Author: Hovik Karapetian

Three strong earthquakes have been felt in central Italy, with people in Rome saying they experienced the tremors, local media say, Sky News reports.

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan accompanied by His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II and the highest leadership of the Republic visited the Yerablur military Pantheon and paid tribute to the sons of the nation who gave their lives for the independence of Fatherland.

PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE

 

US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed economist Peter Navarro, an outspoken critic of China, as the head of a new national trade body, the BBC reports.

Mr Navarro will lead the new White House National Trade Council and serve as director of trade and industrial policy.

The academic was an adviser to Mr Trump during the election campaign.

His books include The Coming China Wars and Death by China, in which he is deeply critical of Chinese policy.

During the election, the president-elect made trade issues a core campaign issue, criticising some deals made with countries like China and Mexico.

Mr Trump has already angered China by speaking with the Taiwanese president by phone, in violation of the US’s decades-long “one China” policy.

He has also openly criticised China in outbursts on Twitter, recently accusing them of devaluing their currency to impede US competition, among other claims.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

 

Rebels have now lost more than 90% of the territory they once held in eastern Aleppo since government forces stepped up their offensive to regain full control of the city a month ago, the BBC reports.

Earlier on Monday, Lt Gen Zaid al-Saleh, head of the Syrian government’s local security committee, said rebel fighters did not “have much time” and needed to “surrender or die”.

Syrian state TV showed footage of people in Aleppo celebrating, amid reports the army was close to victory.

Syrian troops and militias have squeezed armed groups out of their last stronghold in Al-Firdous neighborhood and established full control over eastern Aleppo, Libankol news agency reports, saying people have rejoiced over the news.

It says crowds of people took to the streets in the west of the city to welcome the Syrian army.

For much of the past four years the city has been divided roughly in two, with the government controlling the western half and rebels the east.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Armenian counterpart signed an agreement on establishing combined forces, a RIA Novosti reports.

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said the group would include Russia’s military base in Armenia, as well as units of the Armenian armed forces. The ministers signed a cooperation plan for 2017.

Russian President Vladimir Putin singed off on a decree to establish a combined task force on November 14. Previously, Russia and Armenia signed the agreement that established regional Unified Air Defense System as part of Joint Commonwealth of Independent States Air Defense System in December 2015.

Hollywood star Tom Hanks has called for support to the Children of Armenia Fund gala to be held on December 9, 2016.

In a video message shared on Children of Armenia Fund’s Facebook page the actor said he can’t attend the gala, but urged others to join it.

“I can’t be there, which makes me a fool, because I don’t pass up meals at Cipriani easily,” he joked.

“My great friend, Andrea Martin, who I love dearly, is taking on the spirit of Armenia itself by organizing this great gala,” Hanks added.

“Please join it, please help out, explore your Armenian roots,” the actor said.

The European Parliament has voted to suspend Turkey’s EU membership talks because of the Turkish government’s crackdown since a coup attempt in July, the BBC reports.

The MEPs’ non-binding vote has already been dismissed as “worthless” by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The MEPs asked the European Commission and 28 national governments to impose a “temporary freeze” on the talks.

EU-Turkish ties have soured after years of stop-start negotiations, which are likely to go on, albeit very slowly.

On 28 October President Bako Sahakyan received the delegation of the Armenian National Assembly at the head of the parliament’s deputy chairman Edward Sharmazanov.

Issues related to further deepening and widening inter-parliamentarian ties between the two Armenian republics were on the agenda of the meeting.

NKR National Assembly vice-chairman Vahram Balayan partook at the meeting.

By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier

The whole world is following with great interest the flood of internal emails released by WikiLeaks: over 400,000 emails of the Turkish ruling party (AKP), 2.8 million U.S. diplomatic emails, over 30,000 emails sent or received by Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State, and 27,000 emails and attachments hacked from the Democratic National Committee.

I will single out a few out of the hundreds of leaked emails that touch upon Armenia or Turkey:

1. On April 19, 2015, Jake Sullivan, Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy adviser, sent an email to a half dozen senior campaign staffers, including Chairman John Podesta, asking if they should issue a statement on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Sullivan also wanted to know if Clinton would use the term “genocide” as she did as Senator and presidential candidate eight years ago, or will she avoid that term as she did as Secretary of State? Sullivan pointed out that “the White House studiously avoided using ‘genocide’ so far,” and would probably continue to do so. Sullivan wondered whether Clinton’s campaign should proactively issue a statement on the Armenian Genocide or wait until asked to do so by “Armenian groups.” Sullivan ended his email by acknowledging that the Armenian Genocide issue “matters enormously to Armenian-Americans.” Within hours, Podesta suggested that a quotation from Pope Francis acknowledging the Armenian Genocide be included in the genocide statement which ultimately the Clinton Campaign decided not to issue.

2. Ismail Cobanoglu, First Counselor of the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., sent an email on Sept. 9, 2015 to Campaign Chairman John Podesta, asking if Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu could “pay a courtesy call on Mrs. Clinton,” in New York, between Sept. 26 and 30. Strangely, Cobanoglu stated that he had first written to the State Department, but was told that Clinton was no longer Secretary of State! Cobanoglu told Podesta that Davutoglu is making this request “in light of his prior friendship with Secretary Clinton dating back to the time when they were colleagues as Secretary of State/Foreign Minister.” On the same day, Podesta told Cobanoglu that Mrs. Clinton’s “schedule is quite difficult, but this would be a priority meeting if at all possible. Huma Abedin, the campaign’s Vice Chair, will follow up.” Podesta then asked Ms. Abedin: “How do you want to handle?” She responded the next day to Cobanoglu informing him that Mrs. Clinton “would be happy to meet with the Prime Minister but we aren’t certain that she will be in New York any of days you suggest. We will let you know as soon as we are more clear on her schedule. We will be in touch soon.” It is not known if the requested meeting ever took place.

3. On December 17, 2010, Huma Abedin, who at the time was Secretary of State Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff, forwarded her news about a ruling by the Federal Appeals Court, allowing heirs of Armenian Genocide victims to seek compensation from three German life insurance companies. Interestingly, and ominously, the subject line of Abedin’s email stated that Foreign Minister Davutoglu referred to this court case in his earlier phone call to Clinton. The next day, Harold Koh, Legal adviser of the State Department, sent a copy of the court verdict to Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff, and Joe MacManus, Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State, asking them to forward this important document to Secretary Clinton. Koh added that “since FM [Foreign Minister] Davutoglu mentioned it in his phone call to her on Friday, we wanted to get this to her ASAP.” Sullivan sent the court verdict to Secretary Clinton with the following note: “Importance: High.” In my opinion, this was an unwarranted and blatant interference by the Turkish Foreign Minister in the US judicial system, seeking to enlist the Secretary of State in pressuring the courts to reverse the verdict! It is not known if Mrs. Clinton took any action in this regard. However, the Federal Court of Appeals subsequently struck down the earlier decision.

4. Finally, in a March 17, 2016 email, Campaign Chairman John Podesta listed 39 individuals as potential Vice Presidential candidates for Mrs. Clinton. One of the surprising names on the list was Muhtar Kent, a Turkish-American who is Chairman of The Coca Cola Company. His father, Necdet Kent, was Consul General of Turkey in New York City, where Muhtar was born. He attended high school in Mersin, Turkey. As we know, Mrs. Clinton ended up picking Tim Kaine as her running mate, not Muhtar Kent.

The Azerbaijani forces undertook an infringement attempt in the eastern and southern directions of the line of contact with the Karabakh forces between 23:00 and 23:30, October 20, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army were quick to spot the advancement of the special forces of Azerbaijan and threw them back to their initial positions, inflicting losses. No casualties are reported on the Armenian side.

Besides the act of sabotage, the rival violated the ceasefire about 50 times last night. The Azeri side used weapons of different calibers as it fired over 2,800 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The rival used DShK large-caliber machine guns in the southern direction.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation at the line of contact and are ready to prevent any provocative step, the Defense Ministry said.