Author: Kanayan Tamar

DigiNews
Sept 3 2014

Azerbaijan and Armenia: More ex-Soviet border tension

By Bhekuzulu Khumalo,

WASHINGTON, September 3, 2014 — President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan
met with residents of the Beylagan region last week and announced,
“The Azerbaijan public is aware that at the beginning of this month
Armenia tried to stage a provocation on the frontline. But the
Azerbaijan army gave a fitting rebuff to the enemy.”

There have been enormous tensions on the frontline between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, and these erupted into open conflict at the beginning of
August; they have since died down. This led Aliyev to tweet in the
middle of August, “the situation of neither peace nor war cannot last
any longer.” That is, the ceasefire signed between Armenia and
Azerbaijan in 1994 must come to some conclusion.

The two countries are contesting a significant territory known as
Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia has demanded the independence of this
region, calling it the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Armenia took control
of the territory of 146 000 people in 1994, but only after chasing
away the resident Azeris. Azerbaijan rightly insists that there can be
no real meaningful negotiations over the territory without the return
of these refugees to their homes.

The ex-Soviet states are riven by numerous territorial disputes,
largely ignored by the media unless Russia is involved, as in Georgia
and Ukraine. Territorial disputes are emotional because everybody
needs a home and because they usually create refugees. The
international community has found it difficult to solve the dispute
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia’s President Putin managed to
stop the recent flare up, but no real solution was at hand at the
Sochi meeting Putin chaired between Aliyev and Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan.

Armenia will not easily abandon its desire for the territory to be an
independent state with a predominantly Armenian population. Azerbaijan
will continue insisting that the Azeri refugees must be allowed to
return. There is a deadlock.

Each party should consider the other’s proposals before real
negotiations can take place for a lasting peace deal. Armenia must
accept the return of the refugees, and Azerbaijan must allow the
territory some independence; negotiations presuppose compromise, and
that means accepting things each side would not normally accept. In
this case that means that the territory will be shared by people of
both sides.

On that basis, real negotiations can take place to protect the
interests of both states, and the peoples in the disputed territory.
Rigid social structures are for societies at war; the chain of command
and hierarchy must be clear to deal with threats from enemies. But for
a society to be at peace, rigid social structures have to done away
with. A negotiated peace for Nagorno-Karabakh must consider that.

To put to rest the fears of Armenians, who believe they will be
outnumbered by Azeris, the territory will need a government with a
limited role. For the different peoples to get along within the
territory, liberties must be increased, property rights strengthened,
and government involvement in the economy limited. If a government
gets involved, it will always favor somebody over somebody. Government
involvement means people will rightly claim unfairness Armenians are
favored over Azeris or the other way round.

The alternative is to waste time and risk war. Time — lost time that
could have been used to build the region — is part of the cost to
rebuild after a war. Armenia has been threatening to target Azeri
cities with missiles.

The territory must have a no-visa, no-tariff arrangement with both
Azerbaijan and Armenia. The money must be determined by the people,
not the government. A 200 year deal on the territory will allow both
Armenia and Azerbaijan to observe the benefits of freedom as he
territory changes over time.

Everybody knows the benefits of freedom; elites hate freedom because
they want to pretend they bring benefits to mankind. Both Aliyev and
Sargsyan understand freedom, that is why both states demanded freedom
from the USSR. Why not attempt this peace, what is there to lose,
otherwise the territory will remain disputed and unproductive.

The free market will neutralize rule by oligarchs; the territory will
prosper. Those who use governments are either greedy or envious, and
desire the land to have a culture of greed and envy. Having access to
government means you have money, how does a poor person influence
government except as a rebel? Markets are a better check on would-be
oligarchs and rebellion than war.

But who knows what grand schemes the trio of Washington, Paris, and
Moscow — “the Minsk group” — have in mind, or what they are
negotiating. The political systems in these countries are dominated by
the greed and cronyism, and with the crisis in Ukraine dominating
their attention, the Minsk group representatives are unlikely to focus
on accommodation between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Hopefully both Armenia and Azerbaijan desire the benefits of peace,
liberty and freedom. All leaders want to be seen as the peace seekers.
A tweet by Aliyev said, “today, stability in the region is provided
only thanks to the policy of the Azerbaijani state. Azerbaijan is a
stabilizing country.” Will he pick up the phone and tell Sargsyan he
accepts Armenia’s core demand for the territory, and will Armenia
accept return of the refugees, for the sake of peace?

Eurogamer.net
Sept 4 2014

Total War: Rome 2 – Emperor Edition release date announced

Imperator Augustus Campaign trailer released.

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published Thursday, 4 September 2014

Total War: Rome 2 – Emperor Edition launches on 16th September 2014
for PC and Mac, Sega has announced.

The Emperor Edition comes with the Imperator Augustus Campaign Pack
DLC, which is free to all current players of the strategy game. A new
trailer for the DLC is below.

Imperator Augustus adds hundreds of hours of gameplay across a new map
based on the Second Triumvirate War, which saw Octavian, Marc Antony
and Lepidus vying to become the very first Emperor of Rome. You can
tackle the campaign as various Roman and non-Roman factions, including
Armenia for the first time.

It also includes a tweaked politics system, overhauled building
chains, rebalanced battles and better visuals in campaign and battle.

The Moscow Times, Russia
Sept 4 2014

Fearing Sanctions, French Distillery Boosts Deliveries of Absolut
Vodka to Russia

The Moscow Times
Sep. 04 2014 16:31

French distillery Pernod Ricard, maker of Absolut vodka and Jameson
Irish whiskey, is stepping up exports to Russia to insure itself
against possible retaliation by Moscow to Western sanctions over the
crisis in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.

“We are importing as much as we can for our [Russian] inventories
because an embargo or retaliatory action could happen any time,” the
company’s chief executive, Pierre Pringuet, told the paper earlier
this week.

Extra supplies of Jameson Irish whiskey, Ballantine’s scotch, Absolut
vodka and wines are on their way.

This week, EU leaders are expected to announce more sanctions against
Moscow over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, where the west accuses it of
supporting separatists in a civil war. In its first retaliation to
sanctions last month, Russia banned about food imports from Western
countries worth about $9 billion annually.

Only one of Pernod Ricard’s products seems safe from a new ban,
Pringuet said — Ararat brandy, which Pernod Ricard produces in
Armenia. This brand brings in a third of Pernod Ricard’s revenues in
Russia, according to FT.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Sept 4 2014

Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh at NATO summit sidelines

World
September 04, 19:25 UTC+4 NEWPORT (UK)

US Secretary John Kerry will take part in the meeting of Serzh
Sargsyan and Ilkham Aliyev who will discuss the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

NEWPORT (UK), September 04. /ITAR-TASS/. The presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan will meet at the sidelines of the NATO summit in Wales on
Thursday, a representative of the Armenian delegation said.

US Secretary John Kerry will take part in the meeting of Serzh
Sargsyan and Ilkham Aliyev who will discuss the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

US Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick also announced
the meeting on his Twitter page.

“The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are attending today’s NATO
Summit, a strong statement about our shared values and goals,” he
wrote.

Voice of America
Sept 4 2014

Kerry Concerned with Violence Over Nagorno-Karabakh

VOA News
September 04, 2014 10:19 PM

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is urging the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan to enter into a sustained peace process to settle the
long-standing dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Kerry met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev Thursday at the NATO summit in Wales.

The State Department said Kerry expressed concern regarding last
month’s fighting that killed at least 12 soldiers. He called on both
presidents to strictly respect the 1994 cease-fire.

The U.S. believes normalized relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan
will being peace and prosperity to the peoples of both countries and
stability in the South Caucasus.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan. It
declared independence in 1992.

Fighting over the region killed about 30,000 people before a 1992
cease-fire. A peace treaty has never been signed and tensions between
both sides occasionally boil over into violence.

Nazarbayev Takes Revenge On Putin

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 04 September 2014, 17:21

The foreign ministries of Georgia and Kazakhstan held consultations in
Tbilisi. During the meeting the necessity to deepen bilateral
relations, namely in terms of intensification of economic relations,
was underscored. The Georgian MFA stated that during the meeting the
Kazakh side expressed support to the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Georgia.

In fact, Kazakhstan has confirmed that it is not going to support the
membership of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to the Eurasian Union. Note
that the leadership of Abkhazia has appealed to Nazarbayev to
recognize its independence and join the Eurasian Union. Furthermore,
Kazakhstan is demonstratively establishing economic relations with
Georgia while Russia wants to repeal the free trade regime with
Georgia.

Recently Putin has “praised” Nazarbayev that he has created a Kazakh
state. Putin hinted that Kazakhstan has been allowed to set up a state
in the territory of the Russian imperial space, and “permission” may
be repealed at any moment. Yesterday Russia launched military training
at the border of Kazakhstan.

Today one of the Belorussian newspapers has published an article
entitled “When Lukashenko and Nazarbayev overcome Putin’s dictate”.
The article states that the Eurasian Union may collapse soon not
because of Putin’s ambitions but also because Moscow wants to involve
Armenia in the Eurasian Union, i.e. Karabakh as well against which
Astana speaks, the newspaper wrote.

Kazakhstan which supports Georgia’s territorial integrity will insist
on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. This means that during the
EEU’s summit on October 10 Astana may again block the membership of
Armenia, putting forth claims relating to Karabakh.

US announces new visa fees – embassy statement

16:36 * 04.09.14

Starting from September 12, non-immigrant and immigrant visa application
fees for the United States will change for several categories of
individuals.
The US Embassy to Armenia has published that list of the visa types that
will be affected by the change

Nonimmigrant Visa Processing Fees

Type of Visa

Previous Fee

New Fee

Treaty Investor and Trader visas (E)

$270

$205

Fiancé(e) visas (K)

$240

$265

Border Crossing Card (under age 15)

$15

$16

Immigrant Visa Processing Fees

Type of Visa

Previous Fee

New Fee

Immediate Relative and Family Preference Applications

$230

$325

Employment-Based Applications

$405

$345

Special Immigrant Visa Applicants (except for Diversity Visa applicants)

$220

$205

Determining Returning Resident Status

$275

$180

Waiver of Two-Year Residency Requirement

$215

$120

Affidavit of Support Review (only when reviewed domestically)

$88

$120

Citizens’ and Administrative Processing Services

Type of Visa
Previous Fee New Fee

Administrative Processing of Formal Renunciation of U.S. Citizenship
$450$2,350

Charge for Consular Time (for fee services performed outside of normal
business hours or away from the office)
$231$135

There will be no change in visitor (Business, Tourism, and Medical
Treatment), student, or exchange visitor visa fees. They are and will
remain $160 per applicant.

All visa applicants must pay the fee amounts in effect on the day they pay,
with the exception of Immigrant Visa application processing fees paid
domestically to the National Visa Center (NVC), which will be effective as
of the date of billing.

Fees that decrease are not refundable. If an applicant pays a visa fee
before September 12, 2014 and that fee decreases, the Embassy will not give
a refund.

For non-immigrant fees subject to an increase, the amount already paid will
be accepted within 90 days after the new rule go into effect.

More information is available on the official website of the US Department
of State and the US Embassy to Armenia
.

Issues on Genocide anniversary and Syrian-Armenians to be discussed at
Armenia-Diaspora conference

14:02, 4 September, 2014

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS: The fifth all-Armenian
Homeland-Diaspora conference will be held in Yerevan on September
18-21. Upon the request of Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, Diaspora
Minister of Armenia Hranush Hakobyan introduced details about the
preliminary works of organization of the conference, Armenpress
reports. Hranush Hakobyan said that heads of more than 600 Diaspora
structures have confirmed their participation and that process is
going on. “The heads of all the all-Armenian structures of Armenia,
Artsakh and Diaspora participate in that conference. The Catholicons
of All Armenians, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the Holy See of
Cilicia, the Catholic Patriarch and all the other primates will attend
the conference. The conference will be held at the National Academic
Theater of Opera and Ballet. The Prime Minister of Armenia will open
the conference,” Hranush Hakobyan said.

The conference will consist of two parts – plenary sessions and
sessions according to directions. The activities of the conference
will be carried out on the topic of advancing the 100th anniversary of
the Armenian genocide. The second issue will concern the Armenians of
Syria and the security of the Armenians, who have appeared in
emergency situations. They will also touch upon the issue of language
preservation and protection, mass media, improvement of
Armenia-Diaspora cooperation mechanisms. Within the framework of the
conference the 7th conference of the mass media will be held with
participation of 120 editors from Diaspora and representatives of the
Armenian press.

While the Armenian entrepreneurs are lazy, Azerbaijanis act more
flexible in the Russian market

September 4 2014

Russian sanctions made the entrepreneurs of many countries to make
excited steps to be expanded in the Russian market. And, a group of
Armenian producers are lazy to move from their places. When embargo
for some American, European, and Canadian food was declared in Russia,
a ban on imports and sales, in the beginning there was also a wave of
excitement in Armenia. The Prime Minister of Armenia, Hovik
Abrahamyan, met with a group of business communities to discuss what
needs to be done to have an access to the Russian market, and those
who are already in the market, what needs to be done to make expanding
them. In the conversation with “Aravot”, the Chairman of the Union of
Employers of Armenia, Gagik Makaryan, said that he was also present at
the meeting, but did not notice any particular enthusiasm among some
business communities. “When the Prime Minister suggested starting to
take rapid steps, some business communities began complaining that
they have thousands and one problems, which one they should solve:
refrigerators are needed, this-and-that is needed. But these are such
problems that if willing, they can unite and solve the problems. In
other words, they need to spend money, efforts, to run back and forth.
There are entrepreneurs who are inactive in the market, are lazy and
are doing different things on the side, here and there, and are
reluctant to work more. There are entrepreneurs who need to legalize a
part of the business, and are reluctant doing it, besides, everything
is coming from their laziness, and also ignorance,” said Mr. Makaryan.
But, as presented by Makaryan, there are entrepreneurs who are really
interested and want to have a great and fundamental place in the
Russian market, and apply efforts for it. These kind of entrepreneurs
really need the Government support. “To ease the burden of business, I
said to the prime minister, “if we leave everything on entrepreneurs,
they simply can’t work quickly, they will not manage. I suggested him
to discuss with the Russian prime minister the quota matter of our
products in their market. It turns out that we have products under
Russian sanctions in 2007: pastrima, sausage, various meat products,
now there is a market opened up for export; hence, we need to solve
the issue of these sanctions.” Mr. Makaryan said that there are
entrepreneurs who are concerned that after increasing the volume of
production, they would be unable to sell, and if the quota problem in
the Russian market is solved, our producers would definitely know how
much to produce and sell. To our observation that Russia is trying to
find new partners in South America and other countries, so whether our
producers would be able to compete and manage to occupy a place in the
Russian market earlier than other countries, Mr. Makaryan said, “You
know, Russians are used to European products because they are very
good in quality and design, and there are Russians in central part of
Russia and in big cities, who are rich and prefer quality and
expensive goods. While our entrepreneurs until they move… In my
understanding, the Armenian development agency should also work very
fast, go and study the markets and sign agreements. Recently, I was
listening to Russia’s Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who said, our
neighboring countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, he also
gave the name of Azerbaijan, and said that they can help to supplement
the missing products in the Russian market, he gave the name of the
Latin America, but, unfortunately, not Armenia. Now there are a lot of
embargoed products there, which are re-documented in the name of
Azerbaijan production, but nothing in the name of Armenian. For
example, the European foods are re-documented in the name of
Azerbaijani and Belarus. Such as, the Azerbaijani beans, Polish apples
to Azerbaijani, accordingly the Azerbaijani suppliers are stronger.
Russian consumer does not always understand that they re-documented
products, they see that the Azerbaijani product has immediately and
rapidly appeared in their market. This leaves a positive impact on the
buyer’s psychology, they are thinking, well, then it is good. In other
words, our people should act quickly rather than be lazy.”

Nelly BABAYAN
Read more at:

Youth Orchestra of Armenia to give concert at Aram Khachaturian
International Festival with DJ

10:02, 4 September, 2014

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: State Youth Orchestra of Armenia is
getting prepared for the 2nd Aram Khachaturian International Festival.
The music festival, which is named after the Armenian great composer,
will unite many talented and famous solo performers. Sergey Smbatyan,
art director and chief conductor of the State Youth Orchestra of
Armenia, promises that this year the event will differ from the
previous one.

“This year the festival will launch on September 16. The Youth
Orchestra will give a concert at Aram Khachatryan Concert Hall with DJ
Switch. Young people like good DJ-s very much. The DJ and symphonic
orchestra combination is actually very simple, because both speak in
the language of music. Just a synthesis is necessary.

During the concert we will present a concert written by Sergey
Prokofiev’s grandson – Gabriel Prokofokiev”, Sergey Smbatyan told
Armenpress. He noted that the concert has been performed in the United
Kingdom by London Philharmonic Orchestra and was a success.

Many other concerts will be organized during the festival as well.
“Well-known violinist Zakhar Bron will come to Armenia. He is the
lecturer of Vengerov and Nikolay Madoyan and is the best specialist of
violin in the world. The musician will conduct a master class in
Armenia, as well as will hold a solo concert.

Aram Khachaturian International Festival will wrap up on December 4.
Youth Orchestra of Armenia will give the last concert of the festival,
which will be dedicated to the 70th anniversary of “Armenian Society
for Cultural Cooperation with Foreign Countries” NGO.