Author: Kalantarian Kevo

CALIFORNIA FEELS EFFECTS OF THE OBAMA VICTORY
By Michael Doyle

Fresno Bee
Nov 7 2008
CA

WASHINGTON — This week’s historic election brings with it a new
batch of California winners and losers. Count one-time Fresno resident
Michael Robertson among the winners.

Robertson took time off from graduate study at Georgetown University
Law Center to help run Barack Obama’s Capitol Hill operation.

Potentially, that sets Robertson up to write his own ticket in an
Obama administration.

"In Michael’s case, they know him, and he obviously has political
skills," said Scott Nishioki, chief of staff for Rep. Jim Costa,
D-Fresno.

As congressional affairs director for the Obama campaign, Robertson
has been helping corral Capitol Hill support — even when Obama’s
Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, seemed to be on a roll.

Robertson did not return e-mails seeking comment about his plans.

About 3,300 presidential appointments will open up once Obama takes
office Jan. 20. Tens of thousands of people are expected to submit
their resumes and applications, a competition in which early loyalty
can pay off.

Other Californians will certainly be in the running for one position
or another. Robertson’s colleague as Obama’s Capitol Hill liaison,
Phil Schilero, is a longtime staffer for Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los
Angeles. His position, too, could put Schilero in line for a key
administration slot.

Administrations also recruit from the roster of campaign advisers.

Stanford Law School professor Mariano-Florentino Cuellar and University
of California at Davis law professor Jennifer Chacon, for instance,
have been advising the Obama campaign on immigration matters, while
UC Berkeley law school dean Christopher Edley Jr. has been offering
advice on legal affairs.

Job openings are not the only consequence of Obama’s victory and the
corresponding strengthening of the Democratic grip on both the House
and Senate.

"I do see [California] as having much more influence," Democratic
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday. "I see us getting our calls
returned. I see us being able to make appointments so we can go up
and make our case."

Feinstein, for instance, predicted California would have an easier time
getting a greenhouse-gas-regulation waiver from Obama’s Environmental
Protection Agency. The Clean Air Act permits California to craft
tougher environmental protections than the federal standards, but it
must first obtain a waiver.

Obama also has indicated that as president he will publicly affirm
that an Armenian genocide took place between 1915 and 1923. Previous
candidates have made similar pledges, only to disappoint the Valley’s
tens of thousands of Armenian-American residents once in office.

"Joe Biden and I believe that the Armenian genocide is not an
allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but rather a
widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical
evidence," Obama said last week.

Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, added Wednesday that other aspects
of Obama’s relationship with California "depend on who he appoints
to key positions," including interior secretary and secretary of
agriculture.

"It’s critically important that we have someone from California high up
at the Department of Agriculture," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced.

Cardoza is suggesting the name of Bill Lyons Jr., a Modesto-area
rancher who headed California’s Department of Food and
Agriculture. Cardoza further acknowledged he is "concerned" that an
Obama administration might clash with Valley farmers and ranchers on
endangered species and other environmental protection issues.

None of the San Joaquin Valley’s congressional Democrats aligned
themselves with Obama early, when an endorsement might have earned
the most post-election chits. Cardoza endorsed Clinton in December
and then switched to Obama in May, on the same day that Costa endorsed
the surging Illinois Democrat. Newly re-elected Rep. Jerry McNerney,
D-Pleasanton, stayed out of the primary fight until Obama had wrapped
up the nomination.

Raising money for a campaign can translate into influence.

Hollywood moviemakers Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, for
instance, together with family members, funneled more than $150,000
into Obama’s campaign; their phone calls will be returned. The
Valley, by contrast, did not produce many big contributors to the
Obama campaign.

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: WE WILL FACILITATE KARABAKH PROCESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.11.2008 16:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia will keep on endeavors to alleviate tensions
in the neighboring regions, specifically for resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said in his
annual address to the Federal Assembly.

"With respect to the functioning formats, we will work for resolution
of the Transnistrian and Nagorno Karabakh conflicts and collaborate
with all interested parties," he said.

During the November 2 meeting, the Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of
Russia, Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan
pledged to intensify negotiations to end the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The declaration envisages resolution of the conflict on the basis of
principles and norms of the international law as well as agreements
and documents concluded in this framework.

Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev also instructed their foreign
ministers to activate the negotiation process, in collaboration with
the co-chairs of the OSCE’s Minsk Group.

ERDOGAN WARNS OBAMA

AZG Armenian Daily
06/11/2008

Armenian Genocide; Turkey-USA

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his congratulatory
message to Barack Obama expressed hope that Obama will stick to the
outgoing U.S. administration’s policy on the subject that has avoided
the use of the word "genocide" with regard to the 1915 killings. "We
hope that some theses raised during the election campaign will stay
there [in the past] as campaign issues," Erdogan told reporters in
Ankara. "The relations between Turkey and America are determined not
by changing [U.S.] administrations but by the strategic nature of our
ties, which we believe will continue," he said, according to the AFP
news agency.

SARGIS HATSPANIAN ASSERTS THAT THE OTHER DAY HE SAW MILITARY MAPS OF RETURNING LIBERATED TERRITORIES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 31, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. There are three variants of Nagorno
Karabakh settlement the strongest powers of the world want to make
Armenia sign. Former freedom-fighter, French Armenian Sargis Hatspanian
stated in his interview to the Haykakan Zhamanak daily. According
to him, one of those variants is the Russian one to be discussed at
a meeting between Presidents of RA and Azerbaijan to take place on
November 2 in Moscow, the second is the variant of the United States,
which is an alternative to the Russian variant, and the third is the
compromise variant proposed on behalf of France.

S. Hatspanian also said that the other day he met with a number of
officials of higher officer staff of the RA Armed Forces and saw
military maps of ceding the liberated territories around Nagorno
Karabakh. "Now they have driven us into a corner and make us accept
(the proposed variants).

Otherwise they will totally blockade us and will starve
Armenia. Therefore, a genocide indeed awaits us, about which the
National Security Service head has already made a statement,"
S. Hatspanian said.

It should be mentioned that according to the Haykakan Zhamanak, in his
interview to the Jane’s Intelligence Digest American periodical Gorik
Hakobian, the Director of the RA National Security Service, stated:
"We are concerned with the possibility of recurrence of the Armenian
Genocide, as Azerbaijan is intensively militarized, and our neighbors
periodically spread statements on their plans to take back Karabakh
by a war."

WHAT IT MEANS ARMENIAN ARE MORE READY FOR SETTLEMENT

Lragir.am
14:06:18 – 30/10/2008

The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict takes place in the
framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, this framework is effective and
there is no need for a new framework, stated the Armenian foreign
minister Edward Nalbandyan on October 30 in Yerevan. As to the Russian
president’s initiative of the three-party meeting in Moscow, Edward
Nalbandyan says Russia is a Minsk Group co-chair, and has always
been active and has had a constructive stance. In this connection,
Edward Nalbandyan commended the initiative of the Russian president.

With regard to the forecasts whether the settlement of the conflict
is possible within two or three months, as the first president of
Armenia had said in his address on October 17, Edward Nalbandyan says
there have been other similar forecasts on timing before. In this
connection, Edward Nalbandyan says he can say one thing only that the
settlement of the conflict, agreement with Azerbaijan is possible in
case this country displays political will, and does not come up with
different actions, different statements in different international
organizations. If Armenia gives an adequate response to them, the
process will arrive in a deadlock, Edward Nalbandyan says. He says
Armenia has a serious attitude towards the settlement, and has a great
wish to have it settled. "We find that it is an important phase in
the talks, we find that the talks may grow more active especially
after the initiative of the Russian president Medvedev, and we are
hopeful that the meeting of the presidents will speed up the talks,"
Edward Nalbandyan said.

The reporters asked him if it is right that unlike the "principles
of Madrid" where the return of 4 or 5 regions is concerned, the
Russian initiative involves the return of all the 7 regions at
once. The foreign minister did not answer this question directly,
noting that maybe he knows less about the "principles of Madrid"
than the reporter who asked the question but he thinks that there
is no need to make conclusions on any agreement unless there is a
complex agreement. Edward Nalbandyan also stated that an agreement
between the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan takes the approval
of their publics, otherwise no leader can do something secretly.

In this connection the reporters asked him to comment on the fact that
the "principles of Madrid" are acceptable for the Armenian government,
whereas the NKR President Bako Sahakyan stated that independence
and security within the current factual borders are not a subject
of discussion.

Edward Nalbandyan said if the sides reach agreement, a solution,
when that agreement is presented to the public, naturally it needs to
be approved not only by the people of Armenia but also the people of
Karabakh. "That solution must be approved by the publics of Armenia
and Karabakh. Without that approval, without that confidence that
people understand those solutions, that people accept and endorse
those solutions, no issue will be solved," Edward Nalbandyan stated.

According to him, unlike the people of Azerbaijan, the people of
Armenia are more ready for the settlement. "At least, because there is
no hatred in our people, there is no 80 percent no confidence in the
Minsk Group, 30 percent of people ready to solve the problem through
a war."

ALTIMO ASKS COURT TO UNFREEZE ARRESTED VIMPELCOM STOCK

RIA Novosti
16:20 | 28/ 10/ 2008

MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) – Altimo, which holds 44% of voting
stock in Russia’s second largest mobile operator, VimpelCom, has filed
a petition with an Omsk arbitration court asking it to unfreeze its
arrested shares.

"Altimo filed today a petition to unfreeze the VimpelCom shares it
owns," the company said on Tuesday in a statement.

On Monday, the Omsk arbitration appeals court in southwestern Siberia
arrested VimpelCom shares owned by Altimo and Telenor on a lawsuit
from a VimpelCom minority shareholder, the Farimex company.

VimpelCom’s main shareholders are Altimo, the telecoms arm of
Russia’s Alfa Group, and Norway’s Telenor. The latter owns 29.9%
of voting shares.

Telenor East Invest and Altimo are the defendants in the Farimex suit.

Farimex accuses the main VimpelCom shareholders of hindering
VimpelCom’s entry into Ukraine’s cellular communications
market. Farimex demanded that they pay $3.8 billion to the operator.

On August 16, a West Siberian arbitration court granted a Farimex
suit to exact $2.824 billion from Telenor and ordered the Norwegian
company to pay $16,850 in court expenses.

In September, Telenor and VimpelCom board members affiliated with
the Norwegian company filed appeals to the Omsk court.

VimpelCom, which operates under the Beeline brand, provides services
in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia
and Georgia.

PRIOR TO COMMITTING CRIME, NAIRI HUNANIAN WAS SUBJECTED TO NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING, POLITICAL TECHNOLOGIST NAREK MALIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 27, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The accusations, according to which
the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian and his team allegedly
influenced people’s consciousness by means of neuro-linguistic
programming (NLP) during rallies, are not true, political technologist
Narek Malian said at the October 27 press conference. In his words,
NLP and other psychological methods of this kind are used with respect
to individuals and are not applicable at mass events.

To recap, psychologist Karine Nalchajian made the above mentioned
accusations after the March 1 events. She had also been invited to the
press conference but was not present because of being out of the city.

Speaking about the Oct. 27, 1999 assassination, N. Malian said: "In
my opinion, Nairi Hunanian was subjected to NLP before breaking into
the National Assembly. This technology makes it easier to persuade
a person to kill those with whom he is not personally acquainted".

In the opinion of N. Malian, in Armenia all political figures, those
representing both the authorities and opposition, have no ideological
direction: they look for today’s popular political current and
enter it.

Another peculiarity of Armenian political reality is that advertising
posters and slogans of candidates running in various elections are
like each other and the voter has difficulty remembering them.

Noroeste, Mexico

CONCIERTO

Sonidos de la selva

La OSSLA y el Octeto Tarab introducen al público mazatleco a los
enigmáticos sonidos que Villa-Lobos construyó inspirado en la Amazonia
Héctor Guardado

Sonidos de la selva

26-10-2008

MAZATLÁN._ La selva amazónica tiene su música propia, el enigma que
crean los silencios interrumpidos por las hojas que mueve el viento,
el murmullo del aleteo de las aves, los ruidos que emiten los insectos
y animales, construyen una sinfonía que el oído del compositor
brasileño Heitor Villa-Lobos captó y trasladó a una partitura que fue
interpretada por la Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes y el
Octeto Tarab en el Teatro Ángela Peralta.
La primera pieza que se interpretó de este famoso autor carioca fue
Bachiana número 5, para octeto de cellos y soprano.
La pieza inicia con un sonido que recuerda las gotas de agua que caen,
de hoja en hoja hasta la tierra. Esa sensación lo logran los cellos
con fuertes pellizcos (pisicato) que aplican los músicos a las cuerdas
y que introducen al público en una atmósfera seductora.
La voz de la soprano Eugenia Garza se convirtió en otro instrumento
que emitió sonidos que se unieron a los de los cellos que conforman el
Octeto Tarab. De la boca de Garza no salió ni una sola palabra, sólo
vocalizaciones, que son una contestación melódica al estímulo sonoro
que las cuerdas proponen.
El resultado fue una pieza que acarició los oídos y que creó la
sensación de estar subiendo suavemente por una espiral de sonidos que
se elevó lentamente, alcanzando la paz que la cúspide prometió.
La Bachiana número 5, de Villa-Lobos, es un ejercicio difícil para la
cantante, por las notas altas que debe alcanzar y la gran capacidad
pulmonar que debe desarrollar para soportar, sin respirar, los largos
compases.
También se interpretaron los cuatro movimientos de la Bachiana número
2 y el programa se cerró con el famoso Choro número 10 para coro y
orquesta, en el que los sonidos transportaron a los oyentes a la selva
amazónica.
El Coro del Taller de Ópera de Sinaloa fue el encargado de darle vida
a los sonidos de la selva y la batuta del director egipcio Raffi
Armenian fue la encargada de guiar a cantantes y músicos por las
atmósferas de la música de Villa-Lobos.
La OSSLA abordó esa noche una obra que llamó la atención del público,
Silueta como sirena, del jalisciense Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon.
En dicha obra, el instrumento solista fue una guitarra y la melodía se
estructuró con sonidos contemporáneos, disonancias y melodías
segmentadas que crean pequeñas atmósferas. El guitarrista Alfredo
Sánchez intervino con su voz de trovador, al decir un poema
surrealista.

EL CONCIERTO
Tres piezas del brasileño Heitor Villa-Lobos y una del jalisciense
Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon se interpretaron en el concierto que ofrecieron
la OSSLA y el Octeto Tarab.
PARTICIPANTES
En el concierto participaron los músicos de la Orquesta Sinfónica
Sinaloa de las Artes, el Octeto de Cellos Tarab, la soprano Eugenia
Garza y el Coro del Taller de Ópera de Sinaloa

The Daily Herald-Tribune (Grande Prairie, Alberta)
October 24, 2008 Friday
FINAL EDITION

Canadian Karsh’s photos in Boston museum

BOSTON

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is marking the 100th birthday of
legendary Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh with an exhibition of
some of his iconic portraits.

”Karsh 100: A Biography in Images” includes more than 100 works,
including famous photographs of celebrated personalities such as
Jackie Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein,
Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia
Loren, Angela Lansbury and Boris Karloff.

The exhibit also highlights Karsh’s early work when he was developing
his style as well as photographs made in the 1950s, such as urban
images taken on assignment for Maclean’s magazine and photos
commissioned by Ford of Canada and Atlas Steel. His large-format
camera is also on display.

Images were lent to the exhibition by the Karsh Collection at the
National Portrait Gallery of Canada.

Karsh was born in Armenia in 1908 and died in 2002. The exhibit
continues until Jan. 19.

SOCIAL MECHANISM OF STATE BUDGET’S CONTROL IS ABSENT IN ARMENIA, ECONOMIST ANDRANIK TEVANIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 22, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. There is no social mechanism for
control of state budgetary expenditures in Armenia, the director of
Politeconom research institute, economist Andranik Tevanian said
at the October 22 press conference. In his words, "we do not know
what expenditures the army makes and how much the police spend on
uniforms." In his opinion, the greater the budget, the worse the
situation is, because more money is collected from economic entities
and then spent without any control – under the cover of increasing
pensions by 5 thousand drams.

The Central Bank of Armenia constantly raises the refinancing rate,
which, according to A. Tevanian, means a policy of expensive money. "On
the one hand the state conducts a strict fiscal policy, on the other
hand it tightens the monetary policy," he said.