War games with FYROM are mooted
The defense ministers of Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia expressed their countries’ will to cooperate in order to achieve peace and stability in the region. Akis Tsochadzopoulos hosted Vlado Buckovski on the last day of the five-day Philippos-2001 military exercise. The annual air force and army war games are held near the two countries’ border, near the town of Florina. It was the first time an official from Skopje had visited during the exercise which, in the past, was seen as a threat to Greece’s neighbor because of the unresolved issue of a permanent name for FYROM. Buckovski said his presence was aimed at showing that this idea did not persist, and added, this exercise might lead to war games that our two countries will conduct together. Tsochadzopoulos assured Buckovski of Greece’s determination to support his country’s national sovereignty and to cooperate with it. Buckovski thanked Greece for the support it has shown during the crisis in FYROM. Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens struck a sour note in a sermon at a suburban church yesterday when he suggested the attacks had been provoked. You see what things can come to, you see the tragic consequences of desperate acts, such as the terrorist actions in the United States. We are all horrified at what point a person may reach, where repeated injustices that occur in the world can drive people, Christodoulos said. Of course, the innocent victims of this tragedy were not to blame for anything. But the people of responsibility and power must consider that someday they cannot act with license and without respect toward the justice of God and men. When there is justice there will be peace, he said.
