Author: Badalian Vardan

Detroit News
Sept 7 2004
GOP convention sees growth in minorities
Republicans claim count is up 70%
By Alison Bethel / News Washington Bureau Chief
NEW YORK — Minorities are more in evidence at the Republican National
Convention than ever before, showing that the party is making progress
— but still has miles to go — in reflecting America’s ethnic makeup.
Convention officials say the number of minorities in attendance is
up 70 percent from 2000, now representing about 17 percent of the
4,952 delegates. Of the 118 delegates from Michigan, 24 are listed
as minority members: 12 blacks, three Hispanics, two Chaldeans, two
Native Americans and one each of Lebanese, Native Hawaiian, Caribbean,
Asian and Armenian.
“The number of blacks — the number of first time blacks — I have seen
at the convention and at the hotel has just made me excited,” said
Mercedes Kinnee, a businesswoman and black delegate from Flint. “It
shows that Bush has really reached out.”
Thirty-year-old Andrew Wendt, a Hispanic candidate for state
representative in Saginaw and a delegate from that city, agreed.
“Today we were at the Michigan delegation breakfast and walking in was
(former black Republican congressman) J.C. Watts,” he said. “We see
it on television and everyone says, ‘The Republican Party should be
reaching out,’ and it has been reaching out. Seeing all these African
Americans and Hispanics running for office and being at this convention
is inspiring.”
Some have criticized the party for listing Lebanese and Chaldeans as
minority groups, But Michigan Republican Party spokesman Matt Davis
shoots back that the calculation of minorities is no different than
presidential candidate John Kerry’s Mozambique-born wife, Teresa
Heinz Kerry, referring to herself as African-American.
“Talk about a stretch,” he said, turning his attention back to
Michigan’s delegation. “It’s not just more diverse than it was, it’s
getting more diverse and that’s a testament to the way Republicans
are addressing the concerns of minorities.”
The non-partisan Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
in Washington reported this month that the 167 black delegates at
this year’s GOP convention represent a record 96.5 percent increase,
with the largest number of blacks coming from Michigan, Louisiana,
Maryland and New York. Hispanics represent the largest minority group
at the convention with 297 delegates this year.
But while those attending the convention tow the party line about
Bush’s impact on the lives of minorities, others wonder how meaningful
the increase really is, particularly when whites make up most of the
convention’s officers and speakers.
“A: Have they increased their numbers? Yeah. However, this is a top
down increase in the numbers. There has been no increase in black
support for the Republicans nor has there been any increase in the
number of African Americans in the primary process or the delegate
process,” said David Bositis, senior research associate at the
Joint Center.
“The leadership and the Bush campaign, for their own reasons mostly
having to do with appealing to white swing voters, have determined it
is more beneficial to have more minority voters,” Bositis added. The
Republican Party, he contends, increased the overall number of
delegates by 450 people this year. “This isn’t like they had to turn
away white people. They have as many, if not more, white people …
They purposely picked African Americans for reasons that are a
political calculation. But is the party any more diverse? No. It’s
no more diverse than last time.”
In the early decades of the 20th century, blacks voted overwhelmingly
for Republicans, the party of Lincoln. “The big change came (in 1968)
with Barry Goldwater and he effectively transformed the party,” said
Bositis. “He very much brought the South into the Republican party,
really for the first time, and the nature of the relationship between
African Americans and the Republican party changed. When it became
a white southern party it meant that African Americans were going to
have quite a different relationship with the party.”
Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who spoke during prime time
Tuesday from the convention floor, said the Republican Party is making
efforts to bring its message to the minority community. The visibility
might not be there, he said, but the numbers are growing.
“You haven’t lived until you’ve walked into a room and people say,
‘Who are you and what are you doing here?’ The Republican Party has
to state the issue of why the party works for blacks. And it’s a
tough case to make because we’ve allowed another group (Democrats)
to define us for 40 years,” said Steele.
Adds Bishop Keith Butler, of Word of Faith Christian Center in
Southfield: “The GOP is going to the black community … This is the
first time really that I have seen it happen like this. There is an
old saying, ‘If you want to catch fish, you have to go to where the
fish are.’ “

CIS leaders condemn terrorist act in N Ossetia
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 3, 2004 Friday
MOSCOW, September 4 – Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich
condemned the hostage-taking in Beslan, North Ossetia, and said it was
“an inhuman example of terrorism”.
“This is one of the examples of terrorism, unfortunately a terrible
one not only for Russia but for the whole world,” he said on Friday.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sent condolences to Russian
President Vladimir Putin and all Russian people in connection with
the tragedy in Beslan.
“Please convey our sympathies to the families who lost their beloved
ones,” he said.
Earlier, Lukashenko offered support to Putin and the people of Russia
in connection with the “inhuman actions of terrorists”.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said “Georgians have taken
the events in Beslan as their own anguish and tragedy”.
“I have sent a letter to the president of Russia and expressed
condolences in connection with the tragedy in Beslan. No one is insured
against such phenomena. Terrorism has no borders or nationality. This
is a problem for the whole world,” he said in his message.
In his words, Georgian authorities “have done much in the last few
months to prevent terrorists from entering the country” and will
“continue efforts in this direction”.
Armenia has begun collecting donor blood for the former hostages.
In his appeal to the Russian people and the leadership of the country,
Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia said, “Everyone holding
the reins of ower, every person in this country has a duty of doing
everything he or she can do to alleviate the suffering of the innocent
people, who have gone through the terrorist captivity.”
“The news of the unprecedented cruelty of the bandits who captured
peaceful citizens, women and children in a school in Beslan shocked
the international community. Having shed all masks, terrorism showed
its satanic face by having trampled upon all sacred things,” the
document said.
“With no fear of God and shame the so-called ‘freedom fighters’
raised their blood-stained hands at children. There is no and can be
no justification for their insane actions,” the patriarch said.
The patriarch instructed all Orthodox churches to hold religious
services on Sunday for the victim.
“Prayers will be offered for those killed as well as those who are
in hospital, who are wounded, and who need support,” the patriarch
said in his decree.
“While mourning for those killed in this tragedy, the Russian Orthodox
Church offers prayers for the repose of their souls. At the same time,
we are praying for the recovery of those wounded. May God help them
go through this ordeal with dignity,” Alexy II said.
The Russian Jewish Congress has expressed condolences to the people
of North Ossetia in connection with the loss of life in Beslan.
The head of the Russian Jewish Congress, Yevgeny Satanovsky, sent a
message of condolences to North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov
on Friday.
“The events in North Ossetia show once again that terrorism has become
the main threat of the new century,” he said in the message.
“Unfortunately, experience shows that no country in the world has a
universal means for fighting this evil. It has already become clear
that only jointly can all progressive-minded forces resist this common
enemy,” he said.
“There can be no justification for the terror against peaceful
citizens, even if some try to motivate it by noble goals, and there
must be no mercy for terrorists,” Satanovsky said.
Russia’s chief rabbi Berl Lazar asked Moslems to pray on Saturday for
the recovery of those wounded in Beslan. “The killing of children is
an atrocity. The actions of the militants once again show the degree
to which these people have lost their human face, the ability to take
the situation adequately and reasonably,” he said.

MARATHON MAN
By BRIAN LEWIS
New York Post, NY
Sept 3 2004
September 3, 2004 — Sargis Sargsian dropped to his knees and
covered his moist eyes, overcome with a mixture of exhaustion and
emotion. He draped an Armenian flag over his shoulders and celebrated
the second-longest win in U.S. Open history — and the most dramatic
of this summer’s classic.
He had just upset two-time Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu 6-7
(8), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 in a marathon that lasted five hours and
nine minutes, a tilt that saw the 10th-seeded Chilean lose first his
poise, then the hotly-contested match on Court 11.
“I lost the match and I’m so [peeved] about it,” Massu said. “I can’t
believe they…what happened on the court is too much. It’s too much
for five hours to believe in everything, to fight…to accept that
you lost the match. It’s difficult.”
It was the second-longest match ever at the U.S. Open, behind only
Stefan Edberg’s 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 win over Michael Chang that
lasted five hours and 26 minutes in 1992.
Sargsian kept his cool, with his serve getting better and better as the
match went on. Meanwhile, Massu showed precious little sportsmanship or
Olympic spirit with an on-court tantrum. “I was too tired to notice,”
Sargsian said. “My legs were [going to give out], so I was just trying
to hold on.”
After spraying a return shot long, Massu dropped his racquet to the
court and yelled at it, as if it were to blame. He battered the U.S.
Open sign with his racquet and got warnings in the first two sets,
and lost a point, dropping the second set 6-4. In the fourth set, he
argued a call with chair umpire Carlos Ramos. He slammed his racquet
down so hard, it bounced up over his head.
Destroying a racquet is an automatic penalty, so Sargsian was awarded
the first game of the fifth set. Massu appealed to famed Wimbledon ref
Alan Mills — serving as Grand Slam ref — but his backhand deserted
him in the fifth set, and Sargsian went on earn a third-round date
with Paul Henri-Mathieu, who beat Taylor Dent.
“I didn’t lose the match because of that, but it’s hard to believe
this guy didn’t use his head. All the players throw the racquet,”
said Massu, who spent close to an hour after the match griping to
Open officials. “I play for five hours, I fight, and this guy comes
and gives me three warnings.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Coup Trial in African State Mirrors Novel
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
.c The Associated Press
MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (AP) – Frederick Forsyth wrote it up as
“The Dogs of War,” and set it here: A ragtag band of mercenaries,
recruited by a British elite, tries to seize control of a
mineral-rich, African backwater.
Forsyth – writing during a Cold War stay three decades ago on this
palm-lashed volcanic island capital – rechristened Equatorial Guinea
as “Zangoro” for the thriller, and put his soldiers of fortune in
quest of platinum, not oil.
Despite those broad variations, the basic plot is playing out again
here as a trial unfolds for 19 South Africans, Armenians and others
accused of a failed plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial
Guinea, Africa’s No. 3 oil producer.
Equatorial Guinea insists this time it is fact, not pulp fiction. The
country has been emboldened by the arrest in recent days of Mark
Thatcher in South Africa, and the Zimbabwe conviction of famed
Eton-educated mercenary Simon Mann in connection with the alleged coup
plot. It accuses Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister,
and his London friends of scheming to replace President Teodoro
Obiang’s 25-year-old regime with a puppet government.
Star witness Nick du Toit, a South African arms dealer, appears to be
“an intermediary between the mercenaries and the financiers,”
Attorney General Jose Olo Obono, who is leading the prosecution, told
reporters. Du Toit, who faces the death penalty for his role in the
plot, has cooperated with prosecutors.
For the elites in the novel, a coup has an allure beyond any
run-of-the-mill robbery.
“Knocking off a bank or an armored truck is merely crude. Knocking
off an entire republic has, I feel, a certain style,” Forsyth’s
coup-plotter, Sir James Mason, observes in the fictional version.
Prosecutors say the real coup plot fell apart in March, when security
forces in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, tipped off by South Africa’s
intelligence service, arrested 90 suspected mercenaries as they were
allegedly moving into position to seize power.
So far, prosecutors have built their entire case on the testimony of
du Toit – and skepticism that the Cold War- and apartheid-era veterans
he recruited came to this oil-rich nation for the fishing and
agriculture opportunities, as they claim.
Equatorial Guinea says du Toit was the advance man for Mann, the
plot’s alleged mastermind, and Mann’s alleged British associates –
including Thatcher, financier Eli Calil, and businessman Greg
Wales. Equatorial Guinea reportedly has filed a civil case against
alleged British backers in London, and says it is pursuing its own
international warrants against them.
Other evidence cited by Equatorial Guinea out of court – such as a
note sent out of prison by Mann, allegedly seeking help from Thatcher,
Calil and others – has yet to be introduced at the trial.
Some of the suspects say their confessions were obtained under
torture, which the U.S. State Department and others say is routine
here. One of the original 90 defendants, a German, died in his first
days of custody after what Amnesty International said was torture.
In court on Monday, South African Jose Cardoso testified that he was
physically abused – or “shocked” – and that interrogators invented
his confession. “Is it normal for statements to be taken as you’re
being taken to the torture room, to be tortured, as I was?” Cardoso
said, gesturing with chained hands.
Du Toit’s wife, Belinda, who is attending the trial, also claims he
was tortured. She shows a photo of her husband before he left South
Africa for Equatorial Guinea, looking trim, prosperous and
relaxed. The Nick du Toit testifying in chains is 60 pounds thinner,
his face gaunt, hair and beard shaggy, clothes hanging off him.
President Obiang, whose tiny nation of 500,000 pumps roughly $15
million in oil daily, has engaged European public-relations firms and
lawyers to advise him on the conduct of the trial. The British and
French lawyers, who refuse to be identified, are the ones who
intervened to let journalists watch the proceedings.
Obiang’s government faces deep suspicions over the impartiality of the
eventual verdicts in his country, which the International Bar
Association and others say is essentially an enterprise of Obiang’s
tribe, with a suppressed opposition and no independent radio or press.
Forsyth’s thriller, and its coincidentally overlapping plot, hangs
over the courtroom at times. Obono referred to du Toit as a “dog of
war” not only in the courtroom but in the criminal charges
themselves. In a 1988 coup attempt, mere possession of Forsyth’s book
was enough to net one soldier’s conviction here.
Diplomats and rights groups monitoring the trial daily cite the
suspected torture and shortcomings of the trial, which is being
translated from Spanish – the official language – for the Afrikaners,
Armenians and other foreigners on trial. Local defense lawyers,
compelled by the government to represent the 19, met their clients
only the day before the trial and complain of intimidation.
Du Toit is the only defendant facing the death penalty, and the
government has raised the prospect of a possible presidential pardon
for him. A member of Equatorial Guinea’s security services suggested a
different fate, however, approaching Belinda du Toit in court one day
and drawing a hand across his throat, she said.
In fiction, “The Dogs of War” ends disastrously for the mercenaries,
with their plot collapsed and mercenaries dead. Ultimately, Nick du
Toit believes the real-life end will be different.
“He believes he’s coming home,” his wife said.
08/30/04 13:53 EDT

Boston Globe, MA
Aug 27 2004
American Jews and dual loyalty
By H.D.S. Greenway
CONSERVATIVE WRITERS David Frum and Richard Perle, in their book “An
End To Evil, How To Win The War On Terror,” spend the better part of
four pages confronting the charges that their agenda seems to many
like a “Zionist cabal.” They say that in interviews around the world
this question always comes up — “with beguiling directness” in the
Far East, “with excruciating awkwardness among Germans,” and with
“elegant sinuosity” from the British. Is there among neoconservatives,
many of whom are Jewish, a hidden motivation to make sure that
American foreign policy is good for Israel? The authors find such
suggestions insulting and anti-Semitic. But Tom Powers, in The New
York Review of Books, suggested: Why not admit openly that of course
the fate of Israel is much on their minds? “Anglophiles of yesteryear
did not apologize for arguing that it was in America’s best interest
to come to the aid of Britain in 1940, and Polish Americans did not
worry in silence about the fate of Lech Walesa. Complex loyalties are
a big part of the American style.”
Powers has a point. “Bundles for Britain” drives were big in American
East Coast cities in the early ’40s, while some Irish-Americans —
one remembers Colonel Robert McCormick’s Chicago Tribune — felt just
as strongly that the British did not deserve our bundles. No one
questions that Polish-Americans feel strongly about the old country,
and none complain about Irish-Americans today involving themselves in
the fate of Northern Ireland. Cuban-American passion for what happens
on their island is legendary, and could dramatically affect yet
another presidential election.
Lawrence Lowenthal of the American Jewish Committee told me that for
“decades and decades American Jews have been apprehensive about
charges of dual loyalty. The Pollard case made us very nervous.”
Jonathan Pollard was an American Jew caught spying for Israel and is
now serving a life sentence. “Pollard stepped over the line,”
Lowenthal said, but then so did Americans who ran guns for Irish
Republican Army.
When his family first came to America from Europe, Lowenthal said,
they wanted to put their past behind them. “Good riddance.” But all
that has changed; today’s Americans are no longer ashamed of ethnic
ties. Many Mexican-Americans are insisting on keeping their language
and culture. French-Canadians in the United States who once turned
their back on their French heritage are picking it up again.
Greek-Americans have a strong political lobby, so do Armenians,
although neither is as powerful as the pro-Israel lobby. The
congressional black caucus made its influence felt in sending the
Marines to Haiti in 1994, and black-Americans had a role in the
anti-apartheid cause in South Africa.
Duel citizenship is on the rise. Israel allows anyone Jewish to
become an Israeli. Ireland allows anyone who can prove he has an
Irish grandparent to apply for Irish citizenship, and “we certainly
experienced an enormous increase in applications over the last 10
years or so, ” says Isolde Moylan, the Irish consul in Boston.
In Perle’s case, much has been made of a paper that he and others,
including the Pentagon’s Douglas Feith, wrote some years ago for
Israel’s right-wing politician, Benjamin Netanyahu, calling for a
“New Strategy For Securing The Realm.” Their advice included getting
the United States to overthrow Saddam Hussein as well as other moves
in the Middle East to increase Israel’s strategic position. But
Americans have written constitutions for foreign countries, soldiered
in foreign armies, and even served in foreign governments. Americans
who identify with a foreign country are not, and should not, be held
suspect. There is nothing un-American about wanting to link this
country’s foreign policy to that of Israel. Nor is it anti-Semitic to
disagree.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Lantos Champions Indies

Featured Player

Variety
July 19-25, 2004
Pg. 16
Film / International

By Cathy Dunkley

HOLLYWOOD – Robert Lantos is by his own admission an aberration.

One of the last of a dying breed of indie producers, he specializes in
financing projects via long-term relationships with such filmmakers as
Atom Egoyan, Istvan Szabo and David Cronenberg.

Moreover, he relishes making films that many would not care to take on –
like Egoyan’s “The Sweet Hereafter” or Szabo’s “Sunshine.”

The downturn in the international presales market and the inherent
difficulty of getting any upscale arthouse pic financed at all have made
his life even more difficult.

But Lantos has managed to roll with the punches. While he can at first
come across as brash and impulsive, he can also be best described as
deeply literate and strategic in his thinking.

He has also used his position as an outsider to his advantage. A
Hungarian Jew by birth and the only son of Holocaust survivors, Lantos
grew up in Canada and broke into films in the 1970s, starting his own
distribution business with college friend Victor Loewy and a couple of
others while he was a student at McGill before becoming a producer.

“I’m not dependent on Hollywood, on one town or one system of financing
or one method of filmmaking. I’m genuinely independent of the rules and
regulations that run the way films get made in Hollywood,” Lantos says.

“But nothing is for free. I think it comes from never having been a
full-blown member of the Hollywood community. I am and always have been
an outsider in terms of relationships with the key players in town. I
know most of them, but we don’t go to each other’s barbecues.”

In recent years Lantos has continued his maverick ways and has had to
break the producer’s cardinal rule by investing his own money in his
projects via his own shingle Serendipity Point.

“I finance my projects through a combination of equity investments,
subsidy incentives and presales, but more often than not through my own
personal investment,” he explains.

That was the case for his newest pic, his latest collaboration with
Egoyan, the most recent in a relationship that spans 13 years.

“Where the Truth Lies” will star Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon and marks
the first time Egoyan has directed a pic not based on his original
script. Pic will start shooting this August in Toronto, L.A. and London.

It was also the case for the Annette Bening / Jeremy Irons starrer
“Being Julia,” which opens the Toronto Film Fest in September.

Falling into place

Unlike most of his pics, “Julia” came together quickly by Lantos
standards. It was only about three years from its inception to the start
of shooting – usually his pics take anything from five to seven years
before they get made.

“I truly have to fall in love with a project to make it. ‘Like’ is not
enough. Take Egoyan’s ‘Ararat.'”

When Lantos was introducing Egoyan, who was being honored at the
Armenian Community Center in Toronto, Lantos pledged in front of the
crowd to back Egoyan if he ever chose to tell the story of his own people.

Lantos battled to find financing for the $11 million “Ararat,” which
focuses on the Armenian genocide. Though both he and distributor Miramax
lost money on the pic, it was a decision he stands by.

“I had no alternative but to stand by the pledge I made that day. My
only concern was let’s make it as good as possible.”

But it’s not all a case of passion vs. business.

When he was still a film student in Montreal, Lantos made his first
foray into the distribution biz with Loewy but then became a producer.

Alliance godfather

After producing his first pic “L’Ange et la femme” at age 26 and “In
Praise of Older Women” at age 27, he co-founded Alliance Communications
in 1985 with Loewy. He remained chairman and CEO until 1998, when he
sold his controlling interest after the company merged with rival
Atlantis to for Alliance Atlantis Communications.

In 2003 he acquired a 50% stake in North American distributor ThinkFilm
after he was freed from a non-compete clause from Alliance and became
chairman.

“I have a fondness for the distribution business, it’s part of my
roots,” he explains. “But I also think there is opportunity in the
marketplace in the U.S. and Canada for nonstudio-owned specialty
distributors. We’re not the only ones who are doing it, but I see the
gap ever widening as the traditional players pay less and less attention
to it.”

Lantos is currently in the process of closing an equity deal for
ThinkFilm to add cash to its coffers.

Looking forward, Lantos says he will spend his time and energy building
ThinkFilm – “it’s part of the five-year plan,” he says – and continuing
to make films.

“As a filmmaker, I’m just going to continue to make one film a year
based on my heart. If my films find and please people and deliver
something of value, that gives me a great deal of satisfaction.”

Photo captions on pg. 16:
– Personal Projects: Lantos has a long relationship with Atom Egoyan,
shown above shooting labor of love “Ararat.”
– Toronto-Bound: Annette Bening stars in “Being Julia,” a Serendipity
Point pic that opens the Canadian fest.

In the Shadow of Moscow
Armenia Rebuilt by its Diaspora
Le Monde diplomatique
January 2004
By Vicken Cheterian
If you had been in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, last summer, you
wouldn’t have been able to visit any museums, since they were shut for
restoration; city streets and pavements were closed while being
rebuilt. Thanks to a generous donation from the US-Armenian
billionaire, Kirk Kerkorian, the city has been given a new look. Since
2001 Ker kor ian, owner of MGM studios in Hollywood and hotels in Las
Vegas, has allocated $170m for roads and housing in this vulnerable
earthquake region. Money has been lent to small businesses and to
provide employment for 20,000 people. The sum is a third of the annual
national budget.
Gerard Cafesjian, another US-Armenian, is spending $25m to renovate
the Cascade, a complex of stairways and workshops linking central
Yerevan with the Monument district, where he plans to build a modern
art museum (1). The diaspora is starting to return to Armenia, and its
activities make a difference. The population of Armenia is 3.8 million
but there are twice that many in the diaspora, with major
concentrations in Russia, the US, Georgia, France, Iran and
Lebanon. After the earthquake of 1988, which killed more than 25,000
and destroyed a third of the industrial potential, the diaspora sent
immediate massive aid. In the past two years investments have replaced
aid, supporting economic activities from software companies to hi-tech
medicine.
Politically, relations between Armenia and its diaspora are
complex. Traditional political parties from the diaspora have
influence in the country, for example the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Tashnaktsoutyun) and the Liberal Democratic party
(Ramgavars), which have branches and media. But there are major
divergences and misunderstandings.
In 1988, at the beginning of the popular movement in Armenia, the
diaspora parties called for calm, in tacit support for the Soviet
authorities. With their traditional fear of their Turkish neighbour,
the Armenian parties thought that the weakening of the Soviet
(Russian) power in Armenia would expose the country to a Turkish
threat.
After the Soviet collapse, Armenians from Marseille, Cairo or Boston
came to Armenia and suffered from culture shock. They wanted to invest
but did not understand the subtleties of Soviet bureaucracy, the new
rules of a wild market economy, or the corruption or rela tivity of
the laws. Many lost their investments within months. The
disappointment was so great that some started talking of taking refuge
elsewhere. To make matters worse, the first president, Levon
Ter-Petrossian, did not appreciate the presence of organised diaspora
organisations in Armenia. In December 1994 a number of Tashnak
activists were arrested, their media closed and party activities
abolished. With Robert Kocharian’s accession in 1999, relations
improved: the activists were released and the Tashnaktsoutyun became a
junior partner in the government. It now has three ministers.
To change things, the Armenian state organised two major conferences
in 1999 and 2002, inviting the diaspora to invest. The current foreign
minister, Vartan Oskanian, born in Syria and US-educated, played a key
role in both (2). A number of organisations actively lobby for the
Armenian cause, increasing the importance of this tiny nation
internationally. The Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian
National Committee of America, two powerful lobby groups in
Washington, are struggling for the recognition of the genocide of 1915
and for a favourable US policy towards Armenia.
Recently Aram Abrahamian, an Armenian-Russian oligarch, launched the
World Organisation of Armenians with the direct blessing of President
Vladimir Putin of Russia. In Yerevan they fear this is another
manoeuvre by the Kremlin to increase its influence, not just on
Armenia, but on worldwide Armenian communities. Other analysts think
that, in this period of Duma elections, Putin is interested in winning
the favours of 2.5 million Russian citizens of Armenian origin (3).
The enormous effort by the diaspora to support Armenia has taken funds
away from its community organisation just as its identity was starting
to change under pressure from new migration trends and in a decade of
globalisation. This has weakened traditional Armenian community
structures, such as the parties, church and schools (4). Though the
overall influence of the diaspora is increasing in Armenia, its impact
on political, social and economic decision-making remains limited.
Vicken Cheterian is a journalist in Yerevan.
NOTES
(1) See
(2) The Armenian foreign ministry and its policy were influenced by
the diaspora. The first foreign minister was US-Armenian Raffi
Hovannesian, son of the famous historian Richard Hovannesian. After
his resignation in 1992, foreign policy was mainly the domain of the
presidential adviser, political scientist Gerard Libaridian, born in
Lebanon and later a US resident.
(3) See Sophie Lambroschini, “Russia: Putin Plays To Armenian
Diaspora, But For What Purpose?” RFE/RL, Prague, 13 October 2003.
(4) There are 390 Armenian schools outside Armenia, according to
ArmenPress, Yerevan, 20 November 2003.

ArmenPress
Aug 16 2004
MAMEDIAOROV TO FOCUS ON KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN MOSCOW
BAKU, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS: In an interview to Azeri Zerkalo,
Azeri foreign minister Elmar Mamediarov said before his visit to
Russia that the important issue to be raised there will concern to
the role of Russia as a mediator for Karabakh conflict and a chair of
OSCE Minsk Group. The next group of questions will relate to economic
ties between the two countries. The sides will also refer to Caspian
Sea issues.
According to Mamediarov, Russia plays a decisive role in Karabakh
conflict resolution. Azerbaijan thinks that unless the conflict is
resolved there will be no stability in the region. “Therefore we
think that politically stable and economically strong Caucasus is in
the interests of all countries which have their stake in the region,”
he said. He also said that relations with Armenia are deeper though
Russia has strong economic interests in Azerbaijan. “If Russia were
interested in conflict resolution, peace would be sooner achieved in
the region,” Mamediarov said.
Zerkalo daily asked about recent talks especially at the military
level saying that negotiations are in deadlock and military force
should be used to liberate the lands, to which Mamediarov answered, ”
we are talking at the level of foreign ministry and not ministry of
defense. As a foreign minister I would to that last point insist on
peaceful regulation of the conflict.”

USA Today
Aug 14 2004
Daily Preview of Olympics 2004
Boxing
Light welterweight Rock Allen got a bye into the second round of the
141-pound competition, so the sole American boxer in action on Sunday
will be 152-pound welterweight Vanes Martirosyan, who takes on
Benamar Meskine of Algeria at 7:45 a.m. ET. Just 18, Martirosyan was
born in Armenia and moved to the U.S. when he was 4.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VISA REGIME BETWEEN RUSSIA, ARMENIA SIMPLIFIED
YEREVAN, AUGUST 12. ARMINFO. The RA Government approved draft
amendments to the protocol on visa regime between Armenia and Russia,
which considerably simplified this procedure, Levon Amirjanyan, Head
of the Legal Affairs Department, RA Foreign Office, told a news
briefing.
According to him, this is the Russian side’s initiative. The Russian
side proposed bringing the current agreements to conformity with
international standards and reducing the number of documents necessary
to get a visa.