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L.G.B.T.Q. activists in Ukraine share the fight against Russia’s invasion.

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L.G.B.T.Q. activists in Ukraine share the fight against Russia’s invasion.

To have a look at movies from final 12 months’s Satisfaction Parade in Kyiv is to see at a joyous second of solidarity within the quest for homosexual rights in Ukraine. A video on YouTube exhibits a cheerful crowd of 1000’s. Some wave flags. Some carry banners. Drag queens dance on a float.

However the warfare that began when Russia invaded on Feb. 24 has compelled Ukraine’s L.G.B.T.Q. motion to confront a menace not solely to nationwide sovereignty, but in addition to its personal neighborhood.

A professional-Russian puppet authorities, they are saying, can be much less supportive of the L.G.B.T.Q. agenda. Homosexual marriage would probably stay unrecognized, they are saying, and incidents of discrimination and hate crime would rise, as they’ve in Russian-backed separatist areas.

Homosexual rights activists who’ve spent years struggling for equality have responded to the invasion with an intensified dedication to their trigger, whereas mobilizing their community to supply help to folks in want.

“What has amazed me is how the activist neighborhood reacted,” stated Lenny Emson, who leads KyivPride and makes use of the gender-neutral courtesy title Mx. “It’s very encouraging how folks work and the way folks didn’t keep inside panicking. They organized themselves for the neighborhood.”

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The battle has confronted people who find themselves homosexual, lesbian or gender nonconforming with the identical agonizing decisions as the remainder of the nation’s 44 million folks. Some have fled as refugees or moved to Ukraine’s west in quest of security. Others have stayed to assist relations or as a result of they’re trapped in besieged cities or cities. Nonetheless others have joined Ukraine’s protection forces.

On the identical time, some people who find themselves L.G.B.T.Q. have confronted issues distinctive to their intercourse or gender id. Mx. Emson stated that she was conscious of about 100 transgender girls who have been within the course of of achieving authorized gender recognition when the warfare began. After the invasion, Ukraine banned males between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the nation to make sure they might be conscripted for navy service. The transgender girls are successfully trapped “due to the letter ‘M’ of their passports,” Mx. Emson stated.

Some people who find themselves H.I.V. constructive not have prepared entry to remedy. Neither do folks within the strategy of gender transition.

Protests that led to a revolution in 2014, throughout which Ukraine’s pro-Moscow president was overthrown in favor of a western-leaning one, served to deepen ties between homosexual rights activists and different branches of civil society. The drive for human rights, which underpins homosexual rights, was central to the protests that centered on Kyiv’s Maidan Sq..

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has promoted what he has referred to as “conventional values,” and has denounced what he views because the West’s cultural decadence, which is taken to incorporate the extension of authorized rights and cultural acceptance to people who find themselves L.G.B.T.Q.

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One signal of how Mr. Putin’s values may probably be utilized to Ukraine comes from Crimea, stated Maksym Eristavi, a Ukrainian homosexual rights activist and journalist. The area was seized by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, together with components of jap Donbas area. Human rights teams say each areas have seen a crackdown on human rights defenders and an increase in assaults on people who find themselves L.G.B.T.Q.

“It simply breaks my coronary heart that we had eight years of improbable success bringing Ukraine even additional however now that is being sabotaged,” stated Mr. Eristavi. Some latest Satisfaction Parades in Ukraine have been met with counterdemonstrations, and rights teams level to a string of hate crimes within the nation.

Nonetheless, some activists say the overriding nationwide objective of resisting the invasion may serve to extend most people’s solidarity with people who find themselves L.G.B.T.Q. Everyone is topic to Russia’s assaults, and straight Ukrainians can see that homosexual individuals are engaged in the identical wrestle for survival, a number of activists stated.

Mr. Eristavi stated the invasion “reignites the will to struggle again.”

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Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

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Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

The Hungarian prime minister arrived in Vienna on Thursday, where he was received by parliamentary president Walter Rosenkranz in a meeting condemned by several Austrian political parties.

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Despite criticism from other political parties, Austria’s newly elected parliament president, Walter Rosenkranz of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Vienna as his first official guest. 

The controversial visit took place in the Austrian parliament’s reception room, with the entire leadership of the FPÖ, including leader Herbert Kickl, reportedly in attendance. 

After the meeting concluded, Orbán had a separate, private meeting with Kickl. However, nothing was initially revealed about the content of their conversation.

Rosenkranz said the meeting had been arranged before he took office.

Other Austrian parties, including the Greens and Social Democrats, had resisted Orbán’s visit. Green party parliamentary leader Sigrid Maurer said the FPÖ views Orbán as a role model, which should be considered “an absolute warning signal.” 

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FPÖ finished first in the recent Austrian parliamentary elections, garnering 29.2% of the vote in the country’s first far-right election win since World War II.

Experts say the party managed to tap into Austrian anxiety on housing and healthcare, as well as often successfully blaming migration for a host of other issues. 

As is customary within Austria, the group with the highest number of votes appoints the President of Parliament – hence Rosenkranz being elected to the second-highest state office in the country last week. 

Orbán will reportedly not meet with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer during the visit.

Far-right alliance in Europe

Austria’s Freedom Party and Orbán’s Fidesz party both belong to the new European far-right group Patriots for Europe.  

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The party shares a deep aversion to the Green Deal, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s flagship initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and have challenged the project of European integration as well as the power granted to EU institutions.  

Patriots for Europe are also opposed to providing Ukraine with military equipment, question the efficiency of Western sanctions against Moscow and want to maintain close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government. 

It is the third-largest group in the European Parliament, boasting dozens of MEPs from countries like France, Italy and the Netherlands. 

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Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House

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Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House
By Hannah Lang (Reuters) – The cryptocurrency industry has spent years clashing with Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration over regulatory issues, but executives expect an easier ride from Washington, regardless of who wins the White House next week. Crypto asset managers including Bitwise …
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Iran and Russia close in on deal as Tehran threatens revenge against Israel

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Iran and Russia close in on deal as Tehran threatens revenge against Israel

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Iran and Russia are closing in on a deal that will bolster their defensive cooperation and strengthen military ties at a time when Western nations are increasingly concerned about regional wars in Europe and the Middle East. 

“The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. 

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The foreign minister, who said the treaty would be signed “in the near future,” claimed that the deal will “confirm” both Iran and Russia’s “interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels.”

President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 23, 2024. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov/Pool)

PENTAGON SAYS IRAN SUPPLYING RUSSIA WITH BALLISTIC MISSILES

The details of the treaty remain unclear and Lavrov did not expand on what form this defensive partnership would take.

A similar agreement signed between Russia and North Korea earlier this year was followed by Pyongyang’s decision to send some 10,000 soldiers to its warring neighbor, which may potentially be deployed to fight in Ukraine, according to concerns signaled by the Pentagon. 

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But given that Iran already supplies Russia with defensive aid to propel its brutal war in Ukraine, it’s not only the repercussions this partnership could have for the war in Europe that concern Western security officials.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who once shared a solid relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has not appeared to be overtly involved in the unfolding fight in the Middle East, unlike Russia’s top adversary, the U.S.

But a report by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month found that Moscow has been providing the Houthi terrorist group with satellite data to assist it in its repeated attacks on Western ships in the Red Sea. According to the report, the information was passed from Russia to “members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)… embedded with the Houthis in Yemen.” 

Houthi supporters rally in Yemen

Houthi supporters attend a rally against the U.S.-led strikes on Yemen and Israel’s war in Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Feb. 23, 2024. (AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)

PENTAGON THREATENS NO NEW LIMITS ON UKRAINE WEAPONS IF NORTH KOREA JOINS RUSSIA’S WAR

Russia has also increasingly called on Israel to show “restraint” when it comes to escalating tensions in the Middle East as it launched an incursion into Lebanon and struck Iran – which directly funds and arms the terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, warring with Jerusalem.

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Tehran has once again threatened Jerusalem with a retaliatory hit after Israel launched aerial strikes on Friday. The series of tit-for-tat attacks continue as Israel pushes to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on Tuesday responded to these threats and said, “If Iran makes the mistake of launching another missile barrage at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran.”

the-chief-of-the-general-staff,-ltg-herzi-halevi

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the IDF, commands the strike on Iran from Camp Rabin, with the commanding officer of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar. (IDF)

Halevi warned Israel will continue to escalate its attack “capabilities and locations” previously “set aside” if Iran responds with another strike on the Jewish state.

“We did this for a very simple reason, because we may be required to [strike] again. This event is not over, we are still in the midst of it,” he said while speaking from the Ramon Airbase in Israel. “I say this to you: we are highly prepared across all fronts.” 

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