Author: Ani Kharatian

Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)
August 24, 2005 Wednesday
Vic already looking beyond title fight
by Barry Michael
SYDNEY’S Raging Bull, IBF-IBO world flyweight champion Vic
Darchinyan, steps into the ring tonight at the Sydney Entertainment
Centre against Colombian Jair Jiminez for the second defence of his
titles.
Darchinyan is already looking well beyond this fight, aiming to unify
the division by winning the WBC, WBA and WBO belts.
Politics often makes these things difficult, but Vic’s mind is firmly
focused on his goal.
The Armenian Aussie has total belief in his ability to destroy any
flyweight, or even bantamweight, put in front of him.
It is easier to understand his supreme confidence when you look at
his background.
Vic was born in Armenia and started boxing at eight. He had about 320
fights as an amateur and lost only 20. More than 100 of his wins were
by KO. What a mighty apprenticeship. He came to Sydney to represent
Armenia at the 2000 Olympics.
Jeff Fenech liked what he saw, even though the little bloke didn’t
win a medal.
Jeff saw the incredible power inside this pocket rocket, and
Darchinyan joined Team Fenech and Jeff helped him settle into Sydney.
The Raging Bull has cut a swathe through some of the best flyweights
in the world since he turned professional in 2000. He has 23 wins, 18
by KO, and no losses.
He won the IBF title in December, 2004, with a TKO win over Irene
Pacheco of Colombia.
Pacheco, who had 30 wins without a loss, was a respected champion who
crumbled under Darchinyan’s punching power.
Vic’s only fight since was a title defence against Mzukisi Sikali. He
stopped the South African in the eighth round with some viscous
punching.
Tonight’s opponent, Jiminez, has won 22 of his 27 fights, 16 by KO.
He also has lost four and drawn one.
His record says he is a pretty good puncher at this weight of 52kg.
He’s been in six fights scheduled for 12 rounds for championships,
including a close 12-round majority loss in 2002 for the WBO title.
This is the biggest opportunity of his career.
Australia is just starting to realise it has a true boxing star in
our adopted Armenian.
Vic is incredibly proud to be an Aussie and talks openly of his love
for Australia.
He plans to marry a beautiful, highly intelligent Russian girl he met
on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
He will go into the ring for tonight’s fight, shown live around
Australia on Main Event, with everything he’s achieved on the line.
Vic is a man on a mission and Jiminez, 26, is in for a pummelling. My
tip is that Darchinyan will put his opponent away at some stage and
immediately look to bigger things.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

La Croix , France
23 août 2005
Un été dans La Croix.
Les arméniens de turquie (2/7).
Dossier. A Diyarbakir, la foi des catacombes. Il n’y a presque plus
d’Arméniens à Diyarbakir. Quelques anciens gardent une flamme
vacillante, et un jeune, revenu à la religion de ses grands-parents,
envisage de se rendre rapidement à Istamboul. DIYARBAKIR, reportage
de notre envoyé spécial.
par PLOQUIN Jean-Christophe
L’église Surp Giragos de Diyarbakir est une longue plainte à ciel
ouvert. Un enseignant turc de passage prophétise: “Nous sommes les
enfants de l’Histoire. Si l’Histoire est en ruine, les gens le sont
aussi. J’ai honte, car des étrangers viennent et nous demandent notre
histoire. Et nous ne la savons pas.” Musulman, cet instituteur
s’annonce “socialiste et matérialiste”.
La btisse, qui relevait du culte arménien apostolique, était
imposante, à en juger par les travées conduisant du vaste portique
d’entrée aux cinq autels. Les restes de trois d’entre eux se dressent
encore, fantômes de stuc sur lesquels se découpent quelques angelots
et des motifs floraux ou géométriques teintés d’ocre ou de vert. Le
plafond a disparu. La tribune est effondrée. Les arches sont brisées.
Les chapiteaux posés sur d’élégantes colonnes témoignent seuls d’un
style dépouillé et altier. Rien alentour n’est susceptible de
retracer l’histoire du lieu. Un guide touristique récemment édité par
la municipalité évoque une construction au XVIe siècle. Les pierres,
muettes, renvoient le visiteur à sa propre désolation.
Dans la cour attenante, une famille kurde garde les clés. La jeune
femme, menue et vive, ouvre la porte d’une toute petite btisse qui
ne contient qu’une pièce aux murs bleu ple. Un autel en bois,
quelques bancs et une étroite tribune forment le seul mobilier. Un
décor grossièrement sculpté porte la date du 20 mars 1949. Là se
déroulait la liturgie, dans les années 1950 et jusqu’aux années 1960,
lorsque Diyarbakir comptait, selon certains témoins se rappelant leur
jeunesse, quelques milliers d’Arméniens. Aujourd’hui, ils sont moins
d’une dizaine, huit, selon le patriarcat à Istamboul.
Le trousseau de clés réapparaît et une nouvelle porte s’ouvre, sur
l’ancien bureau de l’évêque, peint lui aussi en bleu ple. Le
fauteuil du prélat en impose encore. Un portrait d’Atatürk surplombe
celui d’un patriarche. Sur l’armoire en fer, un petit drapeau turc,
rouge vif, est le seul élément de décor récent. À l’intérieur, de
vieux livres en arménien s’entassent. Missels, registres de la
communauté, livres de prière…
“Ici, je me sens chez moi.” Garabed, un électricien de 24 ans à la
chevelure de jais et au sourire généreux, semble familier des lieux.
Il y a trois ans, il a été baptisé et a abandonné son prénom
d’origine, Farouk. Depuis, ses amis l’appellent Gavour, “l’infidèle”,
sur un registre mi-léger, mi-grinçant. En 1915, c’est au son de cette
insulte que des centaines de milliers d’Arméniens et de chrétiens
d’autres traditions ont été massacrés en Anatolie. Selon certaines
estimations, il y avait avant les tueries 120 000 chrétiens dans le
département de Diyarbakir, dont une moitié d’Arméniens.
Garabed explique que ses quatre grands-parents étaient d’origine
arménienne, mais qu’ils ont été élevés comme musulmans à Silvan, à
une heure de route à l’est de Diyarbakir, sur la route de Batman. En
1915, ils auraient survécu à la déportation, puis seraient revenus
dans leur village d’origine. Ils ont vécu dans un entre-deux culturel
et religieux, manifestant les signes extérieurs nécessaires à leur
tranquillité. Les parents du jeune homme ne pratiquaient pas mais
“savaient d’où ils venaient”, poursuit-il. Leurs voisins aussi, sans
doute. Il y a une trentaine d’années, “ces esprits faibles, des
imbéciles”, les ont chassés de leur domicile. “Pour eux, si on tue un
chrétien, on va au paradis.” Ses parents et ses soeurs sont
aujourd’hui établis dans des villes de l’Ouest. Garabed explique son
itinéraire personnel avec simplicité. “Je me suis dit que si
j’oubliais mes racines, je ne serais pas un homme d’honneur. Or, sans
honneur, un homme ne peut pas vivre. C’est quelque chose que vous
devez ressentir. Je l’ai ressenti, donc je l’ai fait.”
Pendant un an, il a vécu à Istamboul pour y suivre son catéchuménat.
Puis il est revenu à Diyarbakir, mais la vie lui paraît ici trop
dure, trop dangereuse aussi. L’isolement lui pèse. Il connaît un
fonctionnaire qui voudrait, comme lui, revenir à sa culture
d’origine, mais qui ne pourrait le faire sans être licencié. Idem
pour un commerçant qui perdrait à coup sûr ses clients. “Je veux
partir, soupire-t-il. Je ne sais pas de quoi demain sera fait.” Une
personne qui le suit depuis Istamboul ne cache pas son inquiétude et
son indignation envers le patriarcat arménien “qui l’a laissé
repartir alors qu’il aurait fallu l’aider à rester” sur les bords du
Bosphore.
Son seul réconfort, Garabed le trouve près de la petite communauté
chrétienne qui vit aux abords de l’église de la Vierge-Marie, une
belle btisse de rite syriaque dont la restauration a été commémorée
le 22 mai dernier. Au XIXe siècle, un patriarche était venu s’établir
ici, et y avait fait btir, derrière de hauts murs, un petit complexe
religieux constitué d’écoles et d’habitations autour de quatre
courettes. Sept à huit familles chrétiennes y vivent aujourd’hui,
dont celle du prêtre, le P. Yusuf Akbulut.
Ce matin-là, des enfants jouent avec l’eau de la fontaine. Légèrement
à l’écart, sur une terrasse, deux vieilles femmes, deux soeurs,
brodent en silence, assises sur un banc sommaire garni de coussins
rouges. Un homme s’active dans la soupente. Sitki et Bayzar Eken,
couple sans enfant, représentent, avec Victoria, la soeur, la face
visible des Arméniens de Diyarbakirý. Ils ont respectivement 75, 78
et 68 ans. “Tous les autres sont partis. Je suis le dernier. Ne me
demandez pas pourquoi”, lche le vieil homme.
Lui aussi est originaire des environs de Silvan. Son père avait 12
ans en 1915 et a été sauvé par le chef de village qui l’a présenté
comme un musulman. Ses parents sont venus à Diyarbakir quand il avait
un an. Dans un cadre, ramené de la cuisine, cinq photos aux couleurs
fanées témoignent de liens familiaux entretenus aux quatre coins du
monde. Son grand frère était parti au Canada, mais il est mort il y a
deux ans. Son jeune frère vit aux Pays-Bas. Un enfant qui rit sur
l’un des clichés a aujourd’hui 27 ans et vient de se marier du côté
d’Amsterdam. Sitki et Bayzar iront le voir lors de son prochain
passage à Istamboul. Les gens de la diaspora ne viennent jamais
jusqu’à Diyarbakir.
Le vieil homme n’a jamais parlé que le turc, mais sa femme n’a pas
besoin de chercher dans sa mémoire pour que reviennent les formules
de salutations dans sa langue maternelle. “On parlait arménien à la
maison avec mon père et ma mère, mais j’ai beaucoup oublié”,
s’excuse-t-elle. Sa famille a quitté, il y a cinquante ans, la petite
ville de Lice. “Nous avons été les derniers à partir. Mais il restait
beaucoup d’Arméniens d’origine”, raconte-t-elle en secouant la main.
Les tasses de café à la cardamome sont brûlantes. Le silence
s’installe peu à peu. Y aura-t-il encore des Arméniens à Diyarbakir
dans vingt ans? Bayzar Eken fait la moue. “Dieu seul le sait, répond
son mari, mais ce sera difficile. Même si les Arméniens retrouvent
leurs droits, l’économie ici n’est pas bonne.” En attendant, les
trois survivants gardent la flamme.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE PLOQUIN
Plus de trois mille ans d’histoire
Les Arméniens sont un peuple indo-européen présent en Asie mineure
depuis environ 1150 av. J.-C. Le nom de l’Arménie apparaît pour la
première fois vers 522 av. J.-C. dans la liste des 20 régions
administratives de l’empire perse de Darius. Deux cents ans plus
tard, un royaume d’Arménie est fondé. Le roi Tigrane (95-55) l’étend
des rives de la mer Caspienne jusqu’à Damas et Hamadan (Iran). En 314
apr. J.-C., l’évêque de Césarée de Cappadoce, Grégoire
l’Illuminateur, baptise le roi Tiridate et l’Arménie devient le
premier État officiellement chrétien. Soixante-dix ans plus tard, le
pays est démantelé entre l’empire byzantin et la Perse mais un moine,
Mesrop Machtots, invente l’alphabet arménien vers 405, ce qui sauve
ce peuple d’une assimilation certaine. En 506, dans le contexte des
controverses politico-théologiques nées à la suite du concile de
Chalcédoine (451), le chef spirituel de l’Église arménienne
revendique le titre de catholicos, chef suprême d’une Église
nationale indépendante de Byzance. Depuis lors, la langue et la
religion ont été les deux ciments de la nation arménienne à travers
les épreuves de l’Histoire.
Pour en savoir plus: L’Arménie à l’épreuve des siècles, d’Annie et
Jean-Pierre Mahé, “Découvertes” Gallimard, 160 p., 13,90 Euro.
DEMAIN
Kars veut rouvrir
la frontière avec l’Arménie.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 3 2005
Number of Azerbaijanis in Georgia reduced from 308 thousand to 284
thousand during last 16 years
02 August 2005 [10:40] – Today.Az
The research mission of the International Federation on Human Rights
central headquarter of which is situated in France declared that
rights of the national minorities are violated in Georgia.
This was informed to the Georgian bureau of APA by the chairman of
the Tbilisi information center on human rights Ucha Nanuashvili.
According to the words of Ucha Nanuashvili, the numbers of the
national minorities in 1989 and 2005 were compared in the report of
the research mission. According to that report, though 308.000
Azerbaijanis lived in Georgia in 1989, this number is 284.000 today.
The number of Armenians reduced from 437 thousand to 249 thousand,
Russian from 341 thousand to 68 thousand, Ukrainians from 52 thousand
to 7 thousand, Greeks from 100 thousand to 15 thousand during this
period.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MP says Armenians’ possible visit to Baku ‘not important’
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
June 29 2005
Baku, June 28, AssA-Irada — It is currently uncertain whether or
not Armenian parliamentarians will participate in the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe Monitoring Committee meeting in
Baku early in July, says head of the Azerbaijani delegation at PACE,
MP Samad Seyidov. He said that Azerbaijan has invited representatives
of the Committee, which includes Armenian MPs, to Baku.
Seyidov emphasized that a possible visit by Armenians to the Azeri
capital represents no importance for Azerbaijan. “The important thing
for us is to organize the event on a high level,” he said.
Some 100 parliamentarians represented at PACE are due to attend the
Baku meeting.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1plus
18:30:33 | 22-06-2005 | Official |
MEETING IN KREMLIN
RA President Robert Kocharyan who arrived in Moscow this morning to take
part in the usual session of the Joint Security Agreement Organization
Council met RF President Vladimir Putin in Kremlin.
The Presidents discussed the relations of the two countries. In particular,
they spoke about the course of realization of the agreements made in spring
in Yerevan, about investment programs and power problems.
A reference has also been made to the events devoted to the Russian year in
Armenia, in connection with which President Putin said that they are held a
t a very high level.
Robert Kocharyan in his turn said that the processing of the program of
events devoted to the Armenian year in Russia in 2006 is under way.
Tomorrow Robert Kocharyan will take part in the Joint Security Agreement
Organization Council session. In Moscow he will also meet the Armenian
students to discuss their problems.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh party blames voters for election fiasco
Arminfo, Yerevan
21 Jun 05
STEPANAKERT
The Party for Moral Revival, which lost the elections to the fourth
Nagornyy Karabakh parliament on 19 June, has issued an appeal to the
Nagornyy Karabakh people and authorities, blaming its failure on
voters.
The appeal notes: “We grieve and offer you our condolences in
connection with what happened. You refused our specific ideas of
repairing and renewing the state administration system. You refused
the idea of prioritizing the moral sense in the personnel policy. You
voted for keeping the country in the hand of the ineffective corrupt
bureaucracy,” our special Arminfo correspondent reports from
Stepanakert.
“You voted for time-serving, hypocrisy, lies and the moral and
psychological destruction of the country. You missed your last chance
to organize yourself at a high level as a strong social body. Despite
that, we are not refusing our previous idea – to boost your role by
establishing a public organization called For Moral Revival,” the
appeal said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MOST SMOKERS IN ARMENIA AMONG EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
YEREVAN, May 31. /ARKA/. Armenia ranks first among the European
countries as to the number of smokers, Chairwoman of the RA
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture and
Youth Affairs Hranush Hakobyan stated at a round-table “Present-day
problems of Armenia’s antismoking policy”. She also added that the
country ranks 8th in the world. “According to official statistics,
35% of cancer cases result from smoking,” she said. Hakobyan said
that all Armenian citizens are smokers. “The lack of smoking rules
results in nonsmokers becoming passive smokers,” Hakobyan said. She
also reported that 64% of men and 10% of women are smokers in Armenia.
Armenia’s citizens spend 25mln USD on tobacco every year. Four to
six persons dies from smoking in Armenia yearly. According to NGOs,
Armenia’s revenue from the import and sale of tobacco increased by 60%
in 2001-2003 totaling 42mln USD. P.T. -0–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pontiff to make a visit locally
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all
Armenians, will stop in Glendale next week.
By Ani Amirkhanian, News Press-Leader
Glendale News Press, CA
May 30 2005
Armenians eagerly await the arrival of His Holiness Karekin II,
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians.
For his second Pontifical visit to the Western Diocese, the Catholicos
will spend June 1 through 10 in Southern California, stopping in
Glendale on June 6 for special visits with the Armenian community at
Glendale Adventist Medical Center to greet patients and consecrate
the hospital’s new patient care tower.
He will present the hospital with a Khachkar, which will permanently
stay at the hospital. A Khachkar is a stone slab with a cross carved
into it.
“The Catholicos wants to visit Armenian patients to give them the word
of God,” said Mayis Shahbazyan, deacon of the Armenian Western Diocese.
The Pontiff is also scheduled to visit with Glendale Unified School
District students on June 6 at the Glendale High School auditorium.
His visit is sponsored by the Armenian clubs in the district.
“The district is very happy that he has decided to come and visit
with the students of Glendale,” said Bill Card, director of Public
Information and Administrative Services. “It’s important that the
students of Glendale receive instruction from the important role
models within their life.”
The Pontiff’s last stop in Glendale will be on June 7 at the Glendale
Civic Auditorium. He will meet with private school students from the
Glendale, Burbank and La Crescenta areas.
The Catholicos will also tour the rest of Southern California, stopping
in Burbank, Pasadena and Los Angeles. For the remainder of his tour,
he is scheduled to visit parishes in Central and Northern California,
including Fresno and Sacramento.
The Armenian Western Diocese is hosting the Pontiff’s visit.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Highlights
The Pipeline From Hell: Justin Raimondo
Quotable
I hate those men who would send into war youth to fight and die for them;
the pride and cowardice of those old men, making their wars that boys must
die.
– Mary Roberts Rinehart
May 27, 2005
The Pipeline From Hell
Oil and the War Party: the Caucasus connection
by Justin Raimondo
George W. Bush’s arrival at the Moscow commemoration of V-E Day was preceded
and followed by open provocations. The stopover in Riga, Latvia’s capital,
was a stinging reminder to the Russians that this former Soviet satellite
state, conquered by Stalin as a result of our “victory” in World War II, is
now ensconced in the NATO alliance – which stands ready to extend its
influence deep into the Eurasian heartland.
However, it was the visit to Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, that
stuck most painfully in the Russian craw. Aside from the historical and
cultural links that tie the Kremlin to the Caucasus, there are vital
economic interests at stake in the region – which Russia, starved for cash,
can ill afford to lose. The stakes were made clear on May 25, the day the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) was officially opened at a ceremony in
Baku, Azerbaijan, hosted by President Ilham Aliyev, and attended by the
presidents of Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili of Georgia captured the spirit of the occasion as he exulted
that the BTC is a “geopolitical victory” for Caspian Basin nations – and we
have only to ask ourselves the question “A victory over whom?” before
Eurasia.net has the answer:
“Securing an independent energy export source will allow both Georgia and
Azerbaijan to more effectively resist geopolitical pressure exerted by
Russia, regional political analysts suggest.”
Well, that’s one way to look at it. Another way is to see the BTC as a way
for an emerging alliance of Western interests to exert geopolitical and
military pressure on Russia.
The U.S., for its part, hailed the opening as a great victory for freedom
and prosperity in the region, and this was to be expected. The opening of
the BTC marks the culmination of a long-standing American project, begun by
Bill Clinton, and assiduously pursued by the U.S. government and its favored
corporate interests ever since. The idea was to pump in the huge Caspian Sea
oil reserves directly to Europe, short-circuiting a far easier route from
Azerbaijan through Iran and bypassing the Russians completely. Clinton set
up a special Caspian Sea oil task force in 1994, under Richard Morningstar,
but it was under a Republican administration particularly disposed to the
success of this scheme that the grand plan finally came to fruition. As I
wrote way back in 1999:
“For sheer clout in Establishment circles, the Azeri and Georgian lobbies
are hard to beat. Several prominent figures in the Bushian wing of the
Republican party stand to make a substantial profit through their
investments in companies doing business in the region, among them: James
Baker, Brent Scowcroft, Dick Cheney and John Sununu; the secretary of state,
national security adviser, secretary of defense, and chief of staff
respectively for George [Herbert Walker] Bush.”
The power of the Caspian lobby in both parties was enough to direct the flow
of U.S. government subsidies, “loans,” and diplomatic pressure toward the
day when the pipeline would finally be opened, and its inauguration marks a
new stage in the development of a Euro-American alliance that aims at the
encirclement of Russia.
In Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, the views of the Europeans and the
Americans are radically divergent, but when it comes to Eurasia and the
alleged rise of a Russian “threat,” the old boys club of global bullies is
reunited with a passion. There is much reason to believe that the European
involvement in the recent color-coded revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, and –
potentially – Belarus, is a lot more than they’re usually given credit for,
and the OSCE has taken an aggressive stance against Russian “separatism” in
South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and other dissident Russian-speaking splinter
republics in the former Soviet Union. The Europeans need that Caspian oil –
remember the fuel-tax strikes that swept Europe and threatened to bring Tony
Blair and his fellow Euro-socialists to their knees? – and they would rather
not have it pass through Russian territory for both strategic and economic
reasons.
And so the Europeans and the Americans are playing what Rudyard Kipling
called “the Great Game” in the heartland of the Eurasian landmass,
outmaneuvering the Russian bear and domesticating the indigenous
“independent” republics – or else, as in the case of Georgia, replacing them
with suitably “democratic” rulers entirely dependent on U.S. aid and
political support.
For the scheme to work, it is necessary to bring peace to a region that has
rarely known it, and never less so than today. The political stability of
the post-Soviet order is seriously threatened – along with the huge
investment in the pipeline – by minority groups in the Caucasus that insist
on their right to national self-determination and stubbornly resist the
efforts of their new overlords in Tbilisi, Ankara, Baku, and Washington – to
integrate them into larger states.
The BTC pipeline snakes just a few miles from the troubled Nagorno-Karabakh
region, an enclave of Armenians in a sea of Azeris. Azerbaijan and Armenia
have long battled for possession of this strategically key region, and the
Nagorno-Karabakhians have managed to fight off the Azeris and do-gooder
Westerners intent on imposing a “peace” that compromises their independence.
Then there are the two independent republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
pockets of Russian-speakers who won’t submit to the central authorities in
Tbilisi and have been similarly successful in fighting off all comers –
including the U.S.-trained-and-funded Georgian army.
The route of the pipeline embeds it deep under some of the most disputed
territory on the face of the earth, and this can only portend war. As much
as this administration warbles on about “free markets” and “free
enterprise,” the crude mercantilism that constitutes the real economic
philosophy and foreign policy of our rulers means that one principle is
consistently followed when it comes to “defending” “American interests”
abroad: the costs and the risks are socialized, but the profits are
privatized. If American oil companies are due to make mega-profits in the
Caspian region, then the U.S. military will be doing guard duty along every
inch of the BTC pipeline, ensuring “stability” in a land of nomadic herders
and exporting “democracy” to a region formerly ruled by pashas, sultans, and
various and sundry dictators.
We are, in short, being set up for another major military intervention, and,
as I warned in November of 1999, both parties are in on it:
“All the elements for a major confrontation between nuclear-armed Russia and
the US are being put in place: not only the ‘humanitarian’ aspect of the
coming war with Russia, but also the developing ‘national security’
rationale. With billions of dollars invested in the area, including untold
millions in U.S. government subsidies, the building of the pipeline has
suddenly become a matter of ‘the national interest’ instead of just certain
private interests.
“Big Oil has its champions in both parties, but Dubya is certainly that
interest group’s Great White Hope for the White House. He has solid links to
the powerful and wealthy Azerbaijan lobby in Washington, which has been
unusually visible and active. As Robert C. Butler put it in a piece posted
on oilandgas.com: ‘It is clear that if George W. Bush, son of the former
president and today governor of Texas, is nominated by the Republican Party
and elected, then the international energy consortia will have a new friend
in the White House and Azerbaijan will profit from the situation. Many of
the advisors whom Bush has chosen for his campaign have in the past been
either active advocates of close ties with Azerbaijan or have voted against
maintaining Section 907 restrictions on US assistance to the country.'”
Aside from the contentious terrain of Georgia, where a U.S.-backed “Rose
Revolution” installed a compliant satrap who has continued the dubious human
rights record of his predecessor, the BTC consortium has to deal with
instability in Azerbaijan, ruled over by absolute dictator Ilham Aliyev, the
playboy son of former KGB chieftain and longtime Azeri Maximum Leader Heydar
Aliyev. On the occasion of Papa Aliyev’s death in 2003, the prognosis for
Aliyev the Lesser published on the CIA-connected Stratfor.com Web site
sticks in my mind:
“Ilham Aliyev lacks his father’s charisma, political skills, contacts,
experience, stature, intelligence and authority. Aside from that he will
make a wonderful president.”
Recent street protests in Baku by Western-backed “democratic” opposition
groups may be a harbinger of the future: if Western power-brokers decide
Aliyev is in any way unreliable, they could easily abandon him for a more
Saakashvili-like alternative.
In any event, no matter what color the exporters of “democratic” revolutions
choose for Azerbaijan – if they choose one at all – the coming confrontation
with a Russia that is supposedly sliding back into “authoritarianism” under
President Vladimir Putin is bound to escalate from here on out. We will be
hearing much much more about how Putin is really the second incarnation of
Stalin. The recent conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian oligarch
who stole entire industries, has already given rise to the charge that the
Russian leader is behind a supposed return of official anti-Semitism. Putin,
Stalin: see, they even sound the same! The Kremlin, according to this
scenario, is the world headquarters of a revived national socialism, and,
like the German variety, it’s a danger to us as well as to the Russian
people.
Putin, we’ll be told, is threatening the peace by his championing of all
those “racist” Russian-speakers who object to being lorded over by central
authorities in some distant capital. After all, what right have they to
rebel against regimes that have outlawed their language, their history, and
their very existence? “Russian revanchism” will become the neocons’ favorite
alliteration. They’ve already taken up the Chechen cause, and they will be
joined in this holy crusade for politically correct multiculturalism and
“democracy” in the Caucasus by the same interventionist liberals who joined
the anti-Slav crusade against Serbia.
I’ve been covering the Caucasus and predicting it would be a future
battlefield pitting the U.S. and the Europeans against Russia since at least
1999: see here, here, here, here, here, and here – oh yeah, and also here.
(Yikes, there’s more!) It’s at times like this that weariness almost
overcomes me, and the prospect of repeating myself is most uninviting. There
is nothing new in any of this: the War Party’s plans have been apparent from
the start. What is new, however, is this emerging Right-Left alliance of
warmongering “democratizers” unleashed on the hapless peoples of the former
Soviet Union. In faraway places with odd names, like Kyrgyzstan, the
ambitions – and fortunes – of both sides of the political spectrum meet and
merge in a harmonic convergence of interests and ideology.
United in their hatred of Putin and “authoritarian” Russia, the neocons and
the Clintonian liberals will be reunited at last, and can work hand-in-hand
as they did during the run-up to the Kosovo war. As powerful factions on the
“right” and the “left” position themselves to back a policy of Eurasian
aggression by the U.S. and its allies, and the encirclement of Russia
continues, the grand interventionist consensus is taking shape. The marriage
of transnational progressivism and internationalist neoconservatism – of
George Soros’ Open Society Institute and the American Enterprise Institute –
will sanctify the rising American Imperium from all sides.
However, a realignment is also taking place on the other side – the
“isolationist” side. Anti-interventionist conservative Republicans have
found their voice and are even beginning to be heard in the halls of
Congress. On the Left, too, it isn’t just Ralph Nader who is now speaking
out and becoming actively involved in the fight against interventionism.
Having been lied into war by the Republicans, antiwar liberals are less
likely – at least in many cases – to take the same guff from elected
Democrats.
Don’t be deluded into thinking that the American people are so sick of the
Iraq war that they couldn’t be whipped up into a renewed war hysteria by the
arrival of some novel “threat,” the advent of some new Hitler substitute, a
looming bogeyman to scare them in between episodes of Desperate Housewives
and the latest “reality” show. Yet there is reason to hope that when it
comes to the Caucasus, the War Party might not have such an easy time of it.
For that, in large part, Antiwar.com – with its strategy of forging a solid
Left-Right anti-interventionist united front – can rightfully and proudly
claim the credit.
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
I had a great time on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! radio-TV broadcast,
commenting on the Larry Franklin spy case, and you can listen to what
someone who got up at 4:00 in the morning sounds like here.
I also have an article in The American Conservative, in the June 6 issue,
but my review of The Woman and the Dynano, Stephen Cox’s fascinating
biography of Old Right author and columnist Isabel Paterson, is but a minor
addition to what is a blockbuster issue of TAC: Scott McConnell has a
wonderful account of the life and career of the late George F. Kennan.
Andrew Bacevich – author of the excellent recent book, The New American
Militarism – has a perceptive look at the messianic vision of Paul
Wolfowitz, with the apropos title of “Trigger Man.” You won’t want to miss
Anders Strindberg’s piece on how the neocons are trying to muzzle anyone who
doesn’t follow their Israel First line on the Middle East. William Lind on
“the case for mass transit” – I don’t agree, but it’s an interesting read –
and Nicholas von Hoffman on the vitiation of national sovereignty round out
35 pages of the best of the opinion magazines currently on the market.
You mean you haven’t subscribed yet? Well, there’s one way to fix that: by
clicking here. And you’d better hurry: I have a major piece on the Larry
Franklin spy scandal due to be published in an upcoming issue, and you won’t
want to miss it.
– Justin Raimondo
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenpress
GEORGE W. BUSH PRAISES GEORGIA AS EXAMPLE OF DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM
TBILISI, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS: Addressing a huge crowd of 150,000 Georgians
who were gathering from early morning in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square U.S.
President George W. Bush spoke about the necessity of enhancing democracy
and peace throughout the world and praised Georgia for its contribution to
this cause by serving as an example for democratic reformers.
“You are making many important contributions to the freedom’s cause, but
your most important contribution is your example. Hopeful changes are taking
places from Baghdad to Beirut and Bishkek. But before there was a Purple
Revolution in Iraq or Orange Revolution in Ukraine or a Cedar Revolution in
Lebanon, there was a Rose Revolution in Georgia,” George Bush was quoted by
Georgian news agencies as saying.
“Your courage is inspiring democratic reformers and sending a message
across the world – the freedom will be a future of each nation and every
people on earth,” he added.
He said that Georgia is today a sovereign and free and an example of
liberty in the region and in the world.
The U.S. President warned that the path of democracy “is not easy.”
“Real change and real challenge is to build up free institutions in their
place. This is difficult work… But you will not be traveling alone. The
American people will stand with you,” President Bush said.
He said that “free nations of the United States and Georgia have a great
responsibility and together we will do our duty.” “Free societies are
peaceful societies and by extending liberty we will advance the cause of
freedom and we will advance cause of peace,” Bush added.
In turn, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has pledged that “Georgia
will become the main partner of the United States in spreading democracy and
freedom in the post-Soviet space. This is our proposal. We will always be
with you in protecting freedom and democracy.”
George Bush also said that peaceful resolution of conflicts in Georgia
“is essential” for Georgia’s integration in the Euro-Atlantic structures,
adding that the U.S. supports Georgia’s aspirations for NATO membership.
“Georgia’s leaders know that peaceful resolution of conflicts is
essential for their integration into the Trans-Atlantic community,” George
W. Bush said. “The territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia must be
respected by all nations,” the U.S. President added.
In the afternoon George W. Bush has left Tbilisi for Washington.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress