Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Glendale News Press, CA
May 30 2014

Upcoming TV show, ‘Glendale Life,’ faces criticism

Online petition opposing the show has garnered more than 1,600 signatures.

By Brittany Levine, [email protected]

May 30, 2014 | 7:05 p.m.

Critics of an upcoming reality show following a group of Armenians who
live in Glendale have created an online petition and fast-growing
Facebook page in an attempt to pressure an Armenian television station
to cut the program before it airs next month.

Opponents have called “Glendale Life” on USArmenia TV “degrading for
Armenians,” “an embarrassment,” and “tasteless” on the Facebook page.
It features socialites clubbing in Hollywood, drinking, crashing cars,
getting plastic surgery and lounging by a pool in its online trailer.

The page, called “Stop ‘Glendale Life’ Show,” has garnered nearly
6,000 likes in about two weeks, while the online petition on
change.org has more than 1,600 signatures.

But Bagrat Sargsyan, chairman of USArmenia TV, said the show is not
unlike any other reality television program, which are engineered to
be “provocative and interesting.”

“Everyone has a right to express their opinion, especially the media’s
freedom which can’t be threatened,” Sargsyan said. “Hopefully, this is
just an emotional thing and people in time will understand the
boundaries of freedom.”

The Armenian reality TV show takes place in Glendale because it has
one of the largest Armenian populations outside of Armenia.

This is not the first time a reality TV show featuring a minority cast
has faced backlash from others within their own community. Bravo’s
“Shahs of Sunset,” which is about a group of Iranian American
socialites in Los Angeles, sparked several petitions within the
Persian community calling for a halt to the program when it premiered
in 2012.

“Shahs of Sunset” persevered and is now in its third season.

Those who criticize “Glendale Life” say it will shine a bad light on
the Armenian American community and will dishonor the 1.5 million
ancestors who died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during the
Armenian Genocide from 1915 to 1918.

“This show will do nothing but slander and deprecate the memory of
each and every one of the 1.5 million men, women and children who died
for our heritage,” the petition states. “We are more than this. We
will not be made a mockery of for their monetary gain.”

But Sargsyan said he found that statement extreme.

“The two things are not related to each other,” he said, adding that
USArmenia TV is planning on airing a television series near the 100th
anniversary of the genocide next April.

Still, some critics on Facebook have called for a boycott of USArmenia
TV’s advertisers.

Another Facebook page called “Start.Glendale.Life,” started in
reaction to the critiques, has received more than 2,400 likes in two
days. When one person called for a respectful dialogue about the show,
the response of the “Start.Glendale.Life” moderator was “What are u
talking about, have u seen [an] Armenian wedding with no fights?”

Although the trailer is mostly in Armenian, the show is expected to be
mostly in English, with some Armenian mixed in, Sargsyan said.

In addition to airing on USArmenia TV, the program — which may be
weekly or multiple times a week, depending on content — is set to be
syndicated worldwide, he said. So far, 14 episodes have been produced.

Online Petition is at

,0,6616593.story

From: Baghdasarian

EFSE success stories. Hamlet Shmavonyan: problems are solvable, if
people do their job

“All you see around is the result of our family efforts. We work hard
day and night and the outcome is pleasing,” Shmavonyan says.

Hamlet Shmavonyan, a resident of Aratavan village in Ararat province
of Armenia, believes that all problems are solvable, once people do
their job. With the latest $2500 loan from ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank,
he bought a land adjacent to his house, where he already built a
pigsty, as well as two greenhouses to grow pinks, tulips and
chrysanthemums. He also purchased fuelwood he uses to heat the
greenhouses in winter.
May 30, 2014

PanARMENIAN.Net – “All you see around is the result of our family
efforts. We work hard day and night and the outcome is pleasing,”
Shmavonyan says.

Although the weather is not always gratifying, with frequent rains,
cold nights and even hail, farmers do not lose heart.

“In this greenhouse we had tulips for the New Year and March 8 sale,
which helped us pay off a part of the loan. There are also garden
radishes to be sold soon,” he says, leading to a pigsty which is now
home to several sows and a dozen of newborns.

“14 piglets were born several days ago but only seven survived.
Anyway, we are now waiting for more to be born,” Shmavonyan says
hopefully.

“I am very thankful to ACBA for cooperation. We have been partners for
a long time and I never experienced problems with registering a new
loan when I needed more money for my household,” he says.

The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) successfully launched
cooperation with ACBA Leasing Credit Organization in Armenia, by
providing a senior loan facility dedicated to MSE financing in the
Equivalent of EUR 2.5 million. The loan facility was aimed at
supporting ACBA Leasing’s strategy to facilitate access to credit for
MSEs, including agricultural producers and individual farmers,
especially in the country’s rural areas.

EFSE operates through financial intermediaries in the region of
Southeast Europe, including the European Eastern Neighborhood Region.
These include commercial banks, microfinance banks, microcredit
organisations and non-bank financial institutions such as leasing
companies. They on-lend funds received from EFSE to the Fund’s
ultimate target group: micro and small enterprises and low-income
private households. All of EFSE’s partner lending institutions are
carefully selected: In addition to being financially stable, the
institutions must treat their clients fairly and in a transparent
manner.

The project is sponsored by the European Fund for Southeast Europe

Lusine Mkrtumova / PanARMENIAN.Net

From: Baghdasarian

Russians Playing According to American Scenario

Igor Muradyan, Political Analyst
Comments – Wednesday, 28 May 2014, 12:27

The Russian propaganda is choking from pleasure and at the same time
demonstrates its stupidity and limited arguments on the
Russian-Chinese “gas” deal which is a life buoy for V. Putin and his
team (which, apparently, does not belong to him any more). However,
ask a question to a more or less sane Russian commentator, and he will
tell you that the deal is not just written on water with a fork but
also may mislead and create illusory hope for perspective.

Most probably, a traditional “pipeline game” is underway without a
clear start and a comprehensible result. Apparently, the perspective
is clear to all the stakeholders except Russia. Such a large-scale
pipeline, irrespective of what is going to flow via it, belongs to
consumers rather than to suppliers. A classic example is the Blue
Stream through which Russia supplies gas to Turkey: the consumer
dictated the prices and conditions when the pipeline had already been
laid out.

The failures of South Stream, as well as the Burgas-Alexandropoulos
oil pipeline also illustrate vulnerability of such projects due to the
position of consumers. The dark side of this situation may be
transportation of the Russian oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Geihan which Russia
fought so ardently and which was an important element of Israel’s
national security.

Russia is trying to demonstrate the results of agreement with China as
a factor of counterbalance in the relations with the United States and
the entire Western world. At the same time, the Chinese leaders were
reserved and did not try to overtake the events, in other words, it
would be funny to detect formation of a Russian-Chinese alliance
against the United States and the West. China is trying to squeeze all
use from its relations with Russia but is not going to set up an
alliance with Russia, especially in counterbalance to the United
States.

Over the past few years China has diversified its foreign trade,
developed technology and is able to produce anything without any
“special favors” from Russia. China is only interested in raw
materials and carbohydrates and unlike its northern neighbor it makes
real plans rather than propagandistic and demagogic turns. However
strong the Chinese-American controversies are, both great powers play
the same pre-arranged games which will never be accessible to other
great powers. Now the United States and China understand each other so
well that they do not need the odd man out, only some add-ins to their
positions.

Washington has never considered a Chinese-Russian alliance as
realistic. It considers relations between these two powers in the
light of historical practice and the real balance of forces. The
United States has attentively followed Shanghai Cooperation
Organization and even tried to co-opt Pakistan into this organization,
apparently in order to disorganize it. However, neither SCO, nor
relations between China and Russia were ever viewed by Washington as a
threat to its interests. Too deep are controversies among them,
especially in a medium-term perspective.

The Russians understand that it is better than the Americans and
always reserve factors for counteraction. In any case, the Russians
believe that they have such levers of counteraction.

However, in this case the point is to what extent the “gas deal”
contradicts or is in line with the interests of the United States and
Europe, i.e. to what extent it fits into the global energy policy and
to what extent it will influence the global situation of
carbohydrates. Therefore, it is important to understand that China and
the United States have been trying to agree division of zones of
influence based on the mutually favorable principle.

Now it is evident that the United States has conceded Central Asia to
China not because the Americans were weaker there. The United States
mostly controls Central Asia having considerable military contingent
in Afghanistan and technical and political capacity to limit Russian
and Chinese presence in the region. However, they preferred conceding
the region to China because it was meaningless to agree with Russia on
anything, especially that China does not pretend to involvement of
regional states in its empire while Russia is speaking too much about
it.

Central Asia is the arena where observation of processes helps figure
out most rules of development of regional and global geopolitical and
geoeconomic situations. By analogy the United States and the West
“conceded” all or part of Russia’s resources to China because the West
does not need those resources. It would be logical to think in the
following way: if the European Union implements a policy of reduction
of dependence on Russian carbohydrates, it is better to concede
Russian gas to China than force China to participate in development of
carbohydrates in other regions, such as Africa or Latin America.

It should be noted that Chinese economic and political expansion in
Southeast Asia has changed in nature. In other words, if it is not
limited, it mostly takes into account the interests of the United
States and its partners. Some experts tend to explain this by concerns
of the countries of this region about Chinese expansion but this
dissatisfaction had occurred earlier whereas recently the Chinese
policy has been limited a little more.

In other words, in the U.S.-Chinese relations Eurasia is a priority
zone of Chinese influence, especially that the United States is not
interested in the resources of this region. This has been highlighted
for multiple times and it is found in the U.S. government’s documents.

The Eurasian direction of Chinese expansion is an important trick for
distracting Chine from other directions. Of course, in a long-term
perspective every scenario will be revised for more than once but now
the Russians have been offered this scenario, and it has to accept it.

Hence, ostensibly, there is a U.S.-Chinese agreement on the Russian
“gas deal”, in other words, the American scenario is followed. This is
not bad if everyone is happy and benefits. However, the notion of
benefit is highly relative in geopolitical arrangements, and this
category should be studied in its dynamics. Europe will not suffer,
because such immense investments in a “gas project” are impossible
without the participation of European banks, possibly also
transnational companies.

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

U.S. expert about growing tension between U.S. and Azerbaijan

17:33 31/05/2014 >> REGION

U.S. analyst Gerald Robbins, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy
Research Institute, who specializes on the Caucasus region, commented
on the U.S.-Azerbaijani ties which have recently strained by
escalating official rhetoric in Baku against Ambassador Richard
Morningstar’s latest interview to the Radio Liberty, Turan reports.

“I generally agree with the Ambassador’s comments… which in
diplomatic phrasings, reflect calibrated viewpoints that’s needed when
assessing Azerbaijan,” in an interview with TURAN said Mr. Robbins,
who once served as Program Director for Freedom House in Baku during
the mid-1990’s.

The expert noted that part of Washington’s stand is due to
Azerbaijan’s being tenuously located between Russia and Iran. Given
the rising threats that both these nations convey, maintaining a
stable Caspian environment is an important theme. He believes that
Azerbaijan’s energy potential undoubtedly reinforces this outlook in
US and Western diplomatic circles. In the meantime, Robbins emphasized
that the regional stability does not depend solely on conflicts but on
the democracy level as well, he said, adding that Ambassador
Morningstar’s answers reflect this dilemma.

“Overall, it’s a challenge that’s generally confronting America’s
foreign policy outlook Advocating greater political freedom can cause
uncertainty and serious instability. The Arab Spring’s aftermath is a
good example,” Robbins said arguing, whereas Washington had advocated
the need for change in that region, the results have led to a more
cautious vision.

Asked whether Baku officials’ accusing Washington of “financing, and
orchestrating ‘Euromaidans'” reflect growing tensions in
US-Azerbaijani relations, Robbins said, he didn’t believe there’s a
conscientious effort by America to orchestrate political unrest in
Azerbaijan.

As for the US-Azerbaijani ties, the analyst explained that there’s
more frustration than tension that’s currently defining relations: “If
stability is the main concern, then how does democracy get promoted?
Is it a total or gradual process? Given regional circumstances, can a
democratization process be successfully managed? Both sides need to
specifically address these questions to allay confusion and
misperceptions,” Robbins believes.

Speaking about the regional challenges in a wake of Ukrainian events,
Robbins said, the crisis in the neighborhood places Azerbaijan in a
very tenuous position. “The Kremlin’s actions in Crimea and Western
Ukraine are “a warning that Azerbaijan’s energy potential can be
readily confiscated, particularly if it’s viewed as a competing threat
to Russian input,” he said.

“If the U.S. and Europe’s muted response to the crisis continues,
there must be a heightened sense of anxiety in Baku and neighboring
capitals about Western resolve,” he noted.

For Robbins, settling the Nagorno-Karabakh issue seems very remote at
this point, accentuated by Crimea’s recent annexation.

“I don’t believe Russia would enact a similar operation regarding
Azerbaijan, but likely use subversive means to undermine governmental
authority,” the analyst believes. He also said that the Obama
administration’s “leading from behind” policy doctrine “isn’t working
and needs to assume a more proactive role.”

U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar in an interview with
the Azerbaijani service of “Radio Liberty” stated that the Azerbaijani
authorities put artificial barriers for the development of civil
society for no reason, and persecute and suppress the freedom of
speech and the media. If they continue this policy it may eventually
lead to “Maidan” in Azerbaijan, and they should not blame the West for
this.

After the interview of the Ambassador, Deputy Heads of Azerbaijani
Presidential Administration Novruz Mammadov and Ali Hasanov, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev and the head of the administration
Ramiz Mehtiyev had harshly criticized Ambassador Morningstar and the
U.S. as a whole. In its turn, the U.S. embassy stated, that it is not
agree with such criticism.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenians die in Aleppo

19:24, 31 May, 2014

YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenians died in the Armenian New
Village neighborhood of Aleppo on May 31 because of the fall of the
rockets. The Information office of Aleppo informed Armenpress about
it. The names of the died Armenians are Rahel Davitian and Misak
Pargev Poshkezenian. It is known that the funeral of Misak
Poshkezenian will be held in the Armenian Apostolic St. Astvatsatsin
Church in Aleppo on June 1.

The alarming situation continues in New Village neighborhood of Aleppo
since it has appeared in the target of many bombs and
missiles.

Earlier, information was received that 22 people died and 75 people
received injuries in the New Village neighborhood of Aleppo on May 30
because of the fall of the rockets. Fortunately, there were no
Armenians among them.

From: Baghdasarian

Earthquake on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

09:35, 30 May, 2014

YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. On May 30 at 07.15 a.m. the Seismological
Network of the Seismic Protection Service registered a 2.5 magnitude
earthquake, whose epicenter was located on the Armenian-Azerbaijan
border, 29 km north-west of the town Vardenis. As Armenpress” was
informed from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, in the epicenter
zone the power of the earthquake was 3 points. The earthquake
hypocenter was at a depth of 10 km.The epicenter geographical
coordinates are north latitude 40.41 and east longitude 45.58

From: Baghdasarian

US seeks to improve relations with Armenia, says envoy

13:09 * 31.05.14

The United States seeks to improve its relations with Armenia further and
increase its influence in the country, Ambassador John Heffern has said in
an interview with VoA Armenian
.

Mr Heffern, who is back to the US these days, is said to be conducting
meetings with representatives of different Armenian communities, as well as
companies which may be interested in investment opportunities in Armenia.

Asked whether he thinks that the peace talks over Nagorno-Karabakh have
reached a phase of stalemate, the diplomat said the remark can be
considered true but added that James Warlick, the US co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group (the mission that brokers the peace deal between Armenia and
Azerbaijan), is fully committed to his duties (as instructed by the
Department of State) to spare no effort in brining the sides’ positions
closer. Noting that there is a certain progress in the negotiations, Mr
Heffern said that the US co-chair has a clear task to promote more in-depth
process between the sides.

The ambassador added that that after the September 3 statement on Armenia’s
intention join the Eurasian Customs Union, President Serzh Sargsyan gave a
very important signal to the United States and Europe that the country
wishes to continue the partnership with the West. As an example, he cited
the transaction of selling the Vorotan Hydropower Plant
to the US company
ContourGlobal.

Asked whether the United States, which is Turkey’s ally, will encourage the
country’s future president to visit Armenia next year for the April 24
Genocide centennial event, the ambassador said he believes that PM Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s April 23 condolence address
was just step ahead
of that. He said the United States would try to be more useful, adding that
a final decision is to be made by Turkey’s top officials (president and
prime minister).

From: Baghdasarian

Visitor center at Ararat cognac factory starts working with no day off

YEREVAN, May 31. /ARKA/. The visitor center of ARARAT cognac factory
is transferring to a new schedule with more hours for tourist visits,
the press office of the factory reported.

As from June2, the center will be working with no day off, including
Saturdays and Sundays, from 09:00 to 20:00. Information about this is
placed on facebook page of the center –

The press office said the decision was made to communicate the
knowledge about cultural and historic heritage of cognac-making in
Armenia to more people as tourism flows are growing.

Since last year there have been new tour routes introduced at ARARAT’s
visitor center, giving guests an opportunity to visit the cognac
ageing storage, to see the cognac spirit ripening process and the
collection of ARARAT’s oldest cognacs, as well as to be to the special
storage where presidential barrels are kept.

Apart from this, visitors may enjoy a 3D presentation on cooperage and
an animated video about cognac production in the repaired center.

The Yerevan Brandy Factory was established in 1887. The present plant
was constructed in 1953. In June 1998, the factory joined Pernod
Ricard Group, an international corporation that is the second largest
alcoholic drinks maker and owns some widely-known brands. The
corporation acquired the Yerevan Brandy Factory via an international
tender for $30 million.-0–

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament: Armenia will take no steps that
may damage Nagorno-Karabakh’s political and economic interests

by Tatevik Shahunyan

ARMINFO
Saturday, May 31, 00:01

Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic
Union has nothing to do with the problems of borders, Vice Speaker of
the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov told ArmInfo, when asked to
comment on the last statement by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
that Armenia must join the Eurasian Economic Union within the borders
it had when joining the WTO.

“Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh share one and the same economic area.
This is a fact. It’s also a fact that Armenia will join the Eurasian
Economic Union in June 2014. There are a number of problems we need to
solve but they have nothing to do with the border. The Customs Union
and the Eurasian Economic Union are not authorized to solve border-
related problems. Armenia joined the WTO and is now joining the
abovementioned unions to solve its economic problems rather than to
settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The latter is the prerogative of
the OSCE Minsk Group,” Sharmazanov said.

He advised not to make a buzz about Nazarbayev’s statement. “We
perfectly know who he made it for and why,” Sharmazanov said, noting
that Armenia is the guarantor of Nagorno-Krabakh’s security and will
take no steps than may damage its political and economic interests.

From: Baghdasarian

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: MIKOYAN STATUE DISAPPEARS

09:12 * 30.05.14

The bronze statue of Anastas Mikoyan, the Soviet-Armenian statesman
widely criticized for involvement in the Stalin-era repressions,
is said to have disappeared in strange circumstances.

Employees of the melting house where it was being kept have reportedly
told the paper that the sculpture had been taken earlier. But they
didn’t say where and by whom, according to the paper.

Neither were employees of the Yerevan City Hall or sculptor Gagik
Stepanyan (who was entrusted with the statue’s quality control)
aware of its whereabouts, says the paper.

From: Baghdasarian