Month: August 2008

GOVERNING COUNCIL OF MILLENIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT-ARMENIA SNCO MET

RIA Oreanda
Aug 8 2008
Russia

Yerevan . OREANDA-NEWS . On August 06, 2008 the Governing Council
of Millenium Challenge Account-Armenia SNCO met, presided at by GC
Chairman, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, reported the Official
website .

The session discussed and approved the shortlist and the invitation
of bids for the Ararat valley drainage system design and construction
monitoring as part of the MCA-Armenia Irrigated Agriculture Project
Infrastructure Activity, the evaluation results of combined technical
and financial proposals on consulting services for the next stages
of survey of farming activities under the monitoring and evaluation
component of the MCA-Armenia Program. The above-stated shortlist,
the invitation of bids and the results of combined technical and
financial proposals on consulting services will be submitted for the
MCC approval.

The meeting has also reviewed and approved the MCA-Armenia SNCO
staffing plan and organizational structure. The decision on increased
level of staffing was said to stem from the requirements stipulated in
the reference note on the further activities of the MCA-Armenia SNCO
as discussed at the previous Governing Council meeting of July 23,
2008 in connection with the revision of the Irrigated Agriculture
Project Infrastructure Activity.

In particular, the MCA-Armenia is going to recruit design and
construction engineers to ensure implementation efficiency and quality
supervision for the Irrigated Agriculture Project Infrastructure
Activity. Also, there will be hired an organizational strengthening
specialist and a number of experts for environmental and social impact
assessment, monitoring and evaluation activities at the rate of one
specialist per each activity.

The Governing Council-approved staffing plan and organizational chart
will subsequently be handed over to the MCC for endorsement.

Upon receipt of such endorsement, they will be forwarded to the
Republic of Armenia Government Staff for approval with the latter
being MCA-Armenia SNCO authorized representative under the compact.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VIVACELL HELPED VILLAGE OF ODZUN WITH RENOVATION OF ARTS SCHOOL

RIA Oreanda
Aug 8 2008
Russia

Yerevan . OREANDA-NEWS . August 07, 2008. Childrens Arts School of the
village of Odzun is completely renovated and refurbished thanks to AMD
18.4 million donation from VivaCell. The school now has a new local
heating and hot water supply system, and a completely new rooftop,
reported the press-centre of VivaCell.

The renovated Arts School was officially opened jointly by VivaCell
General Manager Ralph Yirikian and Deputy Marzpet of Lori Arsen
Darbinyan with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

VivaCell continues on implementing its large-scale CSR programs having
long-term positive impact on the rural communities of Armenia. This
time the Company chose to direct the focus of its CSR on one of the
oldest and largest villages of Armenia Odzun, famous for the richness
of its historical-cultural and religious sites, and the prominent
people born in the village.

Taking into account the number of Odzun inhabitants, as well as the
need to encourage the healthy esthetical education among children in
the villages of Armenia, VivaCell allocated funds for the complete
renovation of Childrens Arts School of the village of Odzun. In
addition to new rooftop and local heating system, new windows and doors
have been installed, and a local heating and water supply system have
been put in place in the school.

The Arts School was founded in 1970 and is the only arts school
serving 8 neighboring villages. The Arts School includes the following
sections: piano, as well as string, wind, folk instruments, and a
painting class.

Since for many years the system of Arts Schools in Armenia has been
in decline, VivaCell considers it as of prime importance to sponsor
the revival of the system.

Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, VivaCell General Manager Ralph
Yirikian noted: We stand here today, in one of the Armenias ancient
settlements, proud to be sons and daughters of Armenia. VivaCell
commitment to support the renovation and refurbishment of the Arts
School is determined by our obligation to be worthy descendants of
our predecessors we had to create here in Odzun a modern Arts School
to encourage the younger generation of Odzun to become worthy of
its cultural past. And as a socially-responsible corporate citizen,
VivaCell is allocating part of its revenues to help create bridges
between the younger generation of Armenia and our national culture.

VivaCell social investment in Odzun is not limited to the renovation
of its Childrens Arts Center and its refurbishment. The company also
presented the administration of the village with a garbage-collecting
vehicle worth of AMD 9 million.

WEST CAUCASUS: OBJECTIVES AND MEANS
by Igor Chirnov-Rezakin

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 8, 2008 Friday
Russia

Georgia as a confederation is the only means to reach regional
stability

WHAT IS RUSSIA AFTER IN THE WEST PART OF THE CAUCASUS?; Russia should
concentrate on promoting the idea of making Georgia a confederation.

Summer’2008 in the west part of the Caucasus began traditionally –
with provocations against Russian peacekeepers, explosions in Gagry,
ritual aggressive statements from Tbilisi…

According to special services, what Georgia procured in terms
of military hardware (or what it received as a gift from Russia’s
"partners") over the years include almost 400 armored vehicles (half
of them tanks), almost 200 artillery pieces and mortars (including
volley-fire rocket launchers and Howitzers 152 mm caliber), 25
antiaircraft complexes and 200 portable missile launchers, 45 aircraft
and helicopters (eight of them drones), 10 boats, light weapons,
radios, earth-moving machinery for military engineers, uniforms,
munitions by the ton… Georgia has no external enemies and nobody
aspires to its territory or part of it, but arms expenditures grow
with each passing year.

The Hard facts:

Russia withdrew its troops from Georgia by late 2007;

Euro-Atlantic crisis-resolution specialists frantically chart the
plans to integrate the Caucasus into NATO and "united" Europe. All
these plans stand for absorption of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by
Georgia but also include some attractive (or so they authors think)
offers to Abkhazian and South Ossetian leaders.

And what about Russia? What does it need in and from the west part
of the Caucasus?

First, it must be made quite plain to everyone that Russia does not
want a single square meter of the former Georgian Soviet Socialist
Republic! Strategically speaking, any part of Georgia is nothing
Russia needs.

Second (but much more significantly), Russia cannot permit
the transformation of the neighbor territory into a multipurpose
anti-Russian bridgehead: with separatist bases, velvet revolutions lab,
GUAM’s locomotive force, and NATO barracks all rolled into one.

What Russia needs is:

A safe transit route to Armenia by land. Now that Adjaria is
lost (actually, abandoned) and Russian troops no longer man the
Batumi-Akhalkalaki line, strategic transit to Armenia as Russia’s only
ally in the Caucasus depends on Armenia’s neighbors. These latter
include hostile Azerbaijan, neutral Iran, NATO member Turkey, and
fiercely pro-NATO Georgia. The Karabakh conflict settlement plan one
of NATO’s "experts" charted involved exchange of territories between
Armenia and Azerbaijan so as to cut the former off Iran. Air ferry
service is not an option because Russia’s transport aviation is not
up to it. Even Russian trucks with relief aid barely make it across
civilized Europe to Serbia. Armenia meanwhile is where Russia has the
102nd Military Base and some strategic enterprises under its control
and management.

Poti is out of the question as a base for the Russian Black Sea Fleet
no matter how it ends with Ukraine (the so called 2017 problem). It
is clear that neither Poti not revamped Novorossiisk will do even if
the Black Sea Fleet is downsized to a mere flotilla!

Prices in the global oil and gas market draw attention to oil and
gas exports from the Caspian basin to the West bypassing the Russian
territory. Georgia is playing a central part in these plans. Baku-Supsa
and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipelines are already running. Whenever they
recall it, Russian state officials get mad and regularly deploy the so
called "administrative resource" even though every such attempt costs
Russia dearly. Suspend the transit so as to change the anti-Russian
vector? But why? Oil export is business. One may make money in oil
fields development or in shipment or oil refining – as long as the
terms are acceptable (which is always easier to assure than enforcing
of the ban).

The safety of transit pipelines may be turned over to "private
armies". Why wouldn’t we draw on our Anglo-Saxon "partners"
‘experience?

The attempt in the early 1990s to rebuild the Georgian micro-empire,
an analog of the one remembered from 1918, created a crisis that
continues to this day.

A confederation as the natural – is not only – solution is not
something anybody has been giving a thought to. This state of affairs
offers Russia a chance to become the settlement leader in the region
with an emphasis on precisely this idea.

Seizing the initiative in the west part of the Caucasus, Russia may
even rejuvenate integration all over the rest of the Commonwealth and
elevate these processes to another level. Consider Europe. It never
occurs to Georgia to return Alsatia and Lorraine. It never occurs to
Italy to part with Nice or Austria with South Tirol.

Russia’s success in the Caucasus will put an end to development of
"sanitary cordons" along its own borders. Success in the Crimea and
Ukraine will even wreck beyond repair NATO’s and European Union’s
plans to expand eastward, into the zone of Russia’s national interests.

STRATEGIC BOMBERS WILL FLY BEYOND THREE SEAS
by Mikhail Falaleev

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 8, 2008 Friday
Russia

The Air Force Commander proposes uniting of all means for defense
from an airspace attack

THE AIR FORCE COMMANDER PROPOSES CREATION OF UNITED REGIONAL AIR
FORCE SYSTEMS IN CAUCASIAN AND CENTRAL ASIAN REGIONS; Air Force
Commander General Zelin says that it is necessary to unite all means
for defense from an airspace attack under unified command. Moreover,
he proposes the establishment of united regional air defense systems
in the Caucasian and Central Asian regions.

Very soon all air defense units of Moscow will be transferred to
the category of units of permanent readiness. This means that they
will be manned according to full authorized strength of wartime and
armed additionally.

Already the entire air defense of Moscow is organized into the
special-purpose command that guards the sky of not only Moscow but
also the Central industrial region. The first regiment armed with
the newest air defense missile systems S-400 was put on combat duty
in August of 2007.

The Air Force Commander said:

– So far, this is only the first step. In the near future a few other
air defense missile regiments will be armed with such systems. Further
modernization of S-300P systems being in service is also underway in
the air defense missile units.

General Zelin says that it is necessary to unite all means for defense
from an airspace attack under unified command. Moreover, he proposes
the establishment of united regional air defense systems in Caucasian
and Central Asian regions.

Zelin added:

– The practice of military cooperation in the field of air defense
demonstrated expediency of further development of the united air
defense system of the CIS member states on the regional basis. Active
work is already underway with regard to establishment of the united
regional air defense system of Belarus and Russia in the East European
region of collective security.

The united air defense system includes troops of Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

Russian aviation went beyond the limits of the Russian sky a long
time ago. The Air Force Commander announced intentions to organize
flights of strategic missile-carrying airplanes to the zone of the
Indian Ocean.

Zelin reported:

– Crews of strategic airplanes can fulfill tasks with aerial
refueling above water areas, for example, above the Indian and Atlantic
oceans. We are currently considering flights to strategic airplanes to
the airspace above the Indian Ocean where they will interact with the
Navy. The task is set to increase the volume of joint combat training
tasks and the quantity of flights of strategic airplanes for patrolling
in the areas of seafaring, fishing and economic activities of Russia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN MINISTER CALLS FOR UNITY AGAINST CHALLENGES

Mediamax News Agency
Aug 8 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 8 August: Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan today said
in Stepanakert [Xankandi] that the exacerbation of the situation in
[Georgia’s separatist] South Ossetia "should consolidate our people".

Answering the question whether the exacerbation of the situation
in South Ossetia can impact on Nagornyy Karabakh, Ohanyan said that
"this should consolidate our people, since only united, we can stand
up to any challenges," Mediamax reported.

Ohanyan also said that "those who try to undermine our unity and
solidarity, should answer to the people".

Commenting on the recent cease-fire regime violations by Azerbaijan,
Ohanyan said that the defence army of the NKR fully controls the
situation in the front-line and is able to solve the tasks set
before it.

UNDP AND MIGRATION AGENCY TO ESTABLISH MIGRATION CONSULTING CENTER IN GYUMRI

ARMENPRESS
Aug 7, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, ARMENPRESS: The UNDP and the Migration Agency of
the Territorial Ministry will join efforts to establish a migration
consulting center in Armenia’s second largest town of Gyumri.

The main goal of this center will be to inform migrant workers leaving
for other countries, about these countries’ migration legislation
and other related information.

Rafik Potinian, head of the social affairs department at the governor’s
office, told Armenpress that the decision to set up the center in
Gyumri was prompted by the fact that thousands of local men travel
to Russia and the Middle East in search of jobs.

The center will open in September.

GOVERNMENT RELEASES 150 MILLION DRAMS FOR REPAIR OF ROOFS IN KAPAN

ARMENPRESS
Aug 7, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, ARMENPRESS: The government of Armenia has released
150 million Drams from its reserve funds for repair of roofs of
blocks of apartments in the town of Kapan, in Syunik province. An
official of the urban department of the regional governor’s office
told Armenpress that the money will be enough for repair of 26 roofs.

He said the priority is given to roofs which need urgent repair. It
will be handled by a company that will win a tender. The repair is
to be over in 3 months.

By another decision the government released 185 million Drams for
improvement and development of two central streets in Kapan.

EUROPE’S CAUCASIAN MOMENT
By Borut Grgic And Alexandros Petersen

WSJ
August 5, 2008

The European Union is getting closer to the security concerns of
the Eurasian landmass, in particular the "frozen conflicts" in
Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan. And it’s not just due to the EU’s
expansion to the Black Sea. If Europe wants to reduce its dependency
on Russian energy, it will need alternative oil and gas supplies from
the Caspian region. But those strategic pipelines are only kilometers
away from hotspots like Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria, South Ossetia
and Abkhazia.

Over the weekend, six people were killed in firefights between
separatist South Ossetian militia and Georgian forces. This new
outbreak of violence threatens to further complicate peace efforts
in nearby Abkhazia. After years of neglect, EU heavyweights are
finally taking action there. Last month, German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier developed a three-step strategy to resolve
the Abkhazia dispute.

This statelet in northwestern Georgia is run by an ethnically distinct
minority that demands formal independence from Georgia. Lacking
international recognition, the Abkhaz — just like the South Ossetians
— won de facto independence with Russian support through a chaotic
conflagration amid the breakup of the Soviet Union. During a 1992-1993
war, the secessionists defeated the Georgian army and forced the
majority ethnic Georgian population to leave. The enclave’s isolated
economy is fueled by Russian business interests, which sit comfortably
behind a shield of so-called Russian peacekeepers that divide the
territory from the rest of Georgia.

So it is no surprise that the conflict plays out in confrontations
between Tbilisi and Moscow. A Russian aircraft was recently filmed
shooting down a Georgian surveillance drone. Moscow’s "peacekeepers"
frequently harass ethnic Georgians in the breakaway region, demanding
protection money or, like last year, forcing them to vote in separatist
elections. These provocations serve a greater strategic agenda:
keeping Georgia out of NATO.

The unresolved conflicts of the two breakaway regions are the greatest
obstacles to Georgia’s ambitions to join the alliance. Moscow holds
the trump card.

Mr. Steinmeier’s plan was ambitious but realistic. It envisioned a
stage of confidence-building measures leading to a gradual return
of displaced peoples, followed by economic revitalization with
European help. Abkhazia’s final status was to be determined in the
last stage. In a nod to Moscow, Mr. Steinmeier’s plan did not demand
the internationalization of the peacekeeping force.

Russia gave the plan a green light in private meetings, only to
reject it when the German foreign minister made it public. Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin and his successor as Russian president,
Dmitry Medvedev, see it as in Moscow’s interest to preserve the
simmering status quo. By publicly ambushing the plan, Moscow hopes
to put an end to what it considers as European meddling in its own
backyard. Russia wants to sow confusion about its true intentions,
thus delaying any resolution of the conflict.

While the first attempt of the German peace plan failed, it nonetheless
indicates a growing realization among the EU’s power brokers that
it is time to get serious about resolving festering conflicts in
the union’s new neighborhood. Berlin’s leadership is particularly
notable as Germany is closest to Russia among the EU’s major member
states. And yet Berlin’s peace initiative showed that it considers
its diversified investments and diplomatic interests in the Caspian
region important enough to strengthen Europe’s relations with Georgia.

There is now no time to lose to draft an improved plan that will
better provide for Abkhaz demands to shape their own destiny, without
jeopardizing Georgia’s sovereignty, democratization and Western
integration. Any stepped-up effort must include the separatist Abkhaz
leadership. Isolated and increasingly overshadowed by Moscow, the
leaders in Sukhumi are no more enthusiastic about Russian dominance
than the Georgians are. True, the Abkhaz depend on Moscow’s support in
their fight against Tbilisi. But they are worried that in the process
of getting independence from Georgia, they are being integrated
into Russia. That’s why they have quietly reached out to Western
capitals. An EU high representative, with a significant staff and
peacekeeping contingent, would likely be welcomed by the Abkhaz.

By seeking a resolution to the conflicts, Europe is facilitating
stability and prosperity in its neighborhood. Reducing tensions
in the region also benefits Russia. Violence in Abkhazia has been
linked to unrest in Russia’s North Caucasus republics of Chechnya,
Dagestan and Ingushetia. If Russia got bogged down in a confrontation
in Abkhazia, violent separatists in the North Caucasus would step up
their own rebellions.

Therefore, achieving peace may not be an insurmountable task. The key
to a resolution in Abkhazia is to convince Russia that stability on its
southern border is more important than a violent veto over Georgia’s,
and possibly Abkhazia’s, Western integration.

Mr. Grgic is director, and Mr. Petersen policy adviser, at the
Institute for Strategic Studies in Brussels.

COHEN OUT TO STRONG LEAD IN EARLY VOTING

Memphis Commercial Appeal
ug/07/cohen-takes-early-lead-over-tinker-towns-jr/
Aug 7 2008
TN

By Trevor Aaronson (Contact) and Zack McMillin (Contact) and
Bartholomew Sullivan (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal

In a contentious primary that garnered national attention this week,
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen took a substantial early lead over his Democratic
rivals.

Based on early votes and absentee ballots results, Cohen leads with
80.56 percent of the votes. His main challengers, attorney Nikki
Tinker and state Rep. Joe Towns Jr., trail with 17.22 percent and
1.44 percent, respectively.

The escalating political clash between Cohen and Tinker, who first
faced each other in the crowded 2006 Democratic Congressional primary,
reached the national level today. Presumptive Democratic presidential
nominee Sen. Barack Obama and former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. denounced
Tinker’s recent TV ads.

One featured a Ku Klux Klan rally. Another criticized Cohen, who is
Jewish, for attending "our churches" and voting in 1997 against a
measure that Tinker’s campaign contends would have permitted prayer
in public schools.

"These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics,
and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee. It’s time
to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so
that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country,"
Obama said in a statement.

Ford, who held the Congressional seat for 10 years before Cohen won
it in 2006, was similarly critical of Tinker, his protege and former
campaign manager.

"Whenever race, religion or gender is invoked in a political contest,
it generally means the candidate has run out of legitimate arguments
for why he/she should be elected," Ford said in a prepared statement
e-mailed to The Commercial Appeal.

Ford, now chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, did not
endorse a candidate for the Ninth Congressional District. However,
his wife, Emily Threlkeld Ford, contributed $3,300, the legal maximum,
to Tinker’s campaign.

Cohen said today he believed Memphis voters would see the ads as
nothing more than acts of political desperation.

"The Memphis voter is much more sophisticated than the Tinker camp
thought," he said. "They’re going to vote on issues and character
and achievement, and not on race."

In recent days, Cohen has been forced to mount a two-front defense
as he vies for a second term in Washington, D.C.

In addition to Tinker’s assaults, Cohen told news media he’d been
harassed by an American-American activist angered by the congressman’s
opposition to a resolution that would have condemned Turkey for
genocide against Armenians after World War I.

On Wednesday, during a press conference at his Overton Park home,
Cohen refused to allow the activist, documentarian Peter Musurlian,
to participate in the event. The congressman’s staff said only invited
local media were allowed the home.

Cohen eventually intervened by saying he would grant an interview
outside. When Musurlian retreated to the door, Cohen grabbed his
forearms with both hands and shoved him out. "Outta here," the
politician said.

Musurlian, from Glendale, Calif., said he is in town producing a
documentary on the race. Armenian-Americans from around the country
have donated as much as $30,000 to Tinker.

Cohen said his opposition to the resolution was related to a request
from Gen. David Petraus, who told the congressman passing the
resolution would result in Turkey cutting off aid to American forces
in Iraq. That stance is in agreement with all U.S. presidents going
back to Jimmy Carter and many former secretaries of state.

CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN IN ARMENIA EXPEDITION

Inspire Magazine
px?action=view&id=2691
Aug 7 2008
UK

A leading Liberal Democrat is travelling to the Central Asian nation
of Armenia to see first hand the needs of a nation locked in poverty
since the Soviet era.

Martin Turner, Vice Chair of the Lib Dem Christian Forum and
parliamentary candidate for Stratford upon Avon, and Meryem Turner will
this week visit the city Yerevan before going on to visit community
projects led by international development agency World Vision. The
couple, who are representing Riverside Church, King’s Heath, will
particularly focus on the plight of children.

Despite economic growth, Armenia still faces high levels of child
mortality, low school enrolment, and high HIV/AIDS and TB incidence. It
has a long history of antagonism with neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan,
and is currently building relations with its southern neighbour Iran.

Martin Turner, who is also Chair of the Lib Dem Parliamentary
Candidates Association, said: "We want to see first hand what life
is like in Armenia, and get a picture of what people in the West
Midlands could be doing to help.

"Britain is right now in the process of withdrawing its funding from
Armenia because it classes it as a ‘middle-income’ nation. But it
has massive levels of child poverty, especially among the under-5s.

"We’re just spending a week there, which is barely enough time to
scratch the surface. But we intend to learn enough to inspire people
here, especially in churches, to put Armenia back on their agendas."