Total Pageviews

Friday, May 08, 2009

Michael's Morning 7 - 08 May

I. Administration Budget Cuts Aid to Armenian, Breaks Military Parity and Promise

Just two weeks after President Barack Obama failed to uphold his campaign promise to squarely reaffirm the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide, the president, in his Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 International Affairs budget request, broke another promise by cutting aid to Armenia, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly). The budget request also increased aid to Azerbaijan and overturned long-standing Congressional policy with respect to military parity between Armenian and Azerbaijan. "It is incomprehensible that a country which already has billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue would receive an increase in U.S. funding while the neighbor it blockades sees its funding decrease. This budget request not only undercuts what Congress has appropriated, but does not help strengthen stability in the South Caucasus."

II. Turkey holds Albanian diplomat in heroin bust

An Albanian diplomat has been detained in Turkey on charges of trafficking drugs, authorities said on Friday, confirming reports he was arrested while carrying 65 kg (143 lb) of heroin. The arrest of Agim Haxhiu, second secretary of the Albanian embassy in Macedonia, is the country's second recent diplomatic drug embarrassment after an embassy driver was arrested in Italy with a kilogram of cocaine last year.

III. Prepping for Piracy

Funny how piracy faded from the headlines. The cable network shows have moved on to the next big topic—the swine flu pandemic!—but pirates remain active in the shipping lanes. They are just not attacking U.S. flagged vessels and thus not garnering twenty-four-hour coverage. But before we move on to grandiose plans for deploying massive fleets of warships to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, or contemplate an invasion of Somalia itself, why not first insist that the governments who register and flag merchant vessels impose and enforce standards that would make the pirates’ job harder? Cyprus provides a good example of how “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Back in 2005, it required all vessels flying the Cypriot flag to have updated “Ship Security Alert Systems” that would provide real-time warnings and information.

IV. EU launches 'Eastern Partnership'

The Eastern Partnership Initiative was launched in the Czech capital late on Thursday after being signed by representatives of the EU, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The main goal of the partnership was to "accelerate political association and further economic integration" between the EU and the former Soviet nations, the participants said in a joint statement. The partnership obliges the six countries to commit to democracy, the rule of law and sound human rights policies. Demands for visa-free travel for citizens of the six countries were blocked, however, while the declaration was amended to call them "East European" rather than "European" so as not to encourage applications for EU membership. The EU will invest 600m euros (£535m; $804m) in the project up to 2013.

V. Gul sees common understanding in Turkey-Armenia relations

President Abdullah Gul said Friday that he was happy to see a common understanding in Turkey-Armenia relations after meeting his Armenian counterpart in Prague. Turkey and Armenia, agreed last month on a "road map" deal for U.S.-backed talks that could lead to the
normalizing of ties and the opening of their border. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, the Turkish president said he also appreciated that there had been positive developments in the meeting between Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Sargsyan, which took place earlier on Thursday in Prague. "For the first time, the presidents agreed on basic ideas surrounding these (long discussed) points," but refused to give details on the substance of the talks.

VI. Trial Merger for Eight Negligent Gendarmerie Officers

Colonel Ali Öz and seven other gendarmerie officers will all be tried in a Criminal Court of Peace for negligence in the Hrant Dink murder. The case of two gendarmerie officers on trial at the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace for negligence in the Hrant Dink murder has been merged with that of Gendarmerie Regiment Commander Colonel Ali Öz and five other gendarmerie officers. The Trabzon court hearing yesterday (6 May) was attended by Şimşek, Şahin, Ünalır and Yılmaz, all of them being tried without detention. Dink family lawyers demanded that Öz and his junior officers be tried for faking documents as well, but this demand was rejected.

VII. Jordan first stop on pope's Holy Land visit

Pope Benedict XVI is to arrive today in Amman, the Jordanian capital. His words will be carefully parsed in the region, where he is viewed with aloofness, anger and faint hope. On his first visit to an Arab country, the 82-year-old pontiff is receiving little fanfare. Benedict outraged Muslims in 2006 when he quoted a medieval emperor's condemnation of Islam as a violent religion. "When you are responsible for 1 billion Catholics and you're speaking to 1 billion Muslims, you should be mature and discreet," Yasser Abu Hilaleh, a Jordan-based writer and commentator, said of the pontiff's 2006 speech. Benedict has been praised for his intellect, but his ideology and occasionally acerbic statements mixed with cool detachment have infuriated many Jews, Muslims and Christians. Edward Eid is a Catholic and general director of Greek Orthodox schools in Jordan. Such a role might seem contradictory for him, but in Jordan, where Christians account for less than 4% of a population of about 6 million, interdenominational mingling is a way of life. Eid has a VIP ticket to the pope's Sunday Mass, but he's not going, feeling a closer allegiance to his Muslim countrymen than to the Holy See.