Author: Kalashian Nyrie

ECONOMIST AND POLITICAL FIGURE EDUARD AGHAJANOV DIES OF APOPLEXY OF HEART

Noyan Tapan

Ma y 21, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Economist Eduard Aghajanov, the
former Head of the State Statistics Committee and a member of the
Democratic Way party for the recent years, died on May 19 evening from
apoplexy of the heart at the age of 56. He was in the first three
of the proportional list of the Democratic Way party in the latest
parliamentary elections. Eduard Aghajanov often made speeches about
his economic analyses for the public and journalists. His analyses
were peculiar with their professional quality, they often became
valuable counterbalance for official viewpoints.

SORRY TO SAY, BUT THE APOLOGY-SEEKING INDUSTRY IS THRIVING
By Jeffrey Simpson, [email protected]

The Globe and Mail
May 20, 2008 Tuesday
Canada

We were told 20 years ago, in 1988, that the apology would be the
last because the injustice was the worst.

So declared then-prime minister Brian Mulroney in offering an apology,
payments and a community fund for Japanese-Canadians interned during
the Second World War. This was a terrible abuse, the prime minister
said. It was a unique case. There would be no more.

Prime minister Pierre Trudeau, when previously pressed to do likewise,
had resisted, arguing that we can only be just in our time and that
once an apology (and more) was given for this or that historical event,
there would be no end of demands for others.

How prescient was Mr. Trudeau. Mr. Mulroney’s prediction, by contrast,
was wrong. A mini-industry of apology-seekers developed and politicians
have lined up to appease them.

The latest, but by no means the last, apology-seekers appeared
gratified last week. Jason Kenney, Secretary of State for
Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity (part-time Foreign Affairs
Minister and leading ministerial ethnic vote-chaser), said the Harper
government was working on an apology for the Komagata Maru incident
of 1914. Commemorative grants of $2.5-million will also be announced.

The Komagata Maru was a ship that left Hong Kong in 1914 with 376
passengers, many of them Sikhs, most of whom were refused entry into
Canada, because such were the immigration laws of the day.

The money will presumably flow from something called the Community
Historical Recognition Program that invites aggrieved "ethno-cultural
groups" to apply for money if their ancestors experienced "immigration
restrictions" or were "affected by wartime measures."

We can be sure that this offer will be taken up by other groups,
if the past is any guide.

After Mr. Mulroney declared the Japanese-Canadian settlement to be
the only and last one, other groups stepped up their lobbying. The
Chretien government, taking the Trudeau line, was not sympathetic,
but the gates opened with prime minister Paul Martin.

He set up an office with a $50-million budget for groups to seek
federal money, and by the time of his defeat seven had already formed
a queue. Chinese-, Ukrainian-, Italian-Canadians got different forms
of redress, or recognition, and others were lining up for theirs.

The Liberals had always been the past masters of ethnic politics, but
even they got tripped up by the victimization industry. Just before the
2005 election, the government announced $2.5-million for commemorating
the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants from 1885 to 1923.

That didn’t go far enough for some Chinese-Canadians, so in the heat
of the campaign Mr. Martin offered what his government had previously
denied, an apology. And a campaigning opposition leader, Stephen
Harper, Enhanced Coverage LinkingStephen Harper, -Search using:
Biographies Plus News News, Most Recent 60 Days under pressure
from his candidates in the B.C. Lower Mainland, changed position
to embrace an apology. In power, the Conservatives went further,
handing out $20,000 ex gratia payments.

Even when Canadians have never been involved in tragedies, ethnic
groups here still want recognition for their suffering, and these
demands are apparently hard to resist. For example, the Harper
government recognized the Armenian "genocide" in the Ottoman Empire
during the First World War, an episode that never touched Canada.

Of course, the apology/victimization momentum is best seen in
aboriginal matters, especially in the sad history of residential
schools.

In 1998, the Liberal government thought it had dealt with the matter by
offering an apology and establishing a $350-million healing fund. The
Globe and Mail editorial board intoned: "The horror of the residential
school system for native children is finally being brought to a close."

Nice try. All sorts of lawsuits were launched by residential school
attendees. Alternative dispute measures failed, so more than $1-billion
was set aside for restitution. But even these measures fell short.

A truth and reconciliation commission has just been established to
elucidate further the residential school story. The commission will
work for five years, according to its work schedule. So after a formal
apology, a healing fund and a large cash settlement comes a five-year
commission and on June 11, Mr. Harper will make yet another apology.

While the commission carries on, other groups will follow in the wake
of the people who argued successfully for the Komagata Maru apology,
because two decades after Mr. Mulroney’s assurance, the apology-seeking
industry is alive, well and prospering.

ZHIRAYR SEFILYAN’S SUPPORTERS FEAR THAT AFTER DISCHARGE HE WILL BE EXPELLED OUTSIDE OF ARMENIA

arminfo
2008-05-19 16:18:00

ArmInfo. The Committee of assistance to Zhirayr Sefilyan expresses
apprehension that just after discharge he will be expelled outside of
Armenia. The statement of the Committee of assistance to Z. Sefilyan,
received by ArmInfo today, says the term of imprisonment of the head
of the public-political organization "In protection of the liberated
territories", convicted for 1,5 years by the Article "Illegal storage
of arms", expires on June 9. The statement authors think that there
are signs of the fact "that after discharge, Sefilyan will be expelled
by RA authorities outside of Armenia. "Such a step, besides the moral
crime, is not only a criminal offence. It will also violate a number
of provisions of RA legislation and will become the ext expression
of a criminal prosecution, to which Z. Sefilyan is subject to by the
authorities", the statement says.

THE FIRST THREE PARTICIPANTS TO REHEARSE TODAY AT THE BELGRADE ARENA WERE ARMENIA’S SIRUSHO, THE HIND FROM THE NETHERLANDS AND THE FINNISH ROCKERS OF TERASBETONI

Eurovision.tv
May 16 2008
Switzerland

First rehearsal of the day was Armenia’s Sirusho, who astonished
everyone at her first rehearsal last Monday and her great performance
at the party thrown by the Russian delegation at the Euroclub. Sirusho
and her three backing dancers once again delivered a steady
performance, opening with the dancers entangled around Sirusho’s legs,
making Sirusho wave in the air when she stoops. Sirusho did not wear
her final outfit for the semi-final on the 20th of May, but it was
revealed by a person from the Armenian delegation: Sirusho’s dress
is classy, sexy and shiny. During the rehearsal, fire was blowing
up from the stage and the pyrotechnics were tried out. Given the
expressions on Sirusho and her dancers’ faces, it was seeming like
they were quite content with rehearsals. Later at the press conference,
Sirusho and the Armenian delegation expressed their satisfaction with
today’s rehearsal. Furthermore, Sirusho told the fans and accredited
press that there had been some security issues regarding some of the
elements which were supposed to be used in the act. Sirusho explained
that this of course is unfortunate, but it does not matter because
in the end it is the vocal perfomance that counts.

The second delegation to perform today was the Netherlands with
their experienced singer Hind. Rehearsing Your Heart Belongs To Me,
one could clearly see that the cute Dutch singer really enjoyed being
on the stage in the Belgrade Arena. The whole rehearsal looks very
polished already with big white chandeliers being projected on the
enormous LED screens, and yellow colours used at the front part of
the stage. Hind is on stage with two male dancers and three backing
singers who are all dressed in dark blue. Hind herself is wearing a
dark blue dress as well which has lots of glittering elements on it
which looked really elegant on screen. The Dutch singer is one of
the most secure singers in the contest this year and she interacts
brilliantly with the camera, too. Lots of people were hugely impressed
by the Dutch rehearsal today! The Dutch press conference was opened
by Hind singing a Dulce Pontes song which went down really well with
the audience being present. Hind also revealed that she met Marija
Serifovic yesterday and had a nice chat with her.

The metal rockers Terasbetoni from Finland were the third to enter
the stage at the Belgrade Arena this morning. As Terasbetoni usually
do they gave a powerful and flawless performance of their song Missa
Miehet Ratsastaa. The Finnish group were wearing various leather
outfits, and some of them did not wear anything on the upper part
of their bodies. The smoke on the stage as well as the fire balls
blowing up from the stage enhances the intensity of the song. In
the last rehearsal full pyrotechnics were tested. Finland has in
many recent years sent rock songs to the Eurovision Song Contest,
and it may come to their advantage this year, since they stand out
compared to most other participating countries. Today’s rehearsal
revealed that the Finnish rockers clearly are ready for the dress
rehearsals. After the rehearsal, the Finnish delegation showed up
for a press conference. Head of Delegation Terhi Norvasto told the
accredited press and fans that they are very pleased about the just
finished rehearsal and the organization of the event in general. A
journalist asked whether Terasbetoni has received advice from former
Finnish winner Lordi, but they had not since they have actually never
met Lordi in person.

MINISTER NALBANDIAN MET WITH US ASSISTANCE COORDINATOR FOR EUROPE AND EURASIA

armradio.am
17.05.2008 12:29

On May 16 RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the US
Assistance Coordinator for Europe and Eurasia Thomas Adams.

Greeting the guest, the Foreign Minister attached importance to
the development of multifaceted relations with the United States
and taking steps towards the deepening of friendly partnership and
cooperation between Armenia and the US.

The interlocutors discussed the programs implemented by the US Agency
for International Development and the Millennium Challenge Corporation
and their perspectives.

Reference was made to the post-election developments in Armenia. In
this regard, Tom Adams underlined the necessity for unbiased and
correct assessment. For his part, Minister Nalbandian reconfirmed
the resoluteness of the Armenian authorities to implement democratic
reforms, since it is the path of development chosen by the Armenian
people.

PanARMENIAN.Net

New buildings to be erected at demolished Christian
cemetery in Baku
17.05.2008 13:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Complete demolition of the cemetery
in the Narimanov district in Baku made no sense, a
human rights activist said.

-The cemetery was demolished to use the territory as a
ground for new buildings,- said Taisia Gordeyeva, the
deputy chair of the committee of soldiers’ mothers.

-They tried to justify the barbarism by construction
of roads but, as a matter of fact, roads will take a
minor part of the graveyard. Everything prompts that
the territory is meant for construction of new
buildings. But it will be a construction on human
bones, for the remnants were not reburied properly,-
she said, adding that a park should be laid out at the
site, Day.az reports.

In September 2007, Baku authorities decided to build a
motorway through the Narimanov cemetery, where
Armenians, Russians and Ukrainians were buried.

‘HIZBULLAH’S DIGGING ITS OWN GRAVE’
By Brenda Gazzar

Jerusalem Post
10668639076&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowF ull
May 15 2008

Hizbullah is "digging its own grave" by having turned its weapons
against its own people in recent days, a Lebanese parliamentarian
told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

"I think Hizbullah proved that… it’s not a resistance [group],"
said Yeghia Djeredjian of the Social-Democrat Hunchag party, an
Armenian political party.

"It’s not a political party. It’s only a terrorist organization."

An Arab League delegation arrived in Beirut on Wednesday in an
emergency effort to defuse the crisis, which has killed at least 82
people across the country within the last week and has stoked fears
in the Mideast of a broader regional confrontation.

On Wednesday, Lebanon’s US-backed cabinet canceled two measured it
took against Hizbullah last week that sparked fighting in which the
Shi’ite Islamist group briefly took over parts of the Lebanese capital.

A Lebanese minister said the Cabinet has reversed measures against
Hizbullah that triggered the worst violence since the country’s
15-year civil war.

Hizbullah demanded that the government reverse decisions to sack an
airport security chief for alleged ties to the Shi’ite group and to
declare the militants’ private telephone network illegal.

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the moves amounted to a
declaration of war and shortly after, he unleashed his fighters on
the streets of Beirut.

The clashes left 54 dead.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said the Cabinet revoked the decisions
"in view of the higher national interest."

Seconds after his announcement, celebratory gunfire erupted south of
Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold.

Prior to the decision, Djeredjian strongly criticized its prospects,
saying it would be better for Prime Minister Fuad Saniora’s government
to resign rather than cancel the measures against Hizbullah.

No government, he said, should make any decision "under the power
of guns."

A second politician, however, said that revoking the decision to fire
Beirut’s airport security chief – who allegedly has ties to Hizbullah
– and outlawing the Islamic group’s communications network would be
the right thing to do if the government received guarantees by all
parties and the Arab world that security could be preserved.

In addition, Hizbullah and its allies must refrain from "paralyzing the
country" through its civil disobedience campaign, the politician said.

But if such guarantees can’t be made, he added, "that will make the
crisis very dangerous."

The politician warned that the Iranian-backed Hizbullah must set aside
its arms and engage in dialogue with the other Lebanese parties before
the crisis deteriorated into another civil war.

"I think it’s completely amazing that the resistance against Israel
that we support all together is using their arms against us,"
he said. "I don’t know why they are saying that we are part of the
Israeli program, that we are being bought by the US… We don’t have
arms. We just want a strong army. When you are talking about the
state and the government, it has to be for all Lebanon."

Djeredjian argued there was no reason for any group other than the
state to carry weapons unless there was an attack on the country.

"If Israel or any country attacks Lebanon, I am the first person to
carry a gun against that country," he said. "If there is no attack on
Lebanon, there is no reason to keep any gun outside the government’s
powers."

AZERBAIJAN SURPASSES ARMENIA BY FIGURE OF AMBASSADORS AND DIPLOMATS

Panorama.am
16:41 15/05/2008

"Our concern to spend much on diplomatic missions is justified,"
said the foreign minister of Armenia Edvard Nalbandyan in NA session
today. The minister said that Azerbaijan spends more money on
diplomatic and campaign missions; hence Armenian officials should
examine carefully the state budget of 2009 in order to meet the
difference.

"I hope you’ll support us as we really need in carrying out deep and
serious publishing, campaigning and other correspondent activities,"
said the minister and added that Armenia follows Azerbaijan not only
in having weak campaign but also in diplomatic aspect also. "We say
that we buy new buildings for diplomatic missions, but compare – in
2007 Azerbaijan spent 20mln dollars buying buildings and we spent 1,
2mln," he said.

E. Nalbandyan added that we should act as much as we can, but it
does not mean that we should ignore such significant points. The
minister said that Azerbaijan has 15 more embassies than Armenia,
and notified that last year Armenia opened no new embassies.

GOVERNMENT WILL SUBSIDIZE MORTGAGE FOR 5 YEARS ONLY

KarabakhOpen
15-05-2008 11:12:28

The government is likely to subsidize 6 percent of the 12 percent
interest on mortgage for 5 years instead of 20. It is clearly set
down in the mortgage regulations. However, a few months ago Prime
Minister Ara Harutiunyan assured that the government will subsidize
half of the interest rate through the repayment period.

Answering the same question in his news conference two days ago the
head of the government said: "We have no right to make a commitment
for 20 years. Interest rates may change, and we may have to change
our stance.

Since we have no prognosis of the rate of development of banks for
the upcoming twenty years, we allowed banks to revise interest rates
in five years."

He also said recently interest rates on mortgage tend to go down in
the world. Besides, the head of the government said soon salaries
may rise and there may be no need for the government subsidy any more.

PALESTINIANS MARK ‘CATASTROPHE’

BBC NEWS
iddle_east/7401892.stm
2008/05/15 10:06:54 GMT

Palestinians are marking the 60th anniversary of al-Nakba, or "the
catastrophe" – the founding of Israel – with a series of marches
and protests.

More than 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes or were expelled
in 1948, during the war that followed Israel’s declaration of
independence.

The events come on the second day of US President George W Bush’s
visit.

He is currently in Israel, joining the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary
commemorations and pushing peace talks.

Palestinians are marking the date with a march to Israeli military
checkpoints in the West Bank and a demonstration at Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ compound in Ramallah.

In Ramallah, there were two minutes of silence for the Palestinians
who fled or were expelled.

Mr Abbas said: "There are two peoples living on this beloved land –
one celebrates independence and the other feels pain of the memory
of its Nakba."

In Gaza City, the Islamic Jihad militant group has organised a rally
of 500 schoolchildren dressed in military uniforms.

‘US steadfast’

Six decades after the founding of Israel, the Palestinians are still
seeking an independent state.

We share a powerful belief and a weapon against terrorists – the
cause of hope, freedom and liberty President George W Bush

The fate of 1948 refugees and their descendents, living scattered in
camps and settlements around the region, remains one of the thorniest
issues in peace talks.

Mr Bush has repeated his belief that Israel and the Palestinians could
strike a deal to bring about a Palestinian state by the end of the
year, which the two sides pledged to do at a US-sponsored conference
last November.

But correspondents say few in the region are optimistic that tangible
progress is being made in the talks, despite repeated visits by US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

While Mr Bush has praised Israel, many Palestinians accuse the country
of hurting the innocent and of collective punishment in its attempts to
quash Palestinian militants, says the BBC’s Katya Adler in Jerusalem.

On Wednesday, 14 people, including a mother and daughter, were injured
when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit the southern Israeli city
of Ashkelon.

Earlier in the day, four people were killed in Israeli military
operations in Gaza.

On Thursday, Mr Bush addressed militant groups like al-Qaeda, Hezbollah
and Hamas and said Muslims should "recognise the emptiness of the
terrorists’ vision and the injustice of their cause".

In remarks prepared for delivery to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset,
he says the US "rejects utterly" calls for it to break ties with
Israel.

"Israel’s population may be just over seven million. But when you
confront terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because America
stands with you."

He will also again urge action to prevent Iran obtaining nuclear
weapons.

"Permitting the world’s leading sponsor of terror to possess the
world’s deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future
generations," he will say.

Before his speech Mr Bush toured the Roman-era desert fortress
of Masada.

In an act of defiance during Roman rule, almost 1,000 Jews were
chronicled to have committed suicide there rather than surrender to
the Romans.

Mr Bush’s Middle East visit will include Saudi Arabia and Egypt in an
attempt to inject some momentum into the current peace talks between
the Israelis and Palestinians.

But there will be no trilateral summit between the American, Israeli
and Palestinian leaders, however, and Mr Bush will not be visiting
the Palestinian territories.

Instead, he is to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
in Egypt.