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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Michael's Afternoon 7 - 21 May



The Americans, Biden said, "have earned the right to speak honestly, even bluntly... We are worried about the direction your country, your future, and your children's future are taking. For three years, we have seen a sharp and dangerous rise in nationalist rhetoric, state institutions openly challenged and deliberately undermined. We have heard voices speaking the language of maximalism and absolutism that destroys states, dangerous talk about the country's future. This must stop." Behind the tough talk, however, there's a bit of a policy vacuum. And a renewed transatlantic rift over how to fill it. The Europeans hope to heal Bosnia by encouraging the kind of reforms that will slowly qualify it for EU entry. Progress here, though, is less than visible. The Americans have basically left Bosnia to the Europeans for most of the past decade and are annoyed that the Europeans are not delivering. "The country is in real danger of collapse," they warned, excoriating "weak EU resolve" and the lack of a coherent EU strategy. Top people in Brussels were outraged.


Judging by the agenda of the current Russia-EU summit in Khabarovsk on May 21-22, Russia and Europe lead a full and busy life. They discussed ways out of the world economic crisis, energy security, a new structure of European security, and protectionism. They also compared their approaches to major international problems - Iran, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Pakistan. Everything seemed to be quite functional, although the discussion was not entirely smooth. There is no unanimity in the attitude to Russia in Greater Europe, either. In the past ten years, it has been split into two in this regard. There exist an unofficial club of "Russia's friends" (with some reservations, of course), which includes Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and a club of "convinced skeptics," such as Britain, all Scandinavian countries, the Baltic nations and Poland. The latter club has more allies in the European Commission. The Brussels bureaucrats have always disapproved of Moscow. However, now another club is coming into being in the EU. It includes pragmatic skeptics. They are not too enthusiastic about Moscow, but they believe that they are going to have to do business with it because there will be no alternative to this in the foreseeable future. West European experts on the EU are listing Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Romania in this category.


The Acropolis has always been an iconic symbol of the Golden Age of Civilization. To ensure it lives forever, the Acropolis Museum began construction in 2004. The new museum is slated to open June 20, 2009 and for the first six months will offer admission for only one euro.
The museum houses 4,000 artifacts from the Acropolis and is located at the base of Acropolis Hill within 300 meters of the Parthenon. The museum contains most of the finds from the Acropolis and the hope is that the Elgin Marbles currently in the British Museum will return to Greece now that there is a place to house them. British Museum officials are not inclined to give up one of their treasures. The museum was designed by American architect Bernard Tschumi and Greece’s Michalis Photiadis.


National concerns appear to overshadow pan-European issues in the run-up to the 4-7 June European Parliament elections. In this guide the BBC's Laurence Peter looks at the issues country-by-country. The parliament is being reduced in size to 736 MEPs, from 785 in the outgoing parliament. The new number of seats per country is given here first, with the previous number in brackets. AUSTRIA - 17 seats (18); BELGIUM - 22 (24); BULGARIA - 17 (18); CYPRUS - 6 (6); CZECH REPUBLIC - 22 (24); DENMARK - 13 (14); ESTONIA - 6 (6); FINLAND - 13 (14); FRANCE - 72 (78); GERMANY - 99 (99); GREECE - 22 (24); HUNGARY - 22 (24); REPUBLIC OF IRELAND - 12 (13); ITALY - 72 (78); LATVIA - 8 (9); LITHUANIA - 12 (13); LUXEMBOURG - 6 (6); MALTA - 5 (5); THE NETHERLANDS - 25 (27); POLAND - 50 (54); PORTUGAL - 22 (24); ROMANIA - 33 (35); SLOVAKIA - 13 (14); SLOVENIA - 7 (7); SPAIN - 50 (54); SWEDEN - 18 (19); UK - 72 (78).


The Palestinian issue has figured prominently over the past week in stories with a religion angle. Pope Benedict’s visit to Israel, which ended on Friday, was the most prominent. While visiting Bethlehem, he called Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank “one of the saddest sights” on his whole tour. Early this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. President Barack Obama for the first time. Netanyahu said the Palestinians must recognise Israel as a Jewish state as a precondition for peace talks while Obama said Jewish settlements in the West Bank “have to be stopped.” Husam al-Taweel, a Greek Orthodox member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Gaza who was elected with support from the governing Islamist movement Hamas, told FaithWorld earlier this week: “I won’t say there are no problems and we are living in heaven. But there is no discrimination against Christians in particular. We don’t see ourselves as a minority, but as part of the Arab majority.” (Emigration) “is not a problem only for Christians. This is a problem for the Palestinian community in general. They’re all looking for a job, a better future.”


Speaking today at a ceremony on “Ammunition Hill” in east Jerusalem - the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1967 war - Prime minister Netanyahu marked the 42nd anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem by firmly stating that all of Jerusalem will always remain under Israeli sovereignty. "United Jerusalem is Israel's capital," said Netanyahu. "Jerusalem was always ours and will always be ours. It will never again be partitioned and divided." The Orthodox Union has long opposed any redivision of Jerusalem, the Jewish people’s holy and eternal capital. On this Yom Yerushalayim, we commend Prime Minister Netanyahu’s unwavering and adamant stance to preserve, protect, and keep whole, Judaism’s more sacred city.


US Vice-President Joseph Biden, who arrived in Pristina from Belgrade this morning, is also to visit the monastery of Visoki Dečani. The monastery of Visoki Dečani is a Serbian Orthodox monastery included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This monastery was built by Serbian king Stefan Dečanski between 1327 and 1335, who dedicated it to the Ascension of Christ. It was built by Friar Vito of Kotor, which can be seen on a wall inscription. Those who saw the monastery being built spoke with elation of masters working in marble. Friar Vito worked in the Western Romanesque-Gothic style, but the interior resembled earlier Serbian churches – it was built in the famous Raska style. For centuries, people of various religions, races and nations have come for pilgrimage to this monastery. Many miraculous healings have been recorded here. The monastery has been demolished several times throughout history, including the conflicts in Kosovo 1998-1999, when it was demolished by Kosmet Albanians, but the brethren still survives in this Serb enclave, surrounded by hostile Albanian Muslim locals. The monastery is being guarded by international forces, but nevertheless, it attracts numerous visitors, among international forces’ members, pilgrims from Serbia and rare tourists venturing to visit. The Holy Archbishops’ Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church issued an announcement assessing Biden’s visit as a gesture of good will and a clear message to everyone who wants to continue demolishing Serbian churches and monasteries in Kosovo – Metohija.