Author: Nalbandian Albert

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Sept 1 2008

Black Sea Euroregion initiative needed more than ever’

Yavuz Mildon, president of the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local
and Regional Authorities (CLRA), says they are planning a second
Euroregion in the Black Sea whose bylaws will be open for signature on
Sept. 26 in Varna.

The congress launched the first Euroregion in Adriatic in 2006, he
said, but the task is more difficult in the Black Sea: "The political
climate in the Black Sea region is not quite warm as in the
Adriatic. So signatures would be collected in more time, not
immediately."

Mildon says Turkish and Russian participation in the initiative is
uncertain and points out that they do not aim to form a political
institution, but an institution to facilitate direct cooperation among
the provinces in the region. Referring to the brief war between
Georgia and Russia, he says it is important to have Russia and Georgia
around the table, because "big conflicts can be solved with the
efforts of the local administrations."

Mildon, elected president at the end of May by a unanimous vote,
elaborated on the role of the local administrations and changes to
Turkish laws regarding local authorities in an interview for Monday
Talk.

First of all, congratulations on your election as president. Have
there been any changes at the Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities since your election?

Thank you. We brought a 30 percent quota for women at all 47 national
representative delegations at the congress. It’s been a great pleasure
for me that a step toward increasing women’s political participation
has been taken during my term. Following this measure, we should work
toward increasing women candidates. I am hopeful to see more women
candidates in Turkish local elections next year as well.

At the local administrations level, Turkey’s record is embarrassing
when we look at women’s participation. There are 3,225 elected mayors
and only 18 of them are women, compared to an EU average of 20 percent
women. What can be done to improve this record?

We need special programs geared toward solving this problem. The main
problem is that a lot of Turkish women have not gained their economic
independence yet. For becoming a candidate in any election, you need
necessary financial resources. Except being a mayor, most local
positions are voluntary, so you need income from other sources, either
from your salaried job or business, to support yourself. Several
political party leaders in Turkey are working toward achieving more
women’s participation. In addition, the Turkish public expects this as
well.

What are the recent trends in Europe at the local and regional
administrations levels, and how can Turkey catch up?

Turkey’s municipalities need to develop more strategies at the local
level to catch up with all the developments — because provincial
councils are not passive as they used to be — and start to make their
voices heard more and more at the regional level. The EU has funds to
support developments, but on a project basis. Therefore, Turkish
administrations need to increase the number of projects.

What kind of projects can they develop?

There are many areas, from health and education to environment and
culture. Turkey does not have enough projects in that regard, even
though the latest changes in the law regarding municipality budgets
revenue gave the municipalities more financial power. The
municipalities now have about 45 percent more revenue and they should
use it to serve the people. The Council of Europe would follow the
developments in all member states regarding the issue. We should not
forget that local and regional administrations plus the civil society
organization, are going to carry Turkey to the European Union. It’s
not realistic to have expectations only from the government to realize
Turkey’s membership in the EU. Municipalities and civil society groups
have a major role in this direction, so they should be in close
partnership with each other. The local and regional administrations
should open their doors wide to civil groups in order to have a voice
in the EU. Just having rules changed and laws passed is not enough. We
need to see implementation. ¦ And in the implementation process, we
need to see more transparency to comply with the principles of the
Council of Europe.

What are those principles?

Human rights, democracy and the rule of law. I want to give an example
from Austria. A regional parliament member from Austria — at the same
time an active member of the congress that I am heading — once had a
record as a careless driver, and his driving license was
suspended. Next day he was found to be driving again. Following that,
his party asked for his resignation and he was erased from the
political arena.

We know that Turkey has been under observation at the general
parliamentary level by the Council of Europe. Is it watching Turkey at
the local level as well?

Yes, this is the job of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
of the Council of Europe.

Are there any scheduled observations?

Yes, rapporteurs will be in Turkey in October or November to prepare a
report. One of the rapporteurs is Anders Knape, president of the
Swedish Association of Local Authorities, and the one is Hans Ulrich
Stockling, former minister of education of Switzerland.

How often do such rapporteurs come to Turkey?

They may come in response to some complaints as well. In the past,
they have come in 2001 and 2005.

What type of complaints do they receive, and from whom?

It’s usually been the southeastern municipalities presenting some
written complaints regarding some issues. And Turkey has responded to
those. The complaints are usually related to technical issues and
there are some big issues related to the circumstances in the
Southeast too, but those concern the Turkish government.

Should Turkey expect a lot of criticism in the report that has yet to
be prepared?

In the latest report in 2005, the biggest problem was that the law
regarding municipality revenues had not been passed, although other
laws on municipalities and their responsibilities had passed. The
municipalities would have the responsibility to meet demands without
resources. So this main wrong has been corrected, and we don’t expect
a major problem.

You also point out the international role of the local
administrations. Would you elaborate on that?

Local and regional administrations have started to take on roles in
diplomacy. We call that `city diplomacy.’ I’ll explain that with an
example. After the latest crisis in Georgia subsides, I believe
Turkish municipalities will play a key role in helping out with the
problems of the municipalities in Georgia. The Georgian municipalities
will need support to correct their infrastructure, plus support in
strengthening their local democracies. And Turkish municipalities have
been good examples for Azerbaijani municipalities and municipalities
in the Balkans. I’m planning a visit to both Russia and Georgia in
September. I will go to both South and North Ossetia, because from day
one of the conflict there have been thousands of people who have moved
from the south to the north. We will document the damage to the
infrastructure and make sure ways of convening local and regional
assemblies remain open.

Are there new international projects of the Congress?

We are planning a second Euroregion in the Black Sea. On Sept. 26 in
Varna, we will open its bylaws for signature. We also had our
preparatory meeting in [the Turkish Black Sea province of] Samsun.

Where is the first Euroregion?

We launched it in the Adriatic in 2006. It is important that those
Euroregions cover both member and non-member states. So all regions
around the Adriatic has been members. However, political climate in
the Black Sea region is not quite warm as in the Adriatic. So
signatures would be collected in more time, not immediately.

What would a Black Sea Euroregion yield?

In the Black Sea, the intergovernmental platform has been represented
by the Black Sea Economic Cooperation] BSEC [inter parliamentary
platform has been represented by PABSEC [Parliamentary Assembly of the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation]. There has not been an
inter-territorial platform, and that’s what we are trying to
establish. We don’t aim to form a political institution. For example,
the northern Black Sea province of Sinop can have more cooperation
with Ukraine’s Odessa in the cultural and economic fields within the
limits of municipality issues. Look at the world during World War
II. They were able to make long-lasting peace due to the cooperation
of the local administrations. And in today’s circumstances, it is
important to have Russia and Georgia around the table, because big
conflicts can be solved with the efforts of the local authorities.

What are the countries which are likely to support the Black Sea
Euroregion initiative?

As EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania want to take an active role
in this. Armenia said that it will participate. Ukraine is positive. A
region in Georgia will be represented. We don’t know the attitudes of
Turkey and Russia yet. I think the Turkish Interior Ministry will
participate and some Black Sea provinces of Turkey will be in Varna.

Do you plan to have more Euroregions?

We are planning another in the Baltic.

In various positions on the Council of Europe, you served as observer
of elections in many new democracies. What have you seen in those
places?

I served as an elections observer in new democracies such as Albania,
Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The Council of Europe
played a big role in the democratic transition of these countries,
especially at the local administration level. We base our principles
on a document that requires autonomy at the local administrative
level. This basic document of the Council of Europe has been signed by
almost all 47 countries and has been implemented. Election observation
has played a crucial role in the new democracies because they complied
with our reports to improve their systems.

Would you give a few examples regarding your observations in those
countries?

One thing immediately comes to mind. The head of the family would come
to the [polls] and cast votes for the members of the family. This had
widespread application but has been reduced nowadays.

Have you noticed any such cases in Turkey?

Even if there are some, those are few. I should note that the Turkish
election system is much better than a lot of Western democracies. I
say that especially after seeing what has happened as a result of the
election in Florida in 2000. And the Council of Europe has played a
key role in Turkey, too. As I mentioned, it prepared a report based on
election observations in 2001 and 2005. There will be another one
coming up. The 2005 report was prepared after Turkey passed new laws
regarding special administration of its provinces.

What are those changes specifically?

Those laws helped Turkey’s democratization process a lot. As a result,
the office of the governor has been reformed. Previously, the head of
the provincial council was the governor. Now, the head of the
provincial council is elected among the members of the provincial
council. The [Justice and Development Party] AK Party government was
courageous enough to pass those laws that were not previously changed
by other governments.

Why?

It is not so easy to change established institutions like the system
regarding the governor because the system has been there for at least
a hundred years. Even the Western democracies have difficulties in
doing that, though they often give advice to Turkey.

Could you talk about those difficulties in the West?

Take France, for example. They have a regional structure; first a
central government, then regions, then departments and then
communes. There are 36,000 communes in France. They know that so many
communes are not necessary but they cannot reform it. In one commune,
called Verdun, there are no constituents, but a mayor!

Yavuz Mildon He was elected by unanimous vote on May 27 as the
President of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities, which represents over 200,000 communities in 47
countries. He is also the leader of the Turkish delegation to the
congress and has been a member of the Provincial Council of
Ã?anakkale since 1994. He joined the Congress of Local and
Regional Authorities in 1995. He was elected vice president of the
Chamber of Regions in 2000 and president of the chamber in
2004. Occupying a variety of posts, including member of the Standing
Committee, he acted as rapporteur on several occasions, particularly
on regional democracy in Moldova and Albania.

He was president of the Gelibolu Chamber of Commerce and Industry from
1988 to 1992 and a member (2000) then chair (2002) of the Board of the
Unions of Seafood and Meat Exporters of Turkey. He runs the Mildon
Fish and Shellfish Company in Gelibolu and has been chairman of this
seafood export company since the 1980s.

01 September 2008, Monday
YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ?AN Ä°STANBUL

DARON MALAKIAN AND JOHN DOYMAYAN TALK ABOUT SYSTEM OF A DOWN HIATUS AND SCARS ON BROADWAY

Metal Underground, MD
m?newsid=38644&comments=1
Aug 27 2008

Timesonline writer Robert Collins recently sat down with Scars on
Broadway members Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan to discuss System of
a Down’s hiatus and whether the band will reunite in the near future.

"We took a break before we broke up," admits Dolmayan. "After 12 years,
it’s not so much that you get tired of the people you’re with, it’s
more that you don’t have an identity. I think System will co-exist
with Scars. They will probably leapfrog each other."

"I don’t know Jack White," adds Malakian, the guitarist and songwriter,
"but I like what he does in the White Stripes. I’ve only heard a couple
of songs from the Raconteurs, but I liked that, too. As artists,
we don’t want our music to be a brand like Coca-Cola. You want to
scratch those creative itches: things that you couldn’t do in certain
situations. There are things in Scars that aren’t in System. I love
metal, but I was taking a new direction. I wanted to express the side
of me that likes Roxy Music, the Beatles and the Grateful Dead."

Now that having a second band almost makes sense, musicians are
leaping on the opportunity to explore new avenues with new, and old,
friends. But it’s an aside from Malakian that perhaps sheds the
most light on this relatively new phenomenon. With record companies
under more pressure than ever before, if profitable musicians want
to release music under different names, labels are in no position to
dissuade them.

"Columbia wanted the record, but they let us go out and shop it
anyway," Malakian explains. "And once we shopped it, we said, ‘Man,
we don’t want to be on Columbia any more.’ Columbia don’t want to burn
that bridge for when System returns, so they let us do what we want."

Rumors are circulating that the band will be reuniting to represent
Armenia in next year’s Eurovision song contest to be hosted in Russia,
but this rumor has not yet been officially confirmed by the band.

Interfax, Russia
Aug 22 2008

About 2,500 servicemen participating in CSTO war games in Armenia

YEREVAN Aug 22

The Frontier 2008 exercise of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization began in Armenia on Friday.

The military attaches of the United States, Britain, China, Iran,
Greece and Bulgaria are observing the exercise, Armenian Defense
Ministry spokesman Col. Seiran Shakhsuvarian told Interfax.

The Georgian military attache is not attending.

The drill involves 1,392 Armenian servicemen and 1,106 servicemen from
Russia. Armor, air defense systems and aviation, including MiG-29 and
Su-25 fighter jets and Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters, will be used in the
maneuvers.

The delegations of the CSTO member-states will observe the active
phase of the command-post exercise, which unfolded at the Bagramian
training ground 40 kilometers west of Yerevan.

The troops will practice operations to provide military and
military-technical aid to Armenia in the event of aggression.

The plan of the exercise is conditional, but takes the current
military-political and military-strategic situation in the region into
account.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization comprises Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

ARMENIAN IRANIAN POET VARAND BECOMES MEMBER OF BRITISH GUILD OF INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITERS AND COMPOSERS

Noyan Tapan

Au g 20, 2008

TEHRAN, AUGUST 20, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. Well-known
Armenian Iranian writer and translator Varand was recently elected
and registered as a member of Great Britain’s Guild of International
Songwriters and Composers. According to "Aliq" daily, the requirements
for joining the Guild include creative abilities, experience and
validity.

In addition to being awarded an order of the RA ministry of culture
during the recent All-Armenian conference of writers, Varand will
be given an annual Yeghishe award of the Union of Writers of the NKR
based on a decision of the union’s board, the chairman of the Union
of Writers Vardan Hakobian announced at a literary meeting in the
city of Shushi (Artsakh).

NATIONAL YOUTH FOOTBALL TEAM OF ARMENIA BEATEN BY RUSSIAN TEAM AT START OF INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION IN PALANGA

Noyan Tapan

Au g 20, 2008

PALANGA, AUGUST 20, NOYAN TAPAN. An international youth competition
with the participation of 8 teams began in Palanga (Lithuania) on
August 19. The rivals of Armenian under-17 footballers included in
1st group are those from Russia, Moldova and Lithuania. In the first
round, Armenia’s team lost to Russian footballers with a 0-3 score.

ANKARA GOES EASY WITH FLIGHT ACCESS TO ARMENIA

Gözlem Gazetes
Aug 20 2008
Turkey

As Ankara relaxes its air space quota for Armenia, it appears Turkey
has spotted an opportunity to use the crisis in Georgia to ease its
strained relationship with Armenia.

Ankara decided to loosen its air space quota for Armenia to allow
easier access for humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia. The most
visible aim is to contribute to aid efforts by facilitating the
transfer of material via Armenia and to help civilians leave Georgia by
using Yerevan as an alternative to Baku, which is already overcrowded.

European countries mostly used Georgian and Russian air space before
the war. Charter flights from Istanbul and Trabzon to Yerevan were
already available; now all planes flying to and from Yerevan are
granted flight permission.

Ankara’s move is also considered a new gesture towards Armenia,
in addition to considerations of aid to civilians. The neighboring
countries’ ties are strained over genocide claims, Armenian occupation
on Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian referral to eastern Anatolia as
western Armenia’in official documents. However, the possibility of
a thaw has been seen in recent months, as Armenian President Serge
Sarkisian invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to watch a World
Cup 2010 qualifying game between the two countries in Yerevan on
Sept. 6. Gul’s answer to Sarkisian’s invitation is still not clear.

It is not known whether Ankara will extend its relaxed air space
quota until the match date.

Armenia to be drawn to Caucasus stability platform Meanwhile, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will go to Azerbaijan to talk over
his proposal for a Platform for Stability and Cooperation in the
Caucasus. Erdogan is expected to go to Baku today to present his plan
with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. We will discuss the project
with Armenia to construct a cooperation region with five countries,
Erdogan said during a lunch at the Turkey-Africa summit in Istanbul
yesterday.

Erdogan previously held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin following the outbreak of war. He
also shared the proposal to form a platform for promotion of
multilateral dialogue with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

–Boundary_(ID_717TZcdUuQjfgrn6LHRWx g)–

Javakhk Armenians Call for a Federal Georgia

AKHALKALAKI, Georgia (A-Info) — The following is the declaration of
the the Council of Armenian Non-Governmental Organizations of
Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli.

DECLARATION

Now that the military operations have stopped and the repositioning
of military forces in the country is slowly retuning to the status quo
ante of August 6;

When the conflicting parties and the international community are
searching for ways out of the current situation and in order to
re-establish the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty;

It is clear, that the main victim of attempts to resolve inter-ethnic
issues through military operations is the peaceful population, without
any positive movements on the political front, on the contrary, with
complicated political consequences;

We, the public representatives of the Armenian population of
Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli, concerned with re-establishing
peace and stability in our country, assert that:

a) In order to re-establish Georgia’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty and, as a guarantee to the country’s stability and
democratic development to resolve the ethnic conflicts in an
objective, just and legal manner, Georgia should have a federal state
structure, composed of territorial units and a central government;

b) Under the federal system of state structure, the central
authorities of Georgia will retain all the powers provided by the
subsections of the first section of Article 3 of the Constitution of
Georgia;

c) The basis for the creation of the territorial units should be the
needs for preserving and advancing the ethnic identity of the
nationalities comprising Georgia’s population;

d) Samtskhe-Javakheti — with its current boundaries and with the
neighboring mainly Armenian-populated areas of the Kvemo Kartli region
— should have the status of a territorial unit comprising the
Georgian federal state, with broad self-governing rights, including
the right to free elections by the population for all local
self-governing bodies and jurisdiction over cultural, educational and
socio-economic policies, as well as the spheres of public order, local
self-government and environmental protection in Samtskhe-Javakheti;

e) Guarantees should be provided through the constitution, that the
Armenian language will be a regional official language in
Samtskhe-Javakheti, in addition to the official state language;

f) The representation of Samtskhe-Javakheti in the legislative,
executive and judicial branches of government of Georgia should be
constitutionally guaranteed.

It is about time, that the political elite of Georgia acknowledge,
once and for all, that:

– The way to the development and strengthening of the state is through
its formation on the basis prescribed above;
– In order to re-establish the integrity of the country the
law-abiding citizens should be sufficiently appreciated, their
concerns and reasonable demands should be heard, and they should be
provided with at least as much jurisdiction as is being promised to
those who have raised arms against the state;
– The country’s integration into Euro-Atlantic structures first of all
requires complete adoption and application of European values and the
complete and immediate realization of obligations — including those
regarding the full protection of national minorities — undertaken
vis a vis European institutions.

We are aware that this declaration will not be received unequivocally.
There will be efforts to misconstrue or misuse it. But we, as
citizens concerned with Georgia’s destiny, could not refrain from
repeating the truth, which we have been proclaiming for years. We are
guided solely by the the interests of Georgia and Samtskhe-Javakheti,
which is a component unit of the country. This is what the memory of
those who fell during the last clashes requires; this is what the
right of return of those hundreds of thousands of the recently
displaced people requires; this is what the future of Georgia
requires.

Council of Armenian Non-Governmental Organizations
of Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli.

19 August 2008, Akhalkalaki
[email protected]

-0-
20080819-a

>>>>>

(c) Copyright A-INFO

ainfonewsagency@gmai l.com

TRADE GROWS BY 5.9%, SERVICES BY 16.2% IN ARMENIA IN FIRST HALF OF 2008 ON SAME PERIOD OF 2007

Noyan Tapan

Au g 19, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Trade amounted to 659 bln 614.1 mln
drams or over 2 bln 144.5 mln USD in current prices in Armenia in
January-June 2008, growing by 5.9% in comparable prices as compared
with the index of the same period of 2007.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, retail tarde made
412 bln 893.4 mln drams in current prices in January-June 2008,
growing by 5% in comparable prices on the same period of last year.

Services amounted to 324 bln 49.7 mln drams in current prices
in January-June 2008, increasing by 16.2% in comparable prices as
compared with the respective index of 2007.

Xinhua General News Service
August 15, 2008 Friday 11:40 AM EST

Results of men’s 85kg weightlifting at Beijing Olympics

BEIJING Aug. 15

Following are the results of the men’s 85kg weightlifting at the
Beijing Olympics on Friday:

1. Lu Yong, China, 394kg WR (180kg in snatch/214kg in jerk)

2. Andrei Rybakou, Belarus, 394kg (185kg/209kg)

3. Tigran Varban Martirosyan, Armenia, 380kg (177kg/203kg)

4. Vladimir Sedov, Kazakhstan, 380kg (180kg/200kg)

5. Jadier Valladares, Cuba, 372kg (169kg/203kg)

6. Benjamin Hennequin, France, 367kg (162kg/205kg)

7. Mansurbek Chashemov, Uzbekistan, 367kg (165kg/202kg)

8. Intiqam Zairov, Azerbaijan, 361kg (166kg/195kg)

Gainesville Times, GA

Georgians prepared in fight, Guardsman says
Dawsonville man helped train army

A stretcher team carries a simulated Georgian army casualty through
rotor wash into a waiting Blackhawk medical evacuation helicopter.

POSTED Aug. 17, 2008 1:56 a.m.

As the clash between Russian and Georgian soldiers continues half a
world away, a Dawsonville member of the Georgia National Guard said he
is concerned for the Georgian soldiers he got to know last month
during three weeks of military exercises in their country.

"There’s a personal connection there because of being able to work
with these folks and I’m concerned because their line of work takes
them into harm’s way," said Maj. John H. Alderman IV, a public affairs
officer with the Winder-based 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment.

"So I’ve been worried about them but I also know that they’re going to
do the best that they can, and they’re going to do their job well. And
they’re going to serve their country the same way I serve mine."

Alderman, who graduated in 1995 from North Georgia College & State
University and lives in Dawsonville, returned with his fellow guard
members Aug. 2 from exercises in the country of Georgia. The
multinational exercises had been planned since 2006.

Members of both the 121st and the Glenville-based 122nd Rear
Operations Center, along with other American forces, spent much of
July in the Asian country of Georgia. Some 1,000 Americans and 1,000
soldiers from the countries of Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia and
Azerbaijan took part in Immediate Response 2008, featuring coalition
forces who will be going to Iraq. "Interoperability," or learning how
to work together, is the goal of the annual exercise, Alderman said.

Alderman said until last week, the country of Georgia represented the
third-largest contributor of coalition forces in Iraq after the United
States and United Kingdom. The Georgian army forces began returning
home from Iraq when Russians invaded the country on Aug. 8. "It was
great to work with (the Georgians). We’re good partners and they’ve
been a huge support in the war on terror down in Iraq," Alderman said.

During the July exercises, the 121st worked with the Georgian army,
participating in live-fire exercises, practicing maneuvers and taking
a Combat Lifesaver course, Alderman said. The 122nd trained the
commander of a Georgian army brigade and his staff in how to deploy
and lead their troops, he said.

Alderman said the forces were "fully integrated" during the exercises,
teaming Americans and Georgians side by side. This required using
interpreters and hand signals to communicate, both very valuable
skills for coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Alderman said.

One of the members of the Georgian army Alderman worked closely with
lived for a time with relatives in Atlanta ‘ whose sister city is
Tblisi ‘ and pointed out that behind New York, the largest number of
people from the country of Georgia living in the United States reside
in the state of Georgia.

Both Americans and multinational forces also were able to pick up a
few words of each other’s languages, which sometimes is all that is
needed when dealing with civilians and others in foreign lands,
Alderman said.

"That’s great training, too, because many of the places we go in the
world, that’s going to be the case. When we’re on the ground in Iraq,
we have to be able to communicate with Iraqis," he said. "It’s a great
opportunity for soldiers to understand that language matters and if
you can learn 10 or 15 words, that makes a difference."

In addition to dealing with language barriers both with civilians and
among themselves, the maneuvers practiced by the multinational forces
included scenarios that might be common on the ground in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Scenarios included establishing a relationship with a
local police chief in a mock village and raiding a simulated insurgent
bomb-making facility, he said.

"If you’re in a village and someone attacks you, they’re not attacking
you in a vacuum on a chessboard where there’s two armies. They’re
attacking you in a place where people live and they sell things and
they bring their kids to get water and take them to play soccer or
whatever," Alderman said. "Because of that, these simulated
situational exercises are designed to let them deal with that and they
have to understand that that’s part of the battlefield and they have
to be careful … and how do you operate in that environment."

Other than the purely military exercises, Alderman said part of the
training also includes time to learn about the culture of the host
country. Alderman said he and fellow soldiers got to explore the
country of Georgia and meet its people during the three weeks spent
there.

American soldiers not only attended Mass at a Georgian Catholic
church, but also visited an orphanage outside the capital of
Tblisi. The director of the orphanage showed Alderman and fellow
troops a decade-old photo that showed members of the Georgia National
Guard when American forces last visited the country.

To his amusement, Alderman said that on the road to Tblisi, he saw
local farmers selling watermelons out of the trunks of their cars ‘ a
reminder of July in the state of Georgia.

The country of Georgia is located on the Black Sea between Russia and
Turkey on a confluence of rivers and cultures. It was one of the first
Christian nations, established as a kingdom hundreds of years before
the Crusades. The Caucasus Mountains separate Georgia from Russia in
the region of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.

The capital is a fairly modern city, Alderman said, and the heart of
Tblisi is very Western in appearance with shops, restaurants and book
stalls. But outside the capital, it is very clear that parts of the
country are deep in poverty, Alderman said. Many areas don’t have
paved roads.

The city and other parts of the country also feature monasteries and
citadels that are centuries old. Icons of St. George, often depicted
in Christian religious art across Europe, also feature prominently
across Georgia, Alderman said. Even the country’s flag is a
St. George’s cross.

Georgia, currently embroiled again in conflict with Russia, has a long
history with its neighbor. As Russia expanded its territory to take
over its neighbors, Georgia became part of the Soviet Union in the
early 1920s and was a key strategic site for the Soviets. After the
Cold War ended and the Soviet Union began to break apart, Georgia
declared its sovereignty in 1992. Some breakaway provinces, such as
South Ossetia, retain close ties to Russia.

Alderman said the Georgians’ tensions with Russia weren’t a focus for
himself or his fellow soldiers. They were simply concentrating on the
task at hand: training coalition forces for deployment to Iraq. As a
matter of fact, Russians were conducting exercises in their own
country and in the Bering Sea with Norway and the U.S.

"We were there for an exercise," Alderman said. "We were there to do
our job."

Alderman said the Soviet stamp remains visible across Georgia.
Soviet-era bases and military machinery now are in Georgian hands. In
Tblisi, many buildings clearly are Soviet architecture, including
buildings with friezes featuring hammers from the hammer and sickle
that was the symbol of the Soviet Union.

He said much of the construction was similar to what he had seen when
he was deployed to Iraq in 2005.

"But the Georgian flag is all over the place and the people are very
happy and very friendly," Alderman said.

The country of Georgia "is making its mark," Alderman said. "They have
chosen to align themselves with the West."