A report on former detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should prompt the Obama administration to change its mind about closing the facility, a lawmaker says. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., told The Washington Post the recidivism report issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence calls for a reordering of priorities. "Unfortunately, these latest numbers make clear that fulfilling a campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay is overriding what should be the administration's first priority: protecting Americans from terrorists," Bond said. The report released Tuesday said two former detainees repatriated or resettled by the Obama administration have returned to the battlefield and three others are suspected of doing so. They are among 66 detainees transferred out since January 2009. Of the 532 detainees released by the Bush administration, 79 are confirmed as having returned to the fight and 66 others are suspected of re-engaging, the report said. "It is unacceptable to continue transferring these dangerous detainees," Bond said.
A top Palestinian Authority official on Wednesday questioned Washington's ability to forge Middle East peace after a new breakdown in American attempts to revive negotiations. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians were assessing their options before responding to the American announcement. While accusing the Israelis of being intransigent, he also voiced disappointment with the Americans. The comments came after the US announced on Tuesday that it had abandoned efforts to persuade Israel to renew a settlement building moratorium as part of efforts to revive peace talks. "We will assess if the US would be able ... to achieve success in its upcoming efforts," Abed Rabbo told the Voice of Palestine radio station. Also Tuesday, PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaina was quoted by Qatari news agency QNA as saying that Abbas had received a letter from the United States during a visit to Athens. Though details of the letter were not released, the spokesperson said a Palestinian response would not be sent before a consultative meeting is held with the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League. Abbas is expected in Cairo on Thursday for consultations with Arab leaders. Among the Palestinians' options are finding a new formula for peace talks or taking unilateral action, such as rallying international recognition for a Palestinian state in the absence of a peace deal. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said a next step would be to ask the United States to recognize a Palestinian state. Erekat suggested that such a nod from the Americans, which would represent a sharp deviation from current US policy, would be crucial for resuming negotiations.
Uruguay's Foreign Minister Luis Almagro stated in Belgrade that it is absolutely impossible to recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo the way it was formulated by the Pristina authorities, and added that Uruguay respects Serbia's attempts to strengthen and promote democracy. We appreciate Serbia's efforts to strengthen and promote democracy, respect human rights and international laws.This will help both Serbia and Uruguay to strenghen their position at the international level, Almagro said at the Days of Latin America conference in Belgrade. Brazilian Ambassador to Serbia Dante Coelho De Lima stated at the conference that Brazil's political relations formerly with Yugoslavia and now with Serbia, bilateral ones as well as within the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement and other international organizations, have always been at a high level. The disintegration of Yugoslavia did not change the friendly political relations with Serbia.
IV. RIANOVOSTI - S.Ossetia to discuss Georgia's peace initiative in Geneva
Tskhinvali plans to discuss Tbilisi's non-use of force commitment and bring up the issue of refugees and international observers during talks on December 16 in Geneva, South Ossetia presidential envoy Boris Chochiev said on Wednesday. "We hope for progress during the forthcoming round of talks," Chochiev said in a statement. The Geneva discussions on security in the South Caucasus are backed by the UN, the EU and the OSCE and involve Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They were first held in October 2008, following a five-day war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia in August. Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili voiced his peace initiative in a speech to the European Parliament in late November, saying that Tbilisi would "never use force to restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty and will only use peaceful means to ensure the withdrawal of the occupation forces and its reunification." However, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed doubts over the statement saying that any "solemn promises" made by the Georgian leadership could only be taken seriously after they are put on paper and come into legal force. South Ossetian authorities said some 1,500 people became victims of the August conflict with Georgia. A total of 162 citizens of the republic were confirmed as dead and 67 Russian servicemen were killed. Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia two weeks after the August 2008 war. The decision was slammed by Western powers. So far, only Venezuela, Nicaragua and the tiny island nation of Nauru have recognized the two former Georgian republics' independence.
Russia said it would urge the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to reconsider a newly disclosed plan to defend three Baltic member nations against military attack, saying the alliance is no longer justified in viewing Russia as a would-be aggressor. Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's envoy to NATO, told Russian news agencies Tuesday that he would raise the issue during Wednesday's meeting in Brussels of the NATO-Russia Council, a panel set up in 2002 to improve ties between the former Cold War rivals. He said that despite official denials by NATO, the plan was clearly aimed at his country. Mr. Rogozin noted that since January, NATO's relationship with Russia had improved. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attended the alliance's summit last month in Lisbon, Portugal. At the summit, NATO issued an official doctrine emphasizing the goal of NATO-Russia cooperation in "a common space of peace, stability and security." "I think our partners have the chance to reconsider the previous decisions, which were publicized in such a specific form, and can not but cause a serious public reaction in my country," Mr. Rogozin told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. He said he would ask NATO to change the defense plan in light of subsequent declarations that "NATO does not see Russia as its enemy, but on the contrary is seeking to create partnership relations." NATO's obligation is to defend all its member states.
VI. THESPEC - Ancient coins offer researchers a look at the past
More than 2,000 years and an ocean away from where they were minted, ancient coins are providing researchers at McMaster University with new insights into old societies. An interdisciplinary team of experts in ancient civilizations and in physics is studying 20 coins from the university’s art museum, using tools that include the campus nuclear reactor. They are harvesting information that could generate new understanding about life in ancient Greece and Rome, including trade routes and the changing fortunes of societies dating back as far as the fifth century BC and up to the fall of the Roman empire. The composition of coins can offer a bonanza of information, explained Spencer Pope, a classical archeologist at the university and honorary curator of the McMaster Museum of Art’s coin collection. Each of the ancient coins, part of the museum’s Bruce Brace Collection, is an inspiring artifact packed with information, Pope said. “There’s no more immediate connection to antiquity than having that in your hand, knowing that this was struck by a mint in Athens or Syracuse, it was touched by the ancient Greeks, held in somebody’s pouch, sent to the market, exchanged for some goods and eventually it has made its way to us,” he said. “It’s really exhilarating to have that immediate connection.” The results of the coin tests could offer a range of lessons about the ancient world, Pope said. The fingerprint of the silver in the Greek coins, for example, could show specifically where the metal was mined at different points over time, revealing who was trading what with whom. Some of the coins under study were minted in Greek Sicily, an area without natural silver deposits, so Greek cities of the fifth century BC would have to have secured their bullion from elsewhere, either by buying ore or by melting down other coins to make their own. The analysis could show the metal came from Athens or the Black Sea, which would suggest a sophisticated trade of crops for silver. The team has applied for funding to extend the project. The data being gathered today have yet to be analyzed, and Pope said the museum plans to mount an exhibition of the coins in about four years which would discuss the results.
Together with my good friend and brother in faith, His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, I was privileged to join 28 Orthodox and Catholics on an ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome, Athens and Constantinople (Istanbul), Nov.21-Dec. 2. Why a pilgrimage? Church reunion cannot simply be imposed from the top, a “trickle down” process from patriarchs, popes and theologians to laymen and women, parishioners in the pews. The grassroots Christians of Orthodoxy and Catholicism need to meet and get to know each other and each other’s churches and traditions. We need to pray together, to work together, and to like and love each other. That’s why 28 of us made “A Journey of Faith: East and West.” Other clergy pilgrims included Metropolitan Nikitas, based at The Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley; Father John Bakas, pastor of St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles; as well as Bishop Tod Brown of Orange; Auxiliary Bishop William Justice of San Francisco; and Msgr. John Talesfore, rector of St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in San Francisco. The other 21 participants were laywomen and men, about evenly divided between Orthodox and Catholics. At the present time Orthodox Christians throughout the world number about 300 million, Catholics about 1.1 billion. For the first 1,000 years of Christian history the churches of the East and the West were united in faith and worship. They recognized and prayed for one another, and met in Council, especially to preserve unity in the teaching of the faith. Over time, differences in language, faith expression and culture, as well as the difficulties of effective communication, led to misunderstandings and to a definitive break or schism in 1054 A.D. Periodic efforts at reunion failed, in no small part because of historical misdeeds such as the Fourth Crusade, in 1204. After 900 years of silence, distrust and misunderstanding, Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope John XXIII began a mutual fraternal outreach that has widened and developed during the last fifty years. During that time the Ecumenical Patriarchs in Constantinople and the Popes in Rome have met with each other and have withdrawn historic official declarations against each other. For years now there have been regular international meetings of Orthodox and Catholic representatives, and here in the United States the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation continues to meet to discuss steps toward a reunited Church in full communion (this Consultation’s most recent meeting issued a joint communiqué on Oct. 2 of this year.) The emphasis along this path toward reunion is necessarily on what we Orthodox and Catholics have in common, while acknowledging and working through the real differences and stumbling blocks. What we share gives us joy and hope: the common Creed of the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.), the teaching of the Apostles and the ordained ministry passed down from them, the inspired Word of God in Scripture, the seven sacraments (most centrally, the Eucharist), a shared moral teaching, as well as an understanding of faith and an appreciation of Christian spirituality rooted in the Fathers of the Church, East and West, including St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, St. Leo the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Basil.