Azerbaijan lost 77 soldiers this year
12:44, 01.09.2014
Azerbaijan has lost 77 soldiers from the beginning of this year, Turan
agency said quoting a report by Doctrine journalists’ military
research center.
The report says another 115 soldiers were wounded during the mentioned
period. Meanwhile, 25 people were killed in shelling from the Armenian
side, and three were killed in mine explosion.
Thus, 49 people or two third of cases are non-combat military deaths.
Armenia News – NEWS.am
Probe into conscript’s death leads to fellow serviceman’s detention
13:56 * 30.08.14
An investigation into a recent deadly incident in the military has
lead to the arrest of an army private.
The Ministry of Defense says in a press release that soldier Simon S
Lazarian has been detained as a suspect in the fatal gunshot that
left Vladimir A Hayrapetyan, a conscript serving in the same military
unit, killed (Section 3, Article 365 of the Criminal Code – Violation
of Combat Duty Regulations).
Los Angeles Daily News
Aug 30 2014
Playing ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ the L.A. way
By Doug McIntyre, Los Angeles Daily News
The original plan by the Los Angeles City Council was to lease the
building for $1 a year for 50 years. The property has a rental value
over the next 30 years of $5.3 million to $6.6. million.
Remember “Let’s Make a Deal”?
Monty Hall?
“Door number one, door number two, or door number three?”
Monty would race through the crowd offering $50 to anyone who had a
hard-boiled egg in their pocket. It was a huge hit show.
But last Tuesday, L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz hosted his own
version of “Let’s Make a Deal” that makes Monty Hall look like an
amateur.
The contestant was the Armenian Cultural Foundation, and they had
exactly what they needed in their pockets, the Los Angeles City
Council.
After years of scheming, the council finally gift-wrapped and
delivered Old Fire House 83 at 5001 Balboa Blvd. in Encino to the ACF
for a dollar a year for 30 years.
Let’s make a deal, indeed.
A stink was raised last year when Koretz and the council agreed to
hand over the 20,000-square-foot parcel for a dollar a year for 50
years. After a KABC radio reporter cornered Koretz at City Hall, the
councilman promised to “send this back and have another review for 90
days.”
But you can’t make a three-minute omelet in two minutes and you can’t
make a problem years in the making go away in 90 days. The L.A. way
can’t be rushed.
The public needs time to forget, fresh scandals to distract the media.
Now, 13 months later, the time was right. A unanimous City Council has
instructed the Department of General Services to “negotiate and
execute a lease agreement with the ACF for $1 a year.”
I suppose we should be happy it’s only for 30 years. That’s 20 years
less horrible than the original outrage Koretz had orchestrated.
Still, a parcel of property the city itself acknowledges has a rental
value over the next 30 years of $5.3 million to $6.6 million will
instead bring in a whopping $30.
Not $30 million, not $30,000, but 30 stinking bucks.
With a straight face the council’s instructions claim this deal will
“not have an impact on the General Fund.”
That is a lie.
A similar decommissioned firehouse at 10234 National Blvd. was sold at
auction on Oct. 31, 2012, by the Department of General Services for
$1,150,000; yet Fire Station 83 was given away for $30 by a City
Council that can’t come up a bag of cement to patch our sidewalks.
While the deal won’t take money out of the general revenue fund, it
doesn’t put money into it either and that’s an “impact.”
The council claims the deal will generate “$16.9 million in economic
community benefits” without citing where they get that number or even
what it means. What are “economic community benefits” and how are they
calculated?
A sale of the land would mean cash for a cash-starved city facing a
$160 million deficit next year and hundreds of millions more in the
years to come. Condos would mean housing in a city with a serious
housing shortage. Development of the property would mean jobs and
taxes in a city desperate for both.
The Armenian Cultural Foundation (identified in the official City
Council meeting minutes as “ACF,” never by its full name) has agreed
to invest $1.2 million to $1.5 million in renovations, and the place
clearly needs it. After seven years of neglect, you’d think Richard
Alarcón owns the place.
But even with this investment by the ACF, L.A. would do better selling
the property or repairing it and renting it at full market value.
Paul Koretz wouldn’t hear of it.
“Rather than letting this go out there for anybody that’s interested
and wind up building condos, we want to make sure this is something
for the community.”
Spit take!
Since when is Paul Koretz opposed to condo construction? How many
millions has the City Council given away to developers for condo
construction at the gigantic Westfield mall project in Canoga Park and
countless other sites.
But if you want play “Let’s Make a Deal” in L.A. you have to have more
than a hard-boiled egg in your pocket. And the Armenian Cultural
Foundation came to play. As reported by “City Watch” columnist Jack
Humphreville, the ACF put $100,000 into Eric Garcetti’s mayoral
campaign.
Lost in all this is something fundamental; Old Firehouse 83 is not
Paul Koretz’s firehouse to give away. It’s not the City Council’s
firehouse. It’s your firehouse.
Correction, it was your firehouse.
Once again the taxpayers have been zonked.
WWLP , MA
Aug 31 2014
Festival held at St. Mark Armenian Church
By Sy Becker
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Hundreds came as they do every year to
celebrate Armenian culture and traditions. The traditional dances
helped families work up an appetite for the famous Armenian food. It
was truly a festive occasion for church members of all ages.
Church member Stephen Diefenderfer told 22News, “It’s awesome, it’s a
good fundraiser for the church and I just love seeing people come
together through Armenian culture. I look forward to it.”
Since we’re such a mobile society and so many of us move away, it
takes events like the St. Mark Armenian Church festival to reunite
those who had been very close down through the years.
“We have so many friends here, this church is like a family to us and
to the whole community. Everyone gets along great, we have an awesome
time, and the food is always the best,” said Jane Kapoian, a longtime
Parishioner.
Those who came to eat, dance and socialize enjoyed the best of all
worlds. They spent an important part of the Labor Day weekend savoring
the culture and camaraderie of their beloved Armenian church.
HitFix
Aug 31 2014
Review: Fatih Akin’s well-intended ‘The Cut’ does a disservice to a
historical tragedy
Tahar Rahim is unfortunately restricted to a wordless performance throughout
By Catherine Bray
VENICE — There’s a piece of slang used on the website TV Tropes that
regrettably applies to much of “The Cut.” That word is “narm.” Narm is
defined as a moment that is supposed to be serious or tear-jerking,
but due to poor execution becomes unintentionally funny. “The Cut” is
unfortunately the narmiest drama I’ve seen at Venice.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and that’s
certainly true of Fatih Akin’s incredibly earnest and well-meaning
attempt to engage with the build-up, execution and fallout of the
Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman authorities in the 1910s.
Obviously this is a huge and serious subject worthy of cinematic
treatment at the highest level — which is regrettably not what Akin
delivers. Between 1 million and 1.5 million people are thought to have
been killed on death marches through the Syrian desert, during which
they were beaten, raped and murdered. Unfortunately, you don’t really
get any impression of the massive scale of all this from “The Cut” —
its canvas is limited to the point that you could get the impression
that the persecution and massacres affected maybe a couple of thousand
people.
There isn’t a sense in the film of this tragedy as a systematic,
organized atrocity affecting millions, which led to the coining of the
term genocide and influenced the Nazis (a specific quote allegedly
from Hitler — “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of
the Armenians?” — is contentious, but there is far less doubt that he
was influenced by these crimes). This matters; it does a disservice to
those killed to minimize their story, however unintentionally, and I
think it is unintentional — a question of badly fluffed storytelling.
The reason for the detrimental lack of scale is possibly partly due to
budgetary issues, but mainly due to the creative decision to focus on
one man’s story. There are certainly ways to pick out a single person
caught up in a large scale tragedy and use their story to personalize
the wider event. But the focus here on Tahar Rahim’s blacksmith
Nazaret Manoogian is so narrow that almost everything else is
excluded.
When we meet Nazaret in 1915 in Mardin, he’s a jolly fellow, proud of
his beautiful wife and twin daughters. The twins hand him a scarf
they’ve embroidered for him. You pretty much know instantly that the
scarf is going to be a symbol to cling onto when all else is lost, and
so it proves. Rumors are flying around the village that war is coming.
“Horrible carnage, many people dying,” reports the twin’s
schoolteacher ruefully. The actor’s delivery of this line marked the
first point at which I shifted in my seat, no longer sure I was in
safe hands. And yes, the line is in English.
For some bizarre reason, the film is mostly English language spoken in
Armenian accents; a strange choice for a first English language
feature from Akin. There are occasional detours into subtitled
Turkish, which makes things even more confusing — if you’re going to
have some people who wouldn’t have spoken English speak in English,
why not have the other people who wouldn’t have spoken in English
speak in English? My best guess is it’s an attempt at Othering the
Turkish for an English speaking audience — we’re on the side of the
Armenians — but it’s very jarring. It also throws up confusing
questions about Nazaret’s understanding of actual English speakers
when the story eventually takes him to America.
Télévision
On n’est pas couché : pour Léa Salamé essai transformé
Contrairement à Aymeric Caron dont l’une des spécialités est
d’enfoncer l’aiguillon là où ça fait mal, allant parfois jusqu’Ã
blesser certains invités de Laurent Ruquier, pour sa première émission
au côté du désormais célèbre végétarien, Léa Salamé a présenté
d’emblée le profil d’une journaliste attentive, directe et pertinente
dans ses questions, sans véritablement chercher à mettre en défaut son
interlocuteur.
Les premières minutes de l’émission ont donné le ton entre les deux
chroniqueurs. Ainsi, se tournant vers Aymeric Caron, Léa Salamé
l’interpelle : .
D’un geste paternaliste, le journaliste pose alors subrepticement sa
main sur la chevelure de Léa, puis sur son épaule, lui assurant que
tout >. Il ira jusqu’Ã la tutoyer. Ce que
visiblement elle ne sembla pas vraiment apprécier pour cette toute
première intervention. Après avoir tenté un > dans la lancée,
elle reprendra ses distances en cours de soirée.
Ce nouveau duo ainsi constitué devrait répondre aux attentes des fans
de l’émission hebdomadaire de Laurent Ruquier pour la saison
2014-2015.
dimanche 31 août 2014,
Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com
‘Hollywood techniques used to create pretext for war between Ukraine and Russia’
Published time: August 29, 2014 14:56
Members of Ukrainian self-defence battalion “Azov” march in support of
soldiers that protesters say are surrounded in eastern Ukraine by
pro-Russian separatists, in front of the Presidential Administration
office in Kiev, August 27, 2014. (Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko)
It is very suspicious there are no facts or proof of the activities
Russia is blamed for in Ukraine, areas that are subjected to a high
level of surveillance by satellites and all kinds of technology,
author and media analyst Daniel Schechter told RT.
RT: The UN says it cannot prove there are Russian troops on Ukrainian
soil – but media outlets seem to be more then eager to report such
allegations. Why is that?
Daniel Schechter: Every journalist likes to know what the facts here
are so we can determine, what is actually happening. And instead what
we see here are claims which do not seem to have underlying facts. As
a consequence, the President of Ukraine is calling this an invasion
and then he said “I’m not calling this an invasion, it’s a sort of
incursion, and there are troops here.” But there has been very little
evidence of that. There was one really remarkable image that I saw: a
soldier of the Ukrainian army who said “I believe there were Russian
troops there. Can I prove it?” and then he put his fingers like zero –
“I can’t prove it.”
There seems to be a narrative that’s fighting to be born here, with no
facts that are at least convincing to prove it. Namely that there is a
Russian invasion going on and of course everyone is acting as if there
is. NATO is having a big meeting and they are acting as if it is, the
New York Times and other news outlets are basically suggesting that it
is, with some of the reporters who have run grainy pictures of
so-called Russian soldiers in the east of Ukraine with the very same
journalists which had images of WMD’s [weapons of mass destruction] in
Iraq years ago that turned out not to be true.
There is a lot of propaganda here, and certainly very little fact. I
keep feeling that I’m watching a re-run of the movie “Wag the dog,”
where a pretext is created for a war based on a kind of Hollywood
technique. If it is true – show me, prove it. To my knowledge, at this
recent meeting of the UN Security Council there was no proof really
produced, there was no documentation. You have got to remember that
this area is now subjected to a high level of surveillance by
satellites and all kinds of technology, so you would imagine that if
the US was able to come up with “facts” on the ground or proof, they
would cite it, they would show it but they haven’t yet. And that is
what makes some of this very suspicious and certainly has taken an
informed debate and made it a speculative debate.
RT: There’s been confusing rhetoric from Kiev, first they are crying
foul over an alleged invasion, and then just hour’s later President
Poroshenko offers a joint patrol of the border. How does this add up?
Is the public buying this strategy of portraying Moscow as the dark
evil force behind any violence in Ukraine?
DS: As an American I keep flashing back to the Cuban missile crisis
when the US produced satellite images of Russian rockets on Cuban soil
and they were then withdrawn by then Soviet Union. “Got you,” if you
will, proof was presented. Here we have a lot of claims and lots of
charges. Samantha Power, who is known for her very credible writing
about human rights, is calling the Russians liars but she is not
providing the credible alternative narrative. That is what is scary
here, that people that I want to believe, I really have to be very
skeptical about. I think the American people are skeptical and
certainly people from the rest of the world who find this extremely
difficult to follow, and then have the Ukrainian President say “Wait a
minute, why aren’t just our soldiers and their soldiers patrol the
border” as if this relationship of trust is there. It sounds crazy to
me, and I’m sure it sounds crazy to a lot of people.
Radisson hotel may open in Armenia
YEREVAN, August 29. / ARKA /. Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan
and vice president of Rezidor Hotel Group Arid Howland discussed today
in Yerevan the possibility of opening of a Radisson hotel in Armenia,
the government press office reported. Radisson hotel network is a part
of The Rezidor Hotel Group.
The prime minister was said to have expressed his government’s
willingness to assist in the implementation of this project.
Abrahamyan said that the Armenian government pursues an open policy of
investment programs and is ready to show assistance to any such
initiative.
According to him, a Radisson hotel in Armenia along with high quality
services will contribute to the development of tourism and tourism
infrastructure. -0–
Armenia Invites Turkey’s Erdogan to Attend Genocide Commemoration
Ceremony in Yerevan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may take part in Yerevan’s
commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide
by the Ottoman Empire
(c) RIA Novosti. Sergei Guneyev
16:53 29/08/2014
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Presidents of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan Discuss Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
YEREVAN, August 29 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
has invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take part in
Yerevan’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian
Genocide by the Ottoman Empire, according to an official statement
published on Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
“During the reception given after the ceremony in the honor of the
heads of delegations, Minister Nalbandian had a short conversation
with President Erdogan and handed him over the official invitation of
the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan to attend the Remembrance
Ceremony, dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide that will
take place in Yerevan on April 24, 2015 [sic],” the statement says.
The Armenian Genocide refers to the Ottoman government’s extermination
of Armenians in their historical homeland during World War I.
Ottomans massacred the Armenian male population and sent Armenian
women, children and elderly on so-called “death marches,” on which
thousands of captives died.
In total, over 1.5 million Armenians were killed during the mass genocide.
Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, refuses to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.
No diplomatic relations exist between Turkey and Armenia, and the
Turkish-Armenian border has been closed since 1993.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated following the
escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as Turkey openly supports
Azerbaijan’s position in the dispute.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict evolved from the war of 1988-1994
between ethnic Azeris and Armenians who fought for the disputed lands
of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. More than 35,000 people died in the
war, but tensions in the region remain.
In 2008, the Armenian president initiated the process of establishing
diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In 2009, the “Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations
Between the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Armenia” was signed
by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian
counterpart Edward Nalbandian in the Swiss city of Zurich.
The same year, Erdogan froze the agreement and made it clear that
Ankara would not establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan and open
its borders before the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved.
Robert Kocharyan: The regime able to forget personal interests is
doomed to success
by Nana Martirosyan
Friday, August 29, 16:58
It is not clear so far how much Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian
Economic Union will affect the country’s regional economy [commodity
turnover with Iran and Georgia], Robert Kocharyan, the second
president of Armenia, says in an interview with Noyan Tapan.
Assessing the current economic situation in the country, Robert
Kocharyan said that there are neither internal nor external reasons
for optimistic assessment so far. “In addition, new global threats
have emerged, and their effects are yet to be assessed. How will the
West’s sanctions against Russia affect the global economy, Russia’s
economy? Will they increase sanctions? It is not clear so far how much
Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union will affect the
country’s regional economy [commodity turnover with Iran and Georgia].
And finally, is the single customs area technologically possible amid
the West’s sanctions against Russia. There are either no answers to
these questions, or there are just suppositions. This means that we
have entered a phase of negative anticipations,” the politician said.
Kocharyan thinks that economic growth and job creation is what the
government must focus on to recover the country’s economy, meanwhile,
they just seek to replenish the budget at any cost.
“There is need for a healthy competitive business environment, which
is impossible unless the economic is de-monopolized despite the
appetites of the influential statesmen and their relatives. It is
necessary to give a clear signal to the public that any business
initiative is welcome and will be supported, no matter whose interests
it will touch. To this end, it is necessary to create effective market
mechanisms. They should put aside their personal interests at least
for a few years, if forget them at all. Any regime able to do that is
simply doomed to success. By the way, they must stop breaking the
working weeks with numerous religious holidays. It is necessary to
return to the former clock zone. It is not normal to start the working
day at 9:00am in August, when it sunrise is at 6:00am and sunset – at
8:00pm. It is a forced slowdown, not acceleration,” he said.