Author: Madatian Greg

Monitoring Council of the German-Armenian Fund to discuss new projects

ArmRadio.am
21.05.2007 11:35

The President of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Tigran Sargsyan left for
Frankfurt on a one-day working visit to participate in the recurrent sitting
of the Monitoring Council of the German-Armenian Fund, during which new
projects will be discussed, CBA Press Service told Mediamax.

The CBA President is accompanied by Vice-President Arthur Javadyan, who will
participate in the sitting of the Monitoring Council of the German-Armenian
Fund up until May 25th.

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GAREGIN AZARYAN-`THE BEST FALSIFIER’
[12:42 pm] 21 May, 2007

After the May 12 parliamentary elections `Sargis
Tkhruni’ Youth Student Union affiliated with the
Social-Democratic Henchak Party conducted polling
among 100 Yerevan citizens to find out `the best
falsifier,’

Serge Sargsyan-24 respondents

Robert Kocharian-6 respondents

Armen Gevorgyan-20 respondents

Gagik Tsarukyan-1 respondent

Garegin Azaryan-49 respondents

It is noteworthy that on May 22 the union holds an
action of `gratitude’ in front of the Central
Electoral Commission to `award the CEC Chairman a
diploma of the best falsifier.’

Scientific American
May 20 2007

The (Other) Secret

The inverse square law trumps the law of attraction
By Michael Shermer

An old yarn about a classic marketing con game on the secret of
wealth instructs you to write a book about how to make a lot of money
and sell it through the mail. When your marks receive the book, they
discover the secret–write a book about how to make a lot of money
and sell it through the mail.

A confidence scheme similar to this can be found in The Secret (Simon
& Schuster, 2006), a book and DVD by Rhonda Byrne and a cadre of
self-help gurus that, thanks to Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement, have now
sold more than three million copies combined. The secret is the
so-called law of attraction. Like attracts like. Positive thoughts
sally forth from your body as magnetic energy, then return in the
form of whatever it was you were thinking about. Such as money. "The
only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are
blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts," we are told.
Damn those poor Kenyans. If only they weren’t such pessimistic
sourpusses. The film’s promotional trailer is filled with such
vainglorious money mantras as "Everything I touch turns to gold," "I
am a money magnet," and, my favorite, "There is more money being
printed for me right now." Where? Kinko’s?

A pantheon of shiny, happy people assures viewers that The Secret is
grounded in science: "It has been proven scientifically that a
positive thought is hundreds of times more powerful than a negative
thought." No, it hasn’t. "Our physiology creates disease to give us
feedback, to let us know we have an imbalanced perspective, and we’re
not loving and we’re not grateful." Those ungrateful cancer patients.
"You’ve got enough power in your body to illuminate a whole city for
nearly a week." Sure, if you convert your body’s hydrogen into energy
through nuclear fission. "Thoughts are sending out that magnetic
signal that is drawing the parallel back to you." But in magnets,
opposites attract–positive is attracted to negative. "Every thought
has a frequency…. If you are thinking that thought over and over
again you are emitting that frequency."

A pantheon of shiny happy people assures viewers that The Secret is
ground in science.

The brain does produce electrical activity from the ion currents
flowing among neurons during synaptic transmission, and in accordance
with Maxwell’s equations any electric current produces a magnetic
field. But as neuroscientist Russell A. Poldrack of the University of
California, Los Angeles, explained to me, these fields are minuscule
and can be measured only by using an extremely sensitive
superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) in a room heavily
shielded against outside magnetic sources. Plus, remember the inverse
square law: the intensity of an energy wave radiating from a source
is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from that
source. An object twice as far away from the source of energy as
another object of the same size receives only one-fourth the energy
that the closer object receives. The brain’s magnetic field of 10^-15
tesla quickly dissipates from the skull and is promptly swamped by
other magnetic sources, not to mention the earth’s magnetic field of
10^-5 tesla, which overpowers it by 10 orders of magnitude!

Ceteris paribus, it is undoubtedly better to think positive thoughts
than negative ones. But in the real world, all other things are never
equal, no matter how sanguine your outlook. Just ask the survivors of
Auschwitz. If the law of attraction is true, then the Jews–along
with the butchered Turkish-Armenians, the raped Nanking Chinese, the
massacred Native Americans and the enslaved African-Americans–had it
coming. The latter exemplar is especially poignant given Oprah’s
backing of The Secret on her Web site: "The energy you put into the
world–both good and bad–is exactly what comes back to you. This
means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you
make every day." Africans created the circumstances for Europeans to
enslave them?

Oprah, please, withdraw your support of this risible twaddle–as you
did when you discovered that James Frey’s memoir was a million little
lies–and tell your vast following that prosperity comes from a good
dollop of hard work and creative thinking, the way you did it.

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CONFLICTS IN TRANSCAUCASUS DISCUSSED IN MOSCOW

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 17 2007

The issues referring to settlement of conflicts in Transcaucasus
were discussed at a meeting of Russia’s Deputy FM Grigory Karasin
with the U. S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried held May 15.

In the course of the meeting the parties considered some aspects of
Russian-American relations, IA REGNUM reports quoting Russian MFA
Information and Press Department.

Daniel Fried arrived in Moscow in connection with the U. S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit.

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:

May 15, 2007

The Triumph of Heritage

Yerevan–Today, May 15, Raffi K. Hovannisian, Larisa Alaverdian, and party
spokesman Hovsep Khurshudian answered questions from the media at the
capital’s Golden Tulip Hotel, where the Forum Club had invited a press
conference. The dozens of print, electronic, and television journalists who
packed the meeting hall were primarily interested in Heritage’s viewpoint on
the parliamentary elections of May 12.

"In spite of the markedly unequal conditions before and during the campaign
season and the large-scale violations registered on election day, Heritage
prevailed," Hovannisian said, noting that the party’s officially-recorded 6
percent result reflects but one third of its actual electorate. Even with
the 6 percent, however, Hovannisian pledged to protect and represent the
interests of his entire constituency and, indeed, every Armenian citizen. As
to persisting questions on the findings of international observers, Armenia’s
first Minister of Foreign Affairs declared that May 12 was a test not for
the international community, but for Armenia itself. "We will take every
step, exhaust every option, and pursue every measure to ensure that Armenia’s
next elections will be finally free, fair, and transparent," he said.

Consistent with Heritage’s campaign credo, Hovannisian now officially called
for the removal of all party flags, logos, and symbols from governmental
buildings. "Our town halls, our cultural centers, our public parks are not
the property of one person or party; they belong to the the entire Armenian
people," he said, vowing to excise the personal from the political for the
ultimate creation of a government rooted in and authorized by the national
will.

Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central office is located at 31 Moscovian Street, Yerevan 0002, Armenia,
with telephone contact at (374-10) 536.913, fax at (374-10) 532.697, email
at [email protected] or [email protected], and website at

KOCHARIAN HAILS ‘FREE AND FAIR’ ELECTIONS
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech rep.
May 14 2007

President Robert Kocharian congratulated Armenians Monday on his
administration’s conduct of the weekend parliamentary elections,
saying that they were free and fair and marked "another major step
towards democracy."

"[The elections] were free, fair, and transparent, which is certified
by the Central Election Commission, law-enforcement bodies, as well
as local and international observers," he said in a written address
to the nation. "I congratulate all of us on taking yet another step
towards democracy."

Kocharian said authorities will "meticulously examine" and redress
all irregularities reported during the vote. He also urged election
contenders to end election-related recriminations and "restore the
atmosphere of mutual tolerance" now that the official vote results
have been announced.

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the Republican
Party (HHK) of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian won about 34 percent of
the vote and will control nearly half of the 131 seats in the National
Assembly. The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of Kocharian-connected
tycoon Gagik Tsarukian came in a distant second, followed by another
major pro-presidential party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun.)

Kocharian visited the HHK headquarters in downtown Yerevan to
congratulate it on the landslide victory on Monday. He also extended
congratulations to Tsarukian and other BHK leaders that visited the
presidential palace later in the day.

The CEC figures showed the BHK winning just over 200,000 votes, or
half the number of members the party claims to have. Tsarukian clearly
hoped for a better performance. The party, which will likely have just
over 20 parliament seats, has yet to react to the election outcome.

Dashnaktsutyun, which was given 13 percent of the vote, will comment
on the official tally on Tuesday. Kocharian telephoned a top leader of
Dashnaktsutyun, Hrant Markarian, on Monday to praise the nationalist
party’s showing.

DEPARTMENT OF PROTECTION OF STATE INTERESTS AT FOREIGN COURTS AND
ARBITRATIONS CREATED AT RA PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE

YEREVAN, MAY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. A department of protection of state
interests at foreign courts and arbitrations was created at RA
Prosecutor General’s Office. The department is headed by Senior
Prosecutor of Department on Protection of State Interests Norayr
Hakobian.

As Spokesperson of RA Prosecutor General Sona Truzian said in her
interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent, the creation of the department
is envisaged by RA law "On Prosecutor’s Office." According to the law,
the Prosecutor’s Office should protect state interests at foreign
courts and arbitrations, with the exception of cases when RA
government empowers another body or organization to do this.

European observers say Armenian election meets international standards

Mediamax news agency
13 May 07

Yerevan, 13 May: The joint Observation Mission of ODIHR/OSCE, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament said in Yerevan
today that the parliamentary election in Armenia to a considerable
degree corresponded to international standards.

As the special coordinator of the OSCE for the election in Armenia,
Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Tone Tinsgaard said
at a news conference in Yerevan today, compared to the previous
parliamentary elections there were positive changes registered. The
observers also registered some shortcomings, in particular, the slow
speed of vote-counting, he said. Nevertheless, the given shortcomings
were not substantial. "All this is good for the young Armenian
democracy," Tone Tinsgaard said.

The head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe, Leo Platvoet, said that the election was a step
forward compared to the previous elections, which were criticized by
the international community. "The Council of Europe congratulates its
member on the progress made during the election," Leo Platvoet said.

International Herald tribune, France
May 13 2007

Observers say Armenia election meets international standards
By C.J. Chivers Published: May 13, 2007

MOSCOW: Parliamentary elections in Armenia largely complied with
international standards, marking the first positive assessment of an
election in the former Soviet state since it gained independence in
1991, Western election observers said Sunday.

A coalition of pro-government parties took a strong majority in the
131-seat National Assembly, according to preliminary election
results, giving a victory to Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan, who is
regarded as the principal contender in the presidential race next
year.

Elections in much of the former Soviet space have routinely been
rigged since the collapse of communism. The results announced Sunday
in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, came after intense diplomatic
pressure against Armenia to avoid another flawed poll. The United
States had threatened to withhold foreign aid if serious
irregularities were repeated, while the European Union had said it
would scale back its relations.

Opposition parties held public rallies during the campaign without
police harassment and were allowed free air time on public television
– signs of an open campaign that have often been suppressed in other
former Soviet states.

"We saw the way in which serious efforts by the authorities to
address problems that marred previous elections can result in a
healthier election campaign," said Boris Frlec, the head of the
long-term observer mission from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe.

Sargsyan hailed the results and the observers’ assessment.

"I am happy that the international observers have acknowledged that
these were the best elections ever held in Armenia in its 15 years of
independence," he said in an e-mail message.

While the observers commended an improvement from past elections,
they noted that shortfalls remain and that there were isolated
reports of fraud and double voting. Opposition parties said that many
votes had been bought.

A small protest began in the capital as opposition parties claimed to
have evidence of irregularities. There were no immediate reports of
arrests or violence, and the protest quickly fizzled in the rain.

HEAD OF OSCE PA OBSERVER MISSION ARRIVES IN ARMENIA

Regnum, Russia
May 10 2007

Head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observer mission at the May
12 parliamentar6y elections, Vice President Tone Tinsgard (Sweden)
has arrived in Armenia.

As REGNUM was told at the OSCE PA press office, Tone Tingard’s visit
is aimed at preparing to the observer mission. "All international
observers will be important, as the elections are playing the decisive
role for Armenia in the process of its further democratic development,"
the vice president said and wished success to all Armenian citizens
at the coming parliamentary elections.

OSCE Chair-in -Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos
appointed Tone Tinsgard as OSCE special coordinator in Armenia: she
will head all international short-term observer missions that represent
the OSCE. Overall, about 100 European MPs and 300 other short-term
OSCE observers will be monitoring the elections in Armenia. OSCE PA
will make public its official statement on the elections in Armenia
on May 13, next day after the elections.