Europe

As a part of a new EU plan aimed at reducing the number of refugees flowing into Europe, Greece has begun sending migrants back to Turkey.  Greek border agents put 135 migrants on a ferry back to Turkey, much to the anger of Turkish authorities. USAToday explains: Human rights groups have been highly critical of the plan, saying Turkey, which already hosts 2.7 million Syrian refugees, can not adequately care for the migrants. “This is the first day of a very difficult time for refugee rights.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

Simple Janet has attained a new milestone as a public menace with her speech to the Economic Club of New York. It amounted to yelling “stay” in a burning theater!

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at mounting Western criticism of his clampdown on free speech and journalism in Turkey. Speaking at a meeting of the Turkish Red Crescent in Ankara, Erdogan criticised the U.S. and Europe as being hypocritical in their condemnation of Turkey’s apparent lack of human rights. “Those who attempt to give us lessons in democracy and human rights must first contemplate their own shame,” the Turkish leader said.

Jackson Diehl tries to blame Trump for waning Georgian interest in NATO membership:

The rhetoric from Trump has given a boost to pro-Russian parties in Georgia’s campaign. Their argument, said [President] Margvelashvili, has been consistent: “You might want NATO. You might want Europe. But it is not going to happen.” Until now, it hasn’t been a persuasive argument. Georgia’s president, and leaders like him across Eurasia, can only hope this U.S. political season does not make it so.

While much of the media has been focusing on the Panama Papers allegations surrounding "close friends" of Russian president Vladimir Putin, one person who has been directly named as implicated in offshore tax scandal is Ukraine's billionaire president, Petro Poroshenko.

This is what the ICIJ had to say about this specific involvement: