His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, the 270th successor of the 2,000 year-old local Christian Church founded by St. Andrew, will arrival in New Orleans, Louisiana, to lead the Religion, Science and The Environment Symposium entitled, "The Great Mississippi River: Restoring Balance" from the 21st to the 25th. From there His All Holiness will travel to Atlanta, New York and Washington, DC. To view the complete itinerary of the trip, click here. As Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome, Patriarch Bartholomew occupies the First Throne of the Orthodox Christian Church and presides in a fraternal spirit among all the Orthodox Primates. The Ecumenical Patriarch has the historical and theological responsibility to initiate and coordinate actions among the Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, The Czech Land and Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, and numerous archdioceses in the old and new worlds. This includes the convening of councils or meetings, facilitating inter-church and inter-faith dialogues and serving as the primary expresser of Church unity as a whole. As Ecumenical Patriarch he transcends every national and ethnic group on a global level and today is the spiritual leader of approximately 250 million faithful world-wide.
Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will hold tomorrow their third meeting of the second phase of UN-led talks for a Cyprus settlement, divided since the Turkish invasion of 1974. Christofias and Talat will discuss bridging proposals on territory, one of the six chapters of the Cyprus problem. During the last meeting on September 17, according to President Christofias, the Turkish Cypriot side has shifted from its original positions on the executive, while according to UN SG Special Representative to Cyprus, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the two leaders have decided that their representatives and experts will meet to discuss the proposals that have been submitted by each side on the executive, “with a view to narrow differences or to come up with bridging ideas”. Furthermore, the leaders also decided to accelerate the pace of the talks by holding two meetings weekly. President Christofias and Talat will also hold a new meeting on October 8 and another two meetings on 14 and 15 October respectively. President Christofias and Talat began UN-led direct talks with a view to reach a mutually agreed solution to the Cyprus problem. So far they had 42 meetings and have recently entered the second phase of the talks in a bid to hold the ''second reading'' of the six chapters of the Cyprus problem, that is, Governance and power-sharing, property, territory, Economic matters, EU matters and Security.
As fears grow over Iran's secret nuclear program demands are increasing, for a fresh round of sanctions against Tehran. But so are doubts over the effectiveness of sanctions in general. For decades the United States and the United Nations have pummelled Iran with sanctions of varying degrees. But the brutal truth is little has changed. Since Iran's secret nuclear program first came to light in 2002, the United Nations Security Council has authorized three different rounds of sanctions to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions. In 2006, the UN sought to ban trade with Iran in materials, equipment, goods and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear enrichment program. In 2007, it banned arms exports from Iran and froze the financial assets of 28 individuals and companies involved in Tehran's nuclear work. Last year, it banned the sale of dual-use technologies to Iran which could have both civilian and military purposes. Still, Iran is relentlessly pushing ahead with its nuclear program. Last week, European intelligence agencies suggested Tehran may be in the final stages of designing a functional nuclear warhead. A week earlier, they revealed Iran had a second secret uranium enrichment plant dug into the side of a mountain on a military base just outside the city of Qom. More often than not sanctions fail to change the behaviour of target states. U.S. sanctions against Cuba have been in place for more than 40 years, but failed to weaken former ruler Fidel Castro's grip on power. A decade of comprehensive sanctions in Iraq were of limited use in toppling Saddam Hussein, but they did cause widespread suffering that may have contributed to the premature deaths of up to 100,000 children. The United States banned new investment in Burma in 1997 and exports to the country in 2003. But Burma's military junta still clings to power and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. Turkish troops also remain in Cyprus 35 years after U.S.-imposed economic sanctions following a Turkish invasion in 1974. A recent study published by the Institute for International Economics examined 204 instances in which sanctions have been applied internationally since the First World War and warns leaders not to count on sanctions alone to achieve goals and notes sanctions may fail simply because they are inadequate for the task; the goal is too elusive; the means used are too gentle or co-operation from other countries is too tepid.
The decision came after China stepped up a campaign urging nations to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader. It means Mr Obama will become the first president not to welcome the Nobel peace prize winner to the White House since the Dalai Lama began visiting Washington in 1991. The Buddhist monk arrived in Washington on Monday for a week of meetings with Congressional leaders, celebrity supporters and interest groups, but the president will not see him until after he has made his first visit to China next month. Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, has accused the United States and other Western nations of "appeasement" toward China as its economic weight grows. "Today, economic interests are much greater than other interests," he said. Mr Obama's decision dismayed human rights and Tibetan support groups, who said he had made an unnecessary concession to the Chinese, who regard the Dalai Lama as a "splittist", despite his calls for autonomy rather than independence for Tibet. The Chinese invaded in 1950, forcing the young leader to flee. Sophie Richardson, Asia advocate for Human Rights Watch, said: "Presidents always meets the Dalai Lama and what happens? Absolutely nothing. "This idea that if you are nice to the Chinese Communist Party up front you can cash in later is just wrong. If you lower the bar on human rights they will just move it lower and lower." Mr Obama has changed his position on Tibet since his election campaign. In April 2008, he was joined by Hillary Clinton, then his rival for the Democratic nomination and now his Secretary of State, in calling on George W Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in protest at the bloody repression of a popular uprising in Tibet. "If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security, and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the President should boycott the opening ceremonies," they said. Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, the Washington-based special envoy to the Dalai Lama, issued a brief statement, saying: "We came to this arrangement because we believe that it is in our long-term interests." A White House official said the administration and the Tibetans had "agreed the timing would be best after the visit". "Both sides attach importance to a strong US-China relationship," the official said. "There are benefits in that to our goals for Tibet, as we have been working to resume discussions between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s representatives.”
The opposition socialist party PASOK achieved a convincing victory in the early elections in Greece, Macedonian Vecer daily writes. PASOK’s victory set conditions for big changes in the political, economic and public life in Greece, the newspaper says. Undoubtedly, the bad economic situation will be a priority. What is important for Macedonia, of course, is the effect on the name negotiations. What Macedonia can expect after the win of PASOK and defeat of New Democracy, which had very firm positions on the issue, is that the situation cannot grow any worse and the negotiations will become more intensive. It is expected that the change of political figures will bring change in the attitude of official Athens towards the name dispute. Analysts warn that the national consensus in Greece and strong international position should be kept in mind.
The unlawful unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo-Metohija represents the biggest threat to Serbia's security, it is stated in Serbia's National Security Strategy, which the Serbian MPs are to discuss at the session scheduled for October 6. The document stresses that Serbia advocates the observance of international law, the strengthening of the role of the UN, the EU and OSCE and the creation of mechanisms for preservation of security in the world. Serbia's strategic priority is to speed up the process of EU accession, but also to improve relations with Russia, U.S. and regional countries. The document states that unfavorable development of the security situation and the implementation of Martti Ahtisaari's Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement, which was not accepted by the UN Security Council, can cause an escalation of violence in Kosovo-Metohija and become a source of risk and threats to Serbia's security and regional stability. The forming of para-military forces, the so-called Kosovo Security Forces, which represent a serious threat to the existing regime of regional control of armament and disturb the regional balance, contributes to this situation. Serbia particularly stresses abstention from violent threats or use of force in order to jeopardize the territorial integrity or independence of any state, respect of existing internationally recognized borders and the settlement of open issues in a peaceful way. Terrorism and expansion of organized crime, corruption, illegal drug and arms trafficking, as well as human trafficking, which are mainly present in Kosovo-Metohija, are a great burden for the security situation in South-East Europe, it is stated in the strategy.
Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has met with Ecumenical Patriarchate's delegation consisting of His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod Archmandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, and priest Vasilius Papathanasius, the presidential press service reported on Monday. A meeting was held under agreement with Bartholomew, the Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch. During the meeting the sides expressed satisfaction with the development of the dialogue launched during Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's visit to Ukraine last year on the occasion of the 1020th anniversary of the Christianization of the Kyivan Rus. In particular, the sides pointed out the progress made in relations between Orthodox believers in Ukraine and the establishment of continuous communication between them. Yushchenko again stressed the need to deepen and extend an interchurch dialogue in order to overcome contradictions between the branches of the Orthodox Church and create a single Orthodox church in Ukraine.