Europe's neighborhood is in flames: Ukraine and Palestine.

The past few days we have witnessed the world going crazy. Two ongoing conflicts-one very old and one recent-got out of control, resulting to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.

On Thursday (17th of July 2014), a Malaysian passenger airplane was shot down over Eastern Ukraine, allegedly by Russian separatists. As result, 298 passengers were killed, all of them civilians that had nothing to do with the regional conflict.

During the same week, we had the flaring up of the Palestinian fighting, with Israeli forces invading the Gaza strip again on Thursday. This conflict lead to another 310 human lives being lost in Palestine, plus two in Israel.

Overall in one week we had over 500 deaths in Europe's neighborhood, as result of land, political, ethnic disputes and power struggles.

During this time Europe is absorbed by its own internal problems, in the aftermath of the European elections and the slow decision process in agreeing the next EU Commission leadership.

Since the elections, the candidacy of the former Luxembourgian  PM Jean-Claude Juncker for above post dominated the European leadership's interest, while the public was absorbed by the FIFA World Cup football games. So the developments in Ukraine slipped for a while as top story of interest in our continent.

But Europe can not be passive anymore, as this time the victims are not just Ukrainians. With the MH17 aircraft tragedy, not just Europe but the whole international community is directly involved. Out of the 298 people who perished in this atrocity, none of them were Ukrainian or Russian. They died because of a war that apparently until now had nothing to do with them.

The victims are from many different nationalities from all over the globe, so as result the war in Ukraine affects all these countries. And that is not all. Because many of the passengers of the tragic flight were leading researchers and campaigners attending the 201th anniversary AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne- Australia, their loss affects humanity itself.

Thus this time Europe and the international community as a whole, can not remain just observers in this conflict. So far the EU and the US have imposed sanctions against top Russian officials and offered financial aid to Ukraine. This hasn't worked.

It would be unwise to to enter an open war with Russia and its oligarchs, as this could have even worse implications. But we could work to unite the rest of the world against the Russian separatists, or any other extremist element in Ukraine. Draw in the international community and place sanctions on all those who are to blame from either side, or offer an overall support to the country.

Europe and America can not and should not try to find solution to the problem on their own. The ongoing conflict of interests between Eastern and Western powers, is the main root of the problem in Ukraine and it has played a role in the disputes in the Middle East too.

The Europeans and the Americans must involve the governments of other countries and organizations, putting aside any personal vendettas with Russia and its leadership. If the more countries of this world isolate the Russian leadership, the pressure will be greater.

This tragic accident offers a chance for a global, united response against the actions of Russian interests in Ukraine, but also all the shortcomings of the Ukrainian government itself. As long as Europe and Russia struggle over the country there will be no solution to the conflict, with the very danger of becoming one day, as old as the Palestinian one.

A conflict that if the international community really wanted it, it would have been solved already. Sadly, the interests of the big powers of this world, are not really interested for a handful of Arabs living in Palestine. Although the Palestinian side has a fair amount of blame in the problem, if Israel and its allies really wanted a solution they already have it in their hands: it is called capitalism!

As long as the people of Gaza and Palestine are isolated and cut off from the rest of the world, with no opportunities and with very low living standards, the easier it will be for Hamas, or whatever other organization to find willing recruits.

When Gaza's youths have no future and prospects like the young people in Europe, plus when they see their family being killed in Israeli air strikes, it is easier to radicalize them and make them fire these rockets. If they "enjoyed" capitalism like the rest of us, or they had wealth similar to those of many other Arab states, the last thing they would want is to be killed in an air strike.

These options may look far fetched and impossible, but as long as our leadership insists on the ones they have been working on so far, I afraid that nothing will change. Ukraine is on Europe's borders and is a problem that won't go away, since Russia is equally trying to promote its own interests in the region.

This world edges dangerously closer to a bust up and this is a prospect that should terrify us all. It is now clear that as long as Ukraine is unstable, the rest of Europe will be affected directly. It is not something that is happening only in Ukraine, it is something that happens in Europe and the great number of European victims in this tragedy confirm this.

With this blog-post I wish to offer my condolences to all the families affected in these tragedies.

Thoughts on the European Elections 2014 results.

Three weeks after the European Elections 2014 took place across the continent, nobody has clarified to the citizens of Europe what their decisions will mean for them.

After years of austerity and increase in social injustice, it was inevitable to have a surge in the popularity of populist, "Euro-skeptic" parties across the union.

Until the economic crisis, they remained in the periphery of the political life in each member state. Yet they have now managed to gain significant support and increase their presence in the European Parliament (EP).

In certain core EU states like France and the U.K, the Euro-skeptic parties UKIP and the National Front, have claimed victory in the elections by winning the majority of the votes. In other countries such as Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and Austria, far right, radical left or anti-EU parties gained a significant number of seats in the EP.

In Italy, the Movimento 5 Stelle party came second in votes, while in Greece the Golden Dawn, in Austria the Freedom Party and in the Netherlands the Party for Freedom came third. In Greece we had also the radical left party Syriza also winning the elections, although they are not hard-line anti-EU party.

Of course the majority of the seats again went to the "establishment" parties, despite the significant gaining of the Euro-skeptic ones. And while one would think that having a diverse European Parliament, with many smaller parties being included is a good thing, in this case is anything but.

A large number of smaller parties with a pro and pan-European agenda in the EP like the Federalist Party, would actually be of benefit for democracy in Europe. In the EP's case, we need to start having politicians and parties that have an EU wide agenda, if we want to have real democracy on European level.

But with parties that not only oppose any further integration, but they have a very conservative, nationalist and radical approach to politics, the EP will lose its power and influence. A divided European parliament by an increasing number of Euro-skeptic MEPs, makes it difficult to reach to decision fast and effectively, thus weakening it.

In return, a parliament that is not as efficient is being stripped of the citizens' support, as they see no use of it. And rightly so. When considering the circumstances that led to an increase of anti-EU parties in the heart of one of its institutions, we can not but blame the European elites for their handling of the euro-zone crisis.

Under the lead of Germany, Europe's governments for years have tried to make the working classes of the continent pay for a crisis that they did not start. They have nearly destroyed the continent's middle class, pushing millions of Europeans near or under the poverty line in many countries, especially those of the periphery.

And not just that, but they placed the EU as an institution in the forefront of every disastrous decision they have taken the past few years, shifting the blame from the national governments to the EU institutions. A very clever diversion to have an institution to use as a scapegoat, when it suits you!

Understandably the European citizens have voted for radical parties, as a protest. For years they have seen their wages, social security and worker's rights being slashed, so the results of these European elections were expected.

What the citizens do not understand, is that if they continue to place Euro-skeptic politicians in the European Parliament, they are actually harming their own interests. The EP is the only tool that we, the voters have in the EU. It represents our voice. And that is why our leaders do not give it the power that it needs to have to be effective and efficient.

They want to have an EU to promote the European elites' interests, but an EP with just enough power to give the European project enough legitimacy, so the people won't protest. Yet if we judge from Mr. Cameron's recent staunch opposition to Mr. Juncker's election as the head of the new EU Commission, our governments do not want to hand over too much power to the EU.

That is not necessarily a good thing for us, the citizens. From the constant power struggles between the three main EU institutions, the European Parliament, the EU Commission and the EU Council it is we, the people who pay the price.

When the EU is governed by inter-governmentalism, the bigger states like the UK, France and Germany have a bigger and more decisive say in the institution's direction. The governments of the rich nations can control and shape the EU's agenda, according their own interests.

That is of course anything but a democracy. If we want to have a more equal and fair Europe, it is the European Parliament who must have the major role in policy making, in most Europe wide affairs. And that does not mean absolute centralization of all power in Brussels, as many fear.

Europe must be governed in three levels, local, national and European. For all matters European, the decisions must be taken solely by the European Parliament, while the national governments must keep control on national issues. And that is where the clash takes place.

The governments of the core European economies, do not want let go of the control they have over their affairs, or the influence they have over the smaller European nations. They want to arrogantly lead Europe according their own interests, ignoring the needs of the peripheral states or refusing to share the wealth and decision making with them.

That I am afraid is not a sign of a united Europe, rather of an unequal continent that the rich elites, of the rich elite nations rule to the detriment of every worker across the continent. Is it bold to think that the weakening of European Parliament by pushing citizens to "democratically" elect extreme parties, was planned by the European governments and the elites they represent?

In other words, Europe's citizens "democratically" decided to weaken the EP as a protest towards their national government's actions and disastrous policies over the years. That is against their interests in one hand and in second, I personally believe that their decisions were widely manipulated by the European establishment, that is against a radical shift of power.

They want to take back control from "Brussels" and keep "national" interests under the national governments. That is a fallacy, considering the extreme neo-liberal policies they have pursued during the past decades, which have undermined the interests of the ordinary citizens, in every EU member state, either rich or poor.

Their policies widely favor big banks and multinational businesses, to the detriment of all European workers. Through populist and inflammatory media context, they also incite a war among the European peoples and the continent's classes. Immigrant against native, Eastern against Western, Southern against Northern European. While us citizens, have a common enemy: our own "national" governments and their policies.

So if we really need to achieve real change in our continent, voting for far right or radical parties, is certainly not the way, as we are making our governments' work easier. We are shooting ourselves on the foot. The far right parties are helping the establishment to keep the status quo in place, not our "nations" to defend their interests.

What we need is a Europe wide action and cooperation, a strong European Parliament and European political parties to be more dominant in it. Thus bringing our continent under a federal political formation, in which solidarity, equality and other similar values will prevail.

Secondly we need our governments to start listening to their citizens and respect their vote! The attitude of Mr. Cameron and other who support him in his opposition in Mr. Juncker's election as a head of the EU Commission, even after he has clearly a legitimate claim and support of most political parties in the EP, is scandalous.

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