I. GULFTIMES - Greek President: Greece, Armenia "butchered" by Turkey
Greece and Armenia were “butchered” by Turkey in their past, the Greek president told his Armenian counterpart yesterday as he bemoaned a costly arms race with Ankara that helped create Greece’s vast debts. “We were butchered by the same barbarian,” President Karolos Papoulias told his counterpart Serzh Sdargsyan who began a three-day visit. He added that “many things have changed” since the early 20th century when the killings of Armenians and Black Sea Greeks occurred, and criticised a decades-old arms buildup that has cost Athens billions of euros. “If we did not have the economic burden of arms balance we would not need the International Monetary Fund,” 81-year-old Papoulias said. “We give the most money in Nato for armament, this is unfair for a people that is peaceful,” he added. Athens nearly went bankrupt last year and had to be rescued by the European Union and the IMF when concerns over its massive budget deficits and a state debt of nearly 300bn euros ($400bn) dried up new loans. Greece says thousands of ethnic Greeks living on the southern shores of the Black Sea for centuries were massacred in Turkey during strife that accompanied the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Turkish state. Armenia charges that up to 1.5mn of its kin were victims of genocide during World War I under the Ottoman Empire. Ankara rejects the “genocide” charge, countering that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.
II. EMG - Kosovo needs a "clean hands" government
EP rapporteur for Kosovo Ulrike Lunacek pointed out in her report to the EP that technical improvements were noticeable at the December election in Kosovo, as well as repeat voting in January, but that there were also serious oversights. Lunacek supported the calls to create a "clean hands" government in Kosovo, which means it cannot include people who are under investigation for crime or corruption, reported Deutsche Welle. She believes that Dick Marty and his associates should turn over the evidence they have on Kosovo to EULEX. But all the persons named in his report should also cooperate to fully clear up the matter, she said. Ulrike Lunacek supports Serbia's EU integration, but believes it should recognize Kosovo. The EU will not admit a member country that does not recognize another country. This will not happen again after Cyprus, I am sure the EU has learnt that lesson, Lunacek said.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should answer allegations regarding his erotically-charged home parties but only a third of Italians think the so-called Ruby-gate scandal rocking the country will cost him politically, according to the first opinion poll released since Milan prosecutors notified the premier that he is under investigation. An overwhelming 79% of those polled said Berlusconi should allow himself to be questioned by the prosecutors, according to the poll by the reputable IPSOS agency. Berlusconi has said he wants to speak to "judges" but claims the investigating magistrates in Milan don't have jurisdiction over the case and are biased against him. Asked on a television talk show about reports that Berlusconi invited dozens of young ladies, including one legal minor nicknamed "Ruby," to soirees that ended in nudity, Justice Minister Angelino Alfano has also said that Berlusconi has been subject to judicial persecution for 17 years. Some 30% of Italians agree with that claim, which the prime minister makes regularly, according to the IPSOS poll. But 54% do not. Only 13% of Italians think Ruby-gate will mark the end of Berlusconi's political career, while another 24% think it's a "heavy signal" of his political decline, the poll found. But that view is more than offset by the 26% of Italians who think the whole affair is inconsequential and will be forgotten within a few days, and the 24% who say they expect the claims to boomerang against the cheering opposition and lead Berlusconi to win more votes in the future, according to IPSOS. However, the poll also found that Italians are increasingly unimpressed by their nation's political class. Some 51% said that Berlusconi's personal issues--the premier has referred to his occasional need for "relaxing evenings"--were distracting him from Italy's problems and "leading him to make bad choices." Other opinion polls have shown the number of politically disaffected Italians is on the rise, with many saying they are likely to abstain from voting. If such attitudes persist, claims the country would not accept a technocratic government to push through urgent reforms may weaken. Still, more Italians--42%--believe Berlusconi will manage to lead his government to the end of the legislature in 2013, while 28% expect early elections to be called soon. Berlusconi is the ideeal prime minister according to 17% of Italians, the poll found. The next choice was Nichi Vendola, the left-wing and gay governor of the region of Puglia, with 11%, followed by Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi with 9%, IPSOS said. The poll, conducted by canvassing 1,000 Italian adults on Jan. 17, was commissioned by Ballaro, a television show on state broadcaster RAI.
IV. RIANOVOSTI - European missile defense needs Russian and NATO systems
NATO's vision for European missile defense is two independent, but coordinated systems, the alliance's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said on Wednesday. Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate in the creation of a joint missile defense shield in Europe during a NATO-Russia Council meeting in Lisbon in November last year. The parties agreed to formulate terms for missile defense cooperation by June 2011. "By exchanging information we share a bigger, wider picture of the skies above Europe. By developing potential synergy between two systems we would improve the protection of the allied and Russian territories," Rasmussen said, adding that by having two independent systems, Russia and NATO states would avoid outsourcing their security to one another. Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said in mid-January that Russia did not want to create two different systems that would exchange information, as this would be "aimed at deterring Russia's nuclear potential under the guise of protection against Iranian missiles." He proposed instead to create a fully-fledged system with "joint centers for establishing threats and based on joint decisions."
V. FOREIGNPOLICY - China bashing on Capitol Hill is a bipartisan affair
Just as President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao were trumpeting the strength and importance of the U.S.-China relationship on the White House's South Lawn, a bipartisan group of lawmakers were harshly criticizing the Chinese government from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. As China's newest emperor has just landed in Washington and is at the front lawn of the White House, the pressing issues which separate our countries need to be urgently addressed," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the new head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said at the beginning of Wednesday's hearing on China. "When the Cold War ended over two decades ago, many in the West assumed that the threat from communism had been buried with the rubble of the Berlin Wall. However, while America slept, an authoritarian China was on the rise.".. Former committee chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) took a somewhat more balanced tone, calling China "neither an ally nor an enemy," but also focused his opening remarks on China's failure to adhere to sanctions against Iran, its refusal to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear program, and its lack of respect for human rights. "There is ample evidence that Chinese entities continue to invest in Iran's energy sector. This helps Tehran avoid the full impact of sanctions and facilitates Iran's continued development of a nuclear weapons capability which threatens the U.S., our allies in the Middle East and China, which is dependent on stable sources of oil from the Middle East," Berman said. "We must intensify our efforts to ensure China's full participation in the multilateral sanctions regime against Iran." On Tuesday, Berman joined Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) to call on Chinese companies to halt their business with Iran's energy sector lest they be penalized under the recently-passed U.S. sanctions legislation signed into law by Obama last July... Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), the chairman-designate of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations, concluded the proceedings with some ole' fashioned China bashing, calling Hu a murderer of children. "This is wrong. We should not be granting monstrous regimes that are engaged with massive human rights abuses -- and in this case the world's worst human rights abuser is being welcomed to our White House with respect," Rohrabacher said. "The people of China are America's greatest allies -- the people of China who want democracy, the people of China who want to respect human rights, and are looking forward to a more humane system at peace with the world. Those are our allies. What do we do to them when we welcome their oppressor, their murderer, the one who's murdering their children here to the United States with such respect?"
Musician Boy George has agreed to return to the Church of Cyprus an icon of Christ that came into his possession 11 years after the Turkish invasion. The former Culture Club singer bought the piece from a London art dealer in 1985 without knowing its origin. Boy George - real name George O'Dowd - said he was "happy the icon is going back to its original rightful home". "I have always been a friend of Cyprus and have looked after the icon for 26 years," he added. "I look forward to seeing the icon on display in Cyprus for the moment and finally to the Church of St Charalambos from where it was illegally stolen." The goodwill gesture came about after the church in New Chorio-Kythrea village gave evidence proving it was its rightful owner. Bishop Porfyrios of Neapolis expressed "joy and gratitude" as the singer handed over the icon at the St Anagyre church in north London. The gesture, he said, had "contributed to the efforts of the Church of Cyprus for the repatriation of its stolen spiritual treasures". Thousands of religious artefacts went missing from northern Cyprus following Turkey's invasion of the island and its subsequent partition.
VII. POSTGAZETTE - Miraculous Orthodox icon on display
The Rev. George Livanos was awed and humbled when he received a call asking if All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Canonsburg would host a visit of one of the most beloved icons in all of Orthodox Christianity. It wasn't just that the 715-year-old Kursk Root Icon is said to have wrought many miracles. He felt a connection because he had named his son for St. Seraphim of Sarov, an 18th-century monk who was healed of a deadly childhood illness after venerating this icon of the Virgin Mary... In Orthodox theology, icons are far more than pictures. The church teaches that they convey the word of God through imagery, much as the Bible does through writing. "Icons are windows into Heaven," Father Livanos said. "The people who are portrayed in the icon are those who have lived amongst us who offered themselves as living sacrifices and made God the sole purpose of their existence. ... They are to remind us of what we are called to be and who we truly are." According to tradition, in 1295 a hunter in the Kursk region of Russia found a beautiful icon of the Virgin Mary lying by a tree root. When he picked it up, a new spring began to flow. The hunter built a humble wooden chapel for the icon, and those who came to came to venerate it began to report miraculous healings. When a prince built a church for the icon in a nearby city, the icon is said to have miraculously returned to its humble chapel. Tradition says that when Tartars tried to burn the chapel in 1383, it wouldn't ignite. When the invaders broke the icon in two, the pieces later miraculously melded in the hands of a saintly priest who had tried to protect it. In 1597 a monastery was founded at the chapel site. During another Tartar invasion the icon was moved to the Kursk cathedral. A tradition began of carrying the icon 19 miles in procession each summer to the Kursk Root Monastery, where it would remain until Sept. 12. The stories of its miracles continued. In 1898 anarchists planted a bomb in the Kursk cathedral. The windows were all blown out, an iron door was blasted off its hinges and a candlestick near the icon shot across the cathedral, but the icon was unscathed. After the Bolshevik revolution, as communists closed churches and persecuted the faithful, monks smuggled the Kursk Root Icon to safety. It traveled within Russia before it was taken to what is now the Republic of Serbia. Smuggled to safety again in World War II, it brought comfort to newly freed prisoners and displaced persons in Munich. Eventually it found a home in the New York cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. When it was returned to Kursk after the collapse of the Soviet Union, "hundreds of thousands of people came to venerate the Mother of God through this icon," Father Livanos said. While it is known as a wonder-working icon, he cautioned his congregation not to be caught up in seeking miracles. "God heals, and healing takes place in different forms at different times for different reasons," he said. "If 50 people who have cancer come and venerate it and none of them is healed, it's not because God has been on vacation. It's for other reasons surpassing human intelligence. ... Don't come here and say, 'Darn it, I still have to go for back surgery.' There, too, is healing."