Author: Jalatian Sonya

VISIT OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN TO MOSCOW
Alexander Iskandaryan,

Eurasian Home Analytical Resource
June 27 2008
Russia

The Russian-Armenian relations can be regarded as invariably good and
stable. So, the visit of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Moscow
could not change the Russian-Armenian relations drastically. For all
that, it was of great importance.

During the visit the Armenian President and his Russian counterpart
Dmirty Medvedev coordinated their positions and made personal contact
with each other. Here there is a need to emphasize the difficulties
that could challenge the Russian-Armenian dialogue. First of all,
Russia and Armenia should take into consideration the position of
Georgia which is situated between Russia and Armenia and with which
Russia is in bad terms.

The second factor of the Russian-Armenian relations is the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan and Armenia differ with each
other on the ways to improve the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh,
and Turkey, which borders on Armenia, does not maintain diplomatic
relations with Yerevan.

The third factor is Iran which also borders on Armenia. The
U.S. position on Iran influences Tehranâ~@~Ys relations with Russia
and Armenia.

Those factors couldnâ~@~Yt be eliminated during one visit of Serzh
Sargsyan to Moscow. Of course, the Russian trains will not go to
Armenia via the Georgian railway immediately after the visit.

The current situation allows us to maintain the mutually advantageous
partnership relations in the military and political sphere. Armenia
is Russiaâ~@~Ys ally, it does not belong to organizations or alliances
that may act against or sidestepping Russia.

Armenia is the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization)
member state. Russiaâ~@~Ys military base is stationed in Armenia,
which fortifies Yerevanâ~@~Ys positions against Turkey. For Russia,
the base is likely the only opportunity of its military presence in
the South Caucasus region. Another Russian military base has been
withdrawn from Georgia. Gabala radar station is still in Azerbaijan
but it may be removed from the country after 2012.

On the other hand, there are some problems in the economic cooperation
with Russia. They are mainly connected with Armeniaâ~@~Ys geographical
location. It is impossible to supply goods to Armenia from Russia
via Azerbaijan. It is too expensive to do that via the Caspian Sea
through Iran. It is also too difficult and too expensive to supply
Russian goods to Armenia via Georgia.

This has an impact on the Russian-Armenian economic relations,
thus limiting the cooperation to the energy projects. As regards the
other goods â~@~S a lot of them cannot be brought by planes. However,
the Russian investment inflow compensates that. This is todayâ~@~Ys
general tendency. Russiaâ~@~Ys capital goes to the CIS and other
countries. Armenia has a positive attitude to the foreign investments,
no matter whether they are Russian or not.

The Russian investments are made in the energy sector. For example,
ArmRosgazprom enterprise supplies the Armenian republic with
gas. Russian cellular service providers, such as MTS and Beeline are
working in Armenia. Megaphone may also appear in the republic. Russian
Railways company is going to revive the Armenian railways. The former
RAO UES of Russia company controls the energy sector in the country.

–Boundary_(ID_tffQlkvHMTBI3DQkM9mO7w)–

"AZG" DAILY INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNION OF ARMENIANS IN RUSSIA AND WORLD ARMENIAN CONGRESS ARA ABRAHAMIAN ABOUT RA PRESIDENT’S VISIT

AZG Armenian Daily
27/06/2008

Armenia-Russia

– Mr. Abrahamian, how do you assess the results of the Armenian
President Serge Sargsian’s visit to Moscow?

– As it was expected, the visit took place in rather warm and
friendly atmosphere. Important meetings were held between Serge
Sargsian and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin. Important issues of Armenian-Russian relations were
discussed, first, issues of gas prices and widening of cooperation in
that sphere, widening of Russian investments in the Armenian economy
and implementation of joint programs. Issues of scientific-technical
and technical military cooperation were discussed. The details of
the negotiations were not announced but judging from the official
announcements of the two sides, very important arrangements were
made. Anyway, during the meetings with the journalists the two
Presidents expressed satisfaction of the meeting and negotiations.

– What else would be worth to mention in connection with the Armenian
President’s visit to Russia?

– It is already traditional that the Armenian President met with
the representatives of the Armenian community the first day of the
visit. It was not an official meeting. The President considered
necessary to speak of the inner political situation of Armenia and
those steps that are taken by the Armenian authorities to strengthen
the stability and to solve the available problems with the efforts
of the Armenian community.

Along with it Serge Sargsian briefly represented the Armenian foreign
policy mainly touching upon Armenian-Turkish relations and settlement
of Karabakh conflict. He also assessed generally Armenia-Diaspora
relations. In this sense, it was pleasant to hear that the President
is forming a structure that will always cooperate with the Armenian
communities of all over the world. Serge Sargsian also touched upon the
organizational potential of the Armenian community of Russia. After the
meetings with the Russian President and Prime Minister Serge Sargsian
invited the Russian journalists, editor-in-chiefs, well-known TV
companies and influential political figures to dinner at the Armenian
Embassy in Russia. During the dinner not-official discussions were
held about urgent problems of the Armenian domestic and foreign policy.

– Mr. Abrahamian, according to several Armenian newspapers, President
Serge Sargsian was not satisfied with the activities of the Armenian
community in Russia considering not well organized and it was mainly
directed to the Union of Armenians in Russia, does it correspond
to reality?

– I don’t’ think that it’s right to speak of the Armenian President’s
displeasure at the Union of Armenians in Russia. What was said in
reality is not news for us. I have spoken of it many times. The
Union of Armenians in Russia couldn’t be able to combine the whole
potential and resources of the Armenian community of Russia. It’s a
serious issue. We understand clearly that the 9-year efforts of the
Union of Armenians in Russia would be more efficient if there was the
state assistance of Armenia to gather the Armenian community and not
to divide it into parts. It is hopeful that the President mentioned
that today the Armenian state is able and ready to help the Armenian
communities. It is very important for us that this help will be not
so much financial but moral-political directed to gathering of the
Armenian communities around those authoritative organizations that
are held in high respect in the corresponding country.

In this connection hardly any Armenian community can compete with the
Union of Armenians in Russia. Our activities are known both in Armenia
and in Russia, and our organization has always been an example for
the national organizations that tried to cooperate efficiently with
the Russian authorities. I think that we can become more serious
and practical for the authorities of Russia if the new President
of Armenia invest more efforts to gather round our authoritative
organization those who are not involved yet in public work.

Viktor Beger
X-X-Sender: [email protected]
X-Listprocessor -Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

RUSSIA – EU: TIME TO MAKE DECISIONS

24.06.2008

Europe
The 21st Summit EU-Russia summit is slated for June 26-27, 2008 in
Khanty-Mansiisk. Western Siberia is ready to greet the VIPs.

The meeting will mark the beginning of raising relations between the
EU and Russia onto a new level, as the process of working out a new
fundamental agreement to replace the 1997 Agreement on Cooperation
and Partnership has actually begun.

The negotiating process is expected to last for about 12 months
with about three years to ratify the adopted document. The coming
summit will become a major milestone in the formation of the legal
foundations of international relations in the 21st century.

*** The parties have completed the complicated and controversial
process of coordination of their positions for the preparation
of a document that would define the pattern of future EU-Russia
relations. The parties attested that the time for making concrete
decisions that are not be postponed any longer has come.

On May 26 the parties to the negotiations issued a mandate for the
right to hold negotiations by Moscow and Brussels, having overcome
the previous controversy between the EU and Russia as at large and
at the level of bilateral relations of a number of countries (Poland,
Great Britain, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) with Russia.

On the one hand the EU Commission of Foreign on External relations and
the policies of good-neighbourliness apparently is taking into account
the potentiality of claims to Russia made by certain EU member-states,
Lithuania, for one, turning into a never-ending process. Its demand
that Russia ratify the Eneergy Charter and restart supplying oil
to that country, settle "the frozen conflicts" in Georgia and the
Transdniester Republic, fulfil its pledges made at the moment it was
granted membership of the European Council is now replaced by "the
idea" of making Russia pay compensation for the harm done by "the
occupation USSR regime" to it. The meeting slated for June the 25 in
Warsaw of foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia,
Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic and Sweden on the initiative
of Vilnius aimed at changing the current mechanism of Abkhazian
conflict settlement, as well as replacing the Russian peace-keepers
by a Western contingent, probably the way it was done in Kosovo.

On the other hand the expedience of a transit to working out a
new fundamental EU-Russia agreement is apparently brought home
to the parties by their realisation of the fact that in this case
"initiatives" are not put forward by Lithuania itself as it aims at
"delegating" to the EU the solution of some of its acute problems and
withholding them from the legal capacity of the United Nations, as well
as entwining the EU into a system of military and political relations
in the spirit of some sort of EU’s "NATOization". This assumption
finds confirmation in both its initiatives regarding Georgia and
the Transdniester Republic and its declared preparedness to go into
negotiations about deploying elements of the US anti-missile shield
on its territory.

Given that the EU indicates its stance on the foreign political
course of Georgia and Ukraine, the creation of GUAM and the project
of establishing of the Caspian-Black and Baltic Seas energy transit
space, it is being drawn, and appears to be gradually drawn into the
system of the military-and- political relations of the Euro-Atlantic
states. This is tantamount to a suggestion to be involved in the
process of supporting interests of the countries that are not its
members.

*** Framing of a new basic EU-Russia agreement is linked to the
problems of the EU development, the rotation in it since July 1,2008
of the chair country (France) as well as the results of the recent
EU-USA summit. The issue of consequences of the June 12 referendum
on the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland will be looked into under the French
chairmanship. By January 1, 2009 it must be ratified by the remaining
9 EU member states.

On June 10 EU-US summit in Slovenia it was agreed to strengthen
bilateral cooperation, joint moves with regard to Iran and criteria
of a new international treaty on the climate were discussed. Also
on the agenda were issues of development of relations with Russia,
the situations in the Balkans situation including Kosovo and on
the Middle East, the problem of the growth of world food prices and
fighting against infectious diseases in Africa.

The visit of the US president to Europe in June is evidence of
his country’s striving to extend cooperation with Germany, France
and Italy.

George W.Bush tried to attract attention to N.Sarkozy’s being now his
"best friend" replacing Tony Blair, and France – America’s "first
friend." N.Sarkozy agrees to strengthen France’s ties with NATO not
ruling out the potentiality of its return to the bloc’s military
structure.

The French insist on deciding the issue the participation of France’s
armed forces in the Alliance’s military operations on their own
without handing them over to the NATO command in the time of peace,
and retaining its sovereign control of its nuclear potential. On June
17, 2008 French president published the basic articles of "The White
Book" referring to the strategic priorities of defence and security
of his country for the coming 15 years.

At the same time, the French initiative of the creation under the
aegis of the European Council of what is known as the Mediterranean
Union (Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Algiers, Turkey, Egypt, France,
Greece, Italy, Spain, Malta and Portugal) is being implemented. The
Committee on External Policies of the Europarliament plans to
discuss conclusion of "specific agreements" (of the Black Sea
alliance) with Black Sea basin countries that are not EU members
with an eye to increasing the EU economic influence in the region
in order to ensure its participation in the process of settlement
of regional conflicts. Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia
as well as countries without access to the Black Sea, including
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Albania are expected to become the parties
of such cooperation. Condoleezza Rice must have had these and other
organisations in mind speaking about "the tied-up Europe" with
"working relationships."

But are the current military-and-political relations and those that
are taking shape compatible with the EU mission? The EU member-states
that are not NATO countries (Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta
and Sweden) have every right to ask this question. But given the EU
needs to have new military-and-political functions, what would the
expanding NATO do?

Regardless of the intensified development of military-and-political
ties within the European Economic Council, installing in the near
future within the EU framework of any semblance of integrated military
force is highly unlikely. This in turn would mean that the domineering
Western military-and-political structure will be NATO.

France’s intention to pursue its independent policies was mentioned
by the Russian premier in early June in his interview with "Le
Monde" after negotiations he had with N.Sarkozy, who then said:
"France has been pursuing and I hope continues to pursue independent
foreign policies." In turn Vladimir Putin said:"We expect much from
France’s chairmanship of the EU, first and foremost, a constructive
dialogue aiming at the establishment of the necessary legal base for
our interaction with the EU."

*** The parties to the Khanty-Mansiisk summit would definitely take
into consideration the need to form in the new fundamental agreement
articles regarding cooperation of the EU and Russia as partners,
unless the Russian proposals on the raising of the role of the three
branches of the European civilisation (Russia-EU-North America) with
an eye at ensuring the uniformity of the space of "Larger Europe"
stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok. All the more so, Sergei
Lavrov stressed, the EU agreed to devote the first article of the
new agreement to the area of security and defence.

At the same time the shifting of the centre of weight of
decision-making to commissions and bilateral contacts does not ensure
their efficient observance. This is evidenced by the lack of future
of "road maps" aiming to form uniform spaces (in economy; freedoms,
security and justice; external security, R&D and education) that
were approved at the May 2005 EU-Russia summit, are now just pieces
of paper.

It has been noted that the term "integration" has become very
rare in the EU-Russia diplomatic practices. Russian proposals on
the preparation of a "short-term but legally binding "agreement
agreed with the general European one where collective security and
exclusion of marginalisation and isolation of different states and
identification of zones with a different degree of security appear to
be quite logical. This is in full related to the military, financial,
energy, food and environmental security.

The start of negotiations on the preparation of a new EU-Russia
agreement was synchronous with the awareness – to quote P.Mandelson,
the EU Commissioner for Trade – of the fact of "inadmissibility"
of making "excess or over-politicised" claims to Russia, and the
entry into its final stage of the process of Russia’s entering
the WTO. That exactly requires the will of the EU as a consolidated
political subject, including the problem of export tariffs, activities
of state-run companies engaged in trade in commodities and services,
as well as the scope of the support of agriculture.

The dry statistics of the EU-Russia trade turnover (half of Russia’s
trade turnover, Russia’s third place as an exporter to the EU countries
and the fourth biggest importer of their products) are an indication
of the potential future cooperation in the global economy. The
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD) with its
membership of 18 EU members-states and 26 NATO countries responsible
for about two-thirds of the world’s commodities and services can
make its contribution to this cooperation. In 2007 5 countries
(Russia, Estonia, Slovenia, Israel and Chile) were invited to go into
negotiations about entering the OECD. Another 5 countries (Brazil,
China, India, Indonesia and South Africa were invited o enter talks
about the potential up scaling of the organisation).

Viewed against the background of the discussions by G8 finance
ministers in Osaka, and energy ministers (together with the invited
ministers from China, India and South Korea) discussions in Rome
of correspondingly the problems of the financial, foodstuffs and
raw materials’ crises as well as the growth of energy prices, the
Paris-based OECD Ministerial Council made the decision regarding the
Sovereign Funds of welfare and policies of the recipient countries,
which are huge financial flows. Remembering that, I must say that no
real decision was made on that score

The agenda of the July 2008 G8 summit in Japan will have on it the
problems of the global environment, development of African countries
and non-proliferation of nuclear arms.

However, even at present we can be confident that the Russian energy
policies as one of the biggest suppliers 0f oil would undoubtedly
in the focus of attention of the G8 discussions, and one of the most
significant themes pf of the summit would be measures to reduce the
growth of global oil prices. The way we see it, the Russian position
voiced by premier Vladimir Putin in May of 2008 at the talks with
the French premier Francois Fijion should remain unchanged, meeting
in full as it does the interests of ensuring national security and
competitiveness of this country.

*** Russia and the EU are now at the threshold of a new stage of
cooperation.

Much will depend on principal decisions made in Khanty-Mansiisk that
would form the basis of international relations. The timely beginning
of talks and the signing of the agreement on the strategic partnership
between Russia and the EU would mark the beginning of their new
rapprochement, allowing them to find better solutions of solving the
issues of collective security, the sustainable socio-economic growth,
pooling the efforts to overcome challenges of the age and to timely
response to the present-day threats.

It is important for Russia to continue working alongside the
strengthening of strategic Moscow-Brussels cooperation in the area of
common interests and joint activities in the realm of international
security with individual EU member-states countries on a bilateral
basis (especially with Germany, France and Italy) because Europe has
not worked out the uniform security and defence strategies.

The EU member-states could pay more attention to the declared
strategy of Russia’s socio-economic development to 2020, Russia-
to the guidelines of the EU development with an eye to ensuring the
use of European and Russian resources in common interests rather
than in the interests of third countries. The general character of
the present-day international relations to a great extent depends on
the efficient coordination of the EU and Russia.

ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PACE OFFERS SOME SPECIFICATIONS IN RESOLUTION N1609

ArmInfo
2008-06-25 10:58:00

The Armenian delegation to PACE offers to specify the formulations
in the document ‘On Fulfillment of PACE Resolution N1609 by Armenia’
with respect to the persons arrested in view of March 1 disorders,
Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Chairman of the Armenian
Parliamentary Commission for state-legal affairs David Harutyunyan
told ArmInfo.

He said that the formulation in the report resolves into the
necessity to release the persons, accused per Articles 300 and 225
of CC who, however, did not commit coercive actions or any other
serious crimes. "When the matter concerns the acts of violence, the
element of coercive actions is actually available in both Articles,
i.e. it is part of disposition. The matter concerns similar cases
and, so, we offer to specify the formulation in CE requirement",
D. Harutyunyan said.

He expressed an opinion that the task set to the co-reporters, resolves
into an attempt to "separate" the persons accused per these Articles,
the persons, who, however, did not take part in disorders or did
not give a direct command on execution of coercive actions. "If the
issue is formulated just in this way, this will be quite a reasonable
approach, it will allow to remove one sharp issue more which is set to
our country", D. Harutyunyan said. He found difficulty in assessing
the possibility of "immediate" fulfillment of this requirement like
it was stipulated in PACE document and said that all the issues on
criminal prosecution are in the competence of the Prosecutor General.

COMBINED EFFORTS TO SETTLE TAX ISSUES CAN CONTRIBUTE TO BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN ARMENIA: PRIME MINISTER

ARKA
June 24
YEREVAN

Combined efforts to solve tax administration problems will create
favorable conditions for business, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
said today during his meeting with local businessmen.

In his turn, Chairman of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen
of Armenia (UMBA) Arsen Ghazaryan said it is high time the government
knew what businessmen think of tax administration.

He believes the only way-out is to make public the real economic
capacities of the country by means of proper tax administration.

Legal business activities are the only guarantee on economic
development, and the country can fight shadow economy with the help
of extensive document circulation, according to Ghazaryan.

He said the government has adopted a strong, even revolutionary
tax policy.

"We welcome this policy and are ready to support the government
by holding consultations, sharing experience and making remarks,
sometimes critical ones," the UMBA Chairman said.

The Supreme Council for Income Management Culture was established
in Armenia on June 19. The council’s objective is to build up public
trust in tax and customs administrations.

"NEW TIMES" PARTY TO DECLARE ITS POSITION LATER

AZG Armenian Daily #120,
25/06/2008

Local

"New times" ("Nor dzamanakner") party board made a statement that
says, "Functioning of NA Commission on studying of March 1 incidents
and the position of the "New times" party on it has recently become
a matter of discussions and various speculations in the republican
press. Taking into account the fact that on June 25 discussions on
the inner political situation of the Republic of Armenia will be
held in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
that are so vital for us, "New Times" party will declare its position
after the discussions in Strasbourg".

"PACE WILL CONDUCT DISCUSSIONS ON AZERBAIJAN TOMORROW"
Samad Seyidov

Azeri Press Agency
June 23 2008
Azerbaijan

Strasburg. Fuad Gulubeyli-APA. PACE Political Bureau held its meeting
within the framework of PACE summer session on Monday, Samad Seyidov,
Chief Delegate of Azerbaijan in PACE told APA.

He said Political Bureau approved the agenda of PACE session. "Hearings
on the democratic institutions of Armenia were also included in the
agenda alongside with Azerbaijan. Co-rapporteurs on Armenia had to
visit this country for evaluation of last developments there. Political
Bureau heard their reports and decided to hold extraordinary
hearings on the situation in Armenia on June 25, because there
was no progress in the field of democratic institutions in Armenia
after the PACE appropriate resolution and advices". Samad Seyidov
said draft resolution on the democratic institutions of Azerbaijan
would be held on Tuesday. "We gave preliminary information about the
presidential elections at the meeting of Political Bureau and PACE
observation mission for the presidential elections in Azerbaijan will
be established after the June session. We will hold various meetings
within this session and I scheduled to meet with PACE president
today". Seyidov said PACE President Luis Maria de Puig would visit
the region earlier next month. "We will discuss with PACE president
a number of issues. Staff of the Sub-Committee on Nagorno Karabakh
has not been confirmed yet. We have already submitted the appropriate
letter and there are some problems from the Armenian side related to
the recent developments in this country. I can say the session will
be very interesting".

SERGE SARGSIAN: "ARMENIA WILL PROVE THAT ITS DEMOCRATIC GOVERNING IS IRREVERSIBLE"

Noyan Tapan

Ju ne 23, 2008

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Serge Sargsian, the President of the
Republic of Armenia, has made an exclusive commentary for the internet
service of the radio Liberty, the full text of which has been provided
to Noyan Tapan by the RA President’s Press Office.

"For the past few months Armenia appeared on the first pages of
the European press for two reasons: good and bad. The first are the
disorders, which took place in our capital after the presidential
elections held in February, and the second one is the meeting, which
took place on June 7 between me and my Azeri colleague. Both of them
stressed that Armenia is a country, which is in the transition period
of the European Neighbourhood. Irrespective of the numerous obstacles,
existing on our way, Armenia deepens its reforms and strengthens its
democratic institutions as part of its way leading to a stable and
good governing.

The post-election disagreements among the political forces gave me an
opportunity to form a large political coalition, uniting four out of
the five factions represented in the parliament. The important part of
the mission of that coalition are the social and economic reforms of
democratic trend, which are being implemented at this moment. We are
working together in keeping with the letter and spirit of Resolution
1609 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The considerable reforms in conformity with international standards
include the liberalization of the law on "Holding of Meetings,
Rallies, Marches and Demonstrations", the expansion of the rights of
the parliamentary opposition through special legislative amendments,
which guarantee a role of involvement in the political system and
decision making process, the complete package of the amendments of
the Electoral Code in conformity with the OSCE recommendations, which
include provisions with regard to the participation of represented,
as well as not represented forces in the parliament and essential
amendments in the law on "Television and Radio".

All these amendments have been implemented with the positive marks
of the experts of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

Anyway, these are decisive steps in the direction of long-term reforms,
which will be addressed to the dissatisfaction, which has been
brought forth as a result of the recent elections and will guarantee
greater freedom for the people of Armenia. We welcome any suggestion
from the European Union and France, which assumes its presidency,
in the direction of assisting these reforms and guaranteeing their
productive implementation.

Besides the recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe, we have initiated serious reforms of the law
enfocement system, as well as a special parliamentary commission has
been created, which will be engaged in the study of the post-election
tragic events. This commission will enjoy the largest possible
authority to study the facts and introduce its own independent
conclusion. We call extra-parliamentary groups and international
experts to join these efforts.

Jointly with the PACE Monitoring Commission we have observed
important progress up to now. However, there is much work to
be done. Fortunately, there is political will for advancing our
pretentious plans in our coalition. We accept that the issue of being
attractive for Europe and the larger international community is set
in front of us.

The history has been severe towards Armenia. Our people has overcome
numerous difficulties both in remote and near past. However, we
are inflexible that our country should not always be stuck into the
transitional stage. Taking the USA movement of human civil rights
as an example, I am sure that irrespective of the coming challenges,
we will overcome. As one of the enthusiastic members of the European
Neighbourhood, Armenia will finally prove that its democratic governing
is irreversible."

INFORMATION WARS AND NKR
Gagik Ter-Harutyunyan

nalitics&nid=1246
23 June 2008

It is obvious that the NKR information security (IS) issues have
their specificity: according to many objective indices, this second
Armenian Republic is in the fore part of the information war front. At
the same time it is to be stressed up that the IS issues of the
NKR should always be considered in the context of Armenia’s IS (RA,
NKR and from the informational standpoint – Javakhk) and the Armenian
people. Separate, discrete perception of IS of the mentioned subjects
is methodically wrong and counterproductive.

It should also be pointed out that in the very article are not
discussed issues relating to the cyberspace security (hackering
and etc.). However, the intense activity of the Azerbaijani special
structures in this direction is to be stated as a fact. More often
the objective of hackers is monitoring the correspondence among the
state officials, which, in comparison with other countries, is not
enciphered, but is sent with an open text.

Information wars of the first generation and NKR It is considered
that informational flows can be of two types:

Information flows which represent or light up different spheres of
human vital functions and form a global information field.

Purposeful information flows, which are called to influence on
military-political, social-economic and spiritual-psychological
condition of a certain addressee.

As a rule, information flows of the first type are not much
controlled by the society and the state. At that, they may pose a
well known threat to the society’s psychological and moral condition
(especially to the traditional ones). At the same time, suchlike flows
may create a certain information-psychological background, which may
be used by the authors of the purposeful information flows of the
second type. In this context, the information field of any society,
especially the one facing military-political conflict (like MKR),
needs expert monitoring, and, if necessary, correction from the
direction of the state and society.

As a rule, the information flows of the second type correspond with
the definition of classical information actions and information wars.

Involvement of Armenia and the Armenian people into a scale, in
a certain sense global, political processes (in the context of
recognizing Genocide and the NKR), automatically turn them into a
subject of information wars. In case of the NKR, the most obvious and
main information aggressors are sure to be considered the Republic
of Azerbaijan and its allies.

At the same time, analysis of information flows give the impression
that the Azerbaijani structures waging information war get certain,
in particular methodological support of the specialists from Turkey
and other ally states of Azerbaijan. It is also not excluded the
participation of experts of big energy companies based in this country
in information operations against the NKR: the latter ones are known
to be well experienced in carrying out information operations. This
circumstance is an important element to give a right estimation to
Azerbaijan’s information resources and is to be a subject to more
detailed study.

The total of information operations against the NKR may be
characterized as a classical information war of the first generation
called to supplement the operations carried out by Azerbaijan
in military, political and economic fields. In this context the
information flows from the direction of Azerbaijan may conditionally
be denoted by three vectors, one of which is internal, and the other
two are external:

The internal vector is directed to the Azerbaijani audience and has
an objective of preserving memories about Nagorno-Karabakh in the
society as an integral part of Azerbaijan and bringing up the younger
generation in the spirit of militarization, revenge and Armenophobia.

The first external vector is directed against the Armenian community
and is being carried out in the genre of psychological war. For
example, are presented progress in the fields of energy and finance
and they are correlated with strengthening of their own IS and,
accordingly, with territorial pretensions to not only the NKR, but
also to the RA (Sevan, Yerevan etc.) The second external information
vector is directed to different segments of world community and has
an objective to form a positive image of Azerbaijan which suffered
from the Armenian aggression and blacken everything connected with
Armenia and the Armenian people.

It goes without saying that the mentioned directions of information
flows don’t have clear-cut outlined borders: they are often
synthesized and are mutually complimentary. It is to be accepted
that the Azerbaijanis have certain progress in their information
operations; at present they use a number of chrestomatie methods and
technologies. Whereas, the Armenian party does not always respond
adequately to these challenges – post factum refutations are not
effective: a systemized approach should be applied here.

Information wars of the second generation and NKR At the same
time we think that for the NKR are more dangerous the information
operations carried out on the basis of conception information wars
of the second generation, worked out by the specialists of "REND"
corporations. Let’s mention that if the information aggression of
the first generation is considered to be an important component and
is used in a general context of traditional war, than infowars of the
second generation have independent significance and are considered to
be a principally new type of strategic opposition "which is brought
to life by information revolution, introducing information space and
a number of other fields into the circle of possible opposition fields
and lasting months and years in time frame… "

Among the problems to be solved with the help of information wars of
the second generation we will in particular single out the following
ones:

Manipulation with social consciousness and political orientation of
social groups of a country’s population with an objective to create
political tension and chaos.

Destabilization of political relations among parties, unions and
movements aiming at provoking conflicts, stirring up mistrust,
suspicion, aggravating political struggle, provoking repressions
against opposition, instigating mutual destruction.

Decline in the level of providing the authority with information,
inspiration of wrong administrative decisions.

Disinformation of population about the work of governmental bodies,
undermining their reputation, discredit of authorities.

Undermining of a state’s international reputation and its collaboration
with other countries.

The above mentioned suggests that in a certain sense the RA and NKR are
already subject to information attacks of "the second category." A
more typical manifestation of suchlike wars is so called "color
revolutions." An example of such a revolution is in particular the
processes we witnessed not long ago in the RA during presidential
elections and which are directly connected with the NKR security. In
particular, the well known political powers widely used the following
slogans:

"Down with the Karabakh clan," in that way certain domestic perceptions
were raised to the political level, and an attempt was made to project
these perceptions over the idea of "Karabakhian" in general.

Thus, as a matter of fact, an attempt was made to realize the above
mentioned first point "manipulation with social consciousness and
political orientation of social groups of a country’s population with
an objective to create political tension and chaos."

"The unsettled Karabakh conflict is the source of misfortune we have,"
in that way in particular was spread the idea of handing over the
liberated lands.

RA and NKR information integration problems The fact that that the
above mentioned "color slogans" got certain resonance in society, is in
particular sequent of mistakes made in the information policy of the RA
and NKR. In spite of the success in integration in military-political
and economic spheres, it is still not time to speak about information
integrity of the two countries. At the period of "Karabakh movement"
the Armenian society was quite well informed (taking into consideration
rallies and private sources providing information) about the situation
in the NKR. At that, today there is an impression that the NKR is
in the zone of "radio silence:" only on the occasion of arrival of
international observers the TV channels broadcast conventional reports
on the background of the presidential residence in Stpenakert. In this
connection let’s mention that that problem is common for the whole
Armenia: the social system with "its own TV reporters" has collapsed,
and in this century of globalization almost all the regions found
themselves isolated from the standpoint of information.

Some conclusions Basing on the above mentioned one comes to the
conclusion that it is necessary to create a specialized expert
structure, which will be engaged in the NKR IS problems and together
with the RA specialists will work in the following directions:

Classification of infogen threats, revelation of centers working out
information operations against the NKR and working out efficient,
asymmetric methods to neutralize these operations.

Working out preventive information operations of attacking character.

Making attempts to shape a joint RA-NKR information plane.

Las Vegas Review – Journal, NV
June 22 2008

Armenian to resume title quest

Martirosyan set to face Hernandez at Orleans

By STEVE CARP
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Nothing seems to stop Vanes Martirosyan these days as he looks to
climb his way to a world championship.

Not any of his 19 opponents to date. Not a change of trainers from
Freddie Roach to Ronnie Shields. Not moving from his hometown in
Glendale, Calif., to Houston. Not even a four-month hiatus from
fighting because of a back injury.

But the 6-foot, 154-pound Martirosyan, who represented the United
States at the 2004 Olympics, said he’s ready to take the next big step
in his quest to become world champion when he faces Angel Hernandez in
a 10-round super welterweight bout Thursday as part of a Top Rank card
at the Orleans Arena.

"I’m anxious to get back in the ring after taking the last couple of
months off. My back feels fine," said Martirosyan, 21, who was born in
Armenia and moved to the United States when he was 4.

If you plan to watch Martirosyan (19-0, 13 knockouts) fight Thursday,
don’t leave your seat. In the 19 fights in which he has competed, only
one has gone beyond six rounds. His fights have averaged 3.6 rounds.

When he fights Hernandez, it will be the second time Martirosyan has
been scheduled to compete in a 10-round bout. In his other scheduled
10-rounder, he stopped veteran Michi Munoz in the third round on
Feb. 7 at the Hard Rock.

"He has all the tools and personality to be a star," Top Rank
president Bob Arum said. "He has a strong following among the
Armenians, and he’s the kind of fighter who can attract new fans."

Martirosyan left Roach this year because Roach has to devote so much
of his time to Manny Pacquiao, who will fight David Diaz on Saturday
for the WBC lightweight title. Shields, another veteran trainer,
agreed to take on Martirosyan, but it meant Martirosyan had to leave
California to train with Shields in Texas.

"The change has been very positive for me," Martirosyan said. "It
helps me stay focused because I left all my friends in California.

"… When I was with Freddie, I’d move a lot inside the ring. With
Ronnie, I’m more economical in what I do. I jab a lot more. I use both
my hands. And I don’t think about the end. I think about the moment."

Said Arum: "Ronnie has more time to spend with Vanes. He’s making
tremendous progress with Ronnie, and Vanes has a really bright
future. He will be a world champion."

NEW PROMOTION — World Xtreme Boxing Challenge, the latest
attempt to promote tournament-style boxing, will make its debut
Aug. 29 in Des Moines, Iowa.

The WXBC will use professional fighters with at least 10 bouts of
experience, and the once-monthly cards will feature eight fighters in
six elimination bouts in weight classes ranging from junior
lightweight to heavyweight. Scoring will be open, and fighters will be
paid by the number of rounds they win.

WXBC, a venture of Don House, claims it will pay out $2 million over
the entire card. A spokesperson said plans are in the works to bring
the WXBC to Las Vegas.

¢ LOUIS DOCUMENTARY RE-AIRS — Today marks the 70th anniversary of
the rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium,
which might have been the most politically and socially powerful fight
in boxing history. Louis avenged his 1936 loss to Schmeling with a
first-round knockout June 22, 1938.

In conjunction with the anniversary, HBO Sports will present an encore
airing of its documentary, "Joe Louis: America’s Hero … Betrayed" on
Tuesday. The program first aired in February.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or
702-387-2913.

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