Free Republic

As late as yesterday I read numerous mainstream media reports that Syriza would win by three to five percent and would need to form an unstable coalition to rule. In contrast, here was my January 19 prediction (and rationale): Expect a Blowout Win by Syriza in Greece. Syriza Trounces New Democracy The final votes are not counted, but exit polls show a blowout, with incumbent party New Democracy going down in flames. The Wall Street Journal reports GreeceÂ’s Radical Leftist Syriza Party Poised to Win Election, Exit Polls Say. Syriza appeared set to win between 35.5% and 39.5% of the...

The new Greek government has plenty of challenges ahead of it: A towering debt, chronic unemployment and relations with the rest of Europe. But it also has an urgent security problem. Greece has become an unwitting crossroads -- both for jihadists trying to reach Iraq and Syria from Europe, and for fighters returning home from the Middle East.

There's growing evidence that Greece helped to lubricate Milosevic's war machineBy Takis Michas in AthensAs Greece prepares to take on the mantle of the European Union presidency in January 2003, the time has come for Athens to examine the role it played in aiding the regimes of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and his Bosnian Serb associates Radovan Karadic and Ratko Mladic.Besides a general failure to confront the scale of war crimes perpetrated by Bosnian Serb and Serbian forces during the Nineties, there's mounting evidence of Greek complicity in Yugoslav sanction-busting during the conflicts. A recent report published by the...

"In our petition we rely, among other sources, on an Amnesty International report that was published in 1995... "There was tension in Rwanda as early as January of 1994. Several of the world's most powerful states imposed international arms control regulations and on May 17 1994 there was a UN embargo. Israel breached the embargo, as did Russia, Belgium, South Africa, France, Spain and others. Many of the planes that transported the shipments were British. The last license to export arms was issued by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in October 1993, about half a year before the massacres began....

Muslim Albanians in Kosovo are capturing Christians, dissecting them alive, tearing out their organs, killing the victims, and then selling the organs to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the two major nations of the Antichrist. We learned this from a local Serbian Christian and veteran Special Forces officer in Serbia’s military, named Lazar. We interviewed him and this is the information he conveyed to us. He said “They also kill people and sell their organs in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.” He then said, They abduct people in Kosovo, Serbian people — in some cases Albanian people — and they take their...

Serbia's Euro 2016 qualifier against Albania was abandoned on Tuesday evening after a drone flown over the Partizan Stadium pitch carrying the pro-Albanian banner led to a clash between the two sets of players.

Father Gjergj Simoni speaks with CNA in Tirana, Albania on Sept, 21, 2014. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA. Tirana, Albania, Sep 22, 2014 / 07:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An Albanian Catholic priest shared his story of encountering persecution for his faith by the country's repressive state atheism, noting how he waited decades before his dream to be ordained was fulfilled. “When I first said I wanted to be 'like Him,' a priest told me that it was a dark path to take, but I replied: 'I see no darkness,'” Father Gjergj Simoni said. In a Sept. 21 interview with CNA, he recalled...

Father Federico Lombardi gives a press briefing in Tirana, Albania. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Tirana, Albania, Sep 21, 2014 / 06:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a press briefing Sunday the Vatican's spokesman downplayed worries over Pope Francis' safety in Albania, also noting that Muslims gathered in an important Tirana mosque to pray for the pontiff's visit. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, told journalists that the Sept. 21 papal visit has been welcomed with joy by all the Albanian religious communities. On why Pope Francis did not stop the popemobile as he often does to greet children...

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Mother Teresa Square in Tirana, Albania, Sept. 21. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Tirana, Albania, Sep 21, 2014 / 03:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During Mass at Mother Teresa square as part of his one-day trip to Albania, Pope Francis recalled the country's vicious history of anti-religious persecution, saying it is now ready for the Gospel to flourish. “Recalling the decades of atrocious suffering and harsh persecutions against Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims, we can say that Albania was a land of martyrs: many bishops, priests, men and women religious, and laity paid for their fidelity with their lives,”...

DERVEN, Albania (AP) — The one-room, stone church of St. Nicholas has sat on the top of a hill here since the 16th century, destroyed three times and rebuilt in a testament to the Catholic presence in this region that dates to St. Paul. Its latest incarnation, however, is particularly poignant: 15 Muslim families chipped in to help rebuild it in a sign of the remarkable coexistence that exists in Albania between Christians and Muslims. Pope Francis will highlight this interfaith harmony when he makes a one-day trip to the Balkan nation on Sunday, holding it up as a model...

Papal and Albanian banners line Albania's streets. Credit Daniel Ibáñez / CNA. Tirana, Albania, Sep 20, 2014 / 01:34 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Franciscan involved in the preparations for Pope Francis’ trip to Albania said that he hopes for a surprise from a Pope who has made a habit of breaking his routine to visit the sick. “We set the area with young people and sick people in the front, at the right and the left of the altar. Pope Francis will address young people at the beginning of the Mass, but he is not expected to go and spend...

When Pope Francis lands at Mother Teresa Airport outside Tirana, Albania, Sunday, he will find a country still getting used to the concept of democracy—and learning again what it means to believe in God. The Church is "rising," in the words of Father Carlo Lorenzo Rossetti, who has been based in Albania since 2003. But several generations grew up in a society that had tried to erase God from public and private consciousness. Father Rossetti, a Fidei donum priest from the Diocese of Rome, directs the “Redemptoris Mater” missionary seminary and teaches theology at the interdiocesan seminary in Shkoder. He spoke...

Turkey's energy minister has declared a gas pipeline a "peace corridor" linking the Caucasus with the Balkans. "We open the project as a peace corridor that is the result of 15 years hard work by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Through the South Caucasus pipeline and its backbone, the Trans-Anatolia pipeline, we connect the Caucasus with the Balkans. I wish every country could understand the true value of these projects and contribute with us," Taner Yıldız said while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the South Caucasus pipeline in Baku on Sept. 20. The minister said energy security "ranks as one of...

WASHINGTON — The international effort to help Iraqis fight Islamic militants is heating up, with seven additional countries agreeing to provide arms to the Kurdish peshmerga forces. Albania, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Italy and the U.K. have committed to giving weapons and equipment to the embattled Kurds, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. The announcement comes about two weeks after Hagel set up a working group to find ways to accelerate arms deliveries to the Kurds. The Defense Department said the materiel is “urgently needed” as the Kurds take on the militant group known as the Islamic State, which has taken over...

Kosovo police say they have arrested at least 40 people in a major operation targeting Islamic radicals suspected of fighting alongside extremists in Iraq and Syria. […] The police operation is the largest ever against suspected Islamic radicals in Kosovo. Authorities have been on alert as a growing number of ethnic Albanians have joined militants in Syria and Iraq and appeared on social media in attempts to lure more followers. …

The owners of two dogs that mauled and killed jogger from Livonia last week are in the country illegally and have been fighting deportation proceedings for several years, according to media reports. Now, Albania national Valbona Lacaj, 44, and her Italian husband, Sebastiano Quagliata, 45, may face involuntary manslaughter charges, the Detroit Free Press reports. Their Cane Corso dogs attacked and killed Craig Sytsma, 46, as he jogged past the couple’s Metamora home on July 23. It was the third attack by the large Italian dogs – mastiff-type dogs the American Kennel Club describes as “noble, majestic and powerful in...

A couple whose two dogs mauled a jogger on a rural Michigan road have been charged with murder, reports CBS Detroit....In addition to the murder charges, federal authorities said Quagliata and Lucaj are Albanians living in the U.S. illegally. A report in the Detroit Free Press stated they were facing imminent deportation at the time of the attack. It is unclear if their citizenship status will affect their trial.Authorities said it was the third attack by the dogs in the past two years. The couple was apparently breeding dogs at their property, officials said.

Albanian-American model Amanda Lajcaj has been suggested as a candidate for either Miss America or Miss Albania, and not only is she incredibly good-looking... she's also a good girl: Amanda is a professionally trained dancer. She has been competing in various dancing styles (ballet, jazz, hip hop, modern, contemporary, lyrical, etc.) since the age of seven. She is known for her sense of humor, said to be excellent at doing impressions. Amanda is regular at the charity events and loves to help others.  She is a devoted Catholic and attends mass regularly... Pics/more at Reaganite Republican...

Near-continuous gunfire rang out Tuesday from a lawless village in southern Albania as hundreds more police arrived to battle well-armed marijuana growers who were trying to thwart a government crackdown. By mid-day, about 800 police had surrounded the village of Lazarat after shooting overnight wounded a special forces police officer. With local television broadcasting the events live, police and the Interior Ministry urged the village's 5,000 residents to stay indoors and warned others to stay away from the area, some 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of the capital, Tirana. On Monday, about 500 police raided Lazarat, running into 30 suspected...

Albanian Catholic women at prayer in northern Albania. The Pope visits the country in September (CNS) Pope Francis is making a day long pastoral visit to Albania this coming September, he has announced. His words at yesterday’s Angelus were as follows: “I want to confirm the Church of Albania in the faith, and bear witness to my encouragement and love for a country that has suffered for so long in consequence of the ideologies of the past.”This will be the second trip of any Pontiff to the country. (Saint John Paul II was there in the spring of 1993, also...