My mind was wandering last night and I was thinking about Turkey and the EU. If/when Turkey does get into the EU, Armenia is going to have a very large border with the EU.

Companies that do any manufacturing hate working in EU countries. The restrictions in the EU, not to mention the wages that have to be paid, make it unattractive for manufacturing. Asia is much better.

Why can’t Armenia, with its easy access to the EU, be another site for manufacturing? Why wouldn’t Armenians be just as good at manufacturing as people in Asia are? Think of the money saved in exporting the manufactured goods? Sure, it would be more expensive to import the things that you need in order TO manufacture, but the money saved in the export of the finished product may make up for it.

In China and Vietnam it is difficult to find English speakers to communicate with the companies (not in India and Hong Kong) - in Armenia there are certainly enough English speakers.

Armenia could do this easily.

All that would need to happen is:
1. the border with Turkey opened
2. environmental precautions taken
3. the barriers to foreign direct investment lifted
4. the powers that be would have to move out of the way! (easier said than done)

Thoughts?

In a positive sign from Turkey, 45 minutes of Kurdish language TV will be shown each day. [source]

A good move toward making concessions to the EU.

On a related note, I have a classmate from Turkey (she is ethnically mixed) with whom I discuss minority issues in Turkey. She says that other than Kurds, she believes that the Turkish government thinks that they are already doing plenty for the minorities. With schools, newspapers, radio, and TV, minorities have a lot going on in their languages. My classmate, belonging to a number of different minority groups, feels differently, but it is interesting to know how she perceives the government’s attitude.

She’s also said that the major reason that the Turkish government can’t do the same for the Kurds is sheer numbers. She thinks that the government is really scared of the Kurds.

Kurdish classmates that I had during my undergraduate years said the same thing. Granted, the fact that they were studying in the US and spoke English extremely well means that they are of a certain class, to be sure, but hearing this from a variety of sources is interesting.

Maybe all this fear is a good argument for a Kurdistan?

Armenia decided today to raise benefits for those in poverty 20%. This will now be US$34 each month. [source]

This is part of Armenia’s PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper). If you’re not familiar with what a PRSP is, here’s a little background. The international finance institutions were getting a lot of slack for having a top-down approach to economic development. In the late 1990s, after a series of Structural Adjustment Programs which didn’t work very well, it was determined that a collective effort between a country’s government, its NGOs, and these financial institutions would be a better way to determine what the economic problems of a country are and how poverty can be reduced.

So in the late 1990s - early 2000s there was a rush to write up these plans. You can see Armenia’s plan here.

The World Bank and IMF said “If you don’t create one of these plans, no more money from us!” Doesn’t really give a country a choice, does it?

Some would argue that the PRSPs are silly. The governments of the world (not just Armenia) won’t follow the rules… they avoid the poorest of the poor, etc.

To get some more perspective on Armenia’s PRSP, check out this article.

One important thing to know about PRSPs — they are written in the vocabulary of the Millenium Development Goals. Know about those?

By 2015, the entire world is supposed to do these things:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

There were some 2005 goals, but few countries met them. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for 2015.

Want to learn more? Check out the Wikipedia article on PRSP.

Want to bother other people? Go to the Yerevan Press Club’s website. Make sure your speakers are on.

State’s Burns Outlines U.S. Trans-Atlantic Agenda for 2006

A senior State Department official says the U.S. agenda for the trans-Atlantic relationship in 2006 is to broaden NATO’s mandate and extend its global reach; to advance democracy in Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia; and to cooperate with Europe in every region of the world through political, economic and security partnerships.

Thanks US… advancing democracy.

The Caucasus and Central Asia: We remain committed to pursuing the Freedom Agenda in Russia and Ukraine. We must encourage Ukraine, Georgia to seek NATO and EU ties, push for reform in the Caucasus and for an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In Central Asia, we must engage Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and demand reform from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

[entire text]

Seriously, how long have I been talking about Linux in Armenia?

Since the mid-1990s?

No one ever listened to me.

Spitux aside, there isn’t much going on with Linux in Armenia, to be sure.

And look what smart Azerbaijan did:

President of Azerbaijan recently signed an order titled “ICT Implementation Programme in Azerbaijan High Schools (2005-2007)”. According to the document $20M in total is provisioned for this project. Project involves installation of new computers in 4521 high schools countrywide. Thus, by the end of the project one computer will be available for each 33 school students.

The Azerbaijan Internet Forum presented these reason for using Linux:

*Software cost saving - Lin.az is Free:
- Roughly 300$ saving on each workstation
- Saved funds can be spent for education of teachers, staff problems and inter-school infrastructure
* More Secure and Reliable:
- Almost virus free and better protected against viruses
- No need for regular critical updates
* More Flexible:
- Easily can be adopted for special needs of Ministry of Education.
- Local vendors will be given the chance to support their schools.
- In the future integrated infrastructure can be easily implemented among schools in order to manage and share resources.
* Azeri User Interface:
- Today, Lin.az/Linux is the only OS with the fully translated Azeri UI.
- 95% of applications (OpenOffice, Mozilla Firefox, etc.) also translated into Azeri
- Minorities can translate and use OS in their native languages in the future.
* Other Advantages:
- Distributive includes wide range of educational programs for mathematics, chemistry, geography, programming and foreign languages education.
- Existing Windows compatible application could be used from emulators if required.
- User interface can be switched into other languages in few seconds, which is very important for multilingual schools.
* International Practice:
- Nowadays, more and more schools all over the world are moving to OSS.
- All workstations in IOI’2006 (International Olympics of Informatics) will run Linux.
- 100$ (a.k.a. green) laptop is running Linux.

EXACTLY!!!!! ARGH!!!

Don’t blame me when Azeri kids have significantly better technology skills than their counterparts in Armenia. It isn’t just ArmenTel. It isn’t just the oil money. It is the fact that the MoE LISTENED to the experts and made a SMART decision.

I am SO frustrated now.

[source]

Via Global Voices Online, Into the Wind, a Jordanian blog, posts about the World Youth Peace Conference to be held in Jordan this fall.

From September 11 to 15, 2006, youth leaders from all the nations of the world will assemble at the Dead Sea in Jordan for the World Youth Peace Summit. The Historic gathering - under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II – will recognize the importance of this date, and in partnership with Chat the Planet will include a live link between ‘ground zero’ in New York City and the Summit in Jordan. Chat the Planet is a new vision of how television, the Internet, and a network of global partnerships can create compelling television programming, and a vibrant global community of youth conversation and a culture of civic engagement.

At the Summit young leaders will assess global challenges, working amongst themselves and with international mentors to develop new and innovative solutions that ensure a just and peaceful global future. Delegates will be young leaders representing all regions of the world and a wide range of professional sectors, in an effort to produce a broad-based network of youth working for positive change.

More from the WYPS Official Website

Any Armenians interested?

Ian Bremmer has an article in Slate today that covers “nonrevolutions” and why they matter.

But a nonrevolution sometimes matters, too, particularly when it uncovers previously hidden political and social instability and poses problems for the future of a volatile region.

How come?

Still, the absence of revolution does not mean that the two states are equally stable or that what happened doesn’t matter. While Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Kazakh government remains as well-entrenched after the election as it was before, Ilham Aliyev’s Azerbaijan may now face a newly radicalized and disruptive opposition.

So why didn’t Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan have a revolution? Bremmer says because of one thing: oil! (and therefore money!)

Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, the three countries have something very basic in common: They all lack the oil and gas revenues that have stabilized Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Remember back in November when I was floored with the stability and prosperity in AZ?

Bremmer makes a good point:

That income matters enormously. In states that enjoy substantial energy wealth, some of the revenues trickle down to key segments of the citizenry and enhance quality of life. True, the benefits are unevenly distributed. But the extra income these governments receive ensures that elites have the resources to buy off key individuals and groups—and to better finance the use of oppression where necessary. The ruling regimes in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have experienced all these benefits.

Those key segments matter A LOT!

Bremmer goes into the Azerbaijani opposition and their interested in the NK settlement or lack thereof.

He says that the main opposition group, Azadlyg, is going to change tactics “because the Azerbaijani government rigged the elections to limit those gains and the United States has refused to become directly involved.” He thinks that they are going to try to screw up the NK resolution.

Aliyev knows that the various opposition parties can win increased popular support by playing on nationalist resistance to compromise on the issue, thereby blocking his efforts to improve Azerbaijan’s standing in the region and his own international reputation.

So, Armenia, without any of this oil money? Will it have a revolution, according to Bremmer’s theory? It remains to be seen.

Since when does anyone in Armenia play hockey?

Who wants an Armenian scout badge from Argentina? What are you going to do with this?

RoA human rights ombudsperson, Larisa Alaverdian, has be kicked out of office. She pissed off the Prez too much and there’s no way for her to stay. She asked to stay in her position until a replacement could be found, but Parliament refused her yesterday.

Why is she out, other than because she made Kocharyan mad? Well, remember those amendments that passed last month? One of them says that the official in charge of human rights protection, appointed by the president until now, will be chosen by the National Assembly.

January 5 is the one month anniversary of the amendments passing, therefore Alaverdian has to be out by that date.

Let’s hope that nothing terrible happens in the meantime.

RFE/RL coverage

THE LAST REPORT OF THE OMBUDSMAN

The participants of the discussion of the activity of the RA Ombudsman tried to sum up what the RA first Ombudsman has done during her 6-year office. Before that Mrs. Alaverdyan is to submit her annual report about “The Activity of the Ombudsman and the Violations of Human Rights”. In comparison with the last report it will be full of examples of human rights violations. There will also be a reference to cultural and ecological issues and to the interests of consumers.

Larissa Alaverdyan complained that after the Constitutional Amendments there were very few people who applied to the Ombudsman. She also said that she doesn’t have enough data for her report yet; for example she does not know how many soldiers have died in the RA Armed Force in 2005. Before receiving official information the advocates present at the discussion informed her that 135 soldiers have died this year.

At the end of the discussion some of the representatives of the NGOs said they wanted Larissa Alaverdyan to continue in her post.[source]

Today we went to the Burbank Ikea to pick up some things for the new house.

We drove past Glendale and all, and while we were at Ikea, I heard Armenian being spoken in public for the first time in years. I guess that’s what I get for living in Vermont and now London.

It was totally surreal and made me feel really… well, I don’t know.

Anyway, later in the week I’ll be visiting down there with friends rather than to go shopping. Then I’ll probably feel more engulfed by the Armenianness!

The Law on the Receiving of Information, signed off by the president on Dec. 19, relates to the acquisition of information, responses to enquiries, creation of information databases and others issues regarding the handling, use and release of information about private individuals.

This is part of the Council of Europe rules that require that members have laws on freedom of information. [source]

On 26 October 2004, at the First OSCE South Caucasus Media Conference (Tbilisi, Georgia), journalists adopted a declaration calling the Government of Azerbaijan to “adopt a comprehensive law on Free Access to Information based on international standards”, and the governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to develop in all three States “a comprehensive strategy for the implementation of the [freedom of information] laws, jointly with the media and NGOs.” [source]

This is important to the region.

There has been a steady growth of freedom of information legislation in the region. Georgia was in the forefront in standard-setting as it was the first country in the South Caucasus to adopt a comprehensive Freedom of Information (FOI) Law in 1999. Armenia is the only country in the region with a detailed strategy for the implementation of its FOI Law, developed by three Armenian civil society groups. Despite positive developments in Armenia and Georgia, both countries there have had problems with the implementation of the existing laws, further complicated by broad state secrets acts. Azerbaijan, which has not passed an advanced law yet, is further behind the other two States. [source]

Armenia’s Freedom of Information law was enacted in 2003 and is available here.

A bigger study of the FOI laws in the Caucasus would be very interesting… dissertation ideas!

For those of you that celebrate Christmas, and for those of you that celebrate on December 25, Merry Christmas!

We’ve discussed Republic of Armenia apathy quite a bit, but Glendale Chick is talking about something else: Diaspora Apathy.

She has some interesting posts. I commented on her post as well with my thoughts, but for some reason my comments aren’t showing up.

She says that: “My point is that young Armenians call themselves Armenian — but they’re not. They don’t care.” My impression is that she says this because she doesn’t see many young Armenian Californians having an interesting in the more political aspects of being Armenian.

Whereas I think that it isn’t a requirement to be at all interested in or involved in “political” things - while I don’t particularly like the negative behaviors that she describes people partaking in, I also don’t think that it is possible to label someone as being Armenian or not or rating someone as a good or bad Armenian.

I have a close friend who was not very “Armenian” for most of his life, but in his 30s he got really involved and has made a HUGE impact on Armenianess since the 1990s.

Anyway, interesting post - be sure to click over there if you’re interested.

Interested? Check it out here.

A few weeks back at Onnik’s London presentation I met a great young American Diasporan, Emily Artinian. Emily is an artist who makes limited edition artist’s books and text based art, exploring different aspects of literature and textual theory. This past summer she lived in Yerevan as an artist in residence at NPAK (Armenian Centre for Contemporary & Experimental Art). I love NPAK - it is a great space for a lot of good work being done.

While at NPAK Emily published ‘From Ararat to Angeltown’, a large format book about post-Soviet Armenian literature and the Yerevan based writers’ group Bnagir (Beware - the site is NOT in Unicode.) The book is in Armenian and English on corresponding pages.

Table of Contents: Love by Violet Grigorian; Yerevan is a Big City by Mariné Petrossian; Brotherhood by Vahan Ishkhanyan; Of Cats and Dogs by Gohar Nikoghosyan; Landslide by Vahram Martirosyan (the first two chapters of the novel); Love at Every Sight by Karen Karslyan.

Emily says the the works are amazing!

Also included are excerpts from transcripts of Emily’s discussions with the group during her 2004 artist’s residency in Armenia. This text highlights the difficulties of publication facing progressive writers in this ex-Soviet republic, difficulties that are a result of limited cultural acceptance at home, limited economic resources, and also a lack of connections to publication and distribution organisations in the west.

You can order the book on Emily’s site.

And, check out Emily’s site for more information about her work.

quite the collection via BoingBoing.

Taking a page from Harmick’s book, I read online that YerevanNights.com is going to broadcast a music countdown show on December 23. This is par for the course in the US and Europe, but I’ve never heard of it being done in Armenia. The songs look to be pretty mainstream, but hey… mainstream pop appeals to some.

Here’s the scoop:

Yerevan Nights online radio ( www.YerevanNights.com ) will be broadcasting “Best Songs of the Year 2005” at 6:30pm, December 23, 2005.

The live broadcast will feature the best Armenian singers from around the world.

Yerevan Nights operates 24 hours a day and is available even for users with slow Internet connection.

Having started as a modest attempt to promote Armenian music, advertisement-free Yerevan Nights is rapidly evolving into a fully operating Internet radio with comprehensive programming, rich musical library, growing army of satisfied listeners and plans for the future to launch more live programs.

The regular programming of Yerevan Nights started on November 1, 2005 and within the following week, according to the statistical data provided by www.Circle.am, recorded over 5300 visits.

BusinessWeek has an article this week on this topic. Is this applicable to Armenia?

Some highlights:

* Since 1983, Grameen Bank, of which Yunus is founder and managing director, has lent $5.3 billion to borrowers in Bangladesh, spawning replicated programs in more than 100 countries.

* Out of those companies Yunus developed the Village Phone Project, where women borrowers would take a loan to buy a handset and solar-powered charger and function as their village pay phone, providing the women with substantially increased income. Now, there are nearly 200,000 telephone ladies all over Bangladesh, and that number keeps increasing. So state-of-the-art mobile technology has reached the very poor people, and it’s a very good source of income for them. If a poor woman gets hold of one mobile phone in the village, then this is a sure bet that her entire family can move out of poverty in two or three years. Friends or enemies, critics and admirers across the board all admire Village Phone because it has brought telephone connectivity everywhere in Bangladesh, not just in the cities.

* “I’m encouraging young people to become social business entrepreneurs and contribute to the world, rather than just making money. Making money is no fun. Contributing to and changing the world is a lot more fun.”

* Beggars project: Instead of begging door-to-door, the loan allows them to buy some ribbons or some candy and sell it door-to-door.

* Using solar power in villages.

* Telemedicine - medical care through video conferencing.

On December 20, the Armenian Federation of Sports Reporters announced its selection of top Armenian sports personalities this year:

1) Levon Aronian, Chess, Winner of the 2005 Chess World Cup
2) Armen Nazarian, Judo, 2005 European Champion
3) Movses Karapetian, Greco-Roman Wrestling, 2005 European Champion
4) Artak Malumian, Boxing, Bronze Medal in World Championship
5) Martin Berberian, Free Style Wrestling, Bronze Medal in World Championship (this guy won 2004 European Championship in Ankara on April 24, 2004)
6) Norayr Bakhtamian, Shooting, Silver Medal European Championship
7) Roman Amoyan, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Silver Medal, 2005 European Championship
8) Ashot Danielian, Weightlifting, Bronze Medal, European Championship
9) Laert Avagian, Judo, Silver Medal, World Championship
10) Arsen Melikian, Weightlifting, Bronze Medal, European Championship

Terrible mutations may turn humans into plants or animals

Is this April Fool’s Day?

Nope, it’s Pravda. (Literally and figuratively.)

Herbal cells may settle down and parasitize on the organism of a human or an animal

Geneticists say that mutations seriously change the set of chromosomes, and people with mutations can thus hardly be called humans. In Yerevan in the former Soviet republic of Armenia, 18-year-old girl Narine Aivasyan shocked doctors with her unusual disease. The girl complained about an abscess on her wrist that had been hurting her for a long period already. When doctors opened the bandage on Narine’s hand they saw two very thin thorns sticking out of the hand.

The girl was fond of pot plants

and devoted much time to looking after her plants. Once, Narine pricked herself on a cactus while watering plants. Some thorns got stuck in her wrist. The parents immediately disinfected the wound but it still festered and even expanded. Narine was reluctant to visit a doctor. She had to go to a hospital in a month when a point of a thorn emerged on the skin right on the place of the red wound. Doctors easily removed the strange object, but more thorns turned up on the same spot soon.

What?

One day Narine noticed her wrist turned red once again but she would not confess to her parents that the disease reappeared. The girl felt her forearm swell and soon a thorn as thick as a match burst her skin.

What?

But it gets weirder — the next paragraph describes a baby born in Kazakhstan with hair all over his body. There is a name for this disease, but I don’t remember it.

The baby was covered with hair from top to toe. Only his cry resembling that of a normal baby proved that he was a human being.

This is the most insensitive statement!

The family lived in isolation, but neighbors soon learnt that a strange being resembling a monkey but speaking the human language was living next door.

Oh no!

Weird.