Author: Kajoyan Gevork

DANNY GREEN AND VIC DARCHINYAN ARE BOXING’S ODD
by: Nick Walshaw

The Daily Telegraph

Nov 28 2011
Australia

DANNY Green has never eaten worse steak.

Meat tougher, he says, than Chinese arithmetic. Chips burned badly
too. Pausing only briefly in reflection before describing said meal,
overall, as (if) roadkill (nf).

“But, mate,” the Aussie cruiserweights laughs, “when you’ve got a
mad little Armenian staring at your every bite . . . you eat the
bloody lot.”

Sitting in a suite overlooking Scarborough beach in Perth, Green is
trying to explain one of the more unlikely mateships in a sport far
more accustomed to sneaks, rattlesnakes and the dodgy double cross.

A bond uniting Green – the fighter whose Facebook Army numbers 200,000
– with Vic Darchinyan, the naturalised Aussie whose own contribution
to technology goes no further than delayed text responses from his
mobile phone.

Green boasts three world titles and a (if) Dancing With The Stars
(nf) gig. Black eskies the newest feature of Australian boxing’s
largest merchandise range.

Darchinyan, meanwhile . . . well, he owns eight gold straps and could
dance down George Street unnoticed.

Yet when in Sydney, this boxing Odd Couple (if) always (nf) eats
together. Shares gyms, friends, financial advisors, too. Darchinyan
this week telling us from LA that “whenever Danny wants a sparring
partner . . . he also knows I’m ready”.

And now, within they space of five days, they will each fight for
prestigious world titles.

It starts this Wednesday in Perth, with Green fighting WBC champ
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in a bout which, US experts insist, will either
revive his career or force him into retirement.

Then on Sunday afternoon, Darchinyan becomes the first Aussie in
40 years to have an overseas title fight shown live on free-to-air
television – 7Mate screening from California his unification bout
with WBA Super Champion Anselmo Moreno.

Hard to believe it all started over butchered steak.

Back a decade when this pair of anonymous pugs, fresh from competing
at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, suddenly found themselves sharing a tiny
Bankstown unit at the request of their mutual trainer, Australian
great Jeff Fenech.

Darchinyan spoke little English. Green zero Armenian. “Which made
for plenty of hours,” the cruiserweight laughs, “where we watched
the television in complete silence”.

Yet not that very first night. No, that’s when Green was greeted by
the little European warrior who, having sized up his new flatmate,
then deadpanned: “I cook, you eat.”

Green, however, declined. Explaining how he wasn’t (if) really (nf)
that hungry.

“At which point Vic turned and glared,” Green recalls. “He was already
pulling this hunk of frozen meat from the fridge, looking at me like
‘I told you I’m cooking so you will be f…ing eating. So yeah,
it was shithouse but though gritted teeth I ate the lot.”

ARMENIAN FM CALLS EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE’S ATTENTION TO AZERBAIJAN’S ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA

Mediamax
Nov 28 2011
Armenia

Yerevan/Mediamax /. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan and
EU Special Representative Phillip Lefort discussed settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict and issues related to strengthening trust
between the sides in Yerevan today.

Edward Nalbandyan called the EU Special Representative’s attention to
the anti-Armenian propaganda realized on a state level in Azerbaijan.

The parties also discussed a wide scope of issues of Armenia-EU
cooperation: results of Catherine Ashton’s visit to Armenia in
particular and the session of the Council of Armenia-EU Cooperation
held in Brussels last week.

L’ARMENIE RECOIT UNE AIDE MILITAIRE RUSSE
Laetitia

armenews.com
lundi 28 novembre 2011

Le secretaire general de l’alliance des sept ex-Etats sovietiques
dirigee par la Russie a annonce vendredi que l’Armenie recevra une
aide militaire russe dans le cadre de l’Organisation du traite de
securite collective. (OTSC).

Nikolay Bordyuzha a affirme que Moscou fournira de nouvelles armes
a l’Armenie et a d’autres troupes alliees membres de l’OTSC en 2009.

” Nous avons pratiquement termine le travail sur le programme des
forces collectives de reaction operationnelle (CORF) de l’OTSC “,
a declare Bordyuzha lors d’une conference a Erevan. Il a affirme que
le programme sera soumis lors du prochain sommet de l’OTSC.

” Il envisage la fourniture d’armement de type moderne aux contingents
qui composent les Forces collectives de reaction operationnelle,
y compris les troupes de l’Armenie “, a-t-il ajoute.

Dans ce contexte, Bordyuzha a egalement souligne l’importance du
developpement de la cooperation, egalement dans le cadre de l’OTSC,
entre la defense armenienne et celle de la Russie. ” Il faut savoir ce
qui est fait dans le domaine militaire, en particulier au niveau de la
creation d’un certain nombre de centres russes ou des coentreprises
en Armenie pour la maintenance, la reparation et la modernisation
de certains types d’armes. Cela contribue egalement a la fourniture
d’armes modernes aux forces armees armeniennes “.

Les fonctionnaires armeniens et russes ont convenu de creer des
entreprises de ce type, après des pourparlers qui ont eu lieu a
Erevan en juillet 2010. Bordyuzha a annonce au moment du lancement
un ” projet pilote ” visant a integrer les entreprises de defense
armeniennes en Russie.

L’annonce a ete faite peu avant que Moscou et Erevan aient signe un
accord de defense nouvelle qui a prolonge la presence d’une base
militaire russe en Armenie de 24 ans, (jusqu’en 2044). Le plan de
l’OTSC comprend la tenue d’exercices du CORF en Armenie l’annee
prochaine. Baghdasarian a decrit les exercices comme ” extremement
importants ” pour Erevan.

Selon Bordyuzha, le document prevoit egalement un certain ” nombre
d’evenements qui va nous permettre d’utiliser plus efficacement le
potentiel de l’OTSC pour assurer la securite de l’Armenie. ”

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 26 2011

Georgian Patriarch will not attend South Caucasus religious leaders’
meeting in Yerevan

[ 26 Nov 2011 10:40 ]
Baku – APA. All-Georgia Catholicos and Patriarch Ilya II probably will
not attend the meeting of South Caucasian religious leaders in
Yerevan, Armenia, the Patriarch’s adviser, expert on international
affairs Zurab Abashidze said.

`As I know, the Patriarch will not attend that meeting’, Abashidze said.

The Governing Board of the CIS Inter-Religions Council will gather on
November 28-29 in Yerevan. The leaders and representatives of
traditional religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism) will
join the meeting. Moscow and All-Russian Patriarch Cyril and
All-Armenian Catholicos Garegin II will also participate at the
meeting.

Press service of Echmiadzeen, Armenian religious center, said Georgian
Patriarch Ilya II and Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board,
Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh were also expected to
attend the meeting, but Pashazadeh has not confirmed his participation
yet.

The Toronto Star, Ont. Canada
November 26, 2011 Saturday

In defence of Kim Kardashian: We have seen the celebrity enabler and
the enabler is us

Boycotting Kim Kardashian is like trying to turn the Titanic

Now that Occupy movements are packing up their tents after worldwide
protests against the fat cats and power brokers who control society’s
wealth, the attention of those concerned about social justice
logically moves to other targets.

Women’s rights? Nope. Racial discrimination? Nope. Homophobia? Nope.

What’s really generating heat in the online world of unprofessional
griping is – you guessed it – socialite Kim Kardashian, whose 72-day
marriage to a basketball player has the online community crying for
cultural restitution.

“In a grassroots effort, we have collected thousands of signatures for
a petition asking E! Entertainment to remove the Kardashian suite of
shows (including Keeping Up With the Kardashians) from their
programming,” activist Cyndy Snider told media amid allegations
Kardashian’s lavish, profit-generating wedding may have been faked.

“We feel these shows are mostly staged and place an emphasis on
vanity, greed, promiscuity, vulgarity and over-the-top conspicuous
consumption. There is no particular religious or political platform
behind our disgust; we are just finally fed up.”

Here, here. Speaking truth to power, or in this case, to a
rubber-lipped marketing machine whose skill at self-promotion has
placed her in the same “famous for being famous” strata as Paris
Hilton, Kevin Federline, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Octomom and the entire cast of
Jersey Shore (especially that illiterate boozehound, Snooki).

And yet, much as I’d like to champion this noble backlash against
celebrities whose fame is out of proportion to their talent, there’s a
nagging feeling I can’t shake: a sense that the skulking enablers who
have fuelled their rise to power with such gross impunity are, oh
yeah, us.

“Kim Kardashian is not famous for being famous,” points out Bob
Thompson, a pop culture prof at Syracuse University, noting the
abundance of “pretty rich heiresses” who don’t have their own reality
shows or fragrance lines.

“Now it may be that her skill is one that’s harder to identify than a
prize-winning scientist, but she’s good at what she does: getting
people to pay attention to her.'”

And so we do, whether the 31-year-old celebutante is hawking her
cheesy Kardashian Glamour Tan, clothing line, workout video, perfume,
autobiography, Playboy covers or the leaked sex tape that launched her
career in 2007.

“Kim Kardashian has made a mockery of American culture,” rage the
anonymous publishers at boycottkim.com, “doing whatever it takes to
extend her 15 minutes of fame so she can selfishly profit from her
celebrity status.”

Sure, we complain, and rightly so, but democracy is a tricky business.

And while the activists among us campaign for a more meaningful, less
materialistic society, Kardashian’s celebrity-obsessed followers have
quietly shoved Paris Hilton aside to crown their Betty Boopesque
leader as an alluring symbol of cultural Armageddon.

And not all of them are aware which side they’re on.

“I am so sick of seeing Kim on the front of magazines,” writes Janet
Boyd of Florida at boycottkim.com. “I subscribe to seven magazines,
most all entertainment, and every time I go to the mail box, if I see
Kim’s face on the cover I throw the magazine away without even looking
any further. I just wish everyone would say NO to Kim!”

Gee whiz: seven magazines? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

And then there’s Kardashian herself, who vows to fight AIDS, supports
recognition of the Armenian genocide, then reveals her true priorities
when she tells media in her little girl warble, “I hate when women
wear the wrong foundation colour. It might be the worst thing on the
planet when they wear their makeup too light.”

Outraged? Mystified? Fed up?

Go ahead: voice your dismay, sign petitions, start your own Occupy
Hollywood movement. Just don’t expect anything much to change.

“Occupying Hollywood would be like occupying the weather,” points out
Thompson, noting there’s no such thing as a “Kardashian tax” and most
celebrities get rich because we line their pockets.

“People have been complaining about it as long as it’s existed – it’s
an abstraction. I don’t think we really want it to go away.

“If Hollywood shut down tomorrow, in eight months or so people would
really miss it. They’d be saying ‘Please, please, please come back,
and bring Kim Kardashian with you!'”

The Globe and Mail (Canada)
November 26, 2011 Saturday

France’s spousal mental cruelty law hits obstacles

BY: SUSAN SACHS

Like many of the desperate people who find their way to Yael Mellul’s
Paris law office, this one was broken on the inside.

With two suitcases and her three young children in tow, the woman had
run away from her husband in the south of France after 10 years of
constant abuse. He told her she was ugly, she was a bad mother, she
was nothing and that he would kill her. Once he locked her in an attic
for a day with nothing to eat or drink.

For Ms. Mellul, the desperate woman’s story placed her squarely within
the legal definition of a victim of domestic violence – not the kind
that leaves visible scars or broken bones, but the insidious,
soul-draining, psychological violence that is now a criminal offence
in France.

But when the husband and wife appeared in Family Court last week, the
judge treated the woman as the home-wrecker. Ms. Mellul said he
scolded her client, telling her, “Do you realize that you denied your
husband the right to see his children? Do you realize you are asking
me to chase him from his house?”

In France, “mental harassment” in a conjugal relationship is a
criminal offence. The penalties are the toughest in Europe. But nearly
a year and a half after the law was enacted, lawyers and psychologists
say the French judicial system and police have yet to understand it or
take it seriously.

“Every case is a battle,” said Ms. Mellul, a fiery woman who was one
of the leading campaigners for passage of the 2010 law.
“Unfortunately, many police officers refuse to open a case charging
psychological violence. I have to fight for each one.”

When the law was enacted last summer, it was applauded across the
political spectrum as a long overdue recognition that psychological
violence at home can be as deadly and brutal as physical abuse.

Criminal harassment is loosely defined as repeated humiliation, verbal
abuse or forced isolation of a partner. An abuser faces up to three
years of imprisonment and a fine of up to (EURO)75,000, far tougher
penalties than for harassment in the workplace.

When it was adopted, the French law was caricatured in the foreign
media as an opening for spouses to prosecute each other after every
spat. No one, though, has been tried or convicted under the law.
Instead, it has been raised as an argument in Family Court cases like
divorce and, even then, mainly in battles over child custody
arrangements.

But defining mental harassment as a crime has had little impact even
in civil cases, in the view of many experts in abuse.

Geneviève Reichert-Pagnard, a Paris-area psychiatrist, treats many
women who have suffered such constant humiliation at the hands of
their partners that they have sunk into depression or consider killing
themselves.

But the judges and the court system’s own psychologists have not been
trained to recognize the signs of this “destructive manipulation,” she
said.

“Magistrates continue to consider these cases like cases of ordinary
dispute between parents,” Dr. Reichart-Pagnard added. “More and more
I’m seeing the courts take the children from the mother. In other
words, the victim is seen as the fragile parent and the aggressor is
considered the balanced and stabilizing parent.”

Canada was a pioneer in labelling emotional abuse, at first mainly in
the form of stalking, as a serious offence within the panoply of
domestic abuse crimes. Since 2002, it carries a maximum prison
sentence of 10 years.

European countries also have tough laws against harassment in the
workplace and violence against women, who are the principal victims.
But they have been slower to equate psychological and physical abuse
in their penal codes, in part out of a reluctance to legislate
behaviour within a marriage or relationship.

After France, the toughest laws dealing with domestic mental cruelty
are in Sweden, Spain, Portugal and Poland, according to a recent
report by the Council of Europe that urged its 47 member countries to
follow suit in criminalizing psychological violence.

Armenia, one of the smallest members, has gone a step further in
specifically creating the crime of causing someone to commit suicide
“by means of threat, cruel treatment or regular humiliation of one’s
dignity.”

France has recognized domestic violence in all its forms as a real
problem. Of the 80,000 calls to help lines in 2009, according to the
government, 84 per cent involved psychological violence. Victims, too,
need educating on what constitutes psychological violence, according
to Ms. Mellul. Often they have been so beaten down by years of insults
and isolation that, like some battered women, they come to believe
that they must deserve it.

“The women – and it’s usually women – have to see that what they are
living through is not acceptable, and a lot of times they no longer
know what is acceptable and what is not.”

news.am, Armenia
Nov 26 2011

Why Erdogan apologized for Dersim but did not mention Armenians? –
German media

November 26, 2011 | 00:04

Turkish media touched upon German outlet’s responses to Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s apology for riots in Dersim

German Markische Oderzeitung wrote that the apology of Prime Minister
of Turkey provoked a lot of questions.

“At this point one thinks of the massacre of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians committed 100 years ago, but why Erdogan does not apologize
for this?” wrote the German edition, stressing that Erdogan’s
apologies have bright political overtones.

Deutsche Welle, in turn, said that Erdogan’s words were aimed at
oppositional Republican People’s Party.

“The pursuit of political dividends at the expense of victims of those
times is a crime by itself. Even as the PM speaks the Turkish army
carries out the same operations against Kurds, who ask for autonomy –
the same as it was in Dersim,’ writes Deutsche Welle.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for the
massacres in Dersim. He accused then ruling Republican People’s Party
in the organization of pogroms.

In 1938 Turkish authorities suppressed the Dersim uprising, destroying
hundreds of villages. Different sources say around 100 thousand people
were slaughtered, among those Armenians who survived 1915 Genocide.

Agence France Presse
November 25, 2011 Friday 4:24 PM GMT

Armenian opposition rallies for president’s impeachment

YEREVAN, Nov 25 2011

Around 3,000 Armenian opposition supporters rallied in the capital
Yerevan on Friday to demand the resignation and impeachment of
President Serzh Sarkisian.

“Serzh Sarkisian seized power by falsifying the results of elections,”
said a declaration by the Armenian National Congress opposition bloc
claiming legal grounds for impeachment, read out at the rally by the
alliance’s coordinator, Levon Zurabian.

Complaining of alleged institutional corruption and democratic
failings in the impoverished ex-Soviet state, the bloc won several
concessions from the authorities after a series of larger rallies
earlier this year, but a week-long tent camp protest ended without
results last month.

Turnout at Friday’s protest was significantly smaller than at previous
demonstrations amid freezing weather in Yerevan.

The opposition bloc’s leader, former Armenian president Levon
Ter-Petrosian, repeated his demand for snap elections but also said
the alliance needed to win parliamentary seats at polls due year to
achieve its goals.

A governing coalition lawmaker said however that the bloc, which
currently has no parliamentary seats, was indulging in pre-election
propaganda after failing to oust the government.

“Now it is clear that none of the extra-parliamentary opposition’s
predictions came true,” lawmaker Eduard Sharmazanov told AFP.

Armenia has been through political and military turmoil since
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a series of disputed
elections and a war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.

mkh-emc/co

Targeted News Service
November 25, 2011 Friday 10:58 AM EST

EU – Armenia Cooperation Council Twelfth meeting, Brussels, 25 November 2011

BRUSSELS

The European Union’s European Council issued the following news release:

The Cooperation Council between the European Union and the Republic of
Armenia held its twelfth meeting on Friday 25 November 2011. The EU
was represented by Mr Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, State Secretary for
European Affairs of Poland, acting on behalf of the High
Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
Catherine Ashton, and Mr Stefan Fule, Commissioner for Enlargement and
European Neighbourhood -Policy. The Armenian delegation was led by Mr
Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Armenia, acting as chair of the Cooperation Council meeting.

This meeting took place following the recent visit of HRVP Ashton to
Yerevan on 16-17 November which confirmed the EU’s commitment to
reinforcing links with the region. The Cooperation Council reviewed
progress on the settlement of the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict. The EU
reaffirmed that the status quo is unacceptable and that the solution
of this conflict remains a top priority.

Both sides reiterated their support to the efforts deployed by the
OSCE Minsk Group. The EU confirmed its determination to strengthen its
support to and co-operation with the Minsk Group, notably through
further confidence building measures. The EU expressed concern at the
increasing number of incidents at the line of contact and called on
all sides to reduce tension and abstain from strong rhetoric.

The Cooperation Council underlined the need to remain focussed on and
speed up the implementation of the European neighbourhood policy
action plan. The Cooperation Council provided a good opportunity to
take stock of latest developments in the South Caucasus, as well as to
review recent political and economic reforms in Armenia. In this
context the Cooperation Council took note of the new and ambitious
reform efforts of Armenia, bringing together important priorities of
EU-Armenia relations, including preparations for a Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Area, cooperation in the domain of justice,
liberty and security as well as democratic reforms. The EU confirmed
its readiness to engage with Armenia in an EU-Armenia partnership for
reform.

The EU recalled the importance of continuing progress on the matters
of democracy, rule of law and human rights. In view of the deepening
bilateral relations between the EU and Armenia in the framework of the
Eastern Partnership, the EU encouraged Armenia to step up reforms in
these fields.

The EU noted progress in the situation of human rights and fundamental
freedoms in Armenia and underlined that these elements are essential

components in the bilateral relationship and in the framework of the
Eastern Partnership.

The EU reaffirmed its readiness to continue its support for the
further development of democratic institutions in Armenia.

The two sides expressed satisfaction with the on-going negotiations on
the Association Agreement. The EU confirmed that negotiations on a
deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) would start as soon as
Armenia meets the necessary conditions, as set out in the Commission’s
“Key recommendations”. The EU also confirmed that negotiations on
agreements on visa facilitation and readmission are expected to start
at the beginning of

next year. The EU also welcomed the signing by Armenia, on 27 October,
of a mobility partnership with the EU, as an important step towards
the strengthening of people-topeople contacts.

Interfax, Russia
Nov 25 2011

Yerevan, CSTO agree to use organization’s potential to maintain
Armenian security

YEREVAN. Nov 25

Collective Security Treaty Organization Secretary General Nikolai
Bordyuzha and Armenian National Security Council Secretary Artur
Bagdasaryan signed a plan in Yerevan to implement agreements reached
within the CSTO.

The plan addresses topics such as military-economic cooperation, the
establishment of joint ventures to maintain military hardware and
information security, Bordyuzha told journalists.

“Great attention was paid to preparations for exercises of the CSTO
Collective Operational Reaction Force (CORF), which will be held in
Armenia,” he said.

The plan also includes measures that will help “effectively use the
CSTO’s potential to maintain security in Armenia,” he said.

A CORF weapons procurement program will be submitted to the presidents
of CSTO member countries for approval on December 20, Bordyuzha said.

“The program envisions providing the CSTO CORF contingent with
advanced samples of weapons,” he said.

tm rb