Turkey should open its ports to Cypriot vessels in a bid to make talks over re-unifying the island easier, European Union foreign ministers said Monday. EU member states have frozen Turkey's bid to join the bloc because of its refusal to allow Greek Cypriot ships and aircraft into its ports. But the EU is keen to improve relations with Ankara so that Turkey will help push for a peace settlement on Cyprus. "On Turkey, the train must move on: we should avoid a crash. We of course hope that Turkey would move a little bit on the Ankara Protocol as well," Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said as he arrived in Brussels for talks with EU counterparts. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn backed that stance, saying, "It's important to continue the (political) reforms and implement the Ankara Protocol." The Ankara Protocol, signed by Turkey and EU members in June 2005, extended Turkey's 46-year-old customs union with the EU to the bloc's newcomers in Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. But Turkey refused to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels, arguing that the Greek side of the island had not lifted its embargo on vessels from the Turkish north. EU foreign ministers in December 2006 therefore froze accession talks with Turkey on all trade-related issues. However, the bloc is now eager to enlist Ankara's help in pushing for a rapid solution to the Cyprus conflict, fearing that otherwise spring elections in the north of the island could lead to an anti-European backlash. In October the EU's executive, the European Commission, released a report on Turkey's accession progress which was more positive than expected, praising the country for its reform process. However, it also said that it was "urgent" for Turkey to allow Cypriot vessels onto its territory.
The public hearing in the legality of the Kosovo Albanian UDI case before the ICJ continues today in The Hague for the fifth day. China, Cyprus, Croatia and Denmark will state their opinions on the legality of the unilateral declaration of independence before the 15 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Peace Palace this Monday. China reiterated its stance given in a written statement sent to the ICJ during the previous stage of the proceedings that the Kosovo Albanian proclamation was contrary to international law. "There is no doubt that after the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Kosovo was a part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that is, Serbia. Integral parts of sovereign states, under international law, do not have a right to unilateral secession… while the principle of protection of territorial integrity is a cornerstone of international legal order," Beta news agency reported China's legal representative Xie Hanchin as saying. She added that sovereign states have a right to prevent unilateral secessions and protect their integrity, and that China also sees the unilateral proclamation as a violation of mandatory UNSC Resolution 1244, that guarantees the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ). Serbia is the successor state to the SRJ. China rejected interpretations that the provision of the resolution that guaranteed integrity and sovereignty was "unbinding", with its legal representative telling the ICJ today that Beijing in 1999 insisted that this provision be included in the resolution, which came after NATO's illegal military attack. "For this reason China did not block Resolution 1244," Hanchin emphasized. The Chinese representative rejected claims coming from the countries which recognized Kosovo that the negotiating process had been exhausted, stressing that this could only have been ascertained by the UN Security Council, which was entitled to decide on the further measures. Hanchin also rejected statements that Kosovo's residents had a right to self-determination, explaining that such a right, under international regulations, is enjoyed only by peoples or territories of colonies or areas under foreign occupation. China also stood against claims that Kosovo's independence is now "fait accompli", because 63 countries recognized it. "The advisory opinion of the ICJ will therefore have direct influence on international law ad relations," the Chinese legal representative said, and added that her country remains committed to building a lasting peace in the Balkans through political dialogue and seeking of a compromise solution, noting that unilateral acts do not contribute to that goal. China was the first permanent member of the UN Security Council that presented its arguments in the case, and this was also the first time that this country participated in an ICJ advisory opinion hearing . All five permanent UNSC member states will address the court. Cyprus is also set to speak in favor of Serbia's argument that the proclamation was in violation of international law. In a written contribution on 70 pages, submitted to the ICJ previously during the proceedings, Cyprus stated that Kosovo has no right to statehood, as well as that the unilateral declaration of independence, made by the province's interim institutions, was contrary to international law. Kosovo only has those rights guaranteed to it by Resolution 1244, and a right to secession is not among them, Cyprus said. The Hague Court opened the public hearing on the legitimacy of the unilateral proclamation on December 1. The participating countries will be presenting their arguments until December 11.
Everybody knows that Colombia would have a more fluid relation with the United States if Senator John McCain had won the presidency last year. With the Democratic Party in control of both Congress and the White House, Colombia’s close partnership with the United States is sadly losing its shine. Think for a minute: the Free Trade Agreement signed in 2006 is still waiting to be ratified by Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi put the FTA in her freezer at the beginning of her tenure, and there are no signs that she is taking it out of there any time soon. Also, no senior US official has explicitly come out in support of Colombia in its row with Venezuela over the base deal with the United States. As Hugo Chavez talks about war and keeps blowing bridges along the border, Democrats in Washington think the situation is not something that concerns them at all. P. J. Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement last month: "We are very much aware of recent tensions along the Venezuelan-Colombia border. I certainly don't think this is about the United States. But we certainly would encourage dialogue between Venezuela and Colombia and a peaceful resolution of the situation along their border." Mr. Crowley has certainly given the word ‘ally’ a whole new meaning. At least in times of the Bush administration Colombia could count on a statement of support by the United States every time Hugo Chavez sent troops to the border. But now, Democrats are doing something else that could prove much more dangerous: they are scrapping Plan Colombia. Check the facts: in 2007, Colombia received US$ 465 million in counternarcotics aid from the United States. For 2009, the amount was US$ 329 million, and for fiscal year 2010, which started this October, Colombia will obtain US$ 237 million. That is the lowest level of American counternarcotics aid to Colombia in the last ten years. At the beginning of this decade, Colombia was close to becoming a failed state. The FARC were in control of over 40 percent of the territory, over 160,000 hectares of forest were cultivated with coca, and the country had the potential to produce 700 metric tons of cocaine per year. Plan Colombia changed all that. The US$ 6 billion that Colombia has received from the United States since 2000 served to put the country back on its feet and to subdue drug traffickers and terrorists. Today, the FARC are weakened and on the run, while coca cultivation is about 81,000 hectares and potential cocaine production reaches 430 tons per annum. No doubt, in the hands of the efficient Uribe administration, the American aid has made a world of a difference. We Colombians should thank the United States for having responded to Colombia’s plight and for having taken responsibility for a problem they contributed to create. Aware that most Colombian cocaine is consumed by Americans, the US government decided to help Colombia fight its war against narcoterrorists. Certainly, that is a lot more than can be said of the European Union, which gives relatively little aid to Colombia in spite of the 4.6 million Europeans who are cocaine users (in comparison, North America has 6.8 million). But scrapping Plan Colombia when the task is only halfway done is a terrible mistake. Although the Colombian government and its military are considerably stronger than they were ten years ago, the country’s war against narcoterrorism is far from over. The FARC are still around, and Colombia remains the world’s top producer of both coca and cocaine. Moreover, with the United States as the most important buyer of Colombian cocaine, America’s dollars continue to be the most significant source of funding for drug traffickers in Colombia. Estimates by DANE, the Colombian government’s office of statistics, put the size of Colombia’s drug industry in 2007 at 4.3 trillion pesos, or US$ 2.15 billion. The fact that in 2010 Colombia will receive from the US an amount equivalent to a mere 11% of the size of the drug economy should give Democrats pause for thought.
NATO Foreign Ministers say the alliance is ready to explore NATO-Russian anti-missile defense systems. The statement came on Friday after a long chill in relations over the 2008 war in South Ossetia. "We continue to support increased cooperation between NATO and Russia on missile defense, including maximum transparency and reciprocal confidence-building measures," reads the statement produced as a result of the meeting in Brussels. "We reaffirm the Alliance’s readiness to explore the potential for linking the United States, NATO and Russian missile defense systems at an appropriate time." Several other deals were on the agenda during the meeting, including a plan to determine mutual threats to NATO and Russia and possibly reform the NATO-Russia Council itself. NATO also stated that it planned to support the US President’s military operation in Afghanistan by deploying 7,000 more troops to the region. Previously, however, the Alliance said it wanted to encourage the Afghan government’s autonomy by transferring power and training local personnel. Skeptics of the new decision insist that the two strategies cannot work together. Following the meeting, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the media that new possibilities for cooperation in the field of technology and military were discussed. “This kind of cooperation is in the interest of both parties,” Lavrov said. He added that resuming cooperation with NATO did not mean the two parties would avoid sensitive issues on which they disagree. “These include the expansion of the Alliance, the future of arms control in Europe, and the military infrastructure that has been moving closer to Russia’s borders,” Lavrov said. “We have detailed our concerns and hope that our partners understood them.” Answering a question about Russia’ violation of the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreement, Lavrov disagreed, saying Russia has fully complied with the plan by observing its main provision for non-violence. Lavrov also mentioned President’s Saakashvilli’s refusal to sign the agreement, calling it “petty trickery.” Lavrov further said he had urged NATO to take notice of Georgia’s military build-up and warned of its potential dangers. “It is not incidental that I dwell upon this Georgian weaponry problem. It is a serious problem, ” he said. “According to some estimates, the capacity before the war, the military capacity of Georgia, has been restored and armaments are being supplied and most of them are offensive. Why should Georgia need them? I think all understand how risky it is to arm this regime, something must be done about that and we have discussed it with our partners in NATO,” Lavrov added.
The Russian Orthodox Church is not against a meeting between its head, Patriarch Kirill, and Pope Benedict XVI but expects the Vatican to "take "concrete steps to show that there is a desire to be cooperative," the Russian Church's foreign relations chief said in a television program on Saturday. "Our position has remained unchanged for many years: we have never excluded the possibility of such a meeting. So said the late Patriarch Alexy II and so says the incumbent Patriarch, Kirill," head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told Rossiya television. But such a meeting needs good preparation "so that the current tension is eliminated," he said. "We expect the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Church, to take concrete steps to show that there is a desire to be cooperative and heal all the wounds that were inflicted in the extremely harrowing period of the early 90s," the Archbishop said. In that period, more than 500 Orthodox churches in Ukraine "were forcibly seized by Greek Catholics and the Orthodox believes were ousted from them. We are suggesting concrete solutions to the problems that exist," he said. Archbishop Hilarion also commented on a recent decision by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to seek diplomatic relations between Russia and the Vatican. "This move on the part of the Russian state deserves nothing but being hailed," he said. At the same time, there are problems in relations between the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches "that need to be solved in a completely different way and by different means, that cannot be solved merely by establishing diplomatic relations," he said. "Above all, it is the problems of Western Ukraine, where there remains tension in relations between the Orthodox and Greek Catholics," Archbishop Hilarion said.
It's believed to be the oldest church in the world, and because of it, an Israeli prison may become a tourist site. The prison is located at Megiddo, close to the Armageddon of the New Testament book of Revelation. It houses both common criminals and prisoners labeled "security detainees. The church was unearthed four years ago by Israeli archeologists, aided by prisoners, who, in accordance with Israeli law concerning building work at sites known for archeological pickings, were carrying out excavation work prior to the construction of a new wing at the prison. Only a mosaic floor was uncovered. But an inscription dedicating the monument to the "Lord Jesus Christ", and decorations of a two fish, the symbol of early Christianity, were enough to convince the archeologists that they had found remnants of what could be the oldest church in the world, dating from the 3rd to the 4th centuries AD. The mosaic naturally excited the archeologists,but also presented the authorities with a major headache. The prisons service, which even went so far as to describe the find as "problematic," wanted to go aheadwith upgrading the prison as planned. The archeologists however wanted to preserve what they had found. Now however the local regional council, the Israel Prisons Service, and the Israel Antiquities Authority are pressingfor the relocation of the high-security detention facility, so the church remains canbe opened to the public. An agreement to that effect is now being worked out, the Israeli Ha'aretz daily said Monday, and plans forfunding the project have been submitted to the Finance Ministry. "A tourism complex is to be built on this site, the central focus of which will be the ancient house of worship," Regional Council Head Hanan Eerez said. Three inscriptions in Greek led archeologists to assume the mosaic was was a public Christian building, dating from the late third, early fourth century AD, and thought to be the earliest church in the world. One described how an officer with the Roman name of "Galanus" donated money for the building. A second said it was built in memory of four women. But the most import and explicit clue that the structure was a Christian public place of worship, was the final inscription, which said that the "God-loving Aketous has offered this table to the God Jesus Christ, as a memorial." Yotam Tepper, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said thatthe wording on the mosaic, the shape of the letters,and the names on the inscriptions,were fairly solid proof that the edifice dates from around the year 300, or from the time of late Roman rule over what is now Israel, and predated the recognition of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christian ritualswere prohibited in the Roman Empire prior to the year 313 AD, and Christians were forcedto pray in secret in catacombs or in private homes. But, Tepper said, the fact that the building was constructed with donated money and as a memorial, proved it was not a private place of worship. The earliest churches in the Holy Landare the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the Alonei Mamre near Hebron. But they contain only scants remains of the original structures, which were built by the Roman Emperor Constantine I.
Our Holy Father Nicholas, emulator of the Apostles and ardent imitator of the Lord Jesus Christ, appears as a living pillar of the Church, zealous in defense of the faith and a model of pastoral solicitude for holy bishops. Through his countless miracles on behalf of the poor, the abandoned, of those suffering injustice and of all who call upon his fatherly protection, he has to this day shown himself “a good steward of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10). Saint Nicholas was born in Patara in Lycia towards the end of the third century, to Christian parents who had long been childless. From infancy, he showed his love of virtue and his zeal for observing the ordinances of the Church by abstaining from his mother’s breast on Wednesdays and Fridays until the evening. Pious and inclined to silence, he was educated in theology and, while still young, was ordained priest by his uncle, Archbishop Nicholas. For many years, vigil, fasting and prayer were the virtues he excelled in, but from the time of his parents’ death and his giving away his inheritance to the needy, the virtue of almsgiving became his greatest glory to God. He regarded himself merely as the steward of goods which belonged to the poor and took particular care to keep his good deeds secret, so as not to lose the heavenly reward (cf. Matthew 6:7). On three occasions he secretly left gold enough for the marriage portions of three maidens whom their debt-ridden father intended to give up to prostitution. When the man eventually discovered his good deed, Nicholas made him promise, as he valued his salvation, to tell no one of it. God recompensed him through the charismata and miracles for which he became renowned in the sight of men. On pilgrimage to the Holy Places he twice by his prayer calmed the winds that imperiled the ship he was sailing in. Soon after his return, an angel made known to the synod of bishops, meeting to elect a shepherd for the nearby city of Myra, that they should choose Nicholas—which they did, to the joy of the people. During the last great persecution under Diocletian and Maximian (c. 305), Saint Nicholas was thrown into prison where he continued to confirm his spiritual flock in the faith. With the accession of Constantine, he was very zealous for the destruction of idolatrous temples and for driving out the demons that inhabited them. Among the Fathers gathered at Nicaea in 325 for the first Ecumenical Council, Nicholas was one of the leading champions of Orthodoxy against the impious heresy of Arius, which had so swiftly sprung up to trouble and divide the holy Body of Christ. He saved the city of Myra from famine by appearing to the master of a vessel laden with corn, and telling him to discharge his cargo at the harbor there. Later the man of God saved the lives of three Roman officers unjustly accused of conspiracy, by appearing in a dream to the Emperor Constantine and to he perfidious Prefect Avlavius. Full of gratitude to the Saint for their deliverance, the three soldiers became monks. On many other occasions after his death as well as during his lifetime, Saint Nicholas has miraculously assisted ships in distress and people making voyages, and so is venerated as the protector of all who sail the seas. Thus, one day during a gale, he appeared at the helm of a ship in distress and brought it safely to port; and on another occasion, he rescued a passenger who fell overboard crying, “Saint Nicholas, help me!” and at once found himself at home surrounded by his astounded family. For many years the holy Bishop was, as the presence of Christ, a friend of man and good shepherd to his faithful; there was no misfortune that would not move him to compassion, no injustice that he would not redress, no discord that he would not allay. Wherever he happened to be, his illumined countenance and the atmosphere of radiant peace surrounding him were instantly recognizable. When he fell asleep in peace his people lamented the loss of their pastor and their providence, through whom they had received so many benefits, but the angels and Saints rejoiced with great joy to receive the meek Nicholas among them. His holy relics, placed in a church built in his honor at Myra, were venerated by crowds of pilgrims every year. One day the Devil, unable to tolerate the glory that shone from Saint Nicholas’ tomb, took the form of a poor old woman and accosted some pilgrims who were leaving for Myra, lamenting that she was not able herself to travel, and entrusting them with a flask of oil for the lamps that burned perpetually before the shrine. During the voyage, Nicholas appeared to the ship’s captain and told him to throw the oil into the sea. No sooner had he done so than the surface of the water caught fire and swirled about in blazing eddies to the terror of the passengers, who gave thanks to God for having saved the sanctuary through his Saint. In 1087, after Myra had fallen to the Saracens, the holy relics of Saint Nicholas were transferred to Bari in the south of Italy, accompanied by many miracles, and there they are venerated to this day (cf. May 9). Saint Nicholas, with Saint George, is one of the Saints most beloved by Christian people in the East as well as in the West. The churches dedicated to him are as countless as the places and the faithful named after him. He is especially revered by the Russian people as the protector of crops, and in the West he is regarded as the patron of schoolchildren and of young people in general.