Author: Chavushian

GERMANY PRESSES RUSSIA TO LEAVE GEORGIA
By Michael Fischer

Associated Press Worldstream
August 24, 2008 Sunday 4:51 PM GMT

German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Enhanced Coverage LinkingAngela Merkel -Search using:
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News, Most Recent 60 Days called Sunday for Russian troops to complete
their pullout of Georgia, saying Moscow’s credibility "is at stake."

Speaking to German broadcaster ZDF, Merkel raised the possibility the
European Union would call a special summit to address the situation
in the Caucuses, saying France which currently holds the EU’s rotating
presidency would take up the issue in the coming days.

"Russia has not yet fulfilled its commitment to the six-point peace
plan," Merkel said, urging Moscow to uphold its end of the deal.

"Russia’s credibility is at stake," Merkel said.

Under the plan, promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and
signed last week by Russia and Georgia, both sides must move back
to positions they held before fighting broke out Aug. 7 in Georgia’s
South Ossetia region, which has close ties to Russia.

Russia pulled the bulk of its troops and tanks from its small southern
neighbor Friday after a brief but intense war, but the U.S. and
its European allies have criticized Moscow for leaving some troops
in Georgia and performing military operations despite agreeing to
a cease-fire.

Merkel also has suggested the EU could sponsor a conference with
Georgia and its immediate neighbors, including Azerbidjan, Armenia
and Ukraine, to encourage efforts to rebuild damaged infrastructure
in Georgia.

Russia would not participate in such a conference, she said.

Also Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke
by telephone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to insist
Moscow uphold its end of the EU-brokered cease-fire agreement.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the two also agreed that 20 extra
unarmed observers would be sent to monitor the situation in Georgia
near the separatist region of South Ossetia.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe agreed last
week to immediately send 20 additional unarmed military monitors to
join its 200-person mission in Georgia.

Merkel departs Monday for a two-day trip to Sweden, Estonia and
Lithuania, in an effort to promote continued dialogue with Moscow.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 22 2008

MINOR BLAST IN BRIDGE CONNECTING GEORGIA WITH ARMENIA

Tbilisi, 22 August: Unknown individuals have attempted to blow up a
railway bridge in Marneuli District connecting the country with
neighbouring Armenia, regional authorities have reported.

Kvemo Kartli governor Davit Kirkitadze told journalists on Friday [22
August] that an explosive device, presumably an anti-tank mine planted
under one of the piers of the bridge, went off in the early hours on
Friday. However, the explosion did not cause serious damage.

The governor stressed that an investigation had been launched into the
blast.

Armenian National Committee – San Francisco Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, California 94118
Phone: 415.387.3433 Fax: 415.751.0617
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

August 19, 2008

Contact: Roxanne Makasdjian

Telephone: 415.387.3433

REP. SPEIER COSPONSORS RESOLUTION ON DINK ASSASSINATION

— Cites need for Armenian Genocide recognition and increased U.S. aid
to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh

SAN MATEO, CA – In a meeting with Armenian American community members
led by the Bay Area Armenian National Committee (ANC) and the Armenian
Assembly of America (AAA), Congresswoman Jackie Kanchelian Speier
(CA-12) agreed to join the growing list of cosponsors of House
Resolution 102, a resolution condemning the 2007 assassination of
Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink in Turkey. Dink’s murder is
widely believed to have been a reaction to his publications about the
Armenian Genocide.

In the meeting at Rep. Speier’s San Mateo, California office, the
Congresswoman stressed the need for continued vigilance to achieve
recognition of the Armenian Genocide and for increased U.S. aid to
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh. She also urged greater participation in
public affairs by the Armenian American community.

"I am encouraged when we are able to work collaboratively to achieve
our common objectives of securing recognition and justice for the
Armenian Genocide and enhancing U.S. relations with Armenia – an
increasingly vital ally in the Caucuses," said Rep. Speier. "We most
certainly must rectify the past, while keeping a keen eye on the
future. I look forward to the day when thousands of Armenian Americans
converge on Capitol Hill, united in advancing this important cause."

The community members at the meeting thanked the Congresswoman for
signing onto HR 106, the Armenian Genocide Resolution, and for joining
the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues within days of taking her
House seat earlier this year. The meeting was attended by Valina
Agbabian, Sako Bezdjian, Armen Carapetian, Sebouh Der Kiureghian,
Levon Ishag, Matt Senekeremian, Margaret Shamlian, and Khatchig
Tazian.

"Congresswoman Speier is always very accessible, receptive, and has a
deep understanding of our issues," said long-time Bay Area ANC
activist Khatchig Tazian. "We are fortunate to be represented by one
of the few Congressional members who keeps well informed, has a real
commitment to our issues, and works hand-in-hand with us to achieve
our mutual goals."

The group discussed a wide range of issues of concern to Armenian
Americans, including the latest efforts in the House to fight back the
Bush Administration’s attempts to cut U.S. aid to Armenia and tip the
balance of military aid in favor of Azerbaijan. Also at issue was the
unsettling effect Azerbaijan’s recent hostile actions and aggressive
rhetoric are having on the Nagorno-Karabagh peace negotiations, and
the serious challenges the ongoing crisis in Georgia is presenting to
Armenia, Karabagh, and Armenians living in Javakh, the Armenian
enclave within Georgia’s borders.

When presented with an overview of the ANCA Capital Gateway and AAA
internship programs, Rep. Speier enthusiastically welcomed the
opportunity to host the next generation of Armenian American activists
in her offices. Congresswoman Speier also expressed her pleasure to
serve as an honorary chair for the ANC-WR 24th Annual Banquet to be
held on October 12, 2008, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in
Simi Valley.

Congresswoman Speier is one of two current members of the U.S. House
of Representatives of Armenian descent, along with Bay Area
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.

MEDALS PER CAPITA GEO QUIZ: SLOVENIA OR SLOVAKIA?

Los Angeles Times
2:03 PM, August 15, 2008
CA

Most Americans just don’t think all that much about Slovenia and/or
Slovakia, mostly because thinking about Slovenia and/or Slovakia
would require knowing that Slovenia and/or Slovakia exist.

Of course, this reflects far more upon our national geography dimness
than upon Slovenia and Slovakia, especially when you realize that
while the populous United States dwells as a straggler deep down the
Medals Per Capita standings, Slovenia and Slovakia are unadulterated,
out-and-out Medals Per Capita mastodons.

Slovenia — mighty, mountainous and pleasingly light of population —
has bolted from No. 7 to No. 2 in the standings after Friday’s mass
perspiration in Beijing, while Slovakia — mighty, mountainous and
pleasingly light of population — has soared from No. 11 to No. 4.

That may surprise some, but the Medals Per Capita think tank long has
stood attuned to the MPC wonders of both Slovenia and Slovakia, having
watched them frequent the top 10 at Athens 2004 until they rested at
No. 5 (Slovenia, four medals) and No. 17 (Slovakia, six medals).

That forced Medals Per Capita to drill it into Medals Per Capita’s
head that Slovenia used to belong to Yugoslavia and Slovakia used to
belong to Czechoslovakia, the latter easier to guess upfront. They’re
both in Europe which, for any Americans reading here, is a continent
on the other side of the Atlantic from the United States.

The Atlantic is an ocean.

More after the jump….

Slovenia, sitting down south alongside Italy on the Adriatic (which
is a sea), got a judo gold medal from Lucija Polavder to double its
medal count to two, awesome from a population of but 2,007,711. As
for Slovakia, up in Central Europe just below Poland, well, let’s just
say you don’t want to go kayak- or canoe-racing with any Slovakians,
lest you crave having your fanny whipped.

Three of Slovakia’s four medals come from that sport, from a country of
just 5,244,749 oarspeople, a population cleverly low and yet enhanced
further when Slovakia doubled down MPC — strategically breaking
from the Czech Republic on Jan. 1, 1993 in the "Velvet Divorce,"
after which the two remain close friends, as the world should be.

And then, while MPC keeps keen affection and healthy fear of Slovenia
and Slovakia, it’s getting downright agog over Armenia, a veritable
Secretariat refusing to luxuriate in its lead.

For four days running, Armenia has led the supreme, vital,
indispensable MPC standings, yet it has gone about improving its
MPC rating: from one medal per every 1,484,293 Armenians on Tuesday,
to 989,529 on Wednesday, to 742,147 on Thursday, and to a scalding
593,717 on Friday.

Ignoring stifling MPC pressure, Armenia has plucked a bronze per
day lately, the latest from Tigran Varban Martirosyan in the men’s
77-85kg weightlifting, giving Armenia five golden bronzes, three in
weightlifting and two in wrestling. How a man could lift both his
country’s lead in the MPC standings and that barbell with all that
stuff on the ends simply defies belief.

It has both a population of 2,968,586 and the whole world in a
headlock.

It’s just plain Herculean.

In MPC minutiae, meanwhile:

— Yes, an MPC rating can retreat, of course, in the event of a
positive doping test. It’s luridly exciting. When Kim Jong Su lost
both his silver and bronze medals in shooting after testing positive
for a beta blocker, it sent North Korea careening from 16th place
to 26th, its medals dropping from seven to five and its MPC bloating
from 3,354,156 to 4,695,818. Medals Per Capita gets all giddy when a
positive test rocks the standing, not least because it means somebody
like American shooter Jason Turner slept a few nights in fourth place,
then woke up one day in third, absolutely the most fashionable way
to medal in this drug-addled 21st century.

— Two more medals to make eight, and here comes Cuba.

–Traditional MPC darling Norway has proved a Winter Olympics MPC titan
by dominating cross-country skiing, which showed Norwegian studliness
because everybody knows that in most countries, if you want to go
cross-country, you wimpily drive a car or take an airplane. Yet as
Norway streamed from No. 25 to No. 11 in the Summer Games, well, who
knew Norwegians could swim? Is this some testament to global warming?

The top 10 (with medals, and number of citizens per medal):

1. Armenia (5) – 593,717 2. Slovenia (2) – 1,003,856 3. Australia
(20) – 1,030,043 4. Slovakia (4) – 1,311,187 5. Cuba (8) – 1,427,994

6. Mongolia (2) – 1,498,041

41. Poland (2) – 19,250,348 49. Ethiopia (1) – 78,254,090

Selected others: 11. Norway (2) – 2,377,902 20. Kazakhstan (5) –
3,068,107 29. Togo (1) – 5,858,673

7. Georgia (3) – 1,543,614 8. Switzerland (4) – 1,895,380 9. Hungary
(5) – 1,986,183 10. Azerbaijan (4) – 2,044,429

New entries

31. Ukraine (7) – 6,563,470 32. United States (46) – 6,604,883
37. Japan (13) – 9,791,417 44. China (41) – 32,440,112

–Chuck Culpepper

Culpepper is a contributor to The Times.

Photo: Slovakian kayaker Elena Kaliska speeds along Beijing’s slalom
course on her way to an Olympic gold medal.

ARMENIA MAY ACT AS STABILIZER OF SITUATION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

ARKA
Aug 14, 2008

YEREVAN, August 14. /ARKA/. Armenia will finally be an instrument
for stabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus, stated Galust
Sahakyan, Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

The standards the international community is applying in implementing
its policy now can be seen only in Armenia, Sahakyan said.

Although the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unsettled, Armenia is
mainly living a peaceful political life. Armenia is obvious the most
stable country in the South Caucasus, Sahakyan said.

He pointed out that the Armenian people’s aspirations are reflected
in the country’s official policy. "The country’s official policy is
aimed at resolving existing problems in a peaceful way," he said.

WATER SUPPLY OF YEREVAN’S SHENGAVIT COMMUNITY TO BE CUT OFF ON AUGUST 15

Noyan Tapan

Au g 13, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The water supply of the following
streets in Yerevan’s Shengavit community: Garegin Nzhde, Bagratunyats,
Arshakunyats, Mantashian, Arin-Berd, Teyshebayini, May 9th, as well
as of the 4th lane of Artsakh Street and the adjacent areas will be
cut off from 10 am to 8 pm on August 15 due to construction work,
NT was informed by Yerevan Water company.

GEORGIA’S WITHDRAWAL WOULD SPELL NO TRAGEDY FOR CIS – FC MEMBERS

ITAR-TASS
13.08.2008, 06.18
Russia

MOSCOW, August 13 (Itar-Tass) — Georgia’s walkout of the Commonwealth
of Independent States, if it takes place after all, will be no
tragedy for the CIS, many members of the Federation Council (Russian
parliament’s upper house) have said.

"Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili stubbornly declares this
intention again and again. Last time he did so six months ago. But that
decision has not materialized to this day," the chairman of the CIS
Affairs Committee, Vadim Gustov, told Itar-Tass in an interview. He
does not rule out that this time the walkout may happen, but it will
certainly have no tragic consequences for the Commonwealth.

"For Georgia this will be very bad," Gustov said with certainty. He
recalled that within the framework of the CIS Georgia had signed a
number of agreements very important to it, in first place, trading,
economic and energy ones. Its walkout of the CIS would spell the
termination of those agreements.

Gustov agreed that Georgia was heavily funded by the United States,
but at the same time he doubted that "these injections will be able
to substitute for full-fledged economic development and cooperation
with near neighbors."

He also recalled that over 700,000 Georgian citizens arrived in Russia
lately in order to earn a living and were sending back home millions
of dollars in cash.

"The loss of this source of income will hit the Georgian population
really hard," the chairman of the CIS Affairs Committee warned.

As for Saakashvili’s call addressed to Ukraine and other CIS members
for leaving the CIS, too, Gustov believes it was very difficult to
judge at this point what their response might be.

For Ukraine, he said, this is a no easy question. On the one hand,
it is drifting westwards, but the European Union has told it that
no date for its admission could be set for now. On the other hand,
if it is to speed up economic development, Ukraine should increase
integration within the CIS, and the country’s leadership cannot but
be aware of this, Gustov said.

And the chairman of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security
Committee, Issa Kostoyev, described Saakashvili’s threat Georgia
would leave the CIS as a "blank shot."

The Georgian president, Kostoyev said, has been fanning tensions with
his statements, apparently waiting for approval and support from some
of his counterparts, but the chances this tactic of his may succeed
are not obvious at all.

True, some countries, including Ukraine, may try to capitalize on
this theme somehow, but their ultimate decision will depend on a
variety of foreign policy factors.

Kostoyev is certain that the Central Asian countries, Belarus, Armenia
and Azerbaijan (the latter is subject to the strongest pressures)
are unprepared to move in this direction.

Both FC members believe that the CIS should be more quick and active
in reforming itself. The stronger the CIS and the more effective its
operation, the fewer the doubts about its future and the weaker the
decision to leave it, the senior legislators said.

BAE SYSTEMS MANAGER ROSS BISHOP WAS RUSHED TO SAFETY

Lancashire Evening Post
Wednesday, 13th August 2008
UK

"Previous" PreviousNext " Next "View GalleryADVERTISEMENTA Preston
backpacker has spoken of his "evacuation" from war-ravaged Georgia.

BAE Systems manager Ross Bishop was rushed to safety away from
advancing Russian troops as he was finishing a 10-day walking
holiday in the remote Svaneti region – less than 60 miles away from
heavily-bombed South Ossetia.

The 31-year-old, of Princes Reach, Ashton, was one of 11 travellers
enjoying an adventure mountain trip when trouble flared up last
Thursday night.

But news of the fighting in the break-away region did not fully get
through until Saturday. Luckily, it was in time to avert the group from
heading through the city of Gori, which was heavily bombed and occupied
by Russian troops on Monday, and on to the closed Tbilisi Airport.

Mr Bishop, who works on the Eurofighter project at Warton, said:
"It could have been a near miss. We didn’t face any direct danger
but if I was travelling alone I would have headed for Gori.

"We had started to hear stories when fighting started and there was
a feeling of dread and ‘oh no, not again’ among the Georgian people."

The keen traveller, who has previously visited Pakistan and the
Himalayas, said his Georgian guide later broke down in tears afraid
her younger brother could be enlisted in the army. She also received
a text message from a friend who had seen aircraft harrier destroyed
by Russian bombers.

The group was taken quickly by minibus along rough roads down to
Armenia where Mr Bishop found one of the last spaces on a flight from
Yerevan back to Heathrow on Monday. He had to wait four hours for a
visa as he joined the thousands rushing to get through the border.

Mr Bishop was reassured to take the trip with London-based Wild
Frontiers despite the Foreign Office previously issuing advice against
travelling to the region.

The group, which ranged of men and women aged between 31 and 59,
paid around £1,175 each for the trip, excluding flights.

–Boundary_(ID_/HFlvgY2oaTASy+ktKJNGA)–

NEVER AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN …GENOCIDE: ARMENIA, THE HOLOCAUST, CAMBODIA, (VERSION ANGLAISE SEULEMENT)

Tolerance.ca
August 12, 2008
Canada

Communiqués

Lane H. Montgomery’s haunting and beautiful book NEVER AGAIN, AGAIN,
AGAIN…Genocide: Armenia, The Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Darfur is as educational as it is unnerving. Montgomery
asserts that it’s not that the average reader doesn’t know about
genocide — digital cameras, cell phones, the internet and the
immediacy of the media have taken care of that; most simply are unaware
of the scope of genocide over the last century. More than 70 million
people have been systematically murdered in the past 100 years. Most
of the perpetrators responsible for these horrific killings have
never been, and never will be, brought to justice.

Montgomery is on the advisory board of the Harvard Humanitarian
Initiative and is a member of the Center of the National Cathedral
for Peace and Global Reconciliation in Washington DC. As an author
and photographer, she’s traveled worldwide in such places as Liberia,
Rwanda, Haiti, Kosovo, Bosnia, Ethiopia, the Congo- where, humanitarian
groups such as Americares, the International Rescue Committee (the
IRC) and SIM (a Christian advocacy sponsor for children with AIDS)
have taken her.

In a particularly revealing moment, the characteristically stoic
Montgomery admits that she was unprepared for the horrors of genocide
in Rwanda. Upon entering a church full of clothed skeletons – Christian
worshippers looking for sanctuary, only to be turned in to the Hutu
machetes by their own pastor, Montgomery told her driver, a Tutsi,
"I don’t think I can do this".

Interspersed among Montgomery’s own steely narrative are deeply
disturbing first-hand accounts of survival, reprints of interviews
with war criminals, and editorials by ambassadors, academicians,
human rights activists, and journalists. She has enlisted a handful
of prestigious contributors: Chuck Sudetic, reporter for The New York
Times from 1990 to 1996 on the collapse of Yugoslavia and other Balkan
countries; Terry George, co-producer of the movie "Hotel Rwanda";
Ambassador James Rosenthal, former Director of Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia Affairs at the Indochine Desk of the State Department;
Richard G. Hovannisian, American Educational Foundation Professor
of Modern Armenian History at UCLA; Ruth Messinger, president of
American Jewish World Service; and Rabbi Arthur Schneier, President,
Appeal of Conscience Foundation.

As for the photographs, Montgomery took over 40 of them. They range
from archival black-and-whites to beautifully crisp full-color images
worthy of the finest travel magazine. Divided into six sections by
genocide, each includes a dramatic timeline separating fact from
possible denial.

By including such a cross section of contributors and a detailed
photographic and written records of major genocides, Montgomery avoids
making a political statement; she makes a human one, inviting us all
to be affronted by the details of the tyranny and slaughter hidden
from so many.

Never Again, Again, Again…

Genocide: Armenia, The Holocaust, Cambodia,

Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Darfur, 2008.

–Boundary_(ID_ei9xi1FNc+noaH/Op8tFkQ)–

BEIJING: ARMENIAN STATE FLAG HOISTED IN BEIJING

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.08.2008 18:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On August 4, Armenian state flag was hoisted
in the Olympic Village in Beijing, the RA MFA press office told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

Mayor of the Olympic Village Chen Zhili, Armenia’s Charge d’Affaires
in China, head of the Armenian

Olympic mission, officials of the RA Foreign Ministry and Armenian
Embassy in China as well as members of the Armenian Olympic team took
part in the solemn opening ceremony.