Video: Diaspora Calling (African identity in Europe during the World Cup) - Press TV

In 2010, South Africa hosted World Cup for the first time in History. This is while two decades ago the people were fighting against the South Africa Apartheid system. The conflicts created by bigotry and racial intolerance separated African families and forced many of them to take refuge in Europe.
But how serious a role hosting a tournament in Africa is playing to forge a sense of an imagined community? What happens in the hearts and minds of Africans when their teams are playing with the European countries they live in? Do they pin their hopes on their motherland or reject their original culture in order to be adapted to the host country? South Africans and Algerians living in London, Cameroonians living in the Netherlands and Ghanaians in Serbia may have answers to these questions.

Video: Russia warns EU against controlling Africa - Press TV

The foreign affairs minister of Russia, Lavrof is in Africa to seek closer economic and political ties with the continent. His visit is timely since Russia is currently suffering from sanctions applied by the European Union and the US following its involvement in Ukraine.

Russia’s intends to expand its economic ties with Africa while its economy is now affected by the ongoing sanctions. Moscow has signed a mining deal with Zimbabwe, a country that openly opposes the western powers. It is now looking to develop nuclear energy projects with countries like Angola and South Africa. While meeting the chairperson of the African Union Russia warned the European Union against meddling in Africa’s affairs. Russia is openly de-campaigning the imposers of its sanctions in Africa. It has disclosed that during the Libyan crisis while it supported AU’s idea of having political dialogue, the other western countries supported the NATO bombing of Libya that ended Muamar Ghaddafi’s 41 year reign and led to a civil war. Some analysts feel that welcoming Russia now might jeopardize Africa’s relationship with the European Union. The European Union is the chief funder of the African union commission, peace operations in Africa as well as Africa’s biggest trading partner. Before now, Russia has had minimum involvement in Africa.

Video: Welcome to Nulandistan: Propaganda and the crisis in Ukraine - GRTV

This full length GRTV documentary looks at the fictitious land of Nulandistan that has been constructed out of Ukraine.The GRTV documentary deconstructs Nulandistan and the propaganda of the Obama Administration, the US Department of States, US officials, and their allies about the crisis in Ukraine and takes a look at their growing frustration towards the Russian media, particularly RT, for challenging their account of the events on the ground in what they have declared is an intensifying information war.

The full length documentary starts by looking at the self-benefiting description of the EuroMaidan protests that US officials have used and how it has grossly diverged from reality. Then the Odessa Massacre is deconstructed for audiences.

The documentary then looks at the situation in East Ukraine, including the violence and referenda. The events in East Ukraine are then contrasted to the positions of US officials and Russia.

This documentary shows how the reality of events in Ukraine has been been misappropriated and propagandized to support US foreign policy and to justify tensions against Russia.

Video: Ghana's EPAs dilemma: to sign or not to sign? - Press TV Africa Today

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The European Union has been trying hard to have African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries sign Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) which will create free trade areas between the two regions.

In 2007, Ghana initialed an interim EPA. Cote d'Ivoire fully signed onto it with Nigeria refusing to sign. Initially these EPAs were supposed to take effect on January 1, 2008.

Many ACP countries are reluctant to sign them because there is very little direct benefit for their people while the EU has set stringent time-frames to beat competition from the US, China, Brazil, Turkey and India.

Under these EPAs, ACP countries will have to progressively remove all duty and other import tariffs on goods manufactured in EU countries. This means they will lose a vital source of their developmental revenue while gaining "access to EU markets".

Ghana has been operating under a temporary EPA for the last seven years.

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Video: CIS - European NGOs 'train agents for intrastate conflicts' - Press TV

The Commonwealth of Independent States has warned against an increase in mercenary terrorism, revealing that European NGOs train agents to engage in intrastate conflicts around the world.

The CIS Anti-terrorism Committee head, Andrey Novikov, said that there are over 2000 schools across the continent preparing experts for conducting psychological and subversive operations. Novikov also said that private military companies and security agencies cooperate with NGOs in this regard. He said that monitoring the activity of NGOs ahead of the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the 2005 Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan proves the claim. Novikov further expressed concerns about trained militants who have returned home, and continue their subversive activities.

Video: NGO's Position for Conquest and Coups - AfriSynergy

NGOs have been infiltrated by American CIA and British and French intelligence with the purpose of carryout coups in various countries. The media then casts this as peaceful protests for freedom, democracy, liberty and justice. As a part of these so-called protests, snipers and thugs are stationed in the area to kill and beat people with the finger then being pointed at the government targeted for overthrow.

Video: NATO's Deadly Reach - RT CrossTalk

What is the purpose of the NATO alliance today? What threatens this alliance? Why does NATO need to continue to expand? What is NATO's interest in Ukraine? CrossTalking with Martin McCauley, Riccardo Alcaro and Jonathan Steele.

Ukraine crisis: Does Russia have a case?

Russia says it is acting in Ukraine to protect the human rights of its citizens. But what justification does it have for sending troops into Crimea?

What is Russia's claim to Crimea?
Its historical links with the peninsula go back to Catherine the Great in the 18th Century, when Russia conquered southern Ukraine and Crimea, taking them from the Ottoman Empire. In 1954, Crimea was handed to Ukraine as a gift by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who was himself half-Ukrainian. Only 10 years earlier, Joseph Stalin had deported Crimea's entire Tatar population, some 300,000 people, allegedly for co-operating with Hitler's Germany.

When Ukraine became independent in 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed that Crimea could remain in Ukraine, with Russia's Black Sea fleet remaining at Sevastopol under lease. That lease was in recent years extended to 2042.

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Is there a legal basis for Russia's actions?
Under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the US, Russia, Ukraine and the UK agreed not to threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. They also pledged never to use economic coercion to subordinate Ukraine to their own interest.

Russia says its decision to send troops into Ukraine is necessary to protect Russian citizens.

Video: How foreign intervention is tearing Ukraine apart - GlobalResearch

As geopolitical analysts from across the board explain, the Ukrainian coup has been deliberately provoked by outside agents to promote a combination of US, EU, NATO and IMF interests. Perhaps more worrying than the interference itself are its potential implications. As Russia's every move is now being scrutinized for a possible military response to the ongoing crisis, the specter of a larger military operation now hangs over Eastern Europe.

Democracy shamocracy. Wuthering times in Europe.

Voters can no longer complain that there is no such thing as choice in politics. As the European Union is gearing up for what will be a rocky election season, with far-right parties expected to win a sizeable chunk of votes, the array of options is dazzling. Unfortunately most such parties appeal either to staunch nationalists or to a prevalent current of anti-European sentiment. But are we right to start writing obituaries for Europe and democracy in general?

Ever since the 2008 crisis, populist anti-EU parties have based their platforms and electoral success on criticizing mainstream parties and proposing policies that would demolish the current political establishment. Their solutions, coated in a sugary rhetoric by charismatic leaders, reek of populism and chauvinism. Banks and Big Business are accused of being the puppeteers standing behind vile and self-serving politicians.

The streets have answered their militant calls, albeit for different reasons and without espousing firm political convictions. We are the 99 percent movement and its anti-political offshoots have generated a crisis of credibility and trust in traditional democratic institutions. And this is how a perfect anti-establishment storm began.

The new German surveillance state - Merkel, Snowden and the Euro Hawk drone

In the summer of 2013, three scandals have shone a new spotlight on the role of the German state in both domestic and international surveillance. The first was the case of the American National Security Agency (NSA) spying on the mobile phones of millions of German citizens. The NSA spying scandal exposed the messy state of Germany’s domestic security/privacy issues. The second summer debacle - the Euro Hawk drone scandal - revolved around the use of surveillance technology to ensure the external security of the German state. The third scandal took place in the fall - revelations about the spying of Merkel’s personal mobile phone brought once again the issues of security, consent and dignity to the forefront of public discussion.

Haiti's Leader to See Obama, Hat in Hand

AFP-Haitian President Rene Preval will get a sympathetic hearing when he meets with US counterpart Barack Obama on Wednesday, ahead of an international donors' conference for his quake-hit nation.

What he is looking for, though, is billions of dollars to rebuild the poorest country in the Americas, which lost 222,000 people, 70 percent of its capital Port-au-Prince and more than half its economy in the January 12 catastrophe.

EU releases 100 mln euros for Haiti salaries, roads

BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - The European Union said it would start paying quake-stricken Haiti a first tranche of 100 million euros ($135 million) in promised aid on Tuesday to help the government pay salaries, rebuild schools and repair roads. The EU, one of Haiti's largest donors, committed over 300 million euros in initial aid following the devastating earthquake in January that killed more than 200,000 people in the Caribbean nation, the poorest in the Americas.

"This first envelope will be disbursed from now until May," the European Commission, executive arm of the 27-nation EU, said in a statement.

The amount will be used to rebuild government buildings and key state infrastructure. It will provide budget support to help pay salaries, rebuild schools and fix main roads around the capital, Port-au-Prince. (Reporting by Bate Felix, editing by Dale Hudson) ($1=.7395 euro)