Author: Badalian Vardan

HEAD OF UAE SUPERVISORY BOARD VISITS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL

May 07, 2013 | 14:49

YEREVAN. – Chairman Ishkhan Zakaryan of the Armenian Control Chamber
(CC) received Dr. Harib Al Amimi, the President of the State Audit
Institution of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The delegation from the UAE’s highest supervisory board is visiting
Armenia, between Tuesday and Thursday, at Zakaryan’s invitation.

The heads of Armenia’s CC and UAE’s State Audit Institution discussed
issues of mutual interest, specifically future cooperation in terms
of conducting joint supervision and exchange of knowhow.

Separately, Dr. Harib Al Amimi paid a visit to the Armenian Genocide
Memorial and placed a wreath to the monument that eternalizes the
memory of the Genocide victims.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

GROWING GAS BILL AND SURRENDER OF SYUNIK

All the elections are behind, and Serzh Sargsyan can set to resolve the
most knotty problems, primarily the issue of his predecessors Robert
Kocharyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan. They can do it by inviting the
PAP and the ANC to the coalition and becoming the “great peacekeeper”
and father of the “presidential troika”.

Nevertheless, this is not the most knotty issue. There are two issues
which will cause a lot of trouble. One is the growing price of gas.

The prime minister of Karabakh Ara Harutiunyan said, for example,
that the gas price will soon grow by 40%. And it is better to build
small water power plants or get timber from the forest.

It is not known how Serzh Sargsyan will justify the growth of price
but it is obvious that the growing bills will cause social protest.

The second issue is the pastures of Syunik region. So far Serzh
Sargsyan has not commented on the signed agreement to lease pastures to
Iran. By the way, his parents come from this region. The agreement has
not been refuted which means that the agreement has been signed and
they are waiting for a convenient opportunity to explain everything
to the society.

It is possible that they will announce about gas bills and Syunik
pastures on Friday evening to have tension mitigate by Monday.

After the outrageous election of the Council of Elders where the
PAP and RPA won harming the dignity of people without hesitation,
these parties will hardly feel a shame for the growing bill or the
lease of the lands of Syunik region. They have gone beyond the limits
of cynicism.

These two issues have been postponed until after the election because
they may inflict public complaint. However, the authorities will
not succeed imposing it onto the society easily. Powerful hotbeds
of organized protest are forming in the country. Most importantly,
village people roll into the gorge the pipes intended for building
a water power plant which the village does not need.

If the Iranian sheep nevertheless appear in Syunik, which is possible
as long politicians are sleeping, their livestock may decrease.

Naira Hayrumyan 14:11 07/05/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

OBSERVER CITIZEN INITIATIVE REPORTS HUNDREDS OF ELECTION FRAUDS IN YEREVAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

13:40 ~U 07.05.13

The Observer Citizen initiative recorded 570 election frauds in the
May 5 elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders, Sona Ayvazyan, Deputy
Director of the Transparency International anti-corruption center,
told journalists on Tuesday.

This is a preliminary figure, and other frauds have not yet been
recorded.

With respect to types of election frauds, Ayvazyan said that the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP)
distributed election bribes. She also mentioned the use of colored
pens, double voting carousel and so on.

|”Observers and journalists were under pressure. Members of the local
councils were actively involved in the election process. We know that
Samvel Aleksanyan was personally supervising the election process at
one of the polling stations in the Malatya community,” Ayvazyan said.

On the other hand, Ayvazyan stressed that the election process was
peaceful in other polling stations. However, it was due to the election
committee members, not because there were no election frauds.

TURQUIE : INQUIETUDE APRES DES COUPS DE FEU DEVANT UNE EGLISE ARMENIENNE

(AFP) – Des tirs d’arme a feu dimanche devant une eglise armenienne
d’Istanbul ont seme la panique parmi les fidèles venus feter Pâques et
ravive chez les minorites chretiennes les craintes d’une recrudescence
des violences les visant, a rapporte lundi la presse turque.

Vers 12H30 dimanche, une personne non identifiee, accompagnee de
deux comparses, a tire sept cartouches a blanc devant l’eglise Surp
Hovhannes d’Istanbul, dans le quartier a forte population armenienne
de Kumkapi, provoquant des mouvements de panique dans la paroisse,
ont indique plusieurs quotidiens.

“Au moment de tirer, l’assaillant a crie +Vous etes trop nombreux
desormais+”, a declare l’archeveque Aram Atesyan, adjoint du patriarche
armenien orthodoxe d’Istanbul, cite par le journal Hurriyet.

A peu près au meme moment, un jeune Armenien a ete roue de coups par
un petit groupe d’individus devant une eglise d’un quartier voisin,
Samatya, a signale Mgr Atesyan.

“Ces attaques ont pour but d’accroître l’angoisse des membres de
notre communaute et des autres communautes minoritaires”, a commente
le prelat, annoncant qu’il allait demander aux responsables de sa
communaute d’accroître les mesures de securite.

Ces actes surviennent une semaine après deux autres incidents visant
des eglises d’Istanbul.

Le 27 avril, un groupe de 30 a 40 personnes a attaque l’eglise
evangelique Nouvel Espoir, qui venait d’ouvrir a Atasehir (ouest
d’Istanbul), selon un communique de l’Association des eglises
protestantes de Turquie.

“Les assaillants ont brise les vitres de l’eglise en jetant des
pierres et des oeufs et ont tente d’y penetrer”, sans succès, a
declare l’Association.

Le 28, l’eglise grecque orthodoxe Ayois Ionis, sur l’île stambouliote
de Burgaz Ada, a ete vandalisee par un groupe d’une dizaine
d’adolescents, qui ont brise quelque meubles et tente de piller un
tronc, a rapporte le quotidien Radikal.

Plusieurs attaques de chretiens ont eu lieu ces dernières annees en
Turquie, pays a une ecrasante majorite musulmane.

En 2006, un pretre catholique italien, Andrea Santoro, 61 ans, avait
ete assassine par balles dans la ville de Trabzon (nord-est). Son
jeune meurtrier turc purge une peine de 19 ans de prison.

En avril 2007, trois protestants avaient ete egorges a Malatya (est).

Cinq suspects turcs sont passibles de la prison a vie.

En janvier dernier, La police turque a interpelle 13 personnes
soupconnees de preparer un attentat contre le pasteur et des membres
d’une eglise protestante de la province d’Izmit (nord-ouest).

mardi 7 mai 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

19 PERCENT OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 5 IN ARMENIA SUFFER FROM STUNTED GROWTH

12:46, May 7, 2013

A four-day sub-regional workshop addressing the problem of stunting
among children under the age of five in Albania, Armenia and Georgia
started today in Yerevan.

Co-hosted by the Government of Armenia and UNICEF, the workshop brings
together stakeholders in the area of child nutrition from the three
countries to review national strategies and programmes, highlight
existing systemic gaps and re-energize the national commitment to
child rights and welfare.

“Health and nutrition are priority issues to ensure children’s
well-being, and in that sense early years are very critical because
the risk of childhood diseases and mortality is quite high during
the first years of life,” Deputy Minister of Health of Armenia Sergey
Khachatryan said in his opening remarks.

A new UNICEF Report Improving Child Nutrition: The achievable
imperative for global progress released last month offers evidence
that globally 165 million children under the age of five are suffering
from stunting or are too short for their age.

The Report also confirms that a key to success against stunting is
focusing attention on pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s
life. Stunting in a child is not only about being too short for his
or her age. It can also mean suffering from stunted development of
the brain, cognitive and learning capacity in childhood, as well as
work productivity in adulthood.

Stunting in children under 5 years of age is a marker of lost
opportunity for a child’s brain to develop to its full potential:
this is a critical period of brain development, when the consequences
of poor nutrition, reflected in low height for age, have irreversible
impact and cannot be corrected later in life.

“If a woman is malnourished during pregnancy, or if her child is
malnourished during the first two years of life, the child’s physical
and mental growth and development may be slowed. That child will never
learn, nor earn later in life, as much as she or he could have if
properly nourished in early life,” UNICEF Representative in Armenia
Henriette Ahrens said.

According to the recent data from the three countries, 19 per cent
of children under the age of five in Armenia, 16 per cent in Albania
and 11 per cent in Georgia suffer from stunted growth.

WHO international growth standards indicate that young children (under
the age of five) worldwide have the same capacity to reach their
height potential when pregnant women receive appropriate attention
for health and nutrition during pregnancy, and the children benefit
from optimal feeding practices and receive appropriate care. At
the same time, country-level statistics clearly shows that the most
disadvantaged children have much higher rates of stunting, indicating
that stunting in early childhood is a key marker of inequity and not
of genetic predisposition.

Stunting and other forms of undernutrition can be reduced through
a series of simple and proven steps during pregnancy and the first
two years of a child’s life, globally referred to as “the first 1000
days of life”. Proper nutritional interventions during these 1000
days are critical in improving fetal and child nutrition, growth,
and brain development. They provide an opportunity which does not
exist later in life: the reason why this period is also called “a
window of opportunity”.

“We need to act during this critical time to ensure full growth and
development of children. Effective interventions applied worldwide
include improving pregnant women’s nutrition and care as well as
prevention of childhood illnesses and appropriate feeding practices
during the first two years of life. Exclusive breastfeeding for
the first six months continued afterwards along with appropriate
complementary feeding with nutrient-rich foods and vitamin/mineral
supplements is the key to success, ” Nune Mangasaryan, Senior Advisor
on Nutrition from UNICEF Headquarters in New York, emphasized.

Very often the poor nutrition is a result of lack of knowledge on
appropriate nutrition and care. It is equally important to work
on improvement of parenting skills since parents bear primary
responsibility for their children’s well-being. Integrated support
to families especially those living in vulnerable communities should,
therefore, be the backbone of governmental programmes, in addition to
legislative and administrative interventions. In many cases, simple
information on maternal nutrition and child feeding and care can
play a crucial role in ensuring appropriate fetal and child growth
and development.

The sub-regional workshop will provide a ground for development of
long-term national action plans to reduce stunting among children
under the age of five in Albania, Armenia, and Georgia as well as
will agree on practical steps to be undertaken in the immediate future.

UNE EXPOSITION CONSACREE AU 80E ANNIVERSAIRE DU LIVRE DE FRANZ WERFEL LES 40 JOURS DE MUSA DAGH A OUVERT A LA BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE

Une exposition dediee au 80e anniversaire de la première publication
du celèbre roman ” Les 40 Jours de Musa Dagh ” de Franz Werfel a ete
inaugure en cooperation avec l’institut-musee du genocide armenien
et la Bibliothèque nationale.

Hayk Demoyan, le directeur de l’institut-musee du genocide armenien
et Tigran Zargaryan, le directeur de la Bibliothèque nationale ont
fait les discours d’ouverture. Hayk Demoyan a remis une medaille d’or
en gage de “gratitude” a la Bibliothèque nationale.

Le roman historique ” Les 40 Jours de Musa Dagh “, decrit l’un des
episodes heroïques de la lutte des Armeniens de Cilicie pendant le
genocide armenien. Grâce a ce combat et aux navires de guerre francais,
plus de quatre mille personnes ont ete miraculeusement sauves d’une
extermination imminente. Ce roman est a juste titre considere comme
une ~uvre monumentale dont le contenu represente pleinement la lutte
d’auto-preservation des armeniens et les horreurs du genocide armenien
dans le cadre d’une fiction.

L’exposition qui a ete presentee a la Bibliothèque nationale comprend
plus de cinquante publications du roman qui ont ete publies dans
differentes annees et dans differentes langues et font partie
des collections de l’Institut-Musee du genocide armenien et de la
Bibliothèque nationale.

mardi 7 mai 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

” LE DAUPHINE LIBERE ” : HENRIKH MEKHITARIAN, DE L’USJOA VALENCE AU SHAKHTAR DONETSK AU NOM DU PURE

Dans l’edition du 6 mai du ” Le Dauphine Libere “, notre confrère
drômois Michel Roux signe un excellent papier sur le jeune prodige
du football armenien, Henrikh Mekhitarian. Sous une photo de
l’international armenien (prise a Valence lors du match amical de
l’Armenie face au Luxembourg), il est ecrit en legende ” La volonte
qui anime Henrikh Mekhitarian (balle au pied) est inebranlable. “Je
veux honorer la memoire de mon père. Il est toujours avec nous, ma
mère, ma s~ur et moi-meme. Je sais qu’il me suit. Tout ce que je
fais, a l’entraînement, sur le terrain, en club ou en selection, je
le fais pour lui “. Ci-dessous l’article dedie a Henrikh Mekhitarian.

Precisons que dans ” Les Nouvelles d’Armenie Magazine ” et sur notre
site armenews.com nous consacrons regulièrement des articles sur
Henrikh Mekhitarian. Krikor Amirzayan.

” Visage emacie, regard aiguise, profil aquilin, et de la foudre dans
les pieds. Henrikh Mekhitarian, a l’evidence, marche sur les traces
d’Hamlet, son footballeur de père, icône de la diaspora armenienne,
homme respecte et joueur race qui enflamma la Palla dans les annees
1990 et dont le souvenir est aujourd’hui encore bien vivace a Valence.

Le stratège du Shakhtar Donetsk, courtise par les plus grands clubs
europeens, joue pour son père, emporte par une tumeur au cerveau en
1996 “.

” Je suis convaincu que mon père me regarde de la-haut et qu’il
est fier de moi. ” Henrikh Mekhitarian, qui vouait une admiration
sans bornes a son père, trop tôt enleve a l’affection des siens,
perpetue avec talent le souvenir d’un homme et d’un joueur que nul,
ici a Valence, n’a oublie. Sa maman, Marina, exprime egalement, avec
une emotion non feinte, cette fierte “de voir notre fils reprendre
ainsi le flambeau. Mes enfants et moi-meme avons tenu, en hommage
a Hamlet, a ~uvrer dans le monde du football.” Ainsi, Marina, qui
côtoie les instances internationales depuis dix-sept ans, exerce la
fonction de chef de departement au sein de la Federation armenienne en
charge des equipes nationales. Monika, la s~ur aînee d’Henrikh, vit
en Suisse et travaille a Nyon, siège de l’UEFA, au sein de l’office
presidentiel aux côtes d’un certain Michel Platini. La cour assidue
des grands d’Europe “.

” Loin des bureaux, Henrikh, pour sa part, enlève l’adhesion de
tous dès lors qu’il foule le rectangle vert. La où son père faisait
valoir sa velocite, son ardeur au combat, sa faculte a percuter et a
renouveler les efforts, Henrikh, la tete haute, s’appuie sur sa vista,
sa qualite de passes, son adresse devant le but, sa capacite a mettre
le pied sur le ballon, a gerer les temps faibles de sa formation “.

” Un leader, un patron, une epee. Le boss inconteste d’un Shakhtar
Donetsk, valeur sûre de la Ligue des Champions, et d’une selection
nationale d’Armenie qui a sans doute dit adieu au Bresil et la a la
coupe du monde 2014 après son cuisant echec face aux Tchèques (0-3) “.

” Ses performances XXL lui valent d’etre courtise. Les chiffres
donnent le vertige : le Barca serait pret a mettre 25 M~@ afin de
s’attacher ses services, Liverpool serait sur le point de formuler une
offre tutoyant les 20 M~@, la Juventus, Chelsea, Manchester City et
Tottenham, fortement interesses, ne devraient plus tarder a degainer “.

” Mais Henrikh (sous contrat jusqu’en juin 2015 avec Donetsk qui
reclame 40 M~@ pour le liberer) gère ses appels du pied, de plus en
plus instants, avec une serenite tout orientale. “C’est la vie qui
decide””La vie, c’est comme une histoire dont tu es un acteur. Tu y
joues un rôle mais au final, c’est bien la vie qui decide. Un matin,
tu te reveilles et surviennent des evenements auxquels tu ne pensais
pas. Et tout est remis en cause. Alors, je me garde bien de tirer
des plans sur la comète”, note, dans un francais absolument parfait
cet epatant polyglotte (Henrikh maîtrise cinq langues, ndlr) “.

” D’autant, ajoute-t-il, que l’on m’a inculque qu’un homme peut et
doit toujours apprendre. Je dois ainsi encore progresser dans de
nombreux domaines. Je ne suis pas encore au top. Quand tu quittes
l’Armenie, ce n’est pas evident de s’imposer mais c’est un formidable
encouragement que d’etre le porte-drapeau de mon pays. On m’a confie
pas mal de responsabilites mais je m’attache a les assumer. Certains
disent que je suis le depositaire du jeu du Shakhtar et de l’Armenie.

Je ne sais pas si c’est vrai mais si tel est le cas, mon père doit
etre fier “, estime Henrikh, dont les interets sont defendus par Manu
Riola, l’agent d’Ibrahimovic himself “.

” On croit comprendre d’ailleurs qu’il ne lui deplairait pas, un jour,
d’evoluer en Ligue 1 “. ” En football, tout va très vite. Grâce a
Dieu, a ce jour, j’ai ete epargne par les grosses blessures. Mais,
une fois encore, c’est la vie qui decide. Et pour l’heure, je suis
au Shakhtar”, devait conclure le prodige armenien, grand fan de notre
Zizou national, forcement discret sur sa future destination “.

Henrikh Mekhitarian Ne le 21 janvier 1989 a Erevan (Armenie).

Poste : milieu offensif.

Palmarès : Champion d’Armenie en 2006, 2007 et 2008.

Coupe d’Armenie en 2009.

Champion d’Ukraine : 2011, 2012 et 2013.

Coupe d’Ukraine : 2011 et 2012.

Elu meilleur footballeur armenien de l’annee ces trois dernières
saisons.

Elu footballeur de l’annee en Ukraine en 2012, meilleur buteur du
championnat d’Ukraine cette saison, avec 22 realisations.

Clubs successifs : FC Pyunik Erevan (2006-2009), Metalurg Donetsk
(2009-2010), Shakhtar Donetsk (2010-2013).

mardi 7 mai 2013, Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

Uncle Ruslan Tsarni’s Organization May Have Funded Terrorists

Foreign Policy Journal
May 3, 2013

by Joe Giambrone

Why isn’t the Boston bombing suspects’ uncle Ruslan Tsarnaev/Tsarni
considered a `person of interest’ by the FBI? Or, heavens forbid, a
`suspect’ in the Boston Marathon bombing plot?

Is it because of his work with State Department and CIA connected
USAID around the Caucasus region? Is it because he was formerly
married to the daughter of a very high-ranking CIA official? Is it
because this high-ranking CIA official, Graham E. Fuller, was deeply
involved in =80=9CIslamic extremism,’ for which he is a noted author
and strategist? Or that Graham Fuller was CIA station chief in Kabul,
Afghanistan? Could it be because his former father-in-law, Graham
Fuller, =80=9Cserved 20 years in the Foreign Service, mostly the
Muslim World, working in Germany, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, North
Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In 1982 he was appointed the
National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia at CIA, and
in 1986 Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at CIA,
with overall responsibility for all national level strategic
forecasting.’

Could it be related to Fuller’s paper that launched the Iran/Contra
activities? Or could it simply be Graham Fuller’s role in `strategic
forecasting’ both then and now?

Whatever the reasons, the Federal Bureau of Investigation should
surely be interested in a little organization that Mr. Ruslan Tsarni
set up in 1995 called the `Congress of Chechen International
Organization[s].’

Why should FBI care about an old `Congress’ of Chechen organizations?
There are several reasons known so far, perhaps many more, to look
into this group and its activities.

America’s Rottweiler, Daniel Hopsicker, has sunk his fangs into Ruslan
Tsarnaev’s history, and he doesn’t appear to be letting go any time
soon. Uncle Ruslan became the darling of the US press by immediately
denouncing the two brothers as `losers’ and even claiming that their
brains were `stolen’ by some radical Islamic cleric whom he had never
met or spoken to.

But Uncle Ruslan Tsarni/Tsarnaev’s work for USAID and his close
connections to one of the top CIA strategists and a boastful expert on
=80=9CIslamic extremism,’ should cause us to take a very close look at
his own actions. A quick search of USAID’s longtime ties to the CIA
turns up this gem of a document, which once was `top secret,’ but now
declassified tells us:

Memorandum For: Deputy Director of Operations

Subject: Joint CIA/USAID Terrorist (Technical) Investigations Course
#7 (English Language)…

1. This effort is a joint CIA/USAID training program for foreign
police/security personnel…

This was dated March 7th of 1973 and is hosted right on the USAID
website (at least at the time of writing).

Bloomberg told us that Ruslan Tsarni `was a legal consultant to a
U.S. company contracted under USAID in a program of economic
assistance for Kysrgyzstan.’ Hopsicker exposed that Uncle Ruslan
Tsarni is also a Halliburton connected oil man who profited generously
from Kazakhstan’s oil fields.

Well, don’t the coincidences just keep piling up around this guy? Are
we in the trillions to one range yet?

Two students from Kazakhstan were charged Wednesday morning for
`destroying’ evidence related to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, including
fireworks without the gunpowder. Destroying evidence? Or planting?
They don’t seem to have `destroyed’ it very well.

What would motivate some `friends’ to go and tamper with evidence on
the biggest terrorism case since 9/11? This seems out of the ordinary
activity, to say the least. A third man is also facing criminal
charges in this evidence tampering and Obstruction of Justice.

Be that as it may, the US media has gone dark on Mr. Graham Fuller and
his undeniable relationship with Mr. Ruslan Tsarni/Tsarnaev. Not one
corporate news outlet has covered this Hopsicker initiated piece
despite it being incontrovertible. Fuller wrote about Ruslan in his
memoir, Three Truths and a Lie. Not only does Mr. Fuller’s name link
directly, by marriage, to the Tsarnaev clan, his home address links
directly to a Chechen front organization used to funnel funds to named
terrorists.

Here is where the plot coagulates. Hopsicker was not satisfied with a
failed marriage. He went deeper. The Congress of Chechen
International Organization[s] assisted one Shaikh Fathi in 1996 by
using a `charity’ called Benevolence International to get `aid’ to the
Chechen freedom fighters. All fine and well, except for a couple of
years later we have 9/11, and then American prosecutors like Patrick
Fitzgerald begin turning over stones.

One of those slimy, moss covered stones leads to Shaikh Fathi. The
Fitzgerald indictment reads: =80=9CSheikh Fathi was a major conduit
for providing material support to the Chechen rebels.’ The indictment
was against Benevolence International. That `charity’ was shut down
after the US Treasury Department determined that they were `financiers
of terrorism.’

The document that Hopsicker acquired, on Congress of Chechen
International Organization[s] letterhead, is potentially the Achilles
Heel of the entire covert war in Chechnya against the Russians.
Beyond the Boston bombing, this exposes a Chechen front group created
by the son in law of a top CIA official that used this same CIA
official’s home address on the official application when Ruslan set up
the front! This may be considered `poor tradecraft.’ A bad decision
in 1995 may have just exposed the entire CIA connected terrorism nexus
to the world. And not one US `news’ outlet will say one word about
it.

Dozens of reporters gave open microphones to Ruslan Tsarni/Tsarnaev
when he denounced his two nephews as `losers’ and that he wished they
had `never existed.’ But what a contrast in news coverage now that
this man Ruslan Tsarni himself is found to be very close to the
Central Intelligence Agency, since 1995.

It seems as though the name `Graham Fuller’ cannot be published in
connection to this case, in any corporate media organization in the
United States, nor in Europe. This is essentially Orwellian
manipulation of the public, and should be considered the top censored
news story of the year, and perhaps of the decade.

Another international terrorist threat warning concerned Tamerlan
Tsarnaev, this time in 2012 from Saudi Arabia. A Saudi official told
Daily Mail UK about a letter to US intelligence and that they wouldn’t
even allow Tamerlan Tsarnaev to enter Saudi Arabia last December,
2012, for his desired pilgrimage to Mecca. The Saudi intelligence did
not just repeat what Russia had said, and instead the warning was
`based on human intelligence developed independently in Yemen.’
Apparently the Saudi Foreign Minister and National Security Chief then
met with Barack Obama in the Oval Office to discuss it early in
2013. Denied, denied, denied.

The usually reliable Israeli intelligence website DebkaFile suggested
two things about this Boston Marathon bombing case that were not
readily apparent at the time. These were 1) that the brothers (or
older brother) were recruited by US intelligence, and that 2) they
turned on their recruiters as double agents for Jihad.

The second part is speculative. But the first part suggests more
detailed knowledge of the Tsarnaevs and of covert activities in the
Caucasus. Most of the data concerning Uncle Ruslan were public and
accessible, just waiting for someone like Hopsicker to piece it
together. The freakish response of the FBI to Tamerlan Tsarnaev,
despite international terrorist threat warnings, suggests something
odd about this case. While double-agents are not unique and this has
precedents, such as Ali Mohamad, we still have no proof that the
brothers actually committed the bombings. They are being tried in the
media, piece by piece, without legal recourse to challenge the
accusations or the so-called evidence against them.

Russian news outlet Izvestia provides another piece of the puzzle, and
it supports the Israeli claim that the brothers were recruited by US
intelligence. On Tamerlan’s trip to Russia in 2012 (Jan. to July),
there is a report by Georgian intelligence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev
attended `training’ at the Jamestown Foundation, connected with the
Caucasus Fund. All have ties to CIA. As for Jamestown Foundation,
guess who gave a keynote speech in 2008 there called `Turkey & the
Caucasus after Georgia’?

Only your favorite =80=9Cstrategist,’ the man whose name US media dare
not speaketh. What a little tiny world we’ve inherited.

[Editor’s note: A previous version of this article said that Tamerlan
Tsarnaev had entered Georgian territory and attended “training” at the
Jamestown Foundation; however, Izvestia article from which this was
sourced didn’t say he entered Georgia, only that Georgian intelligence
was aware of the training. The error has been corrected.]

Profile: Sam Sevian

U.S. Chess Champs
May 2013

Title: International Master

Rating: 2467

Residence: Santa Clara, California

Age: 12

Status: Invited

Chess Highlights: 2012: U12 World Youth Championship Gold Medal; Holds
Record as Youngest-Ever American Master

Bio:

Samuel Sevian is an American Chess prodigy. On December 5, 2010, he
became the youngest National Master in USCF history with a rating of
2206 at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 9 days.

Sam played his first tournament in Orlando on August 12, 2006. His
first success came when he became the youngest Expert in U.S. history,
an achievement that was featured in an article of the Los Angeles
Times by International Master Jack Peters.

In 2012 Sevian completed all International Master Norms winning two
Metropolitan IM and one GM Norm tournament held in Los Angeles. He
became the World Champion in the U12 category in Maribor Slovenia, in
November 2012. His pre-tournament (FIDE) rating at the World Youth was
2347, almost 100 points above his nearest competitor.

“I really worked hard for it, hours of preparation every day before
and during the tournament,” Sam said.

In early 2012, Sam was one of handful of rising stars to be selected
to the Young Stars – Team USA program, a joint partnership between the
Kasparov Chess Federation (KCF) and the Chess Club and Scholastic
Center of Saint Louis, which was launched to find and train the
country’s top emerging chess players for competition with the best
players in the world. Sam received intensive training with legendary
World Champion GM Garry Kasparov, which Sam said was a big
contributing factor to his recent success.

“The KCF helped us enormously,” Sam said. “First, it was Garry’s camps
held in Saint Louis and New York where we got to train with the
Champion himself, and of course long and frequent training sessions
with GM Alexander Chernin, who helped me grow over the last year.”

Sam said his plans for improvement involve further developing his
opening repertoire.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 5 2013

Man shoots bullets into air in front of Armenian church

5 May 2013 /TODAYSZAMAN.COM, Ä°STANBUL

An unknown assailant opened fire into the air outside a small Armenian
church in Ä°stanbul on Sunday while an Orthodox sermon was being held
inside.

No one was hurt during the incident but it has made the Armenian
community extremely uneasy as it came only a day after a racist
organization burned a copy of an Armenian newspaper in IÄ?dır province.

The church where the incident happened is in GedikpaÅ?a, not far from
the official Armenian Patriarchate. Garo Paylan, who was attending the
event, said that someone fired seven shots into the air while standing
in front of the church’s gate. He said that the congregation panicked
and ran outside. Paylan also added that he believed the reason why
this happened in front of the smaller church is because there are less
security cameras around it as opposed to the street where the
patriarchy is located.

He said that the police had arrived at the scene and started
investigations to identify the shooter. They were also to review
footage from nearby cameras.

Paylan noted that an extreme right organization that calls itself the
International Association to Fight Unfounded Armenian Allegations
(ASÄ°M-DER) had burned a copy of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos in
IÄ?dır on Saturday, adding that he did not believe it was a coincidence
that the shooting came a day after the ASÄ°M-DER incident.

Paylan also said that the Armenian community and Agos could file all
the complaints in the world but the rest of the country should stand
up against such acts of racism.

ASÄ°M-DER, an organization founded in 2002, denies that it is racist or
that it has links to coup-plotting organizations that have been found
to have devised plots targeting non-Muslim establishments and
community leaders.

Agos’ previous editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was killed by an
ultra-nationalist teenager in 2007. The court said that the man had
acted alone but a higher court is currently reviewing the case and its
prosecutor has said that the presence of an organized network in
Dink’s murder is evident.

Dink’s lawyers also presented evidence during the initial trial
indicating that there were active efforts by some in the police and
gendarmerie forces to obscure evidence, cover up the killing and
protect the hit man and other individuals believed to have solicited
him for the murder.