Author: Chalian Meline

ALIYEV: BAKU STILL INTERESTED IN KARABAKH TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2008 18:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan is still interested in resolution of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, said Ilham Aliyev, who officially assumed
the office of the Azerbaijani President today.

"We still have hope and we think that talks can lead to a fair
resolution of the conflict. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan can’t
be questioned. Nagorno Karabakh will never be granted independence,"
he said.

"The international law is on our side. We are strengthening our
economic power and our positions in the region. Five years ago I
pledged to form a strong army. Now, with our military potential,
we will promote resolution of the Karabakh problem," Aliyev said,
ITAR-TASS reports.

"MYSTERIOUS SUPPER: FROM ARMENIAN TRADITION TO LEONARDO"

Panorama.am
20:05 15/10/2008

"Mysterious Supper: From Armenian Tradition to Leonardo" book by
Vardan Devrikyan has been published recently. The author of the book
said that the work covers Christian and Armenian pictures and the
creations of Renaissance masters.

"It becomes visible the typology of the current theme: allegoric
notions and comments found in literature," said the author. Note that
the book is illustrated by Armenian handicrafts.

TER-PETROSYAN PRETENDS TO 20 PERCENT OF VOTES

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
14 Oct 2008
Armenia

All the rest are waiting for the "third force"

"In our estimation, the pro-opposition electorate makes up 40 percent
of the population. L. Ter-Petrosyan pretends to 20-23 percent of
votes; all the rest are waiting for a ‘third force’ which can express
its ambitions and support its viewpoints. In all these cases, there
emerges the necessity of having a united leader. To push this issue
to the background, it is necessary for the unification to be based
upon certain programs and ideas vs. individuals. An opposition which
becomes united on the basis of some sympathies or antipathies is doomed
to failure," sociologist AHARON ADIBEKYAN said in an interview with
our correspondent.

THEATER OF COMBAT OPERATIONS: DMITRY MEDVEDEV WATCHED MILITARY EXERCISES NEAR ORENBURG
by Alexander Kolesnichenko

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 1, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

REPORT FROM STABILITY-2008 EXERCISES; Last Friday, President of
Russia Dmitry Medvedev visited the Donguzsky training range in the
Orenburg Region where he watched the final stage of military exercises
Stability-2008.

Last Friday, the President visited the Donguzsky training range in
the Orenburg Region where he watched the final stage of military
exercises Stability-2008.

The exercises in the Volga-Urals Military District began in the
middle of July and ended last Sunday. In the course of the exercises,
47,000 servicemen including 13,000 reservists transported 10,000
units of military hardware by 1,500 kilometers, dug 200 kilometers
of trenches, arranged 4,000 bunkers, built 80 bridges and crossed the
Ural Rivet. Mechanized infantry and tank units and pilots learned to
coordinate their actions with each other. Generals learned to fight
against a conventional enemy on maps.

This time the enemy was the Southern Alliance including Osmania (it
coincided with Turkey on the map), Transcaucasian Republic (Georgia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan united into one state) and Southern Emirstan
(Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan). On the map of the exercises
Abkhazia and South Ossetia were within Georgia and Transcaucasian
Republic. Russia was renamed into the Northern Federation that
counteracted to the Southern Alliance together with its allies
Arystan (Kazakhstan) and Gornostan (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan). According to the scenario of the exercises, forces of the
Southern Alliance landed on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea and
moved in four columns to the northwest towards Samara, to the north
towards Ufa, to the northeast towards Chelyabinsk and to the east
towards Astana. According to the map, the enemy managed to capture
Samara and Ufa, and the Orenburg Region (the President arrived to the
Donguzsky training range there last Friday) remained in the deep rear
of the attacking enemy. One of the officers said that at the end of
the exercises the Northern Federation defeated the Southern Alliance
and returned to the initial borders.

One of such battles took place in presence of Dmitry Medvedev. An
observation post was arranged for the President on Ryskina
Mountain. The battlefield was located below five kilometers
away. According to the scenario, a mechanized infantry regiment
attacked by exceeding enemy forces moved from the first defense line to
the second. The enemy thrust forward and went into a trap. At first,
it was bombed from the air, attacked by multiple rocket launchers
Grad and flamethrowers Buratino and blown up by mines. The defeat
was accomplished a tank attack.

In reality there were no enemies on the field but were white targets
and a combat infantry vehicle could not hit one of them for a few
minutes. When the firing began, the field was covered with black smoke
very quickly. It turned out that containers with solar oil were placed
near the targets to add realistic features to the exercises.

After that there was an air battle when two pairs of fighters circled
one above the other and the announcer explained which of them adopted
a beneficial position and which could be considered downed. Air
defense system Tunguska fired tracer projectiles at imitators of air
targets but the imitators did not react to the shots and landed on
the field. There were no other drawbacks, nothing broke and nobody
fired at the friendly forces. In any case, one of the officers said
that there were accidents during transportation of troops to the
training range and there were even victims.

Firing at the field lasted for about an hour.

The President stated that the exercises were successful and named
five tasks that the military had to fulfill.

KIM KARDASHIAN NOT ENGAGED

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)
2008-10-14 18:44:07
Austria

Entertainment

Despite media reports circulating the net, Hollyscoop.com has learned
exclusively that Kim Kardashian is not engaged to be married!

Kim has been the victim of a fake Facebook account. Someone pretending
to be her has been posting messages, photos, and status updates.

Although Kim has expressed her interest in marrying her longtime beau
Reggie Bush in the future, the couple will not be walking down the
isle just yet.

Kimberly Noel Kardashian was born on October 21, 1980 in Los Angeles,
California, USA. She is the daughter of the late Robert Kardashian,
who was best known for being OJ Simpson’s lawyer during his murder
trial. Kim’s mother is of Irish descent and her father of Armenian
descent. In 2007, a pornographic home video she had made with
then-boyfriend, R&B singer Ray J, was leaked. Vivid Entertainment was
the distribution company against which Kardashian had pursued legal
action for the ownership of the tape. Kardashian later dropped the
suit and settled with Vivid Entertainment for US$ 5 million.

RUSSIA DISCARDS ITS "PEACEKEEPING" OPERATION IN ABKHAZIA
By Vladimir Socor

Eurasia Daily Monitor
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
DC

Russian troops withdrawing to Abkhazia after the August 2008 conflict
with Georgia (AP) At the CIS summit in Bishkek on October 9 and 10,
Russia announced the termination of the "CIS collective peacekeeping
operation in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone." Moscow describes
its move as a common decision of the assembled heads of state and
government, in a final attempt to portray the now-defunct operation
as having been approved multi-nationally from its inception to its end
(Interfax, Itar-Tass, October 9, 10).

Despite its CIS cover, the "collective peacekeeping" in Abkhazia
was always purely Russian. After 2002 CIS meetings abandoned even
the pretense of discussing this operation, let alone prolonging
its "mandate." The CIS in any case is not authorized to mandate
peacekeeping operations, and Georgia has in any case quit the CIS
following the Russian invasion of the country’s interior.

Moscow’s move ends a 14-year-old "peacekeeping" pretense that
culminated in Russia’s full-scale military seizure of Abkhazia
from Georgia, rendering any peacekeeping redundant from Moscow’s
viewpoint. Russian "peacekeepers," who acted ostensibly under a "CIS
mandate" and with Georgian consent extracted under duress since 1994,
are now to be replaced by far larger Russian forces, by "agreement"
with the Abkhaz authorities, whom Moscow installed in the first place
and has now given "diplomatic recognition."

Admittedly, Russia never received a "special responsibility for
peacekeeping in the CIS," a role that Moscow sought in vain during the
1990s in international organizations. It did, however, exercise that
role in practice, as the first stage in a long-term empire-restoration
strategy. Whether recognized officially or conceded de facto, a
peacekeeping monopoly is one key ingredient of sphere-of-influence
building.

International organizations and Western governments accepted Russia’s
claim to be a neutral mediator between Georgia and the Abkhaz, even as
Russia acted from the outset as a participant in the conflict against
Georgia on Georgia’s own territory. That international pretense
continued despite Russia’s military operations, economic embargos,
and political warfare against Georgia.

The United Nations Security Council, nevertheless, routinely applauded
the Russian "peacekeeping" in Abkhazia. While never authorizing that
operation, the UNSC paid it compliments each time when prolonging
the mandate of UNOMIG (UN Observer Mission in Georgia) at six-month
intervals. Moscow demanded and received this genuflection regularly
as a condition for not vetoing UNOMIG. The U.S. State Department and
other Western chancelleries went along with this semiannual travesty.

The Russian operation, however, breached the UN’s fundamental rules
of peacekeeping operations. Such operations require consent by the
sovereign state on the territory on which they are deployed. The
consent must involve not only acceptance of the operation as such
but also the parameters of its implementation. Neighboring countries
and countries with a direct interest or stake in the given conflict
may not be troop contributors to the peacekeeping operation. Such
operations are by definition international, not a monopoly of any
one country. Peacekeeping operations abide by the principles of
inviolability of borders and non-interference in internal affairs of
the country in which they are deployed.

In an unprecedented breach of peacekeeping norms, the Russian military
backed the ethnic cleansing of Georgians from Abkhazia in 1994 and
has refused to this day to assist in their safe return. Russian
"peacekeepers" helped arm the Abkhaz forces and maintain arms
stockpiles shared with their Abkhaz proxies.

On the whole, the Euro-Atlantic community never displayed a sense of
urgency on this issue. It approached it in a spirit of benign neglect
when Russia was weak and later in a spirit of dependency on Russian
"help" to resolve various Western dilemmas, even before Russia grew
stronger. The year 2002 came close to a turning point toward Western
hands-on involvement. The U.S.-Russia and NATO-Russia summits, held
near Rome in May of that year, adopted decisions, as expressed in
the respective communiqués for joint U.S.-Russia and NATO-Russia
peacekeeping and conflict-resolution efforts on Abkhazia, South
Ossetia, Transnistria, and Karabakh (with Russia listed in second
place throughout). This Western initiative dissipated within months,
however, as the United States and NATO became distracted by Iraq
and Afghanistan.

The United States and West European governments have
practically conceded a "peacekeeping" monopoly to Moscow in
the "CIS space"–Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and
Tajikistan–from 1992 until now. Only the government of Azerbaijan
under then-president Heydar Aliyev had the foresight to turn down the
offer of "third-country" peacekeeping by Russia through the OSCE in
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

It is a tribute to Russian strategy and Western disorientation that
Moscow began, conducted, and ended this "peacekeeping" operation on its
own terms during all these years, without serious challenge. Georgian
and other appeals to internationalize the peacekeeping format fell
mostly on deaf, indifferent, or distracted ears in the West during
all this time. Down to the Russian invasion in August of this year,
Western governments continually advised Georgia to show patience
and tone down or postpone demands for replacing this purely Russian
operation. Now, however, Russia itself has ended its operation in
its own way and timing and on its own terms, which are worse than
ever from the West’s and Georgia’s perspective.

Moscow now takes the position, as Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei
Lavrov announced, that Russian troops in Abkhazia will "no longer be
peacekeepers. They will from now on be armed forces," to be stationed
there under a basing agreement with the Russian-recognized Abkhaz
authorities (Interfax, Itar-Tass, October 9, 10). Those forces are
slated to include a brigade-size ground force, to be supplemented by
air and naval elements, at reactivated Soviet-era bases.

–Boundary_(ID_G+OAp04WDBIEAhm2xRojAQ)–

SERZH SARGSYAN CONGRATULATES JIVAN GASPARYAN ON 80th ANNIVERSARY

A1+
[12:16 pm] 13 October, 2008

On October 12 Serzh Sargsyan had a phone talk with People’s Artist
of the Republic of Armenia, renowned duduk player and composer Jivan
Gasparyan.

He congratulated the live legend of Armenian music on his 80th
birthday. Serzh Sargsyan highly assessed Jivan Gasparyan’s contribution
to the development and propagation of Armenian musical art and wished
him robust health, new creative achievements and all the best.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Saturday, October 11, 2008

Caucasus Reporting Service

Armenia: Economy Hit by Georgian War

Authorities say country suffered substantial economic losses as a
result of August conflict.

By Naira Melkumian in Yerevan (CRS 463, 10-Oct-08)

The war between Russia and Georgia has cost the Armenian economy
nearly 700 million US dollars, the Yerevan authorities believe.

They say the economy was hit by severe blows to foreign trade, tax
collection and international investment. `The conflict [has been] a
serious test for the sustainability of the Armenian economy,’ said
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian.

Commentators say foreign trade plunged largely because of war-related
damage to the principal transportation routes between Armenia and
Georgia, through which much of the country’s imports and exports pass.

As a result, Georgian imports were cut by an estimated 121 million
dollars, slashing import tax revenue. At the same time, exports losses
amounted to about 52 million dollars.

The regional turmoil has also curbed the government’s ambitious plans
to boost income tax collection by 30 per cent this year. `Tension in
the area as a result of the South Ossetian conflict meant Armenia did
not collect the levels of income from tax anticipated in the budget,’
said Gagik Minasian, the head of parliament’s financial, credit and
budgetary issues commission.

But experts say the greatest damage caused to Armenia by the war has
been the temporary suspension of foreign investments, totaling about
300 million dollars.

`The region itself is not very attractive in terms of investment, and,
today, it has become way too insecure,’ said Heghine Manasian,
director of the Caucasus Research and Resource Centre, CRRC.

Manasian said the situation in Georgia had increased inflation and
curbed economic growth.

`If prices go up and people’s income remains the same, consumption is
likely to decline, meaning that traders won’t be able to sell their
goods. A difficult situation aggravated by the world financial crisis
might emerge,’ said Manasian.

However, the authorities denied that consumers had been hit by the
conflict, insisting that any price increases were caused by panic
buying.

`People queued for petrol for two days ` because they panicked [that
supplies were going to run dry],’ said Sargsian, noting that state
reserves of fuel had not been touched.

In the wake of the conflict ` which officials believe has cost the
economy 680 million dollars ` analysts say it is important Armenia
does not rely so heavily on the import and export of goods through
Georgia in future.

`Two-thirds of foreign goods are coming through Georgian territory,’
said Andranik Tevanian, the director of the Institute for Political,
Economic and Legal Research. `This is why the Georgian conflict caused
delays to and even suspended the transportation of cargo.’

While an alternative transport route through Iran has been proposed as
a solution, Tevanian believes it would be a prohibitively expensive
option.

There are also indications that Armenia is looking at alternative ways
of transporting goods through Georgia.

On a recent visit to Georgia, Armenian president Serzh Sargsian raised
the prospect of the building a new highway linking Yerevan with the
city of Batumi, the capital of the autonomous republic of Adjara in
southwest Georgia ` cutting the current 700 kilometre route by about a
third.

Previously, much of Armenian exports were ferried through Georgia’s
land border with Russia, but the conflict has meant that Yerevan will
become more reliant on its neighbour’s Black Sea port.

`If we start working [on the Yerevan-Batumi route] today, in two
years’ time, we’ll have a transport route that is very important for
Armenian economy,’ Armenian transport and communications minister
Gurgen Sargsian told journalists recently.

Experts have also cited the importance of developing alternative trade
partners, emphasising the role Turkey could play. They say that the
continued closure of the land border between Turkey and Armenia costs
the economy around 500 million dollars annually.

The Armenian government hopes that the recent thawing of relations
with its western neighbour might offer new trading opportunities.

A direct electricity supply from Armenia to Turkey will start in 2009,
following the signing of an energy agreement during the visit of the
Turkish president Abdullah Gul to Yerevan in September.

`Developing closer political and economic relations with Turkey could
be a precursor for¦developing Armenia’s economy,’ said Minasian.

But other analysts remain sceptical. While Tevanian acknowledged that
normalising relations with Ankara was important for the economy, he
pointed out that Armenia had so far gleaned few benefits from the
rapprochement.

`We’ve made a step towards Turkey, but it is Turkey that had so far
reaped political dividends in Europe ` we see no tangible results from
the so-called warming yet,’ he said.

Naira Melkumian is an IWPR-trained journalist.

PRESIDENT BAKO SAHAKYAN MET CHAIRMAN…

Azat Artsakh Daily
10 Oct 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

On 9 October President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako Sahakyan
met chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia
Gagik Haroutyunyan. A wide range of issues related to the formation
of constitutional justice in Artsakh were discussed during the meeting.
According to Gagik Haroutyunyan Artsakh has all the prerequisites
to bring constitutional justice in concordance with the modern European
standards. The President in his turn underlined the importance of
tight cooperation and experience sharing between the corresponding
institutions in Artsakh and Armenia, as well as to make public all
processes carried out in the sphere.Heads of interested state organs
partook at the meeting.

STANISLAV BELKOVSKI: "I DO NOT RULE OUT THE MOST UNFAVORABLE SCRIPTS OF DEVELOPMENTS FOR RUSSIA, INCLUDING ITS COLLAPSE IN THE NEXT DECADES"

Today.Az
07 October 2008 [15:14]
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with famous Russian political scientist and founder
of the Institute of National Strategy Stanislav Belkovski.

– Mr.Belkovski, Russia is now sustaining a financial crisis. Don’t you
think that we are dealing with transformation of the political distrust
to Russia into economic losses for it after the Russian-Georgian
military conflict in South Ossetia?

– I think that the Georgian-Ossetian conflict has become a catalyst
but not the reason of the crisis events in the Russian financial
market. Speaking sketchy, one of the main reasons of the discussed
Russian financial crisis was the US financial crisis, which led to the
massive outflow of the western capital from the Russian markets. But
if we go deeper into the details, we will see that the main cause of
the existing crisis lies in the dependence of the Russian development
on external factors, in this case, on the inflow of foreign capital
and world energy prices.

– Then which were the main consequences of the Russian-Georgian
conflict in South Ossetia for Russia?

– I think there were no negative consequences at all. Certainly,
we observed worsening of Russia’s relations with the West, which,
however, did not grow into the break off ties between the sides or
any sanctions on our country. I have always supported the recognition
of independence of South Ossetia ad Abkhazia and I consider that this
step has strengthened our status of a regional player, though it did
not affect our global position in the world and it remained changeless.

– But was it right to recognize the independence of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia by Russia, which suppressed Chechnya’s striving for
independence at the cost of bloodshed?

– I think it is a groundless comparison. The Kremlin had no strategic
lines for recognition of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
and if Georgia had not started military actions on the night of
August 8, we would probably have not witnessed the recognition of
these formations in the next decades and perhaps it would have never
happened.

In the established situation Russia had no space for a political
maneuver and it was obliged to enter South Ossetia to avert the
complete expelling of Ossetians from there. Later on, Russia was
obliged to recognize independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
otherwise, the further opportunities on the legal military presence
of Russia in these republics would have been ruled out. Moreover, we
should not forget that demonstration of weakness by powerful Russia
in this issue, would lead to destabilization in the Russian South
Caucasus, which always valued force.

– Your are distancing from the national interests of Russia,
while I prefer to view the Russian-Georgian war in the sense of
the international law. Was it right to openly ignore principles
of territorial integrity of the states by Russia, witnessed by the
world community in the result of Russia’s military aggression against
Georgia with the further recognition of independence of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia?

– International law exists for registering political
resolutions. Moreover, it has been repeatedly changed throughout the
history. Speaking of the memory of our generation, we can remember
the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia, recognition of independence
of East Timor and Kosovo. In other words, it is not actual to speak
about the inviolability of borders after the collapse of several
states and appearance of new ones on the world map.

– Does it mean that you consider Russia’s recognition of the so-called
"Nagorno Karabakh Republic" normal and expected?

– I suppose the recognition of the independence of "Nagorno Karabakh"
is not expected in the near future. As for the events in South Ossetia,
I would like to remind that recognition of its independence was not a
result of the strategic line of the Kremlin but a necessary reaction
to the external factor. In case with Nagorno Karabakh, the Kremlin
has no plans to recognize its independence. The preservation of the
quo status in the South Caucasus is more important for Russia.

– How how long may this quo status exist, if there is a polarization
of outlooks on the ways of the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict due to Armenia’s unwillingness to liberate the occupied
lands of our country?

– I am not so well familiarized with the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
like in case with South Ossetia and, therefore, it is difficult for me
to give an unambiguous answer to this question. But I think, changes in
this status are possible if the United States display a will for it, as
they can encourage the South Caucasus countries for these changes. But
the United States and European Union are so busy with other questions,
especially, the global financial crisis that they will hardly deal
with changing the status in the Karabakh issue in the nearest future.

If speaking about the position of the Kremlin, Russia is not
interested in worsening relations either with Azerbaijan or with
Armenia, therefore, it can not occupy the open pro-Azerbaijani
position in the issue of Nagorno Karabakh. Therefore, I think,
the Kremlin hopes more for continuation of the negotiation process,
but not for the radical changes in the established quo status.

– We are speaking of the Kremlin’s position, considering the current
balance of powers in the world. What do you think about the future
of Russia?

– The nearest future of Russia seems unclear to me for considering
the fact that the provisional start of the Russian civilization
dates to the 9th century, now Russia has neared the critical age
of 1200 years. It is supposed that at this age of historical turns a
civilization may either die or reborn for a new development. Everything
depends on whether the working political elite of Russia will be
able to resist the challenges of the global crisis. Now we see that
it is not. It takes decisions meeting its own interests, but not the
national interests for Russia. If in the end, the ruling elite of
Russia does not find reserves for internal mobilization, I do not
rule out the most unfavorable scripts of development for Russia,
including its collapse in the next decades. Naturally, I continue
hoping that the age of historical turns will end with Russia’s revival,
appearance of a new ruling political elite but now its death.

– Which variant, revived or weak Russia, is more profitable for
Azerbaijan?

– I think that the neighborhood with weak Russia is not profitable for
Azerbaijan, because weak and even collapsed Russia will always be an
exporter of chaos and terrorism to Azerbaijan. At the same time only
powerful Russia can contribute to peace and stability in the South
Caucasus region.