Bosnia-Herzegovina is falling apart as Serbs pull ever further from the weak centre in the direction of outright independence, London’s Independent writes. The partiality that the international governors of Bosnia since 1995 have shown towards the Muslims has not helped them much, the paper adds. “Europe has no strategy for Bosnia; no fall-back plan. One problem is the ill thought-out framework forced on the country at the Dayton Ohio talks in 1995, largely at the behest of Bill Clinton's envoy, Richard Holbrooke,” the daily says. “Bosnian's Muslims are outraged, insisting that the Bosnian Serbs must never be rewarded for with a state. The Serbs retort that they have a right to national self-determination. Europe says they don't – Kosovo was an exception,” Independent points out. According to the paper, Sarajevo has lost its way economically and politically, whilst Republika Srpska has sharpened up its act and become increasingly self-confident.Bosnia may lose the appearance of statehood and becomes an official protectorate and its hopes of joining the EU, feeble as they are, vanish entirely. Brussels is not interested in taking on an ailing international trusteeship, Independent concludes.
UN mediator Matthew Nimetz is expected to welcome diplomats from Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to New York in the coming week as the latest round of negotiations in the name dispute between the two countries enters the next phase. Sources in Athens said that Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakos will be ready to meet with Nimetz next week. It is expected that FYROM’s representative, Zoran Jolevski, will also travel to New York, barring any last-minute surprises. During his most recent visit, Nimetz is thought to have proposed the name “Republic of Northern Macedonia” as a solution to the dispute. Sources said that Athens, in principle, is pleased with this suggestion. There have also been indications that Skopje may accept it as a compromise. However, any agreement will depend on the use of the name. Athens wants FYROM to use it in its dealings with all countries, whereas Skopje is likely to insist that all the countries that have recognized it by its constitutional name of “Republic of Macedonia” should continue to call it that. Once Nimetz has the comments of the Greek and FYROM diplomats, he is due to formulate another set of ideas, which will be presented to the two countries.
A German court ruled on Thursday that far-right organizations may use banned Nazi slogans if they are in a foreign language, overturning an earlier decision. In 2005 the defendant was found in possession of 100 T-shirts in the back of his car. "Blood and Honor" is the translation for "Blut und Ehre" which was one of the guiding principles of the Hitler Youth during the Nazi era. Announcing the verdict, presiding judge Joerg-Peter Becker admitted that Thursday's court ruling could open the floodgates, but said that this could not justify judging the case differently. Authorities in Gera, in the eastern state of Thuringia, had deemed the shirts to be in violation of Germany's strict laws banning Nazi slogans. The federal court said the use of the slogan in English decoupled it from its Nazi-era connotations and thus could not fall under a law banning the use of symbols from unconstitutional organizations. But it scolded the lower court for failing to consider other charges against the defendant and referred the case back for a new trial. "The lower court did not review whether the accused, by possessing T-shirts with an aggressive slogan, could be guilty of distributing propaganda for unconstitutional organizations or for abetting the organizational cohesion of the banned group Blood & Honor," it said in a statement. The court in Gera is to now re-examine whether the T-shirt case is illegal for such other reasons.
The Council of Europe secretary general condemned on Friday a recent explosion in Abkhazia, which killed two and injured seven people, as a terrorist act. A bomb exploded in the former Georgian republic during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit on Wednesday, the first visit by a senior Russian official since Moscow recognized the region's independence after a brief war with Georgia last summer. "These tragic events can only be described as terrorism, and it is time for everyone in the South Caucasus to recognize that terrorism is a crime and totally unacceptable in today's Europe," Terry Davis said in a statement on the website of the pan-European human rights body. "A week ago, many international organizations expressed concern that the rhetoric employed by politicians in Georgia and Russia might lead to renewed violence on the anniversary of the war between these countries. I am relieved that the anniversary has passed without the escalation which worried us, but we must condemn the explosion in Abkhazia in recent days," Davis said. Relations between Russia and Georgia have remained strained since last August's war over South Ossetia, which Moscow also recognized, and tensions have persisted in the border area fueling fears of a new conflict. On Friday, Abkhazia marks the 17th anniversary of an armed conflict with Georgia, one of the bloodiest in the post-Soviet area. It erupted when Abkhazia broke away from Tbilisi in 1992 after 60 years as a Soviet-era Georgian autonomy. Abkhazia has maintained a de facto independence since September 1993.
The leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic has in an interview to a Portuguese news agency described separatist Islamic guerrillas as “devils” who should be killed. “The terrorists are not people, but devils who are not human”, President Ramzan Kadyrov said in an interview with Lusa. “We need to kill them. They don’t deserve amnesty or a pardon - only death”. Kadyrov acknowledged, however, that he had been in contact recently with an exiled separatist leader, Akhmed Zakaev, in the hope of getting him to return home to Grozni from London. He said Zakaev, who broke with the most militant wing and has called for a suspension of terrorist attacks, would be offered a “dignified post” if he returned to Chechnya. The Chechen leader expressed his full backing for Moscow’s war against Georgia last year, saying “any concession” made in the Caucasus region would signal the end of Russia. “I’m totally Putin’s man… I’ll never betray him”, Kadyrov said.
The execution of the presidential decree to award the Order of Merit for Motherland to mufti Ravil Gainutdin means that the Chairman of Russia's Mufti Council will wear a cross, a well-known Islam expert Roman Silantyev says. "It is well known that the Order of Merit for the Motherland is shaped as a cross, thus, Ravil Gainutdin will be the first Russian mufti wearing a cross," Silantyev told Interfax-Religion on Friday. He expressed hope that "from this day, the Mufti Council will change its attitude to the main Christian symbol for the better, and we will never again hear the requests of the Council's Co-Chairmen to remove crosses from the Russian emblem and their calls to dismantle adoration crosses." According to Silantyev, Gainutdin's decoration has "a special insight" in view of the fact that in July this year the Mufti Council "finally ceased its five year war against the Russian Orthodox Church on teaching religion at schools and military clergy." Silantyev said that "the cross-shaped decoration may cause certain problems to the Moscow mufti, for example, he cannot visit the Saudi Arabia wearing the Order, and radical Muslims in Russia may blame him for apostacy." "However, if the Mufti Council is seeking for positive development of its relations with the state and the Orthodox majority, its Chairman may well disregard such challenges," Silantyev said.
Everywhere in Greece, from the major urban centers to the remotest island and village, and in all corners of the world where Greeks live, there is a church dedicated to 'Panagia', the Virgin Mary. On August 15, the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, tens of thousands of Greeks flock to her churches to piously pray to her and seek her grace. The August 15 feast is the "Easter of summer", as it is celebrated as widely and devotedly by the Orthodox Church as the Resurrection of the Christ. The Pontian (Black Sea Greeks) of the US and Canada have their own special church devoted to the Virgin, the church of the Panagia Soumela, at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains in West Milford, northern New Jersey. The name 'Soumela' comes from the Greek 'stou Mela', meaning 'at Mt. Melas' signifying a specific locality in the Pontos in Asia Minor. The revered icon of Panagia (of) Soumela takes its name from the historic Monastery of Panagia Soumela in the Pontos, and has been kept there for centuries. According to tradition, the icon was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist (Apostle Luke) and is older than the Monastery. The icon was originally kept in Athens, originally called the Panagia Atheniotissa (Panagia of Athens), but was later removed to Pontos for safe-keeping when the Saracens destroyed the city of Athens by two monks, St. Barnabas and St. Sophronios who are also said to be the founders of the Monastery of Soumela.