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Jim DeMint, the former president of the Heritage Foundation, is joining the Convention of the States Project as a senior adviser.(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

WASHINGTON Former South Carolina senator Jim DeMint, ousted last month as head of the Heritage Foundation think tank, is joining a fast-growing, conservative movement that is pushing states to seek a constitutional convention to rein in federal spending and power.

DeMint, a prominent figure among the Tea Party activists who helped Republicans seize control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, will serve as a senior adviser to the Convention of the States Project, providing a jolt to its efforts to marshal grassroots support for a state-led movement to amend the U.S. Constitution.

News of DeMints role was provided first to USA TODAY, and a formal announcement is expected Monday.

Under Article Vof the Constitution, there are two avenues to propose amendments: Two-thirds of each house of Congress can vote to do so or two-thirds of the states 34 in total can request the convention.

In either case, three-fourths of the states or 38 states must ratify any amendment proposed by convention delegates.

The USA has not held a constitutional convention since the first one in 1787, but proponents of a state-led conclave see growing momentum for their cause. Twelve states already have adopted the groups call, and its leaders hope to add 10 to 15 next year. A separate effort demanding a convention to consider a balanced budget amendment already has the support of 27 states.

The Tea Party needs a new mission, DeMint told USA TODAY. They realize that all the work they did in 2010 has not resulted in all the things they hoped for. Many of them are turning to Article V.

DeMint and other proponents of a state-led convention say the timing is right. Populist anger with Washington helped sweep President Trump into office. At the state level, Republicans now dominate, controlling both legislative chambers in 32 states and governors mansions in 33.This is a perfect time for us, DeMint said. People are disgusted with Washington. They are ready to move power back closer to home.

The movement DeMint is joining asks for a convention covering three sweeping topics: imposing fiscal restraint on Washington, reducing the federal governments authority over states and imposing term limits on federal officials.

The group said the convention that results from the state applications could also propose a range of amendments from one requiring the federal government to balance the budget or to one ending lifetime appointments for federal judges, including Supreme Court justices.

Dramatic action is needed, advocates say, because they say Congress will not act on its own to curb what they view as runaway spending and the federal governments overreachYou cant drain the swamp, said former Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn, who joined the group after leaving Congress in 2014 and has written a book, Smashing the DC Monolopy, about the effort. You have to muzzle the alligators.

At the center of the effort: Mark Meckler, a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, and his nonprofit, Citizens for Self-Governance. Meckler has teamed up with other conservative groups, including American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), to advance the plan at the state level.

Former Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn is pushing states to call for a convention to amend the Constitution.(Photo: Sean Dougherty, USA TODAY)

DeMint, a conservative firebrand, made his political mark as an early backer of upstarts such as Utahs Mike Lee and Texas Ted Cruz, helping to elect them to the Senate and pull the chamber further to the right. He left the Congress in 2012 to run Heritage.

Last month, Heritages board of directors voted to remove DeMint, citing worsening management issues. In an interview, DeMint called his abrupt firing perplexing.

Heritage has never been more effective or influential, but clearly the board decided to take a different direction, he said. Frankly, I am fine with that and what I am doing now with the convention of the states.

Later this month, DeMint hits the road for the group and will travel to North Carolina, where the states Senate passed a resolution in April for a convention of the states. Advocates are pressing the North Carolina House to do the same.Later this summer, he will travel to Denver to address conservative state legislators at ALECs annual gathering. ALEC, whose members include Republican lawmakers and business interests, writes model legislation, allowing conservative lawmakers to quickly replicate bills across the country. It hasadopted the Article V languageadvanced by Mecklers group.

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Jim DeMint ousted at Heritage Foundation

The effort faces big hurdles. For starters, the country has never called together all 50 states for an amendment-writing convention.

Legal questions abound: Would the convention be open to the public? Is it fair to allow tiny states like Maine to have the same power as populous states like California at a convention? And how would states prevent a runaway convention that could make wholesale changes to the Constitution on everything from religion and gun rights?

Proponent say their application limits of the scope of a convention to amendments that deal with federal term limits, fiscal restraints on the federal government and limits on Washingtons power.

Bu some legal experts question whether organizers can limit the topics at all.When theres a constitutional convention, in a sense, all bets are off, said Michael Gerhardt, an expert on the Constitution and a law professor at the University of North Carolina. I would think almost anything would be fair game.

As the under-the-radar movement gains steam, some liberal groups and Democratic legislators are scrambling to block proponents from reaching the two-thirds threshold. This year, New Mexico, Maryland and Nevada all rescinded their applications for a convention, some of them on the books for decades.Delaware did so last year.

Opponents say the topics described by the convention advocates are broad enough to bring sweeping change.This idea of opening up our Constitution, which gives everyone in the country our basic protections, is a bad idea, particularly in this hyper-partisan environment, said Viki Harrison, the executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. She helped lead the successful effort to yank New Mexicos convention applications one of which dated to 1951.

Its the biggest sleeper in the country right now, said of the convention of the states movement. People dont know about it and dont realize the threat of a runaway convention.

Meckler said his group has about 2.3 million supporters, including some 80,000 active volunteers, as it works to develop political operations in most states. DeMint will have a paid position with the group.

Citizens for Self-Governance saw its annual receipts grow to $5.7 million in 2015, according to its most recent publicly available tax returns show.

As a nonprofit, it does not have to publicly disclose its donors. But separate tax filings show a foundation affiliated with conservative hedge-fund billionaire BobMercer and his daughter Rebekah, donated $500,000 to the group in 2014.

In this Nov. 3, 2010, file photo Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler, right, with Jenny Beth Martin, speaks at a news conference.(Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP)

The Mercers emerged as big financial supporters of Ted Cruzs presidential bid in 2016 before backing Trump in the general election. Rebekah Mercer served on Trumps transition team and is closely aligned with top White House adviser Stephen Bannon. She also serves on Heritages board.

Meckler said the Mercer donation was a one-time grant, although hed welcome more financial support from the family.

In all, more than 70,000 grassroots donors back the group, he said. Meckler would not reveal the identities of larger donors, saying they would be endlessly harassed should their identities become public. We disclose what we are legally required to disclose, he said.

Meckler said he believes his movement could hit a tipping point mirroring the voter anger over President Obamas health-care law that helped mobilize Tea Party activists into a political force.The American people are fed up. Trump is not the solution. Hes a symptom of that frustration, he said. The American people are seeing that didnt solve the problem, so now what? Eventually, they will come to this solution.

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Jim DeMint joins growing 'convention of the states' movement - USA TODAY

Kyiv's Friendship of Arch, temporarily renamed the Arch of Diversity in honour of the 2017 EuroVision Song Contest. (c) NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.Since war broke out in 2014, Ukraine has experienced a difficult period both for its citizens and liberal values, which are the bedrock of any democratic state. The war has affected almost everybody in the country, and the conflict has become a justification for illiberal initiatives undertaken by Ukraines state apparatus. For Ukrainian society, the choice in favour of liberal freedoms is becoming more and more difficult. At first glance, restricting them seems to be necessary.

In December last year, Fareed Zakaria wrote in the Washington Post about the coming of illiberal democracy to America. He cites the examples of Hungary, Iraq, Philippines, Russia and Turkey as states where some form of democracy is maintained, but where a range of liberal freedoms is disappearing. Its not enough to strengthen provisions for the rule of law, the rights of minorities, freedom of speech in national legislation these norms should be put into practice. As Zakaria writes, today, Americas culture of liberal democracy is weakening, and this process should concern both Republicans and Democrats.

These worrying trends are visible across the Atlantic ocean, from Ukraine. Indeed, Ukrainian citizens support the women who come out to protest, Muslims who face discrimination and suspicion, and the newspapers whose correspondents have been refused entry to presidential press conferences. But this support seems to reflect an opportunity to observe the crisis of liberal democracy elsewhere. And this begs the question: are liberal values merely an object to be observed at a distance for Ukraine? Is this just an opportunity to sympathise with the crisis of democracy in Europe and America?

Itd be wrong to say that Ukrainian citizens cannot see illiberal tendencies in their country. But there is one factor that restrains our reaction to them: the external threat. In discussions of liberal democracy from freedom of speech to the right to peaceful assembly the importance of observing human rights is not placed first.

Are liberal values merely an object to be observed at a distance for Ukraine? Is this just an opportunity to sympathise with the crisis of democracy in Europe and America?

Theres an expression in Ukrainian ne na chasi, which means literally not the time. The expression doesnt imply that something isnt necessary, but that it should be postponed for a certain period. In Ukraines case, this time will come after the war ends. When the issue of the countrys security is solved, thats when different groups in society will be able to talk about various issues.

These non-governmental institutions and informal groups criticise and correct the agenda of Ukraines state institutions, to ensure they follow the interests of the entire society. But as Cas Mudde writes in No, we are NOT all Charlie (and thats a problem), this criticism can also be selective and subject to self-censorship. Writing a few days after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris in 2015, Mudde argued that its easier to speak in the name of an entire society than to speak as an individual. Back then, the media campaigns that called for solidarity with Charlie Hebdo in the name of liberal values attracted people who, prior to the attack, would have refrained from criticising or supporting the magazines staff.

In February 2017, a situation similar to the Charlie Hebdo attack took place at Kyivs Center for Visual Culture. Members of a far-right nationalist organisation attacked an exhibition by anarchist artist David Chichkan. But here, Ukrainian society made no large-scale demonstration of solidarity in support of freedom of expression.

David Chichkan's exhibition "Lost Opportunity" after it was attacked in February 2017. Source: Political Critique. Far-right activists smashed windows, ripped up Chichkans pictures and sprayed slogans accusing him of separatism and playing up to Moscow. In this exhibition (Lost opportunity), Chichkan demonstrated his attitude to the chance for reforming the Ukrainian state that he believes Ukrainian citizens had lost after EuroMaidan. The artist believes that opportunities for change have been substituted with a nationalist programme and policy carried out by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, which is based on the extreme right-wing ideology of Ukrainian nationalists during the 1930s and 1940s.

Ukrainian societys consensus of justification towards people who have turned patriotism into vandalism is becoming more and more tangible. Indeed, when a country is at war, and the border with the aggressor state remains open, right-wing politicians offer a clear understanding of the situation. This picture is simplified, and is based exclusively on the national idea and ethnocentrism. And its possible that right-wing vision of the situation at hand are incompatible with the Constitution, and stretch our understanding of freedom of speech. But they give people an opportunity to solve the problems facing the country and society via very simple methods.

There is no universal formula that would show how nationalist organisations influence politics. Indeed, electoral support at presidential or parliamentary campaigns doesnt always reflect this influence

Since EuroMaidan, historians and other researchers have been discussing the extent to which the far-right were involved in the 2014 protest, and whether they were the driving force. There is no universal formula that would show how nationalist organisations influence politics. Indeed, electoral support at presidential or parliamentary campaigns doesnt always reflect this influence. When a country is basically at war, this situation raises patriotic feelings and makes certain slogans (otherwise the exclusive domain of the rightwing) more visible. This is how society turns to the right. Im talking about those ideas that are to the right of the centre, and which arent compatible with liberal values, but which arent a direct expression of far-right political views.

In Ukraine, political parties, apart from the obviously nationalist ones, dont have much in the way of ideology. They rely on their leaders personal charisma. This is why its easy for Ukrainian politicians to pick up slogans that appeal to their electorate. According to recent surveys carried out by Kiev International Institute of Sociology, Ukrainians name the war, living standards, economic situation and security as the issues that are most important to them. And if the Ukrainian electorate wants to build a wall with Russia, then the refusal to use Russian social networks could be the prototype it doesnt necessarily have to be made out of bricks.

A public exhibition detailing casualties and deaths at the frontline of the Donbas conflict. (c) NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.On 16 May, President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on the decision by Ukraines National Security and Defence Council on applying special personalised economic and other limiting measures. Among others, the popular Russian social media websites VKontake and Odnoklassniki fell under these sanctions. And given that these websites were named economically unsafe only in the third year of the Russian-Ukrainian war, it raises questions about why this step wasnt taken earlier. The ban on social networks (which are used mostly for mobilisation or entertainment) became more prominent than the educational campaigns about why signing over personal information to Russian social networks might be risky for users.

There were no prominent protests against this decree. The debate about whether freedom of speech can be limited during wartime has divided Ukrainian society between those who are ready to forego human rights under conditions of war, and those who arent. Indeed, Ukrainian journalists, public figures and human rights defenders are among those who supported the ban against Russian social media.

In Ukraine, the limits of the permissible, which can be violated by the state, are becoming less and less clear. And it is no less hard for a society traumatised by war to resist simplifications and ignore the destruction of something valuable before its very eyes.

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Liberal democracy: a hard choice for Ukraine - Open Democracy

A United Nations report says hostilities have been escalating in eastern Ukraine in recent months because parties to the armed conflict there have "repeatedly failed to implement cease-fire agreements."

The report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on June 13 says cease-fire violations on both Ukrainian armed forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have allowed "hostilities to escalate and claim more lives as the conflict moved into its fourth year."

The report says that since the conflict began in mid-April of 2014, at least 10,090 people have been killed -- included 2,777 civilians. It said at least 23,966 people have been injured and more than 1.6 million people displaced by the fighting.

The report says the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine recorded 36 conflict-related civilian deaths and 157 injuries from February 16 to May 15 -- a 48 percent increase on the previous three months.

It also says people continue to be abducted, unlawfully deprived of freedom, and held incommunicado -- particularly in districts controlled by Russia-backed separatists.

It also says torture has persisted, with new incidents recorded on both sides of the contact line.

The OHCHR also expresses concern that, after three years, none of the senior officials responsible for deaths during antigovernment protests in Kyiv and violence in Odesa have been brought to account.

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UN Says Ukraine Conflict Escalating Amid Cease Fire-Violations - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Ukraine's Kazakh Embassy has lodged a protest over maps near an international energy exposition in Astana that show Ukraine's occupied Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia.

The maps are part of decorative statues on Nurzhol Boulevard outside of Expo 2017, a three-month exposition that began on June 10 with Russian President Vladimir Putin in attendance.

One statue is holding a map of Ukraine that does not include the territory of Crimea. Another holds a map of Russia that includes Crimea.

The Ukrainian Embassy wrote on Facebook on June 12 that the map of Ukraine was shown "with elements in violation of the country's territorial integrity," and the map of Russia was shown "with elements that violate Ukraine's territorial integrity."

The Ukrainian Embassy said it expected explanations from Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry.

Russia seized control of Crimea in 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum considered illegitimate by Ukraine and more than 100 other countries in the United Nations.

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Ukraine's Embassy In Kazakhstan Irked By Maps Showing Crimea As Russia - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Published time: 13 Jun, 2017 18:18 Edited time: 13 Jun, 2017 18:53

Ukraines nuclear regulatory body reported smoke at one of the rooms at Unit 3 in Chernobyl, adding that it was briefly liquidated by the state emergency personnel and the radiological situation at the site has not changed following the incident.

At 15:57 pm weve received information from Chernobyl nuclear power plant about smoke in room 509 of Power Unit Three. At 16:00 the smoke was liquidated by the State Emergency Service staff, a statement issued by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine reads.

The radiological situation in the third power unit and the stations territory has not changed, it added.

No further details were immediately available.

The Soviet-era Chernobyl nuclear power plant is known around the world for the accident, one of the worst ever, that took place there on April 26, 1986, when a failed safety experiment caused a catastrophic meltdown at the plants Reactor 4. An explosion followed, destroying the reactor and releasing large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.

READ MORE in RT's special project CHERNOBYL: FALLOUT 30

Following the accident, a 30-square kilometer zone surrounding the NPP was evacuated and declared uninhabitable, while the large radioactive cloud spread across more than 200,000 square kilometers. The nuclear fallout contaminated large areas in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, then republics of the Soviet Union.

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Over 30 people died immediately or short-term after the accident. The total number of radiation-related deaths caused by the disaster could have amounted to about 4,000 by 2005, according to a massive study conducted by an international team of more than 100 scientists.

Following the disaster, a steel and concrete sarcophagus was constructed over the destroyed Reactor 4 to encase the dangerous area and prevent the remaining radioactive materials from getting into the atmosphere.

The sarcophagus deteriorated over time, due to extreme levels of radiation, and was deemed unrepairable by 1996. The construction of a new, internationally funded, shelter began in 2012. The giant steel radiation shield was maneuvered into place over the existing steel and concrete structures in November 2016, but construction is still under way. The replacement shield, costing 1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) and built by French consortium Novarka, is designed to withstand a tornado and has an expected lifespan of at least 100 years.

Power Unit 3 was launched in 1981 and remained operational even after the 1986 disaster. The unit was the last part of the nuclear plant to be permanently shut down in December 2000.

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Smoke detected at crippled Chernobyl power plant Ukraine nuclear watchdog - RT