Author: Andres-Papazian

TOMORROW, WHEN APRICOTS COME

The Economist

July 29 2010

Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and
Israelis, 1956-1978. By Kai Bird. Simon & Schuster; 448 pages; $30
and £17.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

QUITE a few unfortunates have been bitten by the pernicious Jerusalem
bug. Unless dealt with firmly at an early stage, the infection can lead
to too much time spent fussing over the seemingly impossible problem
of how to split the land that has Jerusalem as its capital between
two peoples, Israeli and Palestinian, who each know themselves to be
the rightful owner. Kai Bird, infected as a small boy, clearly tried
to take remedial measures (living in south Asia, producing several
biographies to do with atomic warfare) but has now given in, writing a
book of childhood memories embedded in chunks of historical narrative.

With so much injustice in the world, why does the injustice done to
the Palestinians still rank so high? Partly, of course, because it
contributes to Islamic anger and, consequently, terrorism. But also
because of the cruelty of the irony: Palestinians are plain unlucky
to have Jews as adversaries, a people who have suffered a more awful
tragedy. For Israelis, as Mr Bird remarks, “the Shoah [the Holocaust]
always trumps the Nakba [the catastrophe, or dispossession]”. The
author himself, though deeply sympathetic to the Palestinian cause,
is aware through his wife Susan, the daughter of Holocaust survivors,
that there is another side.

He was too little to have many direct memories of Jerusalem, where
his father was America’s vice-consul for a couple of years in the
mid-1950s. He recollects being driven each day from his family’s
house in the Palestinian-Jordanian east through the Mandelbaum Gate,
a grim, heavily guarded passageway in no-man’s-land, to his school in
the Jewish-Israeli west. He remembers the ringing of bells, the call
to prayer and the braying of donkeys in the street; his best friend,
Dani, had a Palestinian father and a Jewish mother.

But mainly he draws on his parents’ letters, particularly his
mother’s. They came to Jerusalem as innocents from Oregon but the
unfairness hit them and soon she was writing “I now find it difficult
to understand the refusal of the Israelis to regard themselves as the
aggressors”. They had several aristocratic, cosmopolitan Palestinian
friends. But many Palestinians resented the American government,
not in those days because of its tight links to Israel, but because
of the support, together with fat CIA brown envelopes, that it gave
to their ruler at the time, Jordan’s King Hussein.

After Jerusalem, the family moved to Saudi Arabia and, later, Egypt.

Mr Bird is amusing about the Aramco oil company reservation in
Dhahran in the 1960s, where the all-American oil families lived
a comfortable colonial life in a desert camp as exclusive as any
white gated suburb (though minus teenagers and the elderly), their
main hobby distilling forbidden alcohol. Diplomats came low in
the pecking order, inferior to oil officials with their excellent
access to Saudi royals and way behind the CIA, kingmakers in those
cold-war days. But the Birds did make friends with Salem bin Laden,
Osama’s witty, free-spending eldest brother who died in 1988 flying
his plane into a power line. “No one in the family,” Salem remarked,
“understands why Osama became so religious.”

Later Mr Bird recounts the terrifying story of his wife’s mother. A
beautiful teenage Austrian Jew, Helma escaped from Graz to spend the
war hiding from her persecutors in Yugoslavia and Italy, working for a
time for the Italian resistance. She never talked of her tribulations
but Susan somehow absorbed her fears. At different points in his story,
Mr Bird tells of two visits to old homes. Arab-Armenian friends went
back to their family house in west Jerusalem; Helma took Susan to
see her old home in Graz. Both the Armenians and Helma were allowed
to see what they had lost. But that was it.

Mourning all the opportunities missed through the years, Mr Bird
looks, without silly optimism, to a post-Zionist era when a secular
Hebrew republic is open to all, when victimhood is pushed into the
past and territorial compromise achieved between Hebrew-speakers and
Arabic-speakers. Improbable, but then the solution to the Arab-Israeli
stalemate has long been startlingly simple–if only there were trust
and goodwill.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST’S ALLEGED KILLER COULD FACE FIVE MORE YEARS

Hurriyet
July 29 2010
Turkey

Ogun Samast, the primary suspect in the assassination of journalist
Hrant Dink, has become a suspect in another case after allegedly
intimidating Dink’s brother, Hosrof Dink.

Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent and the
editor-in-chief of the daily Agos, was murdered in front of his
newspaper on Jan 19, 2007. During the July 7, 2009, hearing of his
murder trial at the 14th Court of Serious Crimes in Istanbul, Samast
allegedly said, “I’ll see you in five years” to Hosrof Dink.

Samast did not attend Wednesday’s first hearing of the intimidation
trial, in which he faces five years in prison in addition to the 20
years he faces for Hrant Dink’s murder trial if found guilty.

Although Samast did not attend, he pleaded not guilty in his testimony,
claiming he was addressing fellow suspect Yasin Hayal.

Hosrof Dink attended the hearing, saying Samast was not a regular
person, accusing him of being his brother’s killer.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIA DENIES AZERBAIJAN BUYS ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES

DefenseNews.com
July 29 2010

MOSCOW – A Russian newspaper reported July 29 that ex-Soviet Azerbaijan
had bought Russian anti-aircraft missile systems worth $300 million
but Moscow denied the claim.

Quoting Russian arms industry sources, the Vedomosti daily reported
that Baku had signed the deal with Russian state arms exporter
Rosoboronexport last year to purchase two batteries of S-300
anti-aircraft systems, in the largest purchase of arms from Moscow
by an ex-Soviet country.

Russian news agencies however quoted Rosoboronexport denying the sale.

“Rosoboronexport has no information on the supplies of S-300 missile
systems to Azerbaijan and has no contract obligations over this,” the
ITAR-TASS news agency quoted company spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko
as saying.

Azerbaijani defense ministry spokesman Abbas Shirinov also declined to
confirm the purchase, saying only: “Azerbaijan continues to strengthen
its army.”

Awash with cash from oil and gas exports, Azerbaijan has nearly
doubled defense spending in the last two years amid rising tensions
with arch-rival Armenia over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of
Nagorny Karabakh.

The Vedomosti report quoted an unidentified Russian military official
as saying the systems would not be useful in a new conflict over
Karabakh.

Armenia does not have the kind of attack planes or ballistic missiles
that the systems would normally be used against.

The official said the purchase was most likely aimed at Azerbaijan
securing itself in case of a western strike on neighboring Iran.

Russia signaled last month it was moving to halt its controversial
sale of the same S-300 systems to Iran, in a policy shift the Kremlin
said was needed after fresh U.N. sanctions over Iran’s nuclear drive.

From: A. Papazian

SIBEL EDMONDS ATTACKS MATTHEW BRYZA’S NOMINATION TO POSITION OF U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN

AzeriReport

July 29 2010

WASHINGTON DC. July 29, 2010: Sibel Edmonds, author of a number of
controversial statements about the U.S. administration officials, has
come up with an article attacking Matthew Bryza, the ambassador-nominee
of the Obama administration for Azerbaijan.

Considering the fact that Matthew Bryza’s nomination to Azerbaijan
goes through an unusually delayed and complicated confirmation process,
we decided to re-publish this article. Below is the full text:

President Obama appears to have run out of Non-Neocon candidates
to appoint for crucial positions. After one year with no ambassador
to fill the position in Azerbaijan, the President reached out to and
appointed a young neocon with a tangled web of conflicts. I am talking
about a neocon and his wife, a duo who for the last decade and a half
have been attached to figures such as Michael Rubin, Barry Rubin,
Daniel Pipes, Richard Perle, Robert Novak…We have here a fairly
young to-be-ambassador neocon, whose lavish wedding in Turkey could
not have been possible without the generosity of those involved in the
Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline projects, and corrupt figureheads in Azerbaijan
politics…This is about a shady neocon figure with a shadier role in
the almost-forgotten Georgia-Russia incident a couple of years ago…We
are talking about neocon Matt Bryza and his more-of-a-neocon think-tank
damsel Zeyno Baran; President Obama’s choice for the ambassadorship
in Azerbaijan.

Last Thursday Mr. Bryza was on the defensive when he appeared before
the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. While the general MSM
coverage placed its main focus on Bryza’s questionable actions,
actually lack of actions, on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflicts and
incidents involving the desecration of ancient Armenian gravesites in
the town of Julfa in the Azerbaijani exclave of Naxcivan, very little
coverage was given to his even greater baggage and background. Here
is one of those cursory coverages I’m talking about:

Bryza also pledged to not let his personal life affect his work. His
wife, Zeyno Baran, is of Turkish origin, which some Armenian critics
say leads to an anti-Armenian bias. Baran, who was present at the
hearing, has also been cited as a source of potential conflict of
interest for Bryza in terms of energy politics. She works for the
Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think-tank which receives funding
from ExxonMobile and other energy companies. Azerbaijan is a key
“southern corridor” country for planned increases in gas shipment
from the Caspian region to Europe.

…

Bryza’s neocon damsel’s past and present, and her various business
and close associations are only the tip of a gigantic iceberg. But
rest assured, our media and Congress will not go ‘there’, of course,
without being forced to do so, that is.

So who is this quietly conceived hatched Neocon Larva, Matt Bryza?

As before I am going to start with the common pedigree chosen by our
shallow MSM journalist friends and the like; the type that doesn’t
raise many (if any) flags, at first glance:

Matthew J. Bryza is a diplomat who became Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in June 2005. Two months
ago President Obama appointed him as the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

Here is a canned description of his job as a ‘diplomat’:

In this capacity, he is responsible for policy oversight and management
of U.S. relations with countries in the Caucasus and Southern
Europe. He also leads U.S. efforts to advance peaceful settlements of
the separatist conflicts of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia,
and works with the Special Negotiator for Eurasian Conflicts to
advance a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Additionally, Bryza coordinates U.S. energy policy in the regions
surrounding the Black and Caspian Seas. He also works with European
countries on issues of tolerance, social integration, and Islam.

In April 2001, Bryza joined the National Security Council as Director
for Europe and Eurasia, with responsibility for coordinating U.S.

policy on Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and
Caspian energy.

Bryza served as the deputy to the Special Advisor to the President and
Secretary of State on Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy from July 1998 to
March 2001. In this capacity, Bryza coordinated the U.S. Government’s
inter-agency effort to develop a network of oil and gas pipelines
in the Caspian region.During 1997-1998, Bryza was special advisor to
Ambassador Richard Morningstar, coordinating U.S. Government assistance
programs on economic reform in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Bryza served at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow during 1995-1997, first
as special assistant to Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, then as a
political officer covering the Russian Duma, the Communist Party,
and the Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.

He worked on European and Russian affairs at the State Department
during 1991-1995.Bryza served in Poland in 1989-1991 at the U.S.

Consulate in PoznaÅ~D and the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, where he covered
the Solidarity movement, reform of Poland’s security services, and
regional politics.

At first glance the above description is about a good ole boring
tie-wearing State Department bureaucrat who was docile and boring
enough to last through four administrations: Bush Sr., Clinton,
Bush Jr., and now, Obama; that and the fact that the guy has been
climbing the ladder steadily and rather quickly. Taking a closer look,
if we have enough interest and if we are paying attention, our man’s
operational file stands out a bit:

Caucasus, Central Asia, Eurasia, Caspian Sea, Turkey, Russia, Dagestan,
Georgia…

Look just a little bit closer and you’ll notice even more important
key works associated with key operations falling within the real
interest of the key people:

Caspian Basin, Caspian Energy, Energy Diplomacy, Islam, Oil &
Gas Pipelines…

You and I know that ‘they’ don’t put just any good ole boring
bureaucrat in positions dealing with the above key regions and
dealing with the above key operations and issues. Right? Right. So
back to the real question: who is this Matt Bryza? How did he get
his start? Whose protégé was he to make it this far this fast? Who
are his buddies? The answers to some of these questions take time and
real effort to discover, since you won’t find them by browsing through
MSM news archives or biographical synapses posted here and there…

Let’s start with the key person leading to Bryza’s acceptance and
entry as a larva into the nest of the major neocon players, and his
speedy ascent thereafter:

Richard Morningstar & His Closeted Neocon Status

>From Morningstar’s commonly cited pedigree sheet we know that he
and Bryza collected degrees from Stanford University, which later
led to their mentor-protégé relationship. In 1997 Bryza became
special advisor to Ambassador Richard Morningstar, coordinating U.S.
Government assistance programs on economic reform in the Caucasus
and Central Asia during 1997-1998. Digging a little bit more:

In 1998 Bryza was Morningstar’s chief lieutenant in managing U.S.

Caspian Sea energy interests as Deputy to the Special Advisor to the
President and Secretary of State on Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy,
where he remained until March of 2001, and he worked on developing
what are now U.S. and Western plans to circumvent Russia and Iran
and achieve dominance over the delivery of energy supplies to Europe.

Interestingly, last year, one year before Obama appointed Bryza as an
Ambassador to Azerbaijan, on April 20, 2009, Morningstar was appointed
to the role of supporting U.S. energy goals in the Eurasian region.

Morningstar was special advisor to the Clinton administration on
Caspian energy; time to reunite the old mentor and his protégé for
the next attempt on the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline.

Morningstar’s status as one of the power player neocons has been long
closeted.. During the 90s he was working with and serving one of the
main agendas of Neocon players such as Elliott Abrams, Dick Cheney,
Frank Gaffney, Paul Wolfowitz …People tend to pay attention only to
the top 25 signatories and contributors of Project for the New American
Century-PNAC. Yes, that infamous list also includes the Neocons shining
star for Central Asia & the Caucasus, Mr. Richard L. Morningstar.

Conn Halinan’s counterpunch article in 2004 aptly highlights an
important fact when it comes to the Haliburtons, Perles and Wumsers
and their Project for the New American Century (PNAC) as it relates
to Central Asia:

The recent move of oil companies and the U.S. military into Central
Asia is a case in point. It was President Bill Clinton, not George W.

Bush, who crafted that strategy. It was not the Republicans who
brought Halliburton and Cheney into the Caspian region, but Clinton
advisor Richard Morningstar, now a John Kerry point man.

Halinan is right on target: Clinton appointee Morningstar paved the
way for Dick Cheney’s Halliburton’s positioning in Central Asia,
and did darn many other good deeds for the main signatories of the
Neocon Wet Dream in that region.

Morningstar is also known as one of those who take their allegiances to
Israel above anything else. You may remember the questions surrounding
Douglas Feith’s and Rahm Emanuel’s Israel citizenship status. I
haven’t seen anyone questioning Mr. Morningstar’s status in Israel;
at least not on the record, but Morningstar and his family are known
as staunch supporters of Israel with close ties over there.

Morningstar’s mother’s, the late Jane Morningstar, obituary in the
Boston Globe provides only a little initial glimpse; others with
far deeper knowledge of Morningstar’s real Israel connections would
currently rather whisper…Time may raise the volume on these closeted
facts, or may not.

The latest articles regarding Matt Bryza’s connection to the Neocons
are limited to his connection through his wife, Zeyno Baran. Either
intentional censorship or ignorance glosses over his close neocon ties
which started long before his marriage, going back to his early years
under his mentor Morningstar, and accelerating steadily, assisting
his speedy career ascent. Just check out his event calendar to see how
his name pairs up with tneocon brand names when it comes to functions,
speeches, think-tank gatherings…

Matt Bryza & His Neocon Damsel

In 2007 Matt Bryza married Zeyno Baran, a Turkish-American neocon
who’s been working for the Hudson Institute and before that for the
Nixon Center. Here are a few of her titles and areas of expertise
highly valued and marketed by her current neocon mentors and bosses
such as Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Conrad Black, Abram Shulsky…:
Director of the Center for Eurasian Policy, Director of International
Security and Energy Programs, Director of the Caucasus Project.

Baran and her colleagues and mentors are closely associated with the
Turkish Ultra-Nationalist (Ulusalcis) movement and figures, including
the military figures involved in the Ergenekon scandal:

The think tanks actively engaging the Turkish Ulusalcıs are AEI,
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Hudson Institute.

The institutional relations between the American neo-cons and the
Turkish Ulusalcıs are run by the office of Dick Cheney, Richard Perle
of AEI and Zeyno Baran of the Hudson Institute on the American side
and, on the other side, by Mustafa Suzer, former owner of Kentbank
and a close associate of Perle, and Ä°lhan Selcuk, “big brother” of
Cumhuriyet. Suzer’s meetings with Dick Cheney were disclosed in the
Turkish press and never denied by either side. Selcuk is also reported
to have spoken with Cheney’s advisors and established a back-channel
with the US vice president’s office through Elcin Poyrazlar, the
Washington representative for Cumhuriyet. Writing in the Yeni Å~^afak
daily, Taha Kıvanc claimed that this back-channel had already been
established before the American occupation of Iraq and that Selcuk
had promised the Americans Turkey’s support in return for American
neo-con support for the Turkish Ulusalcıs to come to power in Ankara.

…

It was also claimed that State Department diplomat Matthew Bryza,
long-time boyfriend and, more recently, husband of Zeyno Baran,
was the person who wrote the declaration read by Fried that gave the
Turkish military the “green light” by saying that the Americans were
not on any side of the discussion. The extent to which Bryza was
influenced by his wife is not known, but the similarities in their
rhetoric against the AK Party are striking. Baran, who was already
a controversial figure due to her involvement in the infamous Hudson
Institute meeting, her article in Newsweek that predicted a military
coup in 2007 and her involvement with the colored revolutions in
Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Ukraine…

…

Despite her deranged mother, who has been calling Turkish reporters,
harassing and asking them to write about her daughter’s IQ level
(her claim on that went from ‘over 100’ to ‘120,’ and during the
Bryza-Baran wedding to ‘158’ IQ points!!), the overly ambitious Zeyno
Baran’s idiotic move to preempt Ergenekon by publicly ‘predicting’
the attempted coup backfired, and cast doubt on this Nuevo Neocon’s
intelligence and tactfulness. What she wanted: to grab attention and
score points among her neocon mentors and colleagues. What happened:
she exposed the mutually dependent relationship between her bosses
and the ultra-nationalist rogue Turkish generals, and brought into the
light the active role played by US neocons in the coup plot in Turkey.

This major booboo alone was enough to take 15 points off her average
IQ. Later in this article we’ll go over another major Baran booboo
on the financial sources of her lavish wedding, leaving her very few
remaining IQ points…

The Lavish Wedding, the Wedding Financiers, and the Mafia

In 2007, after several years of a personal and close work relationship,
Matt Bryza and Zeyno Baran were married in Turkey. The ultra lavish
wedding and its highly interesting list of 400 plus guests made
the front-page of many Turkish newspapers and magazines, but that
publicity was nothing compared to the subsequent media coverage,
and of course, the cost to two brave Azerbaijani journalists who
exposed the ‘real financiers’ of Bryza-Baran’s lavish wedding and
it’s true implications. Let’s start with the ‘highly costly’ wedding,
the ‘special guests,’ the exposed financiers, and those who tried to
expose them. Here is a snapshot of the costly wedding:

The location: In one of the most expensive club houses in Istanbul. To
rent the space Bryza-Baran were given a ‘special’ discount by a ‘very
special’ Turkish mafia connected friend (the infamous owner of the
Galatasaray Soccer Team); Instead of $80K the rent was reduced to
around $35K.

Number of Guests: around 450; many power-players from the Caspian
energy field, including political figureheads from Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Turkey, Georgia, and of course the USA.

Wedding Security: 250 policemen were hired and put in place for
protection; several K-9 police dogs were brought in for search
purposes. In addition to all this Bryza-Baran hired 20 additional
private bodyguards.

The Groom’s Best Men & Witnesses: One of the three best men and
witnesses for Matt Bryza was none other than Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

The Designer Gown & Suit: The couple purchased their gown & tuxedo
from the famous designer Vakko; the total cost for this is said to
be over $10K

The famous quote of the wedding: This couplehood was formed by the
Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline Project- – – Turkish Energy Minister, Hilmi Guler.

This is just a snapshot of the ultra lavish wedding, which nearly 300
state and private security personnel were hired to serve. The estimated
cost for Mr. Bryza’s lavish story-book wedding in Turkey ranges from
$150,000 to $250,000. Customarily this amount would have been paid
by the bride’s parents. However, neither Mrs. Baran-Bryza’s mother,
father, or step-father could or would dish out this amount. Of course,
a bill in this amount paid by Matt Bryza would have raised way too
many eyebrows here in the US. So what happened? Who did finance this
wedding extravaganza?

Be careful. Be very careful. Because when two journalists tried to
answer these same questions they ended up being attacked, beaten
up, stabbed, arrested, tortured…and one of them had to escape
the country.

That’s right. In Turkey, between Bryza-Baran’s rouge powerful general
friends and of even more powerful mafia babas, they made sure no
journalist dared venture into these questions. Here in the United
States no real bodily force or threat was necessary, since the State
Department’s stenographers in the MSM censored the entire episode.

However, in Azerbaijan two brave journalists dared, and this is what
happened to them:

Did a high-level Azeri official pay for Matthew Bryza’s 2007 wedding
to Turkish author Zayna Baran? A swift crackdown on two journalists
who reported at the time that the wedding ceremony for President
Obama’s current nominee for the US ambassadorship to Baku was funded
by Azerbaijan’s Economic Development minister suggests some misconduct.

In 2007, the editor of opposition newspaper Azatliq, Genimet Zahid
and correspondent Adil Khalil were sued over an article entitled
“Azerbaijanis Paid for Matthew Bryza’s Wedding.” The article alleges
that Azeri Economic Development minister Haydar Babayev paid for a
significant portion of Bryza’s wedding, which took place in Istanbul
the same year. At the time, Bryza was the US co-chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group, the body tasked with mediating a peace deal for the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

…

During the appellate process, both of which were ruled in favor of the
minister, Khalil was severely beaten and stabbed. Reportedly he fled
to France. Meanwhile, Zahid was sentenced to four years in jail on a
separate charge of “hooliganism.”Zahid’s lawyers last fall appealed to
the International Court of Human Rights, arguing that charges against
their client was a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention
on Human Rights, which protects freedom of expression. The appeal
to the court also charges that the journalists were not granted a
fair trial.

The swift action by Minister Babayev signals that the Azadliq article
had merit. The editor’s unwillingness to retract, coupled with the
swift court rulings and the subsequent attacks on the journalists,
suggest that there was more to Bryza’s Istanbul nuptials than a mere
wedding ceremony.

…

Think about it for a second. The exposé written by the Azerbaijani
journalist duo was most damaging to whom? In a country ruled by
despots, father Aliyev and now Aliyev the son, riddled by corruption
and atrocities, this piece of information does nothing in terms
of touching, even coming close to touching, those in power; has no
effect – one scandal among thousands. But how about Bryza-Baran? A
neocon operator ready to be appointed as Ambassador to Azerbaijan;
not wanting anything to interfere with his confirmation. A mini neocon
woman working under a powerful group of Neocons whose eyes have been
set on the region; getting ready to make their pipeline dreams come
true-fruits of which will be collected by their upper echelon bosses.

How did it go? Did Bryza call his wedding financiers, his best man,
his government official guests of honor in Azerbaijan, and ask them
to shut these journalists up before the ‘facts’ reach here and get
distributed? Or was it Bryza’s mentors and colleagues making the
request?

Don’t wait for any new developments to reach here from Azerbaijan: With
one of the journalists sitting in jail, the other one hiding in fear
somewhere in France (where Turkish ultra-nationalist operators have
quite a reach), and of course, the rest of the journalist community
getting the message loud and clear, thus not willing to touch upon the
scandal…well, it won’t happen. How about here in the US? Not a single
reporter is going to follow up on this massive scandal and it’s far
reaching implications. When it comes to State Department operatives:
‘can’t touch this.’

Matt Bryza: Highly Criticized Role in Russia-Georgia Conflict

Let me first provide a little bit of background on Bryza’s role in
the region, especially in Georgia and Azerbaijan:

During his four-year stint as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs he has focused on the South Caucasus,
and during that period Georgia’s war budget has ballooned from $30
million a year when U.S.-educated Mikheil Saakashvili took power
after the nation’s “Rose Revolution” in 2004 to $1 billion last year,
a more than thirty fold increase. In the same year, 2008, Azerbaijan’s
military spending had grown from $163 million the preceding year
to $1,850,000,000, more than a 1000% increase. Much of the money
expended for both unprecedented build-ups came from revenues derived
from oil sales and transit fees connected with the BTC pipeline Bryza
was instrumental in setting up.

…

Regarding neighboring Georgia, a German press report on the second
day of last August’s war between that nation and Russia stated that
“US Special Forces troops, and later US Marines replacing them, have
for the last half decade been systematically training selected Georgian
units to NATO standards” and “First-line Georgian soldiers wear NATO
uniforms, kevlar helmets and body armour matching US issue, and carry
the US-manufactured M-16 automatic rifle….” On the first day of
the war the Chairman of the Russia’s State Duma Security Committee,
Vladimir Vasilyev, denounced the fact that the Georgian President
Saakashvili “undertook consistent steps to increase [Georgia’s]
military budget from $US 30 million to $US 1 billion – Georgia was
preparing for a military action.”

And here is how Turkey ties into this:

An Armenian news source the same day detailed that “Most of Georgia’s
officers were trained in the U.S. or Turkey. The country’s military
expenses increased by 30 times during past four years, making up 9-10
per cent of the GDP. The defense budget has reached $1 billion.”U.S.

military grants to Georgia total $40.6 million. NATO member states,
including Turkey and Bulgaria, supplied Georgia with 175 tanks, 126
armored carriers, 67 artillery pieces, 4 warplanes, 12 helicopters,
8 ships and boats. 100 armored carriers, 14 jets (including 4
Mirazh-2000) fighters, 15 Black Hawk helicopters and 10 various ships
are expected to be conveyed soon.”

…

Bryza’s assistance to the Saakashvili government has also extended
to backing it in its armed conflicts with Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
which in the second case escalated into all-out war a year ago.

…

The following appeared in the Wall Street Journal in August 2008,
albeit with an attempt to portray Bryza’s role more positively:

When Russian tanks rolled out of South Ossetia and into Georgia
proper Monday, triggering fears of a full-scale invasion, a man began
furiously shoving U.S. diplomat Matthew J. Bryza around the lobby
of the Marriott Tbilisi, the capital’s fanciest hotel. “It’s your
fault too,” shouted Georgy Khaindrava, a former Georgian minister
for conflict resolution. “If you hadn’t propped up Misha Magariya
[Misha the strong], we wouldn’t have tanks here now,” he said,
referring to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

…

The affable Mr. Bryza has developed a reputation as a hard-liner on
Russia’s actions towards the former states of the Soviet Union and a
staunch defender of both Georgia and the 40-year-old Mr. Saakashvili,
with whom he has a close personal relationship.Critics say that
has complicated the U.S.-Georgian relationship, possibly diluting
State Department warnings to Tbilisi against engaging in a military
confrontation with Russia. Some say there were signs for months that
Russia was laying a trap for Mr. Saakashvili.

…

Do you remember the short-lived justified frenzy over Randy
Scheunemann, John McCain’s top foreign policy advisor, and his role
involving Georgia? Guess who was one of Scheunemann’s points of
‘frequent’ contact at the State Department?

So let’s take a look at what Scheuneman was actually doing in that role
— which helped earn his firm nearly $900,000 since 2004. Lobbying
for a foreign government is a vaguely defined task that involves
cultivating contacts, trying to shape perception and influence key
decisions. For Georgia, the goal was clear — to get on track for
NATO membership and secure western backing against Russian influence
and aggression. Schuenemann’s dual role of paid foreign agent (as
recently as March) and key adviser to a presidential candidate is
unusual, especially since McCain has not indicated that Scheunemann
will recuse himself from Georgia issues.

…

As a paid foreign agent, Scheunemann and his lobbying firm, Orion
Strategies, filed disclosure reports with the Department of Justice,
which offer some insight into the process of exercising influence
in Washington. Scheunemann spent a lot of time working the phones,
talking to key Bush Administration officials about Georgia’s efforts
to join NATO. He often spoke to Ambassador John Tefft who heads the
U.S. embassy in Georgia, as well as Dan Fried and Matt Bryza at the
State Department…

…

Now let’s hear from the people on the ground on Bryza; the people of
Georgia and what they think of Matthew Bryza:

…

Back in 2005, Shalva said Bryza’s biased reporting on Georgia
and support of the Saakashvili administration undermined both the
promotion of democracy in the region and ties between the U.S. and
Georgia. He called on the US State dept. to sack him. When he failed
to get a visa to Great Britian in February this year, he said UK
Ambassador Denis Keefe had conspired against him with Saakashvili,
and also demanded Keefe’s dismissal.

…

Bryza’s Car Accident, His Victim in a Coma & Never-Answered Questions

In August 1997 Matthew Bryza caused yet another major scandal for the
US government when he hit and seriously injured a pedestrian while
driving under highly questionable circumstances:

The U.S. State Department on 20 August announced plans to recall
Matthew Bryza, a second secretary of the U.S. embassy in Moscow,
who two days earlier had been driving a car that hit and critically
injured a Moscow pedestrian. Nesterushkin said the criminal case
against Bryza will remain open as police continue investigating
the accident. Bryza cannot be prosecuted unless the U.S. lifts his
immunity. In February, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze lifted
the immunity of a Georgian diplomat who caused a car accident in
Washington that killed one woman. That diplomat is currently in
pre-trial detention in the U.S.

…

A U.S. diplomat has seriously injured a woman in a car accident in
Moscow, the City Law Enforcement Department told Interfax Tuesday. The
car, an Isuzu Trooper driven by Second Secretary of the U.S. Embassy
Matthew Bryza, 33, hit an unidentified woman near house 13 Ul.

Panferova, the Southwestern precinct, at 10:00 p.m. Moscow time Monday,
police have reported. The woman, about 30 years old, was taken to
hospital with a serious head injury. She is in a coma.

…

Now, interestingly and mysteriously, the reports and results of the
criminal investigations into this accident never came to light, and
later quietly disappeared. By the way, the United States government
never lifted Bryza’s immunity! Based on the buzz circulating at the
time ‘they didn’t want anything out there regarding Bryza’s alcohol &
narcotics status…’ The rumors included dependency on cocaine and
alcohol, but again, a tight lid was put on any media follow-up on
this in the US. Considering the grave consequences:

On Thursday, Matthew Bryza will face a Senate panel to begin
the confirmation process for his nomination as US Ambassador to
Azerbaijan. Will senators question Bryza for his role in a 1997
car accident, which left a woman in a coma? Or, will Bryza avoid
responsibility?

The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other press sources at
the time reported that on August 18, 1997, Bryza hit a woman, who
was taken to the hospital with serious head injuries. The US response
to this incident was to recall Bryza back to the States and express
“regret” for the victim. James Rubin, the official spokesman for the
State Department at the time said that the decision to recall Bryza
from Moscow was made in connection with the fact that the diplomat “is
no longer able to work efficiently in Moscow because of this incident.”

…

Again, you’d think with the location being set in Russia in the mid
90s, the fairly high-level government status of the perpetrator, the
serious injuries of the victim who was put in a coma, the efforts to
keep the name of the victim out of the press, the buzz regarding drug
and alcohol…all that would make front-page news here in the US; no?

Well, it didn’t. And, here is how Bryza was promoted later, after
his scandalous recall from his position:

At the time of the incident, none other than Richard Hoagland, a press
spokesman for the US Embassy in Moscow at the time had this to say
about Bryza: “I also want to say something about Matt Bryza who comes
across in the press reports about this incident as all but a monster.

Matt was one of the brightest, most polite, most promising young
diplomats at the American Embassy in Moscow. While we have to have
compassion for the woman who was injured in this accident, I think it’s
important we have compassion for Matt, too, who has suffered the double
trauma of having been involved in a traffic accident and of having had
his diplomatic career in Moscow abruptly yanked out from under him.”

Hoagland was President George W. Bush’s nominee for the US
ambassadorial post in Armenia. His nomination was blocked by Sen.

Robert Menendez of New Jersey, due to Hoagland’s continued insistence
to deny the Armenian Genocide. Bush subsequently pulled Hoagland’s
nomination.

Bryza was then appointed to be the US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk
Group and developed close ties with Azeri elite in Baku. News of a
high-ranking Azeri minister allegedly paying for Bryza’s wedding
to Turkish scholar Zeyno Baran was reported by the Azeri press,
after which the editor and reporter of the newspaper were jailed
and attacked.

…

Here is another good question: What did we give the Russians to not
raise a diplomatic incident; to make them make ‘it’ go away?!

We all know what close ties Bryza developed with the corrupt ruling
elites, including the Aliyev clan! So is there any wonder how those
two brave journalists who exposed the ‘real financing’ of Bryza’s
wedding ended up beaten up by elite hired guns, and later tortured
and jailed? Hmmmm.

I could triple this article’s length to cover the Father & Son
Aliyevs, the Kingdom we’ve groomed and planted in Azerbaijan, the
nation we’ve helped turn into one of the top 30 corrupt countries in
the world, the embezzlement and corruption cases we’ve helped create
there… and, I will; it will be another lengthy piece similar to
those on Kyrgyzstan’s Bakiyev Clan, Pakistan’s Bhutto-Zardari Duo,
and Turkey’s Ciller. Needless to say, the cozy ties between Bryza
and corrupt Azeri officials, the ‘contributions’ he’s been receiving
from them – including making his lavish wedding dreams come true,
his ‘pure luck’ in getting the Azeri journalists…certainly come
together nicely, forming a picture that makes complete sense!

………………………………………………………………………………

Bryza testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on
July 22. His grilling, while not comprehensive and tough enough,
rattled him enough to come across as unconvincing:

Citing Congressional Research Service (CRS), Sen. Boxer also asked why
U.S. aid programs in Karabakh were limited to an average of $2 million
a year, even though Congress allocated about $8 million annually.Bryza
confirmed lower than allocated spending but did not explain it.

Instead he said that he supported disbursal of all allocated funds,
noting that they have gone for de-mining, housing, schools and water
supply projects. In response to the senator’s request, Bryza promised
a detailed report on the aid program.

…

So the guy doesn’t know what happened to the remaining $6,000,000!

Interesting! Is this related to being out of touch with the areas
falling under his direct responsibility? Is it related to ‘whatever’
influences he was under in 1997 when he hit a woman and put her in
coma? Maybe we’ll find out more later, that is if the media here
follows up on this.

Speaking in references to his comments on territorial integrity,
Bryza claimed that he was only following the policy language used
by Vice President Richard Cheney in September 2008. (In fact, Bryza
first made similar comments in August, shortly after the Georgia war
and before Cheney.)

There he goes again; this time blaming it on his old boss, yet
forgetting his on-the-record record! Is he treating the members of
this particular committee as morons? Maybe. Or is this again related
to his ‘conditions’ which were never followed-up on by the press?

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who chaired the hearing, referred to
The Washington Times report that cited close ties between Bryza and
senior Azerbaijani officials and allegations of potential conflict
of interest. She also raised the issue of Azerbaijani regime’s
crackdown on its opponents.Bryza responded that his finances have
been thoroughly investigated as part of the nomination process and no
improprieties were found. He also denied an Azerbaijani media report
that claimed that his wedding expenses were covered by Azerbaijani
officials. (Azerbaijani journalist who originally made the claim was
subsequently violently assaulted and has since fled abroad.)

Can you believe how unconvincing a supposed savvy diplomat can be! Who
investigated his finances? What was submitted? How about his wife’s
long-list of assets in Turkey where they will be protected due to
her Turkish citizenship status and mafia backing? The financing of
his wedding is a slam-dunk obvious, the question is who in the US
media will dare to investigate, or at least translate those reports
produced by other nations’ gutsy reporters! And, how about his role
in insuring the ultimate punishment for journalists in Azerbaijan
who happened to ‘expose’ him and his neocon damsel?!

We have another month or so before Bryza appears before the Congress
again, and hopefully much more will come to light between now and
then. By this I mean mainly the ‘foreign press’;-) But the real
issue here is this newly hatched Neocon’s nomination by the current
President in the first place. Is President Obama that keen and
committed to keeping and or bringing back known neocons? Is it that
this President is unable to find any clean non-Neocon candidates for
strategically very important positions like this? Is this President
(and his advisors) simply too ignorant to disregard tons of alarming,
improper, eye-brow raising, embarrassing …background and current
facts about the candidate he nominated for this ambassadorship?!

Well, you be the judge, but please do more than that. You may
want to call or write your representative and make sure that he
or she gets all these facts on Mr. Matthew Bryza and his infamous
spouse Zeyno Baran. You never know; with enough people talking,
writing, and calling, some right decision may find its way into
this upcoming confirmation (Azerireport reposted this articles from
Boilingfrogpost.com).

From: A. Papazian

AZERI PROGNOSIS FOR ARMENIA

The Messenger
July 29 2010
Georgia

Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Azerbaijani President’s
administration Novruz Mamedov thinks that Armenia should be interested
in regulating the Karabakh conflict as Armenia will not develop without
Turkey and Azerbaijan. “They are thinking in these terms but do not
dare take a step in that direction”, stated Mamedov.

He thinks the international community should ask Armenia to take such
steps, thus giving it an excuse to do so, as Armenia has no other
way out.

From: A. Papazian

TOURISTS FROM AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA INCREASE

The Messenger
July 29 2010
Georgia

In the first 6 months of 2010 almost 800,000 tourists entered Georgia.

The largest numbers are from Armenia and Azerbaijan, 223,000 Azeri
holidaymakers and 160,000 Armenians, both figures much higher than
in the same period of last year.

Almost half a million tourists from CIS countries have visited Georgia
so far this year. There have also been 17,000 tourists from Asia,
10,000 from America and 1,000 from Africa. So far there has been
an increase of over 200% in tourist numbers compared with the same
period of last year.

From: A. Papazian

TO RECOGNISE OR NOT TO RECOGNISE

The Economist

July 29 2010

INTERNATIONAL reaction to last week’s International Court of
Justice’s advisory opinion on Kosovo’s declaration of independence
has been mixed. Some countries have been forced by their own unusual
circumstances into nuanced, or even awkward, positions.

Armenia, for example, has been highly equivocal. Although it
has praised the ICJ ruling as a blueprint for independence for
Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-controlled enclave in Azerbaijan which
held massive street parties to celebrate the court’s decision, there
is no indication that it will recognise Kosovo in the near future,
given pressure from its allies in Moscow.

Conversely, Azerbaijan condemed the decision and Kosovo’s secession as
completely illegal, a stance taken by a number of other countries with
active secessionist entities such as Moldova and Cyprus. By contrast,
the Republika Srpska, the Serb bit of Bosnia-Herzegovina, is having a
hard time making up its mind. It would love to break away from Bosnia,
rather as Kosovo did from Serbia, but is hardly about to antagonise
Belgrade by endorsing the ICJ’s decision. Milorad Dodik, the prime
minister, has said that the decision opens the possibility for his
entity’s own declaration of independence, but that his government would
continue to prevent Bosnia from establishing diplomatic relations with
Kosovo. Even then, this is more likely to be a rhetorical concession
to Serbian nationalists in the run-up to the presidential elections
in October–secession by the Republika could spark war and few would
recognise the new state.

After dissecting the ICJ ruling, Romania, a European Union member
state, decided not to change its stance of non-recognition on the
grounds that the court had not actually endorsed Kosovo as a state.

This allowed Romania to dodge the issues that such an endorsement might
have raised for its Hungarian-speaking minority. Taiwan congratulated
Kosovo on the result; it has formally recognised Kosovo since its
declaration of independence in 2008, although the favour has not been
returned. This is because Kosovo is far keener to reap the benefits
of recognition by China, since unanimous acceptance by the members
of the Security Council is a prerequisite for UN membership.

The Vatican has consistently refused to even contemplate recognition
of Kosovo, mainly out of solidarity with the Serbian Orthodox church.

Montenegro, which established relations with Kosovo in 2008, wants
stability in the western Balkans region, which should accelerate
its own application into the EU. It claimed that the ICJ ruling had
resolved the Kosovo issue. Likewise, the Macedonian foreign ministry
has released a statement which presents the ruling as a conclusive
justification for its decision to grant Kosovo recognition in 2008,
although this can also be attributed to the semi-permanent presence
of Albanian parties in the country’s coalition governments.

Transnistria, the troublesome part of Moldova, is biding its time-as
with the Republika Srpska, the Kosovo example provides a useful
precedent for aspiring states, but not at the cost of alienating a
powerful patron (in their case, Russia). More interesting have been
the reactions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, who broke from Georgia in
2008 following the war with Russia. Both entities have unequivocally
endorsed the ICJ ruling and have cited it as a justification for their
own rights of secession, despite undoubted opposition from Moscow.

From: A. Papazian

AZERIS BUY RUSSIAN ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES – REPORT

Reuters
July 29 2010

(Reuters) – Azerbaijan has purchased anti-aircraft missile systems
worth $300 million from Russia in the largest single arms purchase
by one of Moscow’s former Soviet satellites, a Russian newspaper
reported on Thursday.

Azerbaijan last year signed a deal with Russia’s state arms exporter
to purchase two batteries of S-300 anti-aircraft systems, the Vedomosti
daily reported, citing Russian arms industry sources.

Vedomosti quoted an unidentified Russian military official as saying
Azerbaijan had probably purchased the anti-aircraft system to help
secure itself against any deterioration in the situation involving
neighbouring Iran.

Oil-producing, mainly Muslim Azerbaijan has also spent billions of
dollars over the past decade in building its armed forces in an effort
to tilt the balance in a long-running conflict with Armenia over the
rebel region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The report said the S-300 was unlikely to be of much use in any
renewed fighting over Karabakh, since Armenia does not possess the
kind of modern strike aircraft or missiles that such a sophisticated
system would normally be deployed against.

A ceasefire was agreed in 1994, but Azerbaijan — host to oil majors
including BP, ExonnMobil and Chevron — has threatened to us force
to take back Karabakh, a mainly Armenian-populated territory that
declared independence.

An official at Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport declined
to comment on the report.

Armenia has traditionally been Russia’s chief strategic ally in the
South Caucasus, but Moscow has in recent years developed closer ties
with Azerbaijan as it vies with the West for influence over oil and
gas reserves in the Caspian Sea.

A spokesman for the Azeri Defence Ministry declined to confirm the
purchase, saying only: “The Azeri army is strengthening itself,
and will continue to strengthen itself.”

Russia has put on hold delivery of the same S-300 system to Iran
after throwing its support behind new United Nations sanctions against
Tehran over its nuclear programme.

Opponents of the Iran deal say the S-300s could shift the balance of
power in the region by undermining Israel’s ability to use air power
to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities.

Citing the Moscow Defence Brief military journal, Vedomosti said the
$300 million price tag for the Azeri deal would make it the largest
arms purchase by any ex-Soviet state other than Russia.

In Russia’s armed forces, an S-300 battery normally consists of
four truck-mounted installations, each with four missiles held in
metal tubes.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries, Dmitry Solovyov and Afet Mehtiyeva
in Baku; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Matt Robinson and
Peter Graff)

From: A. Papazian

IMMIGRATION: THE 250-YEAR PERSPECTIVE
Steven E. Levingston

Washington Post
July 29 2010

A federal judge on Wednesday opened the latest chapter in the tale of
Arizona’s controversial immigration law, ruling on several provisions
in favor of opponents of the legislation. As the battle ensues, it
seems a good time to look back at U.S. immigration and ask, What’s
different now? Peter Schrag, a visiting scholar at the Institute of
Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley,
explores the immigration debate throughout American history in his
book “Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America,”
recently released by University of California Press. Schrag finds that
the fear and loathing Americans now have of newcomers isn’t terribly
different from the sentiments long abroad in the land.

By Peter Schrag

The echoes are eerily familiar. Immigrants, legal and illegal, take
American jobs, undercut wages, bring crime and disease, and burden
medical and other social services. They don’t learn our language
and customs; their kids drag down the schools. The arguments come
from radio and TV talkers, from FAIR, the Federation for American
Immigration Reform, from scholars like the late Samuel Huntington of
Harvard, and, of course, from politicians of almost every stripe.

But what they’re saying today — mostly about Latinos — was said a
century ago about Italians, Slavs, Greeks, Jews, Armenians and Turks,
and, before them, about the Irish and the Germans, many of them
the same people from whom today’s immigration restrictionists are
descended. The Chinese and Japanese, ironically, were to be excluded
because they worked too hard

Rep. Henry Cabot Lodge and other proper Yankee Brahmins said it
in 1890; some of the nation’s great progressives said it; the
Know-Nothings said it. Even Ben Franklin said it back in 1751,
warning that Pennsylvania was becoming “a Colony of Aliens, who will
shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying
them and will never adopt our Language or Customs any more than they
can acquire our Complexion.”

A century ago, Armenians had to go to federal court to be legally
regarded as white so they could be naturalized. Today a descendant of
Armenian immigrants, Mark Krikorian heads the Center for Immigration
Studies, among the nation’s most influential anti-immigration groups.

We call ourselves a nation of immigrants, and so we are. It’s long been
a cliché that the children and grandchildren of groups once deemed
unfit for our society have been among the most creative and energetic
contributors to our economy, our culture and our strength as a nation.

Immigration and opposition to immigration have long been woven around
each other like a double helix. We want them in good times and don’t
want them in bad. We want immigrants as workers, as someone said,
but we get people.

And yet, there are also huge differences. We now live in a global
world where goods, capital and technology are supposed to flow freely
across frontiers but, in this country at least, labor is not. The
oceans are gone as effective barriers and so far the walls and fences,
the electronic gadgetry, and the huge increase in the Border Patrol
and other immigration personnel haven’t deterred the flow of people.

On the contrary, by making it harder to cross — more expensive, more
dangerous — the enhanced enforcement has led many of those who once
shuttled seasonally across the border to stay here and send for their
families, thereby greatly increasing the population of illegal aliens.

And as we are learning, there are other unintended consequences as well
— in off-shoring of jobs, in ancillary drug traffic and, as in the
reaction to Arizona’s SB1070, in mounting foreign relations problems.

So we need new strategies to reduce illegal immigration — through
rigorous enforcement of the labor and worker safety laws, which may
itself reduce the incentive of employers to hire and exploit illegal
workers, and, most of all, through development of the Mexican economy
and infrastructure, all conditioned, as the European Union did
with Spain and Portugal, on reform of Mexico’s legal and economic
institutions. If the United States spent a fraction on Mexican
investment that it has spent in Iraq we might get a lot more for it.

From: A. Papazian

ATC DIRECTOR ASSESSES UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMS AS SUCCESSFUL

Panorama
July 29 2010
Armenia

“According to the examination procedure, by August 5 the Assessment and
Testing Center should publish the list of the applicants who entered
state universities,” the director of the Center Gurgen Khachatryan
told reporters today.

Summing up, G. Khachatryan assessed the exams, which took over two
months, as successful.

According to him, the state entrance committee, chaired by Education
and Science Minister of Armenia, Armen Ashotyan, does everything
possible so that as many applicants get admitted to universities
as possible. Note that the committee will decide on the competition
points and vacant places.

From: A. Papazian