Author: Hambardsumian Paul

ARSHILE GORKY — EARLY DRAWINGS
By Andrea K. Scott

The New York Times
November 10, 2006 Friday
Late Edition – Final

In 1932 Arshile Gorky outlined his influences for the art dealer
Julian Levy: "I was with Cezanne and now naturally I am with
Picasso." Mr. Levy replied that he would exhibit the Armenian-born
New York painter "when you are with Gorky."

Mr. Levy would not have been wowed by this modest if instructive
show of 21 drawings, all but one sketched in graphite or ink between
1928 and 1935. This was several years before Mr. Gorky evolved from
a brilliant self-taught student of European Modernism to a rapturous
innovator, whose Surrealism-charged spin on non-objective painting
paved the way for Abstract Expressionism.

Drawing was crucial for Mr. Gorky — he called it "the basis of art"
— and he made thousands of works on paper before his suicide in 1948,
at 44. But those hoping for a coda to the Whitney Museum of American
Art’s dazzling 2004 retrospective of Gorky drawings should adjust
their expectations.

These elegantly framed but mostly rudimentary sketches belonged to
Mr. Gorky’s student and friend Hans Burkhardt, the Swiss painter who
probably salvaged several from piles that his mentor planned to abandon
while relocating his studio from Greenwich Village to Union Square in
1930. (Or so speculates the art historian Melvin P. Lader, in an essay
that accompanied an expanded version of this show in Los Angeles.)

Still lifes predominate. The best, made around 1935, depict tabletop
arrangements of organic forms (recalling Arp and Miro) that resist
recognition, but imply function; one biomorphic blip sports a circle
inscribed with a dash that looks uncannily like the head of a screw.

Some locate their forms against lines that evoke corners, windows and
doors, reminiscent of the interior spaces in the artist’s magnificent
series, also from the early 1930s, "Nighttime, Enigma and Nostalgia."

There is one late work here, an assured pencil-and-crayon study on
poster board from 1945 (the year Mr. Levy finally gave Mr. Gorky a
show). The wiry, graceful composition is anchored in the center by
a seductive slash of orange, a welcome, colorful note in a show of
minor works by a major 20th-century artist.

IRANIAN COMPANY ALVAN FOUNDS BUILDING PAINTS PRODUCING PLANT IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 13 2006

A plant producing building paints of an Iranian company ALVAN, which
is engaged in production of paints and rubber, will be put into
exploitation in Armenia by the end of 2007, ALVAN Export Department
Director Siamak Ebadi told ArmInfo. He did not mention the volume of
investments in the production.

He said the idea of founding the plant in Armenia is connected, first
of all, with the high demand for building paints in the local market,
as well as with the 7-year-long experience of work in the Armenian
market. Thus, S. Ebadi said ALVAN exported paints worth $5 million to
Armenia during these 7 years. The sales volume of the Iranian paints
in the Armenian market grows by 30% annually. S. Ebadi forecasts that
the new plant will produce 100 tons of building paints daily. At the
same time, he said the local production will satisfy the internal
demand at the initial stage. In future it will export its production.

S. Ebadi said that ALVAN intends to found similar plants also in
Romania and UAE. At present, the company exports its production to
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Georgia, Ukraine
and Iraq.

ALVAN was founded in Iran in 1981. According to the National
Statistical Service of Armenia, in Jan-Sept 2006 as against the same
period of 2005, the paint-and- varnish production in Armenia grew
by 30.4%.

PRESS RELEASE
Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress
Dr. Anie Kalayjian Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Fordham University
President, Association for Disaster & Mass Trauma Studies
Board of Directors, United Nations, NGO Human Rights Committee
Treasurer, American Psychological Association International Division
President, Armenian American Society for Studies on Stress & Genocide
139 Cedar Street
Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-1003
Phone: 201 – 941-2266
Page: 917 – 269 – 2803
Fax: 201 – 941- 5110

ternationalpsychology.net/

"Democracy is not about words, but action." Eleanor Roosevelt

Dr. Kalayjian was one of the invited guests on Oct 16, at the Eleanor
Roosevelt Legacy luncheon Honoring Hillary Clinton. The Eleanor
Roosevelt Legacy Committee has become one of the most effective
grassroots political organizations in America – to help continue the
important work of funding, training, and electing pro-choice
Democratic women to state and local office. They honored the memory
of one of America’s finest First Ladies while building a new
generation of leadership for a better future.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy is a political resource and meeting
ground for women involved in New York politics and, in addition,
raises funds dedicated solely of New York Democratic women
candidates. Eleanor Roosevelt had a profound and lasting influence on
the New York State Democratic Party in which she was an active
reformer during critical times. She forged new roles for women in
government and politics and we wish to honor her historic legacy by
building a new generation of New York women candidates and informed
voters and activists.

The goals include:
* to raise funds to elect women to state and local offices;
* to provide political training and leadership development to the women of
New York;
* to increase women’s participation in the political process, both as
activists and as candidates;
* to establish a statewide network of women community leaders, elected
officials, and activists;
* to promote policies that reflect women’s priorities; and
* to communicate the Democratic message to women.

Ms. Hillary Clinton gave a moving presentation on the needs to
move this nation to a healthier future. Dr. Kalayjian and Ms. Clinton
had an opportunity to talk and share common goals and future plans to
collaborate.

RUSSIA’S GAZPROM WARNS IT WILL CUT OFF GAS TO GEORGIA IF IT DOESN’T AGREE TO HIGHER PRICE
By Henry Meyer, Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press
November 7, 2006 Tuesday 5:28 PM GMT

Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom warned Georgia on Tuesday that it
would cut off gas supplies by Jan. 1 unless Russia’s small southern
neighbor agreed to pay more than double the current price.

The head of OAO Gazprom’s export arm, Alexander Medvedev, told
reporters that unless Tbilisi signed a new contract for 2007 on terms
demanded by the Russian company, Gazprom would turn off the taps and
make only transit deliveries to Armenia through the pipeline that
crosses Georgia.

"If there is no contract, we will be obliged to supply only consumers
in Armenia. I wouldn’t call this a cutoff. The lack of a supply
contract means no supplies," said Medvedev. He added that Georgia could
negotiate a lower price only if it offered some assets in exchange.

Gazprom last week said it plans to charge Tbilisi $230 per 1,000 cubic
meters of gas, compared with the $110 that it pays now, ratcheting
up economic pressure against the U.S.-allied Caucasus Mountain state.

Georgian leaders said that the sharp price rise was obviously political
because other ex-Soviet nations were paying far less, and they vowed
not to pay a "non-market" price.

The threat raises the prospect of a repeat of the bitter New Year’s
price fight with Ukraine, during which Gazprom temporarily cut off
the former Soviet republic’s supplies this year.

The gas dispute, which was seen as retaliation for Ukraine’s
pro-Western policies, briefly disrupted supplies to Western Europe,
provoking alarm about reliance on Russian gas. A cutoff of gas to
Georgia would not affect Gazprom exports to Europe, which pass through
Ukraine and Belarus.

Since Kremlin-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych came to office
this year in Ukraine, Kiev has managed to limit the price for 2007
to $130.

Gazprom, which has been criticized as a tool of Kremlin policy, denied
that politics had played a role in the demands of Georgia. The Russian
gas behemoth says it has decided to end subsidized gas tariffs for
other former Soviet nations and is moving toward market prices.

Russian ally Armenia is paying a price for Russian gas of $110 that
will stay fixed until the end of 2008.

But Medvedev said this was negotiated last year and the agreement
included clauses handing control of key energy facilities to Gazprom,
including the Armenian segment of a planned pipeline bringing Iranian
gas to the country, which is due to open later this year.

Neighboring Belarus, whose authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko
has signed a loose union treaty with Russia, faces a fourfold rise
in gas prices to $200, although Gazprom is believed to be willing to
compromise if the country hands over 50 percent of the state pipeline
through which Russian gas transits to Western Europe.

Relations between Tbilisi and its former imperial master Moscow have
been frosty because of Georgia’s decision to align itself with the
West and seek membership in NATO and the European Union.

Ties suddenly worsened after Georgia detained four alleged Russian
spies in late September and Russian authorities retaliated with a
sweeping transport and postal blockade and a crackdown on Georgian
businesses and migrants in Russia. The remittances they send home
total hundreds of millions of dollars a year and are important for
the struggling Georgian economy.

RARE ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS ON LOAN TO GREECE

Athens News Agency, Greece
Nov 7 2006

Armenia’s prestigious Matenadaran manuscripts archive will loan out
rare translations of Greek texts from classical antiquity for the use
by scholars in Greece, under an agreement struck on Tuesday between
Greek Parliament Vice-President George Sourlas and his visiting
Armenian counterpart Vahan Hovanesian.

According to a press release issued by Parliament, the texts will
include works attributed to Plato, for which the original Greek text
has been lost.

Caption: A file photo of the Greek Parliament Building on Syntagma
(Constitution) Square in downtown Athens. EPA/ANA-MPA/ L. Gouliamaki.

AZERIS ARE CONCERNED OVER THE ERECTION OF DALIBALTYAN’S STATUE

A1+
[01:35 pm] 07 November, 2006

The proposal of the Javakhq community to set up a monument to Armenian
General Dalibaltyan, the hero of the Artsakh war, aroused a great
complaint among the Azeris.

"Official Tbilisi will do its best to halt the negative outcome of the
statue unveiling on the Azeri-Georgian relations," Georgian Ministry
of Culture told "Trend" agency.

Under the Georgian legislation, the Self-Government Bodies are entitled
to make a decision on the erection of statues.

The Azeris’ concern is also determined by the fact that there are
Armenians in the new Georgian Sakrebolo. The Georgian Minister of
Culture says that regarding the possibility of transferring the issue
to the political field they will take into account the interests of
neighbouring Azerbaijan too.

ARMENIA AND KAZAKHSTAN SIGNED SEVERAL BILATERAL DOCUMENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.11.2006 18:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A number of bilateral documents were signed
today in Astana upon completion of talks between Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian. The sides
concluded agreements on mutual travels of the citizens, the convention
on cancellation of double taxation and prevention of avoiding
taxation on income and property, the intergovernmental agreement on
international automobile communication, the intergovernmental agreement
on encouragement of mutual protection of investments and agreement
on cooperation in the cultural field, reports Kazakhstan Today.

KOCHARIAN TO VISIT KAZAKHSTAN

Armenpress

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: On November 6 president Robert
Kocharian will pay a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan at the
invitation of his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Kocharian’s press office said Kocharian-Nazarbaev talks will be
followed by enlarged negotiations. It said also a set of agreements,
particularly, on avoiding double taxation, will be signed in Astana.

In Astana Kocharian is scheduled to meet with Kazakh businessmen and
members of the Armenian community.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS ARMENIA’S BORDER MOSTLY OPEN

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 2 2006

(PanARMENIAN.Net) – "The Armenian-Turkish border is mostly open,"
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said. In his words, 70 thousand
Armenians live and work in Turkey at present and send finances to
their relatives in Armenia, reports Trend.

"Besides, there is air communication. This is a political issue and
for most part depends of the Armenian government," the Turkish FM
said, reports RFE/RL. To note, Abdullah Gul is participating in the
BSECO FMs’ sitting in Moscow.

ARMENIANS OF HOLLAND INTEND TO INVOLVE THEME OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN TEXT BOOKS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Nov 02 2006

ISTANBUL. NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Turkish
Hurriyet newspaper wrote that Armenians of Holland intend to involve
the theme of the Armenian Genocide in text-books. As Marmara informs,
Rita Verdonk, the Minister on National Minorities Issuess of Holland,
who is famous for her firm policy towards foreigners, proposes with
the Armenian organizations of Holland that the theme of the Armenian
Genocide is involved in text-books and punishments are defined against
those internet sites which will deny the fact of the Genocide.