Russia asks Cyprus to use its air base

Government stuck between US and Russia over airbase use

News- Defence Minister Fotis Fotiou at the Andreas Papandreou airbase

By Stefanos Evripidou
CYPRUS APPEARS to be stuck between a rock and a hard place over a Russian request for use of its Andreas Papandreou military airbase in Paphos, it emerged on Saturday.
Local daily Simerini reported on Saturday that the military airbase southwest of the island has become a bone of contention between Russia and the US, causing headaches for the government.
According to the paper, the Russian government wants to rent permanent space at the airbase for military purposes, as opposed to adopting the practice of other ‘friendly’ states who from time to time request use of facilities, approval of which remains at the Cyprus government’s discretion.
The US is reportedly not happy with the Russian request and would see a positive response from Nicosia in a negative light.
The government, said Simerini, remains stuck in the middle of the dispute between the two permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), fearful of upsetting relations with Russia (Cyprus’ main ally in the UNSC) or the US or both.
According to the paper’s sources, consultations with the Russian government to find a solution that would satisfy both sides is ongoing, but has yet to yield results.
Asked to comment on Saturday, Defence Minister Fotis Fotiou all but confirmed the report, saying he did not want to comment directly on such a serious and sensitive issue related to Cyprus’ foreign policy.
The ministries of defence and foreign affairs will cooperate responsibly and take the “right” decision, “always taking into account the country’s national interests”, he said.
Fotiou highlighted the importance of maintaining the growing geostrategic and geopolitical importance of Cyprus which can play a stabilising role in the region.
Asked whether the US has “reprimanded” the government for the facilitations offered to Russia, Fotiou said: “No one has pressed us and what matters is through a proper consultation with friendly countries to take the right decisions.”
He noted that “Russia remains a long-standing supporter of our positions on the national issue” while Cyprus also has friendly relations with the US and other neighbouring countries in the region.
“It is clearly a matter of the Cypriot government taking a decision and such decisions are not taken under any pressure from anyone,” he said.

Concern for Greek Golden Dawn’s Rise in Poll Numbers

By Ioanna Zikakou on November 24, 2013

 

The Metron Analysis poll for this Sunday’s newspaper “TO ETHNOS” caused quite a stir, seeing as it records a strong growth of Golden Dawn after the double murder of the organization members in Neo Iraklion, Greece. Specifically, Golden Dawn went from 7.6 % to 10% in just one month. As it was written in the article “the neo-Nazi organization is once again in full force before Pavlos Fyssas‘ blood has even dried.”
So far, six of the party’s 18 members in the Greek Parliament have been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation. Three are in pre-trial detention including party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, who is charged with being the head of a criminal organisation. The Court has managed to link the political party to at least two murder’s — one of which is that of Pavlos Fyssas — three attempts of murder and many assaults.
The poll results:
The survey recorded a marginal 0.7% lead for SYRIZA. Specifically, while estimating votes, SYRIZA gathers 29.9% versus 29.2% of New Democracy. PASOK gathers 6%, the Independent Greeks 5.9%; Golden Dawn 10%; the Democratic Left (DIMAR) 3.7%; the Communist Party (KKE) 5.9%; LAOS 1.45%: the Ecological-Greens 2.6%, ANTARSYA 1.8% and 3.6% for another party.
Among the political leaders the one best suited for Greek prime minister is Antonis Samaras with 33%, followed by Alexis Tsipras with 16%, while 36% voted for “no one.”
The taxation of property was considered unfair by 82% of the people asked, while 56% believe that the image of the State is worsening.

Albania hunts 'dangerous' jail-break inmates

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• Albania profile

A manhunt is under way in Albania after seven prisoners escaped from a high-security jail, officials say.

An interior ministry statement said the men - mostly serving life sentences for murder - were "armed and dangerous".
Road blocks have been set up. Special forces are heading towards the Drenove prison area, some 180km (110 miles) south-east of the capital, Tirana.
One of the men is said to have been captured. Neighbouring Greece and Macedonia have been contacted.
The interior ministry statement names the seven men and says they escaped around 19:30 (18:30 GMT). It gives no details of the jail-break.
However, local media sources say the men managed to disarm the guards before escaping under the cover of darkness. They were said to have commandeered the car of a local village chief.
The interior ministry has set up a crisis group to handle the response.

In Memmorian: Petro Markos`s 100 Anniversary 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro_Marko

Explaining the Rapid Rise of the Xenophobic Right in Contemporary Europe

he last three decades have witnessed a remarkable rise in xenophobic, deeply conservative, and even extreme right-wing parties across much of Europe.[1] Whereas thirty years ago most xenophobic parties failed to even pass the 5% minimum voter threshold that is typically required to enter government, it can be argued that they now constitute as much as ~28% of the parliament in countries like Austria, and arguably have reached the ~70% level in Hungary.[2] By 1999, the Austrians—who traditionally tout themselves as the “first victims” of the Third Reich—had elected the prominent nationalist and accused Holocaust denier[3] Jörg Haider as the governor of Carinthia and given his Freedom Party more than 26% of the vote in the national elections. Haider proceeded to personally help dismantle multilingual street signs that were erected for the local Slovene minority.[4] The Golden Dawn party, which now has more than ~7% of the national vote in Greece, often marches in the streets of Athens with Rune-emblazoned flags and jackboots that easily remind the older generations of the German occupation of 1941-45. Most recently, the Golden Dawn has distributed free meals to the racially “authentic” Greek public.[5] At the same time, prominent members of Hungary’s powerful Jobbik party have even called for the government to prepare lists of Jews who might “[pose a] threat to Hungarian national security.”[6]

My map showing the proportion of Muslim populations in Europe today (including indigenous and immigrant populations). Also included are the ethnic groups that often become the focus of the hostility of xenophobic parties. Stats from government websites and the CIA World Factbook.

Source: http://www.geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-rapid-rise-of-the-xenophobic-right-in-contemporary-europe#ixzz2lZFUG1ko

Hoping to understand these surprising changes in the European political climate, this post will briefly analyze the characteristics of the xenophobic right as of 2013, underscore the diversity of xenophobic parties, and try to explain some of the patterns encountered when the far-right takes hold, as well as their exceptions. The rough percentages listed next to the parties refer to their approximate share of national parliaments according to the most recent elections, and are corroborated with each country’s respective government websites. It will become apparent that it is very difficult to locate common patterns that might explain when and why the far-right takes hold in Europe.
The shift across Europe towards the right is perhaps as surprising as it is alarming, considering that the specters of World War II and totalitarianism are still ripe in the historical memory of virtually all European societies. Even more surprising, the xenophobic right has enjoyed some of its greatest successes in countries that are usually associated with liberalism and multiculturalism, including Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Even in supposedly tolerant Switzerland, the powerful Swiss People’s Party (~26%) has restricted the construction of mosques and minarets and has even campaigned with an ad that depicted three white sheep kicking a black one out of the country.[7] Far-right, racist parties like Vlaams Blok in Belgium were gaining in popularity until they were banned for extremism in 2004. In the 2003 elections, the Vlaams Blok won almost 12% of the seats in the Chamber of Representatives. Observers in the West have especially struggled to comprehend how quickly the extreme right has emerged in Greece, the supposed birthplace of democracy. The growing popularity of the right across the continent is a source of great concern for human rights groups in Brussels, which routinely encourage national courts to ban xenophobic parties on the grounds that they breach international protections against racism.

My map charting the spread of elected xenophobic parties in Europe as of 2013. When viewed on a map, the growth of the far-right is striking. Green refers to countries were a xenophobic party is in government, which gray means none is in power. Copyright James Mayfield/GeoCurrents.

However, it is critical to understand that “the right” cannot be homogenized or reduced to the typical imagery of fascism, neo-Nazism, racism, or dictatorship that might emerge in our minds when we think of the right in European history. Xenophobic parties have garnered increasing support from voters of diverse political ideologies, primarily because of growing disaffection with the status quo. As the vulnerabilities of the European Union become more apparent, increasing numbers are calling for reform of pan-European economics, integration, open border immigration, and multiculturalism—principles that have shaped the development of Europe since World War II. With skyrocketing unemployment across most of the continent, massive immigration from Africa, Asia, and the Balkans into Western Europe, and what many feel to be a broken economic and political structure of the European Union, voters of various backgrounds seem to be choosing radically different solutions to the ongoing crises in Europe.

Source: http://www.geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-rapid-rise-of-the-xenophobic-right-in-contemporary-europe#ixzz2lZF7rFrt

Leaders of Albanian parties cease talks with government

PRESEVO - Leaders of ethnic Albanian political parties from southern Serbia's municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja have decided unanimously to end their talks with the Serbian government, member of the national parliament from the Coalition of the Albanians of the Presevo Valley Riza Haljimi said on Saturday.

The reason for the decision is the rejection of the amendments Haljimi proposed to the bill on the court network law adopted by the Serbian parliament this week.

A unanimous decision was made to end the talks with the Serbian government on the seven points, which refer to the education, healthcare, economy, judiciary, use of national symbols and language, Haljimi pointed out.

"This thing with the courts was the last straw in terms of solving the problems in southern Serbia," he stated.

"We did not decide to stop the talks, but the Serbian government decided it instead when it sent such a discriminatory bill for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja to the parliament," he said.

He proposed amendments to open a basic court and prosecutor's office in Presevo and police court and prosecutor's office in Bujanovac.

The law, however, states that the basic court would be in Bujanovac, the prosecutor's office in nearby Vranje and that the police court would be in Presevo.

"The point of the next very serious topic that we were to discuss was lost," Haljimi said.

Dacic calls on Albanian party leaders not to end talks

Serbia's Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on Saturday that the leaders of ethnic Albanian parties from southern Serbia had not reason to end their talks with the government and called on them not to do it, because they had no one else to make agreements with.

He said he had been informed that the leaders of ethnic Albanian parties from Serbia's southern municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and medvedja were not happy with the new court network law regarding its provisions on courts and prosecutors' offices.

"I do not know what is in question and I think there is no reason for that, and if they do no want to talk to us, who will they talk to? They have no one," he told reporters.

The leaders of ethnic Albanian political parties from southern Serbia's municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja have decided unanimously to end their talks with the Serbian government, member of the national parliament from the Coalition of the Albanians of the Presevo Valley Riza Haljimi said on Saturday.

The reason for the decision is the rejection of the amendments Haljimi proposed to the bill on the court network law adopted by the Serbian parliament this week.

Based on the talks with ethnic Albanian representatives from Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja in January and February, which were attended by OSCE officials, the Serbian government adopted in June a platform consisting 7 points, whose implementation has begun in the meantime.

The platform refers to the presence of ethnic Albanians in government institutions, economic recovery of the three municipalities, official use of the Albanian language and national symbols, decentralization of the judiciary, education, culture, media, healthcare, social security, security and measures to establish trust in the three municipalities in southern Serbia where the ethnic Albanian minority lives.

Stankovic: Policy of demands brings good to no one

Head of the coordinating body for the municipalities Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Zoran Stankovic said on Saturday, commenting on the statements by ethnic Albanians' political leaders in southern Serbia that they would stop the talks with Belgrade, that a policy of demands brought no one any good.

"We have not been officially informed about the views of the Albanian leaders from the three municipalities, and the coordinating body will continue to solve the problems of the people in that area and, within the limits of its capabilities, ensure a better life for the people," Stankovic noted.

When asked if the talks would contiue, he replied that they had not been stopped.

"The talks have to continue and it is up to them to decide when," he pointed out.

The people's lives will go on normally, he added.

"We, as the Serbian government, have no right to stop paying the scholarship of 250 students from Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja... I cannot ask that the construction of a maternity hospital in Presevo be stopped, I cannot ask that the scholarships for university students across Serbia be cancelled, for the construction of a student building in Bujanovac to stop, I cannot behave irresponsibly towards the citizens," Stankovic stated.

Leaders of ethnic Albanian political parties from southern Serbia have decided unanimously to stop the talks with the Serbian government regarding 7 points, member of the Serbian parliament from the Coalition of the Albanians of the Presevo Valley Riza Haljimi said on Saturday.

The reason for the decision is the rejection of the amendments Haljimi proposed to the bill on the court network law adopted by the Serbian parliament last Wednesday.

Albania optimistic for Candidate Status

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Albania expects a positive answer from the European Council for the Candidate Status.

This would be a political decision of the union, declared the head of Albanian democracy, Ditmir Bushati, who said that the unanimous vote in favor would have one encouragement message for the further reforms, and also an encouragement to the entire region, entering in the point of no return for the European Union path.

But Netherlands seem to be one of the countries that might have it difficult to give a vote in favor of Albania, as confirmed by their ambassador in Albania.

“We are having constant contacts with the Dutch authorities. We know the position that Netherlands is having, and it is not simply against Albania, but against the enlargement process in general. As regards the honest strict position held by Netherlands, let me say that there is still no concrete decision from the Dutch government. We are expecting a political decision from the European Union countries, and this decision should be unanimous for Albania to receive the Candidate Status”, Bushati declared.

The Foreign Minister released these declarations in a press release he held with the Bulgarian homologue, Kristian Vigenin, whose country has a clear position in favor of Albania.

“Bulgaria believes that Albania has fulfilled all requests demanded by the European Commission, and I see a dedicated and dynamic government that will fulfill the European agenda. We believe that there is no reason to postpone the candidate status of Albania. I have made an appeal to give the status to Albania and Bulgaria will keep doing this”, Vigenin declared.

The head of the Bulgarian diplomacy guaranteed the support on Albania even during a meeting with the Prime Minister Edi Rama and Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta.

Seven inmates escape from Drenova prison
23/11/2013

Seven inmates convicted for several criminal acts and considered as dangerous individuals have escaped from the Drenova high security prison.

Police say that the convicts are: Admir Tafili, Frank Marashi, Gezim Guri, Gezim Thoma, Reis Haxhiaj, Eduard Lula and Artur Gora.

Police say that during the escape they have been able to take the guards’ guns, and now they are traveling armed and pose a high social risk.

The Ministry of Interior ordered the creation of a working group, with several forces spread in the area.

The Interior Minister, Saimir Tahiri, met in Tirana with the Prosecutor General, Adriatik Llalla and with the Minister of Justice, Nasip Naco.

The Ministry of Interior also says that they have warned the neighboring countries of Macedonia and Greece, while the border police are on alert.

French troops to withdraw from Kosovo?

Source: RTS

BELGRADE -- French President Francois Hollande has decided that some 300 French soldiers will leave northern Kosovo in the first half of 2014, reports RTS.

(Tanjug, file)

The French troops, deployed as part of NATO's KFOR mission, are mainly stationed in Kosovska Mitrovica.
Hollande has decided to withdraw the troops from Kosovo "because of the increasing problems in Africa," write the German media, citing an internal document that was forwarded from Paris to other NATO members.

The decision means that the 300 French soldiers stationed in the north will leave, but 11 officers will remain at KFOR HQ, along with 39 police officers who are part of the EULEX mission.

The French withdrawal from Kosovo came after a series of problems that France faced in Mali, the Ivory Coast, and the Central African Republic.

In a message to other members of NATO, France's decision was reportedly explained with the words that there was "no longer a military threat" in Kosovo, and that the overall security situation allowed for the troops to leave.

George Soros Invests in Greek Shipping Companies

George Soros Invests in Greek Shipping Companies

 

According to Soros Fund Management’s latest quarterly 13F filing published on Wall Street, he expanded his business in six Greek shipping companies. It is notable that Soros Fund Management’s reported stock portfolio was valued at $9.1 billion as of Sept. 30, 2013.

The billionaire investor Soros is officially shareholder of six Greek shipping companies. In particular, Soros has shares in: DryShips, owner: George Economou, Diana Shipping, owner: Simeon Palios, in Navios Maritime Partners-Navios Maritime Holdings, owner: Angeliki Frangou, Safe Bulkers, owner: Poly Hatziioannou and in Baltic Trading, owner: Petros Georgiopoulos as well. The sixth shipping company which is the only non-Greek company, is the Irish Ardmore Shipping.

The investment of George Soros in Greek shipping companies coincides with the maritime recovery and especially in the dry bulk industry.

"Επιβάλλεται να στηρίξετε την ΧΑ"

Greek Singer, Sfakianakis: “Golden Dawn Will Save Greece”

By Nikoleta Kalmouki on November 22, 2013 in Celebrities, News

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The famous Greek singer, Notis Sfakianakis in an interview with a TV show, talked about his career, his relations with other singers and politics. Sfakianakis has been accused several times for supporting  the Neo-nazi party “Golden Dawn.” The singer responding to these accusations, saying that he has every right to express his opinion in public as he is a political being and an active citizen.
Referring to Golden Dawn, the singer said it is not a fascist party and that the government didn’t have the right to imprison the president of the party. After these statements the journalist said that people will once again accuse him for supporting Golden Dawn. “Everyone must support Golden Dawn. It is the only party that can properly govern Greece.” he added.
The Greek singer also also attacked the current Greek government saying that it can’t rule the country, while he was particularly poignant with the Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis. “The Health Minister can’t achieve anything” he said, expressing his total opposition to the methods that Georgiadis uses for the reform of the national healthcare system.
Sfakianakis harshly criticized the journalists and denounced the media system for promoting specific artists. He advised his fans not to listen to the radio because everything is set up by record companies.

Sfakianakis: Only Golden Dawn Can Govern Greece Correctly

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By Hellas Frappe on 22.11.13

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'If any party could govern correctly Greece, this would be the Golden Dawn," said popular singer Notis Sfakianakis who does not regularly chew on his words but rather is extremely politically outspoken and not afraid to tell it like it is. Sfakianakis made these statements at the award ceremony of his latest album "16 separate stories", which went multi-platinum earlier this week.

      "I am a citizen, not a customer and think about politics all the time. I do not value all of those who govern and torment you in the same way and have every right to express my opinion. They (the government) are my employees and they owe me a lot. They have made my people suffer. The members of the Golden Dawn party are not fascists, and they have locked up someone who is a leader of a political party. Who gave them the right? It is necessary to support the Golden Dawn party, because it has the dawn (that Greece needs)."Video below

According to the "Espresso" newspaper Sfakianakis lashed out at the government saying that they are not doing a good job of operating the country. He said that with Ministers such as Adonis Georgiadis the country is headed to the unknown and criticized the Health Minister for the methods he has adopted against the National Health Care System.

He then turned his attention on the Greek media, and condemned them for promoting artists who in his opinion are being endorsed because they have embraced the "establishment".

Read more at http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/11/sfakianakis-only-golden-dawn-can-govern.html#DTPIG3gHY6VvOM6Y.99

Insight - Assad's sarin and how an Albanian 'Yes' became 'No'

By Benet Koleka and Anthony Deutsch

TIRANA/THE HAGUE 

Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama holds a news conference on the dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons in Tirana November 15, 2013.

(Reuters) - On the evening of Monday, November 11, the U.S. ambassador to Tirana, Alexander Arvizu, met Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and his foreign minister at a government villa in the capital.
News had emerged that a favour was being asked by the United States, and an unprecedented backlash was building just two months into Rama's tenure.people, to host the destruction of 1,300 tonnes of Syrian nerve agents under a plan agreed with Russia to eliminate them from Syria's civil war.Albania was an obvious choice. Dubbed the '51st State', the impoverished Adriatic republic is staunchly pro-American and was the first country in the world to eliminate its own communist-era chemical weapons in 2007, with Washington footing much of the $48 million bill.

Facing a November 15 deadline to finalise the plan, Arvizu and Rama talked until 1 a.m. The next day, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the U.S. embassy, chanting "No, no, no!"
At the last minute, with protests building, Rama blinked - the proposed deal undone by the same democratic forces that Washington had welcomed when communist rule fell.
"It is impossible for Albania to take part in this operation," Rama said in a televised address on Friday afternoon.
Albania's sudden refusal left U.S. diplomats scrambling for a Plan B to get the chemical weapons out of Syria within six weeks under a timetable agreed with President Bashar al-Assad's big-power backer, Russia.
The setback underscores the challenges facing a plan to extract sarin, mustard gas and other lethal nerve agents from a war zone, and the limits of American diplomacy. Rama meanwhile was accused of failing to pre-empt local opposition to the deal.

"It was possible to say 'Yes', Rama wanted to say 'Yes', but in the end it became impossible for him to say 'Yes'," said a senior Western diplomat. Like others interviewed for this article, the diplomat was not authorised to speak and so requested anonymity.
Through aides, both Rama and Arvizu declined to be interviewed by Reuters on the matter.
LOYALTY
Diplomatic sources say Rama knew Albania was in the mix as far back as September, when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, agreed the plan in Geneva and averted threatened U.S. missile strikes following an August 21 sarin attack in a Damascus suburb.
Rama, just days in office, was keen to take part.
His predecessor, Sali Berisha, had worked hard to keep Washington's favour, taking in prisoners from the U.S. jail at Guantanamo Bay as President Barack Obama sought to close the facility, as well as hundreds of Iranian opposition exiles who had for years been holed up in Iraq.
In 2003, as training for the invasion of Iraq, Albania let U.S. warplanes bomb bunkers left over by the country's Stalinist leader, Enver Hoxha.
The loyalty stretches back to the end of World War One, when Woodrow Wilson saved Albania from being dismembered by its neighbours, through to 1999, when Bill Clinton took the lead in the NATO bombing of then-Yugoslavia to stop the slaughter of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by Serbian forces under Slobodan Milosevic.
When George W. Bush visited Tirana in 2007, at the lowest ebb of his popularity at home and abroad, the president received a rock-star welcome, hugged and kissed by Albanians in Uncle Sam top hats.
"Even in Michigan, he wouldn't be as welcome," Rama, then in opposition, was quoted as saying at the time.
But even he knew accepting Assad's sarin would be a hard sell to the local population.
While nerve agents can be fairly quickly downgraded, the process can produce up to 15 times the volume in toxic waste. Such waste would take years to dispose of, and pose a risk to the environment if not cleaned up properly.
SWEETENER
A bohemian artist in his younger days, 49-year-old Rama had made his name as mayor of Tirana by giving the drab city a facelift with newly planted trees and bright paint daubed on downtown buildings.
When Berisha moved to open the country to lucrative waste imports in 2010, Rama was opposed and among his first decisions on becoming prime minister in September was to ban the practice.
The issue had tapped into a vein of resentment among some Albanians that their country was being exploited, treated as a garbage dump by its richer, cleaner allies in the West. There were also fears the Albanian mafia would get involved.
Rama would need a sweetener.
Though it is not known precisely what he discussed with Arvizu, the prime minister said later that the deal would have involved a U.S. promise to clean up dozens of environmental 'hotspots' in Albania, a legacy of Hoxha's rule and two decades of industrial complacency since his regime fell.
The benefit to the Albanian economy would have run to tens of millions of dollars. The clean-up would have fed into Albania's efforts to market itself as an emerging tourist destination on the Adriatic Sea, with great stretches of unspoiled sandy beaches.
But before Rama could break the news, reports emerged naming Albania as a possible destination for Syria's chemical arsenal.
Albania was first identified as a possible host on October 31 by Global Security Newswire, a news website focusing on nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and security.
The report was picked up by the Albanian press over the next few days and Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati confirmed the possibility in an interview with Le Monde on November 4.
Environmentalists expressed alarm and youth groups took to Facebook to summon protests.
The opposition pounced, accusing Rama of secretly negotiating a deal that would put Albanians in harm's way.
One senior opposition figure branded Rama "Chemical Edi", evoking Saddam Hussein's cousin and power-broker Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali for ordering the 1988 gas attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq.
Suddenly Rama was on the back foot. He spoke by telephone with Secretary of State Kerry.
Diplomats and Albanian officials say both Rama and Arvizu, the U.S. ambassador, had not anticipated such a backlash. Rama, too, had failed to keep his coalition partner, Ilir Meta, and President Bujar Nishani in the loop.
"This was an easy job, just tough PR," a U.S. official said.
CONTAMINATION
As small but vocal protests took off, Albanian television aired a report from Qafe Molle, an army facility on the other side of a mountain from Tirana where the United States had helped dispose of 16 tonnes of Hoxha's chemical weapons six years ago.
The report showed villagers storing water in a blue plastic canister that the journalist said had once contained chemicals.
A U.S. embassy cable from May 2009 said containers left behind by U.S. contractors at the site were leaking arsenic, lead and mercury.
The cable was first leaked in 2010 and cited by Albanian media. It resurfaced this month, brandished at protests by environmentalists as a central element in their argument against the U.S. request.
At home, the United States has yet to eliminate its own chemical weapons. To date, it has spent $28 billion dollars on destroying 90 percent of its declared stockpile, and must spend another $10 billion to complete the job by 2023, many years behind schedule, according to the U.S. Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
U.S. efforts to prod other so-called 'possessor states' into destroying their own stockpiles have been dogged by political resistance and delays.
It has had similar problems in trying to secure and destroy - in cooperation with Russia - radioactive material left over from the Cold War at sites around the world, for fear it could fall into the hands of militants as an ingredient for crude bombs.
Transportation of such material is costly, requiring tight security and secrecy.
Rama suddenly appeared at a loss to explain the benefits of the deal, and at one point even said he would have joined the protests had he not been prime minister.
"If communication with the opposition and civil society had been good, this could have worked," the senior Western diplomat said. "The people in the street were the ones who had voted for him (Rama), and he found himself against a wall."
Even on Thursday evening, 24 hours before the deadline to agree the deal, Arvizu was on Albanian television defending the U.S. request. He said Washington would be "disappointed" if it was rejected. The next day it was.
Sources familiar with discussions at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, which is overseeing the plan, told Reuters this week that experts were now looking at the possibility of processing and destroying the weapons at sea, most likely in the Mediterranean.
Such a scenario may incur costs well in excess of the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars needed to dispose of the nerve agents on land, had Albania agreed.
"Perhaps both the Albanian and U.S. officials underestimated possible Albanian public opposition to a proposal to destroy bulk warfare agents and precursors on their soil," said a source briefed on the negotiations.
"Since considerable public opposition has overshadowed the U.S. chemical weapons destruction programme for decades, this was a foreseeable problem."
(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood and Janet McBride)

 Albania gets 12 fighter aircraft F-4E ICE from Germany with Turkish help!





The first fighter aircraft western manufacturing ( even used ) attempts to procure the Albanian Air Force under exclusive information defencenet.gr.

This is for 12 ( other sources speak of 14) German F-4E ICE and 6-8 as spare parts which the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) has withdrawn from June and now seeking buyers .

This is a development which if implemented would create new data in the time required redeployment of forces to the north of the PA . Aircraft have about the same capabilities as modernized Greek F-4E Peace Icarus and have launch capability even AIM-120C!

The aircraft attempted to ward JG-71 "Richthofen" and officially retired on June 29. According to the German Air Force 12 of these are in operable condition and 8 can be given for parts.

The interesting point about the Albanian demand for German aircraft is that this occurred after they had prior contacts with Greece for the supply of certain aircraft to be used as spare parts for the F-4E of 117PM .

MP Olldashi dies in tragic accident

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The Democratic Party MP, Sokol Olldashi, passed away today in a tragic accident.

Olldashi was involved in a car crash in the Tirana-Elbasan road, near Krraba, in the place called "Lapidari i Krrabes". The vehicle might have fallen off road. A second man was travelling with the MP, but his identity is still unknown.

The Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri and MPs from both parties have rushed to the scene. Police has blocked circulation in both sides of the road.

Kosovo Islamic Community opposes joining fighting in Syria

Kosovo's highest Islamic institution issued a statement after the police confirmed it arrested six terror suspects, some whom have fought in Syria.

By Linda Karadaku for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 18/11/13

The Kosovo Islamic Community, headed by Mufti Naum Ternava (pictured above), issued a statement against Kosovo Muslims joining the war in Syria. [Kosovo Islamic Community]

The Kosovo Islamic Community (BIK) appealed to the country's youth to stay away from the war in Syria and urged those who have joined the fighting to return to their families in Kosovo.
The call came after Kosovo police confirmed it arrested six people on charges of terrorism and illegal possessions of weapons, at least two of whom had fought in Syria.
"[W]e send the message and let know all those who have taken such a path, not to fall prey to groups and individuals that want to make 'jihad' through the Syrian people's tragedy," the organisation said in a statement on November 13th.
Going to Syria to fight has nothing to do with Islamic principles, but serves to prolong the life of the Bashar al-Assad regime as well as the suffering of the Syrian people, the statement said.
The statement also appealed to parents and youth not to fall prey to calls by suspicious organisations which it referred to a "people without an address."
"We do not have young people [to spare] to be recruited by unknown people in the name of Islamic faith," it added.
Experts quickly welcomed the call by Kosovo's leading institution on Islamic faith because it previously had been silent on the issue. There are as many as 1,000 volunteer fighters from Europe taking part in the conflict in Syria.
"This is a humane call to save the lives of Kosovo's young people so that they return to their families. [I am] saying that, having in mind the very hard and often unclear situation in Syria," Valon Murtezaj, professor of international negotiations at the IESEG School of Management in Paris, told SETimes.
Pristina resident Serbeze Haxhiaj, a public relations worker, said the organisation's silence to this point had created doubts among some about the conflict.
"The suspicion for an indirect support by BIK for those groups was reinforced by the statements of the son of Mufti Naim Ternava, who issued a call on the social networks to go and fight in Syria," Haxhiaj told SETimes.
Valdete Osmani said the call is especially important because it uses its authority to appeal primarily to young, impressionable people not to be misled.
"That does not mean, however, that I do not feel the pain of the civilian population in Syria. But I just do not want people of my age fall prey to suspicious organisations, which I do not believe have pure intentions," Osmani told SETimes.
The Islamic Community should have repeatedly proclaimed this position, explained what is going on in Syria and sensitised believers about what may happen, said Ymer Mushkolaj, political commentator for the daily Express.

Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Barack Obama on Wednesday at the White House honored 16 Americans, including former President Bill Clinton, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President John F. Kennedy established the modern version of the medal, which is the nation's highest civilian honor.

President Barack Obama placed a Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck of former President Bill Clinton during a ceremony held Wednesday at the White House for recipients of the award.

Unhappy with the Troika, Greece turns to Berlin

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is set to arrive in Berlin for talks on Friday. Despite Greece's economic troubles, the government, experts say, is in a better position to negotiate today than in the past.

In early November, it was far from clear whether any agreements would be reached during a visit to Greece by the country's lenders, the so-called Troika consisting of the EU Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Significant differences stood between the Greek coalition government and its lenders.
The biggest was the size of the looming deficit in the 2014 Greek budget. Greek Finance Minister Jannis Stournaras estimated it at a maximum of 500 million euros. The Troika, on the other hand, put it at a minimum of 2 billion euros and demanded new austerity measures.
Since then, officials have agreed to 1.3 billion euros in additional funding. But Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras refuses to take further austerity steps and cut wages. The government leader says Greek society is “exhausted” following seven years of an ongoing recession and record unemployment at 28 percent.
No elbow room
"The government wants to pursue a tougher negotiating position because it has no elbow room for one-sided austerity measures," says Kostas Botopoulos, a constitutional lawyer and a member of the co-ruling socialist party PASOK. What was agreed should be implemented, he says but warns of making new cuts.
Botopoulos also believes the Greek government is now in a stronger position to negotiate after achieving a primary budget surplus, which occurs when government revenues (excluding borrowing costs) exceed government spending. Such a fiscal success, he argues, must be considered in budget talks.

Domestic unrest is rising in Greece

Makis Andronopoulos, a financial journalist and publicist based in Athens, has a different view. He believes Greek politicians, for tactical and domestic reasons, should have the public believe they're taking a tough position but continue to follow the Troika line. The Athens government, argues Andronopoulos who is currently working on a book about Germany, had hoped for a change of heart following the German elections and the opportunity to spare its citizens further austerity measures.
That, however, didn't happen. At the first EU summit following the elections, Chancellor Angela Merkel showed Finance Minister Stournaras the cold shoulder, prompting the minister to admit later to a 1.3-billion deficit that threatened the 2014 budget. That move was directly followed by an invitation for the prime minister to come to Berlin on Friday (22.11.2013).
“We deliver - Europe helps,” said Samaras during the January crisis talks in Berlin. Even then, Chancellor Merkel remained polite but non-committal and urged further reforms in crisis-ridden Greece. This time, observers expect Samaras to seek greater clarity on the European political course of the planned grand coalition.
Growing domestic tension
Andronopoulos sees the need to explain the growing domestic tension in Greece as another reason for Samaras' diplomatic trip. The prime minister barely survived a vote of no-confidence sought by the left-wing opposition on November 11. Meanwhile, Panos Kammenos, head of the right-wing populist party “Independent Greeks,” called for an alliance against the government's austerity policy, an alliance that the left is also expected to join.
Parties of all stripes, including the right-wing extreme party Golden Dawn, see good opportunities to win votes in the upcoming European elections in May 2014. Local elections in Greece will also be held parallel to the European elections.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras got the cold shoulder

“If the political forces opposed to the current austerity policy were to gain the upper hand in the European and Greek local elections, the left-wing opposition would demand new Greek parliamentary elections the next day,” says Andronopoulos. And because of threatening instability, Prime Minister Samaras would seek understanding from the German chancellor to postpone implementing austerity measures, he adds.
The socialist Botopoulos sees no reason to be alarmed. A party alliance against the austerity policy, he says, is nothing new. The right-wing populists, he notes, have long maintained contacts to the left and have even occasionally pursued a common course. However, such an alliance, he argues, would not be "enough to put the entire political system in doubt."
Another aid package?
The Greek rescue package expires in April 2014, with no further financing of the crisis-ridden country secured. What comes next is unclear. Ahead of the federal elections, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble indicated that another aid package for Greece could not be ruled out. Media reports suggest the package could be as high as 10 billion euros.
No decisions on the issue have been made. But Botopoulos notes that although the Greek government would ideally like to have a decision this year, such a quick decision is unrealistic.
"Given the political tension in Greece, successful government negotiations would be important for the European elections," he says. "But it appears that domestic policy considerations will also gain the upper hand in Germany and the debate on a new aid package for Greece will be postponed."

"Albania-US relations are not damaged"

For the first time after taking the decision to say “no” to the proposition to accept Syria’s chemical weapons and destroy them in our country, after several civil protests broke up throughout the country, the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, gave an exclusive interview on Top Channel’s “Top Story”.

“My purpose, in the entire purpose of discussions, was not only for Albania to say ‘yes’ and get involved in this operation, but for Albania to come out stronger and cleaner after this operation. The process was built with this purpose, which was additional to the purpose of the United States and other countries that were involved. Because there are other countries involved, with the interest to continue this operation, although they have not yet been physically involved, to develop it concretely. It is very simple. We didn’t have the conditions for this to happen. To try to benefit from a protest for such a special issue, which became so important for an entire people, is not a lack of leadership, but the contrary. I guarantee you that since the process took a long time, it means that as Prime Minister, I have been completely aware about who and how I was representing, and for what I had to insist with our partners. The opposition of Albania has broken the political ice in the history of freedom in the relation with the United States of America, for which politics has never been divided in two different sides, when it was about strategic and national interests. I guarantee you that if not for the craziness of the opposition, this position would have had the same decency. Our relations with the United States have not been damaged, due to the dignity that we had in this process. We stood to the end, different from others who left earlier. They left naturally, because they were discussing in the same way as we did. The demanded clarifications and arguments in the same way as we did. But we had the moral obligation to look for a solution until the end, and be supporters of those partners, without whom Albania wouldn’t be what it is today, as regards its freedom; without which the Albanian people wouldn’t have today two free and independent states in the middle of Europe, and without Europe who knows where it would have been today. This is what we did, and we did it with dignity”, Rama declared.

Alban Dudushi: What happens when you say “no” to the United States?

“I know what happens when someone challenges the United States with the proportions of what the Albanian opposition did. Not because their stance was against, but because they lacked of respect for what the United States represent, by describing them as a danger for the citizens’ life. You can lose a lot from the respect that they have. I am certain that the United States have it very clear that we did everything we could for supporting their efforts, and Albania didn’t get involved in this operation because it couldn’t, not because we didn’t have the will to be by the side of the United States. This was impossible, as I explained in front of the public, and the United States understand, especially for the fact that our partners were on the other side of the table and they followed the entire dynamics of discussions and had the possibility to understand our final position”, Rama declared.

Serbia, Germany agree military cooperation plan for 2014

BERLIN, BELGRADE - A 2014 military cooperation plan between the Defense Ministries of Germany and Serbia was agreed during three-day defense consultations that ended in Berlin on Wednesday.

The two ministries jointly stated that they are both interested in a qualitative and quantitative improvement of cooperation in the field of defense and in continuation of high-level visits, the Serbian Defense Ministry said in a release.

The cooperation is centered on military education, military medicine and preparations for participation in multinational operations, the Serbian Defense Ministry said on its website.

The Serbian Defense Ministry delegation, who were on a visit to Berlin on November 18-20, was led by Colonel Milan Konjikovac.

The delegation of German Federal Ministry of Defense was headed by Frigate Captain Martin Breithaupt.

Konjikovac put forward a proposal to conduct joint exercises, establish cooperation between peacekeeping operations and CBRN defense centers and participate jointly in multinational operations.

He stressed the importance of reciprocity in the implementation of training of officers at all levels of military schooling, the Serbian Defense Ministry said.

Serbia is among top priority countries when it comes to Germany's defense cooperation with non-NATO countries, Breithaupt said, welcoming the expressed intentions to intensify defense cooperation.

Ministers in Brussels to discuss EU candidate status 

 

European Integration Minister Klajda Gjosha and Minister of Justice Nasip Naco and Interior Minister Samir Tahiri are due to depart tomorrow to Brussels for an official visit.

The visit takes place just weeks before a decision whether EU Member States will grant Albania the EU candidate status, in a Summit that is scheduled to be held on December.

The Albanian ministers will hold a series of meetings with senior representatives of the European Commission and from other EU institutions. /albeu.com/