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Thirty years ago, the Iron Curtain dividing Europe lifted.  Next week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to Hungary to commemorate the anniversary of a peace protest on the border with Austria that helped pave the way for the mass flight of East German citizens to the West. The Berlin Wall was torn down three months later, and 1989 went down as an era-changing year that ended the three-decade-long Soviet occupation of the countries of Central Europe.The commemoration on Aug. 19 will include an ecumenical service in the Lutheran church of Sopron, and is to be held near where 600 East Germans plowed through the border gates to enter the West. Hungarian authorities had announced the border would be opened symbolically later for three hours, but the crowd was too impatient to wait for freedom — and in no mood to receive it as a gift from increasingly superannuated Communist bosses. FILE – An East German refugee shows off a newly acquired West German passport just before crossing the Hungarian border into Austria, Sept. 10, 1989.Three years later, political scientist Francis Fukuyama published his triumphalist book The End of History and the Last Man, celebrating the ascendency of Western-style liberal democracy. Humanity, he argued, was reaching “not just … the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”But history did not end in 1989. Hungary only ‘partly free’For some, the awkward pairing next week of Germany’s Merkel and Hungary’s authoritarian-inclined prime minister, Viktor Orban, will be symbolic of the return of history, of a new, unfolding east-west cleavage. The pair will be celebrating the rebirth of democracy, but Orban has been accused of backsliding on democracy by systematically dismantling the Western-style institutions his country has struggled to establish since the crumbling of Communism. This year, Freedom House, a U.S.-based research group, described Hungary as only “partly free,” the first time it has withheld from a European Union member state the designation “free.” It has accused Orban’s government of having “moved to institute policies that hamper the operations of opposition groups, journalists, universities, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) whose perspectives it finds unfavorable.”FILE – German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a news conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, Feb. 7, 2019.Hungary’s firebrand populist, an anti-Communist liberal-turned-conservative who’s enjoying a burgeoning friendship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, has remained undeterred in shaping what he likes to call an “illiberal democracy.”His warming relationship with Putin is seen by some as an alliance between two emblematic nationalistic strongmen.Other populist leaders in the Central European states of Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have also been accused of seeking to erode democratic checks and balances, of curbing judicial independence, politicizing the civil service and seeking to expand state control over the media and civil society, prompting protests and liberal outrage at their linking of Christianity with patriotism.Their current populist governments have been the strongest critics of the migrant policies coming out of Brussels, refusing to accept migrants under an EU burden-sharing refugee resettlement plan. They have strained and bellyached at the restrictions and strictures placed on them by EU membership and what they see as an overbearing Brussels.Growing EU divisionsAll four members of the so-called Visegrad group of nations have been labeled in some ways as “flawed” democracies by rights monitors as their governments surf a powerful wave of Central European populism that they hope will reshape the regional bloc by reducing the power of EU institutions and returning it to national governments. The drumbeat of populism has been heard in the neighboring former Communist states in the Balkans and the Baltics.Their clashes are seen by some liberal critics as tempting geopolitical fate. “It’s hard to deny that divisions between so-called old and new [EU] member states are growing,” according to Jakub Wisniewski, a Polish political analyst and director of the Slovakia-based GlobSec Policy Institute, a research organization. He places the political differences now between east and west as having their origins in the past. “Central Europe is still markedly different from the rest of the EU — politically, economically and, most of all, culturally,” he argues.National electorates in Central Europe are “more conservative, and more preoccupied with health care and local corruption than melting ice-caps or #MeToo. They are also less self-assured, hence their anxieties about Muslim immigration or leftist internationalism,” he adds.The populists of Central Europe say their critics make the mistake of equating “liberal democracy” only with versions espoused by the political left or center and that there are quite legitimate conservative and nationalist varieties, too. Liberal pessimists lament the rise of the nationalist populism, but optimists highlight the rambunctious politics of the region, which, this year, has seen liberal gains in electoral politics. FILE – Slovakia’s President Zuzana Caputova reviews the guard of honor at the Presidential Palace after her swearing-in ceremony in Bratislava, Slovakia, June 15, 2019.In March, an environmental activist, Zuzana Caputova, became the first woman to be elected president of Slovakia. Her election followed massive anti-government street protests last year triggered by the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fiancee that led to the fall of Robert Fico’s conservative coalition government. Farther south, April saw nationalists defeated in the presidential election in North Macedonia and pro-European moderates winning elections in Latvia and Lithuania. Street protests have been mounted in the Czech Republic against Andrej Babis, the prime minister, who’s been charged with fraud. They have been the largest seen since 1989.For all of the rise of nationalist populism, pollsters and analysts say the voters of Central Europe remain firm adherents to the EU.Populists have to be careful not to push too far on the anti-EU front. Julius Horvath, an economic professor at the Central European University told VOA earlier this year, “Populations would not like a rupture with Europe.”
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The government of Greenland is dismissing the idea that the island is for sale, following media reports that U.S. President Donald Trump has been discussing interest to purchase the Danish territory with White House advisors.But this is not the first time the U.S. has considered to purchase the massive ice-covered island.William Henry Seward, President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State in the 1860s proposed both the purchase of Greenland and Iceland when he was negotiating the purchase of Alaska from Russia.FILE – President Donald Trump speaks to the media before leaving the White House in Washington.Greenland detailsGreenland is an autonomous Danish territory, located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.The island territory is politically and culturally associated with Europe but the majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century.Greenland became Danish in 1814, and was fully integrated in the Danish state in 1953.Greenland’s location makes it absolutely vital to the defense of North America and the Trump administration should increase its focus on building relations, writes Luke Coffey of the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation.“Greenland does not receive attention from American policymakers in proportion to its security importance to the U.S,” says Coffey who is advocating for a formal American diplomatic presence there for national security, economic and energy security reasons. “This is particularity important at a time when other global actors, such as China, are becoming more involved in the Arctic region,” he added.In 2018, the U.S. blocked China from financing three airports on the island.Currently the U.S. northernmost military base is the Thule Air Base, located on the northwest coast of the island of Greenland. The base part of a U.S. ballistic missile early-warning system, also used by the U.S. Air Force Space Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.Twitter fodderMany took to mocking the idea of purchasing Greenland on twitter.David Axelrod, who served as a senior adviser in the Obama administration, tweeted  “If the U.S. actually could purchase Greenland, as POTUS has suggested, would he rename it Trumpland? #Branding”If the U.S. actually could purchase Greenland, as @POTUS apparently has suggested, would he rename it Trumpland?#Branding— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 16, 2019Danish politicians including former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen also dismissed the idea.  “It must be an April Fool’s Day joke…but totally out of [season]!”, he tweeted.It must be an April Fool’s Day joke … but totally out of sesson! https://t.co/ev5DDVZc5f— Lars Løkke Rasmussen (@larsloekke) August 15, 2019Previous purchaseThe U.S. purchased the territory now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1916, under the Treaty of the Danish West Indies.The territory consists of the main islands of Saint Croix, Saint John and Saint Thomas, which have become major tourist destinations.The islands are considered a U.S. unincorporated territory, an area controlled by the U.S. government but where the U.S. constitution only partially applies.
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VOA Persian’s Katherine Ahn contributed to this report.An Iranian supertanker caught in a diplomatic standoff off the coast of the British overseas territory Gibraltar remained in port Friday despite a court ruling that it can be released. It is not clear when the Iranian supertanker Grace 1, which is at the center of the standoff between Iran and the West, will be able to set sail. A lawyer for the ship’s captain told the Associated Press on Friday that the ship’s Indian captain no longer wanted to maintain command of the vessel.The Supreme Court in Gibraltar ruled Thursday that the tanker could be released from detention, shortly after the United States had launched a new, last-minute legal bid to hold it.A delay of the vessel’s departure could give the United States another opportunity to mount further legal action to again try to prevent the tanker from leaving Gibraltar.A view of the Grace 1 supertanker is seen backdropped by Gibraltar’s Rock, as it stands at anchor in the British territory of Gibraltar, Aug. 15, 2019.The Grace 1 had been carrying 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil when Gibraltar police and British Special Forces seized it on July 4. It was believed to be transporting oil to Syria in violation of both European Union and U.S. sanctions.On Thursday, Gibraltar’s government said it had received assurances from Tehran that it would not send the crude oil cargo to Syria. Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement: “We have deprived the Assad regime in Syria of more than $140 million worth of crude oil.”However, an Iranian official later disputed that any assurances had been given.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted by Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency Friday as saying, “Iran has given no assurances over the Grace 1 not going to Syria to secure its release,” and that Gibraltar was only seeking to “save face.”FILE – The Stena Impero, a British-flagged vessel owned by Stena Bulk, is seen at Bandar Abbas port, July 21, 2019.After the Iranian tanker was seized, Tehran retaliated by taking control of a British tanker, the Stena Impero, on July 19 in the strategic Strait of Hormuz — the shipping lane for about a fifth of the world’s crude — for breaking “international maritime rules.” Iran still holds the Stena Impero.Iran had repeatedly called for the release of the Grace 1, saying it had been in international waters and was not headed to Syria.Tehran condemned Thursday’s U.S. bid to block the release of the ship.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter, “Having failed to accomplish its objectives through its #EconomicTerrorism — including depriving cancer patients of medicine — the U.S. attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas. This piracy attempt is indicative of Trump admin’s contempt for the law.”In a Thursday interview with VOA Persian, Brookings Institution foreign policy research director Michael O’Hanlon said he did not see Gibraltar’s decision on the tanker as a significant failure for U.S. policy. “I think this is in the category of ‘win a few, lose a few.’ We decided to make a run at [the tanker]. Apparently, we have been unsuccessful,” O’Hanlon said. “It doesn’t change the overall situation, which is that we are squeezing Iran harder and harder economically. They are getting less and less oil out, even as they get some sanctions evasion and avoidance. You don’t have to necessarily win every single engagement of this type for the overall strategy to succeed.” U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he boards Air Force One for travel to New Hampshire from Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, Aug. 15, 2019.The dispute over the tanker is part of the ongoing confrontation between U.S. President Donald Trump and the Iranian government over its nuclear program, ballistic missile development and involvement in regional conflicts. The confrontation escalated last year when Trump withdrew the U.S. from a 2015 international agreement in which Iran agreed to curb activities that could be diverted to making nuclear weapons in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Trump said the 2015 deal did not do enough to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or engaging in other perceived malign behaviors. By withdrawing from it, he unilaterally reimposed U.S. sanctions against Iran, hobbling its economy in a so-far unsuccessful effort to force Iran to negotiate a new deal. Trump has said such a deal should cover not just Iran’s nuclear program but also its activities related to ballistic missiles and support for Islamist militant groups hostile toward the U.S. and U.S. allies.
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Nine Chinese and eight Ukrainian seamen were abducted Thursday when two merchant vessels came under attack in Cameroonian waters in the Gulf of Guinea, sources said Friday.”Seventeen Chinese and Ukrainians were kidnapped … (of whom) nine (are) Chinese who were abducted on one of the ships,” an official in the port of Douala told AFP. A security official, likewise speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the account.The abduction was reported Thursday by sources in the Cameroonian navy and the country’s port service, who said their number and nationalities were unknown.
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COPENHAGEN – Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world’s biggest island.
“We are open for business, but we’re not for sale,” Greenland’s foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters.
Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September and the Arctic will be on the agenda during meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
Talk of a Greenland purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the notion had been laughed off by some advisers as
a joke but was taken more seriously by others in the White House.
Danish politicians on Friday poured scorn on the idea.
“It has to be an April Fool’s joke. Totally out of season,” former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Twitter.
“If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof, that he has gone mad,” foreign affairs spokesman for the Danish People’s Party, Soren Espersen, told broadcaster DR.
“The thought of Denmark selling 50,000 citizens to the United States is completely ridiculous,” he said.In this photo taken on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, icebergs are photographed from the window of an airplane carrying NASA Scientists as they fly on a mission to track melting ice in eastern Greenland.Greenland, a self-ruling part of Denmark located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is dependant on Danish economic support. It handles its own domestic affairs while
Copenhagen looks after defence and foreign policy.
“I am sure a majority in Greenland believes it is better to have a relation to Denmark than the United States, in the long term,” Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, Danish MP from Greenland’s
second-largest party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), told Reuters. “My immediate thought is ‘No, thank you’,” she said.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod were not available for comment but officials said they would respond later on Friday. The U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen
was also not immediately available for comment.
“Oh dear lord. As someone who loves Greenland, has been there nine times to every corner and loves the people, this is a complete and total catastrophe,” former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, said in on Twitter.
Greenland is gaining attention from global super powers including China, Russia and the United States due to its strategic location and its mineral resources.
In May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was behaving aggressively in the Arctic and China’s actions there had to be watched closely as well.
A defense treaty between Denmark and the United States dating back to 1951 gives the U.S. military rights over the Thule Air Base in northern Greenland.
There has been no indication that a Greenland purchase will be on the agenda for Trump’s talks with Danish officials. Martin Lidegaard, senior lawmaker of the Danish Social Liberal Party and a former foreign minister, called the idea “a grotesque proposal” which had no basis in reality.
“We are talking about real people and you can’t just sell Greenland like an old colonial power,” he told Reuters. “But what we can take seriously is that the U.S. stakes and interest in the Arctic is significantly on the rise and they want a much bigger influence,” he added.
In 1917 Denmark sold off the then Danish West Indies islands for $25 million to the United States, which renamed them the United States Virgin Islands.
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This story originated in VOA’s Bosnian Service. WASHINGTON — U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer says the U.S. welcomes an agreement that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s political leaders recently signed as part of an effort to break the deadlock in forming the government, and that he hopes Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik stop with the “hard-line rhetoric.”On Aug. 5, leaders of the country’s three most influential parties agreed on 12 key issues to resolve as a primary step toward formation of a new government. Based on that list, the leaders then agreed to finalize a deal to open a new government within 30 days.
 Matthew Palmer, U.S. State Department Director for South Central European Affairs speaks during an interview with Reuters in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Dec. 4, 2018.Lawmakers, however, have since made little progress toward a binding agreement, as Bosnian Serb leaders are strongly opposed to membership in a western military alliance, while Bosniak and Bosnian Croat lawmakers support it.On Tuesday, Dodik, leader of Serb-majority Republika Srpska, vowed to torpedo a number of major reforms in the country, including the formation of joint armed forces and a state court and police agency, unless a state-level government is formed soon.”You know, I don’t think that those kinds of threats are really going to help create the kind of political climate conducive to compromise and agreement,” Palmer said in an interview with VOA’s Bosnian Service. “So I’m hopeful that president Dodik doesn’t maintain that kind of hardline rhetoric. I think it’s fundamentally unhelpful and creates a political climate in which you have winners and losers rather than the opportunity for everybody to come out with a little bit of what they want and in a position to accept that they’ve won something.”Palmer also said he’s optimistic that the stalled deal to form a government and submit an Annual National Program (ANP) to the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels — a required step along the path toward NATO membership — can move forward.”We think it’s a positive development that the leaders of three of the major parties were able to come together and identify compromise as the path forward on both the EU and the NATO track and on government formation,” Palmer said. “We understand in particular that both President [Željko] Komsic and President [Šefik] Dzaferovic have made clear that they would like to see an” ANP submitted to Brussels.”We’re hopeful that the presidency can come together and agree on a path forward that that works for all.”Dodik has said that the issue of NATO must not be on the agenda of the three-member state presidency session currently scheduled for Aug. 20, at which the formation of a state government will be discussed.Bosnia will not hand over the ANP to Brussels. It does not say anywhere that it will. The agreement says nothing [about it],” Dodik said.The tiny Balkan country of roughly 3.5 million residents applied for EU membership in 2016, following years of constitutional reforms and engagements with the 1995 Dayton Accords that put an end to the nearly 4-year-long Bosnian war.NATO offered a Membership Action Plan to Bosnia in 2010 but declined to “activate” it until all conditions are met. Submitting its first ANP is a key part of that process.   
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Updated at 4:18 p.m. Aug. 15.The British overseas territory of Gibraltar turned back U.S. objections on Thursday and released the Iranian supertanker Grace 1 from detention, after receiving assurances from Tehran that it would not send its crude oil cargo to Syria.”There are no longer reasonable grounds to suspect that the detention of the vessel is required,” chief minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement.Hours earlier, the U.S. signaled it wanted to block the release of the ship, which had been seized by Britain July 4. That delayed the ruling, but Chief Justice Anthony Dudley said he had not received a written request from the U.S.The U.S. could, however, could still seek to detain the ship as long as it remains in Gibraltar’s waters. It was unclear how soon the ship might sail away.The United States moves to halt the release of the Iranian supertanker Grace 1, Aug. 15, 2019, detained in Gibraltar for breaching EU sanctions on oil shipments to Syria.The Grace 1 had been carrying 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil when Gibraltar police and British special forces seized it, one of a string of weeks of provocations involving Western nations and Tehran, most of which have occurred in the Persian Gulf or at other spots in the Mideast. The tanker was believed to be transporting the oil to Syria in violation of separate European Union and U.S. sanctions.After seizure of the Grace 1, Tehran retaliated by taking control of a British tanker, the Stena Impero, on July 19 in the strategic Strait of Hormuz — the shipping lane for about a fifth of the world’s crude — for breaking “international maritime rules.” Iran still holds the Stena Impero.FILE – A speedboat of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard moves around the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, July 21, 2019.Iran had repeatedly called for the release of the Grace 1, saying it had been international waters and was not headed to Syria.Tehran condemned the last-day U.S. efforts to block the release of the ship.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter, “Having failed to accomplish its objectives through its #EconomicTerrorism — including depriving cancer patients of medicine — the U.S. attempted to abuse the legal system to steal our property on the high seas. This piracy attempt is indicative of Trump admin’s contempt for the law.”The dispute over the tanker is part of the ongoing confrontation between U.S. President Donald Trump and the Iranian regime over its nuclear weapons program after the U.S. leader withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 international agreement aimed at restraining Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting crippling economic sanctions against Iran.Trump subsequently reimposed U.S. sanctions, hobbling Iran’s economy, in a so-far unsuccessful effort to force Iran to renegotiate the terms of the nuclear deal. 
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This story originated in FILE – Public prosecutor Katica Janeva, right, takes an oath in Skopje, Macedonia, Sept. 16, 2015.EU and U.S. officials have implored Skopje to complete a thorough and transparent investigation of the allegations and, if warranted, proceed with prosecutions.Over the past several days, however, developments in the alleged bribery scheme went from bad to worse, when Italy’s La Verita newspaper published new footage of what appeared to be money changing hands between the suspects — both of whom claimed to have access to Janeva — and the indicted businessman that her office was about to prosecute.The suspects, who are now in detention, told the businessman he would receive leniency from the prosecutor in charge of his case if he paid them. It is not yet known if Janeva had any knowledge of the extortion scheme, but she confirmed that the voice heard on the recording was hers.A unique opportunityPendarovski described the scandal as an international embarrassment, but also a unique opportunity for Skopje’s government officials and legislators to move beyond political bickering and abide by the rule of law.”We cannot afford to leave space for speculation,” he said about whether the country could swiftly resolve the issue. “How we react on the scandal — not how individuals will react, but we as a country — will merit the EU members’ determination this fall on the eligibility of North Macedonia to join the bloc.”He also said he was appalled that some of “the main actors in this drama,” such as the investigators, were on vacation.”It is not business as usual,” he said. “The essence of the rule of law in the country has been challenged.”On Tuesday, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev drew international condemnation for using a gay slur while trying to defend his government against the corruption scandal, which has ensnared numerous justice officials.FILE – Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia Zoran Zaev speaks during a press conference in Poznan, Poland, July 5, 2019.Zaev said Tuesday that he would “not allow a few criminals, a vain journalist and — I ask the LGBT community to forgive me — one [expletive] to overthrow the government.”He was referring to a gay TV channel owner, Bojan Jovanovski, at the heart of the extortion case.Zaev, who had just returned from vacation, immediately posted an apology on Twitter that some found equally offensive.”I apologize. I used the word as a character trait, not as a sexual affiliation,” he wrote, adding that he was “fighting for the rights of the LGBT community as much as possible.”Both of North Macedonia’s major political parties, opposition VMRO-DPMNE and the ruling Social Democratic Union, have been squabbling over the drafting of a law to regulate the prosecution, which will determine the fate of the special prosecutor’s office that Janeva used to run.Whether new legislation can be ratified — a precondition for EU accession talks — will determine the pace of North Macedonia’s European accession process.
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French President Emmanuel Macron is celebrating U.S. and African veterans as well as French resistance fighters who took part in crucial but often-overlooked World War II landings on the Riviera.
 
At a ceremony Thursday in the southern town of Saint-Raphael marking 75 years since the operation to wrest southern France from Nazi control, Macron said, “your commitment is our heritage against darkness and ignorance.”
 French President Emmanuel Macron, left, talks with Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara during a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the WWII Allied landings in Provence, in Saint-Raphael, southern France, Aug. 15, 2019.He urged French mayors to name streets after African soldiers from then-French colonies brought in to fight. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and Guinea President Alpha Conde also took part in the ceremony.
 
Starting Aug. 15, 1944, some 350,000 U.S. and French troops landed on the Mediterranean coast for Operation Dragoon, which was intended to coincide with the D-Day invasion in Normandy in June but was delayed due to a lack of resources.  
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Britain’s fractious opposition politicians are giving a mixed reception to a plan by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to block a no-deal Brexit.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed that Britain will leave the EU on Oct. 31, with or without a divorce deal. Many economists say a no-deal Brexit will cause economic turmoil.Corbyn has written to other parties saying he plans to call a no-confidence vote in Johnson’s government when Parliament returns from its summer break in September.
 
He says Parliament should then unite behind a Corbyn-led “temporary government” that would seek a delay to Brexit and call a national election.
 
Some lawmakers welcomed the idea. But Jo Swinson, leader of the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, said Thursday that the idea was “nonsense” because Corbyn is a divisive figure.
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