Author: Hambardsumian Paul

Chicago Tribune, IL
Aug 23 2008

Russian incursion sounds regional alarm

West-allied former Moscow dominions fear they’re next

By Alex Rodriguez | Chicago Tribune correspondent
5:24 PM CDT, August 23, 2008

TBILISI, Georgia ‘ The bombs dropped by Russian planes fell in
Georgia, but the shudder also coursed through nearby nations that once
existed under Moscow’s thumb during the Soviet era.

For countries like Ukraine, Azerbaijan and the Baltic nations of
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Russia’s invasion and occupation of
West-allied Georgia is rekindling haunting memories of a Soviet-era
Kremlin that used its military might to keep its Eastern European
populations in lock step with Moscow.

Today, former Soviet republics and East bloc nations that long ago
switched alliances westward have been watching the events in Georgia
with alarm, wondering whether they might be next in line.

"This conflict in Georgia is a kind of 9/11 for Russia’s neighbors, an
event that changed all the security-related thinking in our
countries," said Kadri Liik, director of the International Center for
Defense Studies in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital.

>From 1999 to 2004, the Kremlin watched helplessly as 10 nations once
ruled by Moscow joined NATO, the Western military alliance that
shields its members with "attack one, attack all" armor. Since then
the Kremlin has rebounded on the shoulders of record oil prices and
has solidified Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and natural gas.

Russia has been ready to flex its newfound geopolitical might for some
time, experts say, and the conflict with tiny Georgia, a nation led by
a U.S.-allied president the Kremlin despises, gave Moscow the perfect
arena.

Now Russia’s neighbors worry that the Kremlin may expand that
arena. Countries that have adopted pro-West policies, such as Ukraine
and Azerbaijan, lie within what used to be the Soviet sphere of
influence that Moscow yearns to regain.

Ukraine under threat

Ukrainians have especially watched with trepidation as events unfolded
in Georgia. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been pursuing
NATO membership for his country in the face of Moscow opposition,
including a threat last year from former President Vladimir Putin that
Russia would re-aim nuclear missiles toward Ukraine if it ever joined
NATO.

If an underlying aim in Russia’s incursion into Georgia was to warn
Ukraine and other former Soviet states about the perils of aligning
with NATO, the strategy may have backfired, experts say.

"Russia’s disproportionate actions in the Caucasus have raised a lot
of concerns here, and the concerns are growing," said Alexei Haran, a
political science professor at Kiev-Mohila Academy in Kiev. "The
number of supporters of the idea of joining NATO is likely to
increase."

Former Soviet states that already have joined NATO, such as Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania, did so partly because they feared a day when
Russia would try to re-exert its influence on its former
satellites. As in Georgia, which is pursuing NATO membership, those
countries’ populations were united in their desire to join the
alliance.

Ukrainians, however, are deeply divided by the question of joining
NATO. The country’s eastern and southern provinces are staunchly
pro-Russian.

Russia has tried to exploit that rift by actively supporting Ukrainian
opposition leaders, and experts believe the Kremlin will continue to
do so. Russia’s best leverage in Ukraine, says Haran, may be its Black
Sea naval fleet, which under a lease agreement is allowed to be based
in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol in Crimea until 2017.

When Yushchenko recently suggested Ukraine should restrict movements
of those ships in the wake of the Georgian conflict, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev issued his own warning. "They must not tell us how to
behave," Medvedev said. "Interference in these issues will not lead to
anything good."

Residents anxious

On the streets of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, anxiety runs high over the
Kremlin’s actions in Georgia.

"If Russia ever attacks Ukraine, the world will know the truth’that
Russia is a real armed monster," said Elena Titova, 32, an
accountant. "That’s why we should hurry up and stay close to NATO."

In Azerbaijan, citizens who embrace President Ilham Aliev’s decision
to align his country more closely with Washington and Western Europe
now worry that the Kremlin will search for ways to force him to
reverse course.

One tack Russia could pursue against Azerbaijan is to derail its
burgeoning energy relationship with the U.S. and European
countries. Azerbaijan ships Caspian Sea oil to Western markets through
a pipeline operated by British energy giant BP.

That pipeline runs through Georgia, and Georgian officials have
accused Russia of targeting the pipeline during its bombing raids on
Georgian territory. Georgia also accused Russia of bombing a key
railroad bridge outside the town of Kaspi that was used to ship
Azerbaijani oil to Western markets.

"It’s clear that the events in Georgia infringe on Azerbaijan’s
interests directly and make Azerbaijan very wary," said Rasim
Musabayev, a foreign affairs analyst based in Baku, Azerbaijan’s
capital.

Like Georgia, Azerbaijan wrestles with separatists in a frozen
conflict that has endured for years and makes Azerbaijan vulnerable to
Kremlin interference. Azerbaijani officials have accused Russia of
arming Armenian separatists who control the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh in western Azerbaijan.

Though Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are all members of NATO and the
European Union, their populations have watched with alarm as Russia
pushed its troops deeper into Georgia. A report in The Times newspaper
in London quoting unnamed Russian sources as saying the Kremlin is
considering arming its Baltic naval fleet with nuclear weapons has
only heightened anxiety in the Baltics. Russian officials called the
report baseless.

An Aug. 15 poll by a Tallinn-based survey group found that 83 percent
of Estonians believed the Kremlin’s actions in Georgia endangered
Russia’s neighbors.

"People are indeed worried," Liik said.

Researchers Olga Manmar in Kiev and Talekh Guliev in Moscow
contributed to this report.

world/chi-russia_neighbors_bdaug24,0,4269541.story

U.S. ENTREPRENEUR MAKES ALIYAH SEEKING ‘NEXT BIG INVENTION’
By Haim Handwerker

Ha’aretz
Aug 23 2008
Israel

NEW YORK – Scott Tobin, a successful venture capitalist, rented his
house in the Boston suburbs, took his wife and four kids, boarded a
plane and moved to Israel last week. "We believe that the next big
invention will come from Israel," he explained before he left. "There
are not many places in the world where there is that kind of actual
innovation."

Tobin, 38, is a senior partner at Battery Ventures, which manages
investments totaling $3 billion. In 2006 Forbes Magazine ranked
him No. 47 on the Midas List of top technology deal-makers in the
world. In 2007 he had to settle for No. 50.

Venture capital funds and financial companies are not in the habit of
sending such high-ranking executives to live in Israel, much less with
their families. Israel is too far away, too dangerous. The companies
thus send personnel on work visits to Israel, or else employ former
Israelis who know their old homeland, or local workers.

Advertisement

"I’m the only Jewish member of the general partners," Tobin
explains. "Battery’s top partners visited Israel last October and were
very impressed. It was four days packed with meetings and tours. We
were in the middle of debating where we should open offices, and
finally we settled on India and Israel, because of the research and the
high level of innovation there. People used to say that if you want to
make $1 million in Israel, you have to invest $5 million. Those days
are over. Israel has the best minds and the kind of innovation you
can’t find even in the foremost technology centers, such as Silicon
Valley. It’s a matter of business logic. We mean to make real money
in Israel. The fact that I am a Zionist is just icing on the cake."

Tobin knows that some people think he is crazy to be moving to Israel,
because of the security situation. "I’m not afraid," he declares. "I
already lived through a difficult time in Israel during the first Gulf
War, when I was studying at Hebrew University. It was not pleasant,
and I was afraid. But we survived. It’s part of life in Israel. I
have four boys, ages three, five, eight and 10. If I thought it were
dangerous, I would not do it.

"We bought a house in Ra’anana and got a pre-immigration visa, so
it’s not a move for a year or two. If I have to choose between Paris,
London and Israel, I go with Israel. I see it as a cosmopolitan
place, vibrant, lots of fun. Israelis appreciate good food and
a good time. But believe me, I’m not exactly planning on a wild
nightlife. Israel is a different country. People no longer ask me to
bring them Nikes."

In late 2005 Battery opened a two-man office in Herzliya, to develop
a better understanding of the local investment scene. "We found many
venture capitalists in Israel," Tobin says, "more than rabbis. We
studied the potential."

How much money are you planning to spend in Israel?

Tobin: "I’ll be happy if we invest $50-$100 million a year. Battery
reviews 7,000 potential deals a year, and we invest in only 12-20
of them."

Central player

Tobin himself has spearheaded around 20 deals so far, including the
purchase of the London International Financial Futures and Options
Exchange. Battery bought the Exchange in 2000 for $300 million, and
sold it 13 months later for some $1 billion: "In those days the theory
was that technology would wipe out the stock exchanges, and they would
disappear. Their prices dropped dramatically. But the exact opposite
happened: The stock exchanges in the world continued to thrive."

Tobin missed out on at least one good deal, however: When Mark
Zuckerberg began tossing around the idea of Facebook, he met with
Tobin in an effort to raise money. Tobin decided to pass.

Why didn’t you invest?

"I didn’t have a good feeling about it, and we didn’t make a good
connection. In my business sometimes you win, and sometimes you
lose. For every deal you make there are dozens and hundreds that
don’t happen."

You must regret your decision.

"Some people like to remind me of it, but I don’t see it as a
mistake. We’re in this business for the long term. Sometimes it works,
sometimes the fish gets away from you."

Tobin, who speaks basic Hebrew with an American accent, grew up
in Great Neck, New York – a middle-class town with a large Jewish
population, about an hour’s drive from Manhattan. His father is in
insurance, his mother is a homemaker and is also, her son says, a
"professional volunteer." He studied Islam and Middle Eastern history
at Brandeis University. As part of his program, he spent a year in
Israel, studying Middle Eastern history at Hebrew University. One of
his brothers is a lawyer living in Beit Shemesh.

Tobin’s first big success, it might be argued, came through his Israeli
connection. During his time at Hebrew University, a friend introduced
him to Danny Lewin. When Lewin went on to study at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, they met again. Eventually Lewin founded
Akamai with one of his professors. He pitched the idea to Tobin, who
had then begun to work at Battery. Battery was Akamai’s first investor,
giving the company some $10 million. Akamai then became one of the
meteors of the Internet world, surviving even the collapse of the
high-tech bubble. Battery made a big profit from its investment – $200
million, according to Tobin, for whom the deal was a career-booster.

Danny Lewin died in the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers,
aboard the American Airlines flight to Los Angeles. In late 2000
Tobin began to work with Michael Lewin, Danny’s brother, who lives in
Israel. Lewin pitched some ideas for high-tech projects, and Tobin
came in at an early stage. He arranged meetings for Lewin and his
partners in the United States, and was involved in formulating the
concept for a data-storage security company named Kashya.

"Battery invested over $10 million in Kashya," explains Tobin. "The
company was sold two years ago to the EMC data storage corporation
for $153 million. Battery made some $65 million off the investment."

Lewin is now working with Tobin on another project, about which he
refuses to elaborate. "Scott’s move to Israel upgrades the local
venture capital field," he says. "He is very experienced and plugged
into the American venture capital world. He understands well how
a company penetrates the American and international market, and he
has a profound understanding of the Israeli side. There is no other
American venture capitalist of his stature in Israel today. When one
venture capital firm sends such a central player here, others might
do the same.

"I think Scott’s move could help us cope with one of the biggest
challenges of Israeli high-tech. We develop companies and sell them,
and the challenge is to establish mega-corporations like Teva and
Comverse."

Battery has investments in five Israeli companies: Anobit Technologies,
cVidya, Freshpoint, Neocleus, and a fifth company whose name has not
yet been revealed. The overall investment is $50 million. In the near
future the company will be hiring seven Israeli staff members. Tobin
says that Battery intends to invest in different areas, not only
in high-tech.

"You have to remember that in Israel there are large companies
with excellent international reputations, such as Ormat, Keter and
Netafim," he says. "Venture capital funds usually don’t go in these
directions. I intend to invest even in areas that are unusual for
venture capitalists. We may well invest in public companies as well,
and maybe make them private. I promise to spend many hours out of
the office doing field work."

The vision

Scott Tobin has a vision: "If you look at Israel’s human capital in
mathematics and computer science, combined with government reforms,
it seems likely that Israel will someday play a central role in the
international world of finance. The world is changing, and financial
centers will expand beyond New York, London and Hong Kong. There is
no reason why Israel will not become a center of financial trade.

"It’s been a long time since Israel produced a revolutionary
invention like ICQ. In general, there are no revolutions in technology
today. Changes are more evolutionary, but Israel shows more impressive
innovation than other high-tech areas in the world, including the
United States. Many high-tech companies copy others or miniaturize
existing inventions, but there are no huge new inventions. Companies
like Microsoft, IBM or Cisco invest funds in Israel because they
realize that they have to be active here."

Where will you be looking for ideas in Israel?

"The biggest incubator for ideas in Israel is the army, and there is
nothing like it anywhere else in the world. In Israeli academia there
are some brilliant minds, but for some reason it has not done as well
as MIT or the California Institute of Technology, even though it is
the universities’ job to promote the commercialization of ideas. We
have to find a way to increase the motivation to make their ideas
commercial. Therefore I plan to spend some time on Israeli campuses."

Some would claim that Israelis have good brains, but that it’s hard
to do business here.

"And doing business in China or India is easy? I met an Armenian
businessman who told me that it’s very hard to do business with
Armenians, because they are so tough. But everyone is tough in
business. So it’s hard to do business with Israelis, too. I think
these are stereotypes.

"When we built Kashya, everyone told us we were wrong to use a local
CEO and team. But the fact is that a giant like [software developer]
EMC was willing to pay a lot of money for the company. EMC made
a good deal, because they are now selling many products based on
Israeli knowledge. Believe me, I’m coming to Israel with my eyes open."

Aren’t you afraid that your position will be compromised if you live
far from Battery’s head offices?

"Absolutely not. Our world is becoming smaller. In the past I lived
in Boston and flew to Israel, and now I’ll be living in Israel and
coming to Boston to visit."

When we met Tobin he told us that before leaving for Israel,
he intended to take his kids to Niagra Falls and the Statue of
Liberty. "Israeli friends who come to visit the States always go there,
so I thought it was a good idea for our children to visit those places
before they go to Israel."

HERITAGE OPPOSITION PARTY PARLIAMENTARY FACTION TO VOTE AGAINST AMENDMENTS TO LAWS ON TAX SERVICE AND ON LAKE SEVAN

arminfo
2008-08-21 09:53:00

ArmInfo. Heritage opposition party parliamentary faction will vote
against the amendments to Laws on Tax Service and on Program of
Restoration, Preservation and Reproduction of Lake Sevan.

Secretary of the faction Stepan Safaryan told ArmInfo it is already
the second attempt by the government to amend the Law on Lake Sevan
to increase the release of water to 360 mln cubic meters for the
current year. ‘It testifies that lake is just a source of water for
the government. At first the government motivated the amendment with
drought. After the factor of drought was not proved, the government
brought another motive – extension of the territory. Moreover, the
water of the lake is not good for irrigation.

Later it turned out that hotels on the shore may be flooded’, the
parliamentarian said. ‘The show in the Parliament aimed to reduce
the indicator to 280 million cubic metes that was proposed yet in
June 2008.

However, even 240 mln cubic meters are inadmissible’, Safaryan said.

CURRENT HEAD OF EREBUNI DISTRICT GIVES UP FURTHER ELECTORAL STRUGGLE

Noyan Tapan

Au g 19, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The current head of Yerevan’s
Erebuni district, member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
Mher Sedrakian on August 19 officially withdrew his candidacy, thus
refusing to run in the elections of the district head to be held on
September 7, NT correspondent was informed by spokesperson for the RA
Central Electoral Commission Tatev Ohanian. Thus, the current deputy
head of Erebuni district, RPA member Armen Harutyunian remains the
only candidate for the post of the district head.

Three candidates: the current head of the district, RPA member Arayik
Kotanjian, the son of the founding chairman of "Democratic Way"
party Manuk Gasparian, member of the same party Manuel Gasparian and
non-party man Varuzhan Mkrtchian have been registerted to run in the
elections of the head of Yerevan’s Kanaker-Zeytun community on the
same day.

Two candidates: the current head of the district, member of "Prosperous
Armenia" party Mher Hovhannisian and RPA member Ggaik Hovsepian have
been registered to run in the elections of the head of the city’s
Nubarashen district.

Four candidates: the current district head, RPA member Hovhannes
Shahinian, owner of Yeritsian & Sons company, non-pary man Albert
Yeritsian, member of "Heritage" party, former member of the RA
Central Electoral Commission Zoya Tedevosian and representative of the
Progressive Party of Armenia Ashot Mnatsakanian have been registered
to run in elections of the head of Yerevan’s Arabkir community.

BLACK PEARL COMPANY: NATIONAL ARMENIAN COMPLEX DOESN’T ASK FOR DISMANTLING OF THE SCAFFOLDING

Focus News
Aug 19 2008
Bulgaria

Sofia. The owner of the scaffolding, from which the worker at the
national Armenian Complex object had fallen, is the Black Pearl
Company but it had been let out. Company’s engagement is to assemble
and dismantle the scaffolding, person in charge of the technical sector
in the company Dani Dundov told FOCUS News Agency. According to him the
scaffolding had been assembled at this object at about a year ago. They
haven’t received any information for it’s dismantling. He added that
no matter who is the owner of the scaffolding the company, which had
taken it for rent, takes the responsibility for its proper use.

According to Dundov the probable reason for the explosion is the
removing of installation elements but he added that this is only
his theory.

——–

Workers remove the fallen scaffolding

19 August 2008 | 17:23 | FOCUS News Agency

Sofia. The fallen scaffolding has been removed, FOCUS News Agency
reporter informed. The people who live in the building in the opposite
site of the National Armenian Complex building object have been
allowed to home when they had shown their personal documents and
address registration.

People, who have passed through the incident region, have been taking
pictures with their mobile phones.

HUMANITARIAN IMPULSES
By GARY J. BASS

New York Times
7wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=s login
August 15, 2008
United States

The Way We Live Now

The long overdue sight of Radovan Karadzic in The Hague facing trial
for genocide is a useful reminder of wars past. In 1995, after three
and a half years of killing, an American-led NATO bombing campaign
helped stop Karadzic’s atrocities and turned the Bosnian Serb leader
into a fugitive. But do the humanitarian interventions typified by
America’s interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo have a future? Even as
Darfur bleeds, Iraq has become a grim object lesson in the dangers of
foreign adventures. The former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright
recently wrote that "many of the world’s necessary interventions in
the decade before the invasion [of Iraq] — in places like Haiti and
the Balkans — would seem impossible in today’s climate."

And yet somehow the idea of humanitarian intervention remains
intact. In the 2000 presidential race, both George W. Bush and Al Gore
said they would not have intervened to halt the genocide in Rwanda. But
today, John McCain says the United States has an obligation to stop
genocide when it can do so effectively, and Barack Obama has made
genocide prevention a signature issue. He has surrounded himself with
advisers haunted by America’s failure to stop the Rwandan genocide
and regularly calls for saving Darfur.

How can this be? For many Europeans, there is a simple explanation: the
United States has learned nothing. Rather than recognizing the stark
limitations of military power, Americans are promising again to remake
the world. Infinitely distractable, the United States plunged into
Iraq before it had stabilized Afghanistan; now, while both countries
are still hanging by a thread, it may be on to Darfur. Humanitarian
intervention, in short, seems to many a distinctively American idea
— and not in a good way. During the Somalia intervention in 1992,
Henry A. Kissinger wrote that "no other nation" except the United
States had ever asserted that "humane concerns" matter so much "that
not only treasure but lives must be risked to vindicate them."

But a look back at history shows this to be a caricature. In fact,
Europeans were backing humanitarian interventions almost two centuries
ago, while Americans were often the ones who objected. Throughout the
19th century, people in Britain, France and Russia urged the dispatch
of troops to stop killings in places like Poland and Bulgaria —
even when doing so undermined the national interest. Some of the
most celebrated European names — Victor Hugo, William Wilberforce,
Anthony Trollope, Oscar Wilde — demanded action. The telegraph and
newspapers confronted readers with horrific stories from remote lands
— a forerunner to the famous "CNN effect" in which televised images
of suffering prompt the call for rescue.

The result was actual interventions in Syria and Naples and, perhaps
most spectacularly, Greece. When Greek nationalists rose up against
Ottoman rule in 1821, much of the British public rallied to their
cause, galvanized by press reports of Ottoman atrocities. This
was supremely inconvenient for the British government, which had a
clear imperial interest in supporting the Ottoman Empire as a bulwark
against Russian expansion. But the London Greek Committee lobbied the
government, sent money and weapons to the Greeks and dispatched men,
including Lord Byron, then probably the most famous poet in Europe,
to Greece to fight. Byron died of fever there. (Imagine Bono fighting
in Darfur today.) Finally, in 1827, the British Navy, alongside
French and Russian ships, sank much of the Ottoman Navy in Greece —
helping to secure the creation of today’s independent Greece.

In contrast, the United States was rarely moved by humanitarianism
alone. While Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster and countless Americans
thrilled to the Greek cause, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
refused to act: America, he famously said, "does not go abroad,
in search of monsters to destroy." There was widespread American
outrage at the 1915 Armenian genocide, which Theodore Roosevelt called
"the greatest crime of the war." But Woodrow Wilson dared not risk
entering World War I at the time, and his secretary of state, Robert
Lansing, secretly admitted that his department was "withholding from
the American people the facts now in its possession" — an official
cover-up of genocide.

Humanitarian intervention, in other words, is not the property of the
United States or the generation of liberal hawks who championed Balkan
interventions in the 1990s. For better or worse, it is best understood
as an idea that’s common to the big democracies on both sides of
the Atlantic. Canada has promoted the principle of an international
"responsibility to protect" endangered civilians. Europe has a
fresh crop of foreign ministers who — following their 19th-century
predecessors — support humanitarian intervention: Bernard Kouchner
of France argued for delivering aid to cyclone victims in Myanmar
by force if necessary, and David Miliband of Britain championed the
faltering United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur
on a February trip to Beijing. And in Berlin, Barack Obama won German
cheers and applause by saying, "The genocide in Darfur shames the
conscience of us all."

Of course, the real test will come when George W. Bush is gone and
Americans and Europeans have to turn those cheers into policy. It’s
not at all clear that European publics are outraged by abuses in
Darfur the way they were once outraged by massacres in Greece,
Syria and Bulgaria. When the next president takes office, America
will still have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and will inevitably
be more eager for European soldiers to deploy in Afghanistan than in
Darfur. In August 1992, a promising presidential candidate named Bill
Clinton said, "If the horrors of the Holocaust taught us anything,
it is the high cost of remaining silent and paralyzed in the face of
genocide." As the Rwandans found out, it’s easier to state historical
lessons than to apply them.

Gary J. Bass, a Princeton professor, is the author of "Freedom’s
Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention," which will be
published by Alfred A. Knopf this month.

Feature: Ukraine champion Ayvazian’s unfulfilled wish

2008-08-15
By sportswriter Bai Xu

BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) — After he won the Olympic gold medal,
Ukrainian shooter Artur Ayvazian said he wanted to attribute it to his
coach.
"He helped me a lot," said the 35-year-old who had just been crowned in
men’s 50-meter rifle prone event at the Beijing Olympics.
But his coach, Vadim Klemenko, could never see the medal.
In fact, he had been dead for six years.
Born in Armenian capital Yerevan, Ayvazian received training in track
and field when he was ten years old, while his younger brother practiced
shooting.
Once his brother asked him to try with the rifle, he did. However, the
fifth-grader later found it tiring to juggle classes, track and field, and
shooting at the same time.
"I thought of giving up shooting, but my local coach believed I have the
talent in the sport and dissuaded me," said Ayvazian, then 12 years old.
The local coach was later proved right.
In 1990, Ayvazian enter a sports school in Lviv, a cultural center in
Ukraine.
He graduated in 1995, when Ukraine claimed independence. The shooter
thus chose to stay there.
Ayvazian met Klemenko in 1997, after the coach had paid attention to him
for two years.
"He is a good and professional coach, one that is rarely seen," the
champion recalled.
They were together all the time: when Ayvazian was running for physical
exercise, Klemenko held a stopwatch to record the time; when the shooter
went for competitions, Klemenko shared a room and dined together with him.
That was not all.
"He also gave me mental support," the athlete said.
The old man, born in 1941, was a retired shooter. In their spare time,
he told Ayvazian his past experiences.
"To me, he is not only a coach, but a good friend, or like father, who
could enter my heart," Ayvazian said.
Gold medalist in 50-meter rifle three positions at the World Cup in
Milan earlier this year, the shooter brought a photo snapped at that time
with him, putting it beside his pillow.
The day before the competition, he said he had a foreboding as what
would happen on Friday, which he believed was destined.
On Friday morning, the wind in qualification hall troubled some ace
shooters, like American Matthew Emmons.
"I had to fight harder than ever. The wind just swirled around. It was
definitely challenging," said the 27-year-old who later won a silver.
But Ayvazian found that the competition progressed as he imagined, even
the wind.
Still single, the shooter had his parents and brother living in Armenia.
He said he would have a two-month rest before making preparations for
the Bangkok World Cup. But the shooter hadn’t decided how long he would
continue shooting, as it was just part of his interest. Apart from it, he
likes diving and hunting in the nature.
"Becoming a public figure is likely to deprive a person of his freedom.
I am now afraid. I just don’t like it," he said.
"Shooting is something that requires particularity. It is easy to win,
and equally easy to lose — when you lose your feeling."
Whatever Ayvazian’s choice would be, seeing this hard-won Olympic gold
of his apprentice, the late old man would be contented in Heaven.

WIB HOSTS "FREE GAZA" EVENT

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
August 14, 2008
DC

Post-Free Gaza fund-raiser celebrants (l-r) Lucy DerTawitan, comedienne
Maysoon Zaid, Greta Berlin, Mary Hughes Thomas and Irena Varjabedian
(S. Twair photo).

IT WAS BILLED as "Culture as Resistance: A Night of Hip Hop, Activism
and the Spoken Word"–and as one spectator commented at the June 7
fund-raiser for the Free Gaza Mission, "It’s like being back in the
’60s without the cigarette smoke."

More than 115 Armenians, Latinos and curious Anglos turned up at the
Side Bar in Glendale, CA to learn more about the boat trip planned
in August by unarmed civilians to break the Israeli-imposed blockade
of Gaza, which even prevents Palestinian fishermen from fishing in
their waters.

Stirring Hip Hop lyrics were presented by Omar Chakaki, an architect
and founding member of the N.O.M.A.D.S., and Nizar Wattad, a
screenwriter and producer of "Free the P." An emotional performance
was offered by poet Mark Gonzalez, who has traveled to refugee camps
in Palestine and the streets of Havana.

Adding to the world class entertainment was a surprise performance
by Palestinian American comedienne Maysoon Zaid, who volunteered her
hilarious stand-up comedy when she learned about the event.

Prof. Yigal Arens, who was born in Israel and is director of USC’s
Information Science Institute, discussed the injustices Palestinians
live in under Israeli military occupation. Many questioned Dr. Arens
about Israel’s reasoning behind starving and depriving Gazans of
basic human rights.

Women In Black activist Greta Berlin discussed why Americans and
Europeans are willing to pay money to risk their lives on the proposed
August boat trip to bring food and medical supplies to the people
of Gaza. Afterwards, concerned listeners asked Berlin to come to the
Rotary Club and other civic organizations and discuss the plight of
the Palestinian people.

A REAL PICK ME UP /WHO NEEDS U.S. AS CHINESE OVERWHELM OPPONENTS IN HEAVY-METAL COMPETITION
John Crumpacker, [email protected]

San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
USA

(08-12) 21:10 PDT Beijing — – As it turns out, the world of Olympic
sports does not revolve around the fortunes of the U.S. team, 596
strong and locked in a battle with China for most medals.

Ten weight lifters in the men’s 69-kilogram class (151.8 pounds) did
just fine without a single American in the field. In fact, there were
precious few Americans even in the Beijing University of Aeronautics
and Astronautics Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

The competition featured a world without the United States, Canada,
Mexico, Central America, South America and virtually all of Western
Europe save a Frenchman by way of Cameroon.

Lifters ranging in height from 5-foot-2 to 5-6 from China, the two
Koreas, Thailand, Cuba, Armenia, France and Azerbaijan competed for
medals while hoisting more than twice their body weights over their
heads without collapsing in ruin.

China continued its rampage through the weight-lifting classes
and has now won a gold medal in every division it entered, men and
women. Favorite Liao Hui provided the requisite thrills for the home
crowd when he lifted a total of 765.6 pounds for the gold medal in
the men’s 69 kg category.

"My first coach is a very persistent person," Liao said of mentor Gan
Yongkui. "At the very beginning, my parents didn’t approve of weight
lifting, but my coach was very persistent. He came to my house three
times to persuade my parents that I was good weight-lifting material. I
really appreciate him."

The 5-6 strongman hoisted 347.6 pounds in the snatch and 418 pounds in
the clean and jerk for that 765.6 total. It was more than enough to
distance himself from the silver medalist, Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu
of France, who lifted 743.6 pounds (332.2 plus 411.4).

Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan of Armenia lifted the same amount, 743.6
pounds, but got the bronze medal because he weighed in at 1.2 pounds
more than Dabaya-Tientcheu.

There is plenty of strategy involved in Olympic weight lifting in
addition to the elemental act of hefting an extremely heavy object over
one’s head. Dabaya-Tientcheu tried to steal the night from Liao and
his Chinese partisans but the mind, and thus the body, was not willing.

For his third and final lift in the clean and jerk, Dabaya-Tientcheu
requested 197 kilos, or 433.4 pounds. A successful lift would bring
him into a tie with Liao and the gold medal because he weighed 1.3
pounds less than the Chinese lifter.

Twice Dabaya-Tientcheu failed to lift the heavy bar over his head,
and the gold went to Liao in a most popular decision with the noisy,
chanting fans.

"I saw on the TV that he successfully lifted 187," Liao said. "He
looked to lift it easily. So when he was about to lift 197, I was
worried. I was really nervous."

Thirty minutes before the heavy lifting commenced, 11 female Chinese
cheerleaders stormed into the gym wearing electric yellow-green
dance outfits and armed with American-style Thunder Stix to whip up
enthusiasm for men smelling of chalk dust and sweat.

Hokey, to be sure, but a darn sight superior to the laughably bad
cheerleaders Turin trotted out at the emotionally dead 2006 Winter
Olympics.

The whole thing took a tidy two hours and fans went home happy. The
U.S. team might be a mighty one, but weight lifting is not a
strength. No one seemed to mind on a night given over to China and
France and Armenia. And you, too, Azerbaijan.

GOOGLE EMBROILED IN GEORGIAN CONFLICT

Information Age
12th August 2008
UK

Georgian civil infrastructure removed from Google Maps while
cyber-attack victims seek refuge on Google-owned blogs

In war, infrastructure is one of the first targets. And in the midst
of the hostilities between Russia and Georgia, search engine giant
Google has been trying to ensure its global computing infrastructure
does not aid either side in the conflict.

Yesterday, it emerged that the company had removed details of all
roads, towns and cities in Georgia from its Google Maps online
mapping service, as well as from the maps of neighbouring countries
Azerbaijan and Armenia. According to the Azerbaijan Press Agency,
the relevant maps went blank as soon as fighting broke out. However,
satellite information was still available earlier today.

Several observers highlighted the fact that Google co-founder Sergey
Brin is Moscow-born.

Meanwhile, Google is involuntarily providing cyber-refuge to Georgian
websites that have been disrupted by Russian hackers. Georgian news
site Civil.ge relocated to a domain on Google’s Blogger blogging
infrastructure after a cyber-attack, reportedly originating in Russia,
took the website down.

Even Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is using the Blogger
infrastructure to disseminate information: georgiamfa.blogspot.com/

Further reading

Georgian president suffers cyber attack A website belonging to Georgian
president Mikheil Saakashvili was brought down over the weekend,
allegedly by a botnet of Russian origin

Russia in midst of cyber war The attacks appear similar in character
to those perpetrated against neighbouring state Estonia.