Russian military ships will not be involved in anti-piracy operations under the command of NATO or the European Union, Russia's permanent envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday. Russia is a member of the coalition of 16 countries, which are currently involved in anti-piracy efforts off the coast of Somalia. "As far as [the fight against] piracy is concerned, why should our ships be under foreign military command? We will not operate under the command of the European Union, we will not take part in NATO operations," Dmitry Rogozin told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. A total of 126 vessels have been attacked with 44 of them captured since the start of the year in the region. Somalian pirates are currently holding around 270 hostages on at least 16 vessels. Russia-NATO relations were marred by a five-day war between Russia and Georgia, after which Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During a meeting of the Russia-NATO council in Brussels, Russia said that its anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden should be coordinated with NATO and the EU, but at a "working level," between vessel captains. Rogozin added that Russia and NATO were also not yet ready to hold joint military exercises. "We don't think that NATO is ready for this," he said, adding that the alliance did not regard Russia as its partner.
The US will not supply heavy weaponry to Georgia or deploy its monitors there, according to the American ambassador to Russia John Beyrle. “Surely, we are maintaining and will maintain military cooperation with Georgia, but it does not involve supplies of heavy military equipment,” Beyrle said on Echo Moskvy radio on Friday. The remarks have been made in the wake of US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Biden pledged support to the Caucasus country and pushed for NATO membership. However, on more cautious lines, he urged Georgia not to use the military option to regain its former territories. Earlier, there were reports from Washington suggesting the Georgian leader had asked Biden for advanced weaponry and military aid. However, the anonymous top US official later backtracked on the statement. Russia, in turn, is warning against new attempts to re-arm Georgia, and to discourage it from using force in settling its territorial issues. Speaking on Friday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said some NATO countries and also the bloc's current Secretary General have learnt the lesson of last year’s armed conflict in South Ossetia. Russia will introduce sanctions against foreign companies if they sell weapons to Georgia, said Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin on Friday.
A representative of Chechnya's Russian-backed president and the prime minister of the Chechen government-in-exile wrapped up three days of talks in Norway on Friday and agreed to meet again in London. Dukuvakha Abdurakhmanov, on behalf of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, and Akhmed Zakayev, self-declared prime minister of the unrecognized Chechen government-in-exile in London, have been meeting in Oslo since Wednesday. "We have been consulting on the total political stabilization of the Chechen Republic and the final consolidation of the Chechen society," said Abdurakhmanov, who is also leader of the Chechen parliament. Both men refused to elaborate on the issues they discussed, but they confirmed they would hold more talks, with additional participants, in the U.K. capital in the coming 10 days.
In his message on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Democracy in Greece, the President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias, said that Greece's steadfast goal was termination of the Turkish occupation and a solution to the problem founded on international law and the UN resolutions. The European Union, he said, has a responsibility to contributing to the "therapy of this wound, which comprises one of the greatest shames of global civilisatoin". "The key to a just and viable solution to the Cyprus issue is in Ankara's hands, but for the time being we see no desire on Turkey's part to overcome and transcend anachronistic percpetions and ethnicist rationale. Quite the contrary, we are following with worry the escatlation of the provocations in the Aegean and the constant projection of unilateral and historically-unfounded claims". But Turkey is deluding itself if it believes that it can bend our determination to defend and safeguard our rights with threats and overflights over our islands, Papoulias warned.
A broad meeting of working groups, preparing for the assumption of the six-monthly EU rotating presidency, in the second half of 2012, was held here today, under Andreas Moleskis, head of the Cyprus EU Presidency Office. A Planning Bureau statement said that the meeting was attended by representatives of various departments including Public Works, the Press and Information Office and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation. The meeting aimed at evaluating the work carried out so far and at promoting the necessary action to make possible the timely preparation by Cyprus ahead of the presidency. Moleskis was briefed on the progress achieved as far as infrastructure and equipment are concerned as well as problems that may arise and ways to solve them. The meeting decided to set up new working groups on communication strategies and transport. The Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004 and will assume the EU Presidency, for the first time, in the secod half of 2012.
Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas. Perry said his first hope is that Congress will defeat the plan, which both Perry and Davis described as "Obama Care." But should it pass, Perry predicted that Texas and a "number" of states might resist the federal health mandate. "I think you’ll hear states and governors standing up and saying 'no’ to this type of encroachment on the states with their healthcare," Perry said. "So my hope is that we never have to have that stand-up. But I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats." "It really is a state issue, and if there was ever an argument for the 10th Amendment and for letting the states find a solution to their problems, this may be at the top of the class," Perry said. "A government-run healthcare system is financially unstable. It’s not the solution."
Restoration workers have uncovered a well-preserved, long-hidden mosaic face of an angel at the former Byzantine cathedral of Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, an official said Friday. The seraphim figure — one of two located on the side of a dome — had been covered up along with the building's other Christian mosaics shortly after Constantinople — the former name for Istanbul — fell to the Ottomans in 1453 and the cathedral was turned into a mosque. Some of the mosaics were revealed when the domed complex was turned into a museum in 1935, but the seraphim had largely remained covered. The newly uncovered image was hidden behind scaffolding and is not currently visible to visitors. Haghia Sophia, also called the Church of Holy Wisdom, was built in 537 B.C. and remained a symbol of Byzantine grandeur until Constantionple was conquered by Muslim armies. It was the patriarchal church of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years. The structure was then turned into a mosque — minarets were added and crosses and other Christian symbols were defaced.