Author: Jirair Kafian

The Evening Standard (London)
October 20, 2004
THE DEFINITIVE 100 CLASSICAL CDS
NORMAN LEBRECHT
8 MAGNIFICATHY
CATHY BERBERIAN
The most versatile voice of the 20th century has left scarcely a
recorded trace. Cathy Berberian (1925-83) could sing anything from
Monteverdi to post-modernism. Armenian-American by origin, she was
the means by which her husband, Luciano Berio, found his path as a
composer. She inspired works by Cage, Milhaud, Maderna and
Stravinsky, who composed Elegy for JFK for her to perform. She was
also an inventive composer, the hilarious Stripsody being her
best-known score.
This passionate pathbreaker for performance art hardly ever set foot
in a recording studio. Her fans fall back on rare reissues of radio
broadcasts such as this. Beg, borrow or download this 1970 Milan
recital with Bruno Canino at the piano.
Here Berberian performs, in addition to Stripsody and
straight-recitative Monteverdi, a Gershwin Summertime to outweep
Ella’s and a Surabaya-Jonny that is a woman’s world apart from Lotte
Lenya’s abandoned wimp: Cathy is no victim, but a sexual predator
contemplating vengeance.
The summit of this collection is a baroque setting of Ticket to Ride
which, apart from being funny, recontextualises The Beatles as
post-medieval troubadours, peddling a musical narrative that echoes
down the ages.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

It’s Cold And Boring In Javakhk
Youth Leaves for Russia
Azg/am
12 Oct 04
“There are many young people leaving Javakhk for Russia in search
of jobs and better life now-a-days. They don’t give their way of
“Javakhki” thinking in that country. There are many cases of mixed
marriages with Russians. They often leave their wives and children
here and start a new family abroad. There are villages in Javakhk
with only female population”, Samvel Babayan, priest of Surb Khach
church in Akhalkalak, says.
Vartan Hakobian, 26, has been in Russia for 4 years and now is back
in Akhalkalak (administrative center of Javakhk). “There are less
people able to leave for Russia now because of the visa regime but all
those who managed to cross the border do everything not to return”,
Vartan says.
Georgian “Rose Revolution” didn’t reach Javakhk. Although 98 percent of
Javakhk’s population voted for Saakashvili, they are not satisfied now.
Nothing has changed for good, people say.
Ararat Yesoyan is the head of the Center for Reforms’ Support and
Democratic Development. He points out that the former Georgian leader
Sheverdnadze used to act on the sly and kept everything under wraps
but Saakashvili is different, he is outspoken.
“There has always been discrimination but today it’s more obvious.
Compulsory learning of Georgian, absence of autonomous leadership,
keeping Armenians off ranks, absence of electricity and propped up
emigration are signs of discrimination. All the programs of social
and economic development Tbilisi draws up for Javakhk remain only
on paper. They were written only to throw dust in foreigners’ eyes”,
Yesoyan says.
“It’s not a problem to learn Georgian but if forced, it may cause in
assimilation. There are more than 100 thousand Armenians in Tbilisi
with brilliant knowledge of Georgian. How many of them are better
off? Georgian language is a means of keeping us off the jobs”, he adds.
Davit Rstakian is the co-chairman of Virk party of Javakhk. He says
that situation got even worse with Saakashvili in power. There is
no paved road, no investment, no electricity. “Armenia allocated $2
millions to construct Ashotsk-Ninotsminda medium-voltage line. Why
there is no electricity now?”, Rstakian says.
Artur Yeremian, head of Akhalkalak administration, says that many
things have changed since Saakashvili took the office. “Georgia makes
its first steps as a state. The government had a debt of 22 months’
salary to the budget employees, yet, today all the debts to teachers
are reimbursed. 2.7 kilometers of road have been paved this year. There
is also money allocated to rebuild 9 schools”, Yeremian says.
Javakhk has been Georgia’s most underdeveloped region for
decades. For Akhalkalak’s population, 95 percent of which are
Armenians, agriculture (potato growing) and cattle-breeding are the
main source of survival. Javakhk is Georgia’s Siberia with 7 months
of winter and 5 months of spring.
Levon Levanian is national plenipotentiary representative in the
regions of Akhalkalak and Nonotsminda. He says that there is no
apparent discrimination against Armenians, only some rules are written
without considering minority’s opinion. He reminded the educational
law project according to which all school subjects will be taught in
Georgian but Armenian language and literature. “If the law project
isn’t changed that will mean a discrimination”, Levanian said.
Levanian mentioned rise of the pension and reimbursement of wages
among the reforms. “It’s fine that there is no road police any more
and people are able to transfer their goods freely”, he added.
Head of Javakhk’s A-info news agency Khachatur Stepanian agrees that
most of the news coming from Javakhk is disturbing. “If Armenians
of Javakhk live on the same level as inhabitants of other Georgian
regions that is only due to our diligence”, Stepanian says.
Ararat Yesoyan suggested journalists from Armenia pay more attention
to Javakhk and organize disputes over certain issues. “We want to
know the attitude of the Armenian government and the parliament, what
Armenians think. Officials recall us only when they need us”, he says.
By Tatoul Hakobian from Akhalkalak
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DESPITE PROTEST OF AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIAN DELEGATION MUST TAKE PART IN
NATO SEMINAR IN BAKU, VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN THINKS
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6. ARMINFO. Despite the protest of Azerbaijan,
Armenian parliament members must take part in NATO seminar
“Rose-Roth”, which will be held in Baku on Oct 27-29. Vice Speaker of
Armenian parliament, member of the bureau of the party ARF
Dashnaktsutiun Vahan Hovhannisian told ARMINFO.
According to him, not taking part in the Yerevan sitting of the
commission for defence and security of CIS Parliamentary Assembly,
Azerbaijani parliament members gave to understand to the Armenian
colleagues that they shouldn’t arrive in Baku for taking part in the
seminar “Rose-Roth”. But the Armenian delegation must take part in the
seminar, despite the efforts of Azerbaijan to turn their visit into a
political show. “The refusal of Armenian parliament members to leave
for Baku will be misapprehended by NATO and put Azerbaijan and Armenia
in the eyes of the international community on the same scale”, Vahan
Hovhannisian said. According to him, this time NATO will more
thoroughly follow safeguarding of security of the participants of the
seminar, and the authorities of Azerbaijan are themselves interested
in that a hair of the head of the Armenian delegation did not fall
down”.
“So, I think that the Armenian MPs must go Baku and defend the
position of Armenia in this seminar”, the vice speaker said, At the
same time, he did not exclude the possibility that the Armenian
deputies will not be given an entrance visa to Azerbaijan, as it took
place during the NATO exercises “Cooperative Best Effort 2004” in
Baku.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia: Jehovah’s Witnesses apply for alternative military service
Iravunk web site, Yerevan
7 Oct 04
October
The law on alternative service in the Armenian Republic has been
effective since 1 September.
Twenty young men applied to the Armenian Defence Ministry by 1
October, saying they would like to perform alternative service. Most
of them are Jehovah’s Witnesses but there are also those who want to
evade military service for other motives.

Nashua group wants to block sale of St. Francis Xavier
By SCOTT BROOKS, Union Leader Correspondent
The Union Leader
News – September 28, 2004
NASHUA — A Probate Court judge is considering whether to allow a
group of former St. Francis Xavier parishioners to argue against the
Diocese of Manchester’s plans to sell their old church.
Judge Raymond Cloutier said the parties should rekindle their equity
case in Hillsborough County Superior Court while he considers the
parishioners’ right to dispute the sale.
The Diocese closed the parish last year, citing “declining financial
health and waning parishioner attendance.” It now hopes to sell the
building to Hollis real estate developer Vatche Manoukian, who plans
to recast the facility as an Armenian Orthodox church.
The Diocese of Manchester closed St. Francis Xavier Church last
year and now hopes to sell the building. But a coalition of former
parishioners opposes the sale. (SCOTT BROOKS)
The St. Francis Xavier Foundation, a coalition of former parishioners,
opposes the sale, and is trying to block it with a lawsuit in Superior
Court and by intervening in Probate Court.
“The parishioners of St. Francis have a direct interest in what happens
to the property,” said Randy Wilbert, the foundation’s attorney.
Diocesan attorney Ovide Lamontagne, however, said the parishioners
do not have standing before Probate Court, claiming the Attorney
General’s Office can sufficiently represent the public’s interest in
the church’s sale.
“This is not their church,” Lamontagne said. “It is a church and a
property within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.”
Lamontagne said the parishioners, now members of the nearby
St. Aloysius of Gonzaga parish, would benefit from the church’s sale,
which would reportedly net $1 million for the diocese. The diocese says
it plans to direct all revenue from the church’s sale to St. Aloysius
of Gonzaga.
“The former parishioners are present parishioners; they are
St. Aloysius of Gonzaga parishioners,” Lamontagne said. “They will
benefit by virtue of the bishop’s decision.”
Lamontagne said an Armenian Church representative from Jerusalem
has visited the site and was “very positive” about Manoukian’s
proposal. Armenian Church leaders must agree to accept Manoukian’s
gift for the sale to proceed.
The foundation petitioned the Superior Court in April to force the
diocese to reopen St. Francis Xavier. Judge Bernard Hampsey put the
case on hold in May in anticipation of a Probate Court ruling.
Yesterday, Cloutier said the issue should be handled one case at
a time.
“It makes no sense to have two hearings about the same issue,” he said.
“It’s not going to happen.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia to send its troops to Iraq
by Maria Kozhushko
RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
September 8, 2004 Wednesday
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 192, p.5
Armenia has become the second, after Ukraine, CIS member country,
which agreed to send its soldiers to Iraq. Armenian servicemen will
join the part of the coalition force under the command of Poland.
The agreement on this was reached during the talks between the
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his Polish counterpart
Alexander Kwasniewski, as Kocharyan visited Warsaw on Monday. The
sending of the 30 Armenian troops to Iraq is one of the provisions
of a broad agreement between Armenia and Poland on cooperation in
the fields of defense and security.
In the explanations given to press, the Armenian Defense Minister
Serge Sarkisyan said the decision to send troops was made because
“Armenia feels itself a part of Europe.” Another possible reason is
that Iraq has nearly 25,000-people-strong Armenian community.

Reuters
Sept 6 2004
Open-Agassi sets up Federer showdown at U.S. Open
Mon 6 September, 2004 22:03
NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Sixth seed Andre Agassi set up a
mouthwatering quarter-final showdown with world number one Roger
Federer following a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win over Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian
at the U.S. Open on Monday.
Sargsian survived two five-set battles to reach the fourth round but
Agassi, looking for his ninth grand slam title, was in a different
class as he raced to victory in just 90 minutes.
The 34-year-old American, champion in 1994 and 1999, was in ominous
form as he charged through the match. He won seven consecutive games
to take a 4-0 lead in the decider.
Sargsian, a close friend of Agassi, registered on the scoreboard
in the fifth game but the sixth seed clinched victory with a huge
forehand winner.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part A (Russia)
August 27, 2004, Friday
BUSH’S TWO-ELEMENT STRATEGY
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 26, 2004, p. 5
by Alexei Bogaturov
Four key circumstances define the international environment in which
the United States is planning another round of reforms to the
security structure of the Old World. Firstly, in light of Mideast
events, American politicians have started tacitly acknowledging that
there are some fundamental contradictions between the United States
and the Arab-Muslim world, and they have become afraid of being
dependent on the Arab-Muslim world. Secondly, US economic security
priorities have required a partial shift in energy consumption
towards deliveries from the depths of Eurasia: the Trans-Caspian
region and Russia. Thirdly, Russia’s influence over the global energy
situation has increased; at the same time, Russia has moved to a more
active foreign policy and defense policy. Fourthly, American views of
real threats to US security are decreasing their focus on the
possibility of conflicts in East-Central Europe.
The Americans have realized the inadequacy of the “expanding
democracy” strategy formulated back in 1993. That strategy is based
on “new democracies” arising in place of the erstwhile socialist
bloc: from Hungary and the Czech Republic in the west to Russia and
Kazakhstan in the east. None of these “newly democratic” nations,
save for Belarus, is opposing the West; almost all of them are saying
they want a closer relationship with the West. All the same, the
orientation towards the United States and the European Union is not
absolute for all these countries – only for the Eastern European
countries along the border of the former USSR, and the Baltic states.
Ukraine is acting more cautiously. It periodically declares (as it
recently did) that striving for friendship with the US and the EU is
equally important for Kiev as the wish to cooperate with Russia.
Although such avowals should not be believed without reservation,
it’s still good to see that Ukraine’s leaders have enough common
sense to moderate their pro-Western gestures to a reasonable level,
given the importance of Ukraine’s proximity to Russia and its degree
of economic dependence on Russia. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan
are maneuvering in a similar way (though not as successfully as
Ukraine). The nations of Central Asia are even more inclined to
emphasize the diversity of their foreign policy orientations; they
say that China is important for them, as well as Russia. Moscow
itself also speaks of a multilateral foreign policy. Although
relations with the US (and the EU) essentially play a determining
role for Russia, there is no reason to underestimate the “China
direction.”
In theory, the countries of Central Asia have always had multilateral
foreign policies. But while Russia was mired in its economic crisis
and shaken by the threat of separatism everywhere (in the Yeltsin
era), no one took the “Russia factor” seriously. Although everyone
expected a “Russian revival,” in principle, no one thought it would
happen soon, nor that it would be due to oil – it’s the oil factor
that enables Russia to act on the advantages of its unique position
as a “nuclear oil state.”
These shifts are taking place at an unfavorable time for the US
administration: the war in Iraq isn’t going well for the Americans,
and in domestic politics the Democrats are trying to paint the Bush
administration’s actions in the murkiest possible tones. It would
seem that this is no time for the American president to ponder global
strategy prospects. That makes it all the more remarkable that he is
thinking about them.
The redeployment of American bases and troops abroad is the second
stage (after the democratization of Eastern Europe, and NATO’s
eastward expansion) of a great reconstruction of the system of
America’s political-strategic presence in Eurasia.
Moreover, an important new element has appeared in America’s
strategy. The strategy is ceasing to be anti-Russian in the
traditional sense; it is losing its overt orientation against Russian
interests. Over the past 15 years – despite all the confrontations,
reciprocal grievances, and irritations – Russia and the United States
have made so much progress towards building the foundations of
partnership that the American elite has started to view relations
with Moscow in in a context that’s not so much about renewed
confrontation as it’s about opportunities for cooperation with Russia
– even if this is on terms primarily favorable for Washington. The
intention of the United States to firmly establish itself along the
Ukraine-Georgia-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan belt does not seem
like a simple act of squeezing Russia out of its traditional
influence zone, but the first element in a sophisticated two-element
strategy, with the second element being the conflict-free (though not
problem-free) integration of Russia into the developing system of US
interests in this part of the world.
Both major parts of the American elite are inclined to pursue
partnership with Moscow. This attitude is based on the intention to
use the positional and other advantages of Russia to serve American
interests in the region of Central Eurasia – which the United States
has started to view as a key region for itself. Washington’s actions
combine pressure with invitations to cooperate: Anglo-Saxon
“bargaining ethics.” So we need to maintain our composure and be
persistent in this bargaining process. And it seems to me that this
is what Russian diplomats are preparing to do, regardless of who wins
this November’s election in the United States.
Translated by Sergey Kolosov
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (Comunicados de prensa), Switzerland
Aug 2 2004
Middle East church leaders respond to Iraq bombings: solidarity and
work for peace needed
Middle Eastern church leaders have condemned attacks on Iraqi
churches and called for solidarity following bombings at churches
yesterday.
Speaking today at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order
plenary commission meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bishop Nareg
Alemezian of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Catholicosate of Cilicia)
said: “This is the first time Christian churches have been targeted.
We condemn this attack and we are very concerned about it.”
Metropolitan Dr Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, from the Syrian
Orthodox Church of Antioch, urged Christians and Muslims to work
together for peace. “Solidarity is very important, both inside and
outside the region, both among Christians and between Christians and
Muslims,” he said.
Gregorios stressed that “the WCC and others should encourage anything
that brings Christians and Muslims together, not only in theological
dialogue but also in the dialogue of life and work.”
“I address my appeal to the Arab world, which can support any plan
for peace, and also to the Iraqi people themselves – if they are not
in solidarity, how then can they solve these problems?” he asked.
Alemezian called on international and local people to work for peace.
“This is not just a problem for Syrians and Armenians,” he said. “The
situation in Iraq is not isolated. It is related to the general
political situation in the world.
“We have a conflict, and we have to solve it – the US, the UN, all
parties involved in the creation of this situation, but also local
people and faith communities.”
Both leaders stressed the good relations between Christians and
Muslims in Iraq prior to the bombings.
“Christians are an integral part of the society they are living in,
they are not newcomers, they are not there for any superficial
reason,” said Alemezian. “Middle Eastern Christians are the people of
the land where Christ was born,” he added.
They both stressed the dangers posed by pressure on the nearly
1million Iraqi Christians leading to increased emigration.
“The diminishing number of Christians in Iraq is a terrible thing,”
said Gregorios. “The same picture is replicated in other countries
like Turkey, Iran, and Palestine. We are losing our people.”
Could a situation arise, they said, where there were no Christians in
the Middle East and no Muslims in the West? This would be “dangerous
for everybody,” said Metropolitan Gregorios. “This is very important.
It’s not good for humanity.”
According to news reports, at least 11 people were killed and dozens
injured as bombs exploded at four churches – two of them Syrian and
two, Armenian Orthodox – and a monastery.
Additional information: Juan Michel + 603 2148 9166 Melaka room +4179
507 6363
Para más información: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
[email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

New York Times
July 3 2004
First, Get a Green Card. Next, Hire a Publicist.
By GARY SHTEYNGART
Lately I haven’t been a good immigrant. I can’t get myself to work an
80-hour week. I won’t walk 20 blocks to save a subway fare. And I
don’t have that crazed, adrenaline-driven certainty that life will
soon get better for me or mine. Maybe it’s the gloomy times we live
in. Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe it’s the war. But most likely it’s
that I’m sated — the young immigrant’s hunger and worries are gone.
I’m not fat and doughy just yet, but my midriff looks, to quote an
old friend, ”prosperous.”
Want and fear drive America: the want of security, dignity and wild
affluence, the fear of coming up short on all counts, the fear of
extinction in an unforgiving market economy that rewards only the
tireless and the unblinking. ”Remember the lesson of the . . . dodo
bird,” Monette Adeva Maglaya cautions the newcomer in her remarkable
new book, THE COMPLETE SUCCESS GUIDE FOR THE IMMIGRANT LIFE: How to
Survive, How to Thrive, How to Be Fully Alive (PDI Books, paper,
$19.95). ”One must learn to adapt or else, perish.”
I say Maglaya’s book is ”remarkable” not because it is a compendium
of bizarre clip art, well-worn inspirational cliches, practical
advice and religious hoo-ha, all of which it is, but because few
books have come closer to telling me what it means to be an immigrant
in America today. And if Maglaya is to be believed, it means living
in a land of turbo-Darwinism that would shock the likes of Huck Finn
and Augie March, a landscape of hucksters and dreamers, of
work-at-home schemes, fake children’s modeling contests and rampant
identity fraud. It means, for the most part, living in Southern
California amid tribes of Cambodian doughnut tycoons and Chinese
laundry empires. It means believing in God (and preferably Jesus
Christ), and making him (them) a part of everything you do.
Religious, resourceful, highly flexible and yet essentially
conservative, the immigrant is the most reliably American of all
Americans, the indispensable citizen, the bedrock of the American
dream with all its tainted pleasures and millennial lunacies.
That said, the face of immigration, or at least the face of
immigration guidebooks, is unrecognizable to me today. When my family
came to the United States from the Soviet Union around 1980, we were
given a slim instructional volume from a resettlement agency. Aimed
squarely at the Soviet immigrant, the book stressed the prodigious
use of deodorant and the need to grin painfully whenever an American
was present (”smell-‘n’-smile” is how I committed this advice to
memory).
As far as Maglaya is concerned, the modern superimmigrant has no need
for such obvious instruction. Instead, he should gain quick
proficiency with MapQuest and Google. Once these are mastered there
are ”very strong arguments” in favor of learning English, ”apart
from the usual benefit of being able to read road signs.” With
English and the yield sign under his belt, the immigrant faces the
quandary of finding a good house servant. Watch out, Maglaya warns,
for they don’t come cheap in this country. Immigrants who have had
”domestic help to do things for them” will be ”in for a shock.”
Now that the tempest-tossed refugee has secured the services of a
reputable manservant, it is time to find a suitable activity to
occupy his time. ”Should he go into business? Should he pursue the
arts?” These are all difficult decisions to make for someone who has
just sneaked across the Rio Grande, but if one finally settles on
entrepreneurship it is often helpful to ”get a professional
spokesperson or a mascot.” You know, to help out with publicity.
The author, who came to the United States in the 1980’s from the
Philippines with a master’s degree in communications, leaves us with
a list of recommended books, including Pat Buchanan’s ”Death of the
West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our
Country and Civilization” and other examples of ”the boat is full”
philosophy. Maglaya’s assessment of the way immigrant groups perceive
and treat other immigrant groups is yet another remarkable aspect of
this book. We learn, for example, that ”Jews and Armenians have long
histories of being involved in business in every area around the
world where they settle,” while Koreans have ”a somewhat hardy
resistance to acculturation.” Mexicans, despite being abundant in
the author’s adopted Southern California, are suspiciously absent
from the list of enterprising immigrant groups. Possibly they have
little of value to impart to Maglaya’s ”bright, bushy-tailed eager
beaver of a newcomer.” The world rightfully looks to America as the
nation most welcoming to immigrants — and yet what many highly
educated immigrants do not know, or do not care to know, about one
another’s struggles could fill a book. This one, for instance.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress