The Iranian government said it will permanently suspend Google Inc's email service in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Wednesday. The report comes as Iran braces for new opposition protests on Thursday during rallies marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Protesters made use of modern networking tools such as Twitter and Gmail instant messaging last June after a disputed election plunged Iran into crisis. Iran's telecommunications agency announced the suspension and said a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry lashed out at the European Parliament, blasting it for being in favour of Greece and Cyprus. The European Parliament's role should not be that of the spokesman of the Greek-Cypriot side, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry, after the European Parliament released its report. The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued an announcement reading that although the report numbered Turkey's obligations, it made no reference to the EU's pledges towards Turkey. The announcement also said that the European Parliament's reports sidestepped the constant talks and the creative efforts made by the Turkish-Cypriot side for a solution to the Cyprus row. It also said that such an approach has caused grave disappointment, as the European Parliament's role is not to represent the Greek-Cypriots and adopt all their groundless claims. The Turkish Foreign Ministry's report concluded arguing that Turkey, despite the negative stance of certain cycles and despite the obstacles, will continue defending its rights and will continue going after to meet its target and join the EU.
III. GUILFORDIAN - New attempts at peace talks in Cyprus
The president of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have renewed peace talks aimed at reunifying the island of Cyprus, which has been divided for 34 years. "We have to encourage both leaders, President Christofias, and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat, to take advantage of the next days and weeks to come, and try to intensify also their talks, but I would also like to stress the fact that maybe time is not always your friend, but the quality of the solution, the settlement for Cyprus, should not be some sort of a victim of any kind of time frameworks," said Greek Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Droutsas to Financialmirror.com. In recent weeks, the United Nations has stepped up efforts to rejuvenate the unification process of Cyprus and peace talks between the two leaders. The U.N. has long pursued what it calls a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation in the Mediterranean island. "Reaching a mutually acceptable conclusion will require courage, flexibility and vision as well as a spirit of compromise," said Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary-general, to Al-Jazeera while visiting the island last week. Aside from territorial sovereignty, the issues discussed by both Christofias and Talat include joint governance of the island, resolution of the property claims by thousands of displaced people who became uprooted in past conflict, and the future of tens of thousands of Turkish troops stationed in northern Cyprus. "I cannot say that I am in a position of expressing too much optimism with the present stage of the negotiations," the minister said in a statement to Reuters. Droutsas firmly rejected Talat's stance regarding joint governance of Cyprus. "What we have seen in the latest proposals by Mr. Talat is again the idea, and also the rhetoric, of the past, talking about two independent states forming some sort of confederation," Droutsas added in his statement. The fate of the island is a major source of tension for Turkey in particular, which relies on a unification resolution to overcome its biggest hurdle in joining the European Union. While Talat stated on Friday that he saw progress toward reaching a peace deal with Greek Cypriots and that, "We made quite good progress on very thorny issues," he remained silent on what specific achievements were made. Meanwhile, Greece's deputy foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas called the latest talks "a step back" and said he was not optimistic.
The UN secretary general's mediator on the FYROM name issue, Matthew Nimetz, will visit Greece in the last week of February, foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras announced in Athens on Thursday. Delavekouras underlined Greece's desire for proceeding to a solution of the name issue, a condition of which is FYROM's refraining from aggressive moves, and the neighboring country's "creative participation" in the dialogue with Greece. A solution is feasible, he said, but it is a matter of Skopje's political volition, and added that a solution will "unblock" FYROM's Euro-Atlantic prospect.
V. B92 - Tadić meets with NATO commander
President Boris Tadić met with NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe Admiral James Stavridis on Thursday. They discussed Serbia's activities within the Partnership for Peace program and cooperation with KFOR in preserving peace and security in Kosovo. A statement after the meeting said that "Tadić feels that the Kosovo Serbs are still the most endangered people in the entire Europe, which is why KFOR has to continue protecting them, their monasteries and churches, regardless of the decision to reduce the number of its soldiers in the province". Tadić stated that the so-called northern Kosovo reintegration plan is a threat to stability throughout the region, the president's press service announced. The meeting in Belgrade was also attended by Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac and VS CoGS Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletić.
At least 20 militants were killed by federal law enforcers in the southern Russia's republic of Ingushetia. The operation began on Thursday at 4 a.m. in the Sunzha district, Ingushetia, on the Ingush border with Chechnya. It was stopped in the evening because of darkness, but resumed on Friday morning. A group of 20 to 25 militants have been cornered by law enforcement officers. On Friday afternoon a Federal Security Service official said that 20 enemy fighters were killed in the operation. The search for more dead and possible survivors continued. Federal forces suffered no casualties. Before the operation started, the militants were advised to surrender several times, but they answered with gunfire, the Interfax news agency quoted a police source as saying. Ramzan Kadyrov, President of the Chechen republic, recalled that last summer in this area Chechen and Ingush police carried out a series of successful operations, killing tens of militants and their leaders. “This nest of wasps was stirred last year. Now we need to get rid of it completely,” added Kadyrov.
VII. PRAVMIR - When we are no longer ethnic
What will happen to our churches when a majority of the membership does not have an ethnic lineage similar to the ethnic jurisdiction to which the church belongs? I was at a Greek festival yesterday. It was a church to which I had never been, but desired to support it. I am not Greek, but I love all things "ethnic." In reading the program for the festival, it was noted that the ethnic makeup of the parish was 40% Greek, and 60% non-Greek. This made me think about future years. This church has been growing mostly through converts. These converts most likely do not convert because the church was Greek, but because the faith was Orthodoxy. What will happen though if or when this parish becomes Greek in name only? What will happen to the Greek festival when the church has only a token number of Greeks, who may be too old to teach the children the dances, or play in the Greek band? I was reminded of my though when I came across an article on the internet about this same Greek/non-Greek split in a Greek church in Mississippi. The parish council president said "We have more converts than Greeks." The priest of this church is a new priest and a convert. When will these churches, who are attracting converts and currently have more converts than Greeks, lose their Greek heritage or traditions? This phenomenon in the Orthodox Church in the USA and other non-traditionally Orthodox countries, may not be new, but it is certainly a issue that will become far more wide spread. As the Orthodox Church gains recognition within the USA, it is inevitable that many churches outside of major metropolitan areas will trend towards fewer first, second or third generation immigrants. The first-wave of Americans that will enter these churches will certainly be indoctrinated in the ways of the ethnic traditions and festivals. But what will happen in two or three generations of Americans? Will these churches be able to maintain traditions when there is not an explicit cultural connection to the tradition? There is already precedent for this "loss" in the churches in America. How? Language. Now, don't get me wrong, I think it is imperative that the language of the Church is the language of the people. But how many churches started in America with services completely in Greek, Arabic, or Russian? How many still exist? Why this change? Because the Bishops and the priests saw that people who had never spoken Greek or Russian or Arabic were entering the church, and they too needed to be served by the church by teaching about God in the language they understood. To me, this is the great beauty of the feast of Pentecost. Not only did Jesus save me through His death and resurrection, but He desired that all nations be baptized. Speaking the languages people understood was the first step. There are people in these proud ethnic churches that lament that their children do not know the language of their ancestors. That they do not care for the traditions they have held. This is the first sign. True, there will always be those that greatly love their heritage and will seek to instill at least some aspect of it in their children and neighbors. But will it be enough to keep the Greek festivals? In the two parishes of which I have been a member, both were under the jurisdiction of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese or North America. Essentially a church of Arabic ethnic heritage. In the first church, it was started by mostly converts, and I was gratefully a member at the founding of the church. There was only one or two "Arabic" families in this church when it was founded. They were overwhelmed by the number of convert families that founded the church. We also had as many Russians and Greeks as Arabs. We had a convert priest that artfully and enthusiastically included as many ethnic traditions as possible, even traditions from cultures that were not part of our church. This was and is a glorious thing! As converts we felt connection through the traditions to the ancient church. The wonderful traditions also had an effect of reinforcing the spiritual understanding that was the catalyst for the tradition. The second parish of which I became a member and am currently a member, has no ethnic members: 100% convert. There is a sadness for me that I do not get to learn about how people of other cultures approached Orthodoxy, just by participating in their traditions. There is a sadness that we do not celebrate St. Barbara's day with the traditional cookies. Or celebrate St. George Day. Or celebrate St. Nicholas day with a particular tradition. Our church does have its own traditions, but these traditions, as lovely as they are, are limited to our church (or to the nearby churches). What is great about the Greek or Arabic or Russian traditions, is that they span churches, nations, peoples, and languages. I hope that as a church in America, we never lose the various ethnic traditions, and never lose sight of the fact that they can be used to bring Orthodoxy to life. Maybe in typical American fashion, our churches, no matter what ethnicity or lack thereof, will investigate and encourage church traditions that we have been given as a gift. In addition, maybe in two or three generations, we will have a set of traditions that are typically American Orthodox, that will reflect our shared heritage.