Kosovo is an independent country now, not still recognized by any country but I am sure, some will start that very soon,starting from United States to European Union. Russia opposes the move furiously,Georgia too and Azerbaijan too. Armenia may welcome that,though i am not sure since Armenia buys weapons from Serbia and that for sure will upset Serbs.
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Armenianow.com had an interesting article “Present and Future Power Debate: Who will be the choices in 2008?” which examines the possible scenarios of political developments, probable candidates and the effects of these decisions on the political life in the country. However, all the arguments brought to and for this or that candidate in the article are most irrelevent to see the overall picture in the country. The one and only thing that got me interested was rather this one single point made by Washington D.C./Yerevan political analyst Richard Giragosian: more…
Had to do a round of introductions today on issues in Democracy for an international group of people representing various countries with similar or worse democratic problems than those of ARmenia. As we had 12 presenters, the speaches had to be done in 5 minutes max, and had to include our vision of Democracy in the UK and Democracy Problems in our countries. Really really tight - isn’t it? I had to choose carefully what to say and how to convey a more or less general picture. As we didn’t really have time to prepare the little impromptu speech I made was rather one sided, still, I guess I ought to publish it here - for public shame and comments… more…
Today as I read the newspaper, Serzh Sarkisyan’s comments struck me as unbelievably short sighted and almost comical. I was reading a week old paper and in it Serzh said that he does not see Russia’s acquiring of Armenia’s utilities as dangerous. He continued to say that he does not see Russia using its economic interests, implying that Russia is not using its economic power to control Armenia. What? Serzh, are you living in the same country as I am?
On October 18, the “Haykakan Zhamanak” newspaper published a report by Hayk Gevorgyan, entitled: “They are deceiving us again”. In this article, we read: “The regular session of the inter-parliamentary commission of the Armenian parliament and the Russian Federation Council was held in Yerevan in recent days and a delegation led by the chairman of the commission, Nikolay Ryzhkov, arrived in Yerevan to take part in the session. They brought a document called “Trade and economic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia”. The fifth page of the document says: “ArmRosgazprom will buy from the Armenian government a 40km sector of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline which is under construction and the incomplete 5th unit of the Razdan power plant… The deal should be implemented by 1 January 2007.”
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Armenia is in a very interesting part of the world. As most of you know it is in the Southern Caucuses but this is a new designation. As I travel around the country and see the 1000 year old monuments of the silk trail with Armenian and Arabic languages, it brings up a time when Mother Russia was an unknown neighbor and Armenia was very much part of what is today called the Middle East.
The interview of Mr. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the scandalously infamous leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia, aired on October 8th, during the evening newscast of the Armenian Shant TV, was designed to scare. And it was definitely designed in Kremlin, like we have seen in so many cases in the past. The problem is - it didn’t scare, but rather aroused mixed feelings of disgust, and a vague understanding of - “So that’s what role Russia has prepared for all of us, the ‘little brother nations’! (He mentioned Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States among the lucky ones to go worship the Big Brother)
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…that probably wasn’t the first point in Sahakashvili’s agenda. Still, that’s what Georgia is clearly getting out of the scandal: according to data from the Regional Electoral Committee of Akhalkalaki (the predominantly Armenian populated town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in Georgia), Akhalkalaki with 7052 voters will have 1 delegate to the regional sakrebulo (the local representative self-government body), which is as many as the Georgian village Ptena with 204 voters. The elections in Georgia certainly look promising… and will probably go by unnoticed, lost in the overall spy-scandal fuss!!!
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As the latest developments in the UN are showing, Azerbaijan is shifting its attention towards forming bigger alliances and burying the essence of the Karabakh problem under the global contradictions around energy security, anti-Russian moods and ducking behind the scandalous image of Mikhail Saakashvili, the president of Georgia.
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Following a string of deadly attacks on Armenians, another was added to the list last night when an Armenian citizen living in Moscow, was shot in a south district last night. Another Armenian who was with him was also injured, as a result of gunfire.
This is really worrying, it comes around a week after another Armenian was stabbed in Russia , and previously a number of stabbings in the last 3 months give definite cause for concern - including an Armenian being mutilated on a passenger train. I think it has gone past the point where the authorities can say the attacks are not race related, it is time for them to face up and begin tackling an increasing problem.
Specialists have pulled from the water one of the black box flight recordes fro the tragic A320 flight. It is envisaged that they will continue the extraction of the second box today, which is believed to be in a similar location. It will be the beginning of trying to find the true causes of the crash, provided transparency is ensured.
The hunt for the victims continues in Sochi. Today already the newspapers and other media have begun their rumour mills ( which can be expected ) some say the crew weren’t prepared, some saying that the number of influential people on board made the crash suspect. Perhaps the most sensational piece of news is the Georgian Aviation Authority’s claim that they have 90% of the contact between Armavia and themselves on tape…before they were handed over to Russian controllers. Apparently the Georgians told Armavia not to continue to Sochi, but Russian’s OK’d it…they also claim the language used by the Russians was not very pleasant, but they say that they wont give any more information.
Up until now no one approached them for the recording, but an Armenian official is on his way to claim a copy now.
Reports state that Armavia is functioning pretty well, but with some cancellations, as the first flight from Sochi with the bodies will arrive in Yerevan this evening.
Theres also the report from ArmeniaLiberty that the same plane was involved in a near disaster recently, and it was possible to save it, and there are suspicions that the plane was never repaired.
It all remains a mystery until the Black box flight recorder is found, and there are Russian, and foreign workers attempting to find these. There have been reports that radio signals emitted from the box have been picked up by French teams. These all remain unconfirmed.
Michael Baghdasarov , owner of Armavia, as well as the Multi Group of companies, stated that each victims family would recieve approximately $20,000 compensation for the loss from insurers.
The National Assembly is also giving $1,500 per victim, as well as arranging funeral costs for all Armenian citizens, and any Russian citizens of Armenian origin who’s families wish for them to be buried in Armenia.
It is a very sad day.
President Kocharyan has sent Serge Sargsyan, Defense Minister, to Sochi to investigate the plane tragedy. This is cited as the worst in Armenia’s history. Mr Kocharyan has also declared today a National day of Mourning, and two more official days are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
President Putin also reportedly discussed the issue with Kocharyan today, declaring it a joint Russian-Armenian tragedy. The deputy director of Armavia was on board, as well as a number of influential businessmen, and many Armenian civilians , as well as a number of Georgian and Ukranians.
Once again, I hope we can all offer condolences to all victims of this terrible tragedy, and their families.
On a personal level, reading the list of the perished , number 1 on the list was a man with my surname, Azarian and the same first name as my Uncle.. (luckily it wasn’t ) It really brings home how personal this feels. May everyone rest in peace.
According to reports everyone in the plane has lost their lives, the plane was en route to Sochi when it was refused permission to land, and the craft reportedly tried to emergency land. The craft was one of their new A320 airbuses, recently added to the fleet.
This is a real shame. Many Armenian airlines have fared badly in the past and Armavia seemed to be making great steps. I worry that this may destroy the company and once again we will be left without a national carrier. I have been singing the praises of this airline for their increased capacity and quality and addition of many new flight routes. I would still fly if they started a London > Yerevan route.
This aside, I’m sure I could relay our sincere condolences to all the families, friends and loved ones of the victims who are suffering as a result of this tragedy. I hope Armenia can be in the news for more than events like this.
According to Interfax, the natural gas pipeline to Georgia and Armenia has been restored:
Gas supplies to Georgia and Armenia on the North Caucasus-Transcaucasus gas pipeline in North Ossetia resumed at 10:17 a.m., Moscow time, on Sunday, Viktor Krainov, director of Kavkaztransgaz’s Mozdok gas pipeline department told Interfax. “The pipeline has been purged of an explosive gas-air mixture and the tap has been turned. Gas will flow to Georgia and further to Armenia,” he said. Earlier reports said that welding operations at the damaged stretch of the pipeline were over on Saturday evening.
One can only be glad that the Russian-Georgian ‘love-fest’ did not end up hurting Armenia. For some absurd reason, the Georgian government cut off gas supplies to teh Russian embassy in Tbilisi, and backed off only after the Russians promised to reciprocate in Moscow.
An update on the gas situation:
Georgia’s getting gas from Azerbaijan. Leaders in Georgia are still saying that Russia did it on purpose. [Forbes]
Jamestown has a summary of the whole thing.
RFE/RL says that the Georgians are really mad. [RFE/RL]
RFE/RL Armenia has coverage as well. They say that authorities are asking people to chill out on using gas for now. The reserves should be fine for a few days. [RFE/RL]
It is REALLY snowing in Armenia - [PanArmenian.Net]
Two explosions ripped through Russia’s main natural gas supply pipeline to Armenia and Georgia, halting supplies to the two Caucasus countries for possibly several days, Russian officials said.
They aren’t sure why the explosions occured yet.
Georgia has started importing gas from Azerbaijan. No one is sure yet what Armenia is going to do.
Kocharyan was supposed to go to Russia later this week - he’s likely not to go now.
Blogs:
Ben at neweurasia.net is covering the story. He says that Kazakhstan may benefit from this situation.
Myrthe is covering this too.
A pro Jewish watchdog/publication website identifying itself as the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (or UCSJ), recently posted some disturbing news on two separate ethnic Armenian murders in Russia, just days apart.(click below)
Armenian Murdered in Moscow, Possibly by Skinheads
(January 11, 2006)
Teenage Migrant Stabbed to Death in Moscow
(January 10, 2006)
UCSJ’s has lots of similar hate-attack-stories published on their site. I’m just wondering what’s really going on in Vladamir Putin’s Russia?
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.
BAD TRANSLATION!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.
Via PanArmenian.net:
Armenia and Iran have launched a project of building of the 5th block of Hrazdan thermal power plant, Armenian Minister of Energy Armen Movsisyan stated during a press briefing December 8. According to some data, Iran will invest $150 million into the project. When commenting on a statement of Russian Premier Mikhail Fradkov, who reaffirmed Russian party’s interest in participation in that project, Mr. Movsisyan said, «Fradkov wants that, but that desire is not supported by a specific proposal. Thus, we have nothing to consider. On the other hand Russia takes part in the project anyway. In particular, we actively work with the Project Institute, which has arranged the project of building the 5th block of Hrazdan thermal power plant». Meanwhile, it should be reminded that the Russian party in the person of RAO UES of Russia and Gazprom Corporation initially claimed the right for building of the block, as well laying the Armenian part of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. The Armenian Government preferred two Iranian companies Sanir and MAR.
Strong stuff - that’s the first time in recent memory the Armenian government turned down a “friendly” Russian proposal.
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