Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) appear to be close to a solution to their name dispute that would involve the neighboring country using the name of the longest river that runs through it as a geographical determinant, sources have told Sunday’s Kathimerini. It appears that the two countries are set to agree on the name of the Vardar River being used to differentiate the Republic of Macedonia from the region in northern Greece by the same name. Greece has insisted throughout the lengthy negotiations that Skopje accept the use of a geographical determinant. It is not clear at this stage if this would mean FYROM being called Republic of Vardar Macedonia or Republic of Macedonia (Vardar). Risto Nikovski, an adviser to FYROM President Gjorge Ivanov, suggested last year that Republic of Macedonia (Vardar) would be a suitable compromise and would not involve Skopje having to rewrite the country’s constitution. Western diplomatic sources told Sunday’s Kathimerini that there has been a discernible progress in negotiations since Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou decided to hold face-to-face discussions with his FYROM counterpart Nikola Gruevski, rather than let the talks continue at a lower diplomatic level. The United Nations’ special mediator Matthew Nimetz has not had one-on-one talks with either side since February but his office insists that he is still committed to finding a solution. “Ambassador Nimetz is in very frequent contact with both parties but he will not be responding to specific questions on substantive discussions,” UN Deputy Spokesman Ari Gaitanis said in a written statement last week. It is not known when the next talks between Nimetz, Athens and Skopje might take place.
II. EXAMINER - "Reverse Flotilla" idea gaining traction
Israeli college students are leading the effort in Israel to send a fleet with humanitarian aid to both Turkey and Cyprus to "remind the world of Turkish hypocrisy." The most ambitious plan has been devised by members of Israel's National Student Union, who this week announced their intention to set sail toward Turkey, in an effort to bring humanitarian aid to the "oppressed people of Turkish Kurdistan" and to members of the "Turkish Armenian minority." The Ottoman Turks have a long history of butchering the Armenians, culminating in the Armenian Genocide of the early 1900's. 1,500,000 Christian Armenians (both Catholic and Orthodox) were slaughtered. The overwhelmingly Moslem Kurds have been in open rebellion against an oppressive Ottoman Turk government for almost 100 years. Tens of thousands of Kurds have been killed by the Turks. In 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus and established a puppet government officially known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The TRNC is recognized by only one nation on earth - Turkey.
III. B92 - PACE report on Kosovo is negative
A new report from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on Kosovo is negative, according to media reports. The document was filed by Chairman of the PACE Political Affairs Committee Bjorn von Sydow, who stressed that the situation in the province was “very bad concerning the rule of law”. According to reports, the former Swedish defense minister also stated that there were “problems such as the position of minority populations, violation of human rights, independence of the judiciary, corruption, human trafficking, discrimination, and other”. In his report, which will soon be presented to PACE and based on which a resolution should be adopted, Sydow primarily mentions Kosovo standards rather than Kosovo status, stressing the COE's neutrality regarding the latter and its observance of the Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, says Tanjug. “That is the main point of my report,” Sydow was quoted as saying. “After Kosovo's declaration of independence, I requested that the CoE and PACE should find a common legal denominator, and its motto is: standards not status. That is why I specifically focused on standards, and left aside the issue of status, which is to be assessed by others.” Sydow said that, in his report, he pointed to the areas which should be reformed in order to enable all people in Kosovo to live by European standards.
Several countries - including Russia - are reviewing their co-operation with Iran in light of the looming UN sanctions. Russia signed a deal in 2007 to supply Iran with the advanced, long-range air defence system, the S-300, but so far nothing's been delivered. The agreement's believed to be worth around $1 billion. Officials had hinted that the S-300 is not subject to the new sanctions because it's a purely defensive weapon. Now, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says any future course of action is President Medvedev’s call. “We should take into account that the resolution includes a whole set of measures, which cover different aspects of relations with Iran and other countries and they are all inter-connected. According to our practice, a UN Security Council's resolution must first be realised through a decree of the Russian president before it is implemented, as will be done in this case. The resolution will define which particular arms are to be banned from being supplied to Iran according to the resolution,” Lavrov said. Russia also says the new restrictions will not affect construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant – which is expected to power up in August. But analysts such as Ruslan Pukhov from the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies believe Russia's paying the price for its reinvigorated friendship with the US. “We are supposed to return the advance payment and we will be sanctioned by Iran," Pukhov told RT. "Our direct financial losses will be $1 billion right now; and in long term we face another $2-billion-worth of unsigned contracts. So the friendship with the U.S. and President Obama will cost us a lot”.
V. NYT - Iraq Parliament Opens, Then Recesses
Three months after landmark elections, Iraq’s new Parliament convened Monday in a move that lawmakers hailed as a step forward in forming a new government, even as they acknowledged the degree of difficulties still ahead. The session, recessed after 18 minutes, was fittingly short, an illustration of how far apart Iraq’s politicians remain after a bitter post-election contest over ratifying the results and tentative but entirely inconclusive talks to form a coalition government that will preside over the country as the United States withdraws almost 90,000 troops. Iraq’s politics are prone to deadlock and brinkmanship; this round is no different. In the March 7 election, a largely secular and Sunni Muslim list led by Ayad Allawi, a former interim prime minister, won a narrow victory over the list led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the country’s most powerful Shiite Muslim politician. Given the deadlock, the brevity of the session was expected. It was recessed until an unspecified date, possibly when a broader agreement on a coalition is reached. The most optimistic prediction for a deal was a week; the more pessimistic said months. After the session, lawmakers defended the pace of the negotiations and insisted that the symbolism of Parliament finally convening would hasten the talks.
VI. BLOOMBERG - U.S. Finds $1 Trillion of Resources in Afghanistan
The United States government found almost $1 trillion of mineral deposits, including iron ore, copper and lithium, in Afghanistan, the New York Times said, citing Pentagon documents and General David Petraeus. The Pentagon business development task force brought in American mining experts to validate findings from a survey, according to the report. The survey found deposits of niobium, rare earths, and gold, and the lithium deposits may be as big as those in Bolivia, which has the world’s largest known reserves, the newspaper said, citing unidentified Pentagon officials. The deposits are scattered throughout the country, including the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan, where intense fighting had taken place with the Taliban, and may take many years to develop, the paper said.
VII. RIANOVOSTI - Russian church says no patriarch, pope talks without Ukraine deal
The heads of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches will meet only after there is agreement on the inter-confessional situation in western Ukraine, a senior Russian Orthodox cleric said on Wednesday. "It is too early to speak about such a meeting. There are certain problems, stemming from the recent past. First of all, the inter-religious situation in western Ukraine," Metropolitan Hilarion said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Ministry officials. Ties between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Vatican have long been strained over accusations the Catholic Church has sought to spread its influence and convert believers in traditionally Orthodox former Soviet states. Tensions between Catholic and Russian Orthodox believers in western Ukraine are also quite acute. Hopes for a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia have recently grown, but the Russian Orthodox Church's head of external church relations said although a meeting may be possible in the future, it was still difficult to discuss details. "We are interested in a result. When the parties are ready to come to a conclusion that would mean a significant breakthrough in our relations, then as soon as such an understanding is reached, such a meeting will be held," Hilarion said. As a result of the Great Schism of 1054, Christianity split into the eastern and western branches. They have a number of theological and political differences and the heads of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church have never met.