Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said it was too early to predict his political future, despite swirling speculation he intends to return to the Kremlin in 2012 presidential polls. "We need to wait for 2012, now we are only in 2010... Let's get closer to 2012 and then we will see," Putin said. Putin served as Russian president from 2000-2008 and was credited with restoring the country's self confidence after the chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union. He handed over the Kremlin to Dmitry Medvedev in May 2008 after serving the maximum two terms and the new president immediately appointed his predecessor prime minister. Most analysts believe Putin still wields the real power. Putin is allowed to stand for another term as president in 2012 but has never excluded or confirmed this possibility. He said "we are of course already thinking about this issue with President Medvedev" but added it would be wrong to come to any agreement without fulfilling their duties in their current posts. Putin hinted that the final outcome in 2012 would depend on their performance in their respective jobs. "How we act in 2012 depends on the results of this." "There is nothing secret here. Everything is well known to everyone," said Putin. Putin lavished praised on Medvedev, who served as head of Putin's presidential administration, describing him as "one of the co-authors of our domestic and foreign policy". He also gave a rare insight into the process of decision-making between Russia's top two, describing how they speak by telephone to agree a coordinated position. "When we feel that an imbalance is possible, we meet, discuss it, adopt a unified agreed decision and carry it out. "There are times when he (Medvedev) simply calls up and says 'you know, I need to talk, there's this problem and I would like to hear your opinion'." "This is a normal, natural process," Putin said. Analysts have said there are several possible options for 2012, including the status quo being continued, Putin becoming president and Medvedev taking a powerful post like prime minister, or even a third figure becoming involved. Putin indicated he had not contemplated quitting politics in 2012, saying that while academic research in politics, law and economics was attractive he had "not thought concretely" about such a move.
II. YESHIVANEWS - Professors Want Action Against Turkey
As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues playing the world’s champion of human rights, four professors from Bar Ilan and Georgetown Universities have sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu seeking official Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide and an official call to Turkey to bring an end to its occupation of Cyprus. Signing the letter are Professors Yossi Katz, David Tzuriel, and Yaakov Katz, all from Bar Ilan and Dr. Ofir Yisraeli from Georgetown. In the letter, they decry Turkey’s “hypocrisy”, pointing out that despite the many agreements signed between Israel and Turkey, the latter is rapidly become an adversary of Israel. The academics feel that over the years, Israel has refrained from addressing the slaughter of Armenians during World War I and immediately thereafter, opting to place strategic ties with Turkey over doing the correct thing, but now, Israel can indeed adopt a morally commendable position towards compelling Turkey to accept responsibility for its actions. They area also calling to demand that Turkey make painful concessions regarding its ongoing occupation, including autonomy for the Kurds located in southeastern Turkey. The professors urge the prime minister to adopt their position, implementing the new rules of play as Turkey has done. They point out that such a step is critical towards revealing Turkey’s hypocrisy to the world following the Gaza flotilla incident and Turkey’s self-portrayal as a champion of peace and justice.
III. WASHPOST - UN Security Council approves Iran sanctions on 12-2 vote, Turkey, Brazil vote against
A divided U.N. Security Council on Wednesday imposed a fourth round of financial and commercial sanctions on Iran's military establishment, bringing to a close more than six months of diplomatic efforts by the Obama administration to penalize Tehran for building a covert nuclear facility and accelerating its enrichment of uranium. The 15-member council adopted its fourth sanctions resolution on Iran in four years by a vote of 12-2. Brazil and Turkey voted against the resolution, citing concerns that the council had not exhausted diplomatic efforts to resolve its standoff with Iran. Lebanon abstained. The Obama administration succeeded in securing support for sanctions from the council's major powers, including China and Russia, by ensuring that the measure would not impair their ability to trade with Iran. The 10-page resolution would modestly reinforce a range of economic, high-technology and military sanctions against Iran and target the head of the of Iranian atomic energy agency, Javad Rahiqi, and 40 entities linked to the nation's military elite, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with a travel ban and an asset freeze. Iran has repeatedly rebuffed calls to halt its uranium-enrichment program; Iranian leaders say their efforts are entirely peaceful, but the United States and others say Iran is set on building a bomb.
IV. LATIMES - Iranian troops building fort in Iraq
Iranian troops pursuing Kurdish guerrillas in the remote mountains of northern Iraq have begun constructing a small fort on Iraqi territory, suggesting they plan on staying for a while, Kurdish officials said Tuesday. A small Iranian force crossed into the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq on Thursday after a bomb attack that killed several Iranian soldiers. The assault was carried out by the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, an Iranian Kurdish militant movement based in northern Iraq that is known by its Kurdish acronym, PEJAK. About 35 Iranians remained behind, in an area near the Perdunaz border crossing, and have since been observed building a fortified structure high on a mountain, said the Kurdish regional government's defense spokesman, Jaber Yawer. From a nearby Kurdish observation post, two bulldozers, alongside a small tank, can be seen digging fortifications. Iran also retaliated with artillery strikes, which last week killed a 14-year-old girl. There was renewed shelling of the area Tuesday, but most civilians have fled the area and no one was killed, Yawer said. Though Iraq's Foreign Ministry has protested the attacks on civilians to the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, there has been no outcry similar to the one that greeted Iranian troops' brief occupation last year of an oil well in southern Iraq. In part, that may be because Iraq's politicians are distracted by the drawn-out process of forming a new government after March's inconclusive election. The inaccessible wilderness of Iraq's northern border area has long been a hide-out for Kurdish fighters seeking autonomy for Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iran, drawing periodic incursions by the forces of both countries.
V. B92 - Serbia won't be blackmailed
Serbian President Boris Tadić stated on Tuesday that Serbia will not tolerate any kind of blackmail regarding its EU accession. “No one in the EU can ask Serbia to relinquish its territorial integrity and sovereignty in Kosovo-Metohija in exchange for EU accession,” Tadić said in Banja Luka, RS [Republika Srpska]. He was attending a session of the Council for Cooperation, founded in accordance with the Special Parallel Relations Agreement between Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity, RS. “It is not in Serbia's best interest to block cooperation in the region,” Tadić was also quoted as saying. “Serbia will support everything that improves regional cooperation and life in the region, but it will neither explicitly nor implicitly recognize Kosovo's independence,” he was quoted as saying. Speaking of the region's European perspectives, the Serbian president pointed out that there was “no alternative to EU accession” and added that Serbia would continue to encourage such policy in all neighboring countries.
VI. REUTERS - North Korea denies sinking South ship in letter to UN, says victim of US-led conspiracy
North Korea has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council rejecting accusations from South Korea that it was behind the sinking of one of its neighbor's navy ships, saying it was the victim of a U.S.-led conspiracy. The letter, addressed to the U.N. Security Council president from the North's permanent representative to the body, followed the filing of a complaint by the South last week demanding action by the international community to deter further aggression. A team of international investigators led by South Korea's military said in May that a North Korean submarine torpedoed the corvette Cheonan on March 26, snapping the vessel in half in a blast and killing 46 sailors. North Korea, through its official media, has already rejected the charge, saying it was a ploy by the South's President Lee Myung-bak aimed at political gains for his conservative government. "With time it is becoming clearer through military and scientific analysis that the 'investigation findings' by the U.S. and the South, which had been from their announcement subject to doubts and criticism, is nothing more than a conspiracy aimed at achieving U.S. political and military goals," said the letter, signed by the North's permanent representative to the U.N. Sin Son-ho and carried by the official KCNA news agency. "If the Security Council goes ahead with discussions on the 'investigation findings' ... no one will be able to guarantee there won't be grave consequences to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula." North Korea has driven tensions to new heights in recent weeks by threatening war if Seoul imposes sanctions. The mounting antagonism between the two Koreas has unnerved investors, worried about armed conflict breaking out in the region. The United States, the South's biggest ally, said Seoul may not seek a full Security Council resolution because of rising tensions after the sinking of the Cheonan. Seoul said it would hold discussions with its allies to ensure action was taken. Western diplomats say China, North Korea only real ally, will not tolerate new sanctions, while Seoul appears determined to have the council at least agree on some form of rebuke.
VII. JTO - Celebrating 110 Years of Korean Orthodoxy
On 29-30 May 2010 celebrations dedicated to 110 anniversary of Orthodoxy in Korea were held in Seoul. The festivities were organized by the Korean metropolia of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate. With the blessing of His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, a delegation from Russian Orthodox Church headed by the Archbishop Veniamin of Vladivostok and Primorye [Coastland] came to participate in the festivities. The delegation also included Hierodeacon Juvenaly (Lapshin) a cleric of Vladivostok Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, D.I. Petrovsky from the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. On May 28, 2009 Archbishop Venimin was met at Incheon Airport by Metropolitan Ambrose of Korea; Igumen Feofan (Kim), a cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church who is serving his pastoral ministry in South Korea; M.G. Volkov, a Counsellor of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Korea, and by DI Petrovsky who arrived in Seoul earlier. May 29, 2009 Russian Orthodox Church delegation participated in a conference dedicated to the Orthodox understanding of death. The conference was organized by the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate’s Korean Metropolia as part of a program of commemorative events. During the conversation, which took place in a warm atmosphere, a wide range of issues relating to the history and present situation of Orthodoxy in Korea was discussed, as was the development of bilateral relations between Russia and the Republic of Korea. In the evening in Seoul’s St. Nicholas Church, Bishop Veniamin led a service in which the hierarchs of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate participated: Archbishop Gregory of Thyatira and Great Britain, Metropolitan Sotirios of Pisidia, Metropolitan Amvrosky of Korea, clergy of the Korean Metropolia, celebration guests and parishioners of St. Nicholas Parish. On May 30, 2010, the Sunday of All Saints week, the archpastors together served Matins and Divine Liturgy in St. Nicholas temple. The service was led by Gregory, Archbishop of Thyatira and Great Britain, representing Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the celebration of 110 years of Orthodoxy in Korea. Concelebrating with him, representing His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, were Archbishop Veniamin of Vladivostok and Primorye — and hierarchs of the Constantinopolitan Church by: Metropolitan Sotirios of Pisidia; Metropolitan Amfilohije of New Zealand, the Metropolitan Ambrose of Korea, as well as clerics of the Korean mitrpopolia and guests in the holy orders. The service was conducted in Korean, English, Church Slavonic and Greek. Following the Divine Liturgy, Archbishop Gregory delivered the welcome address of His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and Archbishop Veniamin – a message from Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokalamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. On the same day Archbishop Veniamin of Vladivostok and members of the delegation of the Moscow Patriarch, met with the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Korea, K.V. Vnukov at his residence. In his response, the Metropolitan Ambrose noted the importance of the events being celebrated — In 1900 Archimandrite Chrysanth (Schetkovsky) served the first Divine Liturgy on Korean soil, thus starting the spread of Orthodoxy. Metropolitan Ambrose emphasized the Russian missionaries’ special contribution in spreading the Orthodox faith on the Korean peninsula; thereafter their labors were continued by priests from Greece, America, Japan and New Zealand. Metropolitan Ambrose asked Archbishop Veniamin to convey to the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church that the memory of the Russian founders of Korean Orthodoxy is remembered in Korea, that prayers are elevated for them at every service in all South Korean temples. Then all Orthodox hierarchs together served a memorial service for all who labored in preaching Orthodoxy in Korea. Praying at the service were the P. Avierinos, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Greek Republic in the Republic of Korea; M. Volkov, Counsellor of the Embassy of Russia in Korea, numerous parishioners who gathered in Seoul from various cities in South Korea; celebration guests and Orthodox Christians from various countries. After the service, a concert was organized by the parishes of the Korean metropolia. Of great interest to the audience was a performance by hierodeacon Yuvenaly (Lapshin), winner of numerous international singing competitions, who sang a number of Russian church music composition. In the evening a reception in honor of the guests was given at Korea House by the Korean Metropolia; after this followed performances of traditional Korean music and dance. On May 31, 2010 the Russian Orthodox Church delegation departed from Seoul. Archbishop Veniamin of Vladivostok and Primorye was accompanied at Incheon Airport by Protopresbyter Daniel On, by Mikhail Volkov, Counselor of the Embassy of Russia , by Igumen Feofan (Kim) and D.I. Petrovsky from the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate.