Month: August 2008

Catholic News Agency, CO
Aug 24 2008

Saint of the day: ST. BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2008

Saint Bartholomew is one of the Twelve Apostles, mentioned sixth in
the three Gospel lists (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14), and
seventh in the list of Acts (1:13). The name (Bartholomaios) means
"son of Talmai" which was an ancient Hebrew name.

Besides being listed as an Apostle, he is not otherwise mentioned in
the New Testament. At least not under the name Bartholomew: many
ancient writers, and Catholic tradition have identified Bartholomew as
Nathaniel in the Gospel of John (John 1:45-51, and 21:2).

The Gospel passage read at Mass on the feast of Saint Bartholomew is
precisely this passage from John (1:45-51) where Nathaniel is
introduced to Jesus by his friend Phillip, and Jesus says of him "Here
is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him (1:47)."

We are presented with the Apostle’s character in this brief and
beautiful dialogue with the Lord Jesus. He is a good Jew, honest and
innocent, a just man, who devotes much time to quiet reflection and
prayer – "under the fig tree (1:48)" – and has been awaiting the
Messiah, the Holy One of God.

At Jesus’ mention that "Before Philip called you, when you were under
the fig tree, I saw you (1:48)," Nathaniel responded "Rabbi, you are
the Son of God! You are the King of Israel (1:49)!"

Being "a true child of Israel," Nathaniel was a man well-read in the
Scriptures and knew what they said of the Messiah and where he would
come from. This is why he is skeptical of Phillip’s claim that Jesus
is the Messiah, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth (1:46)?"

But Nathaniel was lacking "duplicity" – that is, his heart was
undivided, his intentions pure – his openness to reality was always
ready to recognize and surrender to the truth when he encountered
it. He remained open to his friend Phillip’s invitation to "Come and
see (1:46)."

In encountering Jesus and hearing His words, he found himself face to
face with the Truth Himself, and, like John the Baptist’s leap in his
mother’s womb at the Lord’s presence, Nathaniel’s words lept out of
his own heart in a clear and simple confession of faith, "Rabbi, you
are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

Jesus, in Matthew 5:8, says, "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they
shall see God." In Nathaniel we have an example of the pure man who
sees – recognizes – God when confronted with Him, and on seeing Him
believes in Him, and upon believing in Him follows Him.

Nothing is known for sure about the life of Nathaniel/Bartholomew
after the Ascension of Jesus. But tradition has it that he preached in
the East and died a martyr’s death in Armenia, being flayed alive for
having won converts to the Lord Jesus.

569

Xinhua General News Service
August 23, 2008 Saturday 11:40 AM EST

Russia-led defense bloc to hold regular drills: official

MOSCOW Aug. 23

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is to hold
large-scale military exercises every two years, including those in the
hot spot region of Caucasus, a senior official said on Saturday.

"The participants of a meeting of the CSTO defense ministers decided
to hold large-scale exercises every two years. Thus, the next
exercises will take place in 2010," Interfax news agency quoted CSTO
Deputy Secretary General Valery Semerikov as saying.

Those war games will be held with the situation in the region to be
taken into consideration, including the Caucasus, he said.

The CSTO defense ministers met on Thursday in the Armenian capital of
Yerevan to discuss the military and political situation in the region,
the military cooperation of the member states, as well as their
foreign and defense policies.

The Russia-led bloc has held four-stage military exercises in Russia
and the Caucasus state of Armenia in July and August, involving about
4,000 troops from Armenia, Russia and Tajikistan. Military staff from
the other CSTO member states also joined the exercises.

The seven-member organization was renamed in October 2002 on the basis
of the Collective Security Treaty, which was signed in Mary 1992
within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The
current members of the CSTO include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan.

The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia)
August 24, 2008 Sunday
First Edition

Gathering momentum;
POLITICS

by Lisa Carty

Labor cannot get the trains to run on time. Would the Libs’ popular MP
Gladys Berejiklian do any better? asks Lisa Carty.

The rise and rise of Gladys Berejiklian could be the ultimate migrant
success story.

Once upon a time she was a little girl who spoke no English, eagerly
rolling up for her first day at kindergarten in traditionally Anglo
North Ryde.

Now, with two degrees and a successful banking career on her resume,
she is poised to become transport minister, in charge of a $5billion
budget and responsible for fixing our trains, buses and ferries.

The Opposition transport spokeswoman and member for Willoughby is a
rare politician, one who commands respect and even affection among
Government MPs and the press gallery.

Her accomplished performances at media conferences and in Parliament
are in stark contrast to her early school days at North Ryde Public
School, when she spoke only the Armenian of her parents.

Now 37, the woman with the most difficult name in State Parliament
learnt English by osmosis.

She was the last in her class to write a full sentence, an achievement
acknowledged when the teacher placed a banner on the back of a
student’s chair emblazoned with the words: "Sentence maker".

"I used to peer through the window into the classroom before school
began to see if I’d got one on my chair," Berejiklian recalls.

"When I got it I was so proud."

Berejiklian was the first of three children born to Krikor and Arsha,
who met in Australia in 1969.

They married in the only Orthodox Armenian church in NSW, in
Chatswood, now in the heart of her North Shore electorate. Krikor, now
76, and Arsha, now 69, were from families who fled Armenia because of
the genocide that claimed 1.5million lives in 1915.

As the Ottoman empire moved in on the small Christian country, which
sits next to Georgia and was once the smallest of the Soviet
republics, their families ran for their lives.

His family went to Syria; hers went to Palestine.

Krikor’s first job in Australia was as a welder on the second-highest
sail of the Opera House. Soon after their first daughter was born,
they spent a year in Gladstone where he worked in the steelworks.

On return to Sydney, they set up home at North Ryde, where Berejiklian
got her first real taste of politics.

She was in year 11, and student body president, when the Labor
government announced an unpopular plan to shut either her school –
North Ryde High – or Ryde High.

"I engaged in protest action, which I had never done before," she
says.

Ultimately, her school – renamed to give it a fresh start – was the
victor. It closed after the three Berejiklian sisters had finished
their high schooling, teaching the eldest one a very valuable lesson
about communities, government and activism.

The school battle focused her mind on how politics and government
impact upon people’s lives.

"I had kind of always been interested in politics and I used to say to
my teachers – as a joke – that I’d be an MP one day.

"A lot of them counselled me against it, or rather they urged me to
choose university subjects which would give me a solid grounding in
something else."

At Sydney University she did an arts degree majoring in politics and
history, followed by a diploma in international relations.

"Then I rang [Willoughby MP and attorney-general] Peter Collins and
his chief of staff and begged them to give me a job in the electorate
office, which they did. I worked there three days a week. I was so
excited. I thought I had a foot in the door, but everyone said, ‘Don’t
be silly, you can’t just rely on politics – you’ve got to have a solid
career somewhere else.’ "

Later, when Collins became treasurer, she worked in his ministerial
office, and after that she worked for the new Liberal senator Helen
Coonan, to get a taste of Federal Parliament.

At the same time she was president of the NSW branch of the Young
Liberals.

Still her friends and family urged her to broaden her experience.

With a master’s degree in commerce under her belt, she acquiesced,
becoming a senior manager in the Commonwealth Bank’s government and
industry affairs section.

It was when she was the bank’s national general manager for its youth
segment that Collins, by now a good friend and mentor, dropped a
bombshell.

He would announce that night, four years earlier than many expected,
that he would resign at the 2003 general election.

The timing was terrible. She was enjoying the bank and, just as her
backers had predicted, a stint in the "real world" was doing her good.

But politicians have to seize the day. It felt like now or never.

After a neck-and-neck tussle, she fought off determined local mayor
Pat Reilly. After almost two agonising weeks of counting, Berejiklian
won by just 144 votes.

At last year’s election, Cr Reilly stood again but didn’t land a glove
on her. Her margin increased to about 14percent – about 2percent
better than Collins’s.

Two years into her first term, Liberal leader John Brogden gave
Berejiklian her first frontbench responsibility – mental health.

It was a bold and insightful move from the leader who would later
resign in disgrace and attempt suicide after battling his own demons.

At the time, there was no such thing as a minister for mental health.

For Berejiklian, it was a chance to learn about something of which she
knew very little. She worked hard to demonstrate "to people that the
NSW Liberals were compassionate". "Why do you bother going into
politics if you don’t want to help those who are less fortunate than
you?"

Two months before last year’s election, the then-leader, Peter Debnam,
threw her a curve ball when he gave her the transport portfolio.

"I love it. There is so much material and it’s very challenging," she
says.

"It makes you appreciate the impact [that] lack of transport has on
peoples’ lives – I am interested in the social impacts as well as the
economic."

If, as seems likely, the Coalition wins government in 2011 she will
face a huge challenge.

"There has been such a missed opportunity in the last 10 years,
particularly in the last five years, and people have been
unnecessarily stuffed around because of bad public transport," she
says.

"I want to turn it around."

Moj News Agency, Iran
August 24, 2008 Sunday

Iran, Armenia Agreement on Gas-Electricity Swap

Referring to Tehran and Yerevan talks in Armenia on August 20, Rasoul
Salmani told that based on the agreement Iran will export 3 million
cubic meters of its gas to Armenia, per day in lieu of 9 million
kilowatt hour electricity. The agreement covers a period of 20 years,
he added. Tehran and Yerevan are currently constructing a 140-km
pipeline to carry natural gas from gas-abundant Iran to Armenia. Once
completed, the 220-million-dollar pipeline would provide Armenia with
an alternative to the gas it now imports from Russia. For each cubic
meter of Iranian gas, Armenia will return 3 kilowatt hours of
electricity to Iran. 2008/08/24

Saakashvili’s Account of Events that Led to Conflict

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 25 Aug.’08 / 03:30

President Saakashvili said in his lengthy televised speech that it was
Russia and west’s muted reaction to blame for the current crisis.
Saakashvili was speaking at a meeting with a group of lawmakers, including
from his ruling National Movement Party, as well as from the parliamentary
minority, late on August 24.
His speech, which lasted for over an hour and was aired live by the Georgian
television, was an attempt to explain to the Georgian audience what led to
the armed conflict with Russia.
For recent two weeks President Saakashvili was using western media
extensively appearing almost daily on the international TV networks to shape
public opinion abroad. His extensive televised speech at the meeting with
lawmakers was the first comprehensive attempt by Saakashvili to shape
opinion of the local audience, especially in the face of expected `tough
questions,’ which some politicians, including ex-parliamentary speaker, Nino
Burjanadze, have warned to raise.
He started his speech by thanking lawmakers, including those from the
parliamentary minority, for demonstrating unity against the background of
the Russian occupation.
`It was the moment when lustration has happened,’ he said. `There is no need
for law on lustration any more. Just look at what was said by whom
[referring to politicians’ statements] and who was giving interviews to the
Russian media in recent days and everything will become clear…. Our unity is
a gallows for our enemy… We will overcome this misfortune if stay united.’
Saakashvili then started to recount major events in relationship with Russia
starting from very first days of his presidency in early 2004, when, as he
said, he tried to build constructive relations with Russia.
`From the very first day of my presidency I paid visit to Russia. I thought
it was a very good meeting with Putin and we had very frank talks. The first
thing what he asked me was to strengthen border.’
He said that Russians were especially concerned about the situation in
Pankisi gorge, a north-eastern mountainous area in Georgia close to the
Russian border, and about illegal cross-border movement at the Chechen
section of border.
`I want to acknowledge that we really helped Russians in this. We stopped
arms trafficking and [illegal] cross-border movements,’ Saakashvili said.
`Se have created a serious factor through which they [Russia] managed to
establish order.’ [Also on this matter:
]
Saak ashvili then recalled 2004 events in Adjara, when ex-leader of the
Autonomous Republic, Aslan Abashidze, was forced to flee to Russia.
Saakashvili said that Russia and in particular then Foreign Minister, Igor
Ivanov, did not at all play a positive role.
`But despite of this fact, next day [after Abashidze fled overnight on May
6] I phoned President Putin – because of politeness – and thanked for
accepting developments in Adjara with understanding,’ Saakashvili said.
`I remember that conversation very well; on my polite remarks, he responded
roughly: `Now remember, in Adjara we did not intervene, but you won’t have
any gifts from us in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.’ That’s what he said to
me.’
After that, Saakashvili continued, `series of provocations’ started in
breakaway South Ossetia leading up to the clashes in summer, 2004.
He said that since then Russia, which was in direct control of situation on
the ground in Tskhinvali, was preventing any attempt of direct talks with
the local community in South Ossetia.
`The first major blow for Georgia came in January, 2006 when power line and
gas pipelines were exploded,’ Saakashvili said.
He said that in the course of 2006 the Russian intelligence `started getting
very active,’ including through, as he said, financing `Giorgadze’s groups,’
as well through staging series of terrorist acts including in the town of
Gori, when blast killed three policemen and injured 27 other people.
Saakashvili recalled that Georgia arrested, as he put it, the Russian
military intelligence operative, Roman Boiko, for masterminding the Gori
blast. `But Russians asked us to quietly release him [Boiko] and to forget
this incident… We handed him over to Russia hoping that Russia would have
appreciated it,’ Saakashvili said. `Now I think it was a mistake.’
After that incident the Russian intelligence, Saakashvili said, further
boosted their activities in Georgia.
`And as a result we were forced to demonstratively arrest several of their
military intelligence operatives,’ he said, adding that Russia had further
extended already existing economic embargo on Georgia after that incident.
`But they have failed to achieve their goal through this economic embargo;
people did not come out in the street and did not overthrow the government,’
Saakashvili said.
Then he recalled November, 2007 events, but spoke briefly about it saying
that he did not think that `every participant of those events were
cooperating’ with Russia.
He, however, said that the Georgian authorities possessed the information
passed by `the western intelligence services’ according to which, he said,
that just before the November events two Russian criminal bosses, one of
them Vyacheslav Ivankov, with nickname Yaponchik, `who has close links with
the Russian leadership,’ were visiting Georgia and Armenia. `They were
discussing various scenarios of regime change in Georgia,’ Saakashvili said.
A military intervention was the only option left for Russia to overthrow the
government in Georgia, after all the other scenarios have failed,
Saakashvili said.
`I suppose that Russia started thinking about the military intervention in
Georgia sometime in 2007,’ he said. `[In July, 2007] Russia announced about
pulling out from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty limiting military
forces in [Europe] and in Caucasus.’
Up to 3,000 Russian armored vehicles of various types rolled into Georgia,
he said.
`We had only 200 tanks, because we had no right to have more according to
the treaty; Russia brushed off its commitments by withdrawing from the
treaty,’ Saakashvili said.
He then once again criticized `western partners’ for not paying enough
attention to this move by Russia.
`It was obvious that they would not need 3,000 tanks for Chechnya in 2007. I
was telling this to many western partners: just look what Russia is doing;
it is simply concentrating military hardware on the Georgian border. Was not
that a signal that something was being prepared?’ he said.
Saakashvili then recalled then President Putin’s visit to Dagestan in North
Caucasus in February, 2008 and remarks made there, when he instructed the
Russian authorities to reconstruct the road leading from Dagestan to Georgia’s
Kakheti region. The only legal land road between Georgia and Russia is
closed down by Moscow since 2006.
`Should not have these remarks by Putin been a wakeup call for the world?’
Saakashvili asked. `These remarks were aired by the strictly censored
Russian television stations, meaning that he [Putin] wanted the world to
hear this.’
`But there was a zero reaction from the world,’ he said.
He also slammed EU’s reaction to the Russia’s admission of violation of the
Georgian airspace in July.
`This admission by Russia was a clear sign that they were testing western
reaction,’ Saakashvili said. `It took six days for EU to make a statement
about it and the statement was just saying: we call on the both sides to
refrain from provocations. It was in fact inviting Russia to do something
else, because [the EU statement] amounted to saying: we are not interfering
in this matter. That was very alarming reaction that led to what then
happened.’
Saakashvili also said that there was again international silence when the
Russian forces started military exercises in the North Caucasus practicing
in `peace enforcement in Georgia.’
`They [Russia] were saying it publicly deliberately to see what kind of
reaction it would have; but it was silence again; zero [international]
reaction,’ Saakashvili said.
He also said that when he was warning western leaders about possible Russian
military intervention, they were, he said, `thinking that I was
exaggerating.’
In February, 2008 Saakashvili said, he had met with Putin and after the
meeting he had an impression that `Russia was threatening with war.’
Then there was a NATO summit in Bucharest in April, he said, `which made a
strategic mistake.’
`Instead of giving to us NATO membership action plan [MAP], they [NATO]
said: we are not giving MAP to Georgia because there are conflicts, but we
will get back to this issue in December,’ Saakashvili said. `Saying this
amounted to telling Russia: do something before December, otherwise in
December Georgia may get MAP.’
He said that Georgia was limited in options. `Saying no to NATO would not
have given us any guarantee,’ he said.
Saakashvili pointed out that he had explained to western leaders, including
to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President George W. Bush, that
Russia’s decision to repair railway in breakaway Abkhazia’s Ochamchire
district only aimed at preparing for bringing in troops and military
hardware for intervention in Georgia.
He then confirmed for the first time reports about offering Russia to divide
Abkhazia into spheres of influence.
`I tried to somehow negotiate with Russia,’ Saakashvili said. `I’ve sent a
letter to the Russian President [Dmitry Medvedev] telling him let’s
negotiate: your peacekeepers are clearly delegitimized and let’s agree on
the following: area up to Kodori rive, involving Gali and Ochamchire
districts [of Abkhazia] are almost empty and people are not living there;
let’s return displaced persons on the first stage to those areas; move your
peacekeepers on the Kodori river and we are ready to sign a new agreement
through which the Georgia’s territorial integrity will be protected, but
your interests will also be taken into account.’
`If Russia really wanted to avert war, they would have agreed on such a good
proposal for them; they in fact were getting through this proposal
protection of their economic interests and somehow legalizing their presence
[in Abkhazia] with our consent and on the other hand we also were
benefiting, because we would have launched return of people and economic
projects,’ Saakashvili said.
The Russia’s response, he continued, apparently written by the Foreign
Ministry, however, amounted `to making fun of us.’
`The response said that at this stage it was too early to speak about the
return of displaced persons to Abkhazia,’ he said.
Saakashvili also said that his first meeting with Medvedev in June in St.
Petersburg was `very good.’
During the next meeting with Medvedev in Astana in July, however, he said,
the Russian President’s `stance was totally changed.’
`It was clear that some other forces came into play,’ he said. `He
[Medvedev] started to push for the new conditions, like immediately pull
back from upper Kodori gorge, the demand, which was totally impossible to
fulfill. So it was clear that they were not willing to negotiate. So I had
an impression after that meeting that he [Medvedev] knew something, which I
did not know… I had a gloomy mood after that meeting, because it was clear
that they [Russia] was preparing for something bad.’
Saakashvili pointed out that the Georgian authorities expected Russia’s
attack from the Abkhaz direction, rather than from South Ossetia, `so major
forces’ of the Georgian army were deployed in the west.
He said that as situation started to deteriorate on August 7, `we moved one
brigade [of the Georgian armed forces] closer to South Ossetia, and later
another [brigade] as well.’
`But our major forces were still deployed in the west; there was a brigade
at Senaki [military base] and we did not call back our brigade from Iraq,
because I was deeply convinced up to the last minute that Russia would not
have done such a large-scale provocation,’ Saakashvili said.
`Although we were under fire from the 120mm mortar launchers I announced a
unilateral ceasefire; at that time we already had one killed soldiers in the
village of Avnevi and four others were wounded; [Georgian Defense Minister
Davit] Kezerashvili was begging me to let him open artillery fire, because,
he was telling me, otherwise he was not able to bring [wounded soldiers]
from [the village]. But my response was that we could not open fire whatever
happened,’ Saakashvili said.
He said that the Georgian side tried to communicate with the Russian
authorities, but they were claiming as if they were no longer controlling
South Ossetian separatist authorities and their militiamen.
He said that information came late on August 7 that the Russian military
hardware was rolling through Roki Tunnel into South Ossetia. He said that
Georgia was observing existing agreements and had no heavy arms in the
Georgian-controlled areas of the breakaway region.
`So the only way to stop their [Russian forces and South Ossetian militias]
movement into the Georgian villages was to use medium-size artillery for
blowing up the bridge at Didi Gupta and for [closing] the road coming from
Roki Tunnel… So as soon as they [the Russian tanks] started to roll into
South Ossetia we started firing to the road [at Roki Tunnel]; at the same
time we were responding to the fire coming from the South Ossetian positions
including from the center of Tskhinvali, their government headquarters and
from their Defense Ministry,’ he said.
Saakashvili also said that he `strictly ordered’ not to fire in direction of
civilian population and `this order was fully observed.’
`We conducted our first flight [apparently by SU-25 warplanes available in
the Georgian army] at dawn [August 8] in direction of Java and Roki Tunnel
and our pilots informed us that whole area was full of the Russian
military,’ he said and added that it was impossible for such large number
of the Russian army to concentrate in the area just overnight.
By saying this Saakashvili was apparently trying to counter the Russia’s
claims that it has sent its troops into South Ossetia only after the
Georgian forces started to attack Tskhinvali.
`If someone thinks that it was Georgia, which triggered what had happened,
should better realize how it was possible to bring in such large army only
in hours; this is unreal,’ Saakashvili said.
He has also claimed that Russian army’s, as he put it, unnoticed
infiltration into South Ossetia before the conflict started was `a failure
of the international intelligence.’
`When we are asking our western partners: did not you see them coming, they
are responding that their satellites were directed mainly on Iraq and that
they could not fly over [Georgia], but it was impossible to see what was
happening on the ground because it was cloudy. So it was a serious failure
of the international intelligence; they would not have hidden this
information from us, if they knew it; but they also did not know it,’ he
said.
He also said that the Georgian artillery had destroyed `large part of this
Russian military in Java during the early stage of the conflict.
`The 4th brigade and the military unit from Kojori have destroyed hundreds
of soldiers… and Gen. [Anatoly] Khrulev [a commander of Russia’s 58th army]
was wounded. After that Putin arrived in Vladikavkaz, mobilizes entire
forces and Russia’s entire forces moved towards Georgia… Russians conducted
200 combat flights’ Saakashvili said.
`We managed to stop them on the first day, on the second day and on the
third day 500 more armored vehicles started moving into Georgia [from Roki
Tunnel],’ he added.
He then justified withdrawal of the Georgian forces from South Ossetia and
adjacent areas saying that it would have been impossible to stop additional
500 units of the Russian armored vehicles and the Georgian troops were under
the risk of `destruction.’
`So we took that decision [to pull back]; this was the time when the world
started waking up,’ Saakashvili said. `One hour after the President Bush’s
statement [Russian] tanks stopped rolling [in direction of Tbilisi].’
He said that the Georgian soldiers `fought hard,’ although acknowledged that
`there could have been some mistakes in planning.’
In the end of his speech, Saakashvili said that Russia’s goal was `to
collapse the Georgia’s economy; to trigger chaos and as a result to put an
end to the Georgian statehood.’
`Our goal is to overcome [the economic] crisis; it will take three or four
months; it won’t be easy, but we will overcome this heavy crisis in three or
fourth months and in next year or year and a half Georgia’s economy will
again start to grow rapidly,’ Saakashvili said.
`The main thing what we have gained from everything that happened is that
our positions became very strong. If so far foreigners were telling us:
negotiate yourself [over the conflict settlement], we have no time for you;
now it has become the problem for the world,’ he added.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 25 2008

Turks dislike Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as running mate

A considerable number of Turkish daily newspapers yesterday covered US
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s selection of Senator
Joe Biden as a running mate, with headlines expressing displeasure at
Obama’s choice.

The Associated Press (AP) commented that Obama’s selection of Biden
was designed to blunt criticism from Republican John McCain, who was
drawing virtually even in the polls by attacking the Illinois senator
as an inexperienced elitist not ready for the White House.

"Biden, who is 65, was clearly chosen over lesser-known Democrats to
plug holes in Obama’s relatively thin resume on the national political
scene and to blunt McCain’s relentless attacks on his lack of
experience at a time when the United States is fighting two wars.

While polls show voters are most concerned about the country’s wobbly
economy — home mortgage foreclosures, high fuel costs and growing
unemployment — McCain’s appeal appears to be growing out of the
lingering shock to Americans’ sense of security from the Sept. 11,
2001, terror attacks. McCain called Biden a ‘wise selection.’ But
McCain indicated that he believed there was still plenty to
criticize," AP also reported.

In Turkey, the Sunday editions of newspapers covering Obama’s
selection focused on Biden’s policies related to Turkey and a
considerable part of which are not in line with those of Ankara.

"[Obama] made ‘inconsiderate’ Biden his right-hand man,"
Hürriyet said on its front page, reminding readers of a 1999
conversation between Biden, who is close to both Greek and Armenian
lobbies, and late Bülent Ecevit, then prime minister of Turkey.

"If you do not solve the Cyprus problem, then I will not approve the
financial aid package of $5 billion which you expect from us, from the
Congress," Biden was then reported to have told Ecevit in a bid to put
pressure on the Turkish government.

Ecevit, in response, was reported to have emphasized the Turkish
Cypriots’ concerns and rights, while pointing out that they had
reached an agreement with then-President Bill Clinton that "there will
be no going back to the period before 1974 as far as safety and
security are concerned."

Hürriyet said following the conversation between Biden and
Ecevit, Turkish media labeled the US politician as "inconsiderate."

Biden’s call two years ago to divide Iraq into autonomous regions
along sectarian and ethnic lines was another factor highlighted by the
Turkish media. The call completely contradicted Ankara’s firm policy
focusing on protection of territorial integrity and political unity of
the neighboring country.

Biden proposed in a 2006 op-ed article in The New York Times that Iraq
should be divided into separate Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni regions to
defuse the wave of sectarian violence sweeping the country then. In
the 2006 article, Biden and co-author Leslie Gelb said the proposal
was aimed at maintaining "a united Iraq by decentralizing it" so that
each major sectarian and ethnic group would have "room to run its own
affairs." Nevertheless, Iraq has a long history as a centralized
state, and concepts such as federalism and regional autonomy have
proven a hard sell, as AP noted.

"Separatist partner for Obama," Star daily said in its title,
referring to Biden’s call for division of Iraq, while it also reminded
its readers of the fact that Biden has been a keen supporter of
Armenian lobby efforts at the US Congress for official recognition of
the killings of Anatolian Armenians during the early 20th century as
"genocide."

"Obama’s right-hand man had divided Iraq into three," Yeni
Å?afak daily said, also referring to Biden’s proposal for
dividing Iraq. Milliyet, meanwhile, covered Obama’s choice of Biden
with a headline saying "Obama chose Greek Cypriot-Armenian lobbyists."

In first months of the 2007, following the killing of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink in January, a sentence in a preliminary draft
drawn up by Biden, chairman of Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee,
said, "Mr. Dink underwent prosecution under Article 301 of the Turkish
Criminal Code, as he spoke about the Armenian genocide." Following an
objection by Republican Richard Lugar, the sentence was changed to
"Legal measures were taken about Mr. Dink, as he regarded the events
that happened in 1915 as genocide."

Armenia says some 1.5 million Armenians suffered genocide at Ottoman
Turkish hands, but Turkey denies systematic genocide of Armenians took
place, saying large numbers of Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks
died in inter-ethnic fighting during World War I.

Retired Ambassador Nüzhet Kandemir, speaking with Milliyet,
said, "Biden has so far been involved in all kinds of movements which
are against Turkey," and that "Biden’s anti-Turkey manner has
ossified," apparently hinting that Biden’s attitude would not change
even when he takes on responsibilities as vice president. Biden was
among a delegation of US senators who visited Ankara in February this
year, when they also met with both President Abdullah Gül and
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an.

Then, Biden, along with John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, spoke with
Gül and ErdoÄ?an, praising both the relations between
their country and Turkey and Ankara’s support in restive parts of the
world such as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Their visit to Ankara was part of a tour that included stops in India
and Pakistan. Speaking to reporters after a one-hour meeting with
ErdoÄ?an, Biden then said Turkey and the United States shared
strategic interests and objectives.

KınıklÄ&#x B1;oÄ?lu planning to hold talks with
McCain, Obama consultants

Amid concerns within domestic public opinion over US Democratic
presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama’s selection of Senate
colleague Joe Biden as his running mate since Biden is well known for
his policies that run against the interests of Ankara, a leading
deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is
considering visiting the United States in October.

Suat KınıklıoÄ?lu , the AK Party’s
Ã?ankırı deputy, told Today’s Zaman yesterday that
he has been planning to meet with figures from both the campaigns of
Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain and Obama when
he travels to the United States in October.

"I must say that I’m surprised with Obama’s selection of Biden. It is
not easy to be happy with this selection when looking from Turkey and
considering Biden’s almost two-decade-long firm support of the
Armenian disapora’s efforts for recognition of their allegations of a
genocide," KınıklıoÄ?lu , who was head of
the German Marshall Fund’s Turkey office before being elected to
Parliament in July 2007, said when reminded of the fact that a
considerable number of Turkish daily newspapers yesterday disapproved
of Obama’s selection of Biden as a running mate. "The only thing we
can do now as citizens of Turkey is to wish Obama and Biden luck,
although this combination is not very hope-inspiring from Turkey’s
perspective. However, the most important duty for nongovernmental
organizations and the media as well as politicians is to thoroughly
inform the Obama camp about Turkey’s policies and understanding on
certain issues. We should engage both the McCain and Obama camps
before one of them is elected, not after the election is over,"
KınıklÄ&#xB 1;oÄ?lu said.

"I believe domestic public opinion will follow McCain’s strategies
during the electioneering more closely than before given the
disappointment over Biden’s selection," he, nonetheless, added. Emine
Kart Ankara

25 August 2008, Monday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 25 2008

Diplomats to lay blueprint for Babacan-Lavrov talks

Russian and Turkish diplomats will meet this week in order to lay the
groundwork for a planned meeting between foreign ministers of the two
countries that will focus on Ankara’s proposal for establishing a
Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform which will gather Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey under the same roof.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan initiated a phone conversation with his
Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Friday and the two discussed
the proposed platform amidst reports that Turkey will include its
estranged neighbor Armenia in regional peace efforts via Russia.

Babacan conveyed a set of "concrete proposals" to Lavrov during the
conversation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Özügergin said, without
elaborating. Officials from the Turkish and Russian foreign ministries
will meet next week to work on the proposals. Babacan and Lavrov will
also meet in early September to review progress in the technical
talks. Foreign Ministry officials, approached by Today’s Zaman
yesterday, were not able to provide information on the venue and exact
date of the talks. However, sources involved in the issue said
Ambassador Ünal Çeviköz, the deputy undersecretary responsible for the
Caucasus and Central Asia affairs, will lead the Foreign Ministry
delegation during talks.

25 August 2008, Monday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA

Australia.TO, Australia
Aug 25 2008

War à la carte

The US is inventing wars aplenty these days. Will it be Iran or
Ossetia this month? asks Eric Walberg

Last week, Georgia launched a major military offensive against the
rebel province South Ossetia , just hours after President Mikheil
Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire. Close to 1,500 have
been killed, Russian officials say. Thirty thousand refugees, mostly
women and children, streamed across the border into the North Ossetian
capital Vladikavkaz in Russia .

The timing ‘ and subterfuge ‘ suggest the unscrupulous Saakashvili was
counting on surprise. `Most decision makers have gone for the
holidays,’ he said in an interview with CNN. `Brilliant moment to
attack a small country.’ Apparently he was referring to Russia
invading Georgia , despite the fact that it was Georgia which had just
launched a full-scale invasion of the `small country’ South Ossetia,
while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Beijing for the
Olympics. Twenty-seven Russian peacekeepers and troops have been
killed and 150 wounded so far, many when their barracks were shelled
by Georgian forces at the start of the invasion. Georgian State
Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili rushed to announce that
their mini-blitzkreig had destroyed ten Russian combat planes ( Russia
says two) and that Georgian troops were in full control of the capital
Tskhinvali.

Russia’s Defense Ministry denounced the Georgian attack as a `dirty
adventure.’ From Beijing , Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said,
`It is regrettable that on the day before the opening of the Olympic
Games, the Georgian authorities have undertaken aggressive actions in
South Ossetia .’ He later added, `War has started.’ Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev vowed that Moscow will protect Russian citizens ‘ most
South Ossetians hold Russian passports. The offensive prompted Moscow
to send in 150 tanks, to launch air strikes on nearby Gori and
military sites, and to order warships to Georgia ‘s Black Sea coast.

Georgia’s national security council declared a state of war with
Russia and a full military mobilisation. US military planes are
already flying Georgia ‘s 2,000 troops in Iraq ‘ the third-largest
force after the United States and Britain ‘ back to confront the
Russians. By Sunday, despite early claims of victory, Georgian troops
had retreated from South Ossetia , leaving diplomatic rubble behind
which will be very hard to clear. Truth is stranger than fiction in
Georgia .

The writing has been on the wall for months. Georgian President
Saakashvili’s fawning over Western leaders at the `emergency’ NATO
meeting in April and his pre-election anti-Russian bluster in May made
it clear to all that Georgia is the more-than-willing canary in the
Eastern mine shaft. The Georgian attack on South Ossetia’s capital
Tskhinvali ‘ I repeat ‘ just hours after Saakashvili declared a
cease-fire, looks very much like an attempt to reincorporate the rebel
province into Georgia unilaterally. But whoever is advising the brash
young president ignores the postscript ‘ no pasaran! South Ossetia has
been independent for 16 years and is not likely to drape flowers on
invading Georgia tanks. It also just happens to have Russia as patron.

The aftershocks of this wild gamble by Saakashvili are just
beginning. This is Russia ‘s most serious altercation with a foreign
country since the collapse of the Soviet Union and could escalate into
an all-out war engulfing much of the Caucasus region. Russian warships
are not planning to block shipments of oil from Georgia ‘s Black Sea
port of Poti , Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on
Sunday, but reserve the right to search ships coming to and from
it. Another source naval source said, `The crews are assigned the task
to not allow arms and military hardware supplies to reach Georgia by
sea.’ The Russians have already sunk a Georgian missile boat that was
trying to attack Russian ships. Upping the ante, Ukraine said it
reserved the right to bar Russian warships from returning to their
nominally Ukrainian ‘ formerly Russian ‘ base of Sevastopol , on the
Crimean peninsula. On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of `arming the
Georgians to the teeth.’

Georgia’s other separatist region, Abkhazia, was mobilising its forces
for a push into the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia controlled
by Georgia . `No dialogue is possible with the current Georgian
leadership,’ said Abkhazia’s President Sergei Bagapsh. `They are state
criminals who must be tried for the crimes committed in South Ossetia
, the genocide of the Ossetian people.’ Britain has ordered its
nationals to leave Georgia . British charity worker Sian Davis said,
"It’s really, really quiet, eerily quiet. Everyone was either at home
or had packed up and moved out of the city. People are really, really
scared. People are panicking.’ So far the more than 2,000 US nationals
in this tiny but strategic country are mostly staying put.

This is yet another made-in-the-USA war. US President George W Bush
loudly supported Georgia ‘s request to join NATO in April, much to the
consternation of European leaders. NATO promised to send advisers in
December. Not losing any time, the US sent more than 1,000 US Marines
and soldiers to the Vaziani military base on the South Ossetian border
in July `to teach combat skills to Georgian troops.’ The UN Security
Council failed to reach an agreement on the current crisis after three
emergency meetings. A Russian-drafted statement that called on Georgia
and the separatists to `renounce the use of force’ was vetoed by the
US , UK and France . To dispel any conceivable doubt, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice said Friday: `We call on Russia to cease
attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia ‘s
territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from
Georgian soil.’

But it’s also yet another made-in-Israel war. A thousand military
advisers from Israeli security firms have been training the country’s
armed forces and were deeply involved in the Georgian army’s
preparations to attack and capture the capital of South Ossetia ,
according to the Israeli web site Debkafiles which has close links
with the regime’s intelligence and military sources. Haaretz reported
that Yakobashvili told Army Radio ‘ in Hebrew, ` Israel should be
proud of its military which trained Georgian soldiers.’ `We killed 60
Russian soldiers just yesterday,’ he boasted on Monday. `The Russians
have lost more than 50 tanks, and we have shot down 11 of their
planes. They have enormous damage in terms of manpower.’ He warned
that the Russians would try and open another battlefront in Abkhazia
and denied reports that the Georgian army was retreating. `The
Georgian forces are not retreating. We move our military according to
security needs.’

Israelis are active in real estate, tourism, gaming, military
manufacturing and security consulting in Georgia, including former Tel
Aviv mayor Roni Milo and Likudite and gambling operator Reuven
Gavrieli. `The Russians don’t look kindly on the military cooperation
of Israeli firms with the Georgian army, and as far as I know,
Israelis doing security consulting left Georgia in the past few days
because of the events there,’ the former Israeli ambassador to Georgia
and Armenia , Baruch Ben Neria, said yesterday. Since his posting, Ben
Neria has represented Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in Georgia .

By Sunday, Putin was in Vladikavkaz and said it is unlikely South
Ossetia will ever be reintegrated into Georgia . There are really only
two possible scenarios to end the conflict: a long-term stalemate or
Russian annexation of South Ossetia . The former is beginning to look
pretty good, and Saakashvili is probably already ruing his rash
move. The Georgian president is clearly hoping he can suck the US into
the conflict. Alexander Lomaya, secretary of Georgia ‘s National
Security Council, said only Western intervention could prevent all-out
war. But it is very unlikely Bush will risk WWIII over this scrap of
craggy mountain.

When US puppets get out of line, like a certain Saddam Hussein, they
are easily abandoned. Saakashvili would be wise to recall the fate of
the first post-Soviet Georgian president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, also a
darling of the US (in 1978 US Congress nominated him for the Nobel
Peace Prize). He rode to victory on a wave of nationalism in 1990,
declaring independence for Georgia and officially recognising the
`Chechen Republic of Ichkeria’. But South Ossetia wanted no part of
the fiery Gamsakhurdia’s chauvinistic vision and declared its own
`independence’. Engulfed by a wave of disgust a short two years later,
abandoned by his US friends, he fled to his beloved Ichkeria. He snuck
back into western Georgia , looking for support in restive Abkhazia,
but his uprising collapsed, prompting Abkhazia to secede.

Gamsakhurdia died in 1993, leaving the two secessionist provinces as a
legacy, and was buried in Chechnya . Saakashvili rehabilitated him in
2004 and had his remains interred in Mtatsminda Pantheon with other
Georgian `heroes’. Truth really is stranger than fiction in Georgia
. Now the burning question is: will history repeat itself?

*** Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly. You can reach him at

tent&view=article&id=183:eric-walberg& catid=13:north-america&Itemid=36

Monday, August 25, 2008
Updated at 24 August 2008 23:15 Moscow Time.
The Moscow Times
Mikhail Metzel / AP
East-West Artery Reopens in Georgia

25 August 2008By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff WriterTBILISI, Georgia —
Traffic gradually began to trickle along Georgia’s main east-west highway
over the weekend, after the departure of Russian troops who had been barring
traffic on the road and, effectively, cutting the country in half.

A reporter traveling by car from the Black Sea port of Poti to Tbilisi saw
that the last remaining checkpoints east and west of Gori on the highway, a
lifeline for the South Caucasus, had been opened, after barring traffic
along the road for almost a fortnight.

The crisis in Georgia continued to simmer over the weekend despite a
significant reduction in the number of Russian troops and Moscow’s
announcement that it had fulfilled its obligations as spelled out in a
cease-fire agreement.

Tbilisi and the West sharply criticized a Kremlin announcement that 2,500
soldiers would continue to man two buffer zones outside South Ossetia’s and
Abkhazia’s borders with Georgia proper and demanded a complete withdrawal.

They accused Moscow of unilaterally taking control of a giant swath of
western Georgia, far from the conflict zone in South Ossetia, and having
prolonged its stranglehold on the country’s economy with its continued
control of the east-west highway.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday
evening that Russian troops had completed their pullback and that Moscow had
fulfilled its obligations under the cease-fire agreement brokered by French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, a statement on the president’s official web site
said.

Russian troops pulled back from the central city of Gori, the Senaki
military base in western Georgia and the eastern checkpoint of Igoeti, but
retained checkpoints near both Gori and Senaki.

At a checkpoint near Agara, about 30 kilometers east of Khashuri along the
east-west highway, a cheerful Russian lieutenant let through two cars with
journalists but not without an act of dubious hospitality.

An old villager in an ancient Moskvich car loaded with peaches was headed in
the opposite direction. The officer, who refused to give his name,
approached the driver shouting, "Father, give the journalists some of your
fruit."

Before the helpless man could react, the checkpoint commander began removing
peaches through the car’s open windows and handing them to the bewildered
journalists and their drivers.

Many of the fields along the road from Khashuri to Gori were still burning
or scorched. The Georgian government has accused Russian forces of setting
them on fire, but this could not be confirmed independently.

Russian peacekeepers had constructed a large outpost just north of the key
Black Sea port of Poti, between to vital access bridges to the city.

By Friday, it had been bolstered by armored vehicles dug into the field
between the bridges. Above them flew a large Russian flag and a small CIS
variant. Peacekeepers also maintained a second post in woods north of the
city. "Poti is not in the security zone," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief
of the Russian General Staff, said Saturday, RIA-Novosti reported. "But that
doesn’t mean that we will sit behind the fence and watch as they drive
around in Hummers."

He was referring to the confiscation by Russian troops of five U.S. military
Humvees last week as they waited in Poti to be shipped home.

The U.S. destroyer McFaul, carrying humanitarian aid, had to be redirected
to Batumi, which has no deep-sea port, The Associated Press reported. The
navy had been forced to ferry the supplies to shore in smaller craft.

Nogovitsyn said at a Friday briefing that 2,142 Russian soldiers would man
checkpoints in western Georgia and another 452 in region around South
Ossetia. He also said the number of troops might grow.

"We reserve the right to increase our forces if necessary," he said.

According to a map he showed reporters, the security zone around South
Ossetia would twice cross the highway past the central town of Gori, thus
giving Russian forces control over the vital transport route, which serves
as a lifeline to landlocked Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Nogovitsyn said some checkpoints would be placed on major roads "so that we
can control all traffic flows [to the region]."

The Defense Ministry said the measures were legal and that Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has labeled the zones as "unacceptable,"
had no right to complain.

"We will not ask Mr. Saakashvili about the buffer zones," Nogovitsyn said.
"With this aggression, this president unilaterally breached the existing
agreements," he said, referring to Georgia’s attack on the South Ossetian
capital Tskhinvali on Aug. 7.

"He now has no moral or legal right to dictate conditions," he added.

Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Iakobashvili said in an interview in
his Tbilisi office Sunday that the maps the General Staff displayed at the
Saturday news conference did not jive with existing agreements.

"That map is invalid because, after Russia invaded Georgia, all previous
agreements are in the trash bin," Iakobashvili said. He said an explanatory
letter provided by Sarkozy had stipulated that the Russians would have the
right to patrol a 15-kilometer radius around Tskhinvali.

He admitted that Georgia was in no position to pressure Moscow on the issue
but was optimistic that the West would step in to do this.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe on Saturday said, "Putting up
permanent facilities and checkpoints are inconsistent with the agreement,"
Reuters reported.

U.S. President George W. Bush discussed the withdrawal with French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, who brokered the cease-fire, and they "agreed that Russia
is not in compliance and that Russia needs to come into compliance now,"
Johndroe said, The Associated Press reported.

German government spokesman Thomas Steg said Germany now expects Russia to
complete its pullout immediately and withdraw to the lines held before
hostilities started earlier this month.

Sarkozy’s office said he and Medvedev agreed Saturday on the urgent need to
create an international mechanism under the auspices of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe to replace Russian patrols in the buffer
zone south of South Ossetia, Reuters reported.

A statement on Medvedev’s web site, however, said replacing Russian
peacekeepers had not been discussed.

An OSCE monitor, Terhi Hakala, said Sunday that around 15 OSCE monitors are
waiting to go into South Ossetia via Georgia but that they are not able to
enter until they receive security guarantees from the Russian peacekeepers.

The monitors expect to enter in 10 to 14 days, she said.

Natalya Krainova and Anna Malpas contributed to this report from Moscow.

Regnum, Russia
Aug 22 2008

Nagorno Karabakh can be recognized by Armenia simultaneously with
Russia recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia

According to a REGNUM European diplomatic information source, the
official Yerevan may recognize the independence of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic on August 25. `There is apprehension that Yerevan
may recognize Nagorno Karabakh independence simultaneously with Russia
recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia,’ the source said.

As it already was reported, the same day Russia might recognize the
independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It will be recalled that
people of Abkhazia on August 21 appealed to the president of Russia,
the Federal Assembly and the State Duma to recognize the independence
of their country. An address on it by the Abkhazian president was
supported by the Abkhazian parliament earlier.

On August 20, North Ossetian MPs promulgated another appeal to Russian
federal authorities with a request for South Ossetia independence
recognition. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said before that
Russia would support any solution of the Abkhazian and South Ossetian
conflicts regulation if it was supported by nations of the
unrecognized republics.