Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIA JAILS BREDOLAB BOTMASTER FOR 4 YEARS
By John Leyden

Register

May 23 2012

First computer crime conviction in the former Soviet republic

A cybercrook who established a 30 million computer strong botnet has
been jailed for four years in Armenia.

Georgy Avanesov, 27, a Russian citizen of Armenian descent, had
apparently been making a cool $125,000 a month renting out access to
zombie drones in the infamous Bredolab botnet.

Other crooks used access to these compromised Windows PCs to either
distribute spam, launch DDoS attacks or to mount scareware (fake
anti-virus) scams. DDoS targets reportedly included Russian anti-virus
firm Kaspersky Lab.

Bredolab, which disgorged more than 3 billion malicious emails a
day at its peak, spread by planting malicious scripts on legitimate
websites. These scripts used browsers exploits and the like to drop
the zombie software onto the Windows PCs.

Components of the Bredolab malware were designed to steal usernames
and passwords to FTP accounts, creating a means to plant malicious
code onto more legitimate sites in the process, further multiplying
the spread of infection.

Prospective marks were tricked into visiting compromised sites using
spam emails with dodgy HTML attachments that posed as messages from the
likes of Facebook, Skype and Amazon. Screenshots of infected email,
along with commentary on the botnet and Avanesov’s prosecution,
can be found in a blog post by Sophos here.

“It’s easy to see how such a large network of infected PCs was created,
as people clicked on seemingly legitimate attachments and websites,
oblivious to the infection that would go on to take control of their
PC, and in some cases steal passwords and usernames,” commented Graham
Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos. “To prevent botnets
such as this forming, it is critical that website administrators
don’t let FTP software remember passwords, and that users are more
cautious in the attachments they download.”

Avanesov’s downfall followed swiftly on the heels of the botnet
takedown operation in October 2010.

Dutch police seized control of command & control servers associated
with the Bredolab botnet, using this access to display warning messages
to users with compromised PCs. Days afterwards, Avanesov was arrested
at Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport in Armenia, shortly after he stepped
off a late night flight from Moscow.

The 27-year-old is the first person in Armenia to be jailed for
violation of Armenia’s computer crime laws. Local (English language)
reports on Avanesov’s sentencing on Tuesday can be found here. ®

REAL CONFLICT ABOUT NOTHING
By Orkhan Sattarov

Vestnik Kavkaza
May 23 2012
Russia

The relationship between Azerbaijan and Iran has always been a
complicated one, but it is the first time such a prolonged crisis has
happened in its history. And it is certainly the first time in the
history of world diplomacy that such a minor incident has triggered
such a major crisis. The pretext is virtually non-existent: Tehran
recalled its ambassador to Baku for ‘consultations’ because of a
gay-parade Azerbaijan was allegedly going to sanction. However,
Baku never planned such an event.

The head of the social and political department of the Azerbaijani
Presidential Administration, Ali Hassanov, commented on the Iranian
allegations and said that Iran is one of the parties waging an
information war against Azerbaijan on the eve of the ‘Eurovision-2012
contest’. “We have warned Iran against such misinformation many times.

I’ve personally visited the country to state our position: we don’t
interfere in their internal affairs and don’t want them interfering in
ours. I really don’t know where they got that idea about a gay-parade.”

Hassanov also mentioned that Iran thinks that Azerbaijan is a
Shiah state, while in fact Azerbaijan never discriminates for any
confession. “Iran wants us to be its friend and the enemy of its
enemies, but we have our own independent policy. It is not necessary
for us to be the friends of Iran’s friends and enemies of Iran’s
enemies, but we never took part in the western anti-Iranian campaign.

Iran is a fellow-Muslim state, some 30 million of our
fellow-Azerbaijanis live there,” Hassanov is cited as saying by the
APA agency.

The absurdity of the allegations that gave rise to the new stage of
the Iranian-Azerbaijani faceoff clearly demonstrates that Iran is
happy to use any pretext to criticize Azerbaijan. The ‘gay-parade’
card played by the Iranian spiritual leaders was supposed to make the
Azeri government “return to Islamic values’ and actually turned their
flag upside-down, putting the green stripe, signifying Islam, on top.

In order to better understand the most recent Iranian-Azerbaijani
developments, we should show the events in their chronological order.

During the unceasing protest rallies in front of the Azeri consulate
in Tabriz, the representatives of the pro-governmental ‘Bassidzh’
organization demand the cancellation of the Eurovision contest and
the mythical gay-parade in Azerbaijan, as well as insulting top Azeri
officials. Azeri civil society responded with protest actions in front
of the Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan. The Azeri diaspora in the USA,
Sweden, Germany, GB and Denmark supported the protest. Some of the
slogans that sounded during these rallies, like “Azerbaijan will be
united and Tabriz will be its capital” or “No to mullahs-homosexuals”
had the effect of a ‘red rag’ on Tehran. During one of the actions the
protestors laid a black wreath near the Iranian Embassy, which should
symbolize the upcoming fall of the Tehran regime. And of course the
photo of Ahmadinejad and Armenian President Serge Sarksyan became the
‘hit’ of the protest posters. However, Iran decided to react to these
street rallies on the official level and called on the Baku authorities
to respond, thus attributing a whole new level to the conflict.

The Iranian Embassy’s official statement reads that ‘the insults
against the Shiah leader hurt the feelings of each and every free
Muslim’ and that they hope that the Islamic community of Azerbaijan
would react accordingly. Then the Embassy demanded that the Azeri
government finds and punishes the culprits immediately. Iran was
also outraged by the lack of reaction from the Caucasian Muslim
Administration to the incident.

The claim about the ‘Islamic community of Azerbaijan’ is particularly
interesting: it is no secret that Iran supports radical Muslim
movements in Azerbaijan, trying to use them to promote its own
influence in the country. Constant heated discussions on religious
topics in Azerbaijan play into the hands of Iran and its creation –
the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan.

In this context it is interesting to note the incident that took
place in Sumgait on May 22: the police confiscated a number of CDs
containing speeches against the Eurovision contest and radical Islamic
propaganda from the ‘Islam’ shop. 10 people were also arrested.

According to APA, Iran might be behind the CD circulating in Baku
and Sumgait.

However, just as Tehran uses the radicals in Azerbaijan, Baku also
has certain leverage in its relationship with Tehran. The Iranian
authorities can’t ignore the tens of millions of ethnic Azerbaijanis
living in their country. This month the First Forums of South
Azerbaijani Turks took place in Ankara, despite all the obstacles
created by Iran. 237 delegates took part in it, including Azerbaijani
MPs. On May 22 mass eco-protest rallies took place in the towns of
Tabriz and Urmia: the activists demanded that the authorities pay
more attention to the problem of Lake Urmia drying up. However, the
protestors also demanded civic rights for the Azeri population of Iran,
such as education in their native language. According to the media,
more than 100 protestors were arrested and there were injuries.

On May 22 Iran recalled its ambassador from Baku, and right after
that the Iranian border became closed to cargo transport travelling
from Azerbaijan. According to the Azerbaijani foreign ministry’s
official representative, Iran hasn’t yet clarified its position about
the recall of its ambassador. According to the Iranian Embassy,
the ambassador was recalled because of sacrilege that happened in
Azerbaijan. Commenting on this statement, the Azeri FM representative
said that in this case Iran should recall its ambassador from Armenia
as well, as there was a lot of sacrilege committed by the Armenians
during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Baku often reproaches Iran for
its friendship with Yerevan, even though Tehran itself always demands
‘Islamic solidarity’ from Baku.

Armenia’s cooperation with Iran gives it the opportunity to keep the
Azerbaijani territories under occupation, as the economic benefits from
this cooperation cover the damage caused by the closed border with
Turkey. It is obvious that Iran doesn’t want a strong Turkic state
near its border – and that’s exactly what it will get if Azerbaijan
regains control over the occupied territories.

On the other hand, due to its position in the Azeri-Armenian conflict,
Iran has lost almost all its influence over Azerbaijan, giving way to
Turkey, which led to the consolidation of forces promoting Pan-Turkic
ideology within Azerbaijan. The point of no return was reached in
May 1992 when, after the ‘mediatory efforts’ of Iran, Armenian troops
took the Karabakh capital, the city of Shusha. Therefore, Iran failed
to deliver its guarantees of banning all military actions during the
negotiations. Such ‘diplomatic surprises’ can’t be forgotten.

Today’s round of the Azeri-Iranian conflict coincided with the US
Congress adopting a new package of anti-Iranian sanctions. According
to Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, Russia is
very concerned about the fact that many countries now agree to the
possibility of a military solution to the ‘Iranian problem’. According
to the US ambassador to Israel, Washington has a complete plan of
a military incursion into Iran, so the general picture looks rather
grim for Tehran.

It is possible that this is the reason for the excessive irritability
of Tehran towards Azerbaijan, which has friendly relations with
both the US and Israel. It is also possible that the row about the
non-existent gay-parade was created to divert the Iranian public’s
attention from the economic difficulties and the impending war.

However, Azerbaijan is unlikely to bear such treatment lightly,
and Tehran seems to have no ‘plan B’.

EYE CARE PROJECT FOR DIABETES PATIENTS IMPLEMENTED IN GEGHARKUNIK PROVINCE

Published: Tuesday May 22, 2012

A patient receives an eye exam.

Yerevan – Garo Meghrigian Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology
(Meghrigian Institute) of the College of Health Sciences at the
American University of Armenia is currently implementing a project
aimed at reducing the incidence of blindness and visual impairment
due to diabetic retinopathy in Gegharkunik province of Armenia.

Diabetic retinopathy is a well-recognized complication of diabetes
mellitus. Good control of diabetes significantly reduces the risk
for diabetic retinopathy, while the treatment of retinopathy can
reduce the risk for visual loss by more than 90%. Screening programs
at early stages when treatment can prevent visual loss, as well as
health education programs for persons with diabetes, help to prevent
blindness due to diabetic retinopathy.

The first stage of the project included training primary health care
providers on the importance of early detection of diabetic retinopathy
and the need for regular ophthalmic examination of diabetic patients.

Fourteen primary health care physicians and 29 nurses were trained by
Meghrigian Institute at the Lions Regional Ophthalmic Unit in Sevan
in September-October 2011.

Meghrigian Institute is now in the second stage of the project
implementation, which focuses on free ophthalmic examinations of
diabetes patients in regional centers and villages of Gegharkunik
marz for early detection of diabetic retinopathy and assessment of
possible eye complications due to diabetes. All diagnosed patients
receive free ophthalmic consultation about the diagnosis and further
treatment. In addition to free screening, diabetes patients receive
educational brochures developed by Meghrigian Institute to increase
patients’ awareness about diabetes management and prevention of
diabetic retinopathy.

To date, the Meghrigian Institute has covered 268 diabetes patients
from Sevan, Gavar, and Chambarak, and continues its work in other
towns and villages of Gegharkunik marz.

Meghrigian Institute has been involved in prevention of avoidable
blindness since 1999 through scientific research, providing preventive
screening services to vulnerable populations, strengthening ophthalmic
services in regions of Armenia and trainings for health professionals
and the general public.

The American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, nonsectarian,
independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia. Founded in 1991,
AUA is affiliated with the University of California. Through teaching,
research, and public service, AUA serves Armenia and the region by
supplying high-quality education in seven different major fields,
encouraging civic engagement, and promoting democratic values.

The American University of Armenia is accredited by the Accrediting
Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges, 985 Atlantic Avenue, #100,
Alameda, CA 94501, 510-748-9001 .

TURKEY CONFIDENT TIES WITH FRANCE WILL IMPROVE

Emirates 24/7
May 22 2012
UAE

By AP
Published Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Turkey’s president says he is confident that ties with France will
improve fast under President Francois Hollande.

Abdullah Gul met with Hollande late Monday on the sidelines of the
Nato summit in Chicago and later told Turkish reporters the new French
president’s position was “opposite” to that of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy strongly opposed Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Tensions peaked this year when France tried to introduce a law making
it a crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
amounted to genocide. The law was eventually ruled unconstitutional.

Gul said he told Hollande that the two nations have no conflict of
interest and therefore no reason to “act like enemies.”

He said: “I am sure they will make an assessment and our relations
will rapidly change.”

IRAN RECALLS ENVOY TO AZERBAIJAN AMID DISPUTE

Journal of Turkish Weekly

May 22 2012

Iran has recalled its envoy to Azerbaijan, amid a dispute between
the neighboring countries as Baku prepares to host the Eurovision
song contest.

Iran’s embassy in Baku says Ambassador Mohammad Bagher Bahrami left
for Tehran on Monday for talks on what the embassy called the “insult
of religious saints.”

Azerbaijani protesters rallied outside the Iranian Embassy in Baku
last week to denounce Iran’s perceived anti-Azerbaijani policies and
the violation of the rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran.

During the rally, demonstrators held up photos of Iran’s president,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the country’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah
Khamenei, in efforts to mock the two men.

Separately, Azerbaijani police arrested several protesters trying
to draw attention to human rights violations in Azerbaijan, during
a march on Monday in Baku.

Azerbaijan comes under global scrutiny on Tuesday with the start of
Eurovision, Europe’s biggest songfest.

Baku is seeking to use the contest to boost its image. An estimated
120 million people worldwide will watch Eurovision.

Meanwhile, Armenia says it is boycotting the Eurovision song contest.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have long engaged in a dispute about the
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region deep
inside Azerbaijan.

The region declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering
a six-year war that claimed 35,000 lives and left more than 1 million
people homeless.

International efforts to broker a peace deal have failed, and border
tensions between Armenian-backed forces and Azerbaijani troops
remain high.

The Eurovision semifinal competition is on Tuesday and the final is
on Saturday.

EURO SONG HOSTS ARE CORRUPT SAYS SHOW
BY: MARK JEFFERIES

The Mirror
May 21, 2012 Monday
UK

PROGRAMME ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF DIRTY TRICKS DURING 2009 VOTING

EUROVISION hosts Azerbaijan are corrupt and used dirty tricks during
voting, a TV investigation will claim tonight.

The Baku Crystal Hall, a huge 20,000 seater venue has been built
specially for, the song contest this coming weekend.

But BBC’s Panorama has discovered its construction led to communist
blocks of flats in the area being demolished – with some residents
still inside.

Local Azru Ali said: “It was around 5am when I heard a noise and the
building shook. A bulldozer had started demolishing the other side
of the building. We were scared and I ran out with the children.”

BBC reporter Paul Kenyon went undercover in the former Soviet republic
and also found people were arrested for voting for rival country
Armenia in the song contest in 2009.

They have pulled out of this year’s contest over fears for their
competitors safety in a country they were recently at war with.

Referring to attempts to stop Armenia getting any coverage, voter
Rovshan Nasirili told the programme: “When the act from Armenia
performed, Azen TV stopped the broadcast.

“As a sign of protest I voted for Armenia.

“They (the police) asked why I voted for Armenia. They took a statement
from me and applied some pressure.”

President Ilham Aliyev’s forces even plants cameras in people’s homes
and threatens to jail or blackmail journalists if they do not praise
or agree with the ruling family ahead of Eurovision.

Emin Huseynov, chairman of the institute of reporters’ freedom and
safety in Axerbaijan said: “The government try to control us under
surveillance. They use different means to provoke us. They can arrest
journalists on trumped up charges.

“They kill them and wouldn’t try to find and punish the killers.”

During Eurovision, the president and his wife Merihiban have arranged
for her son-in-law to sing on stage if front of an estimated audience
of 120million.

Mr Kenyon says Emin Agalarov will be allowed to sing there so the
ruling family, who run a “mafia state”, can promote themselves.

Ingrid Deltenre, Director General of the EBU which organises
Eurovision, said: “I can’t hide myself, it was amazing.

“I can’t do anything about it. I’ve been told he’s actually a
really good singer. It’s something we would say ‘oh is this really
necessary’. I have to admit that.

“We are going with the song contest to Azerbaijan because it is
according to the rules.”

But the decision to expose and attack Eurovision has come under fire
from UK entrant Engelbert Humperdinck, who claims he was “ambushed”
by Panorama to take part in the show.

BBC journalists decided to confront Humperdinck to ask him why he
was taking part and what his views were on human rights in the country.

The singer remained calm and smiling as he was approached by Mr Kenyon
but his entourage, including BBC staff, were furious.

The scene will be shown on tomorrow night’s programme despite pleas
from other parts of the BBC not to do so.

In an angry exchange of emails, Chris Hewlett, Humperdinck’s agent,
told Mr Kenyon: “I wanted to drop you an email and just make very
clear how surprised and disappointed we all were that Panorama felt it
appropriate to ambush Engelbert Humperdinck on BBC property in order
to force a reaction from him, without even giving him the courtesy
of time to frame his thoughts.

“As you know, Eurovision is a BBC show, and he was invited by the
BBC to participate, and we feel that these actions by another BBC
team were at best ill-judged.”

But a Panorama spokesman said: “We’re satisfied that we’ve acted
fairly and followed our editorial guidelines.”

AZERBAIJAN FILE Gained independence in 1991. Oil rich nation of nine
million people built EUR134million Crystal Hall, left, in capital
Baku for Eurovision contest

LEILA YUNUS: AZERBAIJAN RULED IN MAFIA-CLAN MODE

arminfo
Tuesday, May 22, 20:31

“The situation in Azerbaijan’s human rights is appalling and the
campaign ‘Sing for Democracy’ has been created in order to attract
the world’s attention to the problems in this area”. So commented the
director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), Leila Yunus,
at a press conference on the results of the campaign by local human
rights activists on the eve of Eurovision.

Contact.az quotes Yunus as saying that Azerbaijan is not even an
authoritarian regime, but a mafia-clan management system. Today,
the country has 70 political prisoners. Some of them sit in jail for
participating in peaceful demonstrations, for which even in Russia
they give 15 days.

Within the number of political prisoners, Yunus also included 10
activists of the Islamic Party sentenced to 10-12 years in jail on
trumped-up charges of coup d’etat.

Yunus also focused attention on the arrest of seven journalists, who,
following Eurovision, could be imprisoned for 5-7 years. In addition,
criminal charges were brought against four human rights defenders.

Yunus paid particular attention to the violation of property rights
of citizens. 60,000 residents of Baku have been illegally evicted from
their apartments. Eurovision has accelerated this process,” said Yunus,
adding that the seizure of property took place in violation of the
laws, without a decision by the Cabinet or official budget allocations.

Turning to European journalists, Yunus urged them not to remain
indifferent to the issue of human rights in Azerbaijan.

“Say no to corruption in Europe and to the corrupt politicians, do
not take money from the Aliyev regime, say yes to democracy in the
faraway country of Azerbaijan,” she said. However, the statement by
Yunus caused a hysterical reaction by pro- government journalists
from the state media. One of them protested against anti-government
statements, seeing a “violation of ethics” in the words of Yunus.

ACADEMICS CONSIDER ARMENIAN DIASPORA, PRESERVATION OF CULTURE

tert.am
22.05.12

Fewer Armenian Americans are speaking the language of their native
country, eroding the ability of the diaspora to preserve its culture,
according to an expert at UCLA who addressed a conference organized
at the Central Library on Saturday, glendalenewspress.com reports.

Since 1970, the use of the Armenian language has decreased dramatically
in all areas of diasporan life, including weddings, baptisms, schools
and newspapers, said Hagop Gulludjian, a lecturer of Armenian studies
at UCLA.

Language is key to the survival of ethnic identity, particularly
because the Armenian diaspora appears to be permanent, he added.

“Ultimately, the world is language,” Gulludjian said.

While Armenian organizations focused their efforts on education
during the first half of the 20th century, today’s diaspora favors
issues that are less related to cultural survival, Gulludjian said,
including recognition of the Armenian genocide and assistance to
homeland, he added.

He proposed the creation of a “critical mass” of users of the language,
which will result in more books and newspapers being published in
Armenian and the language being used more often in homes, churches
and at social events.

Organizers of the conference – the ARPA Institute and library officials
– gave him a choice, he noted: make his presentation in Armenian or
English, which left him with a difficult choice.

“If I speak in Armenian, the older generation, plus educated immigrants
from the Near East, will understand me,” he said.

However, non-Armenian speakers and those who speak Armenian, but
maybe not to the point of understanding abstract thoughts, will not.

Another topic discussed at the conference was the apparent lack of
coordination among the three political parties of the diaspora with
the Armenian government, according to Stephan Astourian, executive
director of the Armenian studies program at UC, Berkeley.

He said the parties claim that they have power, but have done little
during the past 20 years. He said one organization should be set up
to represent all Armenian communities.

Also discussed was a paper by Simon Payaslian, chairman of modern
Armenian history and literature at Boston University, which looked
at how diasporan communities are declining in the Middle East and
United States – but for different reasons.

In the Middle East, there’s an exodus of Armenians, while in the
United States, he attributed the trend to assimilation.

POLITICIAN: AZERBAIJAN HAS THE HABIT TO HIDE OWN VICTIMS

22.05.12

“Any danger for Armenia is a danger for the CSTO and any military
action towards Armenia means that the organization is a conflicting
side as well.” Politician Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan announced about this
during the press-conference at “Armat” press-club today referring to
the announcement by CSTO Secretary General Nicolay Bordzyuzha about
the support to Armenia. Bordzyuzha announced yesterday during the TV
bridge that if Armenia is endangered so the CSTO will support it as
Armenia is a complete member of the organization.

According to the politician this announcement and the CSTO military
trainings in Armenia are alert for Azerbaijan which shows that
“Armenia is under CSTO consideration and the member countries are
resolute to protect its ally’s interests”.

The speaker noted that Azerbaijan and Turkey are trying now to change
the format of the NK issue negotiations as OSCE MG is a unique forum
where the grant countries have got agreement about the political
future of the region.

“Turkey tries to be included in this format. They offered to launch
peace platform in Caucasus then Armenian-Turkish relations, but all
these initiatives were failed”.

Speaking about Armenian punitive actions towards Azerbaijani Army
the politician said: “Every time when Armenian side announces about
the punitive actions towards the Azerbaijani Armed Forces first they
deny the fact and when announce that Azerbaijani soldier is dead a s
result of the mine blast, during the educational trainings and so on”.

According to H. Melik-Shahnazaryan Azerbaijan realizes that it is
impossible to cover the information about losses but they try to keep
Azerbaijani society away from dissatisfactions.

According to the speaker Azerbaijan has this habit to hide own victims.

“We have held a research recently which is called “Brotherhood
cemeteries of Heidar Aliyev”. Azerbaijani Army had great losses during
the Artsakh war and they did not make a list of the victims. They
just buried them in the same place and announced that these people
are lost and no on knows where they are”, the politician informed
and added that they have marked 15 places. The research is going on.

According to H. Melik-Shahnazaryan Azerbaijanis also try to make
provocation and hope that Armenians will not answer as the world is
concentrated on Azerbaijan because of the “Eurovision 2012” song
contest. But the politician is sure that Baku is mistaken in its
calculations and the last developments prove it.

LEGITIMATE ANTIQUITY IN YEREVAN
Igor Muradyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:15:56 – 23/05/2012

Interesting developments are underway in Yerevan, and the impression
is that the parliamentary election did not live up to expectations
in terms of magnificence. It needs a final touch. The Armenian
society apparently does not get in touch with developed societies
often enough or gets in touch selectively, and has hardly drawn the
necessary conclusions.

The impression is that we are still living in the gloomy period of
middle ages. This epoch rejected the permissiveness and ethics of
the antic period and established traditionalism which made possible
modernism and post-modernism.

Apparently, someone wants to legitimize the antiquity. The problem is
not legal issues or even humanism. The Armenian society is humanist,
despite plenty of ugly stereotypes. It turns out that we cannot have
a more or less meaningful and actual political nationalism because
nationalism is perceived as banal fundamentalism.

The problem is not the lack of democracy or humanism. On the contrary,
an anti-problem arises, as a fruit of anti-culture. However, one
should agree that it is dishonest, even too dishonest to distort the
perceptions of the society which has not delivered itself from the
repetition of pseudo-modernism.

The world has entered a post-modern epoch, a stage of rejection of
modernism, while the Armenians are still adhering to modernism. One
should understand that the rule of minority is not something new but
the forgotten past. The rule of the minority is a means of governance,
expansion, one of the directions of globalization.

I have encountered the rejection of interaction by the Jewish
analytical community, with frank explanations and references to my
two articles which were broadly criticized by the representatives of
the minorities.

Outstanding personalities of culture and science announced about the
dangerous totalitarian behavior of the representatives of minorities,
meanwhile these people have a great contribution to modern culture
and there are no doubts about their humanism.

Hence, it is not a matter of ethics but of the political field.

Despite the understanding of the nature of their role, the minorities
have become factors of absolutism and totalitarianism in politics. Not
only in politics but also in the other spheres of intellectual
activities. To be clear, “absolute totalitarian” is meant which is
carried by the pseudo-religious sects, not “liberal totalitarianism”.

In the Armenian society it is absolutely impossible to shift the
debate to the sphere of force. It is foolish and ingenuous. However,
it is necessary to be optimistic to this issue as it is a problem
that each society solves in its own way.

An example is neighboring Azerbaijan where the minorities have already
taken power and will keep it thanks to this factor. Georgia is also
close to this situation. However, it does not mean that Azerbaijan
is a democratic country.

The Armenian political parties are confused about this issue and
cannot respond to this challenge. Will they be able to discuss this
topic like cultured people?

Struggle between two paradigms – the Middle Ages and the Antic Epoch
– is underway, and for the time being everyone draws a conclusion
themselves. One day they will have to make serious political
decisions. Don’t worry guys. We will make it. We are already in. But
don’t do stupid things.