Police Clutching At Straws

POLICE CLUTCHING AT STRAWS

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 19:58:01 – 25/05/2012

Today Judge Aghasi Darbinyan of the Administrative Court heard the
case of Manvel Sargsyan, member of the first dismantling brigade of
Mashtots Park, who is accused of disobeying policemen and bypassing
the fence. The representative of the Police Edgar Petrosyan presented
the claim for holding Manvel Sargsyan responsible. He said the mayor
of Yerevan had sent a note on February 16, 2012 to the head of the
police department of Yerevan informing that Kentron Kanachapatum
CJSC is implementing a construction project in accordance with urban
planning documents but a group of people hinder their work so he
asked the ensure protection of public order.

He also stated that the director of Mother’s and Child’s Health Center
reported to the head of Yerevan police department on 23 February 2012
that the noise in the neighboring park disturbed them.

Besides, according to the plaintiff, on 15 April 2012 Manvel Sargsyan
bypassed the fence and disobeyed the police officer’s demand, did an
act which is provided by Article 182 of the RA Code on Administrative
Breaches.

Manvel Sargsyan says there is no evidence to the charges brought
against him. Manvel Sargsyan disagrees that he disobeyed the lawful
demand of the policeman because the police implemented protection
of illegal constructions. Besides, Manvel Sargsyan wondered whether
Kentron Kanachapatum CJSC had a license. The plaintiff said there
was no license.

The verdict will be passed on June 8, at 17:05.

The director of ACNIS Manvel Sargsyan said the police did not act
on legal grounds, and its behavior was not lawful because they said
there was no violation of the law in the park but as soon as they
left the park they drew up a record and presented it to the court
and distorted the truth.

“Only in court did the representative of the police recognize it was
a mass event and surprisingly the judge did not permit to present
serious evidence from the speeches, orders of the policemen, which
contradict to these proceedings,” Manvel Sargsyan said.

In answer to the question why they have not presented that evidence
so far, Manvel Sargsyan said the park was freed, a new situation has
occurred, and there are things which take time to prepare for. “We
would bring facts, the illegal constructions were dismantled
illegally. And the police participated in those illegal actions,
including dismantlement.”He says the police is clutching at straws
to prove their actions were lawful, this is their only purpose. “350
policemen were deployed in the park at our expense, they need to try
to justify themselves, while we have no problems, the police protected
the illegal property.”

http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/society26328.html

Armenian Diocese Of Georgia Is Waiting For Saakashvili’s Response

ARMENIAN DIOCESE OF GEORGIA IS WAITING FOR SAAKASHVILI’S RESPONSE

ARMENPRESS
25 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS: Armenian diocese of Georgia has sent a
letter to the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili asking to pay
more attention to Armenian Churches and solve the issue of returning
them to Armenian Diocese. Leader of Armenian Diocese Vazgen bishop
Mirzakhanyan told Armenpress that there had not been response to
their letter yet. Ten days have past after sending the letter but
the answer can be up to one month.

Vazgen Mirzakhanyan speaking about his expects mentioned that first
of all it would be real to implement the works of strengthening and
repairing the Churches or be returned to Armenian side and so there
would be opportunity of doing the works by our side.

Vazgen Mirzakhanyan mentioned that soon they would have important
meetings both in Patriarchy and with state officials in order to
clarify the final destiny of that issue.

Georgian Parliament has made changes in Civil Law of the country
according to which religious associations got legal status.

Clinton to visit Turkey, Scandinavia, Georgia

Agence France Presse
May 26 2012

Clinton to visit Turkey, Scandinavia, Georgia
(AFP)

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Denmark,
Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey in a weeklong
trip starting May 31, according to her spokeswoman.

The tour will kick off in Copenhagen, where Clinton will meet senior
Danish officials before traveling the next day to Oslo and give a
keynote address at a global health conference.

On June 3, Clinton will travel to Stockholm for meetings with Swedish
officials to discuss green energy, Internet freedom, Afghanistan and
the Middle East, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in
a statement, released on Friday.

“The secretary will travel to the Caucasus from June 4 to 7. In all
these countries, she will discuss important issues of regional
security, democracy, economic development and counterterrorism,” the
statement added.

In Armenia on June 4, the Secretary will meet with President Serzh
Sarkisian and other senior Armenian officials. She will also meet with
Armenian civil society leaders.

On June 5, Clinton will open the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership
Commission plenary session in Batumi, Georgia, and the following day
will travel to Azerbaijan to meet with President Ilham Aliyev.

The trip will end with Clinton co-chairing the Global Counterterrorism
Forum ministerial meeting in Istanbul, where she will also discuss
foreign policy challenges, including Syria and Iran, with senior
Turkish officials.

Review: San Antonio Symphony

San Antonio Express News
May 26 2012

Review: San Antonio Symphony

By David Hendricks

Friday night’s (May 25) San Antonio Symphony concert could have been
called `The Philadelphia Story.’

It was not planned that way. The guest violinist was Russian Mikhail
Simonyan, who now lives in Philadelphia. The accidental part comes
from guest conductor Cristian Macelaru, a Romanian who also now lives
in Philly as assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Macelaru did not know he was coming to San Antonio this week until he
was summoned Monday (May 21) to fill in for the originally scheduled
guest conductor Alondra de la Parra of Mexico, who bowed out due to
illness.

San Antonio doesn’t often see the high level of visiting, young talent
as it did with the Philadelphia duo, especially when they teamed for
the Aram Khachaturian Violin Concerto at the Majestic Theatre before
an audience of about 1,300.

Simonyan was phenomenal in the difficult, complex concerto, placing
extra emphasis on the folk-song influence in the piece and adding
vigorous, authentic Armenian flavoring. The concerto may have been
written for the Russian master David Oistrakh, but it belongs to
Simonyan now. Simonyan possesses such mastery over the violin that he
could concentrate on expression instead of technique.

The second-movement threnody for an Armenian genocide that occurred
about a century ago was emotionally moving. Simonyan and Macelaru were
in step all the way.

Simonyan followed up his Khachaturian triumph with a solemn encore he
called `An Armenian Prayer,’ a traditional piece with an unknown
composer.

In the program’s featured piece, Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3,
Macelaru did everything right as he navigated the polyphonic
cross-currents of melodies that build a quiet sense of dignity
punctuated by full-bloom heroism, especially in the brassy, percussive
`Fanfare for the Common Man’ theme that dominates the final movement.

The brass section sometimes was not at its best, but the wind and
percussion sections were outstanding. Macelaru has a strong knack for
bringing out the big moments. He received some of his conductor
training from Rice University’s Larry Rachleff, a former San Antonio
Symphony music director, and it shows.

Macelaru’s conducting was self-assured throughout the concert,
including a zippy rendition of the familiar `Ruslan and Ludmila’
overture by Mikhail Glinka.

The program will repeat at 8 p.m. Saturday (May 26) at the Majestic Theatre.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/the-music-beat/2012/05/review-san-antonio-symphony-34/

US prepares for civil war and WW III

The Nation (AsiaNet)
May 25, 2012 Friday

US prepares for civil war and WW III

by Mujahid Kamran – Email: [email protected]
Vol. XXVI No. 95

The cabal of international banking families that controls the US and
the UK by controlling their money-line through privately owned central
banks, the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve System, and by
utilising the subversive services of secret and overt societies and
bodies established and funded by them, is rapidly taking mankind to
the third, and presumably the final, world war. Their objective is the
establishment of a global dictatorship under their iron control and
they are not willing to back off one inch from the target set by them
over a couple of centuries ago.

In order to achieve their target, they have passed laws that have done
away with civil liberties and freedom of speech in the Western
countries. Simultaneously, they are destroying the middle class of the
US and other advanced countries because it is the middle class that
fight for values of freedom of speech and expression. Religious faith
has been on their hit list for decades because religion makes people
strong and gives them the ability to resist dictators. Ironically, it
is the middle class that has been, through its creativity, the source
of most power that is now in the hands of this elite.

The middle class can, from now on, be dispensed with. It must either
submit, or face ruthless suppression, or, in another mode of
disappearance, become cannon fodder for war along with the poor masses
with which it is increasingly being merged by design. Domestic spying
through gadgets and inventions produced dominantly by the middle
class, is now used to continually monitor everyone. Every email, every
scrap of correspondence, every phone call, and every form of
communication between people is now monitored and intercepted
“legally” as well as illegally. The most horrific domestic spying laws
have been passed in the US on the pretext of providing “security”
against a managed “terrorism”.

In the US, over eight million homes have been foreclosed since 2007,
driving tens of millions out into tent cities or streets, leading
vagabond lives. The number of foreclosed homes is expected to rise to
10 million by the end of 2012. This tragedy in which tens of millions
have been rendered homeless and hungry by design is unreported by the
mainstream media. The great propaganda organs of the elite, like New
York Times and Fox News, are silent! The editors and reporters know
who owns them and pays them. They can concoct, distort and merge fact
and fiction without batting an eyelid! In this propagation of
falsehood, they have the guidance of the most sophisticated scientific
institutes. All they want to do is to frighten people and raise war
hysteria, so that the agenda for dictatorship at home and war abroad
can be pursued.

Instead of telling the truth about its own society, the US media is
shamelessly concerned with propaganda about “atrocities” in countries
that are to be, or have just been, destroyed by the US and allied
forces at the command of the elite. Many of these so-called atrocities
have been manipulated by the US and British proxies, and many have not
taken place. The US media that does not fail to report the slightest
stir, real or concocted, in Syria or Iran, that sang songs of the
manipulated Arab Spring, has generally blacked out the news of Occupy
Wall Street protests. Any reporting, if at all, of this “Wall Street
Spring” has been in the form of ridicule, scorn and contempt.

It has been reported that recently the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) of the USA has placed an order for 450 million bullets, enough
for a seven-year war! These bullets, purchased at the expense of US
taxpayers, will be used to quell hungry and rioting masses. Some of
the riots will be incited by the agencies. This will be done under the
command of the banking cabal so as to unleash repressive measures
after confusing the public. The bullets ordered are “hollow point”
bullets that offer “optimum penetration for terminal procedures.”

The US Ambassador to Israel has recently stated that the plans to
attack Iran had been completed. The Congress is considering
legislation that has a clause, whereby the US may attack Iran if it
achieves nuclear “capability”. The word “capability” is vague and once
the legislation is passed, the road to attack in Iran will be open –
regardless of whether or not it becomes a nuclear power. It has also
been reported that Russia anticipates an attack on Iran during the
current year and has drawn plans to move its troops to Iran through
Georgia to Armenia. The former Russian Ambassador to Nato, Dmitry
Rogozin, has clearly stated that an attack on Iran “is a direct threat
to our security.” China has already said that it might have to wage
war to save Iran.
On May 7, 2012, it was reported that President Dmitry Medvedev had
stated that Russia will retaliate militarily if does not arrive at any
agreement with the US and Nato on the Missile Defence Shield being
erected near its borders. General Nikolai Makarov, the Russian Chief
of General Staff, was quoted as having stated: “A decision to use
destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if the situation
worsens.”

On May 14, 2012, it was reported that Mr Putin has cancelled a
scheduled meeting with Obama and has announced that he will not attend
the G-8 Summit. The announcement was made after Obama security aide
told Putin that the “the world may be about to end.” This is,
obviously, a veiled threat of a world war. In a tit for tat, it was
announced that Obama would not attend the annual Asia-Pacific Summit
being held in Vladivostok in September 2012.

It is clear that the controllers of the US are determined to attack
Iran come what may and this will mean the inevitable involvement of
Russia and China in the conflict. This conflict is not likely to end
quickly, nor will anyone be able to control the outcome. Russia and
China cannot sit idly by and let the ‘controllers’ capture every major
energy resource and cripple them.

The writer is the vice chancellor of the University of the Punjab.

French Senators hail Artsakh’s commitment to democratic values

French Senators hail Artsakh’s commitment to democratic values

May 26, 2012 – 18:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Member of the French Senate Sophie Zhuasen commented
on Azerbaijan’s decision to declare her, as well as Senators Philippe
Marini and Bernard Fournier persona non grata for visiting Artsakh.

`We responded to Nagorno Karabakh authorities’ invitation and resolved
to see what’s happening there in person. As far as we know, the
territory is not closed and many parliamentary delegations had visited
it before us. In our opinion, French Senate can also be part of it and
witness developments there,’ she told a press conference in Yerevan.

`We were happy to see Artsakh’s brave nation, which is committed to
democratic values. Armenians have resided there for centuries and will
do the utmost to ensure peace and harmony in the country,’ the Senator
said.

`As a democrat, I myself was excited to see the nation’s aspiration to
become a bearer of democratic values,’ she said.

Senator Marini, in turn, stressed the warm and friendly welcome they
received in Artsakh, as well as interesting discussions with the
President, Prime Minster, National Assembly speaker and head of the
Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

25 Armenian youth enhance their knowledge in `Applied Political Scie

25 Armenian youth enhance their knowledge in `Applied Political Science’

news.am
May 26, 2012 | 16:49

YEREVAN. – The completion certificates of the participants in the
`Applied Political Science’ study course were officially presented in
Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, on Saturday. The course was organized by
the Youth Foundation of Armenia.

Twenty-five youth, who attended seminars with a variety of topics,
took part in this program. The seminar lecturers were leading
scholars, experts, and analysts.

The course objective was the raising of political knowledge among
Armenia’s youth.

`Our youth must be informed about the ongoing developments and they
must clearly know Armenia’s position in such matters,’ the Foundation
Chairman Karen Avagyan noted. He added that there already are
brilliant youth who are able to represent Armenia at the most
prestigious venues.

And as per course lecturer and National Archives of Armenia Deputy
Director Edgar Hovhannisyan, the youth will also apply the knowledge,
which they acquire from such courses, in social networking and on the
Internet.

The sound of music

The sound of music
Europe’s song contest has not brought change to Azerbaijan. What could?

May 26th 2012 | BAKU | from the print edition

..
All yours, babushki
WHEN Azerbaijan won the Eurovision song contest last year, local
campaigners hoped that hosting the contest this year would shine a
fierce spotlight on the country’s human-rights record. They have been
disappointed. Many protesters inspired a year ago by the Arab spring
are still in jail, independent journalists continue to be locked up
and political murders remain unsolved. Families have been forcibly
evicted with inadequate compensation to make room for new construction
projects, including the Crystal Hall, the futuristic, LED-coated arena
where Eurovision is taking place.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which owns Eurovision, has come
under fire for treating the Azerbaijani government with kid gloves.
Though it held a workshop on media freedom earlier this month with
several of the country’s human-rights groups, it has shied away from
criticising the evictions and stayed silent on a demonstration in
Baku, the capital, this week that was violently broken up. The EBU
insists that Eurovision is `apolitical’, even though countries such as
Azerbaijan, desperate for international approval, clearly use it for
political aims.

As an association of broadcasters from 56 countries, the EBU is
hamstrung. Frank-Dieter Freiling, chairman of the contest’s board of
governors, is disappointed that there has not been more criticism of
the regime, but says governments should have used the opportunity to
apply more pressure themselves. That seems unlikely to happen on any
great scale: Europe sees Azerbaijan as a small but important
contributor to reducing its dependence on Russian gas. And although
Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran and Turkey, two traditional allies,
have been souring – Iran recalled its ambassador this week – it is a
strategic access point to Afghanistan for America, and to Iran for
Israel.

By contrast, the foreign press has covered human rights extensively in
the run-up to Eurovision. EBU officials privately wonder why places
such as Russia and Turkey, with their own human-rights abuses, did not
enjoy the same scrutiny when it was their turn to be host. Yet given
the modest impact of the coverage so far, once the 1,500 international
journalists in Baku have packed up and gone home any effect is
unlikely to last.

Optimists can see seeds of longer-term change. True, the economy
remains overwhelmingly dominated by energy. Oil and gas revenues have
allowed the government to boost defence spending, stoking fears of
renewed conflict with neighbouring Armenia. By 2017 the export
capacity of the huge Shah Deniz gas field is expected to more than
double. However, oil production, a far larger share of revenue, is
falling. The squeeze on the budget will eventually force the
government to think about diversifying the economy, says Sabit
Bagirov, head of the Entrepeneurship Development Foundation, a
think-tank. There is one promising sign, he adds: an e-government
programme designed to reduce people’s contact with officials is having
an effect on rampant low-level corruption.

Opposition parties, led by an ageing and exhausted generation, have
shrunk to nothing more than `dissident clubs’, says Hikmet
Hadjy-Zadeh, a prominent member of one of them. But a new generation
of internet-aware campaigners is becoming bolder. One of them, Mr
Hadjy-Zadeh’s son, Adnan, spent a year in jail for `hooliganism’ when
some thugs beat him up shortly after he had made a satirical video. At
the time he was working as a spokesman for BP, the developer of the
Shah Deniz field and the regime’s most faithful prop. After an
international outcry, the younger Hadjy-Zadeh got his job back once he
had emerged from jail.

Khadija Ismailova, an investigative journalist who has published
stories about the private wealth of the clan of Ilham Aliev,
Azerbaijan’s president, was smeared by a secretly filmed sex video
that was posted online. In her case, too, international indignation
helped. The support emboldened her, she says, and the internet makes
her work easier.

It will take years, however, for the new generation of dissidents to
gather meaningful force. For now Mr Aliev’s regime, which is already
working on a bid for the 2020 Olympics, can assume that its opponents
offer no threat.

http://www.economist.com/node/21555973

Book presentation at the Glendale Public Library on June 27, 2012

PRESS RELEASE
Glendale Public Library
222 East Harvard Street
Glendale CA 91205
Tel: 818-548-2030
Web:

FB:
The Knock at the Door

“Whoever remains will be shot.” “Move along, yallah, yallah.”

GLENDALE, CA Margaret Ajemian Ahnert, author of The Knock at the Door:
A Journey Through the Darkness of the Armenian Genocide, will speak
about her book on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 7pm at the Glendale
Central Library Auditorium, 222 East Harvard Street. The lecture is in
English. Admission is free and the seating is limited. Library visitors
receive 3 hours FREE parking across the street at The Market Place
parking structure with validation at the Loan Desk.

Margaret Ajemian Ahnert, the winner of the 2008 New York Book Fair Award
for Best Historical Memoir was born in New York City. She has an MFA
from Goucher College and a BA from Goddard College. She has pursued a
variety of careers: producing television documentaries, lecturing as a
docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of
Art.

The Knock at the Door, is the story of Ester, Margaret’s mother, and her
terrifying experiences as a young woman during the year of 1915 Armenian
Genocide in Turkey. Ester was separated from her foster family at the
age of 15, during a forced march away from her birth town of Amasia. She
narrowly avoided kidnapping, faced unspeakable horrors at the hands of
soldiers, and was forcibly married to an abusive Turkish wagon-driver.
Throughout her ordeal, she reminded herself that “this, too, will pass,”
a mantra which enabled her to survive these nightmarish experiences.
Eventually, she escaped captivity and was able to make her way to
America. The Knock at the Door is published in several languages
including Spanish, Italian, Polish, Armenian and Turkish. The publisher
of the Turkish edition is in jail for publishing the book because it is
against the law in Turkey to publish anything that is anti-Turkish.

The program is sponsored by the Abril bookstore and the Glendale Public
Library.

###

Contact: Elizabeth Grigorian at [email protected]
or call (818) 548-3288

http://www.glendalepubliclibrary.org/
http://www.glendale.ci.ca.us/
www.facebook.com/GlendalePL

Azeri Police Break Up Opposition Rallies Ahead Of Eurovision

AZERI POLICE BREAK UP OPPOSITION RALLIES AHEAD OF EUROVISION

ARMENPRESS

11:24, 25 May, 2012

YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS: For Azerbaijan, hosting the glitz and
glamour of the Eurovision Song Contest was part of a charm offensive
to put the ex-Soviet Republic on the map, reports Armenpress citing
Eruonews.

But increased international attention has also led to criticism of
the country’s human rights record.

Earlier, police arrested 35 people protesting outside the state
television station in the capital Baku.

Activists accuse President Ilham Aliyev of stifling dissent and
restricting media freedom.

They say Eurovision lends credibility to an authoritarian regime that
jails political opponents.

Human rights lawyer Lela Yunnus said: “My message to Eurovision is –
Shame on you that you did not support democratisation and freedoms
in Azerbaijan (and) the rule of law.”

Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan for nine years after inheriting power
from his father.

At the last parliamentary election in 2010, the main opposition party
failed to win a single seat.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/692559/azeri-police-break-up-opposition-rallies-ahead-of-eurovision.html