Month: August 2008

US REPRESENTATIVES ADMIT INFLUENCE OF ARMENIAN LOBBY ON US-AZERBAIJANI RELATIONSHIPS

Azerbaijan Business Center
13.08.2008 16:03
Azerbaijan

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. International conference "Azerbaijanians &
Americans: How We See Each Other" is taking place in Baku today.

Addressing to the conference Rob Long, a representative of National
Review, said that fact of lobbying of Armenia’s interests in US policy
take place.

"Influence of Armenian lobby is observed in policy of the United
States. The well known amendments serve an example for that,"
Mr. Long said.

The conference also involved reps of Los Angeles Times, Newsweek,
The New Republic, Azerbaijani government and NGOs.

WHEN FROZEN CONFLICTS MELT DOWN
by Jim Headle

Transitions Online
13 August 2008
Czech Republic

Can Russian passports become the weapon of choice in disputed regions
of the former Soviet Union?

The label "frozen conflict" as applied to the wars that accompanied
the breakup of the Soviet Union implies that, some day, they may well
"unfreeze." This is what happened in Georgia.

Current events in the Caucasus could be blamed on renewed Russian
assertiveness, provocation by the Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili seeking Georgia’s entry into NATO, and support from
the West in the stand-off with the powerful neighbor – even on the
geopolitics of pipelines.

But the fundamental issue and the immediate spark of what became
a wider war was the unresolved status of the breakaway province of
South Ossetia. In this sense, the broader context is the delineation
of the borders of the republics of the former Soviet Union and former
Yugoslavia, issues which in some cases remain no different to what they
were 17 years ago. So what are the implications of the "unfreezing"
of the conflicts in Georgia for other such conflicts?

The fate of Abkhazia will most likely be the same as that of South
Ossetia. Beyond Georgia, the most direct implications may be for
the comparable frozen conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan)
and Transdniester (Moldova). These are breakaway regions which
asserted their independence leading to war in the early 1990s. They
have attempted to create the institutions of statehood, but remain
unrecognized. This limbo status has also contributed to isolation,
economic decline, poverty, and organized crime. Recurrent attempts to
negotiate solutions run aground on the rock of the irreconcilability
of the two sides’ demands: on the one hand, the separatists declare
the sovereignty of their "state" and recognition of independence as
the precondition for any agreement, while the larger state insists
that its territorial integrity be preserved and demands that the
province be under its sovereignty (albeit with autonomy). Meanwhile,
the status quo is preserved by the balance of forces on the ground:
in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, supported by Armenia, and in the case
of Transdniester, by Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeepers
(effectively, Russia).

None of these breakaway regions has been recognized as independent
by outside states because so far all governments have operated in
line with the principle that the republic borders of the Soviet Union
became the international borders when that state dissolved. Georgia
can therefore claim to be asserting its legal right to sovereignty
over its territory, by attempting to bring South Ossetia under the
control of Tbilisi and to affirm the Georgian state’s monopoly on the
use of force within its borders. On the other hand, Russia accuses the
Georgian authorities of reneging on the original cease-fire agreement
and resorting to force, with resulting civilian casualties, after
having ostensibly agreed to hold negotiations.

THE BALKANS EXAMPLE

There are echoes here of August 1995, when Croatia forcibly reclaimed
control of the breakaway Republic of Serb Krajina despite talks being
planned for its future. This was supposedly a UN protected area, but
UN forces failed to protect it from the Croatian offensive. Western
governments urged caution but implicitly condoned the action, noting
that the region was part of Croatia, while Russia called on the United
Nations to uphold the cease-fire agreements, and suggested that NATO
should consider using force to protect the region. As the guarantor
of the cease-fire agreement in South Ossetia, Russia is effectively
claiming now to do what it said the UN should have done in Krajina
in 1995.

Yet, in 1995, Russia’s argument was weakened by the fact that, not
long before, it had resorted to force itself to reassert sovereignty
over its breakaway republic of Chechnya. That time it failed, but in
1999 it was more successful when it again overrode an interim peace
agreement with Chechnya, justifying it in terms of regaining control
of Russian territory and restoring order in a lawless region whose
actions threatened the security of the rest of the country. It is
therefore difficult to discern any consistency of principles on the
part of Russia with respect to observing cease-fires or interim peace
agreements and not resorting to force in frozen conflicts. In fact,
in relation to South Ossetia, Russia is acting more in line with
NATO’s response to Serbia’s attempts to crush separatism in Kosovo,
as shown by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s use of the term "genocide"
to describe the initial Georgian offensive.

Until now, there has been more consistency over the status of
breakaway regions. Russia may have provided economic support and
security guarantees to places such as South Ossetia, but it has not
recognized them as independent (unlike Turkey in relation to Northern
Cyprus, for example). Russian policy-makers have, until now, argued
that the principle of territorial integrity should be sacrosanct, thus
justifying their action in Chechnya and condemning countries which have
recognized Kosovo as independent. However, Russian policy-makers have
long made it clear that if Kosovo did effectively become an independent
state there would be implications for comparable breakaway provinces in
the former Soviet Union. It is quite possible that this change is now
occurring, and that Russia will recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia
as independent or incorporate them into the Russian Federation.

Russian policy-makers always accused their Western counterparts of
double standards in their application of principles of territorial
integrity and self-determination in the Balkans, and attributed the
differing outcomes in different political entities of the former
Yugoslavia to NATO’s selective use of force. But we may now see the
outcomes of secessionist conflicts in the former Soviet Union also
being determined by the selective use of force: on the part of Russia,
crushing separatism in the Russian Federation itself, but supporting
it in neighboring Georgia. And, if these conflicts are beginning to
unfreeze, other cases may be settled by relative power if not actual
use of force. Where the state is strong, autonomy may be the outcome;
where it is weak, or where the separatists are supported by a strong
neighbor, independence may result.

President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, for example, has also threatened
to re-take Nagorno-Karabakh by force, and may be more successful than
his Georgian counterpart as Russia has no direct interest, Armenia
is weak and isolated, and Azerbaijan has a larger, well-equipped and
-trained army and, like Russia, huge revenues from energy exports.

Russia always accused Western countries of acting inconsistently
and partially in relation to the conflicts in former Yugoslavia,
by condoning the use of force by Croatian and Bosnian authorities to
reassert control of their territories, yet condemning it in the case of
Serbia in Kosovo, and indeed intervening in support of the separatists
in the name of humanitarian values. But this present conflict directly
contradicts the principles used to justify its previous war (in
Chechnya). Rather than look for consistency of abstract principles,
it is probably more realistic to understand events in terms of Russia
asserting its right to use force in its immediate neighborhood and
striving to demonstrate that its influence still counts; indeed,
pursuing the Kosovo parallel, Russian credibility is at stake in
Georgia in the same way that NATO’s was in former Yugoslavia.

PASSPORT DIPLOMACY

Most alarming is the deliberate ploy of extending Russian citizenship
to the inhabitants of breakaway regions of other states – as was done
in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This has always seemed to be a
step toward legitimizing a potential intervention. Will the model now
be applied elsewhere? What, for example, if Ukraine continues to seek
NATO membership, and ethnic Russians in Crimea are granted citizenship?

If events in Georgia are an indication of a wider shift in Russian
thinking toward reconsidering the borders of the former Soviet
republics, then it could have alarming implications. However,
there are no clear ethical reasons why the borders should not be
changed if a significant majority of the population of a province
wish it. After all, the borders were often designed on the principle
of divide-and-rule by Soviet authorities or, in the case of Crimea,
transferred to Ukraine on the whim of Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. Of
course, such moves threaten stability in the former Soviet space;
but the existence of frozen conflicts shows that that stability is
sometimes only ice-thin.

Jim Headley is a lecturer in politics at the University of Otago,
New Zealand. He is the author of Russia and the Balkans: Foreign
Policy from Yeltsin to

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SINCE TOMORROW AZERI BANKS RESUME BUSINESS CONTACTS WITH WESTERN UNION AND MONEYGRAM

Azerbaijan Business Center
13.08.2008 17:52
Azerbaijan

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Azerbaijan and international payment systems
Western Union and Moneygram have achieved an agreement concerning
further co-operation.

The National Bank of Azerbaijan reports that after a ban introduced on
July 30 for domestic banks to run any operations with money transfer
systems Western Union and Moneygram for the reason of their activity
on Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenians, an executive of one
of the companies has arrived in Baku.

"Jonathan Knauz, Western Union’s vice president who came to Baku on
August 7, was received by the National Bank of Azerbaijan. During
the meeting the NB claimed of impossibility of any activity on the
country’s territory occupied by Armenians and demanded stoppage of
such cases. The Western Union representative agreed wit demands of
the Azerbaijani party and verified the NB about stoppage of business
relations with organizations operating on the occupied territory of
Azerbaijan," it was reported.

Western Union undertook commitment at the level of top management
not to repeat more similar cases. In its turn, company Moneygram
has also implemented all the Azerbaijan’s demands and received the
condition to operate on the country’s territory within legislation
and international principles and committed not to repeat such mistakes.

"Thus, the NB permitted the local banks to resume business relations
since August 14, 2008 with Western Union and Moneygram," it was
informed.

According to NB information, in the course of monitoring of money
transfer systems operating in Azerbaijan it was revealed that a range
of systems (Contact, Western Union, Zolotaya Korona, Moneygram, Migom,
Privat Money, Lider) are conducting operations on Azerbaijani territory
occupied by Armenians.

In this connection on July 29 deputy chairman of board Rifat Aslanli
sent out to domestic banks in which it prescribes to stop immediately
since July 30 co-operation with money transfer systems, in particular
Western Union and Moneygram.

He explained such prescription with the fact that the NB set a demand
to these systems and bodies controlling them on compulsory stoppage of
any money transfers to occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Otherwise,
it obliged to ban use of these systems to all commercial banks of
the country. All the domestic bans were informed of that on June 20,
2008, but despite all the Azerbaijan’s requirements, Western Union
and Moneygram continued money transfers to occupied territory of
Azerbaijan.

THE GEORGIAN-RUSSIAN CONFLICT: A TEST FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION
Lili di Puppo

EurasiaNet
Thursday, August 14, 2008
NY

The current Georgian-Russian conflict is a major test for the European
Union and its capacity to engage in conflict resolution in the Caucasus
region. Wary of irritating Russia by a too-visible presence, the EU has
adopted a soft power approach to the region in recent years. France’s
mediation of a framework for a later cease-fire agreement between
Russia and Georgia suggests that that role is slotted to change.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current president of the
European Union, holds that Europe has no choice but to mediate an end
to the current fighting between Russia and Georgia. "Europe cannot
be passive. Europe must express its political will, which is what it
is doing at this moment," Sarkozy told an August 13 press conference
at the presidential residence in Tbilisi.

Tbilisi and Moscow have agreed to a document presented by French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that contains six principles for a
future, permanent agreement: 1) the non-use of force by all parties
(Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia); 2) an immediate end to
hostilities; 3) free access to humanitarian aid; 4) the retreat of
Georgian forces to their earlier positions, and the retreat of Russian
forces to their original positions outside of South Ossetia, within
the Russian Federation; 5) additional temporary security arrangements
for peacekeepers in South Ossetia, but only within the bounds of
South Ossetia itself; 6) the start of "international discussions"
about stability and security measures in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The principles, Sarkozy asserted, form "the start of a process which
will permit, France fully hopes, peace in this region . . ."

Foreign Minister Kouchner will present the document to an August 13
meeting of the European Union’s 27 foreign ministers in Brussels. Once
approved, the document will go onto the United Nations Security Council
for further discussion and elaboration into a permanent agreement,
pending approval by Russia and Georgia.

While conceding that sizeable obstacles for such an accord still
persist, the French leader asserted that he had "found interlocutors
in Moscow and in Tbilisi ready to do a service for peace. And that’s
what counts."

France’s role dovetails with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s
own vision of Georgia as a potential EU member, and as a strategically
critical country that should command the European heavyweights’
active interest.

The diplomatic catch is, though, that Tbilisi appears to focus
more on France, than the European Union itself. Speaking in French,
Saakashvili asserted that France’s participation has been "much more
effective than the small countries which are represented in the Union."

Differences within the Union over what role it should take in the
Caucasus have been one longtime obstacle to the group taking a more
active role in conflict resolution. To date, the European Union has
relied on a soft power approach to the Caucasus region.

Favored tactics have relied more on economic rehabilitation than
on direct intervention – a cautious approach dictated largely by
sensitivity toward Russia.

One senior European diplomat believes that the current crisis over
South Ossetia will most likely prompt a new take on Europe’s role in
the region.

There will be much "reflection, soul searching and drawing lessons"
after the tragic events of the last days in order to prevent such
events from happening in the future, the European Union’s Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby told EurasiaNet.

The EU will have a more "refined policy vis-a-vis Russia," Semneby
said. The EU and Russia, he said, now have "a very . . .real-life
situation and experiences to base those relations on." He did not
elaborate.

The outcome of the August 13 meeting of European Union foreign
ministers in Brussels could provide an indication of any such changes,
Semneby added.

Already, signs of a change in EU policy toward the Caucasus have begun
to emerge. Among them: the German foreign ministry’s work on a peace
proposal for the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, and the June 2008 visit of
EU High Representative Javier Solana to Abkhazia are the most recent
signs of this evolution.

One analyst argues that the war’s most important implications will
be on the EU’s relations with Ukraine and its engagement in other
regional conflicts, including Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniester.

Nicu Popescu from the European Council on Foreign Relations in London
believes that the current war has proven that "the Russia-first
approach to the neighborhood is probably the biggest failure not
only in European Neighborhood Policy, but in EU conflict prevention
policies."

Any change would mean a complicated policy tussle, though. EU member
states like Germany view the EU’s role in the region more as an honest
broker between Georgia and Russia or Russia and the United States,
while new member states like Poland and the Baltic states would like
to see the EU play a more active, direct role, and take a tougher
line toward Russia.

Uwe Halbach from the German Institute for International and Security
Affairs in Berlin views the role of Russia in regional conflict
resolution as the trickiest question for European peace initiatives.

"It is quite clear that conflict resolution doesn’t work without Russia
or in confrontation to Russia," Halbach observed. "But it also doesn’t
work without calling into question the role of Russia as a mediator
and monopolist peacekeeper in the Georgian secessionist conflicts."

In Saakashvili’s view, any future peace agreement with Russia needs to
do precisely that. "This document has [a] clear indication . . . There
should be internationalization of the process . . . which is to say
there are temporary arrangements for now, but later it should be
replaced with participation from the EU and the UN," he said.

The European Union’s own role in such an operation is uncertain,
however. The European Security and Defense Policy is not believed
sufficiently developed to allow for large peacekeeping commitments.

Cautions Sabine Fischer from the European Institute for Security
Studies in Paris: "There is no EU when it comes to conflict resolution
in Georgia, there are only member states."

Editor’s Note: Lili Di Puppo is the editor-in-chief of the online
magazine Caucaz.com and a PhD candidate at the European Viadrina
University (Frankfurt/Oder) in Germany.

BACKPACKING CANBERRAN WAKES TO SIGHT AND SOUND OF WARPLANES

The Canberra Times
14/08/2008 12:00:00 AM
Australia

Canberra man Courtney Krause woke to the sight of a Russian jet
firing a missile at a nearby communications tower in Georgia, so he
did exactly what any parent would want.

"I called my mum to tell her I was a bit worried. I couldn’t get to
sleep obviously, because I could hear all these jets flying around
Tbilisi. So that was a very scary moment," he said.

Mr Krause, a 30-year-old public servant, was midway through backpacking
through the region when he was caught up in the Georgia-Russia war
this week.

"I was in the mountains of Georgia for a week last week, and basically
no television or internet access, so I didn’t know what was happening,"
he told The Canberra Times from Armenia last night.

It was only when he got on a bus to Gori that he realised things had
taken a turn for the worse.

"No one could tell me what was happening, because I don’t speak
Georgian or Russian. Just all these troop convoys everywhere, tanks,
RPGs, big bazookas, all along the road. I stayed on the bus to go to
Tbilisi," he said.

The capital was chaotic, and there was little access to
English-language media. When rumours the Russians were marching towards
the capital spread, Mr Krause decided it was time to leave. The owner
of the expat Hangar Bar, Rebecca, was leaving the next morning and
offered him a lift. He did not get much sleep that night.

"I saw the TV and it seemed to be getting worse and worse, and the
fears were getting worse and worse, so I got all my stuff back to
the Hangar Bar," he said.

He, Rebecca and an Australian businessman "were crushed in like
sardines" in the car . "… We drove as quickly as we could to the
Armenian border … Just as we got to the border we got a call to
say there had been a ceasefire," he said. David McLennan

WAR CASTS CLOUD OVER PIPELINE ROUTE

The Moscow Times
14 August 2008
Russia

Any plans to use Georgia as a bridge for more energy supplies to Europe
are likely set to gather dust now that the tiny country’s fierce
armed conflict with Russia has exposed the insecurity of the route,
analysts said.

Georgia has been a key conduit of oil and gas from Central Asia to
the West that bypasses Russia, and Europe has been hoping to build
another pipeline to bring more gas from the area.

That pipeline project, called Nabucco, has long been on the drawing
board, but potential investors had trouble contracting enough gas
for it from Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan.

Shipping the gas from Turkmenistan would require building a separate
pipeline across the Caspian Sea bed, which has yet to be divided
by the sea’s five littoral states, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan and Iran.

Now, Georgia’s vulnerability may have dealt a lethal blow to Nabucco
and plans for a trans-Caspian pipeline.

"A trans-Caspian gas pipeline can be considered a forever buried
chimera," said Pavel Baev, an energy expert at the International Peace
Research Institute in Oslo. "It became clear for all the participants
of these energy games that nothing will go through the Caspian Sea."

Europe was "shocked" by the instability and realized that "hardly
anyone would invest money in new projects" associated with Georgia,
said Konstantin Simonov, director of the Fund for National Energy
Security.

When asked about the impact of the war on Nabucco prospects, European
Commission energy spokesman, Martin Selmayr, said none of the pipelines
going through Georgia was affected. The commission was in regular
contact with energy companies in the region, he said.

Russian air strikes did not hit any of the three international oil and
gas pipelines crossing the country or any oil ports, but they forced
BP, which is an operator of Azerbaijan’s two biggest energy projects,
to stop oil and gas shipments through Georgia as a precautionary
measure Tuesday.

The BP-operated Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries oil from
Azerbaijan to the Turkish Mediterranean, was already out of commission
because of an explosion in Turkey last week that Kurdish separatists
claimed responsibility for.

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov on Monday ordered KazMunaiGaz, the
national energy company, to study whether it could absorb domestically
the exports envisaged for transit via Georgia.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet patrolled Georgia’s coast, potentially making
it harder to transport the crude from ports to international markets.

Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, said business was as usual
at its Georgian port terminal of Kulevi, with the latest tanker
leaving Tuesday.

In potential or existing new oil-related projects, Kazakhstan is
looking to invest in Georgian railways that serve the Black Sea port
of Batumi that it already controls. Azerbaijan is putting money into
the construction of a railway running through Georgia to the Turkish
border as an additional oil export route.

The war with Georgia could backfire on Russia by creating difficulties
for its own project to supply Europe with gas, South Stream. The
project’s partners, Gazprom and Italy’s Eni, have enlisted the support
of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece as transit countries for their route.

The initial stretch of the pipeline would cross the Black Sea,
leaving Russia the task of winning approval from NATO member Turkey
or Western-leaning Ukraine.

These countries could deny permission for the pipeline to cross their
territory in an attempt to punish Russia for its military campaign in
Georgia, Baev said. "One could expect movements in that direction,"
he said.

Simonov warned that there was another potential source of instability
in the region in addition to Georgia’s separatist regions. Azerbaijan,
he pointed out, has a dormant conflict with Armenia that controls
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

"I think it will flare up," he said.

JONATHAN DAVIS TALKS SOLO LP, FUTURE OF KORN: "I’M WAVING THE FLAG FOR MUSICIANSHIP"
Chris Steffen

Rolling Stone
8/13/08, 2:26 pm EST

With Korn on ice for the time being — save for a rendition of
"Kidnap the Sandy Claws" on yet another reissue of the Nightmare
Before Christmas soundtrack — frontman Jonathan Davis has turned his
focus towards solo touring and a forthcoming record, which he says
won’t just be Korn-style ragers with a different staff. "I always
compare it to when Steve Perry went and did ‘Oh Sherrie,’ which is
a fucking Journey song," he says. "It sounded exactly like Journey,
and that’s fucked up. I don’t want to do that."

"I feel like I’m waving the flag for musicianship, trying to bring
back bands that can play," Davis said after his main stage set at
this weekend’s Ozzfest. "It seems like a lot of music today is so
churned out and simple. I like playing these festivals, because it’s
one thing all day, and then here I come on, and everyone’s like,
‘Whoa,’ then back to the grind."

With a lineup of virtuosos called the Simply Fuckin’ Amazings,
Davis says he’s been picking up instrument after instrument on
the road from his new bandmates, including violin, didgeridoo,
the glass armonica (an instrument designed by Benjamin Franklin),
an Armenian wind instrument called the duduk, and his favorite, the
biwa, a Japanese lute. "It sounds like a banjo, but they sing with
it, and it’s the most fucking passionate, emotional music I’ve ever
heard in my life," Davis said. "I want to include that in my album,
because it’s so passionate. Like when you hear a Korn song and it’s
really going crazy, these guys do it with a stringy banjo. I want to
bring that to kids here who are like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ and
open their minds up to something different."

After Ozzfest, Davis headed home to begin writing his first solo
record, which he hopes will be released by the end of November,
and will follow it up with another solo tour. As far as the future
of Korn (now down to three original members), Davis says it’s more a
matter of ‘when’ than ‘if.’ He also is leaving the door open for the
two departed members to return down the line ("I never say never"),
but with former guitarist Brian "Head" Welch releasing a solo album
in September and sometimes drummer David Silvera managing restaurants
and raising a family, that will happen later rather than sooner, if
at all. "When I’m done with this, I’ll go to my other gig, but right
now, I’m having fun," he said. "I’m not planning that far ahead. This
is where I’m at, and I’m really enjoying it."

PERVERSE TRIBUTE TO POLITICAL BRAVERY
By Michael Coren

Edmonton Sun
Wed, August 13, 2008
Canada

Training smacks of stupidity Russian giant would’ve detested

It is, I suppose, entirely fitting that Alexander Solzhenitsyn should
die in the same week that Canadian politicians decided to do two
invincibly stupid things.

Fitting because the great, grand Russian novelist had told the decaying
West for years that we no longer understood what freedom really was
and had long taken it for granted. We were, he said, sliding into an
abyss of empty gestures, emotional lunacy and authoritarianism.

It should be seen as a form of perverse tribute to the genius and
an affirmation of what he predicted that our leaders announced that
airport immigration and customs staff now would be obliged to attend
sensitivity training courses when dealing with — yes, you’ve guessed
it — Muslim and Arab flyers.

Officials at our airports are notorious for being some of the least
pleasant in the free world.

No, scrap free world. In the world. They’re honest and relatively
efficient but bitingly unfriendly and renowned for treating everybody
as a potential criminal instead of as a tourist or returning citizen.

Compared with their brethren in London, Rome, the Middle East —
and even the occasional dictatorship — they are rigid and officious.

But fair. They’ll ask pointless questions to elderly and harmless old
ladies from Portugal, Italy and Scotland visiting their grandchildren
just as they will hijab-wearing teens from Saudi Arabia and bearded
youths from Iran. It is, after all, what they’re paid to do.

It might be, however, that those who protect us at airports have
dared to read the newspapers and watch the television — or even,
we must hope, have listened to their supervisors — and concluded
that the majority of people who have tried to hijack aircraft in
recent history have beenMuslim or Arab.

Which does not for a moment suggest that every Muslim or Arab is a
terrorist, or that most Muslims or Arabs are terrorists. But it does
suggest that a large number of terrorists are Arab or Muslim.

Leading anyone who has a good mind rather than a politically correct
empty head to conclude that a moderate but informed observation of
those about to board a plane with hundreds of innocent people —
often innocent Muslim and Arab people — might just be a good idea.

Sensitivity? If it means not thrusting a bacon sandwich in someone’s
face, quite right.

But if it means failing to do one’s job or, perhaps, not allowing a
dog to sniff everyone’s luggage for explosives, irrespective of the
owner’s race, gender or religion, then it is stupidity.

Then again, if all goes terribly wrong we can always apologize.

To everyone. Ask our prime minister. Much as Stephen Harper might be a
moral giant compared to his liberal opponents, his recent insistence
on saying sorry to the Sikh community for the turning away of a boat
full of Indian immigrants in 1914 borders on the surreal.

Hey, it wasn’t me. Wasn’t my mom. Wasn’t Harper. The bad guys
are all dead, as are the good guys. Just as are so many victims
of Scottish Highland clearances, Irish famine, Ukrainian genocide,
Jewish Holocaust, Armenian massacre, Silesian purges and on and on. It
was a very long time ago. Move on.

But all have descendants with votes, so the Tories will say sorry to
almost all of them.

Oh, Alexander, why did you bother? From the Gulag of Soviet fascism
to the self-built prison of political cowardice.

Sorry, not sufficiently sensitive today!

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HEAP LEACH AMENABILITY TESTS SHOW 94% TO 97% EXTRACTIONS FOR GOLD AT LYDIAN’S AMULSAR DISCOVERY

MarketWatch
Aug. 13, 2008

Tests conducted on drill core extending to 146m down-hole depth

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Aug 13, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — Lydian
International Ltd. (CA:LYD: news, chart, profile) , a diversified
U.K. mineral exploration and development company, today announced
preliminary results from metallurgical testing at its Amulsar gold
discovery in Armenia.

A gold recovery test program was applied to a crushed continuous
half drill-core of 146m length at SGS Lakefield in Canada. As part
of the program, heap-leach amenability tests (coarse ore bottle roll
cyanidation) on whole rock and gravity concentrates showed easily
reproducible very high gold extractions at 94-97%.

The tests were carried out on 1 kg whole rock samples and gravity
concentrates, at primary grind sizes from approximately 150 to 75
microns, with a pulp density 40% solids and a 48h retention time
at pH 10.5-11 (maintained with lime). The prepared material with a
"head-grade" of 1.1 g/t Au was derived from the entire 146m of HQ half
core from diamond drill hole DDA-004, a scout drill hole from the
2007 drilling programme. The core was crushed, mixed and riffled at
-1/2 inch, to arrive at replicate samples for the test program. The
main mineralogy of the whole rock consists of hematite, goethite,
and rutile in a quartz matrix.

For all tests a gold recovery of 90% was established after only 8h, and
reached 95% after 24h, both with modest to moderate NaCN consumptions.

Amulsar is a high-sulphidation type epithermal gold project located
in central Armenia. Lydian identified the gold bearing potential of
the project in mid-2006. The Amulsar license is 95% owned by Lydian’s
wholly owned Armenian subsidiary (Geoteam CJSC) and 5% owned by that
Company’s local director. The project is currently being explored as
part of a joint venture with Newmont Overseas Exploration Limited,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation (CA:NMC:
news, chart, profile) (NEM:Newmont Mining Corporation News, chart,
profile, more Last: 44.15+1.79+4.23%

4:03pm 08/13/2008

Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss
Financials Sponsored by: 44.15, +1.79, +4.2%) (ASX: NEM). The joint
venture is a 50%-50% contribution. Newmont has two options to increase
its interest. The first is an option to earn a further 20% by funding
the project through to feasibility; the second option allows Newmont
to earn a further 10% by funding through to commercial production.

About Lydian International Lydian is a diversified U.K. mineral
exploration and development company, with expertise employing "first
mover" strategies in emerging exploration environments. The Company
is currently focused on Eastern Europe developing advanced precious
and base metal assets located in Armenia and in Kosovo.

The Company’s two main projects are gold at Amulsar in Armenia, and
zinc, lead, silver and gold at Drazhnje in Kosovo. Lydian also has a
pipeline of promising gold and base metal exploration projects in the
Balkans region, and operates a 50/50 gold and copper exploration joint
venture with Newmont Overseas Exploration Limited, a subsidiary of
Newmont Mining Corporation (CA:NMC: news, chart, profile) (NEM:Newmont
Mining Corporation News, chart, profile, more Last: 44.15+1.79+4.23%

4:03pm 08/13/2008

Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider
Discuss Financials Sponsored by: 44.15, +1.79, +4.2%) (ASX: NEM),
in the Caucasus region.

Lydian’s management team has a track record of success in grassroots
discovery, in acquiring and developing undervalued assets, and
in building companies. Lydian has a strong social agenda and a
unique understanding of the complex social and political issues that
characterise emerging environments. The two largest shareholders are
Newmont Mineral Holdings B.V. (owned by Newmont Mining Corporation),
and International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank
Group). More information can be found on Lydian’s web site at

Dr Tim Coughlin, MAusIMM; is the Qualified Person overseeing Lydian’s
exploration programmes. Dr. Coughlin has supervised the preparation
of the technical information contained in this press release.

Lydian employees are instructed to follow standard operating
and quality assurance procedures intended to ensure that all
sampling techniques and sample results meet international reporting
standards. All assay work for the released results was carried out
by ALS Chemex analytical laboratory in Rosia Montana, Romania, in
Perth Australia, or in Vancouver, BC. Please see Lydian’s web site
for more information.

Forward-looking Information Securities regulators encourage companies
to disclose forward-looking information to help investors understand
a company’s future prospects. This press release contains statements
about our future financial condition, results of operations and
business. These are "forward-looking" because we have used what we know
and expect today to make a statement about the future. Forward-looking
statements usually include words such as may, expect, anticipate,
believe or other similar words. We believe the expectations reflected
in these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, actual
events and results could be substantially different because of the
risks and uncertainties associated with our business or events that
happen after the date of this press release. You should not place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements. As a general policy,
we do not update forward-looking statements except as required by
securities laws and regulations.

CONVERSATION REVEALS DIRTY DEALINGS IN BANK CONFISCATION

Today’s Zaman
14 August 2008, Thursday
Turkey

Transcripts of phone conversations seized during the investigation into
Ergenekon, a shadowy network whose suspected members are accused of
having planned and staged attacks and assassinations for the ultimate
aim of toppling the government, have revealed curious conversations
between high-profile bureaucrats and media bosses concerning the
takeover of a failed bank in the year 2002

The transcripts — which are included in evidence backing the
prosecutor’s indictment against a total of 86 Ergenekon suspects,
47 of whom are currently in custody — indicate that media groups,
bureaucrats at state banking agencies and government personnel together
arranged for the takeover of a bank confiscated by the state.

The conversations are about Pamukbank, which was confiscated from
Cukurova Holding, owned by Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, in 2002 in a
controversial takeover by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency
(BDDK) allegedly to recoup nearly $6 billion owed by the bank.

One of the transcripts that was seized from an Ergenekon suspect’s
home is the record of a phone conversation between then BDDK Deputy
President Ali Vural and Veli Dural, a board member of Dogan Holding,
a Cukurova rival, and also owner of the biggest media group in
Turkey. The call occurred at 5:30 p.m. precisely two days before June
18, 2002, the day the bank was taken over. The BDDK bureaucrat asks
for media support to shift public opinion in favor of the takeover
during the phone conversation.

The BDDK’s Vural also calls a man he refers to as Mr. Anderson,
the deputy chief consultant of Citibank at the time, on the morning
of June 18, 2002, the day of the takeover. Mr. Anderson stated that
the business group he represents is irritated by the Cukurova Group,
noting that Turkey’s economy will improve again with the help of
Kemal Dervi?, the economy minister during the post-economic crisis
period in Turkey. It is not clear why Mr. Anderson’s bosses were
uneasy about Cukurova.

Aydın and Yılmaz arrange the deal

In response to a question on the Pamukbank deal, Vural tells the
Citibank chief consultant: "Sir, do not worry at all about that
deal. Everything was handled personally by Mr. [then Deputy Prime
Minister Mesut] Yılmaz and Mr. Dogan [Aydın Dogan, head of the
Dogan group]."

In the same conversation, Mr. Anderson says: "This holding has
grown so big it now spells trouble for us. The people I represent
are very unhappy about this. The company will be distributed as we
have planned."

‘I will teach Engin a lesson’

In a conversation between Yılmaz and Vural on the morning of June 18,
Yılmaz tells Vural that he will remove BDDK chief Engin Akcakoca
from office. Yılmaz asks Vural: "Why hasn’t Engin called me? Why
isn’t he calling me about this?" and Vural replies, "I don’t know,
sir." Yılmaz then states: "Tell me the truth, where is Engin? He is
finished. I will replace him. I am thinking of you instead of him,
what do you say to this?" Vural replies: "As you deem fit, sir. He
told me to call you. He says he gets sick of your questions." Yılmaz
replies: "So that’s how it is. The prince needs to learn his lesson. I
will teach him his lesson once he gets this over with."

A brief history of corruption in Turkey

Between the years 1985 and 2000, before new business reforms were
enacted to fend off corruption, evidence of large-scale corruption —
mostly in public tenders — was discovered almost on a daily basis.

The corruption claims that emerged during the coalition government of
the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
and the Motherland Party (ANAP, now ANAVATAN) were mainly related to
public tenders for energy projects, earthquake relief work and highway
construction. Then a wave of corruption hit the finance sector,
as many banks, including Turkbank, Demirbank, Pamukbank, Etibank,
Egebank, Ä°nterbank, Ä°mar Bank, Sumerbank, Turkbank and Toprak Bank
announced losses due to high debt.

Background on Ergenekon

The existence of Ergenekon, a network thought to be a part of a
phenomenon known as the deep state in Turkey, has been known of for
some time but its official discovery occurred in the summer of 2007,
when police discovered a shanty house in Ä°stanbul being used as
an arms depot. More than 40 suspects, including former generals and
other ex-army members, academics, journalists, businessmen and mafia
bosses have been arrested in the ensuing investigation, which took
nearly a year to complete.

The indictment made public last month claims the Ergenekon network
is behind a series of political assassinations over the past two
decades. The victims include a secularist journalist, Ugur Mumcu,
long believed to have been assassinated by Islamic extremists in
1993; the head of a business conglomerate, Ozdemir Sabancı, who was
shot dead by militants of the extreme-left Revolutionary People’s
Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) in his high-security office in 1996;
secularist academic Necip Hablemitoglu, who was also believed to have
been killed by Islamic extremists, in 2002; and a 2006 attack on the
Council of State that left a senior judge dead. Alparslan Arslan,
found guilty of the Council of State killing, said he attacked the
court in protest of an anti-headscarf ruling it had made. But the
indictment contains evidence that he was connected with Ergenekon
and that his family received large sums of money from unidentified
sources after the shooting.

The indictment also says Veli Kucuk, believed to be one of the leading
members of the network, had threatened Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian
journalist slain by a teenager in 2007, before his murder — a sign
that Ergenekon could be behind that murder as well. The first hearing
of the trial is scheduled for October.

–Boundary_(ID_LupTrYE0bKgzs22htQvukA)–