Totalitarianism

President Klaus Iohannis on Friday, August 23, the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Fascism and Communism, released a message in which he underscores that this day compels us to reiterate "firm" condemnation of both ideologies, in all their forms, and to remember the innocent victims of those regimes.

The governments of Romania, Poland and the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania condemned "the crimes perpetrated under the ideology of Nazism and Stalinism" in a joint statement on Friday marking the 80th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet pact that divided Europe into spheres of influence.

At least 34 people were killed and at least 68 were injured in an explosion that shook the center of the Afghan capital Kabul this morning, Xinhua and TASS reported.

The crisis of democracy in Albania these days should be seen also as part of the same serious crisis taking place in Europe and worldwide. In Albania, a still fragile democracy, the global crisis of democracy is perhaps reflected in its sorest consequences.

The body in charge in investigating the fearsome secret service of the former communist regime in Romania on Thursday launched court procedures to ascertain whether former president Traian Basescu ever collaborated with the so-called Securitate.

At least 13 police officers died in a Taliban attack on a police headquarters in the province of Baglan, the France press reported. The attack, started at noon in Pugli Homer, has 35 injured police officers and 20 injured civilians, a spokesman for the interior ministry said in a statement.

Hopes for a breakthrough in a push to end Afghanistan's grueling conflict suffered a major setback on April 19 after a key summit between the Taliban and Afghan officials was indefinitely postponed.

Women will be included for the first time in the Taliban delegation to peace talks in Qatar this month, the movement's main spokesman said on April 15, ahead of the latest round of meetings aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan.

Romania's Attorney General Augustin Lazar said on Monday he is neither a commissioned, nor a non-commissioned officer or informer of the late Securitate political police or any other secret service. He told a news conference that he wanted to make a series of remarks out of respect to his colleagues and to truth, a value he said has always guided his life and professional activity.

The National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) decided on Thursday to recheck Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar as regards the quality of worker or collaborator of the communist Securitate political police, given the information and the new elements that were debated in the press.