Month: November 2006

AN AGE OF RADICALISM
Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt
Nov 1-7, 2006
The failure of nationalist governments in the Third World and US
drive for global hegemony have led to religious radicalism and new
liberation struggles, writes Ayman El-Amir*
The recent UN Security Council resolution imposing punitive sanctions
against North Korea for testing a nuclear device has only encouraged
Iran to double its nuclear enrichment capacity and pointed more to
divisiveness than to unanimity among the world’s leading military
powers. Ignoring the status imposed upon them by US President George
W Bush as founding-members of the Axis of Evil, North Korea and Iran
seem to be leading a rising global rebellion against US dominance. As
a result, other smaller states are giving some serious reconsideration
to their policies of nuclear abstinence in an increasingly insecure
world. The tools of sanctions and raw military power are producing
more defiance than compliance in regions where super-power lop-sided
practices have created serious imbalances.
The principles of the peaceful settlement of disputes, of international
law and of collective security that the UN Charter envisioned when
adopted in 1945 are in quick retreat. Thanks to the 2003 US-led
invasion of Iraq, the retaliatory bombing of Afghanistan before it
and Washington’s unbridled support of Israel’s murderous campaign
against the Palestinians, the Bush administration has radicalised,
not subdued, nations opposed to its policies. National liberation
movements seeking to attain their legitimate aspirations, as
endorsed by the United Nations, are more hostile than ever towards
US heavy-handed tactics. Bush administration practices have created
more enemies-in-waiting than friends- at-large.
Three factors have contributed to the rise of radicalism:
America’s rabid desire for unipolar hegemony, enhanced by the
Bush administration’s air of self-righteousness; the increasing
fragmentation of state entities, particularly in the republics of the
former Soviet Union; and the rise of terrorism as a consequence of
military invasion and the suppression of democratic choices. The US
was both the precursor and the victim of radicalism in the aftermath
of the regrettable terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. This
incident, coupled with its uncouth sense of imperial power, made
it conceivable for the US to settle every dispute around the world
through the excessive use of firepower. The policy was enshrined in
President Bush’s 2002 national security strategy that promised not
only pre- emptive military strikes against perceived enemies abroad,
but even went as far as announcing that, after the collapse of the
former Soviet Union, the US would not allow any state to be equal,
let alone surpass it, in terms of military superiority. An almighty
imperial power was brought into being to the delight of born-again
Evangelical radicals.
After Afghanistan, which the US has now offloaded to NATO, Iraq became
the first testing ground for the new imperial policy of Mr Bush and
his neo-cons. Three and half years into the invasion, Iraq has become
a land of untold suffering. Figures speak for themselves.
A Johns Hopkins University study estimates that 655,000 Iraqis have
been killed since the invasion, representing 2.5 per cent of the
total population of Iraq. Although controversial, the figure is
not so far-fetched if the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior’s figure
of 2,660 Iraqis killed during the month of September alone is to be
trusted. Nearly 3,000 US troops have been killed since the beginning
of the invasion and eight-fold more injured. Iraq has become the US’s
second Vietnam and there is no solution in sight unless the neo-cons
in the White House declare victory and scamper off to safety. This may
be seriously considered after the Republicans read the consequences
of the Bush administration’s policies in the results of congressional
elections due in November. The US legacy in Iraq will be a hotbed of
fratricidal war, an in-gathering of contagious insurgency and terrorism
and a model of deconstructive chaos, to rephrase Condoleezza Rice’s
Kissinger-style myopic vision of the region. Iraq should be entitled
to substantial war reparations from the US.
Iran and North Korea’s programmes of building their own nuclear
capabilities, even for seemingly different purposes, have shown other
nations how selective and unworkable the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) is. It is a safety net full of holes. Iraq was invaded,
occupied and destroyed with no trace of weapons of mass destruction
found to justify this grave breach of international law. By contrast,
Israel, which has an estimated stockpile of more than 200 nuclear
weapons, is untouchable because it has not signed the NPT. India
and Pakistan are proud possessors of nuclear weapons and of means to
deliver them to heaven knows whom. It is by faulted logic that if a
country is not a signatory to the NPT, it is free to intimidate and
dominate its neighbours by the implicit threat of the possession of
nuclear weapons. Israel’s failed state neighbours made the mistake of
signing the NPT in the first place. Impotent as these countries are
to stop Israel’s liquidation of the Palestinian people and annexation
of their territory, the Palestinians are left with little more than
the radical policy of armed resistance to defend themselves and
liberate their homeland. The conquest of Iraq in 2003 and the bombing
campaign against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999
were undertaken without the authorisation of the UN Security Council,
which alone is responsible for the maintenance of international peace
and security.
The phenomenon of international lawlessness triggered by the
world’s superpower was partly made possible by the collapse of
the former Soviet Union and the manipulating influence of the
neo-cons in Washington. As a result, global fragmentation and
civil wars became rampant. Several republics of the former Soviet
Union are experiencing internal tensions, separatist movements
and the threat of disintegration. Azerbaijan is threatening to use
force to recapture the region of Nagorno- Karabach from Armenia,
Abkhazia and south Ossetia regions have declared independence from
Georgia, Moldova’s separatist Transdinestra movement is appealing
to other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to
recognise its independent status and Russia is hopelessly fighting
its backyard war in Chechnya. The separatist Tamil Tigers continue to
battle the government of Sri Lanka, with rising casualties on both
sides. In Iraq, the Kurds are gradually pushing their separatist
claims towards statehood and, assisted by Israel, have mobilised the
necessary military means to defend it. With every ethnic claim comes
a nationalist-cum-terrorist liberation movement, so much so that the
borderlines have been blurred. No one can safely predict where this
“constructive chaos” will lead.
In the Cold War years, the world’s two super-powers, the US and
the former Soviet Union, moved from confrontation to containment to
peaceful co-existence. National Liberation movements had a recognisable
legitimacy even when they crossed the line into terrorist territory by
hijacking civilian aircraft to extract political concessions. The US,
too, had its CIA-led death squads that hunted down revolutionaries
in South America. It was a nationalist political struggle where the
battle- lines were defined and external backers of local forces adhered
to certain rules, checks and balances. For a brief period in the early
1990s the world felt like a safe place to live in. Today, the failure
of nationalism as a liberating factor and the unholy alliance between
the world’s sole superpower and Third World dictatorships have turned
the international scene into a free-for-all. Adherents of orthodox
Islam have found in it inspiration for renewal and a panacea for all
the ills visited upon them by pseudo-dictatorial nationalism, socialist
dogma and the negative effects of globalisation. Therefore, national
liberation struggles have been tinged with a radical religious hue.
For hundreds of millions, religious radicalism has become the only
liberating factor and refuge that has paled liberal democracy. That
may explain the rising global tendency toward radical confrontation,
the consequences of which are yet to unravel.
* The writer is former Al-Ahram corespondent in Washington DC. He also
served as director of United Nations Radio and Television in New York.

YURI MERZLYAKOV: NO DECISION TAKEN ON THE MEETING OF PRESIDENTS
ArmRadio.am
02.11.2006 17:30
No decision has been taken on the meeting of the Presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
Yuri Merzlyakov told ” Trend” agency, commenting on the possibility
of the meeting of Presidents in the framework of the CIS summit on
November 28. He said that the question of organizing the meeting of
Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliev was raised during the
Paris consultations of the Co-Chairs with the Foreign Ministers on
24 October.
“But up to now no decision has been taken, and we should wait for
November 14, when the mediators will hold recurrent consultations
with the Foreign Ministers,” Merzlyakov added.
In response to the question whether the Karabakh conflict settlement
was discussed during the recent meeting of the Presidents of Armenia
and Russia in Moscow, Yuri Merzlyakov said: “The Karabakh topic is
one of the components of talks and it always exists.”

ACCORDING TO ESTIMATION OF DE FACTO MAGAZINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MERUZHAN TER-GULANIAN, SERGE SARGSIAN “IS PERSON CREATING STATE”
Noyan Tapan
Nov 02 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The first issue of the De
Facto public-political magazine, the editor-in-chief of which is
Meruzhan Ter-Gulanian, was published in October. RA Defence Minister
Serge Sargsian’s photo is on the cover of the first issue of the
newspaper. Responding at the November 2 presentation of the magazine
the journalists’ question by what the choice of S.Sargsian’s photo
was especially provided, M.Ter-Gulanian explained: the editorial
staff chose especially S.Sargsian’s photo as the latter made a
very responsible statement, that’s: “the best elections must be
held in 2007, and there are all the bases for it.” According to
M.Ter-Gulanian’s estimation, S.Sargsian “is a person creating the
state.” “From Karabakh to Armenia – 19 years, he has led a high state
post. And, I believe, that if this state has had any achievements,
it is obliged for it to Serge Sargsian,” the De Facto editor-in-chief
stated. M.Ter-Gulanian assured that the new magazine will differ from
others first of all with its independent posture: “It is not financed
by any party or oligarch.” Instead of it, 45 of the 100 pages of De
Facto were sold to advertisers, what the magazine editor considers a
normal phenomenon as “all mass media of the world are depending on
advertisers.” In M.Ter-Gulanian’s words, analytical articles will
mainly be placed in the magazine “to lead forward the analytical
idea of Armenia. “All the underwater problems” existing in Armenia
will be explained in those articles. “The magazine has no political
orientation and will not throw mud at anybody” the editor-in-chief
of the newspaper promised.

LILIT PIPOYAN’S CONCERT TO BE ACCOMPANIED WITH SHOW CREATED BY MULTIPLIER NAIRA MURADIAN
Noyan Tapan
Nov 01 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. Composer and singer Lilit Pipoyan’s
new works will be presented to the spectators during the concert
entitled “Blue Violet” to take place at the Aram Khachaturian concert
hall on November 4. Their performance will be accompanied with a show
created by multiplier Naira Muradian on the theme of those songs. As
the two artists mentioned at the November 1 press conference, they
are joined by the specific way of presenting what they want to say,
paying homage only to sincere phenomena in art and, opposite to it,
avoiding artificial, banal art, feeling of particular obligation
towards the national art and commentary of content, but not a formal
commentary of the national idea. “Creating is an outburst of soul for
me. It is out of any type of conditionalities. My songs are sincere,
free and without preconditions,” L.Pipoyan said. At the same time she
mentioned that it was too difficult for her to organize this concert:
No producer company agreed to organize it, reasoning that it is not
profitable as no spectator will come to similar concerts in sports
ground or big concert halls.” However, in the singer’s words, people
were found who did a favour and assisted organization of the concert,
what is already gratifying: “It means that something gets moving.”

ARMENIAN BOYS AND GIRLS PARTICIPATED IN DELPHIC GAMES RETURN FROM ASTANA WITH 5 GOLD MEDALS
Noyan Tapan
Nov 02 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. 13 Armenian representatives
participated in the 4th youth Delphic Games of CIS countries taken
place in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, on October 26-30, returned
with 12 prizes, including 5 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze medals and 4
diplomas. Armenian youth performed in 7 of 15 nominations: piano,
violin, flute, painting, web-design, circus art, people’s song. As
Karine Khodikian, the RA Deputy Minister of Culture and Youth Issues
mentioned at the November 1 press conference, 600 representatives from
the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Tajikistan, Kyrghyzstan, Armenia and Kazakhstan participated in
the Delphin Games. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan did not participate
in the games. The Deputy Minister mentioned that Russia is on the
first place with the number of gold medals: 9 gold medals from 43
participants. Armenia is on the second place with 5 golden medals
and 13 participants. The Delphic Games will be held the next year, in
2007, in the capital of Belarus, Minsk. K.Khodikian mentioned besides
the competition, events were also held in the spheres of people’s
instruments and people’s applied art. According to the regulations
of holding the games, “The Delegation’s Day” event was envisaged
as well, during which the delegation of every state presented its
country’s culture, national song and dance, kitchen as well as short
information about their countries’ geography, history, traditions.
From: Baghdasarian

LIST OF 200 MEASURES DEVELOPED BY RA ECONOMIC COUNCIL TO BE SUBMITTED TO ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT
Noyan Tapan
Nov 02 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN . Within the next 10 days, a list
of 200 measures developed as a result of 5 consultations of the RA
Economic Council (composed of the RA prime minister, the chief advisor
to the RA president on economic issues, the minister of finance and
economy, the minister of trade and economic development, and the
chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia) will be submitted to the
Armenian government. The list contains legislative proposals aimed
at reducing the shadow circulation and bringing the powers of the
RA State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC)
into line with market realities and the development level of the
Armenian economy. The RA Minister of Trade and Economic Development
Karen Chshamaritian stated this at the round table “Foreign Currency
Depreciation Impact on Economic Development, Particilarly on Export”
held in Yerevan on November 1. In the minister’s words, “today the
SCPEC is rather an antimonopoly commission”. He said that with the
assistance of the Armenian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre
(AEPLAC), the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development is
developing a draft law on advertising. In case of its adoption,
the power of control over advertising will be transferred to the
SCPEC. “Our task is to transform this commission from an antimonopoly
one into a real commission on protection of economic competition,”
he noted.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IN 2007 ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT PLANS TO COLLECT 48.4 BILLION DRAMS THANKS TO IMPROVEMENT OF TAX ADMINISTRATION
Noyan Tapan
Nov 02 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the 2007 draft state
budget, the programmed revenues make 489.5 billion drams, which
exceeds by 12.2% the approved revenues of 2006 and by 8.5% the
revenues expected. In the indicated amount, revenues of 458.9 bln
drams are expected from tax and state duties collection, including
48.4 bln drams (about 127.3 mln USD) thanks to improvement of tax
administration and 4.5 bln drams as a result of possible amendments
to the legislation. The RA Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan
Khachatrian stated this when presenting the 2007 draft state budget
during the November 1 joint sitting of the RA National Assembly
standing committees. According to the minister, the government is now
developing a program of tax administration reforms in 2007 and the next
two years. The program is aimed at achieving a high level of budget
revenues collection. The consistent fight against economic crimes will
help create equal conditions for the economic competition among various
economic entities, which will allow to reduce the impact of economic
entities, which operate in the shadow sector or evade paying taxes,
on the market. In 2007, the clarification and simplification of the
laws related to the customs sphere, and the provision of customs
bodies with technical equipment will continue. In response to NT
correspondent’s question, V. Khachatrian said that he does not see yet
any new risks to the 2007 state budget compared with the previous two
years. In his opinion, the only one is the ratio of taxes/GDP. By the
draft, tax and state duty revenues will make up 15.7% of GDP against
the 2006 programmed index of 14.7%.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTER OF TRADE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF RA: ALTHOUGH DRAM APPRECIATES, NO ARMENIAN EXPORTING COMPANY HAS BEEN CLOSED
Noyan Tapan
Nov 02 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. “Although the exchange rate of the
Armenian dram against the US dollar has grown from 580 to 380 drams in
the last three years, no Armenian exporting company has been closed,”
the RA Minister of Trade and Economic Development Karen Chshmaritian
said during the November 1 round table “Foreign Currency Depreciation
Impact on Economic Development, Particularly Export” organized by the
Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia (UMBA). Repsonding
to questions of the round table participants, K. Chshmaritian assured
them that the appreciation of the dram will not result in closure
of any local company, if exporting comanies have a stable management
system. In his opinion, the improvement of their management systems
and the correct application of laws are more important for Armeian
enterprises than the impact of the dram’s appreciation. Speaking about
the factors contributing to the appreciation of the Armenian dram,
the minister subscribed to the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Chairman
Tigran Sargsian’s opinion that they are connected with objective
factors of the increased foreign currency inflow. In particular, in
the last 5 years, exports have increased almost fourfold, while the
number of tourists to Armenia has grown tenfold in the last 7 years.
Besides, in recent years import replacement has grown by 12-15%
annually. At the present time, technological equipment accounts for
25-30% of imports, while goods temporarily imported into Armenia (to
be processed and later exported) – for 20-22% of imports. According
to K. Chshmaritian, it is due to the impact of these factors
that Armenia’s payment balance is positive by 400 million dollars
under conditions of a trade deficit of 800 million dollars. The
minister said that issues of mitigating the consequences of the
dram’s appreciation were discussed at 5 meetings of the RA Economic
Council (composed of the RA prime minister, the chief advisor to
the RA president on economic issues, the minister of finance and
economy, the minister of trade and economic development, and the CBA
chairman), and legislative proposals will be developed based on the
results of these discussions. T. Sargsian in his turn noted that the
CBA prevents sharp fluctuations of the exchange rate by purchasing
currency with profits received from bonds. He expressed an opinion
that the amounts of currency purchase are sufficient, while in case of
greater amounts, credit interest rates and tax rates would rise and
the economic growth would slow down. According to him, superprofits
of the monopoly sectors should be allocated for the technological
re-equipment of Armenian enterprises. Besides, by issuing securities,
companies may attract resources from the population after proving
their financial transparency through a CBA rating: so far only 30
Armenian enterprises have applied to the CBA for such rating. Chairman
of the RA State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition
Ashot Shahnazarian said that one of the reasons for nonregistered
dollar inflow is that economic entities communicate with each other
without signing any contract and making payments in dollars, that
is in the shadow sector. A monitoring implemented by the commission
showed that shadow circulation makes up 50-80% in various sectors of
the Armenian economy. Chairman of UMBA Arsen Ghazarian expressed his
concern that the domestic production will be endangered if taxes on
the superprofits of importers are not raised in the future too. He
also expressed concern that the economic entities with superprofits
may use their money to redistribute their property by acquiring shares
of transparently operating companies.
In his words, the necessity to control the process of the dram’s
appreciation is also conditioned by the fact that previously the
agreement prices of power-bearing substances imported into Armenia
have been calculated based on a higher dollar-dram exchange rate,
which now also affects the prices of transportation services. Chief
Advisor to the RA President on Economic Issues Vahram Nersisiants
said that Armenia with its tax liberalization regime cannot choose
the way of raising the limits of superprofit taxation. He saw the
solution of the problem in improvement of tax administration and the
tax and budgetary policy, since “it is just impossible to curb the
annual inflow of 2.5 billion dollars only by monetary and credit
instruments.” According to him, cumulative infrastructures should
be created for “sterlilization” of these resources. It is noteworthy
that in addition to state officials and businessmen, deputies of the
National Assembly, scientits and experts took part in the round table.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VAHAGN CHAKHALIAN CONSIDERS ACCUSATION BROUGHT TO HIM AS ABSURD
Noyan Tapan
Nov 01 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. Vahagn Chakhalian, Presidency member
of the United Javakhk Democratic Bloc and Chairman of the Javakhk
Youth Sport and Cultural Union, considers the accusation brought to him
as absurd. Declaring this at the November 2 meeting with journalists
at the Pakagits club, he at the same time refrained from going into
the details of this case, as it is still at the stage of preliminary
examination. V.Chakhalian only said that he learnt from press about
5 years’ prohibition of entering Armenia determined to him for some
fault. We will remind that V.Chakhalian was arrested on October 11 on
the charge of violating RA state border illegally. By the decision of
the first instance court arrest was chosen as a preventive punishment
to him.
And on October 30, the Appeal Court in Criminal and Military
Cases chose a signature on not leaving towards V.Chakhalian and
he was released from the isolation cell of the National Security
Service. V.Chakhalian said that Javakhk is faced with the danger
of complete displacement of Armenians: according to official data,
about 30 thousand Armenians have left Akhalkalak since the collapse
of the USSR, which, as he estimated, is destructive for a region
with a population of 70 thousand people. He considered as strange
and unintelligible the statements in press about the possibility of
Russia’s using the Armenians of Javakhk in the context of aggravation
of Russian-Georgian relations. In V.Chakhalian’s words, this is a
servile approach and the Armenians of Javakhk have their approaches
and interests. Declaring that the issue of Javakhk autonomy has
not been raised at present, V.Chakhalian at the same time noted:
“and in the respect of the future we can say nothing.” In his words,
the United Javakhk pursues the goal to preserve the national cultural
values, to achieve stipulation by law a status equal to the Georgian
language for Armenian, fights construction of Kars-Akhalkalak railway,
as well as dislocation of Georgian troops in Javakhk. It was mentioned
that no issue of armed conflict with the Georgian authorities is on the
agenda of the Bloc. RA MP Hmayak Hovhannisian, who was present at the
meeting, said that the United Javakhk registered serious success in the
October 5 local self-government elections. According to official data,
the Bloc received 30% of electors’ votes. Touching upon the project
of Kars-Akhalkalak railway construction, H.Hovhannisian said that in
case of its fulfilment Javakhk “populated with Armenians, making part
of our historical homeland will be used for Armenia’s blockade with
a sanitary cordon that will separate us from our brothers, Georgians.”

AMBASSADOR OLEG YESAYAN MEETS WITH ARMENIAN STUDENTS OF BELARUSIAN MILITARY ACADEMY
Noyan Tapan
Nov 02 2006
MINSK, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Ambassador of Armenia to Belarus,
Oleg Yesayan visited Belarusian Military Academy’s Internal
Troops Faculty on October 31, where students sent on business from
Armenia have been studying for four years. They will finish their
studies in 2007 July receiving secondary military education, police
lieutenant rank and at the same time higher civil education with the
qualification of a lawyer. Officers of RA Police Internal Troops also
periodically take part in faculty’s short-term studies. As NT was
informed from RA Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department,
the head of the faculty acquainted the Ambassador with the Academy’s
material-technical infrastructures and process of education, as well
as presented the living conditions of the students. During a meeting
with the Armenian students and faculty’s commanders and lecturers
the Ambassador of Armenia attached importance to cooperation between
the two countries’ internal affairs systems, in particular, in the
sphere of training and retraining of cadres. RA Ambassador had a
tete-a-tete talk with the Armenian students, familiarized himself
with their daily life. O.Yesayan said that the Embassy will continue
to provide necessary assistance to the students in the future as well
and they will always take part in events initiated by the Armenian
Embassy and Armenian community.