Author: Hovhannisian John

Interfax, Russia
March 13 2009

Tehran ready to help resolve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – minister

YEREVAN March 13

Iran is prepared to help settle the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh,
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference in
Yerevan on Friday.

"Iran has always expressed its readiness to contribute to the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I hope that we will be
able to help restore stability," Mottaki said.

According to the minister, he met with Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation
Organization’s summit in Iran two days ago. Mottaki said he and the
Azeri minister stressed that all conflicts in the region should be
resolved peacefully and through negotiations.

Ex-head of Central bank: impact of world crisis to peak on Armenia in
autumn 2009 and spring 2010

YEREVAN, March 12. /ARKA/. Impact of the world financial crisis to peak
on Armenia in autumn 2009 and spring 2010, ex-chairman of the Central
Bank of Armenia (CBA), representative of oppositional Armenian National
Congress Bagrat Asatryan told a press conference Thursday.

Substantial effects of the crisis will be felt in the country in the
next several months when remittances are reduced in particular, he said.

Asatryan pointed out that in 2008 a 30% increase in remittances was
recorded, whereas in January 2009 transfers reduced by almost 30% as
compared with January 2008.

The other problem to be faced by Armenia is unemployment as guest
workers are returning from Russia due to economic difficulties there.

`If no principal system changes and policy review are made, we will
face a complicated situation,’ he said adding that no substantial
economic development is possible in the next 3 years if the current
trends are maintained. N.V. `0–

PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkish-Armenian border may be opened in April?
13.03.2009 14:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian-Turkish border may be opened in April,
Star Turkish newspaper quoted a source in the ruling AK Party as
saying.

â??The talks between Armenia and Turkey have entered the
final stage. The document to be signed envisages opening of the common
border, establishment of trade relations and formation of a commission
for investigation of 1915 events,â?? the source said.

â??Karabakh issue is not a governing condition,â??
it added.

The report also said that Azerbaijan is aware of development of the
talks between Yerevan and Ankara.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Indian songs and dances to be performed in Armenia
14.03.2009 16:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Indian Embassy in Armenia jointly with RA
Ministry of Culture have organized a tourney featuring performances of
Indian song and dance ensembles. Performers will travel through the
cities in Armenia, stopping at Goris Dramatic Theater on Mar. 15,
Yeghegnadzor Opera House on Mar 16, at Dilidgan Opera on Mar. 18, and
at Paronyan State Theater of Musical Comedy in Yerevan on Mar 20.

U-Azerbaijan-Russia-Radar.php

Russia says it wants to keep radar in Azerbaijan

The Associated Press

Published: March 12, 2009

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Russia wants to extend its lease of a Soviet-built
military radar in Azerbaijan after a current lease agreement ends, the
Russian foreign minister said Thursday.

Sergey Lavrov said on a trip to Azerbaijan that Russia would like to
continue using the early-warning radar in Gabala after the lease
expires in 2012.

He said Russia’s proposal to the U.S. to jointly use the facility to
monitor missile threats remains on the table. Moscow cast the 2007
proposal as an alternative to the U.S. plans to locate missile defense
sites in Eastern Europe, a plan Russia has fiercely opposed.

The administration of former president George W. Bush said the Gabala
facility was too old to defending against a threat from Iran –
Washington’s main argument for building the European system. U.S.
officials said that, even if they were to use the Russian radar, it
would not replace the planned U.S. missile defense sites in Poland and
the Czech Republic.

The missile defense dispute strained Russia-U.S. ties, and Barack
Obama’s election raised Moscow’s hopes that he would scrap the shield.

Obama has not said how he intends to proceed, but he has stressed the
system must be cost-effective and proven, and that it should not
divert resources from other national security priorities. He also said
he has told Russia that curbing Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons
would lessen the need for a U.S. missile defense system in Eastern
Europe.

The Gabala facility was built to track U.S. bombers and
submarine-launched missiles from the Indian Ocean to the south. Some
analysts say the radar has poor resolution data and will be near the
end of its useful life when the current lease ends.

Lavrov’s Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, said Thursday
that the extension of the lease agreement isn’t on the agenda yet.

Harper’s Magazine
March 10 2009

Dick Gephardt, Labor and Lobbying

By Ken Silverstein

I posted an item last week about former House Majority Leader Richard
Gephardt, who had been very pro-labor during his long tenure in
Congress. I noted that he’s now a lobbyist at the Gephardt Group and
that he had recently signed up to represent the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, which is a leading opponent of the Employee Free Choice Act,
`which is the top legislative priority of Gephardt’s old friends in
the labor movement.’

Catherine Goode of the Gephardt Group emailed to say that the firm had
been `working for NBC and the Chamber’s coalition’a coalition that
includes labor’for intellectual property enforcement and protection
for over a year. Our work is not by any means anti-labor’they’re a
member of the coalition.’

It’s called the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy and you
can read more (including membership list) here. Last year the
coalition worked on a bill that was signed into law’Prioritizing
Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (aka
`Pro IP bill), passed by UC in the Senate and under Suspension in the
House. There were a zillion labor groups favoring the bill.

Fair enough. The item suggested that Gephardt might be working against
the interests of labor and that looks not to be the case.

I still think Gephardt’s post-congressional career looks uncomfortably
like that of Tom Daschle’s. (Among his current clients is Goldman
Sachs; according to the disclosure form he’s offering a hand on TARP.)
A 2007 account in CQ noted:

In 2003, Richard A. Gephardt cosponsored a resolution that put the
`Armenian genocide’ in company with the Holocaust and mass deaths in
Cambodia and Rwanda. In 2000, the Missouri lawmaker backed a similar
measure, and in a letter to then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.,
Gephardt said he was `committed to obtaining official U.S. government
recognition of the Armenian genocide.’

Now Gephardt is a foreign agent lobbying on behalf of Turkey, and he’s
got a different view of the world. He’s working to stymie the latest
version of an Armenian genocide resolution.

For a broader look at Gephardt’s lobbying efforts, check out this
article from the Washington Post.

Most people know that life after Congress can be very lucrative, and
it certainly has been for Gephardt, 66, who just built a house in
Sonoma County, Calif. But few people know what that work entails. In
Gephardt’s case, it involves an astonishing array of projects. He has
brokered labor settlements, cleared the way for corporate
acquisitions, represented a foreign country and pushed for
cutting-edge health programs ‘ only some of which fit the stereotype
of lobbying, the former lawmaker and his new colleagues say.

531

AZG DAILY #42, 11-03-2009

Culture Update: 2009-03-11 00:45:26 (GMT +04:00)

LITERATURE ` LASTING VALUE OF THE NATIONS AND PEOPLES

By Marietta Makarian, translated by L.H.

Armenian-Iranian 3rd literary-cultural conference on March 10-13

Armenian-Iranian centuries-old friendly relations have developed
almost in all spheres. Many things unite the two peoples, including
national essence, national peculiarity in this chaos. Cultural
heritage strengthens the history of centuries and makes it to
continue. "Armenia-Iran; literary and cultural bridges" conference
started in 2004 is a demonstration of the above-mentioned. The third
stage of the conference took place yesterday at the conference-hall of
the Union of Armenian Writers.

The first meeting of the conference was cognitive. The next meeting
that was held in Spahan (Iran) in 2006 marked new ways of cooperation.

"The conference, initiated by the Armenian Ministry of Culture, Union
of Armenian Writers and the cultural center of the Iranian Embassy to
Armenia, will add a new page and open a new door in the cooperation
programs", Chairman of the Union of Armenian Writers Levon Ananian
said in his welcome speech.

Iranian Ambassador to RA Seyed Ali Saghaan, representative of the
Armenian Ministry of Culture Karo Vardanian, Pr. Vrej Parsadanian and
others welcomed the guests.

Accredited Ambassadors of different countries in Armenia,
intellectuals, lecturers, and other guests participate in the works of
the conference.

In the course of four days five writers ` poet Mohammad Reza
Abdolmalekian, prose-writer Reza Amirkhan, children’s writer Ahmad
Reza Yusef, dramatist Abbas Jhangirian and literary critic-translator,
poet Azat Matian will present the translations of the two peoples’
literary works

Four round-tables will be held to discuss maintenance and transmission
of historical and spiritual literature, and also presentation of the
modern literature through translations.

OSCE says Armenia’s acting economic model vulnerable?

YEREVAN, March 9. /ARKA/. Though isolated from the global economic
system, Armenia’s model of economy is rather vulnerable, Head of the
OSCE Yerevan Office Ambassador Sergey Kapinos said during last week’s
conference Crisis: Russian and Armenian Versions.

`We should take for granted the Armenian government’s efforts to
neutralize the negative impact of crisis,’ Kapinos was quoted saying.

He stressed the importance of Armenia’s efforts to open borders with
Turkey.

Touching upon the country’s increasing dependence on private
remittances from Russia and imports dominating over exports, the
ambassador said: `Swelling, due to several factors, it is harming the
real sector of Armenia’s economy.’

Summing up the current situation in Armenia, the ambassador said
Armenia’s economy is making strides to boost industry and open new
employment opportunities in exporting countries, not in its own
country.`0–

Panorama.am
15:50 07/03/2009

WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL DAY ` MARCH 8

Women’s international day ` March 8 is celebrated in the whole
world. It is also celebrated by the United Nations Organization and is
a national day in many countries.

Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of
many countries. In some celebrations, the day lost its political
flavor, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to
the women around them.

By urban legend, women from clothing and textile factories staged one
such protest on 8 March 1857 in New York City. The garment workers
were protesting against very poor working conditions and low
wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These
women established their first labor union in the same month two years
later.

In this regard celebrations are sent to our beloved women from the
Supreme Patriarch of All Armenians, Defense Minister, Chairman of
National Assembly wishing them all the best and love.

Source: Panorama.am

TURKEY, ISRAEL IN SECRET TALKS FOR SWIFT END TO DIPLOMATIC CRISIS – REPORT

Hurriyet
March 4 2009
Turkey

Israel and Turkey have been involved in quiet but intensive talks to
end the "crisis" between the two countries, Haaretz daily reported
on Thursday.

Officials from both countries have exchanged messages regarding "the
need to restore relations to an even keel and hope to do so in the
coming days," a senior Jerusalem source told the daily.

Ankara’s harsh criticism against Israel’s military operations and
the angry exchange of words between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
and Israeli President Shimon Peres have strained ties between the
two traditional and historic regional allies.

In the latest incident, Ground Forces Commander Avi Mizrahi said in
February that Erdogan "should first look in the mirror", and accused
Turkey of "committing a massacre of Armenians, as well as suppression
of the Kurds".

The senior government official told Haaretz that the positive
messages have intensified after Israel wrote to the Turkish prime
minister’s office and the Turkish military telling that Mizrahi had
been reprimanded for criticizing Erdogan during a lecture.

The exchanged messages followed a letter sent by Turkish President
Abdullah Gul to his Israeli counterpart Peres a few weeks ago, in
which he expressed the desire to visit Israel in the coming months.

Gul, who postponed a planned regional visit in January that included
Israel because of an ear complaint, is expected to be in the Jewish
state during the second half of the year.