary's wrongdoing puts more pressure on nearby member states, who have to take care of the migrants unlawfully expelled by Budapest, the legal breach "seriously undermines the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility."

Reacting to the news, Orbán described the court's decision as "outrageous and unacceptable."

"It seems that illegal migrants are more important to the Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens," he said. (The ECJ is based in Luxembourg)

🔗 https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/06/13/ecj-fines-hungary-with-200-million-over-extremely-serious-breach-of-eu-asylum-law

🇷🇺❌🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺 — 🇷🇺 Dmitry Medvedev on Telegram:

"Here are the new American sanctions. There will be new European ones soon. Do we need to respond to them? It seems not, their number is already measured in tens of thousands. We have learned to live and develop with them.

On the other hand, it is necessary. Not only to the authorities, the state, but to all our people in general. To everyone who loves our Motherland - Russia. After all, they - the USA and their fucking allies - declared war on us without rules!

How to react? I already talked about this once, but it’s worth repeating.
Every day we must try to inflict maximum harm on those countries that have imposed these restrictions on our country and all our citizens. Harm in everything in which harm can be done. Harm to their economies, their institutions and their rulers. Harm to the well-being of their citizens. Their confidence in the future. To do this, we must continue to look for the critical vulnerabilities of their economies and hit them in all areas. Cause damage in all places, paralyzing the work of their companies and government agencies. Find problems in their most important technologies and strike them mercilessly. Literally destroy their energy, industry, transport, banking and social services. Instill fear of the imminent collapse of all critical infrastructure.

Are they afraid of handing over our weapons to the enemies of the Western world? We must transfer to them all possible types of weapons, except nuclear (for now)!
Are they afraid of anarchy and an explosion of crime in major cities? We must help disorganize their municipal government!
Are they afraid of war in space? This means they will receive it too. Let everything stop for them, let everything go bad, let everything go to hell!
Are they afraid of social explosions? Let's arrange them! We need to throw all the most ominous night terrors into their media sphere, use all their terrible phantom pains. No need to spare their psyche anymore! Let them shiver in their cozy homes, let them shiver under the blankets.
Are they yelling about our use of fake news? Let's turn their life into a complete crazy nightmare in which they will not be able to distinguish wild fiction from the realities of the day, infernal evil from the routine of life.

And no rules regarding the enemy! Let them get everything in full for harming Russia and as painfully as possible! Everyone can contribute!

Remember:
Quid pro quo!
Tit for tat!
A fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; as he did <...>, so he should do
(Leviticus 24:20).‌‌"

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🇨🇦🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹🇯🇵🇬🇧🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦 — 🇺🇦President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram:

"Today is the G7 summit in Italy, a meeting of our biggest partners. A large part of it will be dedicated to Ukraine, to our defense and economic stability. And we are waiting for important decisions today.

The main topics for us are the development of the fighter coalition, the acceleration of pilot training, and the accelerated supply of aircraft. The development of the Ukrainian air defense system on the basis of the most powerful Western complexes and the expansion of long-range capabilities. Approval of the format for the use of Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine, in particular for the development of our defense industry, joint production of weapons.

Today I will take part in the meeting of the Group of Seven and hold a series of bilateral meetings: with the host of the summit, the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Maloni, the Prime Ministers of Canada and Great Britain Justin Trudeau and Rishi Sunac, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the Director- IMF manager Kristalina Georgieva.

During meetings with US President Joseph Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, we will sign bilateral security agreements. The document with the United States will be unprecedented, as it should be for the leaders of Ukraine's support.

A year ago, at the NATO summit in Vilnius, the G7 adopted the Declaration of Support for Ukraine. Today, within the framework of this Declaration, we are signing the last two security agreements with the members of the "seven". The Ukrainian people, our soldiers see that the G7 is forever with Ukraine. I am grateful to our partners for believing in us and our victory.‌‌"

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🇮🇹🤝🇺🇦 — 🇺🇦 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram:

"Had a productive meeting with Georgia Maloney. I personally thank Giorgia and all of Italy for the security, political, financial and humanitarian support of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Thank you for all your efforts to protect life.

We discussed the next steps of our cooperation, in particular Italy's support of the air defense system of Ukraine.

The first, inaugural Peace Summit and its expected results were also discussed. I am deeply grateful to Giorgi for her active assistance in getting as many leaders and states as possible to participate in the Summit and bring an honest peace closer.

Of course, we discussed our joint projects with Italy, aimed at helping Ukraine in the reconstruction of Odessa and the Odesa region. Cooperation adds social strength to both our countries. I also highly appreciate Italy's decision to organize the next Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine in Rome in 2025.‌‌"

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👤🛫🇰🇵 — 🏴 ZeroHedge | Putin To Arrive In North Korea As Kim Hails "Invincible Comrades-in-Arms" | June 12, 2024:

"As G7 leaders who are to meet in Italy this week prepare expanded sanctions on Russia, President Vladmir Putin is soon expected in North Korea. Kim Jong Un on Wednesday hailed his country's ties with Moscow, calling the two powers which actually share a tiny far eastern border "invincible comrades-in-arms"

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🏃‍♂️💸 — 🇺🇸 Mises Institute | The Achilles Heel of the Fiat Money System | June 8, 2024:

"The fiat money system will not disappear just like that. Any expectations or hopes to that end should be tempered. Yes, the fiat money system could collapse; yet there is a significant likelihood it will persist longer than most people might think. This prolonged existence may come at a cost: a fascist state encroachment on the freedoms of citizens and entrepreneurs would be more profound than most people realize.

(...)

The Achilles’ heel of the fiat money system lies in its dependence on the demand for money. However, what does this demand for money signify? Essentially, it reflects people’s desire to hold money, influenced by a multitude of factors.

For instance, people tend to maintain money balances relative to their income. As income rises, so does the desire to hold money. The demand for money typically diminishes when interest rates rise. This is because holding onto money entails opportunity costs when higher returns could be earned through, say, bank deposits and bonds.

History demonstrates that the demand for money remains relatively steady when there is a high level of trust in the currency, meaning people are not worried that the purchasing power of their money will decline or be destroyed. Given this insight, it’s clear how states and their central banks seek to handle the fiat money system in their favor. Their primary strategy involves creating illusions and deceiving the populace to maintain control and influence.

For instance, people are often fed the narrative that inflation of 2 percent equates to “stable money”—a claim that is, of course, inherently false. In reality, a 2-percent inflation rate destroys the purchasing power of money by 2 percent every year. Furthermore, statistical goods price indices are often cobbled together to present a lower inflation rate than experienced in the market. This manipulation serves to downplay the true extent of monetary debasement."

#Geoeconomics

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👤😀👤 — 🇺🇦 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram:

"Today is a truly historic day. We signed the strongest agreement between Ukraine and the USA during the entire period of our independence.

The first is that the agreement contains a very detailed legally binding part, and that is the reliability of America's support for our independence.

Second, security guarantees from the United States are based, in particular, on the stability of the level of security and defense support. And not only for the time of this war, but also for the time of peace after the war. And we will definitely ensure peace.

Third, it is clearly stated that America supports Ukraine's efforts to win this war.

Fourth, the agreement has good positions on weapons for our defense. Very specifically — about Patriot systems, very specifically — about supplying Ukraine with fighter squadrons — that's right, in the plural: squadrons — including, but not limited to, F-16s. We worked for a long time for this.

Fifth, it is very important that the agreement also contains the issue of Russia's just responsibility for this war and for its efforts to destroy Ukrainians. America supports both fair compensation for the damage caused by Russian strikes and the development of ways for frozen Russian assets to be used to protect and restore Ukraine.

Thank you to President Biden and team, the United States Congress for your support — both parties, both chambers, thank you. And thank you to every American heart that does not betray freedom and supports us."

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🇮🇷 🇮🇱 🇮🇱 Netanyahu dissolves war cabinet but plans to keep far right sidelined

🔶️ Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s continued influence, even from outside the war cabinet, was partly the reason for the resignation of war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot last week. The two centrists said they joined the cabinet to ensure the war was conducted responsibly, but have since concluded they couldn’t work with Netanyahu as long as he refused to commit to a day-after strategy for Gaza.

🔶️ The departure came after a string of military leaders made rare public statements airing their grievances with Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza, with many saying that Israel cannot afford to continue it indefinitely, especially with tensions escalating on the Lebanese border.

🔶️ Brig. Gen. Efraim Sneh, a former deputy minister of defense, said that Israel has achieved its military objectives of degrading the majority of Hamas capabilities and can afford to declare an end to the war in Gaza, get back the hostages, and redirect its focus to distancing Hezbollah forces from its northern border.

🔶️ “Israel is in an unacceptable situation, in which a big part of the country has been deserted,” he said. He added that, while “Israel’s forces are stretched thin between Gaza and the Lebanese border,” Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners are exacerbating the situation by blocking hundreds of thousands of Palestinian day laborers from entering Israel and enacting punitive measures against the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

🔶️ The IDF is moving closer to a larger war with Hezbollah, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said in a video message Sunday. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified in recent weeks at the Lebanese border. “Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation — one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Hagari said. After an Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah commander last week, a Hezbollah official said the militant group would retaliate with increased operations “in intensity, strength, quantity and quality.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/17/israel-gaza-hamas-netanyahu-war-cabinet/