Author: Hunanian Jack

January 23, 2009
Press Release
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

PRELATE TO CELEBRATE DIVINE LITURGY AT HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IN FRESNO ON THE
108TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE PARISH

This weekend, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate, will
visit the Fresno community where he will celebrate Divine Liturgy at Holy
Trinity Church on Sunday, January 25th, in celebration of the 108th
anniversary of the parish.
During the service, the Prelate will present parish pastor Rev. Fr.
Vahan Gosdanian with a Pontifical Encyclical by His Holiness Catholicos Aram
I, granting him the privilege of bearing an ornamental cope.
Following Divine Liturgy, the Prelate will preside over the
anniversary celebration, which will take place in the church hall, during
which he will convey his message to the guests. Executive Council members
Mr. Khatchig Yeretzian and Mr. Varoujan Der Simonian will also be in
attendance. Three longtime servants of the church will also be honored for
their service and dedication to the parish.
On Saturday evening, the Prelate will meet with the Pastor,
Delegates, and Board of Trustees to discuss the recent endeavors of the
parish and their upcoming endeavors.
On Sunday afternoon, the Prelate will attend the 118th anniversary
of the A.R.F. The keynote speaker is Bureau member Dr. Viken Hovsepian.

PRELATE WELCOMES DAVIDIAN & MARIAMIAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
REPRESENTATIVES

On the afternoon of Wednesday, January 21st, the Prelate welcomed to
the Prelacy representatives of Davidian and Mariamian Educational
Foundation, Board Chairman Mr. Vahik Satoorian and Academic Director Dr.
Onnik Hairapetyan.
The guests briefed the Prelate on the recent and upcoming activities
of the Foundation, specifically the Telethon scheduled for May 17th.
The Prelate commended the dedication of the Foundation members and
once again affirmed the support of the Prelacy.
The Davidian and Mariamian Foundation, which was established two
decades years, has witnessed tremendous growth over the years and today
serves a large number of Armenian students in public schools.

PRELATE TO BE REPRESENTED AT
THE ANNUAL RESPECT LIFE MASS

H.E. Cardinal Roger Mahony has extended an invitation to the Prelate
to participate in the annual Respect Life Mass. The Mass has been organized
by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and will take place on the evening of
Saturday, January 24th, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los
Angeles.
Very Rev. Fr. Barthev Gulumian will represent the Prelate.

CELEBRATING THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN THE FORERUNNER AND THE NAME DAY OF ST.
GARABED CHURCH

On Sunday, January 18th, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian,
Prelate, celebrated Divine Liturgy at St. Garabed Church in Hollywood in
honor of the name day of the Church as well the Feast of St. John the
Forerunner which according to the Armenian Church calendar fell on Thursday,
January 15th. Assisting at the altar were Christian Education Co-Director
Very Rev. Fr. Barthev Gulumian and parish pastor Archpriest Fr. Vicken
Vassilian.
At the start of his sermon the Prelate thanked Almighty God for
granting the celebration and beseeched the Lord to bless the memories of
those who established the church and faithfully served towards the progress
of the parish. The Prelate commended also the present servants of the
church, the Pastor, Delegates, Board of Trustees, Ladies Auxiliary, Choir,
sponsors, and parishioners who continue to labor for the advancement of the
church.
In his sermon the Prelate reflected on the life of St. John the
Forerunner and on the mission God sent him forth to fulfill. He emphasized
that throughout his life St. John remained unfaltering in his faith and
steadfast in his teachings and prepared disciples for the coming of Christ
by inviting them to live virtuously so that they too would become children
of God.
The Prelate concluded his sermon by calling on the faithful to asses
their lives to ensure that they are applying the teachings of St. John to
their everyday lives, to be resolute in their faith, live and act justly,
love one another, and abide by the Lord’s commandments.
At the conclusion of Divine Liturgy the Prelate blessed the madagh,
which was then distributed to the faithful, after which the Prelate presided
over the reception at "Karapetian" Hall.

30 APPLICATIONS FOR "BEST SCIENTIFIC WORK" AWARD

Panorama.am
18:28 21/01/2009

30 applications have been presented to the "Best scientific work"
state competition, said Hrant Matevosyan, the director of "Development
of Science Foundation" to Panorama.am.

5 nominations are included in the competition: Armenian studies,
social, natural, technical, exact and information sciences.

Special jury committees are formed for each nomination, said
Mr. Matevosyan. The results of the competition will be announced
in March.

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA RATIFIES BILL ON ALL ARMENIAN BANK

ArmInfo
2009-01-19 17:58:00

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan ratified the Bill on
the All Armenian Bank on January 17.

Central Bank Chairman Artur Javadyan declared that the bank will
have a status of an open joint stock company. Central Bank and any
other subject of the law will come out as the shareholder on behalf
of the Republic of Armenia. It will become a universal development
bank. The key goal of the bank will be to contribute to formation
of the Diaspora potential based on knowledge and competition in
the international market. The Bank will receive relevant license to
function as a commercial bank. Armenian Central Bank will control
over the activity of the All Armenian Bank. The authorized capital
of the Bank is to be at least 5 billion drams, the standard for
commercial banks in Armenia. The side of the authorized capital,
which is envisaged at the level of 100 million dollars or 30 billion
drams, will be defined in the Bank’s business program. The share
of the government in the authorized capital of the bank will be at
least 20%, the remaining shares will be offered to representatives
of business cycles, entrepreneurs, and ordinary citizens including
non-residents. The Bank will have executive body and directorate. The
head and the members of the Bank Council will undergo attestation
by the Armenian CB. A. Javadyan said Central Bank of Armenia plans
to approve 6 billion drams to the Bank on behalf of the Republic of
Armenia. The bank will make investments only in profitable projects
and compete with local commercial banks. The Bank will announce
its programs at least on 1 November of each year. The program are to
undergo relevant examination and data on the programs will be available
at the Bank’s website. The Bank will also get an opportunity to take
big deposits. Management structures will be created at the bank on the
basis of corporate management principles. The Bank’s activity will
meet the activity of local commercial banks. Thus, annual activity
of the Bank is to undergo compulsory international audit. The Bank
will also get opportunity to place funds in the securities market.

Governmental Council for Competitiveness will supervise the
activity of the All Armenian Bank. The programs prior to the
Council for Competitiveness and the Government will become prior
also to the Bank. These are programs in the sectors of education,
tourism, health care, science, finance and infrastructures. The
Bank will receive also certain taxation privileges. In particular,
it will be exempted from profit tax that will be used to implement
business-project of Diaspora. In addition, the bank will pay state
tax for registration and license. In this connection, alterations and
amendments are proposed in the first reading to the Laws On Income
Tax, On State Tax and On Banks and Banking Activity. A. Javadyan
said the Bank will operate outside Armenia and finance projects
by representatives of Armenian Diaspora. Projects in Armenia will
be implemented with direct involvement of local commercial banks
through syndicated loans. Thus, when implemented a 30 billion drams
project, the Bank will provide 80% of funds, and commercial banks
will allocate the remaining 20%. In the territory of Armenia the All
Armenian Bank will not directly participate in financing of projects.
The Bank will have branches in various states. The Bank will have
11 members that will receive award fees (if it is a foreign citizen)
for travel and residence costs etc.. The members of the Bank will be
Armenian prime minister, finance minister, economy minister, chairman
of Central Bank, agricultural minister, minister of transport and
communication and the most prominent representatives of Armenian
Diaspora representing foreign business-cycles and banks. The bank’s
activity will be transparent. The bank will be found and registered
in an accelerated regime within 3 months instead of usual 6-12 months
required for registration of commercial banks.

RA PRESIDENT: ARMENIA INTERESTED IN DEMOCRACY STRENGTHENING

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.01.2009 12:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sagrsyan met Thursday with
rapporteurs of the monitoring committee of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe, Mr. Georges Colombier and Mr. John Prescott,
to discuss the issues referring to implementation of PACE resolutions
1609 and 1620, the RA leader’s press office told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The Armenian President thanked the rapporteurs for their arrival on
the threshold of the PACE plenary session and emphasized that Armenia
is interested in strengthening democracy.

IT IS NECESSARY TO RID OF ILLUSIONS AND RETURN TO THE REALITY
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
12:25:49 – 15/01/2009

What is happening in the Gaza area on these days is a real humanitarian
disaster, a human tragedy. The Israeli-Palestinian war takes the lives
of innocent people, children, the wounded do not get medical aid,
there is no drinking water, people hardly survive. In this sense,
when innocent people are killed, when the peaceful population suffers,
the situation is to be condemned, no matter who wages a war and for
what purpose.

However, it is not news that in the world, whoever launches or wages
a war, its consequences for peaceful people are hardly ever taken
into consideration. On the other hand, most wars begin to protect the
peaceful population from regular attacks. Israel says to have launched
the war because the southern cities of Israel were regularly shelled
by Hamas from the Gaza area. To guarantee their security, since Hamas
did not respond to the calls to stop shelling, the army of Israel
entered the Gaza area to neutralize the fire emplacements of Hamas.

The people who track the news on the war from afar are divided into
two parts. One part sympathizes with the Arabs because they have
appeared in inhumane conditions and would not surrender, the other
part is for Israel which does not hesitate to defend its interests
with weapon despite the calls of the international community and th
e Muslim world, does not fear from the fact of being surrounded by
Arabs and protects its own state. Of course, underneath these human
judgments there is great politics, there are interests of great powers,
interests which perform a role both in terms of the staunch of Arabs
and boldness of Israel.

In our case the problem is judgment, the judgment of Armenians. After
the war in Gaza official Yerevan made a neutral statement, holding
out hope that the problem will be solved with peace. Perhaps more
would have been unnecessary. From unofficial Yerevan only the union
of Armenian volunteers spoke up which condemned the step of Israel
and supported the Arabs. There were individual responses, at the
level of political scientists, who mostly sympathize with the Arabs
and condemn the action of Israel. In addition, it should be noted
that response from Armenia is not based on the humanitarian factor
but political evaluation. If it were the humanitarian factor, it is
quite possible that we sympathize with the Arabs, not Israel. However,
the response refers to the political aspect.

On the whole, we may say that the Armenian official and unofficial
community is not adequate to the situation. It is adequate to its own
state of soul and mind. The point is that it was difficult to expect
other response from Armenia to the recurrent Arab-Israeli conflict
because the Armenian officials, experts, as well as the most part o f
the public and political community is guided by stereotypes, complexes.

Since we have always been victims, or historically we have mostly
been victims, we consciously and subconsciously sympathize with
victims. Besides, we may also think that since Israel does not
recognize the Armenian genocide, and the world is ruled by the Jews
who plot conspiracies against the Armenians, we must not be loyal to
any step of Israel. Meanwhile, several important circumstances in the
unofficial response from Armenia are ignored, which are worthwhile
to focus on in viewing the Israeli-Arab conflict. For instance, that
it has been a long time we were not victims, we are a winner society
and we must display mature judgment in such situations rather than
instill inhibitions and a feeling of victim in our society with a
weeping image of a future victim.

And most importantly the current Israeli-Arab conflict is evidence to
one more thing that there is no more reliable guarantee of security
than one’s own position. It should be taken into account and displayed
to the figures who are preparing to return territories to Azerbaijan
in return for international guarantees of security of Karabakh. The
example of Israel is the best evidence that there are only one’s own
guarantees of security, never international. And instead of telling
the world that by failing to condemn Israel the world encourages other
countries such as Azerbaijan to take similar actions, the Armenian
community should tell themselves that it is necessary to rid of the
illusion of international guarantees and return to the reality and
reinforce the reality rather than put it up for political sale.

COE SECRETARY GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN THE PARLIAMENT

National Assembly of RA
Jan 14 2009
Armenia

Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Mr Hovik
Abrahamyan on January 14 received Ms Silvia Zehe, Secretary General’s
Special Representative to Armenia of the Council of Europe.

During the meeting issues concerning the cooperation of the National
Assembly and the Council of Europe in 2009 were discussed. RA NA
Speaker Mr Hovik Abrahamyan noted that there were numerous programmes
and a lot of things would be done this year. He also touched upon the
visit of the co-rapporteurs of CoE Monitoring Committee to Armenia,
noting the steps undertaken towards the fulfillment of PACE 1609 and
1620 resolutions regarding our country.

At the meeting other issues were also discussed.

PEACEKEEPERS OF ANY NATIONALITY ARE FAVORABLE FOR AZERBAIJAN
NANO ARGHUTYAN

Lragir.am
16:48:34 – 12/01/2009

The Armenian force … shot at Azerbaijani force … near the village
of … hurled back … no casualties. The daily news on the Azerbaijani
TV channels and news sites start with such information. Apparently the
Azerbaijani army has instructed to inform daily that the Armenians
violate the ceasefire. In the absence of information about peaceful
life in Karabakh the impression is that in Karabakh they never stop
shooting, and there is no way to control the Armenians.

This information policy of Azerbaijan is well-thought and
has far-reaching aims. Despite the claims of the Armenian side
that international peacekeepers would only break the balance and
ceasefire, Azerbaijan tries its best to have peacekeepers deployed
in the region. And if the nationality of the troops who will be
deployed in its territory is highly important to Armenia, it makes
no difference to Azerbaijan. The point is that the peacekeepers who
will be deployed in Karabakh will be stationed at the border of the
former Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh rather than the current
line of contact. In other words, by deploying troops, Azerbaijan will
solve at once the problem of the seven territories which are not part
of the Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Afterwards when these
territories are cut from the Armenian force, it will be possible to
agree on the pullout of foreign troops, the former Autonomous Region
of Nagorno-Karabakh will remain which will not be difficult to stifle.

Azerbaijan is slowly but steadily moving towards this aim. Drop by
drop accruing information about border skirmishes, Baku is preparing
the international community for the inevitability of deployment
of peacekeepers.

And the Armenian propaganda, instead of announcing that this step is
unacceptable is faintly refuting Azerbaijan’s information.

The Noyan Tapan Highlights weekly, Yerevan,
no. 46, 8 December 2008.

Among Top Six in the World. About an Achievement of Armenian Scientists

By Haroutiun Khachatrian

It was an ordinary laboratory in the basement of the Physics
Department of Yerevan State University. The university has dozens of
such laboratories whose shelves are filled with unnoticeable devices
that seem to have remained unchanged since the Soviet time. When I was
in the lab, there were only three people there, Samvel Gevorgian, the
head of the lab, a modest man with an almost shy smile, and two young
scientific workers of his small group … Two items on the table, the
prizes the group had recently won, were the only unusual thing. The
silver cup with an inscription "2008 Global Security Challenge
Finalist" immediately caught the eye.

Global Security Challenge was a competition in science and technology
organized by famous London Business School and NUC Enterprise Company
(U.S.) in July-November of this year. Its goal was described as
follows:

"Global Security Challenge (GSC) runs the leading international
business plan competition to find and select the most promising
security technology start-ups in the world. The mission of the GSC is
to stimulate technological innovations that make airports, cities and
enterprises safer without encroaching on civil liberties."

The winner was to receive half a million dollars. About two thousand
companies, research groups and individuals took part in the
competition. In order to reach the final stage, each participant was
to win a regional competition at first. Armenia was included in the
so-called Asian Group, in which some 800 works participated – from
countries ranging from Japan and Australia to those of the former
USSR. On September 26 the work of Samvel Gevorgian’s group was
recognized as one of the five that won in the indicated group and it
reached the Grand final, to be held in London on November 13 (besides
the Asian Group, there were also European an American groups). So, on
that day, six works were recognized as Global Security Challenge
Finalists, actually, winners of the competition. The above mentioned
half a million dollars was given to only one work which, in the
opinion of many, was not the best one. In particular, an unofficial
vote of the experts present at the competition evaluated the Armenian
work among the top three, better than the American work that received
the monetary prize.

What was done

The brief and dry words of the description of the scientific work say
that the Armenian scientists developed an ultra-high sensitivity
Seismic Detection Subsystem that can also be used in many other fields
where very small and very slow movements must be detected, for
example, products for high precision instruments and tools, or so
called absolute position sensor products. The key to achieving all
this is an instrument small enough to be held in the palm. It is hard
to imagine by casting an unaccustomed glance that several coils of a
black wire wound on a square metal represent the indicated
revolutionary innovation officially called a "single-layer flat or
domed pick-up coil with high Q-factors". Samvel Gevorgian showed me
two graphs – seismograms made in this basement room on two different
days. On one day the oscillations were much higher than on the other
day. However, it does not mean that an earthquake occurred that day.
The Day of Strong Oscillations was a usual working day, whereas the
Day of Weak Oscillations was a holiday. The seismograph just recorded
the concussions caused by passing cars and even human footsteps. This
device with a fantastic sensitivity can record position changes as
small as one nanometre, that is, million times smaller than a
millimetre. Even more important is that, different from devices no in
use, the Gevorgian’s coil can recognize also very slow movement, It is
difficult to believe, but the device is sensitive to movement of the
Moon, it reacts to (and registers) the rise of the Moon like the ocean
water during tide!

It is obvious that such a high-sensitivity device can be used not only
in seismology. It was acknowledged at the Global Security Challenge
Competition that the device can be applied in various spheres, from
medicine to the fields where an unexpected danger not perceptible to
the human eye and ear may emerge.

"We were told in London: "It does not matter that you did not receive
this half a million dollars. Instead you have won recognition and
attracted interest. This can bring much more money," Samvel Gevorgian
said. According to him, negotiations on the sale of the technology are
now underway with representatives of four countries, and negotiations
with one of them – a Singaporean firm, have come quite close to
bringing results.

Science and economy

Now I should mention Samvel Gevorgian’s words which may seem unusual
to many. In his words, the fact that the invention of his group will
bring money soon is first of all satisfying because he will be able to
allocate resources for new studies and inventions. "We have a great
wealth – our qualified specialists. Very often they are more skilful
than their colleagues in other countries but they demand less payment.
The very restricted funds provided by the state are never sufficient
for science".

We can add that, in particular, funds provided by the Armenian state
are quite insufficient. The question of why this government, which has
proclaimed creation of a knowledge-based economy as a priority,
allocates 0.6% of GDP to science while at least 2% is considered
normal (according to Samvel Gevorgian, 2% would not be enough either)
is a subject of a separate conversation. Let’s see how this group
managed to achieve such a result with limited resources. Two persons:
Harutyun Karapetyan and Levon Torose should be mentioned in this
connection.

Harutyun Karapetyan heads the National Foundation of Science and
Advanced Technologies (NFSAT), a non-state organization engaged in the
introduction of modern methods of science financing in Armenia for ten
years. These methods envisage an independent peer review of the
projects; it was not applied in the USSR and is not used effectively
in Armenia so far. Karapetyan noted with pride that their Foundation
has provided grants to the group of Samvel Gevorgian several times,
thanks to which the group managed to complete the development of its
single-layer flat coil.

The NFSAT’s grant called Commercialization of Products/Results Support
Program deserves special mention. In this case the grant was provided
not for implementation of purely scientific work but for
commercialization of the work done. It was also an unprecedented case
in the history of Armenian science.

How this concrete scientific work became a commercial product is a
long story. Suffice it to say that in the above mentioned Global
Security Challenge Competition, the bid was submitted not by the
laboratory of Dr Samvel Gevorgian but by a commercial enterprise,
Precision Sensors/Instrumentation Development & Production Co. (PSI).
Samvel Gevorgian, though one of the founders of that enterprise, is an
advisor at it, and the manager is the third man who plays an important
role in this work – Levon Torose. U.S-based Levon Torose is known as a
benefactor in Armenia and Artsakh. He worked at a big U.S. company for
many years and knows well what is needed in order to pass from science
to production and commerce.

At this point our story ends. It can be called a success story in
Armenia, even though it is quite far from a real success story by
Western standards. Its participants believe that the cause of
transforming scientific results of Armenian thought into money, and
thus ensuring the country’s progress and preventing the brain drain is
quite real and promising.

ANC DEMANDS INITIATING CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS FOR SUBJECTING IMPRISONED OPPOSITIONISTS TO BEATING

Noyan Tapan

Jan 8, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The extraction of applications for
pardon from political prisoners is nothing else than demanding a ransom
for freedom in exchange for renunciation of their political views and
admission of the crimes they did not commit. This mode of action may
in no way help overcome the deepening political crisis, it will deepen
the estrangement between the society and the authorities," is said
in the January 7 statement of the Armenian National Congress (ANC).

Reminding that political prisoners Grigor Voskerchian, Gevorg Manukian
and Armen Khurshudian were subjected to beating in their prison cells
on December 23 – the day of a regular court sitting on "the case of
the seven", the ANC said that the aim of this action is to break the
spirit of political prisoners and force them to hand in applications
for pardon.

Condemning this "this next in turn cowardly and mean action" of the
authorities, the ANC demands that criminal proceedings be initiated
in connection with each case and all those guilty be punished.

We Arm the World
The United States once again leads the world in exporting weapons

by Frida Berrigan
Published on Saturday, January 3, 2009 by In These Times

A $7 billion missile-defense system for the United Arab Emirates. An
estimated $15 billion potential sale of Lockheed Martin’s brand-new
fighter plane to Israel. Billions of dollars in weaponry for Taiwan and
Turkey. These and other recent deals helped make the United States the
world’s leading arms-exporting nation.

In 2007, U.S. foreign military sales agreements totaled more than $32
billion ‘ nearly triple the amount during President Bush’s first full
year in office.

The Pentagon routinely justifies weapons sales as `promoting regional
stability,’ but many of these arms end up in the world’s war zones. In
2006 and 2007, the five biggest recipients of U.S. weapons were
Pakistan ($3.5 billion), Iraq ($2.2 billion), Israel ($2.2 billion),
Afghanistan ($1.9 billion) and Colombia ($580 million) – all countries
where conflict rages.

In Pakistan, the fighting ranges from communal violence and state
repression, to attacks against India, to deadly battles between
Pakistani military and al Qaeda forces in the northwest provinces.
Israel has used U.S.-supplied weapons in the West Bank and Gaza, as
well as in the 2006 invasion of Lebanon. Colombia uses U.S. weaponry to
fight the drug war. Of the 27 major conflicts during 2006 and 2007, 19
of them involved U.S-supplied weapons.

While full data is not yet available for 2008, the United States
continues to flood warzones with more destabilizing weapons. In 2008,
the Pentagon brokered more than $12.5 billion in possible foreign
military sales to Iraq, including guns, ammunition, tanks and attack
helicopters.

Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi analyst with American Friends Service Committee,
notes the chance that this weaponry will promote peace and democracy in
Iraq is slim.

`The current Iraqi armed forces are the same forces and militias that
have been committing ethnic and sectarian cleansing during the last
years and they have a violent record full of human rights violations,
torture and assassinations,’ says Jarrar.

What’s more, the United States cannot successfully track its weapons.
Hundreds of thousands of U.S.-supplied pistols and automatic weapons
destined for Iraqi security forces between 2004 and 2005 remain lost,
according to the Government Accountability Office.

The Pentagon has `no idea where they are,’ Rachel Stohl, a senior
analyst at the Center for Defense Information, a national-security
think tank, told the Washington Post in 2007. `It likely means that the
United States is unintentionally providing weapons to bad actors.’

U.S. law curbs weapons sales to countries engaged in a `gross and
consistent’ pattern of human rights abuses or to countries using U.S.
weapons for aggressive purposes. But these requirements are often set
aside in favor of short-term objectives.

Michael Klare, director of the Amherst, Mass.-based Five College
Program in Peace and World Security Studies, has followed the arms
trade for decades. He discounts official claims that the delivery of
arms can help promote stability.

`The more we help one side, the more that regime’s opponents are driven
to seek arms from another supplier, leading to an inevitable spiral of
arms buying, provocation and conflict,’ Klare says.

According to Stohl, `The Bush administration has demonstrated a
willingness to provide weapons and military training to weak and
failing states and countries that have been repeatedly criticized by
the U.S. State Department for human rights violations, lack of
democracy and even support of terrorism.’

The Obama administration could mark a new era in arms trade. On the
campaign trail, Obama expressed openness to signing the global cluster
munitions ban, but he has yet to speak about a global Arms Trade Treaty
‘ which would establish more rigorous conditions for weapons exports ‘
or about curbing weapons sales, in general.

`The arms trade is never a panacea for instability,’ Klare says. `It
can only enflame regional tensions and heighten the risk of war.’

Frida Berrigan is a senior program associate with the New America
Foundation’s Arms and Security Initiative. Information in this article
is drawn from a new report she co-authored with William D. Hartung,
"U.S. Weapons at War: Beyond the Bush Legacy."