In a sign that tension between Jerusalem and Ankara has cooled down, two Israeli Navy missile ships will sail to Turkey next week to participate in the annual Reliant Mermaid search-and-rescue naval exercise. The maneuvers will be held in the Mediterranean Sea together with the Turkish and American navies. The exercise, the first joint one with Turkey since relations with Ankara grew tense during Operation Cast Lead, will begin on August 17. Several months after the January war, OC Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrachi said in a lecture that Prime Minister Recep Erdogan needed to "look in a mirror" - and see the Armenian genocide and Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus - before criticizing Israel.
Russia will spend as much as 16 billion rubles ($487 million) in 2010 to develop its military base in Abkhazia and fortify the border of the separatist Georgian region, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said today, a year after Russia’s five-day war with Georgia. Russia recognized Abkhazia as a sovereign country after the war over another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia. Russia has deployed thousands of troops in the two regions and agreed to defend their borders. On a visit to the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi today, the first anniversary of a European Union-brokered cease-fire agreement that brought the fighting to an end, Putin renewed Russia’s pledge to defend Abkhazia against attack and to help the region rebuild its economy. “The Abkhaz people will succeed in reviving their economy as Russia continues to give systemic economic and political -- and, if needed, military -- support,” Putin told reporters after talks with Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh.
Islamists have launched cyber attacks on the website of a Kosovo newspaper which said Wednesday it suspects it has been targeted for coverage of a Kosovar arrested in the US for plotting "jihad." "This is only a message at the moment to this anti-Islamic newspaper, which is not retreating from ridiculing the beautiful religion of Islam. The religion of Islam deserves respect," said a message posted on the daily's Internet site. The hackers, who identified themselves only as the "defenders of Islam," also posted a black flag inscribed with Arabic. The Express daily said the attack followed its extensive "coverage of the trial in the United States against Kosovar Hysen Sherifi, who was arrested with six other persons on suspicion of conducting military style training to carry out violent jihad." The Kosovo Albanian and others were arrested in North Carolina at the end of July on charges of planning to attack targets in multiple countries, including Israel.
In a statement published by Madrid-based daily ABC, the former Slovak ambassador to Belgrade and high international representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajčak said: "Kosovo's decision was based on political instead of legal criteria. Two elements were missing in the process: an agreement between Belgrade and Priština and legalization of the process through international institutions, mainly the UN Security Council." Lajčak also commented on an evaluation that it is hard to establish principles of legality when the UN Security Council acts in keeping with political interests of the countries that have the right to veto. "This is the system we have. We cannot make exceptions. Only the United Nations has the power to give legitimacy. On the contrary, we would have chaos and confusion across the globe," he was quoted as saying. Slovakia is one of five EU countries that have not recognized the proclamation.
"I am confident we will win in Afghanistan. There will be some good days and there will be some bad days, some big challenges," Stavridis — the first Navy admiral to command NATO's military headquarters — said in an interview with The Associated Press. Stavridis said force levels will hinge on a set of recommendations expected later this month from U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, appointed in June as the top NATO commander in Afghanistan. NATO may face tough losses as Taliban guerrillas gain ground in the escalating war in Afghanistan, but ultimately the alliance will win. In an interview published Monday in The Wall Street Journal, McChrystal said Taliban militants are gaining momentum as they move beyond their strongholds in southern Afghanistan to other regions. Reacting to that report, Stavridis said the key to victory lay in deploying sufficient numbers of adequately trained Afghan soldiers and police. "I'm extremely encouraged by the work General McChrystal is doing in training Afghan security forces, " he said. "At the end of the day, the way we will win in Afghanistan ... will be through training the Afghan security forces." Stavridis said his other priorities include Kosovo — where NATO retains nearly 15,000 troops a decade after the war that separated the province from Serbia — and building cooperation with allies in North Africa and the Middle East.
Piracy is thought to have started in Europe and now, with the disappearance of the Arctic Sea, it appears to have returned. The disappearance of the Russian-crewed Arctic Sea, which last made radio contact in the Dover straits, has raised fears of the first significant case of piracy in Europe in living memory. According to some experts, piracy originated more than 2,000 years ago when sea robbers threatened the trading routes of ancient Greece, but in recent times it has been largely been confined to developing countries. The International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) live piracy map illustrates how the Gulf of Aden has become a fruitful hunting ground for Somali pirates. Like the Greeks, the Romans were among the early pirates and a famous early victim was Julius Caesar, who is said to have demanded that the ransom asked for his return be increased to reflect his worth when his ship was intercepted on a voyage across the Aegean Sea. England's most famous pirate – ahem, privateer – was Sir Francis Drake, who attacked Spanish treasure ships returning from the new world. The difference between privateers and pirates was that the former were lawful, authorised to pillage ships of enemy nations. In Drake's case the spoils were shared with Elizabeth I, who knighted him for his troubles.The so-called golden age of piracy was from 1620 to 1720. In recent times, piracy may have been glamorised by Hollywood in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, which hark back to the "golden age" of piracy, but it has never died out. The ICC has reported six incidents in the past 10 days, not including the disappearance of the Arctic Sea.
Is it a church? Is it a mosque? Is it a museum? Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia, the Church of Divine Wisdom) may be one of İstanbul's most famous buildings, but it's also one that suffers from an acute identity crisis, having started life as the great sixth century church of the Emperor Justinian, before becoming a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and then a museum in 1935 after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk declared the Turkish Republic. Something similar happened to Chora, near Edirnekapı, which also was a church before becoming the Kariye Camii (mosque) in the early 16th century. Aya Sofya and the Chora Museum feature on most tourist itineraries. Visitors to Topkapı Sarayı will also walk past Hagia Eirene, the Church of Divine Peace, which was built in 537 at about the same time as Hagia Sophia. This church is used as an atmospheric concert hall during İstanbul music festivals but is not otherwise open to the public, which is a great shame. For most visitors, the easiest to find of the other church-mosques is the one known as Küçük Aya Sofya (Little Aya Sofya), which is just a short walk downhill from the Blue Mosque. Küçük Aya Sofya started life as the church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus and was commissioned by the Emperor Justinian in 527, five years before work began on the much larger Hagia Sophia. In the 16th century, the Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus was converted into a mosque and acquired not just a minaret but also a courtyard with cells opening off it which now serve as craft workshops. The city's other church-mosques tend to be more neglected. Take the Church of Constantine Lips (otherwise known as Fenari İsa Camii), for example. Dating back in part to the 10th century. The Gül Camii (Rose Mosque) in Cibali started life in the 10th century as the Church of St. Theodosia whose feast day was May 29, the very day on which it became obvious that Constantinople would not be able to hold out against the forces of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror. In their fear, the city's inhabitants flocked to the church and filled it with roses as they prayed to the saint for salvation. When the Ottomans rode up to the church, they found the flowers still in place.