Patriarch Kirill welcomed by Archbishop Anastasios at the Airport

SManalysis

 Published: Saturday, April 28 2018

 Today, Saturday, April 28th 2018, at 4:00 PM, Archbishop Anastasios, accompanied by members of the Holy Synod, received Patriarch Kirill at Mother Teresa International Airport. Also in attendance were clergy, children and young adults in national costumes, who welcomed Him with bouquets of flowers.

Νέο χτύπημα - Αλβανοί κατέβασαν την ελληνική σημαία από τα κεντρικά γραφεία της ΔΕΕΕΜ - ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ

SManalysis

 Σάββατο 28 Απριλίου 2018,    Himara.gr


Άγνωστοι επιτεθήκαν στα κεντρικά γραφεία της οργάνωσης που βρίσκονται στους Αγίους Σαράντα και κατέβασαν την ελληνική σημαία. Πρόκειται για την 13η φορά των τελευταίων τριών ετών, που υπό την ανοχή των αλβανικών αρχών, κάποιοι ακραίοι αλβανοί εθνικιστές επιτίθενται στην οργάνωση που εκπροσωπεί την Εθνική Ελληνική Μειονότητα και μάλιστα προσβάλλοντας το Εθνικό μας σύμβολο.

Η Αλβανική κυβέρνηση οφείλει να κάνει όλες τις απαραίτητες ενέργειες ώστε να εντοπιστούν οι δράστες όπως γίνονται σε όλες τις πολιτισμένες χώρες της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Εφόσον η Αλβανία επιδιώκει να ενταχθεί στους Ευρωπαϊκούς Θεσμούς πρέπει να λειτούργει με τους νόμους και τους κανόνες της ΕΕ.

US Senate confirms CIA director Mike Pompeo as Trump's secretary of state

SManalysis

Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson after receiving majority backing from Senate, despite resistance from many Democrats

Associated Press

Thu 26 Apr 2018 18.14 BST Last modified on Thu 26 Apr 2018 Link

 Mike Pompeo will be Donald Trump’s new secretary of state. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
The Senate narrowly confirmed Mike Pompeo to be secretary of state on Thursday, clearing the path for him to take over as the top US diplomat just as President Donald Trump faces high-risk moments on Iran and North Korea.

Pompeo, the outgoing CIA director, secured support from 57 senators, with 42 voting no one of the slimmest margins for the job in recent history. Every past nominee for the job since at least the Carter administration has received 85 or more yes votes in the Senate, with the exception of Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who got 56.

He is expected to be sworn into office immediately and then to depart within hours of the vote for Europe on his first trip as secretary of state.

Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman, is expected to guide Trump’s foreign policy in a more right-leaning direction than Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil CEO fired by Trump on Twitter last month. He inherits a state department and diplomatic corps that is deeply demoralized after a tumultuous first year under Tillerson, who pushed budget and staff cuts and eschewed public appearances while leaving key diplomatic positions unfilled.


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The Senate vote followed an uneasy confirmation process for Pompeo that underscored Donald Trump’s growing difficulties in getting nominees in place for top positions. On Monday, it appeared Pompeo would fail a vote in the Senate foreign relations committee, but the panel ultimately cleared him after last-minute support from Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky.

A long list of pressing issues awaits him including a decision on the Iran nuclear deal and Trump’s upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Previously confirmed by the Senate for the CIA job, Pompeo was supported by all the Republican senators and by six Democrats. The Democrats included several up for re-election in conservative-leaning states, including Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. John McCain of Arizona, who is being treated for cancer, was absent.

In the run-up to Pompeo’s confirmation, his backers emphasized his resume as a West Point and Harvard law school graduate and former congressman who enjoys a close relationship with Trump particularly on North Korea. Pompeo, as CIA director, traveled to Pyongyang over Easter after being nominated for secretary of state. In the North Korean capital he met Kim ahead of the planned meeting with Trump, expected in late May or June.

“He’s the perfect person to come in at this time and lead those efforts” on North Korea, Tennessee Republican Bob Corker said on the Senate floor moments before Pompeo was confirmed.

Yet his opponents had warned that his hawkish foreign policy views and negative comments about gay marriage and Muslims made him ill-equipped to serve as a diplomat or to represent the United States on the world stage. Pompeo used his confirmation hearing to try to soften that image, edging away from past comments about regime change in North Korea.

What's At Risk When A Non-Diplomat Engages In Diplomacy

SManalysis

By EDITOR • APR 18, 2018 


For the moment, Mike Pompeo remains the director of the CIA - not a diplomat. So what are the possible risks or upsides of having him engage in diplomacy? To explore that question, we turn to Jeffrey Lewis who studies nonproliferation and arms control at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Welcome to the program.

JEFFREY LEWIS: It's nice to talk to you.

SHAPIRO: As we just heard, high-level intelligence officials have engaged in diplomatic negotiations in the past. How unusual is it for the director of the CIA to make these kinds of overtures?

LEWIS: Well, it's not unprecedented, but it's unusual. George Tenet, both as deputy and then ultimately the director of central intelligence, helped run the Middle East Peace Process first for the Clinton administration and then the Bush administration. So it's not that it's never been done, but it's usually not done because there's some downside or some risk.

SHAPIRO: So imagine you are the president of the United States. In what circumstance would you tell the secretary of state to secretly go on a mission like this as opposed to the CIA director?

LEWIS: Well, I think the default would always be to send the secretary of state or a representative from the State Department. In the past when that rule has been bent, the excuse or explanation usually given is that this is a security or an intelligence matter and that the intelligence professional will be a more credible interlocutor. I think that's generally, probably, a pretty bad idea. There's no reason that the secretary of state can't handle those things. So if it were up to me, I would never do it even though I know that presidents sometimes do.

SHAPIRO: I know I'm asking you to read between the lines here, but do you think this could be a case where it's not so much that the Trump administration wanted to send the head of the CIA as it is that they expected the head of the CIA would soon be the secretary of state?

LEWIS: Well, you know, it's a little bit difficult to tell because the administration isn't being terribly open about all of this. I think the most charitable interpretation is that there was an intelligence channel that existed during the Obama administration and that Pompeo just picked that up and ran with it. But in many ways, this helps illustrate the problem. It's one thing if Jim Clapper is going to Pyongyang and is keeping the secretary of state in the loop. It becomes quite another thing when the director of the CIA is angling for the secretary of state's job.

SHAPIRO: The CIA is supposed to exist apart from politics. Is there a risk to sending the CIA director to do this kind of a diplomatic negotiation which is inherently political?

LEWIS: Oh, it's not just a risk. It's a cost. When George Tenet was asked to take over the Middle East Peace Process, he was incredibly reluctant for this very reason. We've already seen reports that some intelligence professionals were uncomfortable with how Mike Pompeo was presenting their analysis to the president. There was a sense that he was implying North Korea was more ready to give up nuclear weapons than, perhaps, the intelligence analysts think. And I think now you see the reason for that concern, which is that it turns out that Pompeo wasn't just briefing the president on the intelligence but that he was an active participant in making the policy.

SHAPIRO: If this gambit works - if this ends in a successful meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, do you think it will have been worth it to have had Pompeo pave the way for that meeting?

LEWIS: Well, I suppose it will end up depending on how we define what a success was. I think it's always easy, in hindsight, to look at an outcome that we like and say, well, it was good that we bent the rules to get there. But ultimately, we're setting up precedents that may come back to haunt us. And it could be especially problematic if it turns out that the summit is not everything that the president was hoping for. Maybe the summit is a success, but Kim Jong Un does not give up his nuclear weapons. It will be interesting to see who Donald Trump turns his ire on when that happens.

SHAPIRO: I'm struck by your using the phrase, bent the rules. Are there actual rules in a situation like this, or is there just standard practice?

LEWIS: Yeah, they're just norms. I shouldn't say rules. But when Clinton asked Tenet to do it, it was a big deal. And when the Bush administration took office, they initially suspended the CIA's role. So there was a pretty strong norm. Eventually, the Bush administration decided they didn't have any better ideas, and they let the CIA go back to it. And so we've kind of developed this modern tendency to use the senior officials in the intelligence community as diplomats, and I still don't like it.

SHAPIRO: Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. He's also the founder of the website Arms Control Wonk. Thanks for joining us today.

LEWIS: It was a pleasure.

Turkish Court Rejects New Appeal for Greek Soldiers’ Release

SManalysis

By Tasos Kokkinidis - Apr 25, 2018
Greek Reporter

A Turkish court has rejected for a third time the appeal launched by the defense team of the two Greek soldiers held in Edirne for their release on bail.

According to Turkish media, the judge rejected the appeal claiming that the soldiers did not have permanent residency and therefore, they can run away if they are released.

Sgt Dimitris Kouklatzis, aged 27, and Lt Angelos Mitretodis, 25, were arrested after being found in a “forbidden military zone” by Turkish authorities in early March. They have been detained in a high-security jail pending trial in the border town of Edirne ever since.

This was the third time that the court dismissed an appeal for their release.

On Sunday, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, proposed that two Greek soldiers be exchanged for eight Turkish officers who have sought asylum in Greece.

“They asked us to give the two Greek soldiers back. And we told them there are eight soldiers who tried to make a coup. First, you have to give them to us. If you give them to us then we can put the others on the table. Because they crossed the border,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.

Erdogan’s proposal was dismissed by Athens as unacceptable.

Meanwhile in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly (PACE) has called for the immediate release of the two Greek soldiers.

During the assembly’s spring summit, a statement was issued calling for the two soldiers to be freed and for respect for human rights and rule of law.

The initiative was signed by a 13-strong Greek delegation and a large number of MPs from member states of the European Council across the political spectrum.

Albania's public debt reaches 8.3 billion euros

SManalysis

Albania's public debt continues to remain at risky levels threatening the economy. The latest official data from the Ministry of Finance show that at the end of the first quarter of the year, public debt amounted to 8.3 billion euros, being over twice as high as the state budget.

According to Finance statistics, only in the first three months of the year public debt has increased by 200 million euros, compared to the end of 2016, it has increased by more than half a billion euros.


Albania's public debt grew steadily over the past four years. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, compared with 2013, public debt has increased by 2 billion euros, as a result of record borrowing especially in 2013-2015.

The government justified the growth of debt with the repayment of arrears to private businesses. Even as it came to power it raised taxes by 350 million euros, a sacrifice that according to her was necessary to lower the high public debt.

But the data show that, although taxes are heavily burdened, the country's public debt not only has not been reduced according to the program, but stands at hazardous levels for the economy.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have classified high debt as the greatest risk for the Albanian economy. In 2014, when the government signed the agreement with the IMF, it agreed on a detailed program for debt reduction and its return to 60 percent of national output by 2018.

ΥΠΕΞ Αλβανίας στη Φωνή της Αμερικής για τις σχέσεις με την Ελλάδα

SManalysis

Απρίλιος 24, 2018. Echedoros


Ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών της Αλβανίας, Ντιτμίρ Μπουσάτι, κατά τη διάρκεια συνέντευξής του στη Φωνή της Αμερικής, αναφέρθηκε στην πρόοδο των συζητήσεων με την Ελλάδα.



«Υπήρξαν καθυστερήσεις, λόγω της εσωτερικής κατάστασης, αλλά και λόγω της ανάγκης για καλύτερο συντονισμό από την πλευρά μας. Την επόμενη εβδομάδα θα πραγματοποιηθεί μια συνάντηση σε επίπεδο εμπειρογνωμόνων για τον προσδιορισμό της συνοριακής γραμμής», δήλωσε ο Μπουσάτι, επισημαίνοντας τα ανοικτά ζητήματα με την Ελλάδα αλλά και ότι « υπάρχουν πολλά πράγματα που μπορούν να μας ενώνουν».


 Όσον αφορά το ζήτημα των τσάμηδων, ο Μπουσάτι σημείωσε ότι η κυβέρνηση το έχει εντάξει στο πολιτικό της πρόγραμμα από το 2013, αλλά ο τρόπος με τον οποίο τα δύο κράτη το αντιλαμβάνονται είναι διαφορετικός.


«Το θέμα των τσάμηδων περιλαμβάνεται στο πολιτικό πρόγραμμα της κυβέρνησης από το 2013. Ο τρόπος με τον οποίο αντιμετωπίζεται αυτό το ζήτημα είναι διαφορετικός».


«Πρόκειται για θέμα θεμελιωδών ελευθεριών και ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων. Πρόκειται για ένα θέμα που αφορά την ατομική ευθύνη των δικαιωμάτων ιδιοκτησίας. Πρόκειται για ένα ζήτημα που έχει να κάνει με το δικαίωμα της μνήμης για ό, τι συνέβη. Δεν πρέπει να είμαστε όμηροι της ιστορίας, αλλά να βρούμε τρόπους να μετριάσουμε τις πληγές του παρελθόντος», δήλωσε ο Μπουσάτι.

EU-Balkans declaration to be signed only by EU states

SManalysis

Spain has vetoed a draft text of a joint declaration planned for publication during the EU-Western Balkans summit in Bulgaria in May, El Pais is reporting.

SOURCE: B92 TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2018

According to the Spanish newspaper, "the reason is not the EU foreign policy" - instead the goal is to avoid having the name and the signature of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy "on the same document, at the same level" as that of the Kosovo leader.

And although later in the day on Monday Tanjug reported, citing sources from Brussels and Sofia, that there had been no Spanish veto - the decision to have the document signed only by EU member-states, and not candidates and potential candidates, including the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo, means that Madrid has succeeded in its intention to "isolate Pristina."

Tanjug said it learned in Brussels that the ambassadors of the 28 EU member states, including Spain, "approved a draft declaration for the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia." "The draft declaration has also been approved by Spain's ambassador to the EU and it is up to the member states themselves to accept it," a source in the Bulgarian EU Presidency told Tanjug.

Spain is among five EU member-states that do not recognize Kosovo as independent.

El Pais further wrote on Monday that this information has been confirmed by several diplomatic sources, and that Rajoy will most likely leave Sofia and the summit before a meeting that will be attended by top representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, but also of Kosovo.

The Spanish prime minister will be present only a day earlier, during an informal dinner with other leaders of EU member states.

Rajoy previously said he could attend the dinner - as for the next day, he said: “We have an important issue. Some speak of enlargement with countries which are not recognized, including by Spain. This causes us some worry."

According to the website EURACTIV.com, the Spanish prime minister in late March told his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov that he "has a problem with the summit in Sofia" and that he "threatened not to attend if Kosovo participates."

Early this year, Spain opposed some parts of EU's enlargement strategy, because it put Kosovo on the same plane as former Yugoslav republics and Albania.

Spain sent the EU a non-paper ahead of the adoption of the strategy, blocking any mention of Kosovo in this context - but also the use of the term "WB6 (Western Balkans 6)" - because it refers to Kosovo as a state.

Ο Αλβανός ΥΠΕΞ δεν ικανοποίησε την αλβανική διασπορά στις ΗΠΑ

SManalysis


 Απρίλιος 24, 2018. Echedoros

Σε συνέδριο με θέμα «Γεωπολιτική και ασφάλεια στα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια» που διεξήχθη στο πανεπιστήμιο ‘Κολόμβος’ της Νέας Υόρκης, κλήθηκε ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών της Αλβανίας, Ντιτμίρ Μπουσάτι.

Όπως θεώρησε ο γνωστός καθηγητής του Πανεπιστημίου αυτού, Ντέιβιντ Φίλιπς, ο επικεφαλής της αλβανικής διπλωματίας θα έδινε κάποιες απαντήσεις σε αυτό που αποκαλείται ‘ρωσικός κίνδυνος’ για τα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια,  τα καυτά θέματα με την Ελλάδα, τις σχέσεις με τη Σερβία καθώς και τη συνεργασία με την  Τουρκία.

Η συμμετέχουσα στη συνάντηση, Μιμόζα Φεράι, που εργάζεται στο Ανώτατο Δικαστήριο της Νιου Τζέρσεϊ, γνωστή όταν ήταν φοιτήτρια στο κίνημα του Δεκεμβρίου του 1990 στην Αλβανία, έδωσε ορισμένες εικόνες από τη συνάντηση αυτή στη Νέα Υόρκη.

Σύμφωνα με αυτήν, ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών, όχι μόνο δεν απάντησε στα περισσότερα ερωτήματα, αλλά και στις απαντήσεις που έδωσε κυριάρχησε η αοριστία, χωρίς λογική.


Συνέντευξη στον Γκεζίμ Σαλίου


Συμμετείχατε στη συνάντηση με θέμα «Γεωπολιτική και Ασφάλειας στα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια», στην οποία κλήθηκε ο Αλβανός υπουργός Εξωτερικών Ντιτμίρ Μπουσάτι. Μπορείτε να μας δώσετε ορισμένες λεπτομέρειες σχετικά με τη συζήτηση;

Η συνάντηση ήταν ιδιαίτερα σημαντική δεδομένου ότι μιλούσαν για θέματα ξεχωριστής  σημασίας, όπως η γεωπολιτική και η ασφάλεια στα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια.
Αλλά, μπορώ να πω ότι ο Αλβανός ΥΠΕΞ μίλησε τα πρώτα 30 λεπτά γενικόλογα με ένα κείμενο που είχε προετοιμάσει.


Μου φάνηκε ως ένα σχέδιο λόγου και όχι  θέση ενός κορυφαίου διπλωμάτη που μιλά με σοβαρότητα. Στη συνάντηση, ο υπουργός ρωτήθηκε αρχικά για τις συνομιλίες με την Ελλάδα και το ζήτημα των τσάμηδων και στα δύο ο Μπουσάτι δεν έδωσε τις κατάλληλες διευκρινίσεις.


Στην αίθουσα οι συμμετέχοντες ήθελαν να μάθουν εάν θα επιστρέφονταν οι περιουσίες των τσάμηδων ή θα επιλύονταν το θέμα στο Στρασβούργο.


Ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών στη συνάντηση αυτή είπε: «Διαβάστε τι είπα δημοσίως για το θέμα αυτό σε συνέντευξή μου με Έλληνα δημοσιογράφο».


Εκτός από αυτό  που δεν είναι σοβαρή απάντηση, σημειώνεται ότι ο υπουργός δεν θυμόταν το όνομα του δημοσιογράφου που έδωσε τη συνέντευξη αυτή, το οποίο όνομα, μου το υπενθύμισε,  ευγενικά, ο Ντέιβιντ Φίλιπς.


Επίσης, ο Αλβανός υπουργός Εξωτερικών, άφησε αναπάντητες τις ερωτήσεις σχετικά με τους Σλάβους γείτονες. Όσο για το ζήτημα σχετικά με την εμβάθυνση της συνεργασίας με το Κοσσυφοπέδιο και τη σημασία αυτής της σχέσης, ο καθένας μπορεί να κάνει τη δική του υπόθεση, γιατί ο Μπουσάτι δήλωσε ότι αυτό το είχε αναφέρει σε ανάρτησή του στο Facebook.
Ήταν μια άλλη απάντηση που απέφυγε να απαντήσει.


Ετέθη ακόμη το ζήτημα της παρουσίας πολλών τουρκικών επενδύσεων στην Αλβανία.

 Ο Μπουσάτι είπε ότι «οι τουρκικές επενδύσεις στη χώρας μας έρχονται πέμπτες στη σειρά, αλλά έχουμε πρωτογενείς επενδύσεις και έτσι δεν μπορούμε να μιλάμε για «τουρκική παρουσία» στην Αλβανία.


Στο τέλος του συνεδρίου είπα στον Αλβανό υπουργό: Η διασπορά μας στις ΗΠΑ πρέπει να έχουν αυτήν την εικόνα για την Αλβανία; Ότι, δηλαδή, η κυβέρνηση έχει επιχειρηματική δραστηριότητα με την Τουρκία,  επαναπαύεται με τη Σερβία και φλερτάρει με τη Ρωσία, ενώ συγχρόνως παίζει παιχνίδια με την Ελλάδα.


Έτσι τελείωσε η συζήτηση, αλλά προφανώς ο υπουργός αναζητούσε συνεχώς τρόπους διαφυγής για την αντιμετώπιση των άμεσων ερωτήσεων, σημειώνει το δημοσίευμα.