Author: Emil Lazarian

A1+
| 18:56:06 | 15-09-2005 | Politics |
NKR PARLIAMENT PASSED LAWS
The recurrent sitting of the NKR National Assembly was held on September 14.
The agenda consisted of 20 items.
According to a report of the NKR parliament’s press service, the deputies
approved the draft bills `On Consular Service’ and `On International
Treaties’ submitted by Foreign Minister Arman Melikyan.
When commenting on the possibility of joining of the International Crisis
Group (ICG) to the Karabakh conflict settlement process Arman Melikyan said
that the proposals made by the ICG maintain some elements negative for the
Karabakh party. The MInsiter also pointed out to the fact that in the report
issued by the Group the Karabakh conflict is presented as a conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
At that the NKR FM noted that the ICG respects the sovereignty of Nagorno
Karabakh and its aspiration for international recognition.
Arman Melikyan also informed that in the near future Karabakh will express
attitude to the report.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MosNews, Russia
Sept 15 2005
Khodorkovsky By-Election Bid Draws Motley Group of Rivals
After Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s former cellmate, accused of trying to
assassinate Russian energy monopoly chief, refused to run against him
in a by-election to the State Duma, a woman who became famous after
killing a rapist, has been asked by nationalist politicians to
compete with the jailed tycoon, local media reported.
Alexandra Ivannikova, 30, received a two-year suspended sentence
after killing ethnic Armenian Sergei Bagdasaryan, who she said had
tried to rape her in his taxi. The case received wide coverage in the
local press and among the general public, while the victim’s
ethnicity brought nationalist parties to Ivannikova’s side.
Prosecutors later asked for the sentence to be annulled, and she was
fully acquitted.
Alexandra received an offer to run for the parliamentary seat from a
number of movements, including the Russian Public Movement and the
Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Their initiative was also
backed by a radical Duma deputy from the LDPR faction Nikolai
Kurianovich, who said he would like to see a real `Russian woman’
among the members of his fraction.
Ivannikova’s supporters explain their choice by saying the woman `has
asserted the honor of Russian women by fighting with a native of the
Transcaucasus’.
Ekho Moskvy radio station also reported that four more inmates of the
Matrosskaya Tishina detention center where the former Yukos tycoon is
being held – two of them charged with robbery and the others with
child molesting – are also going to run for the State Duma.
Earlier this month the Russian nationalist party Motherland asked
retired Russian commando Vladimir Kvachkov, held on suspicion of
trying to assassinate the head of Unified Energy Systems of Russia
Anatoly Chubais, to compete against Mikhail Khodorkovsky, but
Kvachkov, however, turned the offer down.
The former Yukos head, sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud
and tax evasion, officially announced his candidacy in the Moscow
constituency after the deputy elected from the 201st Universitetsky
district took up a managerial post at a bank. Khodorkovsky is
eligible to stand in the election because the appeal of his sentence
has not yet been heard. The court session started on Sept. 14, but
was adjourned.
The elections are scheduled for Dec. 4, 2005.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Modesto Bee, CA
Sept 15 2005
Patterson MJC site develops wrinkle
Trustees find out that land donor has checkered past
By LORENA ANDERSON
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: September 15, 2005, 05:31:06 AM PDT
Plans for a new Modesto Junior College campus in Patterson are moving
forward cautiously after the Yosemite Community College District
found out its land-gifting angel has a bit of the devil in his past.
Michael Miroyan of Saratoga, one of the partners in Golden Eagle
Investments, offered the district a 30-acre donation for its West
Side center. But last weekend, YCCD trustees were shocked to read in
newspaper articles that Miro-yan has spent time in prison for drug
convictions.
Miroyan was arrested in 1988 in connection with a 23-member cocaine
trafficking conspiracy, according to the Los Angeles Times, and a
search of Internet databases shows an appeal before the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1978 based on a marijuana trafficking conviction.
Miroyan did not return calls seeking comment. He showed up at the
board meeting after a vote had been taken.
During the discussion about the land, YCCD board member Pat Dean said
she wished that Miroyan had come to the board members and told them
about his past before they read about it in the paper.
“I almost had a little heart attack,” Dean said during Wednesday
night’s meeting.
She reiterated that point to Miroyan when he stood before the board
to explain himself, said trustee Paul Neumann. Miroyan told the board
he thought people knew about his past.
“I think he’s an amazing character,” said Neumann, who made the
motion to begin negotiations. “He said he has made some bad choices
and is trying to make good choices now, and one of those is donating
land for the formation of a community college campus.”
Neumann said Miroyan presented the board with a financial statement
from his chief investor, an Armenian billionaire who made his money
from oil deals.
“I can’t imagine he’d lie with the paper on the table,” Neumann said.
Before Miroyan spoke, the other trustees agreed that the news was
troubling, but said they appreciate Miroyan’s offer for land on which
to build a $5million West Side education center to serve a growing
population.
The land Miroyan wants to donate sells for about $180,000 an acre,
Neumann said, and with the access road and utilities, that makes the
gift worth more than $5.4 million.
“If it was a performance, it was a great one, but if it was from the
heart – which I believe it was – then this is an incredibly generous
offer,” Neumann said. Without it, he said, the college could not have
the satellite campus it wants for the money it has to spend.
Trustees voted 6-1 to go forth with negotiations with Miro-yan’s
partnership, with the caveat that the YCCD can get out of the
discussions at any time.
Miroyan promised the community college district the 30 acres in his
Sperry Road Business Park development, as well as an access road and
utilities up to the property line, which the district will have to
pay to extend to the campus.
The board had also been approached by Keystone Pacific Business Park,
which sits about a mile away from the Sperry Road site.
However, after coming up with a list of specific wishes for the
building and giving the two developers until the end of August to
estimate costs, Keystone dropped out of the running.
YCCD board member Abe Rojas told fellow trustees that he wanted to
make certain the access road, utilities and Miro-yan’s ability to
actually donate the land – which he does not own yet – are set in
stone before the board accepts Miroyan’s offer.
The board directed staff to begin the negotiation process, which
could take about a month, YCCD Chancellor Jim Williams estimated.
Modesto Junior College’s acting president, Bill Scroggins, said
getting state approval for the new education center could take six to
nine months.
Board members said they feel strongly about sticking to their promise
to build the West Side center, and when the issue first came up
during Wednesday’s agenda, they seemed reluctant to bring up
Miroyan’s past.
Trustee Anne DeMartini said she’d be the one to “identify the
elephant in the room.”
She said she sees a “difficulty being in this relationship” with
Miroyan, but by the time the vote was called, she had joined five
other trustees in giving staff the green light to at least talk with
the developer. Trustee Delsie Schrimp was the dissenting vote, saying
she had been away and needed more time to consider the issue.
Several people stepped up to vouch for Miroyan, including a
consultant who said he never had any problems with Miroyan through
three joint projects, and Patterson resident and former teacher Mimi
Draper, who said Miroyan approached her last year about his idea for
the land gift.
She said he told her about his past, and she was sympathetic, having
known a former student who got into the same kind of trouble but
turned his life around.
“I see nothing wrong with Michael,” she said, “but as my kids tell
me, I believe everybody.”
Neumann said he was touched by Miroyan’s appearance before the board.
“He said, ‘I’ve done hard time, but I’m a different person,'” Neumann
said. “In education, if you don’t believe people can change their
lives, you had better get out of the business.”

Kathimerini, Greece
Sept 15 2005
Unwanted engagement
By Petros Papaconstantinou
The failure by European Union officials yesterday to establish a
joint negotiating position for Ankara’s membership talks is not
attributable to pressure from Nicosia but to other factors.
Despite France’s modest compromise in the joint Franco-British deal,
Paris wants an emergency summit by the end of 2006 to evaluate
whether Ankara has achieved full implementation of its obligations
before it can start negotiating membership. Austria is demanding
clarification that talks will not necessarily lead to full
membership, envisaging rather a `privileged partnership’ similar to
Angela Merkel’s proposal.
In corridor talk, European envoys argue that the main roadblock to
Ankara’s EU ambitions is not Cyprus but the Kurdish issue. Despite
recent democratization reforms, Turkey’s handling of ethnic minority
issues leaves much to be desired. Charges against novelist Orhan
Pamuk for his comments on Turkey’s killings of Armenians and Kurds
echo European concerns. Olli Rehn, EU commissioner for enlargement,
called the date of Pamuk’s trial, set to clash with an EU summit, a
`provocation.’
The hardening of EU states’ stand on Turkey is the result of many
different political factors. It’s highly unlikely that it will be
reversed, even though Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
complaints about EU states `shifting the goalposts’ ahead of the
entry talks are partly justified.
The moment of truth is approaching for Turkey as well as Europe. The
two sides would be better off breaking an unwanted engagement – for
the sake of a special relationship – than canceling the wedding after
the invitations have been sent out. If, on the other hand, the
Europeans want full membership for Turkey, they must hammer out a
road map of specific deadlines and conditions, including a settlement
of the Cyprus problem.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 15 2005
British delegation visits Azerbaijan’s occupied territories
Baku, September 14, AssA-Irada
A 20-member British delegation comprising Christian organizations
visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on Tuesday as part of
the so-called `Visit to Arstakh’ mission. The delegation is headed by
Baroness Caroline Cox, vice-speaker of the British House of Lords,
who is known for her close ties to Armenians.
Cox paid her first visit to Upper Garabagh in 1989, during the
initial stage of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.*

ARKA News Agency
Sept 14 2005
FIFTH UNIVERSAL REGIONAL TRADE, INDUSTRIAL EXPO-FORUM “ARMENIA EXPO
2005” OPENS IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, September 14. /ARKA/. The fifth universal regional trade and
industrial expo-forum “Armenia EXPO 2005” opened today in Yerevan.
Chairman of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia
(UMBA) Arsen Ghazaryan said at the opening ceremony that this forum
testifies economic achievements of our country. “In fact, we not only
demonstrate the qualitative progress, but also the potential to
establish new companies”, he said. He reported that this is the fifth
exhibition and every time more and more companies participate in the
exhibitions. This testifies about country’s development, creation of
new resources. “Armenian has become the regional center of
coordination of business-contacts”, Ghazaryan said.
Expo-forum will last till September, 17, 2005 and includes six
parallel exhibitions – “Industrial Armenia EXPO 2005”, “Construction
EXPO 2005”, “Trans EXPO 2005”, “Food and Beverage EXPO 2005”,
“Polygraphy. Publishing. Advertisement EXPO 2005” and “Comp EXPO
2005”. The Armenian – Russian “Cooperation 2005” business meeting
will be held within this forum, with participation of businessmen
from Moscow and other regions of Russia. The Business Days of US,
China and Russia, as well as competition in the nomination “High
Quality” will be held on September 15-17, 2005.
Over 180 companies from 15 countries participate in Armenia EXPO 2005
– from Armenia, Russia, US, China, Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Syria,
Ukraine, UAE, states of Western and Eastern Europe. The space of the
expositions makes about 1,520 sq m.
Armenia EXPO 2005 has been organized by LOGOS EXPO Center with the
official support of RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, RA
Foreign Ministry and the UMBA.
LOGOS EXPO Center is the first private exhibition company in Armenia,
and it was founded in 1999. The Center organized over 45 exhibitions
since it operates. A.A. -0–

ARKA News Agency
Sept 14 2005
SAINT PETERSBURG TO MAKE WORTHY CONTRIBUTION TO ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN
COOPERATION: VALENTINA MATVIENKO
YEREVAN, September 14. /ARKA/. Saint Petersburg will do its best to
make its worthy contribution to Armenian-Russian cooperation, Saint
Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko said at the opening of a
concert “Musical meetings in Yerevan” as part of the Year of Russia
and Days of Saint Petersburg in Yerevan. “We have once more been
convinced of the strength of our historical and spiritual ties, of
how much we need each other and of having not only great historical
past, but also great future. And the Armenian and Russian peoples are
interested in this,” Matvienko said. “We have arrived here as a large
delegation, which includes representatives of business, financial,
educational, cultural communities, with a serious intention to
re-establish the contacts that connected our peoples, establish
active economic cooperation, restore cultural, educational and
spiritual ties,” she said. According to Matvienko, Russian people
have a very good attitude to Armenia, and no historical events have
changed this attitude. “We have one faith, our history has very much
in common, we have always had mutual respect, love, warm relations
between people, which is the basis for bilateral cooperation,” she
said.
In his turn, Mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan pointed out that
Armenia and Russia have established strong economic, trade and
political relations. He stressed that the Mayors of Yerevan and Saint
Petersburg have reached an arrangement to prepare and sign a specific
cooperation program between the two cities before the end of 2005.
Zakharyan expressed hope that such events as Days of Saint Petersburg
in Yerevan will become a good tradition and afford much pleasure to
the residents. P.T. -0–

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| 17:01:53 | 14-09-2005 | Social |
`COCA-COLA’ WAS TRIED
Today the Economic Competition Protection state Committee fined the
`Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Armenia’ for abusing its predominant
status in the market. The company will have to pay 1% of its profit for the
last year. The Committee has been investigating the activity of `Coca-Cola’
since summer after the article published in the newspaper `Iravounq’. It was
mentioned in the article that `Coca-Cola’ has threatened all the stores not
to sell Pepsi-Cola in the refrigerators with the logo of that company on
them . After the publication of the article there came complaints of
different stores and `Jermuk Group’ which imports Pepsi-Cola.
Artashes Kakoyan who represented the interests of `Coca-Cola’ in the
Committee, said that the members of the Committee are biased and they
protect the `Pepsi-Cola’.
Curing the session facts were made public about different shops turning to
the Committee and complaining of the illegal activity of `Coca-Cola’. The
main complaint was the following, `We were told that If we sell the products
of Pepsi Cola too, they will take away their refrigerators and will not
supply us with their products any more.
It is worth mentioning that `Coca-Cola’ has a 67.35% predominant status in
the market.

Sore Point: Baltic Pipeline Set to Mar Polish-German Relations Unless New
German Cabinet Undoes Damage

Polish News Bulletin; Sep 14, 2005
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
The following is a summary of an article by Radek Sikorski, former
deputy minister of defence, the PiS’s national security expert, and
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, former European minister, European deputy
(PO). – Words and Deeds The text comes as Germany and Russia sign an
agreement for developing a Baltic gas pipeline that will directly link
the two countries while circumventing Poland and the Baltic states.
Many of us, write Sikorski and Saryusz-Wolski, were moved by the words
spoken by Horst Koehler, Germany’s president, during the celebrations
of the 25th anniversary of Solidarity in Gdansk. There was loud
applause when he pledged for Germany to never again deal above
Poland’s head. “Nothing about you without you,” pledged the German
president.
Reminiscing the spontaneity with which ordinary Germans were sending
aid packages to Poland during the grim martial-law era, Koehler even
said that proved “we can rely on each other.” Friendly relations with
Germany are, of course, in Poland’s interest and have been yielding
various benefits. Just as Germany would not have reunited itself
without the peaceful Solidarity revolution, so Poland would never have
joined the EU without the support of its western neighbour and ally.
Yet, write Sikorski and Saryusz-Wolski, there is an obvious contrast
between what the German president said in Gdansk, and what chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder is doing this week in Berlin: signing an agreement
with Vladimir Putin on developing a Baltic gas pipeline that will
circumvent Poland.
The North European Gas Pipeline will cost at least $6 billion more to
develop than the second line of the Yamal pipeline, whose development
is provided for in the 1993 Polish-Russian gas contract. Given
Poland’s support for the idea of developing a second line of the Yamal
through Poland, one suspects with near-surety that the only purpose of
the Russo-German project is to circumvent Central Europe with
strategic infrastructure. From the point of view of Russia’s
interests, the point is to create a situation where it will be
possible to cut off gas supplies to the former Soviet bloc countries
without jeopardising relations with the top European players, such as
Germany. As the press reported, there had been no consultations
between Berlin and Warsaw on the issue.
Poland has reasons to be afraid. It wants to have as good as possible
relations with Russia but it cannot be blind to plans for using energy
supplies for political ends. Russia used to be cutting off supplies to
the Baltic states when they were striving for independence. It has
continued to this day to use oil export to exert pressure on the
government of Latvia. The Kremlin political technologists used
millions of dollars from the budgets of Russian energy companies in
Ukraine to influence the outcome of the last presidential elections
there. In Armenia, Bulgaria, and Hungary, Russian acquisitions in the
energy sector have been followed by corruption and growing influence
of political forces that can hardly be described as pro-European or
pro-Atlantic.
In Poland, too, we remember all too well the ambiguities associated
with the high-capacity fibre-optic cable laid alongside the existing
stretch of the Yamal, last year’s unannounced interruptions in gas
supplies to Belarus and Poland, or the corrupt political games
accompanying Russian companies’ attempts to buy energy-sector assets
in Poland. After the phoney trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, no one
should be deluding himself that Russia’s energy sector functions
according to free-market principles. – Questions to Germany Germany’s
consent, write Sikorski and Saryusz-Wolski, to such Russian policies
is all the more surprising because the development of the Baltic
pipeline will be harmful for consumers in countries-importers of
Russian gas, as it will be the consumers who, this way or another,
will ultimately bear the project’s extra costs. The German government
is getting involved in a project that will cause its citizens to pay
more for gas than with the originally planned route, which will
benefit a couple of German companies and that part of the Russian
establishment that perceives the possibility of energy blackmail as a
way of exerting strategic influence on Russia’s neighbours. The German
society is being unconsciously pulled into a game that does not serve
its good.
The Schroeder administration’s consent to satisfying the country’s
valid energy needs at the cost of its own citizens and without paying
attention to Poland’s position raises several obvious questions. Does
the “nothing about you without you” principle apply to all issues or
only those where its application does not entail any costs for the
German party? How to understand a situation where the German
chancellor is speaking to the Russian leader above the heads of the
Central European EU member states? How to develop the EU’s common
foreign policy, on which such high hopes are being pinned and which is
to be a mechanism of defending the whole EU’s interests, if the
interests of some member states are being ignored in such a blatant
way?
We fear, write Sikorski and Saryusz-Wolski, that the issue of the
Baltic pipeline will spoil Polish-German relations. It concerns
something that Poland perceives as its vital interest in a first-rate
national security area. Poland could respond to the planned project by
passing an energy security bill banning the use of the Polish
territory, coastal belt, and air space for projects perceived as
unwelcome. It is also unlikely that the German companies participating
in the Baltic project will be treated favourably by the Polish state
in public-financed contracts. Poland will need to seek ways to make up
for the losses resulting from the breaching of the international
agreement on developing the second line of the Yamal.
Every reasonable person should be interested in the Poles and Germans
not only overcoming the historical stereotypes and prejudices but
actually reinforcing mutual confidence and trust. We would like to be
sure that Poles and Germans can rely on each other. That is why, in
the face of the signing of a contract that can become a sore spot in
our relations for a long time to come, we hope that the new German
government will fundamentally alter Germany’s position on the issue. –
Adam Szejnfeld (PO) The Russo-German agreement proves the incompetence
of the four-year rule of the leftwing government in Poland. The SLD
has been unable to ensure Poland’s energy security, nor its strong
position on the international scene. If that position had been better,
perhaps Germany would not have decided to back the project, and the EU
would have been more sceptical about it. One of the priorities for the
new government in Warsaw will be defining Poland’s energy security
needs in real terms. However, we must not be taking offence at the
top European players, which is why it is important to improve
relations with Germany and France, and Russia. – Janusz Steinhoff
former economics minister (1997-2001) The new government in Warsaw
will need to draw up a new energy strategy and implement it
vigorously. The Russo-German agreement is a result of Poland’s passive
attitude. The EU has adopted three priorities with regards to gas
infrastructure: the pipeline through the Baltic, the second line of
the Yamal, and a development of transit infrastructure in
Ukraine. Signing a new gas agreement with Russia in February 2003,
Poland in fact ceded the decision on the second line of the Yamal to
Russia. Besides, in the last four years PGNiG [Poland’s state gas
importer] has only been talking about diversification plans, first
about a compressed-gas terminal, then about a Szczecin-Berlin
pipeline, and, more recently, about an LNG terminal. None of those
projects has gone beyond planning stage. – Jacek Piechota economics
minister Table. Largest companies in Central and Eastern Europe
(turnover in 2004, $ billion) Company country sector turnover Lukoil
Russia oil 33.8 Gazprom Russia gas 31.2 RAO JES Russia power 28 RZD
Russia railways 22.9 TNK BP Russia oil 14.3 PKN Orlen Poland oil 11.2
source: Rzeczpospolita Even before Poland joined the EU, the 15 states
had defined in 2002 a list of priority gas projects that put the
Baltic pipeline and the second line of the Yamal on an equal
footing. The European Commission is expected at its autumn session to
ultimately define the validity of those projects. Which if them is
carried out first will depend, of course, on the money, which should
be provided by the companies involved. PGNiG can hardly be expected to
finance a pipeline through Poland, especially if we compare its
financial muscle with that of companies like E.ON or BASF. It is sad
that both those companies had found themselves under political
pressure, and the agreement with Russia is part of chancellor
Schroeder’s re-election campaign. – Rzeczpospolita editorial comment
In president Putin and chancellor Schroeder’s presence, Russia and
Germany signed last week an agreement on developing a gas pipeline
through the Baltic.
It is a politically-motivated decision unfriendly towards Poland. In
business terms, a naval pipeline will cost far more than a land one,
such as the hypothetical second line of the Yamal pipeline that goes
through Poland. That latter project has for now been shelved and it is
unclear whether the Russians will ever return to it.
For Russia, circumventing Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus offers an extra
instrument of political pressure towards the countries between Russia
and Germany.
For Schroeder, the contract with Gazprom means big new orders for
German companies, ie economic success, something that the troubled
German economy needs more than anything today. As the German elections
are nearing, the gift from Putin offers not only economic but also
political advantage for Schroeder.
For Poland, the deal is a reminder of the consequences of a lack of
decisiveness in pursuing one’s own geopolitical interests. The issue
of gas supplies should be a fundamental element of Poland’s economic
policy. The rightwing cabinet of Jerzy Buzek made an attempt to
diversify Poland’s supply sources by signing a preliminary agreement
on the development of a pipeline from Norway.
One of the first decisions of the post-communist cabinet of Leszek
Miller was to cancel that deal under the pretext that it was too
costly. Since then, Poland has done virtually nothing to develop
alternative and secure natural gas supply routes.
Only now, when the cabinet’s term is drawing to an end, plans for
alternative pipelines through Ukraine or the Balkans have started
spring up one after another. It is good the possibilities exist.
The point, however, is not to waste them. That will be the job of the
new cabinet which should above all strive for those new gas projects
to receive strong backing from the EU as a whole. Its interests are
not completely identical with those of Germany and Schroeder, and
certainly not with those of Putin and Gazprom. Now the Brussels
administration needs to be convinced about that. – Gazeta Wyborcza
editorial comment Vladimir Putin’s explanations why Russia needs a
pipeline under the Baltic have been convoluted and falsely-sounding:
that Ukraine is threatened by “destabilisation” (not true, Ukraine has
become a safer place to invest following the orange revolution),
Poland has no money for developing a second line of the Yamal (where
did he hear that?), and the new pipeline will produce “cost savings”
(while in reality it will be two-three times more expensive than a
line through Poland). Putin’s conclusion is: “The whole project has
nothing to do with politics.” The truth is precisely the opposite. The
Kremlin wants the new pipeline precisely for political reasons.
The Baltic pipe will make the Central European countries, especially
Poland, even more dependent on Russia than before in terms of energy
supplies.
Russia has a long tradition of using the gas faucet in disputes with
other countries. Wee had a taste of that in the spring 2004 when
supplies to Belarus, and thus to Poland, were suddenly cut off for 24
hours. Earlier, Russia had used the same bugaboo to exert pressure on
Lithuania, Georgia, and Ukraine.
But using the “faucet argument” against Poland had been difficult due
to the fact that Germany is at the end of the same pipe. That is now
going to change. As the Deutsche Welle radio commented: “A
German-Russian border has been created.”
For the incumbent German cabinet, the political considerations, though
not the only ones that matter, are also crucial. Gerhard Schroeder
has for years preferred the Berlin-Paris-Moscow triangle to the
relations with the “lesser mortals.” One consolation is that his
defeat in the upcoming elections may ?
though does not have to ? put an end to that policy.
What should Poland do?
It should ultimately abandon the illusion that, though we are
dependent on Russia in energy supplies, a common faucet with Germany
means we can feel safe. Now that the Germans will have their own
faucet, it becomes clear how short-sighted such thinking, professed
chiefly by the SLD, was. And it was it that caused the post-communist
cabinet of Leszek Miller to cancel the plans for developing a pipeline
from Norway through Denmark.
Today, those, or other, plans for diversifying Poland’s supply sources
need to be reconsidered.
The second thing are serious talks with the incoming Christian
Democrats in Germany. Angela Merkel, who will probably become the new
chancellor, said recently in Warsaw that “eastern policy cannot be
carried out over Poland’s head.”
We are keeping her by her word. – Gas Myths About Poland Will Poland
lose revenue from the gas transit fees? It didn’t have the money to
co-finance the second line of the Yamal? Did it want to blackmail
Russia?
Many myths have emerged in the debate on the Baltic pipe. Gazeta
Wyborcza attempts to find out the truth.
Myth 1: Poland opposes the Baltic pipeline because it will lose
revenue from existing transit fees, Russian, French, and German
experts have been saying.
Not true. Poland charges no fees for the transit of gas from Russia to
western Europe. Transit fees are charged by the Polish-Russian company
EuRoPol Gaz. However, it was decided as early as in 1994 that EuRoPol
Gaz would operate on a non-profit basis, paying no dividend to its
shareholders, including the Polish state-owned gas importer PGNiG. The
2003 Polish-Russian gas contract includes a schedule of gradual
reductions in the transit fees charged by EuRoPol Gaz through
2019. The transit fees are even exempt from the VAT. Poland not only
does not receive any fees or dividend for the transit of Russian gas,
but has actually granted EuRoPol Gaz sizeable public aid in the form
of tax and customs duty breaks.
Myth 2: The pipeline had to be build under the Baltic because Poland
had no money for one through its own territory. That is what Vladimir
Putin told Die Welt. Poland’s economics minister Jacek Piechota
offered a similar remark: “You can hardly expect PGNiG to finance the
development of a pipeline through Poland.” Yet neither the 1993
Polish-Russian agreement on the development of the Yamal pipeline, nor
a 1997 financing agreement provide for the funds to be put up by
Poland or PGNiG. In the whole world such projects are financed with
bank loans taken against the future transit fee revenues, and so was
the new pipe through Poland to be financed.
Myth 3: Poland wanted a pipe through its territory to be able to exert
pressure on Russia. “I’ve heard one of the reasons the Poles would
like a pipe through their territory is to be able to cut off supplies
to negotiate more successfully with Russia,” said Giles Chichester,
head of the European Parliament’s energy committee. There have been
cases of Gazprom cutting off supplies to Poland, but it has never
happened with the Polish-Russian EuRoPol Gaz. The Polish-Russian gas
contracts also precisely define the hefty penalties Poland would pay
if transit were interrupted by its fault. – Pipe Makes Business Sense
Why did Russia decide to develop a pipe under the Baltic instead of
developing, as planned, a second line of the existing Yamal pipeline?
“Because it decided that it made business sense. Russia’s role as a
global gas exporter will be growing in the coming years. So why would
it need troublemaking middlemen? They circumvent them by laying down a
pipe under the Baltic. In my view, 75 percent of the decision was
motivated economically, and the remainder politically,” says Jakub
Siemek, head of the natural gas faculty at the Mining and
Metallurgical Academy in Krakow, in Gazeta Wyborcza..
What problems was Poland making? The fees for transit through Poland
are very low, and Poland has never fallen behind with its gas
payments.
“It is not about theft or similar problems that have occurred at times
in the other countries. The Russians decided to punish us for our
eastern policy, our lack of consent for the ?connector pipe’ that was
to connect the Belarussian and Slovakian gas systems while
circumventing Ukraine, and for the plans for developing a pipeline
from Norway.”
The “connector pipe” would make Kiev even more exposed to Russian
blackmail than it is today. Poland had to protest.
“Sure, but do we always have to be the first to protest? What have we
achieved? Now the Russians have circumvented not only Ukraine but also
us.”
Perhaps it wouldn’t have happened if the Norwegian project had gone
forward.
“That’s not so certain at all. There are no technical reasons for two
pipelines not to cross on the sea bottom. And the legal issues are
complicated.”
“Perhaps it was our plans for developing a pipe from Norway that were
the drop that overfilled the chalice for the Russians. They were
reacting with utmost irritation to any reports suggesting that the
Norwegian pipe would prevent them from developing a direct link
between Russia and Germany through the Baltic. They perceived such
suggestions almost as an attack against them. When the Norwegian
project was dumped, they decided to get even.”
The Baltic pipe will expose Poland to Russian blackmail.
“I wouldn’t see things in such bleak colours. Most of the gas
transported by the existing Yamal pipe will continue to be received by
other European countries. The Russians are pragmatic. They want to
keep selling gas to us.”
What can Poland do about the new pipe?
“Little. Perhaps there is a possibility of forking it somewhere in
Germany, from where gas could be transported to, for instance, the
Police chemical plan near the German border. But that’s all we can
do. We have no real influence over anything else.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
Sept 14 2005
Armenian Participant Sarkisian: Turkey Is Much Different Compared To
What I Heard

EDIRNE – Young women from 22 countries are rehearsing and getting
ready to compete in the ”First Edirne International Peace &
Friendship Beauty Contest” which will take place on September 16th.
Culture & Art Consultant of the city of Edirne Serdar Iyiiz has
informed AA that his city will be sending messages of peace to the
world on September 16th.
”China is participating in a Turkish beauty contest for the first
time in history. At a time when relations between Turkey and Armenia
are cold, we have an Armenian contender Suzanna Sarkisian in the
contest. Edine Demirovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Jelena Pejic of
Serbia-Montenegro have become good friends during the rehearsals,”
noted Iyiiz.
Armenian Sarkisian commented that she found Turkey much different
compared to what she had heard in Armenia. ”I am in Turkey for the
first time. I had heard that all women in Turkey wear headscarves and
use black veils. However, I found both women and men in Turkey to be
very modern,” expressed Sarkisian.