Barack Obama’s Gallup approval rating of 52 percent may well be lower at this stage of his presidency than any US leader in recent times with the exception of Bill Clinton. But he is still worshipped with messiah-like adoration at the United Nations, and is considerably more popular with many of the 192 members of the UN than he is with the American people. The latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey of international confidence in Obama’s leadership on foreign affairs shows strikingly high approval levels for the president in many parts of the world – 94 percent in Kenya, 93 percent in Germany, 88 percent in Canada and Nigeria, 77 percent in India, 76 percent in Brazil, 71 percent in Indonesia, and 62 percent in China for example. The Pew survey of 21 countries reveals an average level of 71 percent support for President Obama, compared to just 17 percent for George W. Bush in 2008. As the figures indicate, Barack Obama is highly likely to receive a warm reception when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today. Simply put, Barack Obama is loved at the UN because he largely fails to advance real American leadership. This is a dangerous strategy of decline that will weaken US power and make her far more vulnerable to attack. The Obama administration is now overseeing and implementing the biggest decline in American global power since Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately it may well take another generation for the United States to recover.
A group of Turkish diplomats breached the security bubble around President Obama on Tuesday, provoking a frenzied reaction by security personnel, around the president who pushed and shoved the intruders away from the president's limousine. The incident occurred as Mr. Obama was preparing to leave the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan after speaking to an annual meeting of former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative. Mr. Clinton was seen escorting Mr. Obama to the limousine moments before the incident occurred. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among those swept up in the confrontation, the U.S. Secret Service confirmed to the Washington Times Wednesday morning. Mr. Erdogan was arriving at the same meeting as Mr. Obama was leaving when the scuffle between Turkish security surrounding the prime minister and U.S. security -- Secret Service along with New York City police -- broke out. The skirmish, which involved shoving, pushing and loud shouting, reached the corner of the large white tent that housed Mr. Obama's limousine just as the president was preparing to get in the vehicle and leave. The Turkish press reported that Mr. Erdogan may have even grabbed a U.S. security agent to stop him from throwing a punch. "A foreign delegation got confused and were trying to enter the president's departure tent and didn't understand the verbal instructions being given. They had to be physically restrained," said Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service. Mr. Donovan denied that the incident was a breach of security because he said that the Turks had Secret Service escort. But he would give no details on why the fracas occurred other than that a language barrier caused a breakdown of communication. The incident comes at an inopportune time. Turkey is key to Mr. Obama's strategy to build a more strategic and multilateral foreign policy, and the president has spent a good amount of effort trying to improve U.S.-Turkish relations. He visited Turkey during his first foreign trip and the administration has proposed the sale of $8 billion in anti-missile weapons systems to Turkey, which could play a role in containing the Iranian nuclear threat.
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot political parties have reiterated their support for the efforts of the leaders of the two communities to reach an agreed solution to the Cyprus problem. The leaders and representatives of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot parties had their regular meeting, under the auspices of the Slovak embassy to Cyprus. A joint communique issued after the meeting noted that ''they expressed opinions on the issue ‘The right of Cyprus to its sea, the Law of the Sea and their relevance to Cyprus’ as proposed by the hosting party, the New Cyprus party.'' ''The participants reiterated their support to the two leaders of the two communities in the efforts to find an agreed solution to the Cyprus problem as soon as possible'' the communique, read out by the Slovak Ambassador Anna Turenikova, added. The next meeting will be held on 21st of October. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat began UN-led talks for a solution to the Cyprus problem on September 2008.
The Taliban has demanded two million dollars, as well as the release of three of its leaders, for the safe return of Greek national Athanasios Lerounis, reports the Greek Kathimerini on September 22. The volunteer teacher was snatched from his home in northwestern Pakistan on September 14, "selflessly serving the people of Kalash" the Pakistani News International had reported on September 15 2009. Taliban representatives detaining Lerounis said that the volunteer was "safe and sound", Kathimerini reported. "I am living with a group of Taliban. They are very hospitable and do their best for my well-being and security," one extract reads from Lerounis' diary released by the Taliban. Lerounis had been working as a volunteer teacher for a humanitarian organisation in Pakistan since 1995. His abduction, however, has caused a shock wave of discontent both in Pakistan and in Greece, home to a large Pakistani community in Athens. Athen's mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis, has submitted to the Pakistani ambassador in Greece a letter of protest, demanding his immediate release and safe return. The Greek Teachers’ Association, of which Prof Athanasios was a member and which had done some pioneering work in Chitral for the welfare of the Kalash people, has also expressed deep concern over his kidnapping.
At reception organized for representatives of Serbian Diaspora attended also by Senator George Voinovich and Ohio National Guard Commander Gregory White, Tadic pointed out that ‘Serbia shall not lead a policy that would expose people to risks’ but ‘a policy that defends national and state interests in a rational and dignified manner’. ‘We want to join the EU with our identity and culture. I see no alternative to such policy’, Tadic added and asked the Diaspora in Ohio to deliver that message to all Serbs living in the US. ‘We are leading a policy of peace and we are defending Kosovo with diplomatic and political means. Today Serbia is a democratic country wanting to become the EU member. Serbia wants to be a strong partner of the USA. We have to solve some problems, but I am positive that we shall be real allies in the end’, Tadic pointed out. He thanked Senator Voinovich who was a very important person for both Serbia and the USA. ‘I am very glad that we met. Senator Voinovich has been always available for us and he supported our country in many fields’, Serbia President Boris Tadic said.
The European Commission is preparing a report for October, which will determine the European future of Kosovo, Pristina daily Koha Ditore says Tuesday. In Brussels, due to the opposition of Kosovo's independence by some EU members, it is speculated that the document will bring nothing radically new. There is a situation, even weirder than in the time of UNMIK. Some EU states, which are against the independence of Kosovo, especially Cyprus and Spain, have become even more aggressive in insisting that Kosovo should not be treated as a state, an unnamed EU diplomat told the newspaper. He stated that "it is incredible how Cyprus and Spain insist about it in every sentence, each comma and full-stop and do not forget to add in line with the resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council whenever Kosovo is mentioned." On debates about Kosovo, Cyprus and Spain support the EU policy of long-term stabilisation of the Balkans and regional development, without letting some concrete steps to be made in relation to or with Kosovo, add the daily. Diplomats said the first test for them would occur in October, when the European Commission is to reveal its feasibility study.
Sometimes there are no fireworks. Turning points can pass in silence, almost unobserved. It may be that way with the "Great Schism," the most serious division in the history of the Church. The end of the schism may come more quickly and more unexpectedly than most imagine. On Sept. 18, inside Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer palace about 30 miles outside Rome, a Russian Orthodox Archbishop named Hilarion Alfeyev, 43 (a scholar, theologian, expert on the liturgy, composer and lover of music), met with Benedict XVI, 82 (also a scholar, theologian, expert on the liturgy and lover of music), for almost two hours, according to informed sources. (There are as yet no "official" sources about this meeting -- the Holy See has still not released an official communiqué about the meeting.) The silence suggests that what transpired was important -- perhaps so important that the Holy See thinks it isn't yet prudent to reveal publicly what was discussed. A report from Interfax, the news service of the Moscow Patriarchate, on Sept. 18 revealed that Archbishop Hilarion spoke to the Pope about "cooperation between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in the area of moral values and of culture" -- in particular during the "Days of Russian Spiritual Culture," a type of exhibit with lectures scheduled for spring 2010 in Rome. "Orthodox divine services are a priceless treasure that we must carefully guard," Hilarion has written. "I have had the opportunity to be present at both Protestant and Catholic services, which were, with rare exceptions, quite disappointing… Since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, services in some Catholic churches have become little different from Protestant ones." Again, these words of Hilarion seem to echo Benedict XVI's own concerns. The Pope has made it clear that he wishes to reform the Catholic Church's liturgy, and preserve what was contained in the old liturgy and now risks being lost. Hilarion has cited the Orthodox St. John of Kronstadt approvingly. St. John of Kronstadt wrote: "The Church and its divine services are an embodiment and realization of everything in Christianity... It is the divine wisdom, accessible to simple, loving hearts." These words echo words written by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, who often said that the liturgy is a "school" for the simple Christian, imparting the deep truths of the faith even to the unlearned through its prayers, gestures and hymns.