ArmenPress
Aug 24 2004
WARWICK MAYOR OF ARMENIAN ORIGIN SENT A LETTER TO US CHAIRMAN OF
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WARWICK, AUGUST 24, ARMENPRESS: Scot Avetissian, the mayor of
second biggest city of Rhode Island, Warwick, sent a letter to the
third high rank official in the country, chairman of House of
Representatives Dennis Hastertin calling him to reconsider his
disposition to Resolution 193 and the bill proposed by Adam Sheef.
In May, 2000, Legal Committee of the House of Representatives
unanimously adopted Resolution 193 which says that US will remember
all previous crimes against humanity, including Armenian Genocide.
However, House of Representatives headed by Dennis Hastertin plans to
exclude the issue from its full session.
“Didn’t you talk about proposing the resolution on Armenian
genocide to the House of Representatives still in 2000,” Avetisian’s
letter says. “Next year the 90th anniversary of Armenian Genocide is
celebrated and it would be to the point to make a gesture to a nation
whose biggest hope, according to Ronald Reigan, “is the recognition
of the massacre of one and half million Armenians.”
In terms of Sheef’s bill, Scot Avetissian writes, “It is important
that US Congress openly states that Turkish government will not have
any US support in its lobbying efforts against resolution on
genocide.”
It is true that the House of Representatives adopted Sheef’s
resolution in its full session last month, however, Hastertin and
some republican congressmen publicly have opposed it later. Why does
Hastertin oppose Sheef’s resolution. American people do not pay taxes
for Turkish lobby, don’t they? – American Commission on Armenian
Cause poses the question and waits for the reply of the letter.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2004
Issues to be discussed by Azeri, Armenian FMs not disclosed
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers will discuss a number of
issues during the meeting to be held in Prague on August 29-30,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has told journalists.
However, he didn’t elaborate what concrete issue related to the
Garabagh conflict will be in focus during the meeting.
Noting that Azerbaijan has already unveiled its standpoint towards
the settlement of the conflict, Mammadyarov underlined that all
details have been discussed during the meetings held so far.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told the press earlier that
he didn’t expect the upcoming meeting to yield results.*

Dissident Voice, CA
Aug 24 2004
Vive la Difference
by Zbignew Zingh

Najaf. Where have we seen this before?
American tanks surround the holy site of a religious sect. Troop
commanders and government officials issue bombastic orders to an
inferior, out-gunned, faith-fueled adversary to surrender or die. The
guardians of the site are armed and determined to fight rather than
surrender their charismatic leader. The pusillanimous press
obediently label the surrounded ones as dangerous fanatics led by a
fiery rebel. The Americans claim that the rebels have rigged the holy
site to burn it to the ground. The soldiers demand that the rebels
surrender, disarm and submit to `an arrest warrant.’
Is this Najaf… or is it Waco?
Again.
Not that David Koresh and the Branch Davidians would have appreciated
the comparison to Moqtada Al-Sadr and his Mehdi Militia, but the mad
dog reaction of the United States is very similar. The difference is
that in Waco, the U.S. Government was hellbent to slaughter American
resisters and in Najaf it is hellbent to wipe out the Shi’a
resisters.
This author does not share any particular intersection with the
Branch Davidians or with the Shi’a. Nor does this author wear a
Libertarian or Liberal or Progressive label, for each creed has its
merits and its deficiencies, and no single suit of political clothing
is good for every season. The common point of interest between Waco
and Najaf, however, is the American cultural and political reaction
to The Resistance. Any Resistance.
In fact, regardless who has been in power, America’s historical
reaction to any form of organized resistance has been violent,
overwhelming, bloody, head-cracking violence. Contrary to common
belief, America does not countenance anything except docility,
meekness and submissiveness. The country that mythologizes pluralism,
has a tradition of intolerance toward resistance.
Think Ruby Ridge and the FBI’s murder of Randy Weaver’s wife and son.
Remember Mayor Richard Daly and the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Recall the 1916 Wobbly Massacre in Everett, Washington. Think 1890
and the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee. The Tulsa
Massacre of Black Americans in 1921. The coalfield labor slaughter of
1914 in Ludlow, Colorado. The genocide committed by the American
military on the Philippine people in the Insurrection of 1899 – 1902.
Henry Kissinger’s carpet bombing obliteration of millions of
Cambodians between 1969 – 1973. The American attack and
destabilization of the elected government of Guatemala, 1954. And
Vietnam, Haiti, Chile, Panama. It is not a pretty history we have.
Notwithstanding our mythology, Americans do not stand up for the
underdog. We are Top Dogs. We eat underdogs for breakfast. We chew
them up and spit out their bones. In short, we are Bullies. Muscle
beach, thick-skulled, in-your-face-sand-kicking closed-minded
bullies. Our economic system rewards Bullies. Our political and
cultural systems encourage Bullies. Our history confirms that we have
been, and we continue to think and act like Bullies.
However, lest we unduly criticize America, let us remember that no
civilization to date has ever done anything differently. All big,
powerful empires have been bullies, and we are no different. In big
and small societies, those who have power will, if necessary, beat
the weak into the pavement to preserve that power. It even happens on
the micro level of the father who abuses his wife or children because
They Disobey Him. It is a common theme of the Angry God who
corporally punishes his rebellious backsliders. Everywhere,
Disobedience and Resistance are severely beaten down by the strong
and insecure. It is a very ugly human trait. But it is not uniquely
American.
The French government slaughtered the under-armed thousands who
rebelled and barricaded the Paris Commune in 1848. Again, in 1954-62,
the French violently oppressed the Algerians who fought a guerrilla
war of independence. The Chinese keep a tight noose on the Tibetans
and are squeezing the life out of their culture. The Turks committed
genocide against the Armenians in 1915 and millions died. The Soviets
crushed the Hungarians in 1956. The Israelis decimate the
Palestinians who resist their hegemony. The Spanish fascists, with
American and British help, annihilated the Republican resistance in
the Spanish Civil War. The British have spread death and cultural
disintegration as a matter of policy wherever they went ever since
The Hundred Years War with France in the 13th -14th Centuries. In
1994, the Hutu in Rwanda slaughtered the Tutsi by the hundreds of
thousands. During the Second World War, the Nazis exterminated as
many as a million Roma and six million Jews throughout Europe in an
orgy of `race purification’. The Japanese raped China in 1937-38. The
Dutch wasted Indonesia in 1947 in a `police action’ to put down a
rebellion for independence. In 1965-66, the Indonesians, with
America’s blessing, murdered millions of Indonesian `communists’ and
later, beginning in 1975 (and again with America’s blessing) they
wiped out much of the population of East Timor. The Vatican
exterminated the Cathars in the 13th Century in what is now southern
France, and the Crusaders killed anyone and everything in Europe and
the Middle East from 1095 to about 1300.
Polish rebels in Warsaw rose up in rebellion in 1944. The Germans,
with Russian, British and American acquiescence, jackbooted the
Warsaw resistance fighters and killed them by the thousands and
thousands.
Warsaw. Falluja. Warsaw. Wounded Knee. Falluja. Gaza. Jakarta.
Warsaw. Waco. Najaf. Warsaw. Warsaw. Warsaw. Powerful Humans always
have and always will try to squash resistance because if one act of
resistance succeeds, then it will encourage other acts of resistance
which will, ultimately, lead to the overthrow of those who Wield the
Power. That is the brutal reality of how People in Power retain their
Power. They mercilessly squash you if you resist. They squash you
mercilessly to demonstrate to other wannabe rebels that they, too,
will be mercilessly squashed if they utter a peep of dissent. Those
who have attained the pinnacles of power in their world – in
Washington, D.C., in Moscow, in London, in Riyadh, in Jerusalem, in
Islamabad, in Baghdad, in Australia, and in Rome – not only know this
rule, but they have proved themselves quite willing to apply it.
It is not completely dismal, however. On this brutal globe, in our
blood-stained world history of the progression of bullies, America
does stand out as someplace special, notwithstanding its sordid past.
The problem is that most Americans, and certainly the majority of
American political, religious and business leaders completely
misunderstand why.
Ours is not a land more beautiful than any other. Other lands, too,
have forests, mountains, gorges and lakes. Our difference is
certainly NOT our capitalism for, in reality, our economic strength
depends exclusively on our ruthless exploitation of mineral and
energy resources that are not inexhaustible and that will soon peak.
What makes us special is certainly NOT our political system because
it has historically sought to strangle every infant political
movement in its crib. We are definitely no better or different
because of our Judeo-Christian heritage – in fact, America in the
21st Century more strongly resembles today’s Iran or yesterday’s
Afghanistan or medieval Europe before the Enlightenment.
We are not better because of our multi-cultural heritage because, as
any minority in America knows, multiculturalism is tolerated in
America only on reservations, in ghettos, in museums and in movies.
We are, generally speaking, a Culture of Sameness. From sea to
shining sea, we are the same television shows, the same baseball
stadiums, the same Gap and McDonald’s and Walmart and Starbucks and
Krispy Kremes, the same cars, the same clothes, the same radio talk
shows, the same, the same and more of the same. And we punish,
ridicule and beat those who resist that culture of Sameness.
America is, in short, just like every other place on earth, no better
and no worse. Except in one respect.
We have a few pieces of paper: the Declaration of Independence; the
Constitution; the Bill of Rights; and a few short documents like the
Gettysburg Address.
The Constitution is a flawed document. It was written by land-owning
slave-holding white men determined to preserve their power. However,
it also contains the kernel of a principle of good governance: a
strong system of checks and balances intended to restrain unbridled
power. The Constitution also contains the essence of a free society –
it describes a militia of the people rather than a standing army; it
includes basic and necessary restrictions on the power to declare
war, limitations on intellectual property and prohibitions on the
creation of an aristocracy.
The two bookends around the Constitution are much more radical and
enlightened documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Bill
of Rights. You should read these documents again. And again. They are
revolutionary. They are the types of writings which, if proclaimed by
any Lesser People in the world today, we Americans would grind them
mercilessly into the ground.
One bookend, The Declaration of Independence, was the trumpet call
for the American Revolution. It is an unequivocal Declaration of
Resistance. It is not a `progressive’ document; it is not a `liberal’
document. It is a radical, In-Your-Face, Finger-In-Your-Eye King
George, revolutionary, incendiary manifesto. It holds that whenever
the Government tends to destroy the Peoples’ inalienable rights of
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, then the People have the
right to Rise Up and Abolish the Government. Imagine! Our Founders
actually encouraged the People to rise up in revolt and abolish the
Government that oppressed them! Perhaps Maqtada Al-Sadr had similar
thoughts, and for thinking which the PNAC Government of the 21st
Century United States determined to crush him.
The other bookend to the Constitution is the Bill of Rights. It links
to the Declaration of Independence in that the Bill of Rights
specifies the the People’s inalienable rights. It is very clear.
Number One: `Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion… or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.’ In short, the First
Amendment stands opposed to everything George Bush and his cohorts
and the buy-partisan Congress have shoved down our throats, and it
prohibits the restraints on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly
that the two parties seem so determined to gag us with. A Government
that violates the First Amendment invites the remedy ordained by the
Declaration of Independence.
Amendment Number Two is the teeth for the First. It is a historically
necessary companion to the Declaration of Independence that asserts
the People’s right to abolish an unjust government: `A well regulated
Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right
of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’
Curiously, Mr. Al-Sadr would understand this amendment to our own
Constitution, as would those who stormed the Bastille in
Revolutionary France. Even as the Iraqi resistance struggles to throw
off its occupiers, by force of its own arms and the sacrifice of
their own lives, our own citizens lose the thread of the argument of
the Second Amendment, as we debate absolute non-violence versus
absolute gunophilia, and fail to appreciate the political implication
of the Amendment’s words.
The Third, the Fourth, the Fifth, the Sixth, the Seventh, the Eight,
the Ninth and the Tenth Amendments to the Constitution, to a greater
or lesser degree, all serve to strengthen the liberties proclaimed by
the Declaration of Independence and reinforce the people’s defenses
against the aggregation of Power.
In 1863, on the Battlefield of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln reminded
us that the United States was `a new nation, conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’ Lincoln
further told us that we were then engaged in a great war, `testing
whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can
long endure.’ It was for us, Abraham Lincoln said, to resolve `that
this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of
the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from
the earth.’ Lincoln was talking as much to his generation as to ours.
The test of our resolve is the same now as it was for the people in
the midst of the Civil War.
These few documents, therefore, vestiges of an 18th Century
Enlightenment, are the only things that mark The United States of
America as anything better or different than any other bully empire
that has ruled before us. These documents and ideas alone mark us as
`different’ from all others – not our capitalism, not muscular
Judeo-Christianity, not our resources or our culture or our laws or
our two party political system, They are truly remarkable documents.
They contain very powerful ideas. These ideas mark the United States
of America as someplace different from any other nation on earth, but
only so long as they remain potent, living ideas. They are the things
that make this country worth fighting for. The only things. Without
them, America is no different than any other nation on earth.
May they survive this administration and both political parties.
May they survive Us and our bullying ways.
May they survive Warsaw. Falluja. Wounded Knee. Gaza. Jakarta. Haiti.
Waco. Tulsa. Najaf.
May we continue to sustain the difference that is America. Vive la
difference.
Zbignew Zingh can be reached at [email protected]. This Article is
CopyLeft, and free to distribute, reprint, repost, sing at a recital,
spray paint, scribble in a toilet stall, etc. to your heart’s
content, with proper author citation. Find out more about Copyleft
and read other great articles at
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Halifax Daily News (Nova Scotia)
August 24, 2004 Tuesday
St. Bart had bad luck, but better weather
by Day, Cindy
Growing up with a weather-savvy Grandma was very cool. There was
never a dull moment. She loved to share her incredible knowledge of
weather folklore.
I wake up thinking about Grandma every Aug. 24. Grandma wouldn’t let
this day go by without telling us (for the umpteenth time) about St.
Bartholomew.
According to Grandma, he was an ordinary saint, yet an extraordinary
apostle, who converted the King of Armenia. The king’s brother had
the apostle flayed and beheaded on Aug. 24, she said.
For days leading up to the 24th, Grandma prayed each night for good
weather on St Bart’s Day. If anyone asked why, she was quick to
recite: “If the 24th of August be fair and clear, then hope for a
prosperous autumn that year.”
My neighbour, not to be outdone by Grandma, believed that this day
ended the 40 days of rain presaged by a wet St. Swithin’s Day (July
15th): “All the tears St. Swithin can cry, St. Bartholomew’s mantle
can wipe dry.”
And finally – I hesitate to share this one – there are many people
who believe St. Bart’s Day brings in the cooler autumn weather: “At
St. Bartholomew, there comes a cold dew.”
According to the old pagan calendar, autumn started Aug. 24 and ended
Nov. 22. Not this year!

RIA OREANDA
Economic News
August 24, 2004 Tuesday
Minister Of Transport Of Russia Reports To Vladimir Putin On Plans On
Development Of Transport Infrastructure In The South Of Russia
Sochi. Sochi. Vladimir Putin met with the Minister of Transport Igor
Levitin, the press-service of the President of Russian Federation
informed.
Issues on development of transport infrastructure in the south of
Russia were discussed. Share of southern region makes approximately
30 % of transportation volume, thus the transport network is advanced
non-uniformly. The Ministry of Transport plans to reconsider
transport concept with the purpose of harmonization of automobile,
railway, sea and air communications for reduction of costs at
transportations of passengers and cargoes and their safety.
Among actual goals are development of sea transportations between
Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia.
Besides, the Ministry of Transport plans finishing construction of
roundabout road around Sochi within four years. Moreover, according
to Levitin, 8 billion rubles will be spent on construction of seven
large bridges in southern regions of Russia in 2005.

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
August 24, 2004, Tuesday
GEORGIANS CALL FOR EUROPEANS AS MEDIATORS TO DRIVE OUT RUSSIA
SOURCE: Vremya Novostei, August 24, 2004, p. 5
by Vladimir Kazimirov
Why would the Georgian government insist on international involvement
in resolving the Georgian-Ossetian conflict? The Revolution of Roses
doesn’t stand a chance in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Knowing this,
the president of Georgia intersperses peace-loving rhetoric with
aggressive threats.
Georgia wants the OSCE involved in resolving the South Ossetia
conflictGeorgia is striving to internationalize the Georgian-Ossetian
conflict settlement by involving the OSCE. Among other arguments used
by official Tbilisi, there are hints that the OSCE gained the
necessary experience in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The latest propaganda move of Georgian diplomacy is not surprising.
President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia is euphoric over his success
in Adzharia. His recent statements to the effect that South Ossetia
and Abkhazia are about to be reclaimed by Georgia only aggravated
tension in the region. The Revolution of Roses doesn’t stand a chance
in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Knowing this, the president of Georgia
intersperses peace-loving rhetoric with aggressive threats. In fact,
he is actually making a threat to settle the conflict by force and
concentrates units of the regular army in the conflict area. All this
regardless of decisions of the Joint Control Commission and despite
old and new accords reached with Russia’s assistance.
Since the pressure fails to solve the problem for Saakashvili, he
questions efficiency of the existing mechanisms of the truce (the
mechanisms that have maintained peace in the conflict area for over a
decade), urges new peacekeepers to enter the conflict area and plays
on the international community’s reluctance to see a new war break
out in the region. Forget Saakashvili’s previous flowery speeches
full of friendship with Russia. This is not Tbilisi’s last move.
There will be others.State Minister Georgy Khaindrava said in an
interview once that Georgia doesn’t have to get anyone’s permission
for actions on its own territory. But this is a conflict zone we are
talking about! These is where special procedures are needed, the
procedures of consultations with the other side within the framework
of peacekeeping structures. If preventing another war is the true
goal, that is.In a similar manner, replacement of the settlement
mechanism requires the consent of the other side, even when that
other side is an unrecognized state formation. Has Tbilisi discussed
everything with Tskhinvali yet?
Neither shall we harbor any illusions with regard to the OSCE
peacekeeping potential or its successes in Karabakh. The organization
cannot boast of any outstanding successes in this sphere. The
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict it has handled for over 12 years is far
from being solved yet. The OSCE peacekeeping operation there exists
only on paper. Its contribution is restricted to monitoring of the
cease-fire regime established a decade ago with Russia’s help, not
the OSCE’s. Minsk Conference for Nagorno-Karabakh has never been
convened. The issue was addressed by the so-called OSCE Minsk Group,
with an unclear status, then by its chairmen, and eventually by the
warring sides themselves. (The group was formed in 1992, its chairmen
currently are Russia, the United States, and France – Vremya
Novostei.) What the OSCE Minsk Group is remembered for is the
obstacles it put in front of Russia bent on settlement of the
conflict. Restriction of Russia’s influence with the region seems to
be its only aim.For reasons too clear to dwell on, no one in the OSCE
needs the conflict between Georgians and Ossetian settled more than
Russia does.
These days, Tbilisi is trying to scuttle the existing mechanism of
settlement in South Ossetia, even though the chances of building
anything more effective are negligible. Why? In order make an attempt
to solve the problem by force all the easier?Vladimir Kazimirov:
Ambassador of the Russian Federation, head of the Russian negotiating
team from 1992 to 1996, presidential envoy for Nagorno-Karabakh,
member and chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Translated by A. Ignatkin

ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO VISIT KHARKIV
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23. ARMINFO. An Armenian delegation is to visit
Kharkiv, Ukraine, Aug 22-25.
The delegation is led by presidential adviser Seyran Avagyan, deputy
mayor of Yerevan Vardanyan, director of Almast plant Lazarian,
director of Amistat Tour travel agency Adamyan.
The visit is to promote inter-regional ties and to further develop
Ukrainian-Armenian trade-economic, scientific and cultural relations.
The Armenian delegates are to take part in the celebrations of the
13th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, 350th birthday of Kharkiv,
unveiling of St.Haroutyun Cathedral to be blessed by Catholicos of All
Armenians Garegin II. They are also to meet with local businessmen,
travel agents, manufacturers, lawyers.
To remind, Kiev district of Kharkiv and Yerevan’s Zeytun-Kanaker
community have made an agreement to cooperate in commerce, economy,
science and culture.

ARARATCEMENT CONTINUES INCREASING OUTPUT
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23. ARMINFO. Araratcement, the biggest cement producer
in Armenia, continues increasing its output and exports.
In Jan-July 2004 the company’s output was 3.241 bln AMd which is 48%
more than in Jan-July 2003. The sales grew by 80.3% to 3.079 bln AMD,
the exports totalled 1.430 bln AMD – 14 times as much as a year
before.
The second biggest cement producer Mika Cement produced cement for
1.988 bln AMD – 68% growth. The sales was 1.652 bln AMD (+27.8%), the
exports 429.8 mln AMD (3 times growth).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S STATE BUDGET ALLOTS 978 MLN DRAMS FOR REPAIR WORKS IN
SCHOOLS OF YEREVAN
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23. ARMINFO. This year the state budget of Armenia has
allotted 978 mln drams for repair works in the schools of the
capital. Last year the volume of repair works totaled approximately
570 mln drams. Head of the department of education of Yerevan’s
municipality Onik Vatian told journalists today.
According to him, capital repair has been implemented in 33 schools,
and in 19 schools the works are being continued. Speaking about the
preparation of the schools for the new school year and for winter,
Vatian mentioned that according tie the program of social development
for 2004-2007, elaborated by the municipality of Yerevan, 9 local
boiler-houses will be put into operation in Jan or Feb of the current
year. Thus, till the end of this year 27 schools will be heated by
local boiler-houses, 4 schools – by the heating system of Yerevan
thermal power station.

SCHOOL-CHILDREN OF YEREVAN WILL NOT HAVE PROBLEMS WITH TEXT-BOOKS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 23. ARMINFO. The school-children of Yerevan unlike the
pupils of the regions, will not have problems with text-books. Head of
the department of education of Yerevan’s municipality Onik Vatyan
informed journalists today.
According to him, except several text-books, the pupils of first form
will receive text-books free of charge. To avoid the problems
frequently arousing in connection with payment for text-books, there
will be price-lists, as well as the names of the text-books which are
given free of charge, in every school. According to Vatyan, the
municipality of Yerevan has given an opportunity the pupils to pay for
the books during the whole school year.