Author: Chakrian Hovsep

THE LOBBY LIKE NO OTHER WANTS A WAR LIKE NO OTHER
by Michael Scheuer

Antiwar.com
August 14, 2008
CA

Having watched John McCain and Barack Obama resolutely pledge their
allegiance – and their countrymen’s lives and treasure – to the
defense of Israel via AIPAC, the media, and personal meetings with
Israeli leaders, it is worth asking what could possibly drive these
men to so ardently commit America to participation in other people’s
religious wars. This question is particularly important today as the
Bush administration and the Israel-firsters continue to push for an
unprovoked U.S. attack on Iran.

Let me say that I harbor no resentment over the actions of Israel’s
leaders. For more than 60 years, they have knowingly made their country
a pariah in the Arab and Islamic worlds, just as the Palestinians
have made themselves pariahs in much of the West. This is, of course,
the right of both parties, but neither seems to want to face the
consequences of their decisions. With demographic realities and
increasingly radical, well-armed Arabs making them panicky about
Israel’s security, Israel’s leaders naturally to try to lock down as
much U.S. support as possible. Having consciously – if unwisely –
put all their eggs in the U.S. basket since the 1973 War, Israel’s
leaders must do everything possible to protect their relationship
with Washington.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq, it seems, was not enough for the
Israel-firsters. Now, according to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a
U.S.-launched war on Iran is needed because "the threat that the
U.S. and Israel face from the Islamic Republic of Iran is today
greater than ever." Though based on the fantasy that Ahmedinejad’s
tin-pot regime is a threat to the world’s only superpower, this is a
perfectly commonsense position for Israel and its U.S.-citizen backers
in AIPAC to champion. In their view, U.S. wars with Muslims are the
ultimate good for Israel. Recall, if you will, the perfectly accurate
April 2008, words of Benjamin Netanyahu, likely Israel’s next prime
minister: "We [Israel] are benefiting from one thing, and that is the
attack on the twin towers and the Pentagon, and the American struggle
in Iraq." These wars, Netanyahu said, have "swung American public
opinion in our favor." How much more must Netanyahu and AIPAC believe
that a U.S. war with Iran would add to this "swing" in Israel’s favor?

My own anger falls not on Israel, then, or on Palestine, for that
matter; as I have written elsewhere, America would do just fine and
would be better off without either or both. It falls rather on the
lobbying efforts of AIPAC, that organization’s blatant purchasing
of fealty from U.S. politicians in both parties, and the media’s
obsequious parroting of specious canards about "Israel’s right to
exist" and "the duty of Americans to support an island of democracy
in the Middle East."

While few would question the right of AIPAC leaders to lobby
U.S. politicians, legally bribe them with campaign contributions, or
limit their right to speak as they please in public, not matter how
scurrilous or libelous their words, I sometimes wonder if Americans
have focused on what AIPAC lobbies for and what its acolytes in
politics and the media support.

It is a commonplace to say that lobbying is a pervasive activity
in U.S. politics at all levels of government, especially at the
federal level. People lobby for tax advantages for business or tax
breaks for individuals; for the right to own guns or laws to ban
them; for subsidies for agriculture or vouchers for private schools;
for universal health care or smaller government. Across this diverse
array of lobbyists there are two common threads: (A) None are working
to push the United States to participate in other peoples’ wars; and
(B) All are arguing for things that will – from their perspective –
improve America, whether by making it richer, better protected, more
competently educated, healthier, freer, etc. The anti-gun lobby,
for example, is no less confident than the NRA and its affiliates
that they are working for the best interests of Americans. One or the
other is wrong, but their activities are shaped by their perception
of what is best for America.

It is this last point that separates the lobbyists working for and
with AIPAC – most of whom are U.S. citizens – from almost all other
U.S.-based lobbyists. AIPAC does not lobby, bribe, and libel to make
Americans and America better off. It lobbies solely, forthrightly,
and cynically to make Israel richer, better protected, and able to
do as it pleases in its relations with Muslim states. AIPAC makes
no pretense of doing things meant to benefit America; rather, its
members take pride in seeking a goal that runs directly counter to
the economic welfare and physical security of almost all other U.S
citizens by seeking to keep them involved in a religious war in which
no U.S. national interest is at stake.

Now, there are a few other similar anti-American lobbies – those for
Armenia, Lebanon, Greece, etc. – but AIPAC is clearly primus inter
pares in this dastardly group. And given that every AIPAC success
is a net loss for U.S. security and the U.S. Treasury, it seems odd
that our so-called political leaders take orders and funds from this
fundamentally anti-U.S. organization. Odd or not, however, that is
the reality. Senators Obama and McCain have become AIPAC poster boys,
each strengthening his support for Israel over the course of the
current presidential campaign. Obama’s position, in fact, has changed
so drastically in a pro-Israel direction that the Illinois senator
appears to have no mind of his own on this issue. He has simply and
obsequiously adopted the Democrats’ traditional abject subservience
to their small but powerful pro-Israel constituency.

McCain is an Israel-firster of the deepest hue. Coached by Joe
Lieberman – who argues there is a U.S. duty to ensure God’s promise to
Abraham about Israel is kept – McCain is now considering Republican
Congressman Eric Cantor for his running mate. Rep. Cantor, needless
to say, is eager to spend American blood and treasure to secure
Israel. Speaking in Israel, Cantor pushed the same false assertion
that is the staple of U.S. leaders in both parties. "What befalls
Jerusalem," Cantor said, "threatens the security of the United States
and its allies worldwide. That’s because Jerusalem and Israel are
Ground Zero in the global battle between tyranny and democracy,
radicalism and moderation, terrorism and freedom."

This, of course, is nonsense of a high order, and Lieberman and
Cantor know it. Both men are committed to Israel as a religious idea,
not because it has anything to do with U.S. security. According to
Lieberman, "The rabbis say in the Talmud that a lot of rabbinic
law is to put a fence around the Torah so you don’t get near
to violating it. Well, McCain has a series of very clear-headed
policies toward terrorism and Islamic extremism [that put] extra
layers behind his support for Israel." He also told a conference
of Christians United for Israel that he was pleased they recognized
it was America’s duty to defend Israel, blithely lying to them that
"President Washington and the Founding Fathers" would support America
fighting Israel’s wars. Cantor, playing to both the Israel-firsters
and their U.S. evangelical allies, also has made clear where his
primary loyalty lies:

"Jerusalem is not merely the capital of Israel but the spiritual
capital of Jews and Christians everywhere. It’s the site of the
First and Second Temples, which housed the Holy of Holies, and it’s
the direction in which we Jews face when we pray. This glorious City
of David is bound to the Jewish people by an undeniable 3,000-year
historical link."

My own view is that if God promised Palestine to the Israelis, God
is perfectly capable of keeping that promise, and America is no way
committed to expend the lives of its soldier-children in a war over
conflicting interpretations of God’s word. The Israelis and the Muslims
should be perfectly free to fight over whether Yahweh and Abraham or
Allah and Mohammed are right, and Americans should be perfectly free
to draw the correct conclusion, that the United States does not have
a dog in this fight. In addition, there is a genuine constitutional
question of church-state separation on this issue. Why should American
taxpayers have their earnings and children’s lives spent to defend
a theocracy in Israel or, for that matter, to protect an Islamic
theocracy in Saudi Arabia.? (Imagine the howls of protest and torrents
of church-state separation rhetoric from the media and both parties
if a congressman introduced a bill calling for the U.S. to designate
that an amount equivalent to what’s spent to protect Israel and Saudi
Arabia be sent to the Vatican – a nation-state like Israel and Saudi
Arabia – to improve its defenses against the now well-articulated
threat from al-Qaeda and other Islamists.)

Objectively, three realities are clear: (1) U.S. survival is not at
stake in the Israeli-Muslim war; (2) the taxes of Americans should
not be spent to defend theocratic states; and (3) holy books are
insane tools to use as guides for U.S. foreign policy. In America,
however, these realities lie unspoken because of the lobbying efforts
of AIPAC and the pro-Israel mantras of the politicians it purchases
with campaign contributions and promises of media exposure, including
McCain and Obama. By their consistent anti-American actions, AIPAC and
the U.S. politicians who do its bidding have fully validated the words
of the real George Washington – not the figment of Washington painted
by Joe Lieberman. "Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence,"
President Washington wrote in 1796, "the jealousy of a free people
ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove
that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican
government."

GETTING GEORGIA’S WAR ON
By Mark Ames Reprinted with permission from The Nation

CBS News
August 12, 2008
NY

The Nation: What We Should Expect If John McCain Becomes Our Nation’s
Commander In Chief Comments 12

The outbreak of war in Georgia on Friday offers a disturbing and
somewhat surreal taste of what to expect from John McCain should he
become our nation’s Commander in Chief. As the centuries-old ethnic
animosities between Georgia and Ossetia boiled over into another armed
conflict, drawing in neighboring Russia, McCain issued a stark-raving
statement from Des Moines that is disturbingly reminiscent of the
language used in the lead-up to NATO’s war against Yugoslavia in 1999,
a war McCain zealously pushed for:

"We should immediately call a meeting of the North Atlantic Council
to assess Georgia’s security and review measures NATO can take to
contribute to stabilizing this very dangerous situation," McCain said.

Calling on NATO to "stabilize this dangerous situation" is not going
down well with Russia, where images of dead Russian peacekeepers and
of frightened Ossetian refugees streaming across its borders have
put the country in a very vengeful mood. It’s hard to imagine what
measures NATO could take under a McCain presidency, but in the mind
of a man who thinks US troops should stay in Iraq for 100 years, and
who runs around singing "Bomb Bomb Iran!" it’s not hard to guess —
and even harder not to be horrified by what it may mean come January
2009, should he win.

McCain’s call to NATO-ize the war is not only frightening, it’s also
delusional: both NATO and US forces are already stretched beyond the
breaking point, even by Joint Chief of Staff chairman Michael Millen’s
own recent assessment.

But McCain’s brain remains undeterred by reality, a fact that became
painfully clear today in Des Moines when he also demanded, "The US
should immediately convene an emergency session of the United Nations
Security Council to call on Russia to reverse course."

The problem with McCain’s bold demand about going to the UN is that
Russia already tried doing exactly what McCain called for — and got
rejected by McCain’s neocon pals in the Bush Administration. Early
this morning, Russia convened an emergency session of the UN Security
Council, calling on both sides to immediately cease hostilities,
return to the negotiating table and renounce the use of force —
but the last part about renouncing the use of force is exactly what
Georgia’s president Mikhail Saakashvili refuses to do.

The Bush Administration showed that it too has no patience with crunchy
"renounce the use of force" resolutions. According to a Reuters report
from earlier in the day:

At the request of Russia, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency
session in New York but failed to reach consensus early Friday on a
Russian-drafted statement.

The council concluded it was at a stalemate after the United States,
Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a
phrase in the three-sentence draft statement that would have required
both sides "to renounce the use of force," council diplomats said.

The meaning of this is clear: the United States and Britain are backing
Saakashvili’s invasion. Why would we back Saakashvili’s reckless
war, when last year even Bush was denouncing the Pinochet-wannabe’s
violent attack on his own people during a peaceful opposition protest
in Georgia’s capital, as well as shutting down the opposition media
and exiling of political opponents? That would be a brain-teaser if
the last seven years hadn’t answered this question so many painful
times already.

But with McCain, answering this is a little trickier. When he issued
today’s Des Moines statement calling for Russia to do what Russia
already did a few hours earlier, you have to ask yourself: either
McCain’s short-term memory is totally shot, encased in an impenetrable
tomb of aluminum-zirconium plaque… or worse, McCain simply doesn’t
give a damn about reality, he just wants to get Georgia’s war on,
as badly as Saakashvili does.

The awful truth is probably a combination of the two, which is the
worst of all worlds, considering McCain’s raving Russophobia, and
his campaign team’s financial and ideological ties to Saakashvili. As
has been reported, McCain’s top foreign policy advisor, neocon Randy
Scheunemann, has a long financial relationship with Saakashvili to
lobby his interests in the United States.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

In 2005, Mr. Scheunemann asked Sen. McCain to introduce a Senate
resolution expressing support for peace in the Russian-influenced
region of South Ossetia that wants to break away from Georgia, the
records show.

Such resolutions of Senate support are symbolic but helpful
to countries in their diplomatic relations. The Senate approved
Sen. McCain’s resolution in December 2005, and the Georgian Embassy
posted the text on its Web site.

Sen. McCain has endorsed Georgia’s goal of entering NATO, a matter
for which the country hired Mr. Scheunemann to lobby. In 2006,
Senator McCain gave a speech at the Munich Conference on Security
in Germany in which he said "Georgia has implemented far-reaching
political, economic, and military reforms" and should enter NATO,
a text of his speech on the conference Web site shows.

Scheunemann, a bearded, pear-faced gun geek who looks like what might
have happened to a GI Joe doll if it had spent years stuffing its face
at pricey restaurants while power-schmoozing politicians and petty
dictators, also worked for recently-disgraced Bush fundraiser Stephen
Payne, lobbying for his Caspian Alliance oil business. The Caspian
oil pipeline runs through Georgia, the main reason that country has
tugged the heartstrings of neocons and oil plutocrats for at least
a decade or more.

In 2006, McCain visited Georgia and denounced the South Ossetian
separatists, proving that Scheunemann wasn’t wasting his Georgian
sponsor’s money. At a speech he gave in a Georgian army base in
Senaki, McCain declared that Georgia was America’s "best friend,"
and that Russian peacekeepers should be thrown out.

Today, Georgian forces from that same Senaki base are part of the
invasion force into South Ossetia, an invasion that has left scores
— perhaps hundreds — of dead locals, at least ten dead Russian
peacekeepers, and 140 million pissed-off Russians calling for blood.

Lost in all of this is not only the question of why America would risk
an apocalypse to help a petty dictator like Saakashvili get control
of a region that doesn’t want any part of him. But no one’s bothering
to ask what the Ossetians themselves think about it, or why they’re
fighting for their independence in the first place. That’s because the
Georgians — with help from lobbyists like Scheunemann — have been
pushing the line that South Ossetia is a fiction, a construct of evil
Kremlin neo-Stalinists, rather than a people with a genuine grievance.

A few years ago, I had an Ossetian working as the sales director for
my now-defunct newspaper, The eXile. After listening to me rave about
how much I always (and still do) like the Georgians, he finally lost
it and told me another side to Georgian history, explaining how the
Georgians had always mistreated the Ossetians, and how the South
Ossetians wanted to reunite with North Ossetia in order to avoid
being swallowed up, and how this conflict goes way back, long before
the Soviet Union days. It was clear that the Ossetian-Georgian hatred
was old and deep, like many ethnic conflicts in this region. Indeed, a
number of Caucasian ethnic groups still harbor deep resentment towards
Georgia, accusing them of imperialism, chauvinism and arrogance.

One example of this can be found in historian Bruce Lincoln’s book,
"Red Victory", in which he writes about the period of Georgia’s
brief independence from 1917 to 1921, a time when Georgia was backed
by Britain:

the Georgian leaders quickly moved to widen their borders at
the expense of their Armenian and Azerbaijani neighbors, and
their territorial greed astounded foreign observers. ‘The free and
independent socialist democratic state of Georgia will always remain
in my memory as a classic example of an imperialist small nation,"
one British journalist wrote…. "Both in territory snatching outside
and bureaucratic tyranny inside, its chauvinism was beyond all bounds."

On Thursday, following intense Georgian shelling and katyusha
rocketing into Tskhinvali, refugees streamed out of South Ossetia
telling reporters that the Georgians had completely leveled entire
villages and most of Tskhinvali, leaving "piles of corpses" in the
streets, over 1,000 by some counts. Among the dead are at least
ten Russian peacekeepers, who fell after their base was attacked by
Georgian forces. Reports also say that Georgian forces destroyed a
hotel where Russian journalists were staying.

In response, Russian jets bombed Georgian positions both inside
South Ossetia and into Georgia proper, attacking one base where
American military instructors are quartered (no Americans were
reported hurt). By mid-afternoon Moscow time, as local television
showed burning homes and Ossetian women and children huddling in
bomb shelters, armored Russian columns were crossing into Georgian
territory, and Georgia’s President called for a total mobilization
of military-aged men for war with Russia.

The invasion was backed up by a PR offensive so layered and
sophisticated that I even got an hysterical call today from a hedge
fund manager in New York, screaming about an "investor call" that
Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze made this morning with some
fifty leading Western investment bank managers and analysts. I’ve
since seen a J.P. Morgan summary of the conference call, which pretty
much reflects the talking points later picked up by the US media.

These kinds of conference calls are generally conducted by the heads
of companies in order to give banking analysts guidance. But as the
hedge fund manager told me today, "The reason Lado did this is because
he knew the enormous PR value that Georgia would gain by going to
the money people and analysts, particularly since Georgia is clearly
the aggressor this time." As a former investment banker who worked in
London and who used to head the Bank of Georgia, Gurgenidze knew what
he was doing. "Lado is a former banker himself, so he knew that by
framing the conflict for the most influential bankers and analysts in
New York, that these power bankers would then write up reports and go
on CNBC and argue Lado Gurgenidze’s talking points. It was brilliant,
and now you’re starting to see the American media shift its coverage
from calling it Georgia invading Ossetian territory, to the new spin,
that it’s Russian imperial aggression against tiny little Georgia."

The really scary thing about this investor conference call is that
it suggests real planning. As the hedge fund manager told me, "These
things aren’t set up on an hour’s notice."

Where this war is leading is impossible to say, but as Iraq
and Afghanistan, not to mention Chechnya, have shown, wars have a
funny way of lasting longer, costing more in money and lives, and
snuffing out whatever individual liberties the affected populations
may have. As good as this war is for Saakashvili, who has become
increasingly unpopular at home and abroad, or for McCain, whose poll
numbers seem to rise every time the plaque devours another lobe of
his brain, it also bodes well for the resurgent Prime Minister Putin,
who seems to have become increasingly peeved with his hand-picked
successor, President Dmitry Medvedev’s flickering independence and
his liberalizer shtick. There’s nothing like a good war to snuff out
an uppity sois-disant liberal who’s getting in your way–even McCain
can still grasp this concept.

As I’m filing this, Russian forces are battling to take back
Tskhinvali, while Saakashvili has been alternately claiming to have
pulled his forces back, or that his forces are in full control of
the city and defeating the Russians. Meanwhile, Georgia has been on a
massive, successful, multi-layered PR offensive in the West, helped
by years of cultivating people like John McCain as well as the army
of neocons and old cold warriors who naturally gravitate to a fight
with Russia.

GERMANY OFFERS TO EVACUATE EU CITIZENS IN GEORGIA

Deutsche Welle
11.08.2008

GroÃ~_ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Residential areas
have been damaged in the fighting The German embassy has organized
busses to to transport citizens out of Georgia. The German emgassy
reports that 200 have already left due to the fighting and another
100 are expected to leave by late Monday, Aug. 11.

The bus is headed for the Armenian capital Yerevan, the German foreign
ministry said. The German embassy emphasized that the citizens are
not being "evacuated" but are leaving the country voluntarily.

Some 300 German citizens are still in Georgia. They are being contacted
and offered the chance to leave if they wish, ministry spokesman Jens
Ploetner told a news conference Monday.

Ploetner said that the German embassy in Tbilisi was also prepared
to help citizens from other European countries.

Germans in Georgia told to contact embassy

"There is no reason for panic but we are calling on all German
citizens… to contact the embassy," he said.

Russia has bombed radars near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and
has hit residential areas in the Georgian city of Gori near the South
Ossetian border. The United Nations refugee agency said that nearly
80 percent of Gori’s 50,000 residents have fled due to the bombings.

Merkel urges end to violence

German Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated her call for an end to
the violence in a Monday morning phone conversation with Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili, her spokesman Thomas Steg said.

Merkel also gave her full support to French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
who plans to travel to Moscow, Steg added. France currently holds
the European Union’s rotating presidency.

Merkel said it was "essential that there is an immediate and
non-conditional ceasefire and for all armed forces to withdraw to
the positions held before the conflict" and that "the territorial
integrity of Georgia should be respected," Steg said.

Merkel plans to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday,
but said that the meeting will entirely focus on the current conflict.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has also spoken
several times by phone with his Russian and Georgian counterparts,
and also took part in a conference call on Sunday with other EU
foreign ministers, Ploetner said.

–Boundary_(ID_AbBOuSQotg4rRsGWEVWBTw)–

SERZH SARGSYAN: WE ARE SINCERELY INTERESTED IN EXPANSION OF CHINA’S PRESENCE IN THE REGION

Noyan Tapan

Au g 8, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Prior to leaving for Beijing, the
Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan gave an interview with Xinhia news
agency (China).

NT was submitted this inteview by the RA presidential press
service. Below is its text with some abridgement.

Question: Mr. President, what kinds of sports are you fond of? What
would you like to wish the Olympic teams of China and Armenia? What
hopes do you link to the Armenian Olympic team?

Answer: Armenia is a country of sports. It is also thanks to the
triumphal pages of famous Armenian sportsmen and Armenian sports
that the world knows our small country. Although the population of
our country is small, Armenia has left quite an impressive trace
in the biography of world sports and Olympic movement. According to
historical sources, one of medieval Armenian kings, King Varazdat,
became an Olympic wrestling champion in the 4th century. Nowadays many
Armenian sportsmen have immortalized their names in the register of
winners and record-breakers of Olympic Games. So the Armenians have
Olympic blood.

I am a great fan of sports. I head the Armenian Chess Federation. Chess
is a kind of sport in which both Armenian and Chinese chess players
have achieved striking results, while our team is the current
Olympic champion. Today everybody’s attention in Armenia is turned to
Beijing. I am leaving for Beijing in good spirits, I will be alongside
our sportsmen and encourage them.

Question: The friendship of the Chinese and Armenian peoples has
a rich history. In the past few years the bilateral relations have
been developing more rapidly and dynamically. How do you assess the
development prospect of relations between the two countries? In which
sectors do you see prospects of closer cooperation?

Answer: China is a friendly country to us. The current high level
of relations has a strong legal basis that includes more than 40
interstate and intergovernmental agreements. Our relations in the
political sphere are characterized by the absence of problems and
the existence of either coinciding or close opinions concerning
major regional and international problems. We in Armenia follow with
respect the process of reforms implemented by the leaders of China
for the purpose of development, modernization and establishment of
a harmonious socialist society.

In the past few years the commodity turnover between our countries has
grown several fold, one of the greatest joint projects, Shansi-Nairit –
construction of a chloroprene rubber plant with an annual capacity of
30,000 tons near the city of Daton is being completed. Progress can
be seen in agriculture, high-tech and himanitarian sectors. Long-term
cooperation programs in culture and sports are being prepared. Despite
all this, I see great potential for cooperation of our countries and
work should continue in this direction.

Armenia accepted with enthusiasm the invitation to participate
in Expo-2010 to be held in Shanghai. We will try to display our
achievements and our potential for developing relations between
Armenia and China at this exhibition.

We are sincerely interested in the expansion of China’s presence in
the region, which will have a positive impact on the whole South
Caucasian region. We welcome China’s recent achievements in the
international field.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China plays a leading
role in international politics. China is a responsible member of the
international community, and we feel China’s unbiased and balanced
position in many issues of international and regional importance.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITIONIST: "ARMENIA’S WORKING POWERS DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL IMAGE OF THE COUNTRY AND PURSUE THEIR OWN INTERESTS"

Today.Az
/politics/46835.html
Aug 8 2008
Azerbaijan

"The only external task of Armenian powers today is to conceal their
crimes", said representative of opposition Public movement David
Shahnazaryan.

He noted that the appointment of Shavarsh Kocharyan as a new deputy
Foreign Minister is "another attempt to conceal their crimes by the
help of a person, who is well acquainted with the European structures".

He said if a couple of years ago the powers could conceal Armenia’s
isolation, now Europe has pointed to it in open. He also noted that
"the working powers do not care about the international image of
Armenia and pursue their own interests".

He warned that if Armenia is deprived of the right to vote in PACE, it
will undermine its influence in the international arena, which will,
in turn, enable Azerbaijan to act widely in all European instances
on Karabakh issue.

Speaking of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the oppositionist blamed the
working powers for continuing Robert Kocharyan’s policy, that is "for
turning the issue of national self-determination into a territorial
dispute".

VIVACELL HELPED VILLAGE OF ODZUN WITH RENOVATION OF ARTS SCHOOL

RIA Oreanda
Aug 8 2008
Russia

Yerevan . OREANDA-NEWS . August 07, 2008. Childrens Arts School of the
village of Odzun is completely renovated and refurbished thanks to AMD
18.4 million donation from VivaCell. The school now has a new local
heating and hot water supply system, and a completely new rooftop,
reported the press-centre of VivaCell.

The renovated Arts School was officially opened jointly by VivaCell
General Manager Ralph Yirikian and Deputy Marzpet of Lori Arsen
Darbinyan with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

VivaCell continues on implementing its large-scale CSR programs having
long-term positive impact on the rural communities of Armenia. This
time the Company chose to direct the focus of its CSR on one of the
oldest and largest villages of Armenia Odzun, famous for the richness
of its historical-cultural and religious sites, and the prominent
people born in the village.

Taking into account the number of Odzun inhabitants, as well as the
need to encourage the healthy esthetical education among children in
the villages of Armenia, VivaCell allocated funds for the complete
renovation of Childrens Arts School of the village of Odzun. In
addition to new rooftop and local heating system, new windows and doors
have been installed, and a local heating and water supply system have
been put in place in the school.

The Arts School was founded in 1970 and is the only arts school
serving 8 neighboring villages. The Arts School includes the following
sections: piano, as well as string, wind, folk instruments, and a
painting class.

Since for many years the system of Arts Schools in Armenia has been
in decline, VivaCell considers it as of prime importance to sponsor
the revival of the system.

Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, VivaCell General Manager Ralph
Yirikian noted: We stand here today, in one of the Armenias ancient
settlements, proud to be sons and daughters of Armenia. VivaCell
commitment to support the renovation and refurbishment of the Arts
School is determined by our obligation to be worthy descendants of
our predecessors we had to create here in Odzun a modern Arts School
to encourage the younger generation of Odzun to become worthy of
its cultural past. And as a socially-responsible corporate citizen,
VivaCell is allocating part of its revenues to help create bridges
between the younger generation of Armenia and our national culture.

VivaCell social investment in Odzun is not limited to the renovation
of its Childrens Arts Center and its refurbishment. The company also
presented the administration of the village with a garbage-collecting
vehicle worth of AMD 9 million.

Armenian National Committee – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
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PRESS RELEASE

August 7, 2008
Contact: Ani Garabedian

Spotlight: Genocide Education Project

Los Angeles, CA – An innovative program called The Genocide Education
Project (GEP) was founded in 2005 in order to instruct educators on
the attempted extermination of the Armenian people in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915. The mission of the GEP is to "help prevent genocide
by assisting educators, students, and educational organizations with
teaching and learning about genocide and other major human rights
violations, with specific focus on the Armenian Genocide", as stated
on the organization’s website.

This extraordinary non-profit organization seeks to establish a
national presence in order to bring adequate genocide education to
students and teachers all over the country. In order to achieve this
goal, the organization is working to expand the implementation of GEP
instructional material in school districts across the nation. Raffi
Momjian, co-founder and current Executive Director, explains "…proper
genocide education is lacking at the high school level. What the
Genocide Education Project does is create an opportunity for high
school level educators to teach about genocide effectively."

One of the challenges faced by the creators of GEP was to create
material that would enable educators who are unfamiliar with the
details of the genocide of the Armenians to teach the material to
their students. Momjian states, "We develop resources that can be used
at a high school level as well as a web based resource libraries for
teachers. "We not only educate teachers about the Genocide but also
provide the teaching tools they need and show them how they can be
used." These resources include eyewitness accounts, New York Times
articles, web-based activities for a more hands-on experience and
pre-made lesson plans ready for the teachers to utilize.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has partnered up with
the GEP in order to provide proper instruction and materials to nearly
300 history teachers. This has been a very vital and important step
for the GEP as the LAUSD is the second largest school district in the
nation. Workshops are being conducted several times a year to
familiarize teachers with the material and its importance.

The GEP has partnered with other organizations such as the Choices
Program, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Facing History
and Ourselves at the National Council for Social Studies Annual
Conference (NCSS) in the past in order to hold all-day clinics on the
Armenian Genocide. Momjian emphasizes the important impact these
clinics at the NCSS make as the teachers go back to their own school
district and are able to communicate their new found knowledge to
other educators.

In order to reach a greater number of educators, the GEP is also
creating an intensive week long retreat for teachers. During this
retreat, the teachers will be trained on the details of the Armenian
Genocide, as well as how to present this material to students, with
hopes that these teachers will in turn educate other teachers at their
individual schools. In addition to the retreat, other plans that are
in the works for the GEP also include virtual training. Teachers will
soon be able to access training tools online and take virtual classes
to aid them in teaching the subject matter.

Momjian says that the responsibility to educate future generations
about the Armenian Genocide belongs to us all. He says, "…just
reaching one teacher is great and important but community support is
just as essential, especially to Armenians, for a program such as this
one to thrive." The GEP is truly one of a kind as it provides every
resource and guidance that an educator may need to teach this material
at a high school level and does so effectively.

The Armenian National Committee – Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in
the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of
offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States
and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR advances
the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.

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Photo Caption – Educators at the Genocide Education Project’s NCSS 2007 booth.

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON INQUIRY INTO EVENTS OF MARCH 1-2 FINDS IT EXPEDIENT TO BE PRESENT AT INVESTIGATION ACTIONS

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. On August 5 Samvel Nikoyan, chairman
of the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on Inquiry into the Events of
March 1-2, secretary of Repulican Party of Armenia (RPA) faction,
met with the RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian. Announcing this
at the regular sitting of the Committee, S. Nikoyan noted that it
would be necessary, important and more efficient if the members of
the Committee were present at the investigation actions on the case
in order to form a comprehensive notion about the criminal case. The
chairman of the Committee mentioned that henceforth it should be
one of the directions of their work. S. Nikoyan also informed the
Prosecutor General about the Committee’s concern about NA deputy
Miasnik Malkhasian’s health condition and asked to undertake necessary
measures to settle the problem.

It was stated at the sitting of the Committee that two meetings
took place with two arrested people in penitentiaries: with
former RA Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Arzoumanian and Armen
Sirounian. Arzoumanian expressed no complaint connected with the
conditions and his health, and his main complaint concerned "quite
a long and passive process", so he wishes that the preliminary
investigation would be completed soon and the case would be sent
to court. The former Foreign Affairs Minister thinks that he is
wrongfully accused and he consequently finds that he does not need
an amnesty but only an acquittal. A. Arzoumanian insisted that he
and the Armenian National Movement board chairman Ararat Zourabian
did not take part in the actions of early March 1, and they were at
the French embassy in Yerevan at 10pm, while his speeches were very
careful and moderate ones which can in no way be used against him.

Armen Sirounian is charged by the first part of 38-308 of the
Criminal Code: acting as an accomplice to the abuse of official
position. According to the accusation, during the period of rallies,
there was an information leakage from the National Security Service
which was passed to the leaders of rallies. Sirounian expressed no
complaint concerning the investigation actions and the conditions
but he mentioned that his feet ached. A. Sirounian does not accept
the accusation, and inspector of the NSS investigation group Mikael
Hambardzoumian, together with the members of the Committee have
presented the evidence which, according to him, formed the basis of
an accusation against Sirounian and keeping him under arrest. The
investigation body finds that at the moment it is not expedient to
change Sirounian’s precautionary measure.

MATTHEW BRYZA: THE RESIDENTS OF NAGORNO KARABAKH SHOULD PLAY A KEY ROLE IN DETERMINING THEIR REGION’S STATUS

Azeri Press Agency
Aug 5 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Tamara Grigoryeva – APA. "Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministers’ meeting in Moscow on August 1 was positive.

As both Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandian stated
at their press conference, their one-on-one discussion lasted over
an hour and was held in a positive mood," American Co-Chair of OSCE
Minsk Group Matthew Bryza told APA.

He said the Foreign Ministers agreed to continue negotiations under the
Minsk Group to reconcile their countries’ respective positions on the
remaining issues as outlined in the Co-Chairs’ November 2007 Madrid
Document, which sets out suggestions proposed by the Co-Chairs to
guide the negotiation of a framework agreement for a final resolution.

"The Co-Chairs’ suggestions form a balanced package. It is very
important to remember that no single element has been agreed. The only
way any element of the Madrid Document can be agreed is if all elements
are agreed at the same time in a broad package," the Co-Chair said.

Matthew Bryza said the Co-Chairs proceed from a starting position of
recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

"To reach a political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Armenia and Azerbaijan will eventually have to reach a compromise on
NK’s status. We cannot predict what that compromise will look like, or
when it will emerge. But, the Co-Chairs recommend that the residents
of NK play a key role in determining their region’s status through
some type of voting process at some point in the future," he said.

American mediator considers that the specifics of such a voting
process must be negotiated.

"Such a voting process could only emerge after the return of internally
displaced persons and refugees, which could take quite some time,"
he said.

DENIAL OF GENOCIDE NEVER TO BE ENCOURAGED
Gevorg Harutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 31, 2008
Armenia

Before his visit to Moscow aimed at the meeting with OSCE Minsk Group
co-Chairmen and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandyan convened a press conference yesterday.

"These meetings will be about Karabakh conflict and are organized by
the efforts of the three co-Chairmen. The proposals made in Madrid
will be discussed. Serge Sargsyan and Ilham Aliev confirmed that
the negotiations will continue on the bases of the before mentioned
proposals."

Estimating the 100 days of his tenure the Foreign Minister considered
it both noteworthy and normal, that he has made his first official
visit to Artsakh. "We give special importance to Karabakh issue. We
usually have different discussions with NKR authorities regarding this
issue. We have already had three meetings with Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister, before the meetings between Serge Sargsyan and Ilham Aliev
in Strasburg and St.

Petersburg. The fourth meeting will be on August 1 in Moscow. I will
also meet with OSCE Minsk Group co-Chairmen and we will do our best
to achieve the settlement of Karabakh conflict."

Touching upon Serge Sargsyan’s recent visit to Ukraine the leader of
the Foreign Administration considered it completely successful. "The
meeting between the two Presidents last more than two hours. The
discussions were rather meaningful, constructive and in the atmosphere
of mutual trust. The possibilities of bilateral cooperation in
different spheres, as well as different regional and international
issues were discussed.

We hope this meeting will open a new page in Armenian-Ukrainian
relations.

The Ukrainian President reconfirmed his invitation for Serge Sargsyan
to visit their country.

Serge Sargsyan’s and the Catholicos’ unprecedented participation
in the anointment ceremony of the Saint Cross church that has been
built 650 years back and hasn’t been reconstructed since then, was
really exciting.

Edward Nalbandyan refuted the rumors that have appeared in the
press, according to which he has agreed with the statement made by
Daniel Freed saying that the presidential elections in Armenia have
been "significantly breached" and that by his instruction Armenian
Ambassador to Austria met with OSCE Chairman Luis Maria de Puichi in
the airport in Vienna.

"Freed didn’t make similar statement during his visit in the USA. We
had a very constructive meeting with him and other US officials. But
we didn’t have any concrete meeting in Vienna. Simply according to
the regulation the Ambassadors of our country must meet and see off
those Armenian guests who travel by transit tours. Maybe de Puichi
gave you those details but I don’t have similar information."

0AAs for the speculations regarding the proposal made by Turkey
to set up a committee of historians: "If you are concerned that a
certain committee is going to discuss the issue of the Genocide, than
I must repeat a very simple truth, to make it clear once and forever:
Armenian authorities will never take a step that will encourage the
denial of the Genocide. Similar thing can’t happen.

What we really want is to have regular relations with our
neighbor. There are 2 or 3 closed borders in the whole world and we
are trying to open one of them. We must establish diplomatic relations
without any pre-conditions.

Our initiations had a very positive response in the world.

Hopefully Turkish President will accept the invitation to visit
Armenia on September 6. This will give an opportunity to discuss
all the issues of bilateral concern and regulate all the inter-state
relations. The conversation is not about concessions.

Edward Nalbandyan didn’t agree with the statement that Armenia pursues
"feeble" policy towards Georgia: "Whom do they want to bite with those
teeth? We attach great importance to establishing friendly relations
with Georgia. We are going to take all the possible measures to
consolidate relations with Georgia. We never ignore any issue regarding
Georgian-Armenians. We hope all the issues will be solved. I believe
there is no unsolvable issue between Armenia and Georgia because our
steps derive from the interests of the both countries."