European Language Madness > EU countries eliminate Russian as foreign language in schools; NATO tells EU to learn Russian

 

EU country to phase out Russian language in schools

The latest education reform in the Czech Republic will limit the choice of a second language to German, French or Spanish only

©  Getty Images/skynesher

Schoolchildren in the Czech Republic will be stripped of the opportunity to choose Russian as a second language in the coming years as part of new education reform.

The country’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports approved a revised Framework Educational Programs for preschool and primary education in late December, with the document set to be presented to the public at a press conference on Tuesday.

The reform envisages English becoming mandatory as the first foreign language for all pupils from first grade, as opposed to third grade at present. Second language study becomes compulsory from seventh grade, with the choice “limited to three foreign languages (German, French or Spanish).”

The reform will take effect gradually, with the full implementation not expected before 2034.

READ MORE: EU state to ban Russian passport holders from citizenship

The plans have come in for criticism from educational experts. In its article on Monday, Seznam Zpravy estimated that “today, one-fifth of children learn” Russian. The media outlet quoted Hana Andrasova, head of the Department of German Studies at the Faculty of Education of the University of South Bohemia, as saying: “I do not agree with the elimination of Russian. In my opinion, it has the right to life.”

Similar policies have recently been implemented in several EU member states with a historically significant proportion of Russian speakers. In 2022, the Estonian parliament passed a bill stipulating that Estonian would become the language of instruction in all schools and kindergartens by 2029, with funding for Russian-language education axed.

In 2023, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) suggested that the country’s new education law would introduce “potentially discriminatory measures affecting the rights of ethnic and linguistic minorities in education.”

Last April, the Latvian government similarly ruled that, from September 2025, schoolchildren in the country will not be able to study Russian as a second foreign language, with the gradual phasing-out expected to conclude by the end of the decade.

Despite a migration survey indicating in 2017 that 25% of the population in Latvia was ethnic Russian, only EU languages plus those of Iceland, Norway, and Lichtenstein will remain as options.

Moscow has repeatedly accused the Baltic states of discriminating against ethnic minorities and their languages.

Last May, Sergey Belyayev, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second European Department, told TASS that the “Russian language has been almost completely squeezed out of all spheres of public life, including the education system” in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in recent years.

NATO boss warns members to start learning Russian

Raise military spending or start the language lessons, Mark Rutte has told the European Parliament

FILE PHOTO: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte ©  Omar Havana / Getty Images

European members in NATO should either drastically increase their military spending or start studying Russian, the US-led bloc’s new secretary-general, Mark Rutte, has claimed, in a warning to EU lawmakers.

Rutte’s remarks came during a question and answer period at the end of the joint meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) on Monday.

While two thirds of NATO members are now meeting the bloc’s 2014 target of spending 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on the military, it is not enough to protect them from Moscow, Rutte alleged.

”We are safe now, but not in 4-5 years,” Rutte said. “So, if you don’t do it, get out your Russian language courses or go to New Zealand. Or decide now to spend more.”

“I just want you to spend more money!” Rutte added. “I’ve not committed to a new number, just saying that 2% is not nearly enough.”

NATO is, of course, the storefront for the West's war industry. Trump may possibly put an end to current wars, but spending on military madness has to increase or the West's economy will crash like a Boeing jet.

READ MORE: NATO member evaluates timeline for Trump’s 5% defense spending goal

US President-elect Donald Trump has floated the idea of boosting the spending to 5%, but no NATO member – Washington included – is anywhere near that number at present.

Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister who took over the military bloc's top job in 2024, has constantly demanded bloc members spend more on the military since taking office. Last month, he suggested that EU countries cannibalize some of their healthcare, pension and other social services to find the money, and repeated that call on Monday.

The Western European military industrial complex has ramped up production to supply Ukraine, but its best has not been enough, he claimed.

“We are not where we need to be, not yet. Our industry is still too small, it is too fragmented, and – to be honest – it is too slow,” Rutte lamented.

Funny thing is, it would be more than adequate were it not for the war-mongering of NATO as it struggled to find its raison d'etre - the war in the Balkans, The Ukraine War, and now, as the war industry storefront.

READ MORE: Trump’s Greenland plan ‘not crazy’ – former top NATO commander

The US currently accounts for 60% of NATO’s military spending. Without Washington, the European NATO members would need to boost their expenditures up to 10% of their GDP, which is simply unrealistic, Rutte acknowledged.

He pointed out that it takes all of NATO a year to make the amount of weapons and ammunition that Russia can produce in just three months. Moscow has an easier time because “they don’t have our bureaucracy,” Rutte said. He also claimed that Russia is spending up to 9% of its GDP on the military.

At a meeting with top defense officials last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin put that number at 6.3% and urged the military to use the money responsibly.

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‘Shockingly Badly Integrated’ Pakistani Women Live in ‘Entirely Different Society’ in Britain

© justin Tallis / AFP

Pakistani women living in Britain are part of an ‘entirely different’ society and are ‘shockingly badly integrated’ according to a new survey.

The nation’s first disparity audit will reveal entire communities are segregated from their neighbors.

The Cabinet Office study, which will be published on Tuesday, was designed to better understand how people in the UK access healthcare, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

Pakistani women living in the UK, especially those who are not working, and do not speak English, have not integrated into society.

“Other communities have integrated very well, but the audit shows that Pakistani women who don’t speak English or go out to work are living in an entirely different society and are shockingly badly integrated,” a Cabinet Office staffer told the Sunday Times.

While many will be shocked by the report, others may not be surprised.

Teachers in Britain have previously reported some of their pupils have to translate information for their mothers, who cannot communicate with school staff.

Britain must set out rules for immigrants

In December 2016 a major review on community integration by Dame Louise Casey said Britain must set out rules for immigrants.

Casey criticized the government, saying there had been a “saris, samosas and steel drums” policy, rather than real leadership.

She suggested mandatory English lessons and even an oath of allegiance to Britain.

An independent report will be published this week, which will show cuts to benefits and public services are likely to hit Asian families.

Prime Minister Theresa May called for a major audit into societal injustice in the UK.

The Women’s Budget Group and the Runnymede Trust found Asian households will be £11,678 (US$15,390) worse off overall by 2020. At the same time, white families will be £6,199 worse off over 10 years.

“It is only by doing so we can make this country work for everyone, not just a privileged few,” the PM said as she announced the audit.

An “unprecedented” audit on employment showed huge social disparities between white Britons, and black and ethnic minority groups.

A new website, Ethnicity Facts and Figures, will show white Britons are more likely to own their home and have a job than minorities.

They are however, less likely to attend university if they went to a state school.

Currently, the unemployment rate for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people is 8 percent, yet it is 4.6 percent for white British adults.

I'm a little concerned that the focus may be skewed toward women. Yes they need to learn English and make an effort to fit into British society. They might even learn that it is OK to not be invisible. 

But I am more concerned about teaching Pakistani men that it is not OK to use British children like they are sex toys. That will conflict with their interpretation of the Quran by which they are justified to treat a girl as a sex slave if she merely gets into their car or enters a room with them (in their right-hand - or under their control). Mohammed gives men authority to do 'as they wish' with such girls as long as they are not Muslim.

If You Thought PEGIDA was Dead, Think Again, It's Only Mostly Dead

Massive PEGIDA rally in Dresden marks 2 years of anti-immigrant movement

Massive might be a bit of an overstatement. Somewhere between 5,000 and 8,500 is big but 'massive', not so much!

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Dresden to mark the second anniversary of the far-right anti-Islam German movement PEGIDA. Dresden is PEGIDA's birthplace.



Supporters gathered at Theaterplatz Square in central Dresden to protest against the refugee policy of Angela Merkel, as well as what they see as forced multiculturalism and the continued Islamization of Europe.

“You have a million foreigners every year. They don’t speak the German language, they do not accept our culture, they have very basic or no education or no professional skills,” one demonstrator told RT. “We have no use for them. We have our own German problems.”

Actually, a little fewer than a million last year and less than a third of a million this year, thanks to Mr Orban.

“We have more rapes, we have more criminality, we have more violence that we didn’t have before,” another added.

There was a heavy police presence at the scene, including armored carriers and two water cannons, as encounters between PEGIDA supporters, counter-protesters and the authorities have turned violent in the past. But the rally on Sunday was entirely trouble-free and no arrests were made.



According to German public broadcaster MDR, there were at least 5,000 people at the rally, although German statistical research group Durchgezahlt put the number as high as 6,500-8,500. Originally the demonstration was due to take place on Monday, but was moved after the city organized a street festival on that day instead.

A smaller, counter-demonstration of 130 was led by students, but police kept the two groups at a distance to maintain public order. Some counter-demonstrators claimed they were kept away from certain parts of the city due to an ‘Islamist threat’, but this was denied by the police.

Some have expressed frustration that the PEGIDA demonstration was not met by sufficient opposition.

“For PEGIDA's birthday, the Dresden authorities are rolling out the red carpet once again and making sure counter-demonstrations are nowhere to be seen or heard,” left-wing MP Andre Schollbach told Deutsche Welle.

Pegida (which stands for ‘Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West’) has been exploiting (exploiting is probably the wrong word here as it implies a means to a particular gain; PEGIDA may have some racist elements, but, I think they are mainly trying to raise the profile of a serious problem that has not really been addressed all that seriously) the anti-immigrant agenda since its emergence in Dresden in late 2014. The movement has gained popularity in Germany and overseas, holding rallies against ‘Islamization’, refugees and Angela Merkel’s open-door migrant policy. At its peak, Pegida meetings attracted some 25,000 supporters.

Anti-migrant sentiment in Germany is on the rise, with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party gaining strong support at the expense of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).