News.am, Armenia
20:14, 13.06.2020
Author: Andranik Taslakhchian
CIVILNET.Saudi Arabia’s Oil Policy: Disorder and Disarray
CIVILNET.AM
16:51
By Pierre Terzian
There was a time when Saudi Arabia’s oil strategy was clear to everyone. It aimed to ensure that oil would have longest possible lifespan as the world’s main energy source. The reason was obvious: as it holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Riyadh wanted to make the most of them. The political priorities derived from this strategy were just as clear: to ensure that consumers never run out of oil at reasonable prices; and to make this possible by holding idle production capacity of some 2 million b/d in reserve, to be mobilized in the event of a supply disruption anywhere in the world. Finally, relations with the United States were based on the principle of “reciprocal security”: Saudi Arabia guaranteed the oil security of the United States, while the latter guaranteed the kingdom’s military security.
This perfectly consistent strategy was followed continuously by Riyadh for almost three decades, from 1986 (when the first Saudi “price war” ended) until 2014 (when the Saudis launched their “price war” against US shale oil), despite all the upheavals of history: various wars in the Gulf (real ones, this time), the attacks of September 11, 2001, the financial crisis of 2008-2009, and so on. The rise of US shales, however, had fateful consequences for Saudi Arabia. In response to competition from new oils, Riyadh allowed prices to fall in an attempt to eliminate the most expensive oils (shale and tight oil, oil sands and extra-heavy crude), but without success. The outcome represented an initial turning point in Saudi Arabia’s oil policy, causing it to regulate supply in cooperation with Russia (February 2016), and later to proclaim a “strategic partnership” with Moscow in September 2016 in the field of oil. Cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers was built upon the foundation of this partnership. It led to the Vienna “Declaration of Cooperation” (DoC) in December 2016, thus providing the framework of what has become, starting in 2017-2018, the OPEC+ group.
The Saudi oil strategy thus seemed to have found a new framework for itself. OPEC+ worked relatively smoothly, although relations between Riyadh and Moscow were not without a few unpleasant surprises, some political and others oil-related. To balance the international oil market, the problems to be resolved were by no means insurmountable at that time: the required production cuts fell within a range of 1 to 2 million b/d. However, the crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic needed far more painful measures to be taken. In early March 2020, the Saudis presented the Russians with proposals for large-scale production cuts that the latter were not yet prepared to accept. At home, Vladimir Putin had to deal with strong opposition from Russian oil-producing companies, Rosneft foremost among them. Until then, they had accepted requested production cuts because they were small and easy to circumvent. This time, the reductions were drastic, and there was no way to escape them. Furthermore, the fall in prices first and foremost disadvantaged US shale producers, which quite pleased the Russians, who were being hit by repeated sanctions from the United States. It didn’t help matters when Saudi Arabia changed its Minister of Energy on September 9, 2019 (Khaled Al-Falih was replaced by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman): Falih had established a relationship of trust with his Russian counterpart (Alexander Novak); his successor, on the contrary, didn’t trust the Russians. This led to the failure of OPEC+ on March 6 and triggered a new “price war” by Saudi Arabia, which announced substantially lower price differentials for April and the use of its full production capacity. OPEC+ was reduced to ruins.
What the Saudi leaders hadn’t expected (or had underestimated, at least) was the reaction of Donald Trump, who was infuriated by the disaster that struck the US oil industry. The rest of the story is well-known: Trump admonished the Saudi leaders and requested the cooperation of … Vladimir Putin. Under the latter’s leadership, OPEC+ agreed to a plan of action on April 12: production cuts amounting to 9.7 million b/d in May and June 2020, subsequently renewed for July, on June 6. On the very next day, Aramco issued a new pricing initiative, this time with greatly improved price differentials ($5 to $6/b). Within only three months, the situation has transitioned from a “price war” to a game of one-upmanship… And it’s probably not over, as the market has no clear vision of the long-term objective pursued by the Saudis, if any such goal even exists. Disorder in Riyadh, disarray in the markets.
Pierre Terzian is the founder of Petrostrategies, a French think-tank specializing in energy sector.
In picture: US President Trump and the first lady, Melania, at the royal palace in Riyadh in May 2017. Saudi Arabia gave Mr. Trump dozens of gifts, many of them extravagant. Photo Credit: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Music: Music Evokes Emotions from Armenian Genocide
The Jewish News
By Suzanne Chessler
The documentary “An Armenian Trilogy” is available on Amazon. (Photo courtesy of Dan Yessian)
Producer-musician Ohad Wilner and film editor Stewart Shevin grew up in Jewish families never forgetting the Holocaust, but they had no knowledge of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated years earlier by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
Their knowledge came as they worked on musical projects with first-generation Armenian-American Dan Yessian, and the two enthusiastically helped communicate long-denied atrocities with an award-winning film.
<img class=”wp-image-195357 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/An-Armenian-Trilogy-Album-Cover-440×440.png” alt=”The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. ” width=”200″ height=”200″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/An-Armenian-Trilogy-Album-Cover-440×440.png 440w, 880w, 768w, 1536w, 696w, 1392w, 1068w, 420w, 840w, 300w, 600w, 100w, 1600w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon.
Milford resident Yessian generally immerses his business team in developing music for television shows, commercials, theme parks and game platforms through Yessian Music Inc., his music production company based in Farmington Hills with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany. Among Yessian’s many clients are the Ford Motor Company, Disney and Intel. But he entered into personally meaningful projects following a request from a religious leader at the Southfield church he attends.
Yessian was asked to create music expressing emotions associated with the 100th anniversary of the start of the atrocities in 1915, and the resulting symphony, “An Armenian Trilogy” as performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017, became the center of a new documentary with the same title. The film chronicles Yessian’s journey from composing music for advertisements to writing his first classical composition in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
Prelude to the Holocaust
Wilner and Shevin readily associate the horrifying experiences of Armenians with the horrifying experiences of Jews, and Yessian agrees.
<img class=”wp-image-195358 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ohan-Wilner-e1591639301429-301×440.jpg” alt=”Ohad Wilner” width=”200″ height=”293″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ohan-Wilner-e1591639301429-301×440.jpg 301w, 601w, 287w, 574w, 600w, 656w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />Ohad Wilner
“The Armenians and the Jews went through a lot of the same things,” said the composer, who has also produced music for a fundraising project initiated by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
“And it’s not only Jews and Armenians through time. The story just goes on and on.”
The film, mostly via unscripted narration by Yessian, points out that in 1939, before invading Poland, Hitler expressed incentive for his horrific actions by suggesting no one remembered the Armenian Genocide so no one would likely remember their actions either. And indeed, it wasn’t until 2019 that the U.S. Senate and House voted to recognize the mass Armenian killings that lasted until 1922 as a genocide.
The film invites viewers into the Yessian home to see where the music was created and to listen to comments from Yessian’s wife, Kathy, as she recalls her husband’s work. Historic film footage from Armenia dramatizes the symphonic sounds.
Creating the Tone
“This is the most serious [musical project] that I’ve done,” said Yessian, who works at a Steinway baby grand once owned by composer-performer Burt Bacharach. “It’s a complete, three-movement, classical piece.”
<img class=”wp-image-195360 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/film-editor-Stewart-Shevin-440×440.jpg” alt=”Stewart Shevin” width=”200″ height=”200″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/film-editor-Stewart-Shevin-440×440.jpg 440w, 420w, 300w, 100w, 579w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />Stewart Shevin
“The Freedom” presents the mood of the happier times before the atrocities began. “The Fear” delves into the dangers with galloping rhythms to represent soldiers on horseback leaning down to spear their victims. “The Faith” explores a sense of religious doubts before moving into a sense of hope for the future.
“I’m an ear musician, and I don’t really read music,” Yessian said. “The music [results from] whatever I’m imagining, and I get help with the notation. What I couldn’t play on the piano [for this piece], I would sing for the notation.”
Wilner, whose mother, Niva Wilner, teaches Hebrew at Hillel Day School, described his work on An Armenian Trilogy as doing whatever it took to come up with the finished film, and that involved being on set to help with camera responsibilities or directing, working on the audio mix and writing copy.
<img class=”wp-image-195359 size-medium” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Film-Still-Shot-3-780×440.jpg” alt=”A still shot from the documentary.” width=”780″ height=”440″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Film-Still-Shot-3-780×440.jpg 780w, 1560w, 768w, 1536w, 696w, 1392w, 1068w, 747w, 1493w, 600w, 1920w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” />A still shot from the documentary.
“I did have some parts in the film as we overdubbed,” said Wilner, an essentially self-taught, multi-instrumentalist musician who had piano lessons as a youngster. “I do some layers of electric guitar during the second movement, which is supposed to be very angry and emotional.”
He said the inspirational nature of the film resonated with him: “It’s about a man who is a first-generation American finding his way with a passion for music and making a living doing what he loves.
“I’m a kindred spirit as a musician and first-generation American. My parents are Israeli. I think this movie can serve as an inspiration for those who are seeking success through their passion.”
<img class=”wp-image-195365 ” src=””https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Dan-Yessian-1-color-scaled-e1591639764121-295×440.jpg” alt=”Dan Yessian” width=”200″ height=”298″ srcset=”https://thejewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Dan-Yessian-1-color-scaled-e1591639764121-295×440.jpg 295w, 590w, 768w, 1030w, 696w, 1068w, 282w, 563w, 600w, 1145w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px” />Dan Yessian
Both Yessian and Wilner give credit for the film’s smoothness to Shevin, who has worked on projects for the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.
“In working on this film, I was especially intrigued with the idea of someone looking for roots,” Shevin said. “It’s about what we all share and coming together.”
The film, shown at seven festivals, has received the Audience Choice Award at the Soo Film Festival in Sault St. Marie, the Best Score designation at the Northwest Ohio Historic Film Festival and the Exceptional Merit Award at the Docs Without Borders Film Festival.
“When this pandemic is over, I would like to have the musical piece flourish for live performance,” Yessian said. “Music gets to the heart.”
The documentary An Armenian Trilogy is available on Amazon. The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. Further music availability details and background information can be found at .
Pashinyan and family members feel well – spokesperson
21:07, 3 June, 2020
YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and his family members, who have been tested positive for COVID-19, feel well, Mane Gevorgyan, spokesperson of the PM, wrote on her Facebook page.
”The PM, as well as his family members have no fever, are isolated at the governmental residency under the supervision of doctors”, ARMENPRESS reports Gevorgyan wrote.
The PM continues his activities remotely.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
Roman Golovchenko appointed Prime Minister of Belarus
15:01, 4 June, 2020
YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Belarus Aleksander Lukashenko appointed the new staff of the government, BelTA reports.
According to the presidential decree, Roman Golovchenko has been appointed as the new prime minister of Belarus.
Previously, Golovchenko served as chairman of the State Authority for Military Industry.
According to Lukashenko, Roman Golovchenko has a wealth of experience of working in various positions, including the diplomatic service, knows how to hold negotiations.
“I told him yesterday that our government is a collective body. He is the chairman of the government. He is the speaker of this government. He has a vote. Of course, he has the upper hand in a tie vote. Despite that, however, he is responsible for discipline and order in government, for the final result”, the Belarusian leader said.
Russian officials arrested for giving, taking bribe for supply of military products to Azerbaijan
12:12, 5 June, 2020
YEREVAN, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS. Officials have been arrested in Russia for giving and taking a bribe to supply dual-purpose military products from Russia to Azerbaijan, Kommersant reports.
According to the investigation, head of the military-technical cooperation department of the ministry of Industry and Trade Rizvan Gayrbekov received 4,5 million Russian rubles from CEO of Nizhny Novgorod Aircraft JSC Vasily Klepalov to give a license to the company for supplying dual-purpose military products to Azerbaijan. According to the investigation the CEO of Nizhny Novgorod Aircraft JSC gave the money to Rizvan Gayrbekov through their common acquaintance, Sergei Garmash, who is serving at the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.
CEO of Nizhny Novgorod Aircraft JSC Vasily Klepalov has been arrested and is accused of giving a bribe.
Rizvan Gayrbekov has been remanded into custody until August 4.
Armenpress: Rudik Hyusnunts appointed chief adviser to Artsakh President
Rudik Hyusnunts appointed chief adviser to Artsakh President
10:14, 2 June, 2020
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Rudik Hyusnunts has been appointed chief adviser to the Artsakh President- Ambassador at large.
President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan signed the respective decree on June 1, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
CIVILNET.Hrant Dink Foundation Receives Death Threats After Attacks on Two Armenian Churches in Istanbul
CIVILNET.AM
2 June, 2020 21:21
By Mark Dovich
The Hrant Dink Foundation in Istanbul announced in an online statement on May 29 that it had received death threats via email in the prior days. The email messages, which use language evocative of the rhetoric circulating before Hrant Dink’s assassination in 2007, was directed toward Rakel Dink, Hrant’s widow, and the Foundation’s attorneys.
Just a day after the Foundation’s statement was published, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on Twitter that a suspect, so far identified only by the initials H. A., had been detained in connection with the death threats issued against the Foundation. Turkish media reports suggest that the suspect had been influenced, at least in part, by the views of his girlfriend from Azerbaijan, where anti-Armenian sentiment is widespread. H. A., who is believed to have a prior criminal record, reportedly faces more than seven years in prison if found guilty of sending death threats.
Additionally, H. A. is suspected of having dismantled a cross outside the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church in Istanbul on May 23—the second attack against an Armenian church in the city in a month’s time. Several weeks earlier, on May 9, another person attempted to set fire to the door of Saint Mary’s Church, another Armenian sanctuary in Istanbul. Lawmaker Garo Paylan, one of the few ethnic Armenians serving in Turkey’s Grand National Assembly, prominently denounced both incidents.
In response, nine well-known Turkish civil society organizations released a joint statement on May 31, stressing that “the paths that led to the assassination of Hrant Dink were paved by the same language of hatred.” To that end, the organizations called on those responsible to “end the provocations and stop fanning grudge and hatred” and urged the authorities to “fulfill their duties and responsibilities properly.”
The next day, more than 200 of Turkey’s leading intellectuals, writers, journalists, politicians, and other public figures signed an open letter stating their deep concern about escalating anti-Armenian sentiment in Turkey and condemning the death threats issued against the Hrant Dink Foundation and the Armenian church attacks.
Hrant Dink was a leading Armenian-Turkish intellectual and the founding editor of Agos, the first bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper. The weekly newspaper, published in Istanbul, has become a platform for political analysis and dialogue about the place of Armenians in the Turkish Republic, as well as the Turkish government’s general approach to Armenians and other minority groups. As a result of his vocal and visible commentaries, Dink received numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists during his career and was also prosecuted three times for “denigrating Turkishness” under the Turkish Penal Code’s controversial Article 301.
In 2007, Dink was gunned down in Istanbul in broad daylight by Ogün Samast, a young Turkish nationalist. Dink’s assassination sparked a massive wave of protests across Turkey and drew widespread international condemnation. Samast was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for the murder, though he now has less than two years left before his release.
The Hrant Dink Foundation, established a year after the assassination, aims to carry on Dink’s legacy by promoting democracy and human rights in Turkey and advocating for improved Armenian-Turkish relations.
Turkish press: Turkish official regrets act of hate on minority church – Turkey News
- 10:41:00
A Turkish official late on May 30 said Turkey would do all it can to prevent the breaking of brotherhood and peace between Turks and members of minority communities after a recent hate attack on an Armenian church in Istanbul.
Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said in a tweet that the incident was a source of sorrow and would not go unpunished as officials would follow the judicial process.
He emphasized the Turkish administration would stand against any act to harm brotherhood in Turkey and said his country would do everything it can do prevent the disruption of peace.
He said he called the chair of the Surp Krikor Armenian Church Edvard Ayvazyan and offered condolences.
Altun’s comments came after a man broke a cross at a church in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul earlier this week and fled the scene. He was later identified and arrested by security authorities.
“Armenia has always condemned discrimination and racism” – Ambassador to Switzerland
13:23,
YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ambassador to Switzerland Andranik Hovhannisyan gave an interview to Geneva’s “Artzakank-Echo” magazine.
The ambassador emphasized that the 2018 revolution in Armenia was aimed at building a true democratic society based on human rights and fundamental freedoms.
He said it is natural that in the international arena Armenia is consistent in encouraging the same principles and values which were at the foundation of the democratic changes in Armenia.
Ambassador Hovhannisyan also addressed Armenia’s cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Armenia has many years of positive cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In recent years, it was especially reflected in the context of aid for the Syrian-Armenians who found refuge in Armenia. The International Committee of the Red Cross was one of the first international organizations to open an office in Armenia. It also has a permanent mission in Artsakh. Overall, these two abovementioned organizations have significant roles within the framework of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” he said.
The ambassador also spoke about Armenia’s contributions to the international efforts for the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity. He said Armenia’s many years of contributions in the efforts makes it a pioneer in the area.
“We are committed to the continuation of work in this direction, namely in developing international mechanisms for early response and prevention of new violence and crimes, in order for Never Again not to be simply a motto, but become reality,” he said.
He noted the strengthening of the civil society, protection of women’s rights and creation of equal opportunities as other areas of Armenia’s proactive contributions to the international agenda of human rights. He reminded that Armenia is the elected Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women for 2020-2021.
Ambassador Hovhannisyan said that Armenia has constantly voiced condemnation of discrimination and racism. “We are keeping the issues of protection of national and religious minorities in our focus, especially during times of crisis such as the situation in the Middle East. Great attention is paid to fighting the advocacy of violence and hate speech. Armenia’s approaches in human rights issues are based on the universal commitment of “not ignoring anyone”, according to the principle that everyone has all rights and freedoms, regardless of any differentiation, including the political or legal status of their place of residence. This is our cornerstone approach in the international human rights agenda,” the ambassador said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan