Michael's Daily 7 - 31 July

I. Obama more bartender than mediator at beer summit

President Barack Obama played bartender-in-chief on Thursday at a "beer summit" of the main players in a racially charged case that he hoped would be a "positive lesson" in a national dialogue on race. Obama, the first black U.S. president, said it was a "friendly, thoughtful" conversation over beer at the White House with prominent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, who is black, and police Sergeant James Crowley, who is white. Crowley arrested Gates, a well-known documentary filmmaker, for disorderly conduct on July 16 after a confrontation at the professor's home, sparking a media frenzy as Gates, 58, accused the policeman of racial profiling. Crowley, who had taught courses against racial profiling, denied that. Obama inflamed the situation by saying he thought police "acted stupidly" in arresting his friend. Crowley said it was a private and frank discussion, adding he and Gates have different perspectives. "I think what you had today was two gentlemen who agreed to disagree on a particular issue," Crowley told reporters. "I don't think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. We spent a lot of time discussing the future." Asked about the president's contribution to the meeting, Crowley said: "He provided the beer." Gates said he and Crowley had been cast together "through an accident of time and place" and must use the opportunity "to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand." Obama's job approval rating has fallen from 61 percent in mid-June to 54 percent now, in part due to his handling of the Gates-Crowley situation, a Pew Research Center poll found.

II. Greek Photographer Held Accused Of Turkish Espionage

A prosecutor in northern Greece Friday placed a photographer in pretrial detention on suspicion of spying for Turkey. Ozer Telatoglou, 30, was arrested on the island of Samothraki Sunday while taking pictures of a military installation. Police later said they found at his home some 300 photographs of Greek army camps and state facilities in the Evros region bordering Turkey. The suspect could be jailed for up to a year until a judicial council meets to examine his case and decide whether to send it to court. Telatoglou lives near the Greek-Turkish border. If convicted he could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Greece and Turkey are longstanding regional rivals who nearly went to war in 1996 over an uninhabited Aegean Sea islet group. The two North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies have unresolved disputes over Turkish-occupied Cyprus and Turkey's territorial claims in the Aegean Sea. Relations improved after Greece announced its support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union a decade ago, but overflights by Turkish fighter aircraft in disputed airspace remain a habitual source of tension.

III. South Ossetia wants Georgian president tried for war crimes

The leader of South Ossetia has demanded Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili be tried in court as a war criminal for giving orders to attack the republic's capital, Tskhinvali. "Saakashvili is a criminal who should be sitting in prison and we will accomplish this," South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Friday. He said the Georgian president is one of many people on a list of those who "organized the genocide of the Ossetian people." Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, after Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war last August. Georgian forces had attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Kokoity said South Ossetia had started a criminal case against Saakashvili and others who had "organized aggression" against the republic's citizens, adding that this is considered an international crime and should be punished. "As the person who was responsible, who gave the commands, who ordered the attack on Tskhinvali, who declared war on South Ossetia and along with his subordinates realized...the operation, [Saakashvili] will be charged with the crime." He said South Ossetia would be a good neighbor to the Georgian people, but not the current government. "We are not a vengeful people. One way or another, we will build normal, good neighborly and friendly relations with [our] neighboring country, but not with the current criminal regime, which we will prosecute," Kokoity said.

IV. Refugee Association: No conditions for Serbs to return to their homes in Croatia

Associations of refugees from Croatia held a news conference ahead of the 14 anniversary of Croatia's military onslaught against that country's Serb areas. They say that the attack, known as Operation Storm, started on August 4, 1995, and ended with more than 200,000 Serbs forced to flee their homes, 2,500 murdered, while 2,300 are still listed as missing. 14 years later, there are no conditions for the refugees to return since their rights are not guaranteed. "More than 8,000 families are still waiting for their houses to be rebuilt. Several hundred houses have not been returned to ethnic Serb owners, while about 40,000 Serbs with ownership rights are awaiting restitution," President of the Association of Refugee Societies Milojko Budimir told reporters in Belgrade on Friday. He also said he expects good cooperation with new Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor when it comes to property rights issues of Serbs driven out of Croatia. "Since after the war she herself moved into a Serb apartment, she could lead by example now and show good will and move out," Budimir said of the Croatian premier. Refugee Commissioner Vladimir Cucić stressed that one of the basic preconditions for European integration ought to be the question of return and realization of other personal rights for refugees from Croatia, and singled out their right to receive pensions.

V. "Skopje policy preventing integrations"

Greek FM Dora Bakoyannis says the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is denied Euro-Atlantic integrations because of the policy of its government. She also said that it is necessary to find a solution for that country's name - the Republic of Macedonia under its Constitution - that would pave the way to future cooperation and security. The policy of the government in Skopje has so far denied their Euro-Atlantic future from that country and its people, Bakoyannis said, speaking at the 7th General Assembly of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association. Speaking in connection with the open conflict with the neighboring state over its name, the Greek foreign minister underscored that the stand Greece maintains on that issue has been accepted by its international partners, both at the NATO summit in Bucharest and within the EU summit in Brussels.

VI. Christian-Muslim Tensions Rise

A handful of recent clashes between Muslims and Christians has again raised the spectre of sectarian discord in Egypt. The incidents, though relatively minor, highlight longstanding tensions between the country's Muslim majority and its Christian minority. Interfaith relations have traditionally been peaceful in this country of 82 million, of which Christians are estimated to represent between six and 12 percent, although precise figures are difficult to ascertain. Most Christians belong to the Egyptian Orthodox, or Coptic, Church, while the rest of the national population is almost entirely Sunni Muslim. According to Egyptian law, the construction of churches - unlike mosques - requires formal government approval. Many Copts complain that Christian communities face undue bureaucratic obstacles when trying to build or renovate their places of worship, while efforts to build mosques face little if any official obstruction. In an effort to mollify Christian sentiment, a 2005 presidential decree gave provincial governors authority to grant permission for renovating or enlarging churches. Previously, permission had to be obtained directly from the President. Critics, however, say the order has had little effect.

VII. The Halki Seminary and the Patriarchate’s Existential Crisis

The Halki Orthodox Theological Seminary, located on the island of Halki off the coast of Istanbul, was the key Patriarchical institution for educating the Greek Orthodox Community and training its future clergy for more than a century before it was closed down by the Turkish government in 1971. Although it was established in 451 AD, Turkish authorities refuse to recognize the Patriarchate as “Ecumenical” or International. Turkish law has relegated this 2,000 year-old church, which serves as the focal point of Orthodox Christendom, to a Turkish institution. As a result, the Turkish government also controls the process by which the Ecumenical Patriarch is selected. Through illegal decrees, the government has imposed heavy restrictions on the election of the Ecumenical Patriarchs, requiring the Patriarch and the Hierarchs that elect him to be Turkish citizens. The very existence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been put in jeopardy as a consequence of these decrees. Turkish law requires that even priests must be Turkish citizens. This excludes eligible clergy from around the world from attending to Turkey’s Greek community, which now numbers less than 3,000—most of which are elderly and not eligible candidates. There are currently roughly 200 Greek Orthodox Clergymen who live in Turkey and are Turkish citizens. Without the Halki Seminary, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been forced to send its future clerics outside the country for training. Unfortunately, most do not return home. These restrictions severely limit not only who can become a priest, but also who can become the Ecumenical Patriarch. These policies are wearing away at the Christian presence in Turkey and threaten to eventually wipe out the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which stands as a 2,000 year-old spiritual beacon for more than 300,000 million orthodox Christians around the world. Despite direct stipulations in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne that Turkey must legally recognize and protect its religious minorities, Christian communities in Turkey currently face unfair official restrictions regarding the ownership and operation of churches and seminaries. The Turkish Government interferes in the selection of their religious leaders. Christian education has all but vanished, while freedom of expression and association, although provided for on paper, tend to get people killed. This political climate of religious repression has, for decades, encouraged extremists to attack the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul defacing its walls and desecrating its cemeteries. In 1955, riots broke out in Istanbul and quickly turned into pogroms against Greeks as 73 Orthodox churches and 23 schools were vandalized, burned, or destroyed; 1,004 houses of Orthodox citizens were looted; and 4,348 stores, 110 hotels, 27 pharmacies, and 21 factories were destroyed. The Greek Orthodox population in 1955 was 100,000. In 1998, a Greek Orthodox official was murdered at his church, Saint Therapon, in Istanbul. The church was then robbed and set on fire.

Michael's Daily 7 - 30 July

I. International jihad network uncovered in U.S.

US authorities say they are searching for the eighth member of a group that is suspected of plotting terror attacks in foreign countries. Seven people from the state of North Carolina have been accused of plotting terrorist attacks and have been charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap and maim. They are believed to be a part of international jihad group. Apparently this group has been led by 39-year-old Daniel Patrick Boyd, who received terrorist training in Afghanistan and Pakistan years ago, only to come back to the US to use what he learned and recruit people in the US who would be ready to die as martyrs. "Daniel Patrick Boyd has recruited his children who, on 9/11, were between 10 and 11 years old and he recruited other members of American society including immigrants, such as men coming from Kosovo,” according to Dr. Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. “This is not just a local protest group. We are talking about membership in an international jihad organization which could aim, not just at Afghanistan or Pakistan, but could be a part of networks that struck in Mumbai, in Madrid, in Jakarta or in Beslan.”

II. Cyprus leaders hold another round of UN-backed talks

Immigration, citizenship and asylum were again among the key topics of discussion today when Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders held their latest round of United Nations-backed talks on the possible reunification of the Mediterranean island. Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat held a 90-minute tête-à-tête in Nicosia and then resumed discussions on immigration, asylum and related issues, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Tayé-Brook Zerihoun told journalists. The two leaders agreed to meet again on 6 August, when they will conclude their deliberations on these topics. Next week they will also discuss the schedule and programme for the resumption of the talks in early September after a break over the August holiday period. Today’s discussions were only the latest round of UN-backed talks between the two leaders aimed at reunifying the island of Cyprus. In May 2008, Mr. Christofias and Mr. Talat committed themselves to working towards “a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as defined by relevant Security Council resolutions.” The partnership would comprise a Federal Government with a single international personality, along with a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, which would be of equal status.

III. Ukraine, Russia expel diplomats

Russia and Ukraine exchanged expulsions of their diplomats in an apparent dispute over activities of the Russian Black Sea fleet, officials in Kiev said. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is analyzing a Russian document on Moscow's decision to expel two Ukrainian diplomats in retaliation for the Kiev government's expulsion of two Russian diplomats, the Ukrinform news agency said Thursday. Yuriy Kostenko, acting Ukrainian foreign minister, said diplomats must not get involved in internal affairs of a host country, Ukrinform said. The diplomat offered no further details. Last week, Ukraine expelled a Russian embassy diplomat i Kiev in charge of the Russian Black Sea fleet and the Russian consul in the Black Sea port of Odessa. On Wednesday, Russia asked the Ukraine consul in St. Petersburg, Russia, and an adviser in the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow to leave Russia.

IV. S. Ossetian leader says Georgia unlikely to attack in future

The president of the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, told RIA Novosti on Thursday he does not believe that Georgia will attack his country in the future. Georgian troops launched an offensive on South Ossetia last August in an attempt to bring the former Georgian republic back until its central control. The move led to a five-day conflict between Tbilisi and Moscow, which recognized South Ossetia along with neighboring Abkhazia.

Since recognition of the two republics, Russia and Georgia have had no diplomatic ties. "Taking into account the agreements signed with the Russian Federation, I would like to inform my compatriots that the situation will be normal. And at this time, I rule out any chance of aggression from Georgia," Kokoity said. According to Kokoity, Georgia with the help of the United States, NATO, Ukraine, Israel and other countries, has re-equipped itself with weapons lost or destroyed after the August war. "Georgia's army today is better equipped than in August 2008. Training exercises with NATO forces are regularly held and military specialists from NATO countries and the U.S. make regular visits," he said. "However, [South Ossetia] and Russia are also not sitting idly by. Considering what happened in August 2008, we are also taking appropriate steps, meaning that we are arming ourselves," Kokoity said.

V. Visas eased, except in Muslim areas

Almost two decades after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, people from Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FRYM) and Montenegro have been granted visa-free travel to the European Union from the beginning of next year. When fi ghting broke out in 1991, Yugoslavia – at the time consisting of Bosnia- Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – had a strict visa regime placed upon its citizens. Slovenia and Croatia were already independent nations of what used to be a federation of six republics in former Yugoslavia. Understood by the European Community (soon-to-be European Union), they were exempt from the visa regime. Before 1991, Yugoslavs had enjoyed visa-free travel since the mid-1960s, unlike the other nations of Eastern Europe. Generations of Serbs grew up travelling abroad freely, but the young now are almost completely unaware of the benefit. But if a sigh of relief was heard in Serbia after the European Commission’s decision, reactions in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo were coloured with anger. The three were omitted from the list for visafree travel. “These countries have not yet fulfi lled the conditions,” the EC said in its statement. That meant they had not introduced biometric passports, secured their borders or engaged in a fi ght against organised crime. Visa- free travel for them could be re-examined by mid-2010, the EC statement said. There was fierce reaction in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the EC move was viewed as a political message primarily for Muslims.

VI. Former Danish leader to take over as NATO chief

Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen takes over as NATO's new secretary general on Monday. Alliance leaders picked Fogh Rasmussen to succeed de Hoop Scheffer during their summit in April. The Dane was a controversial choice because he infuriated many Muslims following the 2005 publication in Denmark of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. As prime minister, Fogh Rasmussen distanced himself from the cartoons but resisted calls to apologize for them, citing freedom of speech and saying his government could not be held responsible for the actions of Denmark's press. Fogh Rasmussen will have a multitude of pressing items on his agenda, including the alliance's evolving anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia, and the issue of NATO expansion and relations with a resurgent Russia. Relations between NATO and Moscow have improved significantly since they were frozen in the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war a year ago, but Russia still objects to plans to eventually bring Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance. Russia has continued to allow NATO nations to use its territory for the overland transport of supplies to Afghanistan.

VII. Orthodox leader 'hopeful' over historic seminary: report

The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians said he was hopeful Turkey would re-open a historic seminary that was shut down nearly four decades ago, the Anatolia news agency reported. The school, on the island of Halki off Istanbul, was the main centre of theological education for more than a century before it was closed by Turkish authorities in 1971 under a law to bring universities under state control. The European Union has long asked Turkey to re-open the seminary in order to prove its commitment to human rights as it strives to become a member of the bloc. "We are hopeful that the seminary will open and we are waiting on official news from the government," Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who represents the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, was quoted by the agency as saying late Wednesday. "There has been a lot of talk so far, but no news from Ankara," he added. The Halki seminary is crucial for the survival of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul which dates from the Byzantine Empire, which collapsed in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered the city. Without it, the Church has no means to train clergy, making it difficult to find a successor for Bartholomew I.

Michael's Daily 7 - 29 July

I. Global warming is the new religion of First World urban elites

Geologist Ian Plimer takes a contrary view, arguing that man-made climate change is a con trick perpetuated by environmentalists. Plimer has outraged the ayatollahs of purist environmentalism, the Torquemadas of the doctrine of global warming, and he seems to relish the damnation they heap on him. Plimer is a geologist, professor of mining geology at Adelaide University, and he may well be Australia's best-known and most notorious academic. Plimer is an unremitting critic of "anthropogenic global warming" -- man-made climate change to you and me -- and the current environmental orthodoxy that if we change our polluting ways, global warming can be reversed. But Plimer shows no sign of giving way to this orthodoxy and has just published the latest of his six books and 60 academic papers on the subject of global warming. Plimer presents the proposition that anthropogenic global warming is little more than a con trick on the public perpetrated by fundamentalist environmentalists and callously adopted by politicians and government officials who love nothing more than an issue that causes public anxiety. While environmentalists for the most part draw their conclusions based on climate information gathered in the last few hundred years, geologists, Plimer says, have a time frame stretching back many thousands of millions of years. There is no problem with global warming, Plimer says repeatedly. He points out that for humans periods of global warming have been times of abundance when civilization made leaps forward. Ice ages, in contrast, have been times when human development slowed or even declined. So global warming, says Plimer, is something humans should welcome and embrace as a harbinger of good times to come.

II. UN Court To Hold Kosovo Independence Hearings

The International Court of Justice is to hold public hearings in December on the legitimacy of Kosovo's unilateral secession from Serbia, it said Wednesday. "The public hearings will open on December 1 at the Peace Palace, the seat of the court," said a statement from the U.N.'s highest court based in The Hague. "During these hearings, statements and comments may be presented orally by the United Nations and its member states. "The authors of the unilateral declaration of independence ... will be able to present an oral contribution." Last October, the ICJ received a request from the U.N. General Assembly to render an opinion on whether Kosovo's declaration of independence conformed to international law. Thirty-six U.N. member states have to date filed written statements with the court on the issue, as have Kosovo authorities and Serbia. Last month, Serbian President Boris Tadic said his country would be ready to negotiate with Kosovo after the ICJ ruling, adding he was "convinced" the court wouldn't recognise the secession. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament unilaterally seceded from Serbia in February 2008, despite fierce opposition from Belgrade. The move has so far been recognized by 60 countries, including the U.S., and all but five of the European Union's 27 member nations. The ICJ was set up to rule on disputes between sovereign states, but can also be asked by the U.N. to give an advisory opinion on legal questions. It has issued 25 such advisory opinions since it started work in April 1946. Unlike its rulings in contentious proceedings between states, the court's advisory opinions have no binding effect.

III. Politics to influence war commission?

The independent commission, created in December last year by the Council of Ministers of the European Union to investigate the causes and the developments of the Georgian War of August 2008, is due in Moscow on Friday. It will probably be the last step before the official publication of the results of its seven-month-long work, conducted by a panel of international experts, diplomats, officers and prosecutors. The conclusion was already made public, unofficially, two months ago by a German newspaper. The mysterious leak was, probably, the result of an internal fight inside the European institutions – between those aiming to find the facts and those trying to defend Saakashvili along with the idea of pushing Georgia ahead as a NATO member. The question is crucial from many points of view. If Saakashvili lied to the international community, accusing Russia of having begun the conflict, or having provoked (the second Georgian version) Georgia to react, the credibility of Georgia and Saakashvili himself will be seriously undermined. And with that, the possibility of its becoming a NATO member in the foreseeable future. The independent panel, according to the leaked information, reached the conclusion that it was the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, who ordered the attack, independently and before any so-called, “Russian invasion of the Georgian territory.” However, the recent visit to Georgia by American Vice President Joe Biden has given Mr. Saakashvili a second wind. After the visit, The International Herald Tribune titled the article: “Improbably, leader of Georgia survives”. This conclusion is probably not only wishful thinking from the American side. It means that the American administration will give Mr. Saakashvili time to finish its own electoral mandate. President Obama sent Joseph Biden there exactly to signal to Moscow that he is determined to support Saakashvili. To what extent is a question that remains unanswered. This is also a signal to Europe: don’t abandon the idea to have Georgia inside NATO. If this indeed was the goal of Joe Biden’s trip to Georgia, it would not be a surprise if the information leaked to the German newspaper is changed to the contrary before its official release.

IV. UK flight ban to north Cyprus continues

An attempt by Cyprus Turkish Airlines and a tour operator CTA Holidays to overturn a 35 year ban on direct flights to the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" has failed to achieve a judicial review. In the decision to reject the appeal the government argued that lifting the ban would "contravene the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation." At present anyone wanting to fly to northern Cyprus must first go to Turkey first via Mersin and then take a short journey to pseudo-state. It is believed around 100,000 Brits fly to northern Cyprus each year, with the CTA tour operators arguing that direct flights would mean cheaper air fares and shorter travelling times. The court heard that the flight ban unfairly restricted Turkish Cypriots and their companies wishing to travel and conduct business with the EU and the rest of the world. Currently the Republic of Cyprus is investing 650 million Euro's in the new Larnaca International Airport and upgrades have already been made to the Paphos International airport, with capacity of 7.5 million passengers when construction completes this year.

V. Biden - The Real Straight Talk Express?

Vice President Biden often gets labeled as a gaffe machine. But he's more like the Democrats' version of the Straight Talk Express. Love him or leave him, the man speaks his mind. The Obama administration this week was compelled, once again, to explain and defend the vice president after he made some tough comments about Russia. Biden had suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Russia would have no choice but to cooperate with the United States because it is on the brink of sharp decline. As the vice president lives up to his campaign trail persona by adding more foreign policy tasks to his portfolio, the administration can reasonably expect more "straight talk" on the world stage, which could continue to lead to a clash of styles with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama. But blunt Biden, in committing a truth about Russia, ran afoul of his own advice, which he gave in the very same interview with the Journal. "It is never smart to embarrass an individual or a country when they're dealing with significant loss of face," Biden said. "My dad used to put it another way: Never put another man in a corner where the only way out is over you." Democratic consultant Tara Dowdell said the issue with Biden is not his experience or know-how, which she described as vast, but his candor -- it's akin to the "straight talk" that Sen. John McCain used to define his campaigns but its delivery often get Biden into trouble. "You know what you get when you get Joe Biden," she told FOX News. "I think he's pretty candid. I think a lot of the stuff he says is actually what he's thinking. In politics, unfortunately you can't always say what you're thinking." In the last several months alone, Biden has caused problems for the administration by doing just that.

VI. Top 3 Biden Quotes of the Week

#1: Russia - "Russia has to make some very difficult, calculated decisions. They have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years, they're in a situation where the world is changing before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable." (WSJ interview 7/25/09) #2: Ukrainian Women - "I cannot believe that a Frenchman visiting Kiev went back home and told his colleagues he discovered something and didn't say he discovered the most beautiful women in the world. That's my observation. It's certain you have so many beautiful women." (7/21/09) #3: Georgia - “The Rose Revolution will only be complete when the government is transparent, accountable and fully participatory; when issues are debated inside this chamber, not only out on the street; when you fully address key constitutional issues regarding the balance of power between the Parliament and executive branch and leveling your electoral playing field; when the media is totally independent and professional, providing people the information to make informed decisions and to hold their government accountable for the decisions it makes; when the courts are free from outside influence and rule of law is firmly established and when the transfer of power occurs through peaceful, constitutional and democratic processes, not on the street.”

VII. Patriarch Kirill attacks "liberal philosophy"

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia attacked what he described as "liberal philosophy," on Wednesday. The Patriarch accused liberalism of drawing "no distinction between sin and holiness, [and consequently no] distinction between truth and lies," and cited the legalization of same-sex marriages in some countries as an example to back up his point. "That is, indeed, the way post-modern civilization sees the relationship between good and evil: there is no good and evil but there is pluralism of opinions. And if there is no distinction between good and evil, what does it mean? It is an apocalypse," the Patriarch said at a meeting with students and lecturers at the Kiev Theological Academy. "In liberal philosophy there is no concept of sin at all, there is no distinction between good and evil," he said. Legalization of same-sex marriages in some countries is one example, he argued. "Until recently no one could even have thought that same-sex marriages would receive legislative support and would be put on a par with natural marriages," he said. "Liberal philosophy declared any form of conduct legitimate if it does not prevent other people from exercising their own freedom," the Patriarch said. "In liberalism, every person is autonomous, both from God and from other people, he creates his own system of values and this ultimately leads him to losing his inner control," he said at the meeting, held at one of the churches of the Kiev Monastery on the Caves.

Michael's Daily 7 - 28 July

I. Clear-eyed analysis of 'Harm' done by Balkan war: "First Do No Harm"

Even as they criticized the George W. Bush administration for invading Iraq, leading liberals defended Clinton administration war-making in the Balkans. Sharply challenging this positive assessment is David Gibbs of the University of Arizona. A man of the left, Mr. Gibbs nonetheless disputes the nostrums of so-called humanitarian intervention. His assertions are contentious but well-supported. Attacking Serbia turned out to be neither humanitarian nor prudent. "First Do No Harm" highlights the many inconvenient truths of the Balkan imbroglio. For instance, Berlin lit the fuse for the Yugoslav explosion by backing Croatian and Slovenian independence without insisting upon protections for ethnic minorities — most importantly Croatian Serbs. Writes Mr. Gibbs: "In retrospect, Germany's actions contained a heavy element of miscalculation and showed a tendency to underestimate the destructive consequences that the intervention might have." Even more shocking was Washington's coldblooded and counterproductive Realpolitik strategy of targeting only the Serbs. Notes Mr. Gibbs: "Franjo Tudjman was just as racist and aggressive as Milosevic; the persecution of ethnic Serbs in Croatia was just as morally objectionable as the Serb-perpetrated atrocities in Kosovo." Little better were the Bosnian Muslims. Clinton officials also encouraged Operation Storm, Croatia's brutal assault on the Krajina Serbs. Promoting ethnic cleansing made a mockery of the Clinton administration's humanitarian pretensions. Notes Mr. Gibbs: "The Croatian atrocities embarrassed the United States, and some figures sought to distance themselves from the whole operation, at least in public." Others, however, rationalized Croatian atrocities. Mr. Gibbs never sugarcoats Serbian misbehavior. But here, too, there was "an element of moral complexity," he explains. Regarding Kosovo, the tendency was to emphasize Serbian brutality, but "such perspectives ignore the history of Albanian provocations against Serbs that preceded the repression of 1989. The imposition of martial law followed years of oppression orchestrated primarily by the Albanians, with Serbs as victims," he explains. Moreover, the Kosovo Liberation Army engaged in brutal attacks designed to provoke Serbian retaliation. U.S. and European officials even termed the KLA a "terrorist organization" — until the Clinton administration decided to dismember Serbia.

II. Biden’s attempts to pull us into the past are abnormal

Russia hopes the Obama administration will keep to agreements made between the US and Russian presidents in Moscow, Foreign Minister Lavrov said. “I hope that the Obama administration will follow the course adopted in Moscow. We consider abnormal the attempts by this administration to drag us back to the past as Vice President Joe Biden tried to do. His interview published in the Wall Street Journal looks like the rhetoric copied directly from the Bush administration”. The US Vice President gave the interview to the Wall Street Journal after last week's visit to Ukraine and Georgia. Biden also said Russia's economy is “withering” and suggested this will force it to make concessions to the West, including on a wide range of national security issues such as the relationship with its closest neighbors. Experts say that Biden’s rhetoric is complicating Russia-US relations.

III. Greece slams Turkish tactics at EU meet

Turkey’s continuing violations of Greek air space and disputing of Aegean sea borders were broached by Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis yesterday before the European Union’s General Affairs and External Relations Council in Brussels. Accusing Ankara of implementing a “provocative policy of dispute” in the Aegean over the past few weeks, Bakoyannis told her European Union counterparts that this behavior by EU candidate state Turkey toward an existing member state should be borne in mind ahead of a scheduled progress report from Brussels in December. “As firm as our support for Turkey’s full accession to the EU is, so too is our conviction that the principles of international law and good-neighborly relations must be respected,” Bakoyannis said. The minister also referred to the decision by Turkish authorities to prospect for oil off the coast of Cyprus. Talking to reporters after her speech in Brussels, the minister said that her goal had been “a full and clear briefing at the highest possible level with the aim of shaping a common approach.” In an interview with Sunday’s Eleftherotypia, Bakoyannis was more outspoken, noting that Ankara was obliged to respect EU regulations and standards and remarking that “Europe is no place for bullies.” At the EU summit, which continues today, Bakoyannis also had a brief meeting with her Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, though there were no reports about the content of the talks. Athens last week reacted angrily to comments by Bildt in which he suggested that the military dictatorship in Greece was responsible for instigating the events that led to the occupation of part of Cyprus by Turkish forces.

IV. German foundation dubs Kosovo “unfinished state”

Kosovo today, despite its declaration of independence, is an "unfinished state,” says Germany's Friedrich Ebert Foundation report. Kosovo has only limited sovereignty and is de facto divided into a Serb north and an Albanian dominated south, while neither UNMIK nor EULEX have so far been able to do anything "to prevent the partition of the country", the analysis, signed by Vedran Džinić and Helmut Kramer, claims. The paper, entitled, "Kosovo After Independence – Is the EU's EULEX mission delivering on its promises", continues to say that every important macroeconomic indicator points to negative development in Kosovo, a situation only made worse by the global economic crisis. They also point to low economic growth, a rising trade deficit and high poverty and unemployment rates. “Eighteen months of independence have done nothing to ameliorate this catastrophic situation," says the analysis. “EULEX, in its role as 'guardian of democracy and the rule of law' has only modest achievements to show for its first six months. Closer scrutiny of the objectives, legal mandate and activities of the new EU mission gives rise to the rather sobering realization that, basically, the previous, failed policy of UNMIK is still being pursued,” the document reads. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation analysis also recommends that the EU set more conditions to Serbia, and to make changes in the EULEX mission.

V. Greek Cypriots see no quick solution to Cyprus problem

The Greek Cypriots believe it is still too early to estimate the prospects of the ongoing direct negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the decades-old division on the east Mediterranean island. "According to all developments that we have seen so far on the negotiation table, I would say that there are many things that need to be changed in order to open the door for a solution in Cyprus," Government spokesman Stephanos Stephanou, a Greek Cypriot, told the London Greek Radio on Monday. His remarks echo a recent survey, which shows that 72 percent of Greek Cypriots see no solution could be worked out in the next 12 months. After years of stalemate and failed reunification efforts, Cyprus President and Greek Cypriot leader Christofias re-started comprehensive peace talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat in September 2008. The two leaders have met 38 times so far in an effort to find a mutually acceptable solution based on a federal structure. The two sides have agreed in principle to solve the problem in a bizonal bicommunal framework, but differ on how it should work, especially on governance and power-sharing.

VI. Another Rift Between Greece, [FYROM] Macedonia

The mania over Alexander is the latest chapter in a long-running feud between Macedonia and Greece that some officials fear has the potential to destabilize a region still trying to recover from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The dispute centers on a basic question: Does Macedonia, a country born out of the rubble of the former Yugoslavia, have the right to call itself what it wants? For 18 years, the conflict has defied attempts by the United States, the United Nations and European powers to find a solution. After Macedonia declared independence in 1991, Greece prevented it from joining the United Nations and imposed an economic blockade that nearly strangled the fledgling country. Greece also vetoed Macedonia's bid to join NATO last year and is blocking its admission to the European Union. Under a truce brokered in 1995 by former U.S. secretary of state Cyrus Vance, Macedonia was allowed to join the United Nations on the Greek condition that it refer to itself in multinational institutions as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM. It was also required to change its flag and rewrite its constitution to include a promise never to violate Greek territory or interfere in Greece's internal affairs. Macedonians say the name of the country is crucial to developing their still wobbly national identity. Ethnic Albanians say they would revolt if the Slavic Republic of Macedonia was the new name because they are not Slavs. Almost nobody wants another Greek-preferred version, the Republic of Skopje, which ignores everyone outside the capital. Historically, territory inhabited by ethnic Macedonians has belonged to other nations: Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. Those countries have been reluctant to recognize ethnic Macedonians as a separate people, to recognize their Slavic language as a distinct tongue or even to recognize the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Pavle Voskopoulos, a Greek citizen who leads the Rainbow Party, a group of ethnic Macedonians in northern Greece, said the country subscribes to a myth of a "pure" Greek people who are directly descended from Alexander and others from his era. "This is all about modern Greek identity," he said. "If there is a Macedonia as an independent state, this is a great threat against Greek policy and Greek ideology."

VII. Greek, Russian Orthodox leaders show unity

The spiritual leaders of the Orthodox Christian churches in Istanbul and Russia led Sunday prayers together in a show of unity after years of jostling for influence. Istanbul Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said the two churches must overcome differences, though he stressed his church's status as "first among equals" with the historic role of coordinating between the various Orthodox branches, of which Russia's is the largest. "From time to time clouds have temporarily overshadowed ties between the brethren churches," Bartholomew said after the service, addressing newly elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. "These ... must immediately be sent to their places in the pages of history." The two churches have been wrangling for influence over Soviet republics Estonia and Ukraine, with the Moscow Patriarchate struggling to maintain control over all 95 million of the Orthodox believers it claims, out of the world's 250 million Orthodox. It is unclear if any of the Moscow Patriarchate's policies might change under Kirill, who was elected in January after the death in December of Moscow Patriarch Alexy II. Alexy had been leader of the Russian church since 1990. The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, in 1453. The Istanbul Patriarchate directly controls several churches, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

Michael's Daily 7 - 27 July

I. Biden travels, talks and ticks off the Russians

Just when we were worried that no one would be keeping their eyes on Russia once Sarah Palin left the governor's office in Alaska, Vice President Joe Biden let us know that he was up to the job. Biden capped off his visit last week to Ukraine and Georgia where his public remarks had already managed to irk the Russians by giving an end of the week interview to the Wall Street Journal in which the vice president seemed intent on talking down to the Russians with a mix of tough love and belittlement. Earlier this July, Obama had gone to Moscow turning his metaphor of pressing the "re-start" button into at least a few tangible results. By the time Biden wrapped his visit up with the interview in the Wall Street Journal, he seemed to have pushed the erase button on the last three weeks of U.S.-Russian diplomacy. It wasn't so much what the vice president said but the way in which he said it. His tone was patronizing.

II. Cyprus poll: Greek Cypriot gloom over peace talks

An opinion poll shows almost three-quarters of Greek Cypriots believe slow-moving talks with breakaway Turkish Cypriots will not lead to a deal reunifying the ethnically divided island in the next year. The GNORA/RAI poll published Sunday in Phileleftheros newspaper also showed that 67 percent of respondents reject Turkey's full European Union membership. Some 71 percent believe EU-member Cyprus should block Turkey's EU course if it doesn't open ports and airports to Cypriot traffic. Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Reunification talks resumed in September, but little tangible progress has been made.

III. US Navy warns of increased pirate activity

The U.S. Navy is warning of increased pirate activity off the coast of Somalia due to the advent of weather more favorable to the sea-borne criminals. The Navy says high seas in the Gulf of Aden had resulted in fewer attacks in recent weeks. With the monsoon season ending in four to six weeks pirate activity is expected to increase, the Navy said in a statement Monday. The Navy advised mariners to use a designated corridor when transiting the Gulf of Aden. The corridor is patrolled by 30 warships, supported by aircraft from 16 nations. Somali pirates carried out hundreds of attacks this year. They currently hold around a dozen ships awaiting ransom payments.

IV. Iceland clears first EU membership hurdle

Iceland cleared the first hurdle on the way to becoming a European Union member on Monday when EU foreign ministers agreed to pass its membership application on to the bloc's executive for a technical evaluation. The decision means that the European Commission will now analyse whether Iceland's laws are in line with EU legal standards. But it does not mean that the country is guaranteed a quick entry, even if it has already signed up to many EU rules as a member of the European Economic Area and Schengen border-free zone. Iceland applied for membership in Stockholm, current seat of the EU's rotating presidency, just four days ago. Its application comes as doubts are growing within the EU over the whole process of enlargement, with bilateral rows and internal problems jeopardizing the hopes of most other candidates.

V. Colak says Bosnia will not extradite its citizens

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Justice Minister Barisa Colak says BiH will not extradite its citizens to other countries, regardless of the type of the arrest warrant involved. He was responding to his Serbian counterpart Snezana Malovic, who visited Interpol's headquarters in Lyon to ask for the reactivation of arrest warrants against 19 Bosniaks suspected of war crimes against Serbians in Sarajevo in 1992. Colak stressed that Malovic's move does not contribute to the resolution of pending issues between the two countries.

VI. Nigeria: Islamist attacks spread to second northern state

Islamist militants have attacked Nigerian police in two northern states, the Nigerian daily Tribune newspaper reported on Monday. So-called "Taliban" militants clashed with police in Nigeria's Borno state after at least 200 people were killed in clashes between Islamic militants and police on Sunday in neighbouring Bauchi state. The self-styled Taliban group clashed on Monday with security forces in Maiduguri, capital of neighbouring Borno State. People were also reported to be fleeing central Maiduguri. The militants in Bauchi, popularly called 'Boko Haram', are said to oppose anything western including western-style education. They accuse the state government of preventing them from publicly practising their religion or seeking converts. Islamic Sharia law is in place across northern Nigeria but there is no history of Al-Qaeda linked violence in the country. Nigeria's 140 million people are split almost equally between Muslims and Christians and the two groups generally live peacefully side by side, despite occasional outbreaks of communal violence.

VII. Orthodox Church in America leader returns to Chicago

Home in Chicago for the first time since his election to head the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Archbishop Jonah reminded the faithful at Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral on Sunday that American converts like himself form the core of the denomination. Elected in December to lead the main branch of Orthodox Christianity in the U.S., the Chicago native became primate under a banner of reform. In his sermon Sunday, the metropolitan called for humility, responsibility and sacrifice on the part of church leaders to invigorate the church's mission and asked parishioners to pray that bishops could live up to those expectations. Bishops should have "no personal agenda, no desire for riches, nothing left of egocentrism," he told worshipers at Holy Trinity, the seat of the denomination's Midwest diocese. "I ask that you pray for me and other bishops that we may keep this in mind and serve in a more authentic way." Born James Paffhausen and raised on Chicago's Near North Side, Archbishop Jonah, 49, was originally baptized at St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church. He discovered the Orthodox Christianity during college at the University of California at San Diego. while working in Russia as a doctoral candidate, he fell in love with the wholesale commitment of monasticism. He eventually established monasteries and missions in California and Hawaii. "I'd come to the realization that I really didn't care about pursuing a position of money and power," he said. "I was raised to be a corporate executive like my father and grandfather. I found it empty."

Michael's Daily 7 - 24 July

I. Russia rejects anti-piracy efforts under NATO, EU command

Russian military ships will not be involved in anti-piracy operations under the command of NATO or the European Union, Russia's permanent envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday. Russia is a member of the coalition of 16 countries, which are currently involved in anti-piracy efforts off the coast of Somalia. "As far as [the fight against] piracy is concerned, why should our ships be under foreign military command? We will not operate under the command of the European Union, we will not take part in NATO operations," Dmitry Rogozin told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. A total of 126 vessels have been attacked with 44 of them captured since the start of the year in the region. Somalian pirates are currently holding around 270 hostages on at least 16 vessels. Russia-NATO relations were marred by a five-day war between Russia and Georgia, after which Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During a meeting of the Russia-NATO council in Brussels, Russia said that its anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden should be coordinated with NATO and the EU, but at a "working level," between vessel captains. Rogozin added that Russia and NATO were also not yet ready to hold joint military exercises. "We don't think that NATO is ready for this," he said, adding that the alliance did not regard Russia as its partner.

II. USA will not re-arm Georgia

The US will not supply heavy weaponry to Georgia or deploy its monitors there, according to the American ambassador to Russia John Beyrle. “Surely, we are maintaining and will maintain military cooperation with Georgia, but it does not involve supplies of heavy military equipment,” Beyrle said on Echo Moskvy radio on Friday. The remarks have been made in the wake of US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Biden pledged support to the Caucasus country and pushed for NATO membership. However, on more cautious lines, he urged Georgia not to use the military option to regain its former territories. Earlier, there were reports from Washington suggesting the Georgian leader had asked Biden for advanced weaponry and military aid. However, the anonymous top US official later backtracked on the statement. Russia, in turn, is warning against new attempts to re-arm Georgia, and to discourage it from using force in settling its territorial issues. Speaking on Friday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said some NATO countries and also the bloc's current Secretary General have learnt the lesson of last year’s armed conflict in South Ossetia. Russia will introduce sanctions against foreign companies if they sell weapons to Georgia, said Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin on Friday.

III. Chechens End Talks In Norway, Will Meet Again In London Soon

A representative of Chechnya's Russian-backed president and the prime minister of the Chechen government-in-exile wrapped up three days of talks in Norway on Friday and agreed to meet again in London. Dukuvakha Abdurakhmanov, on behalf of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, and Akhmed Zakayev, self-declared prime minister of the unrecognized Chechen government-in-exile in London, have been meeting in Oslo since Wednesday. "We have been consulting on the total political stabilization of the Chechen Republic and the final consolidation of the Chechen society," said Abdurakhmanov, who is also leader of the Chechen parliament. Both men refused to elaborate on the issues they discussed, but they confirmed they would hold more talks, with additional participants, in the U.K. capital in the coming 10 days.

IV. Greek President sent new warning to Turkey

In his message on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Democracy in Greece, the President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias, said that Greece's steadfast goal was termination of the Turkish occupation and a solution to the problem founded on international law and the UN resolutions. The European Union, he said, has a responsibility to contributing to the "therapy of this wound, which comprises one of the greatest shames of global civilisatoin". "The key to a just and viable solution to the Cyprus issue is in Ankara's hands, but for the time being we see no desire on Turkey's part to overcome and transcend anachronistic percpetions and ethnicist rationale. Quite the contrary, we are following with worry the escatlation of the provocations in the Aegean and the constant projection of unilateral and historically-unfounded claims". But Turkey is deluding itself if it believes that it can bend our determination to defend and safeguard our rights with threats and overflights over our islands, Papoulias warned.

V. Cyprus prepares for EU presidency

A broad meeting of working groups, preparing for the assumption of the six-monthly EU rotating presidency, in the second half of 2012, was held here today, under Andreas Moleskis, head of the Cyprus EU Presidency Office. A Planning Bureau statement said that the meeting was attended by representatives of various departments including Public Works, the Press and Information Office and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation. The meeting aimed at evaluating the work carried out so far and at promoting the necessary action to make possible the timely preparation by Cyprus ahead of the presidency. Moleskis was briefed on the progress achieved as far as infrastructure and equipment are concerned as well as problems that may arise and ways to solve them. The meeting decided to set up new working groups on communication strategies and transport. The Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004 and will assume the EU Presidency, for the first time, in the secod half of 2012.

VI. Gov. Perry raises possibility of states' rights showdown with White House over healthcare

Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas. Perry said his first hope is that Congress will defeat the plan, which both Perry and Davis described as "Obama Care." But should it pass, Perry predicted that Texas and a "number" of states might resist the federal health mandate. "I think you’ll hear states and governors standing up and saying 'no’ to this type of encroachment on the states with their healthcare," Perry said. "So my hope is that we never have to have that stand-up. But I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats." "It really is a state issue, and if there was ever an argument for the 10th Amendment and for letting the states find a solution to their problems, this may be at the top of the class," Perry said. "A government-run healthcare system is financially unstable. It’s not the solution."

VII. Angel's face uncovered at Haghia Sophia

Restoration workers have uncovered a well-preserved, long-hidden mosaic face of an angel at the former Byzantine cathedral of Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, an official said Friday. The seraphim figure — one of two located on the side of a dome — had been covered up along with the building's other Christian mosaics shortly after Constantinople — the former name for Istanbul — fell to the Ottomans in 1453 and the cathedral was turned into a mosque. Some of the mosaics were revealed when the domed complex was turned into a museum in 1935, but the seraphim had largely remained covered. The newly uncovered image was hidden behind scaffolding and is not currently visible to visitors. Haghia Sophia, also called the Church of Holy Wisdom, was built in 537 B.C. and remained a symbol of Byzantine grandeur until Constantionple was conquered by Muslim armies. It was the patriarchal church of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years. The structure was then turned into a mosque — minarets were added and crosses and other Christian symbols were defaced.

Michael's Daily 7 - 23 July

I. "Don't You FYROM Me!"

The European Union is a club with a long line out the door. Just ask Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, or Turkey. But for one Balkan country, the biggest problem is showing the right ID at the velvet rope. Seven former communist countries were able to enter both NATO and the EU by the end of the Bush years. But last year the Greek government blocked the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from joining NATO, citing bad neighborly relations, and is determined to torpedo its EU bid as well. The reason? It's all in a name. FYROM, perhaps due to the unwieldiness of its acronym, has tried to enter as just "Macedonia," the name of the ancient empire of Alexander the Great. But Greece also has a northern province called "Macedonia" and worries that Skopje has expansionist ambitions. Ethnic Albanians, Turks, Roma, Serbians, Bulgarians, and Greeks are all packed together in a state the size of Vermont. Last month, the government unveiled plans to erect an $8 million, 72-foot statue of Alexander the Great atop his horse, Bucephalus, in the capital square. Never mind that the historical Alexander's actual capital was located inside modern Greece. More troubling are the maps in "Macedonian" textbooks that show their ancestral homeland stretching far into present-day Greece (as well as Bulgaria and Albania) and describe Thessaloniki, the capital of the northern province of Greece, as occupied territory. These are irredentist claims that justifiably worry the Greeks. Imagine how Californians would feel if Baja California wanted to be called simply "California"? Or how Swedes would react if Norway changed its name to "Scandinavia"? It's no accident that the EU and NATO both require prospective members to have no outstanding border disputes, but the government in Skopje has exacerbated tensions with Greece. It has renamed its airport, streets, and squares after Hellenistic heroes and interferes with the internal affairs of Greece by claiming there is a "Macedonian" ethnic minority living there under duress.

II. N. Korea: Clinton 'funny lady, by no means intelligent'

North Korea launched a scathing personal attack on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday after she likened the leadership in Pyongyang to "small children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention." At a meeting of southeast Asian nations in Phuket, Thailand, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman blasted Clinton for what he called a "spate of vulgar remarks unbecoming for her position everywhere she went since she was sworn in," according to the state-run KCNA news agency. The spokesman called Clinton "by no means intelligent" and a "funny lady." "Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping," the statement said. The verbal tussle between the two countries culminated with the reclusive communist state making it clear that six-party nuclear talks, stalled for over a year, were effectively finished. Clinton had earlier warned that North Korea's refusal to discuss its nuclear program could escalate tensions and provoke an arms race in northeast Asia. "The United States and its allies and partners cannot accept a North Korea that tries to maintain nuclear weapons, to launch ballistic missiles or to proliferate nuclear materials," Clinton said. "We are committed to the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner." The United States has also expressed concern that military cooperation between North Korea and Myanmar could destabilize the region.

III. Cyprus Digs Reveal First Settlements May Be Older Than Thought

Archaeologists in Cyprus found evidence that inhabitants of the Mediterranean island may have abandoned a nomadic lifestyle for agriculture-based settlements earlier than previously believed. The excavations at the Politiko-Troullia site, near the capital Nicosia, unearthed a series of households around a communal courtyard, and proof of intensive animal husbandry and crop-processing. The dig revealed copper metallurgy and sophisticated ceramic technology during the middle part of the Bronze Age, or between 4,000 and 3,500 years ago. Cyprus, the third-largest island in the Mediterranean, is thought to have been first settled around 8,800 B.C.

IV. Israel rejects French calls to freeze settlements

Israel on Thursday rejected calls by France to freeze Jewish settlement building and to reopen border crossings into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "A solution to the settlements can only be reached through a comprehensive and final peace agreement," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. "In order to promote peace, France would do well to persuade the Palestinian Authority to resume negotiations" with Israel which have been frozen since the end of last year, he added. Palmor said Israel's blockade of Gaza was the result of "the state of war imposed by Hamas" as well as the "detention for more than three years of (Israeli-French) soldier Gilad Shalit." Shalit was captured by militants from Hamas and two smaller groups who had tunnelled out of Gaza on June 25, 2006 and attacked an army post, killing two other soldiers. Israel's ambassador to France Daniel Shek was summoned to the French foreign ministry on Thursday, where the head of political affairs Gerard Araud served him with the demands. Araud told the envoy that Paris wants "an immediate freeze on settlement activities, including in east Jerusalem," ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said. Israel must also re-open border crossings into Gaza blocked since the Islamist Hamas took power in 2007, "on a regular basis to allow Gaza to rebuild itself and life to return to normal," Chevallier said. Israel has defied international criticism of plans to build 20 new apartments on the site of a former hotel in the Arab sector of Jerusalem and has rejected calls from the United States, the European Union and Russia to freeze settlements in east Jerusalem.

V. UN rights committee set to censure Azerbaijan

United Nations experts are set to censure energy-rich Azerbaijan over its human rights record after suggesting it was in denial over violations of global rights pacts. "After comments made by committee members this week, it is clear they are going to be tough over attacks on independent journalists, on freedom of expression and on state control of judges," said one official, who asked not to be named. The 18-member committee, a body made up of independent academics and lawyers from developed and developing countries, met on Monday and Tuesday to quiz an Azeri government team on what was happening. An official U.N. report on the session said the committee questioned the team on killings and arrests of journalists and suicides of others in police custody, on bans on opposition rallies, on violence against women and attacks on homosexuals. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with offices in Baku, including the chairman of an Azeri group on protection of journalists, told reporters after the session that the country appeared sliding back to Soviet-era practices. The committee session was held as a top-level delegation from the European Union, with which Azerbaijan is seeking to boost economic relations especially in the energy sector, was expressing alarm in Baku about rights. But at a Geneva news conference, NGOs said they feared the EU was unlikely to go beyond words in its criticism of Azerbaijan, a key supplier of oil and gas from Caspian Sea fields offering an alternative to energy from Russia. "In our experience, the countries most likely to take a strong stance are the United States and (non-EU member) Norway -- they have their own oil," said Florian Irminger of the Geneva-based Human Rights House Foundation.

VI. Fishing is key issue as Iceland applies to join EU

Iceland formally applied Thursday to join the European Union but said it would not accept a "rotten deal" for its fishing industry, a key sector of the island nation's troubled economy. The small North Atlantic country of 320,000 residents already meets most of the EU membership criteria, but tough negotiations await over fishing rights. The independent-minded Icelanders are concerned that the 27-nation bloc's common fisheries policy would give other European fleets access to Iceland's rich waters. In 2007, fishing employed 4 percent of Iceland's work force, just over 7,000 people. But seafood accounted for almost half of Iceland's exports and 10 percent of its gross domestic product. The EU has to approve the accession, after which Iceland would have to hold a referendum on membership. The fishing issue is not Iceland's only hurdle, however. The Icelandic Parliament, which only narrowly approved the EU application, has yet to approve an international agreement to repay Dutch and British depositors who put money in the offshore division of failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki. If the assembly says 'no' to the deal it will complicate Iceland's membership talks with the EU.

VII. Despite Europe's request, Ankara continues to waver on Religious Freedom

The head of EU enlargement has said that the accession process of Turkey also depends on the Halki school, an institution for the formation of the clergy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, closed since 1971. The government remains silent, while the debate grows in the media. The real issue is the recognition of the status of the Patriarchate. It all began when Oli Rehn, head of EU enlargement, and thus also of Turkey's accession to the EU, in a meeting with journalists in Brussels, June 10 last, said that this process also takes into consideration the reopening of Halki. He also made known to press, concerns expressed to him by the Holy See regarding the level of religious freedom in Turkey. Influential journalists, writers and professors, like Baskin Oran, Murat Belge, Ali Birant, Kanlı and Orhan Kemal Cengiz, have come out in favour of the reopening. The latter, in an article in Today's Zaman entitled "Is the Ecumenical Patriarchate waiting for Godot?” describes, as never before, the shameful and persistent behaviour of the Turkish authorities, bent on the complete extinction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, through methods of persecution including insidious legislation, even arriving at accusing the Patriarchate because, in his opinion, it left its appeal to the court in Strasbourg too late and is guilty of trusting too much to the periodic promises made by the Turkish authorities. “In short it’s the same old story," says a senior lecturer in history, a Greek from Istanbul, Dimitri G., one of the last remaining members of the almost non existent Orthodox community in the city. “Every time the issue of Halki arises, particularly during the visits of Heads of State to Ankara, not least the recent visit of Obama, Ankara, caught unprepared by its interlocutors, raises the question of reciprocity with the Muslim community in Greece, and so it avoids dealing with the issue”. "But what kind of reciprocity are they speaking about?" continues Dimitri G. "In Greece there is a community of Greek citizens of Muslim religion about 140 thousand people of different ethnic origins: Turkish, Pomak (Slavs converted to Islam) and gypsies, who are flourishing, with clergy and mosques, Islamic schools and cultural activities, according to the dictates of religious freedom. All this funded by the Greek State and also by the EU, because they are nationals of an EU Member State. And rightly so. In Turkey, on the contrary, following the systematic purging of the past years, from 100 thousand souls that existed in 1923 - which according to the Treaty of Lausanne were to be treated as the Muslim minority in Greek Thrace, for the principle of numerical reciprocity, wanted and ordered by Turkish authorities themselves - we have been reduced to barely a 3 thousand. The historic status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has never recognized and it must raise funds by its own means. The Mufti in Greece are public employees. And, again, is right. Therefore, any invocation of reciprocity from the Turkish side is unacceptable, because it is they who have deliberately and systematically violated it”. Father Distheos, head of external relations for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a German citizen, but Greek of Constantinople, very esteemed in the international arena for his perspicacity, said in this regard to AsiaNews: "with all this fuss that has been created in the media regarding the possible reopening of Halki - magisterially orchestrated as is usual with the media in Turkey - there is the risk of obscuring the essence of the fundamental question, which is much more important. Namely that of the status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Regarding Halki, the solution is simple: return to the status prior to 1971. It is up to the authorities to restore it”. As to the statements of Prime Minister Erdogan that they had not received any request from those directly involved Father Dositheos reports that Patriarch Bartholomew on the occasion of courtesy visits made in 2007 both to President Gul and other Turkish authorities, he certainly raised all issues of concern, including that of Halki, and they "simply replied that they would take them into consideration..”.

Michael's Daily 7 - 22 July

I. Citroen redraws Balkans map

French carmaker Citroen has apologised after publishing a map in which it redrew the borders of Balkan nations that fought wars in the early 1990s, Bosnia said Wednesday. Citroen managing director Frederic Banzet sent the Bosnian embassy in Paris a letter expressing regret at the publication which appeared in the company's promotional material, Bosnia's foreign ministry said. "Banzet informed the embassy... that he has stopped distribution of the material and ordered the destruction of the remaining copies," it said in a statement. The apology came after Bosnia, Croatia and Montenegro sent protest letters to Citroen this month after the map merged Bosnia into Serbia and Croatia, Montenegro into Serbia and gave Slovenia a large slice of Croatia. The issue is sensitive in the Balkans as Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman, the late presidents of Serbia and Croatia, are widely thought to have made a secret pact to divide Bosnia between their ex-Yugoslav republics. Bosnia's 1992-1995 inter-ethnic war was the bloodiest of the series of conflicts that broke up the six-republic communist federation, costing at least 100,000 lives.

II. Legality of Kosovo Independence at ICJ through Second Round

After the second round of submission of opinions of self-proclaimed independence of Kosmet has been completed in the International Court of Justice and after those opinions have been read out, the general stand of the international legal public is that Serbia’s arguments are superior, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said. Now we are in the preparatory stage for a public debate due in six to nine months, for which some 30 countries have applied, he told RTS. We have reason for optimism, he said, assessing this as legal proceedings of the century, which is to bear huge significance for the entire international legal system. As the highest UN judicial instance, the ICJ will for the first time in history discuss the legality of a unilaterally proclaimed secession and the decision to be made will be able to apply to all subsequent cases. Some influential countries have lately drastically increased pressure on countries that have not recognized indepedence of Komet yet, he said, adding the sides in this battle are not equally powerful, but that justice and law are on Serbia’s side and Serbia will continue fighting for the respect of the basic norms of the international law.

III. ‘I’m Not a Saint,’ Premier Berlusconi of Italy Says

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday made light of the growing polemics surrounding his personal life, including allegations that a paid escort spent the night at his Rome residence, telling an audience, “I’m not a saint.” Mr. Berlusconi, 72, has been on the defensive since May, when his wife, Veronica Lario, said she was divorcing him, accusing him of cavorting with very young women and calling him “unwell.” In recent weeks, several women have come forward saying they had been paid to attend parties at his official Rome residence and his villa in Sardinia. This week the heat rose a few more degrees, when the center-left daily La Repubblica and its affiliated newsweekly, L’Espresso, published what they said were audio recordings and transcripts of conversations between Mr. Berlusconi and a female escort who said she spent the night at his official Rome residence. “I’m not a saint. You’ve understood that. Let’s hope that the people at La Repubblica understand that, too,” Mr. Berlusconi said, the Italian news media reported. Mr. Berlusconi, who still governs virtually unopposed, has said his left-wing opponents are attacking his personal life because they have no political ground on which to attack him.

IV. FYROM: Gruevski proposes "two-tier formula"

Macedonia's PM has proposed a "2-tier formula“ for solving the Macedonian “name“ dispute: one name in communications with Greece, another for all other states. “Greece wants the name ’Republic of Macedonia’ erased from constitutional and personal documents, and shows neither understanding nor a desire to discuss the Macedonian people and language,“ said Nikola Gruevski. “In that situation, the ’two-tier formula’ would mean one name in communications with Greece, while the constitutional name of our country would apply to all other states,“ he said. Bakoyannis refused to comment or issue a statement following the Macedonian prime minister’s latest proposal on a “two-tier formula“ that could settle this thorny issue, which continues to hamper bilateral relations between the two countries. “Gruevski’s views show that he hasn’t grasped the international community’s message, which is loud and clear—for his country’s Euro-Atlantic course and his people, a mutually acceptable solution needs to be found, an agreed name that geographically reflects reality,“ she said. Greece, which refuses to recognize Macedonia under its constitutional name, arguing that it connotes territorial claims to Greece’s own province of the same name, has blocked Skopje’s further EU integration until the dispute is settled. Macedonia sits at the UN under the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

V. UN Chief to Israel: Freeze natural settlement growth

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Israel to freeze all forms of settlement activity, adding increasing international pressure following a call from the United States earlier this week to cease construction in East Jerusalem. "I urge the government of Israel to commit fully to its obligations, including to freeze settlement activity and natural growth," said Ban in a message to a United Nations meeting in Geneva on the Middle East. "If Israel continues settlement activity, it will not only be acting contrary to international law but also to a strong international consensus," he said. Benjamin Netanyahu said the following day that Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem was "indisputable" and that he would not allow citizens to be forbidden property purchases in any part of the city. In his message on Wednesday, Ban said that an agreement by Israel to freeze settlement activity would "facilitate a new environment of cooperation and common purpose from the countries in the region." The international community considers Jewish neighborhoods in the east of the city to be settlements and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Israel regards communities in East Jerusalem, annexed during the 1967 Six-Day war, to be a legitimate part of the state and views with distinction that area from the West Bank. The U.S., on the other hand, claims it has made clear to Netanyahu that it sees East Jerusalem as an issue that should be left to "permanent status" negotiations, and has said any activity there could prejudice a final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

VI. Non-Muslims turning to Sharia courts to resolve civil disputes

Increasing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters, The Times has learnt. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) said that 5 per cent of its cases involved non-Muslims who were using the courts because they were less cumbersome and more informal than the English legal system. The tribunal had adjudicated on at least 20 cases involving non-Muslims so far this year. The rulings of the tribunal are legally binding, provided that both parties agree to that condition at the beginning of any hearing. Anti-Sharia campaigners, who claim that the Islamic system is radical and biased against women, expressed alarm at the news. The Times has also learnt that the MAT is planning to triple the number of its courts by setting up in ten new British cities by the end of the year. It will expand its network further by acting as an advisory body to dozens of other Islamic courts, with the intention of achieving national consensus over rulings and procedures. Although Sharia courts have been operating in the civil jurisdiction since the early 1980s, they have been doing so only in the shadows and in an ad-hoc fashion. if the MAT was successful in bringing a number of the existing councils into line with its own courts, it would in effect create Britain’s largest national co-operative of tribunals.

VII. Religious Cleansing in Iran

‘Every aspect of a non-Muslim is unclean,” proclaimed Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. He explained that non-Muslims rank between “feces” and “the sweat of a camel that has consumed impure food.” Other prominent ayatollahs, including Ahmad Jannati, the current chairman of the Guardian Council, have made similar utterances. Thus Iran’s Zoroastrians, Jews, Mandeans, Christians, and Bahais are subordinated and indeed treated as a fifth column by the revolutionary Islamic Republic. No matter that most of these religious groups were established in Iran before Islam arrived there; none are accepted by Iran’s Shiite rulers as fully Iranian. With the recent controversial presidential election, the scapegoating of non-Muslims as agents of the United States, Israel, Britain, and the deposed monarchy reached new heights. Seven Bahai leaders and two Christian converts are in prison and will soon be put on trial for their lives, while other non-Muslims are suffering intensified government repression. Non-Muslim communities collectively have diminished to no more than 2 percent of Iran’s 71 million people. Forty years ago, under the Shah, a visitor would have seen a relatively tolerant society. Iran now appears to be in the final stages of religious cleansing. Pervasive discrimination, intimidation, and harassment have prompted non-Muslims to flee in disproportionately high numbers. Converts from Islam to any other faith are regarded by the state as apostates who can be put to death. Iran bans non-Muslims not only from proselytizing but from most public religious expression in the presence of Muslims.

Michael's Daily 7 - 21 July

I. Helsinki Commission Holds Briefing on Destruction of Cyprus' Cultural Heritage

The US Helsinki Commission under the co-chairmanship of Senator Ben Cardin and Representative Alcee Hastings today held a briefing entitled “Cyprus’ Religious Cultural Heritage in Peril.” Since the Turkish military invasion and continuing occupation of nearly 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, the devastation of the island’s heritage has been comprehensive. Churches, chapels, monasteries, libraries, museums, and private collections of religious art and antiquities were looted. Religious and historical sites have been damaged, ravaged or allowed to disintegrate. Dr. Klaus Gallas, Byzantine Expert and Art Historian, Dr. Charalampos G. Chotzakoglou, Professor of Archaeology at the Hellenic Open University, and Ms. Michael Jansen, Correspondent and author of the book “War and Cultural Heritage: Cyprus after the 1974 invasion” testified before the Commission on the findings of their extensive research on the cultural and religious desecration of the Cypriot heritage in the northern Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus, in view of the release today of the report by the Law Library of Congress entitled “Cyprus: Destruction of cultural property in the northern part of Cyprus and violations of international law” on the destruction of cultural property in the occupied areas. “An estimated 16,000 icons, wall paintings and mosaics and 60,000 archaeological items have been looted and exported from northern Cyprus. While the Turkish authorities have done little or nothing to halt cultural cleansing and have even contributed to it, individual Turkish Cypriots, who regard the heritage of the island as their own, have castigated the authorities and publicized the pillage”, Ms. Jansen emphasized, while Dr. Gallas, who has traveled and researched extensively on the conditions of cultural and religious sites in the Turkish-occupied Cyprus pre and post 1974, continued on the same train of thought: “Art theft in the Turkish occupied part of the Republic of Cyprus was usually only possible when it was tolerated or happened under the watchful eye of the Turkish military… The loss to Cyprus and to UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage is unimaginable. It can be assumed that the amount of booty we are aware of is only a fraction of the material that has actually been stolen from the Orthodox churches of Cyprus.” Dr. Chotzakoglou stated that “around 500 churches and religious sites belonging to the Greek-Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Cyprus, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Holy Monastery of St. Katherine in Sinai, the Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic-Armenian Church, the Catholic-Maronite Church, the Jewish community, as well as the Protestant Church, along with their cemeteries have been willfully desecrated, pillaged, looted and destroyed”. He added that Christian churches have been converted, inter-alia, into military camps, stables, hotels, theaters, nightclubs and sports clubs, while “the church of the Savior in the Chrysiliou-village is used today as a mortuary”. The Law Library of Congress report, underlines Turkey’s legal responsibility “to refrain from acts of hostility and damage against cultural property located in the northern part of Cyprus; to prohibit and prevent theft, pillage, or misappropriation of cultural property; and to establish criminal jurisdiction to prosecute individuals who engage in acts of destruction, desecration, and pillage […]”. Moreover, in the Report’s concluding remarks it is stated that “under conventional and customary international law, Turkey, as an occupying power, bears responsibility for acts against cultural property. Responsibility also arises based on legal instruments addressing the illicit export and transfer of ownership of stolen cultural objects from the occupied northern part of Cyprus”. The report details the ongoing plundering of religious sites in the Turkish-occupied northern region of Cyprus, and Turkey’s responsibility as the occupying country, a clear violation of international law.

II. 'Secular Islam' is a contradiction in terms

A response to the Rev. Kenneth Locke's article, "Trip to Turkey illuminates Islam,'' The Tennessean, July 13. The good reverend chose to tell one feel-good side of the story while ignoring enough to fill an encyclopedia. Here is just a glimpse of "the rest of the story."Turkey is secular in spite of Islam, not because of it. Turkey's powerful military is what keeps it secular. "Secular Islam'' is an irreconcilable contradiction in terms. The modern secular Turkish Republic was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who despised everything Arabic and Islamic. He wanted Turkey to be Western, secular, European and democratic. It was Ataturk who conceived of gender equality and secularism for Turkey, in direct contravention to its Islamic leaders. It was Ataturk who issued the order to change the Turkish language alphabet from Arabic to Latin, in order to distance his people from Arabic culture as much as possible. He banned traditional Turkish/Arabic attire and encouraged his fellow countrymen and women to wear Western clothing. • Locke's article studiously avoids Islamic Turkish atrocities in Cyprus and Greece, and the destruction of Orthodox Christian states in Eastern Europe. • Why doesn't Locke ask Christian Armenians, Serbs, Greeks and Hungarians, or Muslim Kurds, about Islamic Turkish "tolerance?" • If Islam is so tolerant of other religions, why is it that 99 percent of Turkey's population is still Muslim, even long after sweeping political and social secularization? • Why does Turkey fail to acknowledge the Armenian holocaust? • What happened to Greek, Armenian and Russian minorities in Turkey? • Does Locke know how Constantinople became Istanbul? Has he done even a minimal amount of homework concerning how Islamic Turks destroyed the entire Orthodox Christian church in the Near East? Turkey wants to be secular now because it benefits its people. It wants full membership in the European Union so that it can export surplus Turkish population to Europe and the Americas. The hard fact that Locke attempts to waltz around is that Islam cannot assimilate into American society for the very simple reason that the Quran is the antithesis of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is of the people, by the people and for the people. Americans delegate power to the government to manage their affairs. In stark contrast, the Quran is considered by its adherents to be the literal world of Allah, the Arabic God, and the final arbiter of the law and the affairs of man. Muslims are slaves of Allah, whereas America was founded as a haven and harbor for free and independent people. The Quran is simply incompatible with the Constitution; therefore, the assimilation of Islam into American society, in the long run, is highly unlikely if not categorically impossible.

III. Turkey is playing a war of nerves

This week the Greek government has prepared itself to face challenges from Turkey, which is freely flying military planes in the Aegean Sea over Greek territory. The dual-sided relations are very tense, because of the constant violations of the space borders and because of an article, which came out last week in a Turkish governmental newspaper, which announced the beginning of several searches for oil fields in the Aegean Sea, southeast of the Greek island Kastelorizo near to Cyprus. According to the article the Turkish State Oil Company will start searching the sea region outside the Turkish economic zone in the Aegean and near Cyprus. Experts expressed their opinion that the Turkish decision is indicative of the fact that it “does not have any inhibitions to turn its implausible behavior into state laws.” Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyanni, who was visiting Crete yesterday said that “Greece is dealing with the situation with confidence and is staying calm by always referring to international right laws.” “The limits, within which we are looking for a solution of the Cypriot problem are the decisions of the UN’s security council and the principals and values of the EU,” stressed the Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis in his speech during the anniversary celebration of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Factors, which are creating additional tension between the two countries are also the expected report of the Turkish integration in the EU. The country is supposed to sign an agreement about the illegal emigration and it is expecting the evaluation for its reform progress. The Greek Foreign Ministry noted that strengthening EU’s borders in the FRONTEX program, Greece’s demands for Turkey and the EU to sign an agreement regarding the return of emigrants, and Greece’s warning that it will freeze one more negotiation chapter for Turkey’s entrance in the EU (already eight chapters have been frozen due to the Cypriot problem), are additional reasons for the tension between the two countries.

IV. Opposition Discards Saakshvili's Truce Offer

Despite the offer of an olive branch from Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgian opposition leaders say that they will continue with a mass rally during US Vice President Joe Biden’s July 22 visit to Tbilisi. In a July 20 speech to parliament, Saakashvili proposed early direct elections for Tbilisi’s mayor, a new Central Election Commission, National Security Council meetings with party representation, and joint opposition-government trips to Georgia’s economically sidelined regions. A revamped Georgian Public Broadcasting board of directors with equal government and opposition representation and a board of advisors was also proposed. Opposition parliamentarians countered that the speech contained nothing new. Opposition leaders who do not hold seats in parliament -- the bulk of the country’s opposition movement -- echoed that point of view. "These political sops are not going to help the political crisis. Saakashvili needs to resign," Eka Beselia, a leader of the Movement for United Georgia, told Rustavi-2 television on July 21. Conservative Party leader Zviad Dzidziguri claimed that the offers were "a PR prop that was pulled out specifically for US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit." In his speech, Saakashvili also told his opponents that it is time to move on from "old methods" of political fighting. The "only way" to respond to the Russian troop presence in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is by "deepening democracy," he said. "Power transition will take place through elections and not through coups, weapons, foreign money and cages," Saakashvili said. "Cages" is a reference to the prison-cell-shaped tents pitched by opposition groups on Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue to protest Saakashvili’s policies.

V. Biden says US supports Ukraine bid to join NATO

The United States continues to support Ukraine's goal of joining NATO and believes Russia has no right to block it, US Vice President Joe Biden said here Tuesday. "If you choose to be part of the Euro-Atlantic integration, which I believe you have, then we strongly support that," Biden told journalists following talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. Biden studiously avoided using the acronymn NATO, but made clear in subsequent remarks that he was referring to the Atlantic alliance and Kremlin designs for influencing it. "We do not recognise -- and I want to reiterate it -- any 'spheres of influence'," Biden said. "We do not recognise anyone else's right to dictate to you or any other country what alliance to belong to or what relationship to have." Yushchenko has long pushed to bring Ukraine, a former Soviet republic of 48 million people bordering Russia, into NATO and was strongly supported in his quest by former US president George W. Bush. That drive by the Yushchenko and Bush administration to bring Ukraine into NATO however proved a major irritant over the years for Russia, which has for centuries looked on Ukraine as practically part of Russia itself. Biden acknowledged that his boss, President Barack Obama, was intent on repairing US relations with Russia, but assured Ukrainians that Washington would not abandon its separate support for Ukraine. "I ensure you and all Ukrainian people that it will not come at Ukraine's expense," he said.

VI. Bosnian Leaders to be Blamed for Visas Failure

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt says that the Sarajevo leadership is to blame for their country being bypassed by the European Commission, EC, in its visa liberalisation plan. “They [Bosnian citizens] are victims of the inability of their political leaders to agree,” Bildt said on Tuesday. “We spent the entire day with the Bosnian leadership, the entire spectrum, telling them to get their acts together, and told them if they don’t the train for visas will pass,” Bildt said, recalling his visit to Sarajevo a couple of weeks ago. “That had some effect and they started to do things but not enough," he said. The Swedish minister confirmed that, two weeks before the EC proposal was published, he visited Bosnia and Herzegovina again to remind politicians that the clock was ticking and warned them: “Accusations [against] the international community can take you absolutely nowhere." On July 15, the EC recommended visa-free travel for Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Bosnia and Herzegovina's candidacy for this so-called first wave of liberalisation was rejected. the European Commission visa scheme includes citizens of the Republika Srpska entity who hold biometric Serbian passports. With Bosnian Croats already able to secure Croatian passports, after January 1, 2010, Bosnian Muslims are the only citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who will be unable to benefit from the visa liberalisation scheme.

VII. Russia plans to teach religion in schools

President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday unveiled a first national plan to teach religion in Russian schools, blunting opposition by offering a secular ethics course as an alternative. An earlier push by the powerful Russian Orthodox Church to make religion compulsory in schools was opposed by rights groups concerned at its growing power in public life since the collapse in 1991 of the atheist Soviet Union. At a meeting with religious leaders, Medvedev said next spring a pilot project would offer 250,000 students the choice of classes in their own religion, a comparative course on religion or secular classes on ethics. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, praised the proposal. "All the concerns society has expressed will be addressed by this freedom of choice," he said. Currently there are no national standards for teaching religion in Russian schools, which have traditionally been secular.