Category: Politics

The Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering a First Amendment case brought before it by a group of city tour guides today. Bill Main and Tonia Edwards, owners of Segs in the City, a D.C.-based tour service that specializes in historical and cultural tours of the capital region, say that D.C. city regulations requiring all tour guides be licensed in order to work legally run directly against the ideals of freedom of speech put forth in the First Amendment. “We are being told that we have to have a license to speak,” Main commented in an interview with local news service WTOP.

The case was first brought before the U.S. District Court in 2010. However, after that body upheld D.C.’s licensing regulations, Main and Edwards, along with attorney Robert McNamara, pushed the fight before the Court of Appeals. In addition to arguing the legislation is unconstitutional, they’ll also point out the inconsistency in licensing, given that city bus drivers, who the group argues are tour guides, require no such licensing.

Not the First Time Licensing Has Been Allowed to Stand in the Way of American Civil Liberties

This certainly isn’t the first time a cry of unconstitutionality has been brought before the American legal system. Increasingly staunch regulations over when and how Americans can protest, yet another right guaranteed by the First Amendment, has raised questions over abridgment in recent years. More specifically, fees and the need to seek permits before highly controversial events, from the G8 summit to presidential debates, is seen by law professionals and ordinary American citizens as a similar barrier to their being able to fully exercise their First Amendment rights. Unfortunately, these fees and licenses have been held up as perfectly constitutional when brought before the courts.

Could Arguing Under Employment Protections of Free Speech Be the Way to Go?

Given that challenges to licensing have been struck down so unceremoniously before, it admittedly does not look good for Washington D.C.’s tour guide community. However, there is another tactic they could try. In 1968, the Supreme Court ruled that public employees speaking in the interest of public good were exercising a protected action guaranteed to them by the First Amendment. In this, neither employers nor government could punish or otherwise limit speech. While Segs in the City is a private organization, taking the angle of offering a service invaluable to the public good could help sway the courts in their favor. Whether or not this tactic and others employed in the suit will amount to anything will be made clear as the case is decided this summer.

The result of Crimean referendum was already expected in Russian favor but does anyone know what would be the Putin’s next move? Experts hold the opinion that “All eyes are set over Putin and it is he who has to decide -whether to annex Crimea through steps- or to simply recognize the demand of Crimean through formal annexation.

It is said that if the recognition is done through steps by steps, it would take more than 2 weeks to complete, on the other hand, West is mounting more and more pressure on Russia to withdraw its forces from the Crimean peninsula.

It goes without saying, in the recent diplomatic meeting held at London, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov said to his U.S counterpart John Kerry that “Putin would decide what to do with Crimea after the referendum and he made this statement repeatedly in the entire meeting”.

Contrary to this, 28 members of European Union are planning to vote for embarking sheer sanctions against Russia. It is said that those sanctions will include; banning of Visa, seizure of European bank accounts and frozen of assets.

Besides, editor of Russian quarterly “Russia in Global Affairs,” Fyodor Lukyanov says that “Putin has already decided to annex with Crimea and no sanctions from west will deter him ,Putin does not care about what other say”.

Last but not the least, it is speculated that Crimea will undoubtedly be a part of Russia in few weeks to come but will Putin end at Crimea or will he go on subjugating eastern parts of Ukraine under the pretext of safeguarding the interest Russian speaking population?

The world should support Ukraine as it is moving towards election in May and it is the path of escalation, says President of United States Barack Obama.

In his recent press conference, the President of United States said “we are going to punish Russia for its invasion and we have placed bans over visa process for Crimean region”. He clarified in his press briefing that all the Russian backed people operating in the region would not be able to get US visa for traveling and said that the referendum in the Crimea is against the Ukraine constitution and International Law.

Furthermore, he told to media that “United States is going to sanction a loan of 1$ billion to Ukraine for stabilizing its economy and the recent Russian invasion has united the entire world on this front”. Contrary to this, the lawmakers of Crimea region think to hold a referendum determining the future of the region.

On this move, the President said that “To hold a referendum, it is necessary to have legitimate government in the power and this is not good to take such a big decision during the crisis”. Besides, he has also issued an executive order against the groups and individuals responsible for destabilizing the region.

Apart from this, he said “if the violation of Ukraine territory continues, the results would be United States, Its allies and the world will remain firm”.  Last but not the least, he said that we would continue to help Ukraine for the sake of global security and said that the Ukraine crisis should be resolved through dialogue not through war.

Though Foreign ministers of the world could not make a deal yet John Kerry Secretary of United States says “we would solve the Ukraine issue through dialogue not through fight”.

After holding series of meetings with foreign ministers of United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, John Kerry told to reporters that “we all have agreed to solve Ukraine issue amicably and through dialogue”.

Besides, John Kerry said that these meetings were more or less “Olive branch- the beginning of period of thaw” and they were undoubtedly constructive. Though, finding a quick solution of this issue is very difficult yet I consider today as better than yesterday.

On the other hand, the foreign minister of France Laurent Fabius said that “It was for the first time that something has moved with good pace and we are optimist for a constructive solution”. Besides, Russian foreign ministry said that “Kerry did not mention in his statements that we had reached over the solution of transition of power in Ukraine”.

Contrary to this, Ukraine officials said that “Russia has sent a big number of troops in the Crimean region and it was absolute violation of international law”. The Ukraine interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said CNN that “I am worried, what would happen if the diplomatic talks fail to reach to any solution”?  He further said, I have directly spoken to Russian Prime minister and put forward two opinions – political and military.

Besides, John Kerry said “It is up to Russia now whether it withdraws forces from the region and calls for international observers to monitor the region or not”. He further adds, the violation of Ukraine territorial integrity has united the whole world on this front and Russia knows the very well. Lastly, it was the first top notch meeting since the beginning of Crimea crisis and states are serious monitoring the Ukraine issue.