Month: June 2005

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 21 2005
GUAM STATEMENT URGES OSCE TO INCREASE EFFORTS ON SETTLEMENT OF
NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
[June 21, 2005, 23:08:22]
According to the Press-center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Azerbaijan, on June 21 a statement on behalf of the GUAM
member-states was made by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Mr. A.
Andrei Stratan at the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference in
Vienna.
Touching upon the conflicts taking place in GUAM member-countries,
the Minister said in particular, that those `existing in the Eastern
districts of Moldova, Abkhaz and Tskhinvali regions of Georgia and
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan continue to threaten security
and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area’, and called for
`intensification of international settlement efforts, including
within OSCE, in accordance with the norms and principles of
international law, first of all those pertaining territorial
integrity and inviolability of international borders.’
The statement further says: `Confirming our full and unequivocal
support to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the
basis of respect to territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, we welcome
activization of negotiations between the parties along the lines of
results of the so-called Prague meetings, with the view to establish
peace and cooperation between Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in
the Nagorno-Karabakh region within the Republic of Azerbaijan, and
urge the OSCE and especially its Minsk Group to increase its efforts
to this end.’

Daily Star – Lebanon
June 22 2005
Mother Russia, a father no more in the new Middle East
By Vitaly Naumkin
Commentary by
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
In the years since the break-up of the Soviet Union, two differently
directed processes have unfolded simultaneously in Russia’s relations
with the countries of the Middle East. On the one hand, Russia
established and actively developed relations with new partners (this
process began even before the dissolution of the Soviet state). Cases
in point are Israel and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The end
of the cold war, the immigration of a great number of Soviet Jews to
Israel, Russia’s renunciation of a “zero-sum game” in the Middle
East, and the end of the policy of state-sponsored anti-semitism
radically changed the situation in Russo-Israeli relations,
generating an interest among the Russian elite in promoting bilateral
relations of cooperation.
On the other hand, the importance of the Middle East on the list of
Russia’s foreign policy priorities has gradually declined. For
Russia, the region as a whole has not been a supplier of energy
resources (as it is for all Western countries and Japan) or a
forward-deployment base for the defense of its interests and those of
its allies (as it is for the United States); indeed, it had no such
bases in the region in the first place.
Despite Russia’s lingering ties of traditional friendship with the
Arab countries, its relations have completely lost their ideological
underpinning and have gradually begun to lose their economic
foundation as well. With the end of the era in which the Soviet Union
rendered assistance on preferential terms in creating industrial
enterprises, and supplied arms on credit to Arab countries, the
volume of trade and economic cooperation between the latter and
Russia has turned out to be extremely low.
Former President Boris Yeltsin’s Russia, beset, indeed, completely
preoccupied, by its own problems, started to lose interest in a
Middle East peace settlement and in a political presence in the
region in general. True, Russia inherited the place of the Soviet
Union as one of the two co-sponsors of the peace process and had an
opportunity to work with all the parties to the conflict. But in
terms of its financial and economic capacities it was no match for
the other co-sponsor, the Unite States. Nor did the Arab countries,
for their part, display much interest in developing relations with
Russia on a new basis; instead, they grieved to see the Soviet Union,
the powerful counterbalance to the U.S., leave the historical arena.
Russia’s relations with Turkey and Iran stand in stark contrast to
the above. These two countries bordering on the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) territory have ranked among the priorities
in terms of Russia’s interests.
Turkey quickly became one of Russia’s main commercial and economic
partners and a major consumer of its energy resources – natural gas
in particular. It was also a major investor and contractor (notably
in construction projects), and a haven for Russian tourists. The
bilateral political conflicts that existed in the first part of the
1990s were gradually mitigated, and the path ahead appears to lead to
further rapprochement.

With Iran things went differently: relations in the economic field
initially lagged behind political relations. Tehran took a major step
in the rapprochement with Russia by taking a constructive approach to
the Tajikistan conflict and in its support for Armenia, Russia’s ally
in the Caucasus. All this allowed Moscow to solve an important
strategic task – ensuring a “friendly environment” along the CIS
perimeter. A new high point in relations with Iran was reached after
the signing of the contract for construction of the atomic power
station at Bushehr. Moscow viewed American (and Israeli) pressure on
this issue as reflecting a desire to oust it from the promising
international atomic energy market. However, as a result of that
pressure, it tightened control over the export of technologies and
materials that may be used in military nuclear and missile programs.
Aggravation of the situation in Chechnya and the increased threat of
international terrorism have modified Russia’s strategic interests in
the Middle East. The task of neutralizing the international terrorist
threat and ensuring a favorable attitude by Middle Eastern states on
the Chechen question has come to the fore. Since September 11, 2001,
the new partner-like relations with the U.S. in the war on terrorism
have significantly impacted on Russia’s policies in the Middle East.
However, Russia’s aversion to American military action in Iraq and
its negative attitude toward the Bush administration’s strategy of
unilateral action as a whole, as well as to its concept of “regime
change,” have predetermined a certain cooling of the partnership.
This has, in turn, affected cooperation regarding a Middle East
settlement to an extent.
In President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, interests and policies in the
region have largely been determined by a “multivector” strategy.
Policy has become more active and even more pragmatic; Russian
business interests have become entrenched; and Russia has
increasingly acted without reference to the positions of other global
players. At the same time, guided by its national interests, Moscow
is keen to avoid actions that would seriously jeopardize its
partner-like relations with the West.
Vitaly Naumkin is president of the International Center for Strategic
and Political Studies, Moscow, the director of the Center for Arab
Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, and editor-in-chief of
Vostok-ORIENS, the journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This
commentary first appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an
online newsletter.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pan Armenian News
ARMENIAN FM LEFT FOR BRUSSELS TO TAKE PART IN CONFERENCE ON IRAQ
21.06.2005 07:32
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the invitation of US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice
and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian will take part in an international conference on Iraq that
will be held in Brussels June 21-22, reported the Press Service of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry. FMs of 80 countries, including those of US,
European countries, Central Asia, as well as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
and representatives of other international organizations also take part in
the conference. The conference main subject is international community
efforts aimed at restoration of Iraq and securing economic progress in the
country, as well as matters of international assistance to the Iraqi newly
elected authorities.

CHINESE CIRCUS TO ARRIVE IN YEREVAN SEPTEMBER 30
YEREVAN, JUNE 21. ARMINFO. The circus season in Yerevan is over today
on June 21, the new one will open on September 30.
Talking to ARMINFO, Director of Yerevan State Circus Sos Petrosyan
says that the season will be opened by a show of the Chinese Circus –
the leader in the world circus art and winner of international
contests in Monte-Carlo, Paris and Berlin. The leadership of Yerevan
Circus has received confirmation of the Chinese Circus’s arrival
today. Petrosyan says “Chinese Circus is original and inimitable – it
has narrow Chinese tricks, electrical and unique. It is over 2,000
years old. It is a special and very respected art in China.” He says
that almost all the tricks in the Chinese Circus are made by the
actors at the age of 12-23. In China children are taught Circus art at
the age of 3 and reaching 10- 12 years they become professionals and
won titles of laureates and certificates of prestigious circus
contests and festivals. Chinese acrobats are unsurpassed in their art
and not one in the world can repeat their tricks. Only in the Chinese
Circus one can see two small girls bearing one hundred lighted candles
or 11 people building a pyramid on a bicycle, Sos Petrosyan tells. “I
hope the show of Chinese Circus in Yerevan will be sold out, the more
so as the Armenian spectators will have an opportunity to see such an
exotic circus for the first time,” Petrosyan says.

13TH ANNIVERSARY OF POLICE TROOPS CELEBRATED IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JUNE 21. ARMINFO. The 13th anniversary of the Police Troops
of Armenia is marcked in Armenia today. In this connection, a number
of solemn events took place in Yerevan.
They started with a ceremony of swearing in of conscripts of the
Police troops, then awards and prizes were presented, which was
completed with a parade. Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan,
Head of the Armenian Police Lt. General Hayk Haroutiunyan, Head of
the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Colonel General Michael
Haroutiunyan, Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharyan, Head of the National
Security Service Gorik Hakobyan, and ministers attended the event.
Head of the Police Hayk Haroutiunyan congratulated the police, the
personal staff and veterans on the anniversary. He pointed out the
role of this date in the modern history of Armenia as well as the role
of the structure created in 1992 (then Internal Troops and than Police
Troops) in the country’s strengthening, its readiness to fulfill the
tasks set. He says that troops were formed in the period difficult for
the country, making their contribution to the liberation war in
Nagorny Karabakh, and the second front – crime combating was not
forgotten. 70 servicemen of the troops were killed in the Karabakh
war, many of them were given awards, including 63 posthumously. The
Police Troops regard the fulfillment of the set tasks with the highest
principles and responsibility, suppressing any attempts of legal order
violations. But, he also mentioned some omissions requiring correction
as soon as possible. For conclusion, Haroutiunyan thanked the
President and the Government for care and contribution, especially the
Armenian Defense Ministry in the person of Serge Sargsyan for
replenishment of the Police Troops, revewal of the material and
technical base etc..
The same day, in conformity with the orders of Prime Minister, Defense
Minister, Police and NSS Heads and a number of other servicemen of the
law enforcement bodies were given certificates, breastplate, medals
and precious gifts. In particular, in connection with the 13th
anniversary of the Police Troops and for honest service, Deputy head
of the Police Grigoriy Grigoryan was awarded a certificate of
gratitude and Andranik Ozanyan Medal. Deputy Prosecutor General of
Arenia, Military Prosecutor Gagik Jhangiryan was awarded a breastplate
of first degree of Armenian Police for brilliant service, Head of the
Armenian APP Guard Lt.Colonel Stepanyan was awarded nominal weapons,
four servicemen of the Police Troops (one posthumously) were awarded
Medals For Combat Service.

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 21 2005
Georgia’s foreign debt stands at $1.79 billion
19:56
TBILISI, June 21 (RIA Novosti) – The value of Georgia’s foreign debt
and loans received against government guarantees was $1,798,035,000
as of May 31, 2005. The Georgian Finance Ministry’s foreign debt
department said the country owed $682,154,000 to 15 creditor nations.
At the same time, 12 creditor nations restructured Georgia’s foreign
debt in compliance with a decision made by the Paris Club of creditor
nations. They included Austria ($91,997,000), Azerbaijan
($16,190,000), Turkmenistan ($152,395,000), Turkey ($52,457,000),
Iran ($12,456,000), Russia ($154,488,000), the United States
($39,331,000), Armenia ($19,593,000), Uzbekistan ($551,000), Ukraine
($366,000), Kazakhstan ($27,774,000) and China ($3,096,000).
Germany, Japan and Kuwait are not bound by the Paris Club’s decision
because Georgia planned to start repaying its debt to them later.
Georgia owes Germany $51,637,000 and another $57,204,000 on loans
received from it against government guarantees (a total of
$108,841,000). Georgia also owes Japan $45,281,000 and Kuwait
$14,542,000.
Apart from creditor nations, Georgia also took out loans from
international institutions, in particular, the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank’s International Development Association, and the
International Fund for Agricultural Development, which it owes
$1,058,679,000. Georgia also received a $30,360,000 loan from the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development against government
guarantees.
The above figures involve acknowledged debt and exclude debt service
funds. Georgia’s foreign debt is based on the exchange rates in
effect on May 31, 2005.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF CANADA
COMITÉ NATIONAL ARMÉNIEN DU CANADA
3401 Olivar-Asselin
Montréal, Québec
H4J 1L5
Tél. (514) 334-1299 Fax (514) 334-6853
Communiqué de Presse – Press Release
June 21 juin, 2005
Contacts: Shant Karabajak 514-334-1299
Roupen Kouyoumdjian 514-336-7095
For immediate release:
Pour diffusion immédiate:
German Parliament Takes Steps To Recognize The Armenian Genocide
After just over 90 years of suspense, the German parliament called on
Turkey to reexamine its policy regarding the Armenian Genocide of
1915, a crucial blow to the denialist regime of Ankara, an ally of the
Germans during the first World War.
Without any debate, the Bundestag unanimously adopted a three page
motion, on June 16, citing the “nearly complete extermination of the
Armenians in Anatolia”.
Included in the motion was a measure of certain responsibility by the
German government in this effect, where the motion points out to the
“inglorious role of the German Reich”. At the time, the German
government was well aware of the ongoing Armenian Genocide but, due to
alliegences “did not even try to stop the atrocities” or what the
motion states as the “organized expulsion and extermination of
Armenians” a synonym of “genocide”.
Dr. Girair Basmadjian, President of the Armenian National Committee of
Canada, hailed the adoption of the motion as a great step toward the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. “It is a particularly important
step due to the fact that a large diaspora of Turks live in
Germany. It is obvious that the German Parliament felt moral, not
political, pressure to recognize the responsibility of the Ottoman
Turkish Empire in the extermination and expulsion of the Armenians
from their homeland.”
-30-

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF CANADA
COMITÉ NATIONAL ARMÉNIEN DU CANADA
3401 Olivar-Asselin
Montréal, Québec
H4J 1L5
Tél. (514) 334-1299 Fax (514) 334-6853
Communiqué de Presse – Press Release
June 21 juin, 2005
Contacts: Shant Karabajak 514-334-1299
Roupen Kouyoumdjian 514-336-7095
For immediate release:
Pour diffusion immédiate:
Free Parliamentary Elections held in Nogorno-Karabakh Republic
On Sunday, June 19 2005, parliamentary elections were held in the Republic
of Nogorno-Karabakh, the war-torn region of the Southern Caucasus, where
ethnic Armenians fought a 6 year war of self determination against the
oppressive regime of Azerbaijan. A 1994 cease-fire confirmed the de facto
independence of the region, throughout its history populated almost
exclusively by Armenians.
The fourth such parliamentary elections were hailed by western and European
experts as free, noting no serious violations of democratic principles.
According to observers from the United States of America, Mr. Paul Williams,
“The amendments to the Election Code of the Nogorno-Karabakh Republic
allowed political parties to participate in the elections. The elections met
international standards.” He later added that “the reform of the Election
Code has led to development of democracy and the country has made a
considerable step toward democracy.”
Marc Almond, an observer from the Helsinki group stated “I became a witness
of a full democratic electoral process, and I think many recognized states
should follow the example of Nagorno Karabakh. Much was organized better
here than in Great Britain”, he said.
Dr. Girair Basmadjian, President of the Armenian National Committee of
Canada noted that “These elections prove that the people of the Republic of
Nogorno-Karabakh are committed to free and democratic life. The leaders of
this country will undoubtedly continue to cherish the basic normes and
principles of democracy and the rule of law, which is more than can be said
about Azerbaijan.”
It should be noted that 73.6% of electors participated in June 19 elections.
– 30 –

Indie Wire
June 21 2005
Man, Verse, Woman: Sally Potter’s “Yes”
by Jeannette Catsoulis with responses by James Crawford and Michael
Joshua Rowin
Sam Abkarian as “He” and Joan Allen as “She” in Sally Potter’s “Yes.”
Photo by Nicola Dove, provided by Sony Pictures Classics.

[ indieWIRE’s weekly reviews are written by critics from Reverse
Shot. ]
A meeting of soulmates secreted deep inside an attraction of
opposites, Sally Potter’s “Yes” is also a supremely sensitive
observation of racism, classism, imperialism, and fundamentalism. And
if that sounds like a lot of ‘isms,’ they’re only the tip of Potter’s
narrative iceberg, which also encompasses aging, alienation, and the
precarious relationship between identity and sexual power. Yet,
amazingly for a film so teeming with ideas, “Yes” unspools inclean,
lucid scenes of near-spartan simplicity-proving definitively that
complexity of message need not require an equivalence of execution.
Conceived in response to the post-9/11 treatment of those of Middle
Eastern descent, Yes begins in London and follows the love affair of
two exiles — one actual, one figurative — known simply as He (Simon
Abkarian) and She (Joan Allen). He is a Lebanese surgeon who has fled
Beirut and now works unhappily as a hotel chef; She is an
Irish-American biologist trapped in an icy marriage to a faithless
English politician (Sam Neill). “Each cell knows its destiny,” she
muses enviously, hovering over a petri dish. But it will take almost
the length of the movie before she surrenders to her own.
Until that point, “Yes” is immersed in the desperate passion of two
people grasping the lifeline of erotic love as a placebo for much
deeper emotional needs, and it’s in this section of the film that
Potter’s flair for movement fully surfaces. Her absolute faith in the
expressiveness of the physical body infects the normally cool Allen
with a libidinous grace, making her scenes with Abkarian wickedly
earthy (most notably during a bout of heated restaurant foreplay).
For his part, the sensual Abkarian-best known to American audiences
as the Armenian painter Arshile Gorky in Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat” — is
the perfectfoil for Allen’s pale elegance.
While Potter’s eloquent script highlights the sexual charge of racial
and religious difference, production designer Carlos Conti’s
meticulous sets emphasize their emotional and temperamental
dissimilarities. She lives and works in white, sterile surroundings,
all glass and metal and reflective surfaces; His workplace is noisy,
steamy, and chaotic, his home a cave of spicy color and womb-like
comfort. Accenting the illicitness of the affair, Potter spies on the
couple via surveillance camera, their conversation mute. A stroll in
the park is furtively documented by a camera stalking them from the
cover of trees and shrubbery. Russian cinematographer Alexei Rodionov
(who also shot Potter’s “Orlando”) evokes the fragility of the
relationship with an impressive array of techniques, often tilting
the frame beyond stability. Every time these two are together, in
fact, the film swoons with an undercurrent of uncertainty.
Always a suggestive visualist, Potter (like fellow Brits John Boorman
and Michael Winterbottom) is also fascinated by language. “Yes “is
written almost entirely in iambic pentameter (10 syllables to a
line), delivered so fluidly and unaffectedly audiences may not even
notice. Potter admits to being influenced by her background as a
lyricist and composing the script as if she were writing a song. Her
actors were instructed to ignore the verse and concentrate on
meaning, and the result is a potent, rhythmic dialogue that invests
key scenes with near-operatic power. Most crucial of these is an
argument staged in the echoing anonymity of a parking garage, which
serves as the film’s turning point. He has begun to rebel against the
secrecy of the relationship, and his pride has made him long for the
familiar sexual dynamics of his homeland. “Love distracts us,” He
complains, as the appeal of the exotic transforms into
claustrophobia. “I have remembered who I am.”
Easing the intensity is the delightful Shirley Henderson, playing a
philosophical maid who’s fond of delivering humorously pungent,
direct-to-camera soliloquies on the ubiquity of dirt and what it
reveals about us. Functioning on one level as Greek chorus (“They
leave each other notes, but rarely speak,” she whispers as She and
her husband move silently behind her), the character also symbolizes
the tide of service people-usually ethnic, always invisible-who swirl
around us. Throughout, “Yes” portrays life from the particular to the
universal, from duelling organisms in a petri dish (and sloughed
cells on a bedsheet) to the enormity of war itself.
Moving from London to Belfast to Beirut to Havana, “Yes” is an
ambitious and lyrical argument for tolerance and self-awareness.
Rarely has a cinematic love affair benefited from such insight and
intelligence; but ultimately we shouldn’t be surprised that the
first- ever recipient of the Satyajit Ray Award — for the director
with the most “uncompromised aesthetic vision” — continues to prove
those judges right.
[ Jeannette Catsoulis is a frequent contributor to Reverse Shot who
has also written for the Independent, DC One Magazine, and regularly
writes for the New York Times. ]
Sam Neill and Joan Allen in “Yes.” Photo by Nicola Dove, provided by
Sony Pictures Classics.

Take 2
By James Crawford
The best modern interpretations of Elizabethan theater run roughshod
over meter, obliterating it to fit dramatic exigency. Sally Potter,
by contrast, forces her actors in “Yes” to obey strict Shakespearean
rhythm and couplet rhyme, meticulously penned in rhyming iambic
pentameter, scuttling much of the tension. When Joan Allen’s and Sam
Neill’s strained yet acutely decorous marriage finally comes to the
boiling point, I found myself wanting for the pregnant pauses and
strained silences indicative of a relationship on the rocks. Because
the actors are corseted into the metronomically regimented stress and
release of iambic feet, the scene fizzles-and Allen’s teetering-on-
hysterical tirade falls embarrassingly flat. As one lover says to
another, “conversation” may be “like an aphrodisiac/Because it flowed
like a nectar or a juice,” but in the unending, perpetual tumble of
words and images, shouted epithets lack punch, and emotional states
struggle to find resonance.
Despite any emotional failings, Potter’s dialogue is undeniably
beautiful, it allows her to explore Big Ideas like death, love, and
fidelity, so attuned are our ears to the confluence of sophisticated
themes and finely-worded poetry. Yet Potter’s lofty rhetoric cannot
hide the fact that her approach to these subjects is awfully
schematic. The break-up between Allen’s Irish-American “She” and
Simon Abkarian’s Lebanese “He” is deployed as an excuse to sermonize
at length on the antipathies between East and West (read: Christian
and Muslim ideology); her and Neill’s disintegrating marriage is
portrayed through a set of awkward (and unnecessary) canted angles;
the random intrusion of a terminally ill aunt functions as a weak
segue so that Potter can muse on the nature of mortality (though her
deathbed epic poem it is positively riveting). And most maddeningly
of all, a dryly comic book by Shirley Henderson — a wise-fool
cleaning lady delivering her morals to the audience in direct address
— is squandered because it’s only loosely connected to the rest of
the drama.
Oftentimes, critics decry the fact that so much money is funnelled
into computerized special effects, to the detriment of story, plot,
and everything else. So much, we proclaim, could be ameliorated by
putting more effort into the words being said. Sally Potter’s cross-
cultural sept-à-cinq affaire, just might disprove that claim; the
script is paramount, while everything else-directing, narrative
suspense, and cinematography — falls by the wayside.
[ James Crawford is a frequent contributor to Reverse Shot. ]
Take 3
By Michael Joshua Rowin
Sam Abkarian and Joan Allen in Sally Potter’s “Yes.” Photo by Nicola
Dove, provided by Sony Pictures Classics.

Thankfully, Sally Potter’s original screenplay for “Yes” is available
in paperback, for I can think of no other recent film that has made
me want to re-experience its dialogue, in this case written in the
form of a poetic iambic pentameter that never becomes contrived or
showy. The classical makes a surprisingly fitting vessel for the
modern as characters’ interior monologues, asides, direct addresses,
rambling confessions, frustrated accusations, and deeply felt
pronunciations try to make sense of a very confusing, divisive
post-9/11 reality. Unfortunately, like the other few cinematic
responses to 9/11 (most notably “I Heart Huckabees”), “Yes” fails to
be a complete success by trying to say a little about everything-it’s
a shame to watch certain issues, like Western society’s obsession
with youth and bodily perfection, brought up only to be relegated to
the back-burner. Nonetheless, Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian’s
conversations on science, love, religion, and the cultural barriers
that complicated and fuel their affair-executed in Potter’s
well-crafted, witty pentameter-are the heart of a film that is at its
best when working through language to express its limits
(miscommunication, anger) and epiphanies (communication, love).
Beyond the verbal, however, “Yes”‘s errors are a bit disconcerting.
How could the same director who made the sumptuous “Orlando” allow
her latest project to look so shoddy? Various scenes shot with a low
shutter-speed give the film the look of a cheap music video trying to
be flashy. Then there’s the rushed, seize-the-day/love-conquers-all
ending, a disappointing capper for a film that deserves a more
complex and thoughtful conclusion. These would be taken for rookie
mistakes if Potter wasn’t so damn masterful in other areas. Anyway,
aren’t mistakes part of art? The ubiquitous house-cleaner/chorus of
the film ponders life’s imperfections: “For, everything you do or say
is there, forever. It leaves evidence.” Even with flaws, “Yes” is art
as evidence: evidence of Potter’s talent and courage.
[ Michael Joshua Rowin is a staff writer at Reverse Shot. He has
written for the Independent, Film Comment, and runs the blog Hopeless
Abandon. ]

Karabakh polls ‘more democratic” than Armenia’s – opposition leader
Noyan Tapan news agency
21 Jun 05
YEREVAN
The [parliamentary] elections held in Karabakh were more democratic
than those in Armenia, Viktor Dallakyan, secretary of the Armenian
parliament’s Justice faction, has said.
“The first impression is that the elections were normal as a whole,”
Dallakyan said, quoting reports by international monitors. If the
elections qualified as being in keeping with the democratic
principles, this will be of great importance to Karabakh in terms of
its international recognition and reputation. Otherwise, this may
have negative ramifications for Karabakh he said.
[Passage omitted: minor details]