Author: Kanayan Tamar

The Associated Press
January 3, 2012 Tuesday 08:40 AM GMT

Russia’s Putin dreams of sweeping Eurasian Union

By PETER LEONARD, Associated Press
ALMATY, Kazakhstan

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has a vision for a Soviet
Union-lite he hopes will become a new Moscow-led global powerhouse.
But, his planned Eurasian Union won’t be grounded in ideology: This
time it’s about trade.

The concept of regional economic integration may be losing some of its
allure in Europe, where a debt crisis is threatening the existence of
the eurozone. But some countries across the former Soviet Union, still
struggling economically 20 years after becoming independent, are
embracing Putin’s grand ambition.

Russia has moved one step toward this goal under an agreement with
former fellow Soviet republics Belarus and Kazakhstan that as of
Sunday allows the free movement of goods and capital across their
common borders.

As Putin envisions it, the still-hypothetical union will eventually
stretch from the eastern fringes of Central Europe to the Pacific
Coast and south to the rugged Pamir Mountains abutting Afghanistan.

The drive to somehow reform at least a husk of the Soviet Union has
been around since 1991. The Commonwealth of Independent States, which
loosely brings together 11 of the original 15 republics, was an early
attempt that never amounted to much more than a glorified alumni club.

It was Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev who first raised
the notion of an Eurasian Union in the early 1990s, but the idea was
too premature for nations busy forging their own delicate statehoods.

Putin was president from 2000 to 2008 and intends to regain that
position in a March election. A wave of protests that began after a
fraud-tainted parliamentary election in December is posing the first
serious challenge to Putin’s authority, but his hold on power still
seems secure.

In anticipation of a new six-year term as president, Putin has made
forming a Eurasian Union by 2015 a foreign policy priority. He is
promoting the union as necessary for Russia and its neighbors to
compete in the modern global economy. His broader goal is to restore
some of Moscow’s economic and political clout across former Soviet
space and thus strengthen Russia’s position in the world.

If the poorer prospective members are clamoring for Putin’s union so
as to become Moscow’s financial beneficiaries, as was the case under
the Soviet Union, they may be sorely disappointed. Russia has in
recent years taken a more pragmatic line when extending its largesse
and that stance is expected to remain largely unchanged.

“Some years ago, Russia came to the position that assistance to former
Soviet republics should be monetized,” said Ivan Safranchuk, an
associate professor at the Moscow State Institute of International
Relations.

Safranchuk said this meant that Moscow issued lines of credit and then
sold countries oil, gas, electricity and military hardware at discount
prices.

That strategy has brought Russia closer to gaining control over energy
infrastructure in Ukraine, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. While giving Moscow
economic leverage over its former subjects, this approach has
precluded the exorbitant spending pressure that helped bankrupt the
Soviet Union.

The agreement to form a “common economic space” that went into effect
Jan. 1 gives Russia up to 30 million new customers in Belarus and
Kazakhstan, while these countries gain greater access to Russia’s
market of more than 140 million people. The risk to Russian
manufacturers is the relatively lower cost of production in the other
two countries, which could potentially drive them out of business.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both economically struggling nations in
Central Asia, may be the next to join the free trade club.

Kyrgyzstan’s former President Roza Otunbayeva said before stepping
down in late October that she saw her nation’s fate as inevitably
linked with the Eurasian Union.

“The natural flow of the work force, services and movement of capital
is of course all directed to Russia and Kazakhstan,” she said.

Current President Almazbek Atambayev has made it clear he sees the
fate of Kyrgyzstan, which hosts a U.S. air base that acts as a crucial
transportation hub for military operations in Afghanistan, as very
much tied to Russia.

Neighboring Tajikistan, whose long and porous border with Afghanistan
keeps many a security analyst awake at night, has proven a more
recalcitrant partner and was recently embroiled in an unseemly
diplomatic spat with Russia. But with more than an estimated 1 million
Tajik migrants currently working in Russia, the lure of a border-free
future could be too compelling to refuse.

Other potential members of the Eurasian Union in the Kremlin’s sights
appear more wary about what this means for their sovereignty.

Ukraine, which has flirted uncertainly with membership, fears it could
further jeopardize its future economic and political engagement with
Western Europe. Others, such as Armenia, have proven positively cool
on the idea, while Georgia under President Mikheil Saakashvili will
likely always be hostile to anything coming out of Moscow.

Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, cautioned
against talking up the prospect of the Eurasian Union as a political
project.

“I see no absolutely no wish on behalf of the Kazakhstani leadership
to give up their sovereignty, and I see the Belarusian people not
wishing to become part of Russia,” he said.

Still, Russia’s neighbors may have reason to fear Kremlin attempts to
restore political domination.

Shortly after Putin came to power, the Foreign Ministry spelled out
Russia’s strategic vision in no uncertain terms. The document, which
dates back to 2000, argues for promoting policies that “best serve the
interests of Russia as a great power and as one of the most
influential centers in the modern world.”

The theme was recently reprised in campaign literature for Putin’s
United Russia party, which claimed that the “new union will allow our
country to become another pole of influence in the modern, multipolar
world.”

Trenin said that so far the fears of renewed Kremlin domination were
ungrounded, noting that Kazakhstan and Belarus only increase the reach
of Russia’s markets by one-fifth in terms of population.

“That’s fine, but it doesn’t make you a powerhouse,” he said.

Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 1 2012

>From no problems with neighbors to no friends

YUSUF KANLI
Monday,January 2 2012, Your time is 9:45:55 PM

The year 2011 was more than different, definitely for Turkey. Perhaps
no one would think decades of absolute governments with leaders who
appeared strong as the legendary steel of Japanese swords would fall
apart within days or weeks.

What happened, and indeed what is still continuing to happen in the
Arab neighborhood, is a multifaceted challenge to Turkey, as the
developments are at the same time shaping the future of this country.

As rightly put by President Abdullah Gül at a recent conference,
perhaps Turkey has never been faced with so many challenges at the
same time, which are not only important, but also giving priority to
Turks as much as other peoples of this geography. The `No problems
with neighbors’ foreign policy strategy of Foreign Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu unfortunately evolved in the past year into a `No friends’
reality.

2011 was a year when — contrary to the post expectation of improved
relations with Armenia — a resolution to the Cyprus problem,
furthering intimate relations with Damascus of brother Bashar
al-Assad, enhancing peaceful influence in Libya and beyond, and such
lofty rhetoric of previous years fell victim to `proactive’ and
`pro-American’ foreign policy objectives and ambitions Turkey would
become a regional and perhaps global game setter.

The year started with Turkey firmly allied to Colonel Moammar Gadhafi
and yelling `What’s the place of NATO in Libya?’ Half way through the
year Turkey was proudly participating in the French and the British
led American-orchestrated Libyan operation of NATO. As if that was not
enough, to win back the sympathy of yesterday’s rebels who were
inclined to have `brotherly relations’ with Paris and London rather
than Ankara, $ 300 million in cash was carried in bags to Benghazi to
buy back their loyalty.

Syrian relations also showed a similar U-turn. After a six-hour long
meeting with al-Assad, Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu concluded the
Alevite leader of predominantly Sunni Syria was not sincere in his
pledges of stopping use of indiscriminate force, or indeed brutality,
towards civilians. Thus, yesterday’s `brother Assad’ became `dictator
Assad’ and Ankara, which has traditionally opposed sanctions on its
neighbors because of spillover impacts on Turkish border areas,
pioneered sanctions on Damascus.

Armenian relations could not be kept in the fridge like the previous
year when the so-called protocols of friendly relations remained in
the Foreign Ministry’s dusty archives of `caduceus documents.’

Palace in Paris, a handful of French politicians initiated a process
of criminalizing opposition to Armenian charges of genocide; relations
of Ankara not only with Armenia but France as well, seriously derailed

Furthermore, it does not require fortune telling capabilities to
estimate the probable impacts of the derailment on overall
Turkey-European Union relations, particularly in view of the upcoming
Greek Cypriot term presidency in the second half of the New Year.

We shall continue on Wednesday¦
January/02/2012

ITAR-TASS, Russia
January 1, 2012 Sunday 12:04 PM GMT+4

New year should be year of persistent work – Armenia’s president

YEREVAN January 1

The new year should be a year of work, of persistent work, Armenia’s
President Serzh Sargsyan told the nation in a traditional New Year
address.

“With work only can we cure, treat, care and improve life,” he said.

Sargsyan called for “leaving in the past indifference, inability to
hear each other, hostile,” and to take with us to the new year “a
promise to support each other and the readiness for new victories –
for the sake of our Fatherland – Armenia, for the sake of peace and
creation, for our families, children, for our sons who are guarding
our borders.”

It is true, that “in present-time Armenia much is not perfect,” the
president continued. In the republic, “there are families, which even
at this festive moment can barely heat their homes, there are
settlements and towns that do not answer our standards and criteria of
a civilised country.”

“No doubt, we should become a country, where everywhere we may feel
who we are, and heirs of what great victories and rich traditions and
civilisation we are,” Sargsyan said.

This year, the country will elect deputies of the National Assembly
/parliament/, he continued.

“In many cases, elections in this country are considered as means for
obtaining power or for keeping one,” Sargsyan said. “It is high time
to realize that there exist much more high objectives.”

The president said that he “has made his personal decision – to make
everything in his power to refuse from false stereotypes in order to
implement realistically national, truly state approaches in political
life.”

“It is not a secret: I have needed and do need assistance,” he said.

Tehran Times, Iran
Jan 2 2012

Christmas in the Iranian plateau Afshin Majlesi
02 January 2012 16:31

Photo: Detail showing religious celebrations of Christmas at the Vank
Cathedral, Isfahan

Decorated Christmas trees might not be seen in every corner of Iran
these days, but joy and merriment reigns supreme for the Christian
population all over the country. This year, the Iranian Christians
once again celebrated the birth of Christ in their homeland by
decorating Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, and attending services.

Predominantly a Muslim nation, Iran has a sizeable Christian
population including Assyrians, Armenians, Catholics, Protestants and
Evangelical Christians. Although a minority religious group in Iran,
Christians of Iran are free to practice their religion and perform
their religious rituals.

Christmas in Iran is known as the `Little Feast’ to the Assyrians
compared to the Easter which is called the Great Feast. For the first
25 days of December, a long fast is observed by the Assyrians. During
these days no meat, eggs, milk or cheese is eaten. It is a time of
peace and meditation, a time for attending services at the church.
After the church service of December 25, Iranian Christians enjoy
Christmas dinner which they call the `Little Feast.’

In fact, Christmas Eve is the last day of the fast. Almost before dawn
on Christmas Day, the people attend Mass to receive Communion and it
is not until they have received this Communion that they are permitted
to break their fast. The main dish for Christmas Day is a kind of
chicken barley stew called Harrissa. It is cooked in large quantities
and lasts for several days.

Nowadays Gifts are less exchanged, but children get new clothes which
they wear on Christmas Day. According to Dr. Ahmad Nourizadeh who has
done a lot of research on the history of Christians, particularly
Armenians in Iran, although Iranian Armenians who make up the majority
of the country’s Christian population take January 6th as the birth of
Christ, large numbers of Iranian Christians also celebrate the 25th of
December along with other Christians in the world.

Baltic News Service / – BNS
December 30, 2011 Friday 8:59 AM EET

Estonian border guards catch eight Vietnamese, four Armenians near
Estonian-Russian border

TALLINN, Dec 30, BNS – Staffers of the Estonian Police and Border
Guard Board detained eight Vietnamese nationals and four Armenians
after they had illegally crossed the Estonian-Russian border on Boxing
Day.

The illegal border-crossing was detected by the team on duty at the
Luhamaa border guard base at 1:40 p.m. on Dec. 26 and the Vietnamese
and Armenian nationals who had entered Estonia illegally were
detained, spokespeople for the South prefecture of the Police and
Border Guard Board told BNS on Friday.

The detention was made on a field near Miikse village in the territory
of the southeastern rural municipality of Meremae.

Criminal proceedings have been opened with regard to the detained individuals.

National Public Radio (NPR)
Dec 28 2011

VIDEO: Monks Brawl With Brooms In Bethlehem’s Church Of The Nativity

There was a brawl today inside Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.

A brawl between, of all things, “dozens of monks feuding over sacred
space,” The Associated Press says.

Armenian and Greek Orthodox clergymen scuffled inside Bethlehem’s
Church of Nativity today.

Bernat Armangue/AP Armenian and Greek Orthodox clergymen scuffled
inside Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity today.
The traditional site of Jesus’ birth, the church is shared by Roman
Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodoz parishioners. According to the
AP, today’s dispute between Greek and Armenian monks began when they
accused each other “of encroaching on parts of the church to which
they lay claim.”

The monks were cleaning the church at the time. One thing led to
another and soon brooms were being swung and thrown. Palestinian
security forces had to break up the brouhaha. No serious injuries were
reported.

This video from ITN News shows what happened

APA, Azerbaijan
Dec 30 2011

Azerbaijani Parliament addresses French Senate in protest against
decision on made-up `Armenian genocide’

[ 30 Dec 2011 13:48 ]

Baku. Parvin Abbasov – APA. Milli Majlis, the parliament of
Azerbaijan, addressed the French Senate in protest against the
decision on made-up `Armenian genocide’. The text of letter was read
by MP Sahiba Gafarova.

The letter reads that Azerbaijani parliament is very concerned about
the decision of the French parliament. `We call you to carefully
approach the remote historic events, Undoubtedly if this draft law is
adopted it will damage the basic principles of the democratic system –
human rights and freedoms. On February 26, 1992, Armenian armed forces
killed hundreds of peaceful Azerbaijanis in Khojaly with cruelty. If
all of these are taken into consideration, the attempts to asses the
historic events unilaterally can lead to disrespect to the historic
realities’.

It was emphasized in the letter that the adoption of such law will
cast doubt on objectivity of the French co-chairmanship in the OSCE
Minsk Group. `Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan calls the colleagues at the
French Senate to be attentive and sensitive during the discussions of
this issue and not to adopt the law’.

The letter was approved by the parliament.

APA, Azerbaijan
Dec 30 2011

New protest action held outside French embassy in Azerbaijan

Baku. Shahriyar Alizadeh – APA. The Organization for Liberation of
Karabakh held a protest action outside the French embassy in Baku on
Friday. The protesters chanted `Down with France!’, `Withdraw France
from the Minsk Group!’, `Khojaly!’, `French and Armenian are the enemy
of Turk!’ Then the protesters burned the flags of France and Armenia,
read a statement and submitted it to the embassy.

Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 30 2011

Interview- Top official: Azerbaijan to make every effort to eliminate
double standards in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
30 December 2011, 12:34 (GMT+04:00) Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 30 / Trend
M. Aliyev /

Azerbaijan will make every effort to eliminate double standards in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Azerbaijani Presidential
Administration Social and Political Department Chief Ali Hasanov said
in an interview with Trend.

“The main reason that the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict lasts more than 20 years, is the indifference of the
international community to Armenia’s destructive position,” he said.
“Nevertheless, we will try to eliminate the double standard and
indifferent attitude to the international legal norms by using every
opportunity.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno- Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

“The fair international environment and relations are out of the
question in condition when a microstate and an outpost dictates the
terms to the UN that defines and regulates global politics, does not
recognize the resolutions and other documents and the world community
and the leading countries close their eyes to this in the 21st
century,” he said. “Hence, one of the main reasons of delaying the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement is the UN insipid position and
double standards. For example, the NATO and the leading countries
fulfilled the UN Security Council’s resolution on Libya within one
day. But they do not solve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue for many years.
They connive at Armenia, and turn a blind eye to massive bloodshed
perpetrated by the Armenians, the violation of human rights and
terrorism. As a result, it is clear that there is no fair system and a
mechanism to resolve the disputes fairly, to eliminate the problem on
the basis of international legal norms in the modern world. It is
unknown when it will be created.”

Hasanov said that at present, as a member of the UN Security Council,
Azerbaijan will regularly include this issue on the agenda. A specific
choice must be made, international legal norms must be fulfilled or
the truth must be recognized, Hasanov said.

Azerbaijan was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security
Council for 2012-2013.

IsraCast, Israel
Dec 30 2011

Israel, Turkey & Armenian Dilemma

Friday, December 30, 2011

Israel Ponders Recognition Of Armenian Massacre And Her Strategic Need
To Improve Strained Relations With Turkey
Issue Remains Open After Prime Minister Netanyahu & Foreign Minister
Lieberman Appeal To Knesset Education Committee Not To Conduct Session

IsraCast Assessment: Israel Must Seek Balance Between Avoiding Further
Deterioration With Turkey While Not Dodging Her Moral Obligation

Israel’s government and her Parliament are at odds over whether the
Jewish state should officially recognize Turkey’s responsibility for
the massacre of some one and a half million Armenians in 1915. In
spite of appeals by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Knesset’s Education Committee
discussed the issue but stopped short of voting on recognition.
IsraCast analyst David Essing is of the view that with the Iranian
nuclear crisis coming to a head in 2012, it is crucial that Israel
will not cause any further deterioration in the already strained
relations with Turkey.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin has clashed with Prime Minister
Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Lieberman over a parliamentary
discussion of the massacre of one and half million Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire, the forerunner of modern Turkey. Netanyahu appealed to
Rivlin: ‘Don’t do it!’ The Speaker replied that the issue had arisen
in the Knesset not because of the current tension between Jerusalem
and Ankara. Nor was it an attempt by Israel’s parliament to settle the
score with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan who has jettisoned Turkey’s
long time alliance with Israel and who castigates the Jewish state at
every opportunity. Rivlin went on to say that the State of Israel,
after the Holocaust of six million Jews, was duty bound to discuss the
question of what had befallen the Armenians, no matter how important
the government’s diplomatic needs. And he added: ‘The Knesset
discussion did not relate to the present government of Turkey or the
current political situation’.

However the problem is that the Republic of Turkey, founded in 1923,
has catagorically rejected responsibility for the massacre of the
Armenians. Today in Turkey it is illegal to contend that Ottoman
Empire carried out a genocide of the Armenians. Twenty- one counries
including Canada, Italy, Russia, and Sweden have officially recognized
the Aremnian genocide. U.S. President Barack Obama has not referred to
it as genocide preferring to use the Armenian term Meds Yeghern. He
has described it as one of the worst atrocities of the twentieth
century and in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. Britain and
Australia have yet to officially recognize it. Recently, the lower
house of the French parliament passed a bill making it a crime to deny
the genocide of the Armenians punishable by a fine of 45,000 Euros and
one year in jail. It must also be approved by the French Senate in
order to become law.

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan reacted angrily by recalling his
ambassador to Paris and warning of ‘grave political and economic
consequences’. Erdogan also accused France of carrying out a genocide
of the Algerians during their war of liberation from 1954 to 1962.
Paris has been pressing Ankara to recognize its historic past in the
same manner that France has belatedly recognized that its own Vichy
government collaborated with Nazi Germany in the deporting of French
Jews to German concentration camps. But there are other international
cases as well. At the end of the nineteenth century, not long before
the Armenian massacre, King Leopold of Belgium carried out a
monsterous genocide in the Congo that murdered tens of millions of
Africans.

As documented by Harvard historian Caroline Elkins in her book
‘Imperial Reckoning’, the British reportedly massacred hundreds of
thousands of Kikuyu men, women and children during the Mau Mau
uprising in the fifties. Britain has refused to pay reparations
contending that the British government is no longer responsible for
what transpired during the colonial period. The point is should
Israel, in its unique role as representing the Jewish Holocaust, now
single out Turkey. Such an act could dash any hope of trying to repair
the strained relations between the countries; it could turn all
Turkish public opinion against the Jewish state and perhaps even make
Turkey a mortal enemy at a time that the Arab Spring may be spawning
even more dangerous threats.

Even the almighty United States of America has refrained from
officially recognizing the Armenian genocide due to its strategic
interests in the Middle East. And it’s not as if, the massacre was
ongoing like the recent blood-bath in Darfur that murdered up to
500,000, and where Israel did play a clandestine role in aiding the
Republic of South Sudan in achieving independence. By officially
joining the declarative campaign against Turkey, Israel would be
burning all her bridges with the former ally. Without going into
detail, it could even cost Israeli lives in the future. For example,
the U.S. and NATO are now building a-state-of- the- art anti-ballistic
missile system in Turkey. This missile defense is aimed at
intercepting ballistic missiles launched by Iran. Does Israel not have
a vital interest in doing everything possible to prevent any
disruption to this major bastion against Iran’s missile and nuclear
weapon capability?

David Essing