The "right steps” politicians in the West and Russia are now taking against each other are very similar to what was happening before World War I, Latvian MEP Andrejs Mamikinsh warned EC President Jose Manuel Barroso in a letter Tuesday. It’s crucial to stop reciprocal sanctions before they throw people into poverty and ruin the economies altogether, the European Parliament member wrote. [...]

The European Commission said it will provide up to €125 million from Monday till the end of November to compensate food producers coping with Moscow’s food ban. “The exceptional measures announced today will include market withdrawals especially for free distribution, compensation for non-harvesting and green harvesting. [...]

Some European food producers have reportedly asked Switzerland to provide an alternative supply corridor for goods embargoed by Russia. The agriculture import ban imposed by Russia does not apply to Switzerland as it is not an EU member. [...]

MOSCOW: Russia may tighten retaliatory sanctions against Western nations to include a ban on imports of cars, among other things, if the United States and the European Union impose additional sanctions on Moscow, Vedomosti daily newspaper said on Monday. Following Russia’s stand off over Ukraine, western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow including on its financial and energy sectors, and pu [...]

As Moscow banned food imports from the West, Turkey voiced its readiness to increase its exports of agricultural products to Russia, Turkish economy minister has said. “Turkey is a major supplier of food and agricultural produce to Russia. It is ready to increase its food exports to Russia if necessary,” Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said in an interview with Itar-Tass. [...]

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged a rethink of the European Union's sanctions policy toward Russia, saying the measures are like "shooting oneself in the foot." “The sanctions policy pursued by the West, that is, ourselves, a necessary consequence of which, has been what the Russians are doing, causes more harm to us than to Russia,” Reuters quoted Orban as saying on the radio [...]

The European Union is reported to be planning to dissuade Latin American countries from providing Russia." “We will be talking to the countries that would potentially replacing our exports to indicate that we would expect them not to profit unfairly from the current situation,” the Financial Times (FT) quotes one senior EU official talking at a briefing on the situation in Ukraine on Monday [...]

Russia will increase exports of wheat to Egypt and imports of other agriculture products from it, Russian officials said on Tuesday as the two countries discussed the potential for free trade. The move comes as Russia seeks new sources of supply after it banned most food imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway last week in retaliation for Western sanctio [...]

Economists fear eurozone recovery may be derailed after German ZEW indicator plunges to 20-month low. Europe's standoff with Russia has affected the region's largest economy after economic confidence in Germany nosedived unexpectedly, fuelling fears the eurozone's weak recovery will be snuffed out. [...]

Ecuador doesn't need anybody's permission to export agricultural products to Russia, which now has a big gap that needs to be filled after it banned supplies from a number of western countries, said President Rafael Correa. “I want to immediately say that we don’t need to get anybody’s permission to sell products to friendly countries: as far as we know Latin America isn’t a part of the [...]

In view of the events in Ukraine, the government and many media have switched from level-headed to agitated. The politics of escalation does not have a realistic goal - and harms German interests. We interrupt our own train of thought: “History is not repeating itself!” But can we be so sure about that these days? [...]

There is growing dissent in the EU over policies that led to a de fact trade war with Russia. Meanwhile the countries not toeing the line are reaping the benefits, irritating those who jumped on the sanctions bandwagon. Greek members of the European Parliament demanded Sunday that the EU cancel sanctions against Russia. [...]

The Bulgarian government is under enormous pressure from the US to cancel the South Stream project, and so Bulgaria is the place to watch now, Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity think tank, told RT. On August 8, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk announced that Kiev had prepared a list of 172 Russian citizens and 65 companies, predominantly Rus [...]

Here's the curious rub about food sanctions, it rather throws down the gauntlet for Russia to close up a legacy of Communism. For all those who believe in big government, food provision is a good place to start disabusing the quaint (and horribly flawed) notion that the public sector can be more efficient. [...]

Shares in some of Russian food producers have added almost 40 percent by midday on Friday. The surge comes a day after Moscow imposed a one-year ban on imports of food products from the West. Shares in one of Russia’s biggest agricultural holdings Razgulay shot up 39.87 percent by Friday afternoon, according to Moscow Stock Exchange data. [...]

Ukraine ready to impose sanctions against any transit via its territory, including air flights and gas supplies to Europe, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Friday. Ukraine’s parliament will vote on the final measure on Tuesday, and will take into consideration the country’s Security Service, Valeria Hontareva, president of Ukraine’s Central Bank, said. [...]

As critics of Israel's policy in Gaza lose faith in governments to take action, a new app is helping them to it themselves. Buycott is one of the hottest items on the market as shoppers are using it in their droves to avoid purchasing Israeli products. The Buycott app has a number of groups, which its users can join, with one of the most successful being the “Long live Palestine, boycott Isra [...]

Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree on the full ban for imports of beef, pork, poultry meat, fish, cheese, milk, vegetables and fruit from Australia, Canada, the EU, the US and Norway. The ban will last a year, starting August 7. The Prime Minister also said Russia has stopped transit flights by Ukrainian airlines to such destinations as Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey, addin [...]