Author: Maghakian Mike

SERZH SARGSYAN INTENDS TO INVITE ILHAM ALIYEV TO POTENTIAL OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.02.2010 20:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Attempts to link the normalization of Armenia-Turkey
relations to the talks around the Karabakh issue will undermine both
processes, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in his speech at
Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs.

"I, however, believe that the rapid normalization of Armenia-Turkey
relations can set an example of a proactive problem-solving attitude
that will positively stimulate and set an example the resolution of
the Karabakh conflict.

"I would like to take one step further and inform you that I am going
to invite President Aliyev to the potential opening ceremony of the
Armenian-Turkish border. I believe it can serve as an essential and
in some ways exemplary measure for the region, which will clearly
demonstrate how existing problems should be solved," Armenian leader
stated.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, NKR and
Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan
around it (the security zone) remain under the control of NKR defense
army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the
OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

AZERBAIJAN’S CONSUL GENERAL TO LOS ANGELES SENDS LETTER OF PROTEST TO "LOS ANGELES TIMES"

APA
Feb 9 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. Azerbaijani Consul General to Los
Angeles Elin Suleymanov sent letter of protest to "Los Angeles
Times" newspaper as they regarded Nagorno Karabakh as a territory
of Armenia, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press secretary Elkhan
Polukhov told APA.

He noted in his letter that Nagorno Karabakh is an integral part of
Azerbaijan and such cases are inadmissible.

Note that this newspaper is planning to hold travel and adventure
exhibition. Armenia and the occupied Azerbaijan’s territory Nagorno
Karabakh will be represented together in the show. The travel agencies
of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh will set "Welcome to Armenia" booth
in the exhibition hall at the travel show on December 13.

MINISTER: ARMENIA AIMS AT REDUCING GREENHOUSE GASES IN ATMOSPHERE

ARKA
Feb 8, 2010

YEREVAN, February 8. / ARKA /. Armenia is aimed at reducing emissions
of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through the application and
use of new technologies, said the Minister of Nature Protection of
Armenia Aram Harutyunyan.

"Science has proven that even if global emissions will be reduced
to zero level, the climate change will continue, because the carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for
thousands of years," he said on

Friday during the discussion of the Second National Report on Climate
Change.

According to him, the obligation to reduce greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere is assumed by the developed countries, and the developing
states are making efforts to contribute to this process while not
assuming any obligations.

Harutyunyan noted that the main purpose of discussing the second
draft on the national report on climate change, prepared by Armenia
on the basis of the requirements of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change, is the consideration of environmental issues and
climate change.

"The report includes three important directions in the context of
climate change – the current situation, possible solutions, as well
as the projected expectations as a result of climate change," he said.

In this regard, the Minister stressed that climate change affects
all spheres, including health, agriculture, economy, and development
in general.

Countries supporters of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
in accordance with their national and regional priorities, pledged
to develop and periodically submit national reports to the discussion
in the summit of supporters of the Convention.

Armenia prepared and presented its first re port at the summit in 1998.

The development objective of the report is to assist the implementation
of Armenia’s obligations emanating from the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change.

Development of the report was conducted with the participation of
broad sections of stakeholders and their extensive consultation.

The basis for the development of the report has a departmental and
statistical purpose.

The analytical work involved more than 40 national experts, as
well as the Research Institute of Energy and Public Service for
Hydrometeorology and Monitoring.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – FCCC (Framework
Convention on Climate Change, UN FCCC) is an agreement signed by
more than 180 countries around the world, including Russia, all the
countries of the former Soviet Union and all industrialized countries.

The Convention was solemnly adopted by the Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992 and has been entered into force on March 21, 1994.

National Assembly Chair Press Secretary Resigns

Tert.am
11:51 – 06.02.10

As of February 5, Press Secretary for the National Assembly Chair
Nairi Petrossian has resigned from his post. As stated by the RA
National Assembly public and information affairs department, the
reason for his resignation is that he has found other employment.

`I honestly wish to thank National Assembly Chair Hovik Abrahamyan for
working together effectively during this last period. The parliament
was a unique school of politics where it was possible for me to be
present in the most important developments in our political life.

`I will fondly remember all the RA National Assembly deputies and
colleagues. Their assistance helped me to fulfill my work obligations.
Finally, I would like to direct perhaps my highest expression of
gratitude to the Journalists Union of Armenia. I hope that I have been
of assistance in the National Assembly in the work of carrying out the
duties of your trade. I also hope that there will be opportunities for
amicable meetings in the future,’ said Petrossian.

Monterrey Bay Master Gardeners

Winter 2010

Book Review
Sue Tarjan

Simply Quince
Barbara Ghazarian
2009

I made the acquaintance of Barbara Ghazarian and her new cookbook, Simply
Quince, last month at a talk she gave at the Live Oak Grange sponsored by the
California Rare Fruit Growers (). It is no exaggeration to say
that I was thrilled to attend because most people have no idea what a quince
is while I’ve loved the fruit of the quince since I was a child and found
everyone’s ignorance both mystifying and a bit, well, lonely. I was lucky to
be introduced to quince by my mother, an adventurous cook who owned many old
fashioned cookbooks, about the only way to reliably find quince recipes for
the last several decades, at least until Barbara’s book came along. Why do
you suppose that is? There are two major reasons: technological innovation
and the rise of fast food.

Technological innovation
Native to central and western Asia and cultivated there for millennia (the
original `golden apples of the sun’) and for centuries in Europe, the
quince used to be widely grown in the United States, too, despite being hard,
tart, astringent, and somewhat difficult and time consuming to process. It was
prized, in fact, not just because of its intoxicating aroma and the gorgeous
deep red color it acquires with cooking but because it is so extremely high
in pectin, a complex carbohydrate and soluble fiber found in the cell walls
of all land plants that combines with acid and sugar to form a gel. To
illustrate how intrinsic an ingredient was quince pectin to jams and jellies,
the term "marmalade," originally meaning a quince jam, derives from "marmelo,"
the Portuguese word for this fruit. Up until a few generations ago, home
canners used the pectin in quince to set their jelly. Now, most canners use
commercial powdered or liquid pectin (extracted mostly from apples and citrus
fruits).

Rise of fast food
To paraphrase Barbara Ghazarian, the quince is the quintessential slow
food. As I admitted in the last paragraph, much as I love this fruit,
converting quince into the luscious, lovely taste sensation of one’s dreams
can be a daunting task for the uninitiated. These days, who has the time or
inclination to wrestle food into submission when there are plenty of
restaurants and food manufacturers who’ve already done it for you? Let me be
quite frank: raw quinces are utterly inedible; they will make your mouth
pucker like it’s never puckered before. Moreover, quince are coated with an
unappealing fuzz, difficult to peel (Barbara recommends a potato peeler),
and challenging to cut-don’t even try to cut through the core. But her book
comes to the rescue by explaining how to prepare the fruit using the right
tools (very sharp knife, peach pitter, etc.) and proper techniques. Most
important, she provides plenty of motivation-her delectable recipes:
appetizers, salads, side dishes, stews, main courses, condiments, spreads,
preserves, and divine desserts. You can trust me on this one because, after
her talk, Barbara shared some of her quince delicacies with us, her
audience-yum! Yum?

Yes, yum. The aroma and flavor of quince has to be experienced to be
believed. No, it does not taste like apple or pear-it tastes like tropical
heaven. And here’s the other thing about quince that’s just so
amazing. Unlike any other fruit I can think of, apples and pears, for
example, both of which dissolve into mush as they cook, quince maintains its
shape (all that pectin, remember), becoming more and more succulent as it
cooks but still there-not only there but the most entrancing eye candy you
can imagine. As you cook it, it is magically transformed; in fact, the
longer you cook it, the more beautiful it becomes. You start out with a
yellowish, lumpy, furry, rock-hard object with sour, whitish flesh that
rapidly browns when exposed to air, yet you wind up with a visually stunning
culinary masterpiece that shimmers like the finest ruby. I’d say that
warrants tackling a learning curve, but don’t worry.

Simply Quince guarantees that your education will be worthwhile AND fun.
Simply Quince also provides some basic information on quince cultivation. The
quince tree, Cydonia oblonga, produces a pome fruit like the apple and pear
and our native toyon, all members of the rose family. The tree is small
(8-12 feet) and self pollinating, perfect for a backyard garden, needs only 200
to 300 chill hours, and blooms a bit later than apple or pear. The fruit are
ripe when they turn yellow and fragrant, usually in October in our area.
Some common varieties are ‘Champion’, ‘Orange’, ‘Pineapple’, and ‘Smyrna’.
Sometimes used as a rootstock for grafted pears, the quince has the property of
dwarfing the growth of the pear tree, forcing it to produce earlier with
relatively more fruit-bearing branches and hastening the maturity of the
fruit. By the way, don’t confuse the fruiting quince with the popular Japanese
flowering quince (Chaenomeles species).

There is a down side, unfortunately. Quince trees are susceptible to the
same pests and diseases that plague apples and pears and are particularly
prone to fire blight, a bacterial disease that only affects plants in the rose
family. To help prevent infection, plant in soil with good drainage, prune as
little as possible, and avoid high-nitrogen fertilizer. Sadly, I can attest
to their vulnerability from personal experience: the pineapple quince baby
I planted years back succumbed to fire blight within a year, but I’m tempted
to try again after Barbara’s inspirational talk. Just in case you’re
tempted, too, buy the book and check out this UC Integrated Pest Management
website for information on fire blight and how to cope with it:

Sue Tarjan, MG06
Gardening on the Edge, Winter 2010
Monterrey Bay Master Gardeners

http://www.montereybaymastergardeners.o rg/newsletters/GOTE137.pdf

BEGLARYAN FORGOT HIS PROMISE?

A1Plus.am
04/02/10

There were many people gathered near the government building with
different demands once again.

Members of the former Shahumyan collective farm of Ajapnyak district
say that 150 hectares of land were stolen from them and have been sold
to some organization for a year now. According to Arman Torosyan,
when collective farms were disbanded in 1991, the government signed
leasing contracts with nearly 400 families. The families mainly
cultivate grapes and apricots on this territory.

In the past five years, according to the demonstrators, the government
has not signed any contract, but they have "all paid the taxes fixed
by the government."

Their lands were sold for purposes of construction. Arpik Poghosyan
recalls that when Gagik Beglaryan was not mayor, he had said that
the issue would be solved if he were elected. "But he forgot about
that after his election," said Poghosyan.

"They are taking away our land, which is our source of income and we
don’t know how we are going to live," they said.

On one side of the government building were the residents of the sale
zone. They were demanding an adequate compensation for their homes.

FIRST ARMENIAN POPULAR SCIENCE JOURNAL "IN THE WORLD OF SCIENCE" 5 YEARS OLD

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.02.2010 14:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ First Armenian popular science journal "In the world
of science" has become 5 years old. 19 issues of the journal of the
RA National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and 200 scientific articles
have been published over the last 5 years. Journal’s circulation is
500 copies.

"Nowadays, when the development of science has resulted in an
unprecedented flow of scientific information, scientific and popular
publications, such as " In the world of science" gain particular
importance. The publication will give a unique opportunity to learn
about the current developments in various scientific areas, " the
editorial office of the journal reported in its release.

DIAMOND GIRL MAKES ‘EM SPARKLE
By Paul Luke

The Province
February 3, 2010 1:07 AM

Jeannine masters the art of releasing the fire from a dull stone’s
heart;

They call her diamond girl.

Jeannine Pilon, who became Canada’s first certified female diamond
polisher in 2005, plies one of the trickiest trades in the country.

She brings dead stones to life and teaches them to sing.

Pilon, who calls Yellowknife home, insists the art of lapidary
vivification is no big mystical deal.

You simply peer into a rough stone’s heart and see the shape of the
life it wants, she says.

The rest is applying the technical skills acquired through years of
classroom training and apprenticeship with global masters.

"I visualize the diamond before I begin to polish," says Pilon, 38.

"You need to release the beauty trapped in a stone. When you have
all the facets lined up properly you get the utmost brilliance,
fire and scintillation.

"The stone will look like it’s alive."

Pilon has been demonstrating her art this week as part of a showcase
for the Northwest Territories at Canada’s Northern House at West
Hastings and Seymour in Vancouver.

The territories have become the world’s third-largest producer of
rough-cut diamonds, after Botswana and Russia.

Pilon spent her 20s caring for the terminally ill in her hometown of
Sudbury, Ont.

After moving to Yellowknife, she signed up for a diamond-polishing
program at Aurora College, apprenticed with an Armenian master cutter
and has never looked back.

As far as her gender, she’s a diamond-in-the-rough in a sector still
dominated by men. Pilon knows of only two other female polishers
in Canada.

Last year’s global recession handed the diamond polishing-cutting
business its share of challenges as some facilities closed or
downsized.

Pilon thrives on the painstaking process of polishing — a process
that may oblige her to take "a couple of thousand" separate looks
at a single stone. "You don’t have room for error," she says. "The
symmetry has to be straight all the time."

One of Pilon’s heroines is Eira Thomas, the Vancouver-based geologist
who led the team that discovered the deposit that turned into the
Diavik diamond mine. Pilon would love to meet Thomas while she’s
in town.

"I idolize her. I can wear diamonds that I polish but she can wear
diamonds from her own discovery."

[email protected] © Copyright (c) The Province

TATE MODERN

Art Newspaper
esults.asp?id=1108967
WEDNESDAY, 3.2.10
London, United Kingdom

Tate Modern hosts a retrospective of Arshile Gorky (about 1904-1948),
the Armenian-born, US artist whose untimely death and tragic life
story has often overshadowed his work. "He’s an artist who played a
pivotal role in mid-20th century American Art," says Matthew Gale,
the curator (modern) and head of display at Tate Modern. "It’s timely
to look back at the origins of abstract expressionism.

He’s a hinge between it and surrealism." Largely self-taught, although
at one point he claimed to have studied with Kandinsky in Paris,
the young Gorky’s debt to Cezanne and Picasso is obvious.

He called them his "idols".

Gale challenges the idea that the artist’s work in the early 1920s
was merely derivative, however. "What’s evident in these works is
the elegance of his line, and his warm, ‘Gorksian’ colouring." Gorky
was born in what is now eastern Turkey, and along with thousands of
Armenians he fled during the massacres of the first world war.

His mother died of starvation en route.

Reaching the US in 1920, he assumed a new name and identity (he was
born Vostanig Manuk Adoian.) The exhibition includes two haunting
versions of The Artist and His Mother (about 1926-36), which refer
indirectly to his traumatic childhood.

Living in the heart of Lower Manhattan, Gorky cut a handsome and
charismatic figure in New York’s fashionable avant-garde circles
during the late 1920s and 30s.

Work from that period shows his importance as a surrealist-Andre
Breton was an admirer-but also his move towards abstract expressionism.

Waterfall, 1943, acquired by the Tate in 1971, shows a "loosening
of line".

This and layers of paint preface the work of Rothko and Pollock in
later years, says Gale. Suffering from cancer and the injuries of
a car crash, and separated from his wife, he hung himself in 1948,
just as New York was becoming the centre of the modern art world.

Gale thinks that the artist’s tragic life story can "get in the way"
of appreciating his work and importance. The retrospective has been
organised by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it has already
shown, in association with Tate and the Museum of Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles, where its tour ends (6 June until 20 September). J.P.

The Artist and His Mother, about 1926-36

The Artist and His Mother, about 1926-36

RUSSIA, TURKEY AND THE GREAT GAME: CHANGING TEAMS

APA
02 Feb 2010 01:21

Baku – APA. For all intents and purposes, Turkey has given up on
the European Union, recognizing it as a bastion of Islamophobia and
captive to US dictate, APA reports quoting Al Jazeera. As Switzerland
bans minarets and France moves to outlaw the niqab, the popular
Islamist government in Istanbul moves in the opposite direction
— supporting the freedom to wear headscarfs, boldly criticizing
Israel and building bridges with Syria. This is nothing less than a
fundamental realignment of Turkish politics towards Turkey’s natural
allies — the Arabs … and the Russians.

This new alignment with Russia began in 2001 when Turkish and
Russian foreign ministers signed the Eurasia Cooperation Action
Plan. It went into high gear in February 2009, when Turkish President
Abdullah Gul made a state visit to Russia, including a visit to the
Russian Federation’s thriving and energy-rich Autonomous Republic of
Tatarstan, populated by a majority of Muslim Turks, with pipelines,
nuclear energy and trade the focus of attention.

In the past, Russia had poor relations with Turkey, which since its
founding as a republic in 1922 was firmly in the Western camp and seen
by Moscow as a springboard for infiltration into the Caucasus and its
Turkic southern republics. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991, Yeltsin’s Russia acquiesced to US hegemony in the region, and
as part of this opening to the West, Turkish schools, construction
firms and traders came in great numbers to the ex-Soviet "stans"
(Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan).

9/11 convinced Russian president Vladimir Putin to go so far as
welcoming US military bases in the most strategic "stans". The old
Great Game appeared to be over, lost resoundingly by Russia.

But as the world tired of the US-sponsored "war on terrorism", it
seemed the Great Game was not over after all. A NATO member, Turkey
was soon joined by Bulgaria and Romania, making the Black Sea a de
facto NATO lake, alarming a now resurgent Russia.

Ukraine’s Western-backed "Orange Revolution" in 2004 further tilted the
balance away from Russia, with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
defiantly vowing to join NATO and kick the Russian fleet out of
Crimea. He even armed Georgia in its war with Russia in 2008.

However, not only Russia was fed up with the new pax americana. Over
90 per cent of Turks had an unfavourable view of the US by 2007. It is
no surprise that Turkey began to back away from unconditional support
of NATO and the US, notably, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, by its
refusal in 2008 to allow US warships through the Bosphorus Strait to
support Georgia, and by its outspoken criticism of Israel following
the invasion of Gaza that year.

In contrast to the US-sponsored colour revolutions in the ex-socialist
bloc, Turkey’s "Green Revolution" brought the religious-oriented
Justice and Development Party to power in 2002. Its political direction
has been in search of balance in the region and peaceful relations
with its neighbours, including Armenia and the Kurds. In 2004 Russian
president Vladimir Putin signed a joint declaration of cooperation in
Ankara, updated in February 2009 by Gul and Russian President Dmitri
Medvedev in Moscow. Gul declared, "Russia and Turkey are neighbouring
countries that are developing their relations on the basis of mutual
confidence. I hope this visit will in turn give a new character to
our relations."

Key to this is Turkey’s proposal for the establishment of a Caucasus
Stability and Cooperation Platform. Following Gul’s visit, Turkish
media even described Turkish-Russian relations as a "strategic
partnership", which no doubt set off alarm bells in Washington.

None of this would be taking place without solid economic interests.

Turkish-Russian economic ties have greatly expanded over the past
decade, with trade reaching $33 billion in 2008, much if it gas and
oil, making Russia Turkey’s number one partner. They may soon use
the Turkish lira and the Russian ruble in foreign trade.

This is the context of Medvedev’s visit 13 January to Ankara, which
focused primarily on energy cooperation. Russia’s AtomStroiExport had
won the tender for the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear plant
last year, and Medvedev was eager to get final approval on Turkish
cooperation in Gazprom’s South Stream gas pipeline to Europe. Turkey
will soon get up to 80 per cent of its gas from Russia, but this
dependency is no longer viewed as a liability in light of the two
countries’ new strategic relations.

Just what will happen to the West’s rival Nabucco pipeline, also
intended to transit Turkey, is now a moot point. Nabucco hopes
to bring gas from Iran and Azerbaijan to Europe through Turkey
and Georgia. Given the standoff between the West and Iran and the
instability of Georgia, this alternative to Russia’s plans looks
increasingly unattractive. Azerbaijan, shrewdly, has already signed
up with South Stream.

Kommersant quoted Gazprom officials as saying that Turkey could soon
join Italy and Germany as Russia’s "strategic partner". Italy’s ENI is
co-funding the South Stream project. The other arm of Gazprom’s pincer
move around Ukraine is Nord Stream, and Germany late last year gave
its final approval for Nord Stream. A Polish minister compared the
Russia-Germany Nord Stream project to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentropp
pact, because the pipeline allows Russia to deliver gas to Western
Europe and "turn off the taps" to Ukraine in case it stops paying
or starts stealing gas as happened several times under the Orange
revolutionaries.

Turkey is very much a key player in this new Great Game, only it
appears to have changed sides. The Russian and Turkish prime ministers
voiced the hope that their trade would triple by 2015, and announced
plans to for a visa-free regime by May this year. "In the end, without
doubt, [a visa-free regime] will lead to activating cooperation
between our countries," said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.

The presidential elections now in progress in Ukraine could take some
of the wind out of the sails of South Stream. Its rationale could
be brought into question if the new Ukrainian president succeeds in
convincing Moscow that s/he will make sure no further hanky-panky
takes place. Ukraine, in dire economic straits, needs the transit
fees, which would disappear if current plans go ahead. But the damage
the Orange revolutionaries did to Ukraine’s economy and relations
with Russia is already a fait accompli. Says Alexander Rahr at the
German Council on Foreign Relations, "Under every leadership, Ukraine
will try to make use of its geographical position and the Russians
realized this some time ago. This is why they desperately need a way
to circumvent Ukraine."

Even if Ukraine, too, changes teams and rejects NATO expansion plans,
it will still have to thrash out a new role, most likely minus its gas
transit commissions. Contender Viktor Yanukovich has signaled he would
sign up to an economic cooperation agreement with Russia and smooth
over existing political problems like the question of the Russian
fleet and possibly the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Turkey could well follow suit. "If any Western country is going to
recognise the independence of Abkhazia, it will be Turkey because of
a large Abkhazian Diaspora there," says Rahr.

There is no reason why Ukraine couldn’t join the budding
Russian-Turkish alliance, founded on regional stability and peace,
unlike the current NATO-led one of confrontation and enmity. This would
leave only the mad Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili quixotically
fighting his windmills, dictator of a rump state — the very opposite
of his intended role as NATO’s valiant knight leading its march
eastward. Even inveterate Turkish foe Armenia seems eager to join
the new line-up, as last year’s exchange of ambassadors demonstrated.