"Eastern" Europe changing times

Metropolitan Ieronymos, bishop of Athens and all Greece, is claiming it remains committed to tradition, while proposing that the children in a same sex family can be baptized when they reach a certain age and express a desire for the sacrament. 

Baptism is traditionally conducted in early childhood, but the church will adapt to changing times.

Compromise🤔 Not sure it sells well.

Jan 28, 2024

Czech Republic's upper house Senate voted against the Istanbul Convention, a treaty with a long title about combatting violence against women. Opponents feel it deviates from "traditional roles" for men and women in society and has not reduced violence in countries that have ratified it. Clauses concerning LBGT rights, particular the wording on gender identity, are hot points for treaty opponents.

Feb 8, 2024

 Finnish Air Force will participate in NATO's air defense mission over Bulgaria, Romania, and the Black Sea. 

Finland's Minister of Defense, Antti Heikkinen, stated that next year, Finland will contribute to NATO's peacetime missions with a Navy ship and eight Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighters.

Feb 10, 2024

Kosovo's President Osmani wants more NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) to deal with Serbia. In September 2023, Serb gunmen stormed a majority Serb village in northern Kosovo and barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery. It never ends. Both countries want to join the EU.

Feb 19, 2024

Margrethe1 derided as "King Breechless"for favoring Denmark too often while ruling(1397-1412) over the tenuous union of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.

March 9, 2024

March, 3,1878) result of Russo-Turkish War: Actual independence from Ottoman rule was given only to the Principality of Bulgaria (present-day northern Bulgaria and the Sofia region)

April 2, 2024

Transnistria is wedged between Moldova and Ukraine and is home to a military base with 1,500 Russian troops. It broke off from Moldova in the 1990s but isn’t recognized by any U.N. member countries and most of its residents wants to be a part of Russia.

April 4, 2024

In the middle of March 2024, contact was established between German and Bulgarian authorities who went on to discover a warehouse in Yambol region of Bulgaria, which contained a military arsenal in a car repair shop.

Pictures of guns and magazines were found on the mobile phone of one of four suspected Hamas'  members arrested in Berlin and Rotterdam in December 2023. Their alleged intention was to transport the arms to Berlin for potential attacks on Jewish institutions across Europe.

April 19, 2024

Croatia: HDZ holds on to power but will have to work with the anti-immigrant Rodina party to form a coalition. HDZ got 60 seats, Rodina 14

 pro-Russian coalition led by populist president Zoran Milanović's "Rivers of Justice," secured 42 seats, 

Eastern Europe next

Hitch 24: I Ran so far______

 A large anti-government protest erupted in  Izeh, Iran on Friday Nov 18 at the funeral for 9-year-old Kian who was killed in a shooting that his mother blamed on security forces. These demonstrations have staying power despite the brutal clampdown by the Theocracy. Maybe the Mullahs should text Putin for military help? More to come, previous blog linked below.

Nov 20, 2022

Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, is trying to distance his group from Iran, but the Gulf states who have given millions to Lebanon in financial support; and received little in return are not buying it.

Dec 12, 2022

The European Parliament suspended the powers and duties of one of its vice presidents, Greek socialist, Eva Kaili, in light of a Belgian investigation of a Gulf state's purchasing influence on decisions in the European Parliament.  Furthermore, it may delay a proposal to extend visa-free travel to the EU for Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Ecuador.

Jan 5, 2023

Iran is whining about France again! This time it's alleging cartoons in a contest ran by the Charlie Hebdo magazine are insulting. One of the entries depicts a turbaned cleric reaching for a hangman’s noose as he drowns in blood.

Feb 7, 2023

Perhaps Iran's cops were too busy killing unarmed protestors around the country to stop an attacker who broke through the Azerbaijan's embassy guard post in Tehran, killing the head of Azeri security with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Feb 25, 2023

From Michigan to eastern Europe to Iran: Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, 58, a Lebanese and Belgian citizen who is considered a key financier of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, was arrested Friday in Bucharest, Romania.

It's alleged that Bazzi convinced some folks to liquidate their interests in real estate assets in Michigan and covertly transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds from the USA to accounts in Lebanon.

May 19,2023

Iran warns Afghanistan's Taliban rulers not to violate what it claims is it water rights on the Helmand River. This tiff could be noteworthy.

May 30, 2023

Iran may want to be buddies with Egypt, but let's look back.

Anwar Sadat cut ties to Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Sadat welcomed Reza Pahlavi,  to Egypt just before his death and hosted his state funeral in 1980. Also, the shah's remains are entombed at Cairo's Al-Rifai Mosque.

Aug 22, 2023

Folks in southern Syria protesting against Assad chant: we only kneel to God.  Is Putin taking Assad's calls?

Aug 28, 2023

Iran claims Iraq has agreed to disarm and relocate Kurdistan "militants" in the autonomous northern Kurdish region. Easier said than done!

Nov 11, 2023

Palestine/Israel war, and Syria remains the world's proxy playground. Assad 😵

Dec 13, 2023

Arab energy leaders-oil here to stay so will COP28 fossil fuel reduction be effective?

They also stressed developing countries should be allowed to exploit their fossil fuel reserves.

Dec 18, 2023

We consider any armed action originating from Lebanese territory as an attack on national sovereignty,” Gebran Bassil, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, a predominantly Christian party, said, rejecting the creation of what he called a “Hamas-land”.

Dec 18, 2023

 “Fatahland” returning? Hamas recruits in Lebanon.

  (PLO) under Arafat operated as a state within a state in southern Lebanon from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. The PLO used southern Lebanon to launch attacks against Israel and became an active in Lebanon’s civil war in 1975.

Jan 4, 2023

84 people killed and 284 injured after explosions occurred near the grave of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani yesterday, the anniversary of his killing, 

Source of the explosions: two bags carrying bombs that were likely set off by remote control.  No one has claimed responsibility, so far.

Jan 16, 2023

Iran extends Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi prison sentence. Memo to all the pro Hamas/Palestine protesters.

Feb 3, 2024

Syria's 1-0 win against India and sealed its first ever spot in the knockout rounds of the Asian Cup(Soccer). Maybe the players want more time away from the endless strife at home.

April 23, 2024

Same day Iran struck Israel:  Clerical rulers in Iran cranked up arrests of women accused of flouting its strict Islamic dress code.

May 1, 2024

MSC Orion, a Portuguese flagged ship, sustained minor damage from a Houthis' drone hit far into the reaches of the Arabian Sea. Iran!

Hitch 23