Author: Nanijanian Alex

SYSTEM’S GOT IT DOWN

Edmonton Journal, Canada
June 24 2006

With: Hatebreed
When: Sunday, 7 p.m.
Where: Rexall Place
Tickets: $39.75 to $55.75 (plus service charges) at Ticketmaster
– – –

Band hasn’t let success overshadow personal pursuits — like poker
and brokering an apology for a century-old wrong

EDMONTON – Photos rarely capture the true essence of a band, but
this portrait of System of a Down comes close to representing the
four faces of the Armenian-American metal acrobats.

Goofy. Devilish. Aloof. Brooding.

There’s vocalist Serj Tankian, the curly-haired Rasputin figure with
a silly grin.

His lyrics on System’s last two albums, Mezmerize and Hypnotize,
are just as loopy. Interspersed with biting condemnations of war,
politics and Hollywood are unexpected bursts of nonsense: "Banana
banana banana terra cotta!" he sings on Vicinity of Obscenity.

Then, there’s guitarist Daron Malakian, the wide-eyed scamp who looks
like he’s trying to conjure up a halo over his head.

His bratty vocals on Lost In Hollywood and B.Y.O.B. provide a
counterpoint to Tankian’s deeper, richer tones.

There’s bassist Shavo Odadjian, who looks more interested in what’s
beyond the camera’s reach.

Similarly, you won’t find any of System’s members hamming it up for the
paparazzi, hanging out with the likes of Paris Hilton or Tara Reid in
the pages of Us or In Touch. Instead, the musicians would rather remain
distant from the Hollywood machine — or talk about issues that don’t
get a lot of media exposure, such as the Armenian genocide of 1915.

Finally, there’s drummer John Dolmayan, who admits he never smiles in
snapshots or on stage. His menacing look mirrors the group’s heavier,
darker side. It also comes in handy when he visits his favourite Las
Vegas casinos.

What this photo doesn’t reveal is Dolmayan’s passion for poker. He
even lives in Sin City, making him the only band member who doesn’t
reside in the Los Angeles area.

"I don’t know if I’m good … yet," he says via cellphone, on his
way to a poker game.

"Let’s just say that I’ve only been playing for 10 years. I was
playing mostly home games and now I’m playing more at the casinos
so I’m getting better, learning a lot more. You don’t learn sh–
at the home games because everyone sucks just like you.

"For me, it’s relaxing, it takes my mind off everyday life. I do it
occasionally, but I play to win. I look at it as a game of chess. I’m
pretty much even — I haven’t had great successes but I haven’t had
great failures either. I’ve got a great poker face."

True, but even Dolmayan wasn’t willing to bet System could release
two chart-topping metal masterpieces in less than a year — 2005’s
Mezmerize and Hypnotize. Nor did he think he’d ever end up hobnobbing
with U.S. politicians. But earlier this year, Dolmayan and Tankian
flew to Washington, D.C., to talk to U.S. senators and congressmen
about an issue close to their hearts.

In 1915, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were evacuated and later
killed by the Ottoman Empire, now known as Turkey.

Dolmayan thinks it’s about time for an official apology and wants
the U.S. to lean on the Turkish government.

"We had families who were extinguished in this genocide and the
people who perpetrated it have never been brought to justice," he
says. "That’s wrong. I can’t live a happy life without making an
effort to make that right. We don’t necessarily blame the Turkish
people because they’re taught from birth it didn’t happen. And during
the genocide, a lot of Turkish people helped Armenians at great risk
to themselves. We were neighbours; we helped each other. Our ancestors
were really close."

Dolmayan believes his words were taken seriously by politicians,
but he doesn’t think it will lead to an instant solution.

"All efforts lead to something," he says. "It might not be this year,
it might not be because of our trip, but if you’re going to run a
marathon, you have to take the first step. … We’re going to continue
to fight for it. It should be important to other people, too. As you
can see, genocides are still being committed. If we don’t care what
happened in the past, why should we care what’s happening now?"

By year’s end, Dolmayan will have a lot more time to lobby
politicians. After 11 years and five albums, the band members want
to take a bit of a breather and work on other projects.

Tankian will be busy with his label, Serjical Strike Records.

Odadjian will channel his inner hip-hop homie while recording with
members of Wu-Tang Clan. Malakian plans to start another group,
Scars on Broadway.

Dolmayan says he’ll take part in some of these extra-curricural
recordings. "I’ll be more than happy to help them out." You’ll also
find the drummer playing poker — but don’t expect him to turn up
on one of those celebrity TV games. "Definitely not interested,"
he says. "They’re godawful."

He’ll also be hanging out in his warehouse, where he keeps his
collection of old-school arcade games — including Tempest, Donkey
Kong and Tron — and four million comic books. His favourite title?

Fantastic Four. "It’s a great hobby," he says. "It fulfils my nerd
credentials."

His nerdiness was apparent as a kid.

"I treated (comics) pretty seriously right away," he says.

"Being a drummer, I’m kind of anal — it’s the truth; most drummers
are. I wanted to take care of them, organize them; I was pretty
meticulous. So I didn’t just buy them and throw them away. They were
a great introduction to reading novels. I think they’re very healthy
for kids — they expand your mind, your imagination, your reading.

It’s a great way to achieve learning for kids who get sick of some
of the more boring stuff they teach you in school. Which I hated."

Comics are also a great way to achieve your dreams. During System’s
hiatus, Dolmayan also plans to start up an Internet company based
on comics. He doesn’t want to reveal much, but he says it will be up
and running within the next 18 months.

"Believe me, you’ll find out about it," he says.

You can almost hear him smiling. Almost.

[email protected]

Read Sandra’s blog at

SYSTEM SNAPSHOT

– Formed: In 1995 in Los Angeles.

– Members: Serj Tankian (vocals/guitar), Daron Malakian
(guitar/vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass), John Dolmayan (drums).

– Heritage: All four are Armenian. Dolmayan was born in Lebanon,
then moved to Montreal, where he demolished his first drum set at
the age of seven. After a few years, his family headed to Los Angeles.

– Discography: System of a Down (1998), Toxicity (2001), Steal This
Album! (2002), Mezmerize (2005), Hypnotize (2005).

– Quote: "A lot of people look at System and see us as very serious
and political or however they want to look at us," says Dolmayan. "We
are. We have that side, but each of us have another side to us. We
enjoy being fans of other things and being kids in a lot of ways.

"Believe me, if you want to get into other aspects of my life, I’m
very serious about bringing to light the Armenian genocide issue.

There’s a lot of things wrong with the planet that I’d like to see
righted. But you can’t be that all the time, otherwise it just gets
boring. I like to enjoy things, too, I don’t want to sit in my room
and sulk all day."

Folk dance duo
By Steve Macone/ Correspondent

Medfield Press, MA
June 23 2006

Thursday, June 22, 2006 – Updated: Jun 23, 2006 11:55 AM EST

Jack and Niari Keverian, along with about 80 others from their
Armenian folk dancing troupe, will leave for a two-week tour in
Armenia on Friday.

They are two of about 30 dancers – some of whom hail from Waltham –
who, along with crew and directors from the Sayat Nova Dance Company
of Greater Boston, will celebrate the troupe’s 20th anniversary with
seven main shows scheduled across the country, the biggest one in
capital city of Yerevan’s opera house.

"This is…on the most widely known stage that I’ve ever been on.

I guess you could say it’s the biggest performance of my life," said
Niari, who has traveled to Florida, Canada and Detroit for dancing.

The company will perform Armenian folk dance with a "modern twist"
in smaller cities and villages such as Stepanakert, Goris, Gyumri,
as well as in a military base in Yerevan.

Jack and Niari will have their two sisters, mother and father,
grandfather, aunt and uncle there for support.

Niari has been dancing since she was one. She graduated this year
from the University of New Hampshire with a minor in dance, and she
said dancing has always been a part of her life.

"I’ve always been around it. My mother and her sister, my aunt,
danced with the group before it was known as Sayat Nova," she said.

"I used to watch the performances back stage along with the director’s
daughter. Now we’re dancing with each other in Armenia," Niari said.

Niari said she is only nervous about getting sick on the trip.

"If you get sick you have no time to get better because we have such
a crazy schedule," she said. "About performing, though, not in the
least. I’m more excited than anything else."

Jack, an acrobatic soloist, will have many leads in the dancing
stories.

"I’ll be going on the ground, doing splits in the air. You can’t
really describe it," he said.

Jack has been to Armenia before. Two years ago, he spent a summer
volunteering at an orphanage. It is to that same region that he will
return to perform in front of 10 to 15 thousand people, hopefully
including the priest and others he stayed with before.

Jack, who will be a sophomore at UMass Amherst in the fall, said he
is excited about the food and the atmosphere.

"We’re going to six different regions and performing for these people
that have not seen performers from America in a while, especially
from an area like Watertown with such a large Armenian population."

Watertown, the home base of the troupe, has the third largest Armenian
population in the country.

The troupe is also preparing for the other part of its anniversary
celebration: performances on Sept. 30 and October 1 at the Cutler
Majestic Theater in Boston.

In preparation for the trip, Jack came home from college every Sunday
all year for rehearsal. After April, it was every Tuesday, too.

With that back and forth, he said he’s recorded traveling a total of
12,000 miles by car already for this trip.

Jack and Niari’s mother Diane, who danced with the company from 1968
to 1987 when Jack was born, said she is excited for the trip, which
will also be a way for her children to connect with their heritage.

"The dancing is not just about dancing. There’s a story line behind
each dance," she said.

"The last time I was in Armenia, it was a Soviet republic," said
Mrs. Keverian. "I’m looking forward to seeing what the dancers’
reaction will be to the audience that they will be performing in
front of."

"What I hope is that when they return they will introduce the Boston
audiences to what Armenian folk dance and what the Armenian culture
is about," she said.

Collective Security Treaty Organization summit opens in Belarus

ITAR-TASS, Russia
June 23 2006

23.06.2006, 17.38

MINSK, June 23 (Itar-Tass) – The second summit in a day opened y in
the Belarussian capital Minsk on Friday with the participation of
Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He attends the meeting of the Council of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) together with the presidents of Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia – Alexander Lukashenko,
Nursultan Nazarbayev, Emomali Rakhmonov, Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Robert
Kocharyan.

The presidents are to sign later in the day a document on the action
of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian region.

"The agreement on the procedure of rapid deployment, use and
comprehensive support of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces will
be of much importance for development of cooperation in the military
sphere," a high-ranking Kremlin source told Itar-Tass.

CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said that the task was "to
transform the CSTO in an evolutional way from the military-political
block into an international multifunctional universal organization
able to react by collective efforts to all categories of challenges
that the states confront".

"Apart from the military component, we shall seriously develop the
political cooperation and attend to the formation of a peacekeeping
potential," Bordyuzha said meeting Putin a month ago.

He then said that the peacekeeping forces "will be used both within
the boundaries of operation of the CSTO and beyond the boundaries of
the Organization on a UN mandate".

The Kremlin administration source said that "matters of further
improvement and enhancement of the effectiveness of the Organization’s
activity, development of the integration in military and other areas
of cooperation are in the centre of attention of the Council of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization".

"Thorough analysis of the military-political situation in the CSTO
operational area and adjacent areas will be carried out at the summit,"
the Kremlin official said.

Bordyuzha said that the CSTO was pursuing "concrete measures to stop
the Afghan drug traffic".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the CSTO could have
effectively interact with NATO in this area. He expressed regret that
the Western alliance "is still not ready to establish cooperation
with the CSTO".

The Kremlin source also said that the presidents would pay "serious
attention to matters of interaction of CSTO member states in prevention
of illegal trade in small and light arms".

"It is planned to coordinate a text of a CSTO statement at a UN
conference on this problem", he said.

The six former Soviet republics signed the Collective Security Treaty
in 1992 months after the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent
States.

Ten years later, in May 2002, the treaty was transformed into the CSTO.

Its key goal is national security and the territorial integrity of
every member state.

The CSTO has the obligation to provide necessary help, including
military one, in case of emergence of a threat to any of its members.

The CSTO system includes regional subsystems that operate in three
areas – East European, engaging a Russian-Belarussian military
grouping; Caucasian that is in charge of the Russian-Armenian grouping;
and Central Asian, where the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces were
formed for the region in 2001.

The participation in the CSTO also envisions political cooperation
of the member states.

One of important goals of the CSTO is creating a mechanism for
coordination of political stances of the members on events in the
international life.

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER VISITS AJARA

The Messenger, Georgia
June 22 2006

Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian is visiting Armenia to
discuss an opening of the Yerevan-Batumi railway line.

Arminfo learned at the Press Office of the Armenian Government that
both sides talked about the dynamic development of Georgian-Armenian
political and economic relations, and stressed the importance of
joint agreements and the opportunely to fulfill previous agreements,
namely, the launch of Yerevan-Batumi Railway Link. The corresponding
agreement was reached last summer when Andranik Margarian met with
the Georgian President and Prime Minister.

Irakli Chogovadze, Minister of Economic Development, noted that the
Batumi-Yerevan railway line would become additional inspiration
to increase tourism between the two states. He said the Georgian
government made considerable investments in Ajara for improvement
in motorways and infrastructure, constructing new hotels, repairing
Batumi Airport. It is anticipated that over 50 000 Armenian tourists
will visit Georgia this year.

The sides also talked about the Samtskhe-Javakheti Region,
predominantly populated by Armenians. Chogovadze noted that the
Georgian authorities, taking into account the grave socioeconomic
situation of the segion, spent large sums rehabilitating motorways.

Andranik Margarian said that he was going to visit Batumi in July
within the Georgian-Armenian Intergovernmental Commission.

SHAVARSH KOCHARIAN: WE SHOULD NOT POLITICIZE SITUATION IN JAVAKHK BUT TRY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS STEP BY STEP

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 20 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. "Of course, the
result of discussion of problems accumulated in Javakhk (region of
Samtskhe-Javakheti in Georgia populated with Armenians) at the state
level would be higher than at the level of experts and NGOs, but
we have problems and they need to be discussed," Hranush Kharatian,
Head of the Department of Armenian Government on Issues of Religion
and National Minorities, declared. At the June 20 press conference
dedicated to summing up the results of the working meeting among
experts and representatives of NGOs of Armenia and Georgia held lately
in Akhalkalak, she also emphasized that unless the political figures
have a will or possibilities to discuss the problems of Javakhk, this
should be done by experts and NGO representatives as any dialogue
is necessary.

Another participant of the working meeting, MP Shavarsh Kocharian
mentioned that Javakhk is faced with many problems, including problems
of self-government, problem of language and problems of socio-economic
character. The latters have become deeper after withdrawing the Russian
military base from Akhalkalak where 1500 local residents worked. As
the MP estimated, the situation deepens in Javakhk, which can result
in an explosion. And in this respect, in his opinion, we should not
politicize the situation but try to solve the problems we have there
step by step.

Shavarsh Kocharian mentioned that there are issues, in particular,
the issue of not mastering the Georgian language, the solution of
which requires certain time or transitional period. According to him,
no one doubts that the state language of Georgia is Georgian but
study of the Georgian language should not be done at the expense of
ousting of the Armenian language.

Hranush Kharatian expressed an analogous point of view. According to
her, if the Georgian authorities decide to be engaged in this problem,
they have no sufficient funds for this. In her opinion, a weighed
approach should be applied in this issue. While, today the Georgian
state takes hasty steps in this issue and the population of Javakhk
also reacts hastily and emotionally.

The participants of the meeting expressed the hope that this meeting
will become a prologue for further discussion of problems of Javakhk
at the level of experts and NGOs.

OSCE REPRESENTATIVE FOR MEDIA ISSUES VISITS EDITORIAL OFFICE OF AZG DAILY
By Karine Danielian

AZG Armenian Daily
21/06/2006

Miklos Haraszti, OSCE Representative for Mass Media Issues, has arrived
in Armenia at the invitation of RA Foreign Ministry. His mission is to
get familiarized with the mass media situation in Armenia at the spot.

On June 19, Mr. Haraszti and Vladimir Pryakhin, OSCE Ambassador in
Armenia, visited the editorial office of Azg daily newspaper.

Hakob Avetikian, editor-in-chief of the daily, represented the
establishment process of the newspaper, touching upon all the obstacles
the newspaper faced fighting for the freedom of speech.

It is envisaged that Mr. Haraszti will meet with the Board of RA
Public TV and Radio, with RA TV and Radio National Committee, with the
members of the state and private Mass media sources and various NGOs.

Yesterday, Mr. Haraszti met with RA President Robert Kocharian. They
dwelt on the issue of the independent mass media establishment
in Armenia.

FRENCH MAYOR YIELDS TO TURKISH PRESSURE

Source
Jean Eckian, (París)

19-06-2006

Three months before the opening of the "Year of Armenia" in France,
and after several demonstrations by Turkish-French nationalists,
a photographic exhibition devoted to Armenia has been cancelled

Mr. Andre Gerwig (non partisan), mayor of the town of Valentigney
(east of France), decided to cancel an exhibition by a well known
Armenian-French Photographer, Antoine Agoudjian, dedicated to the
Armenians.

The exhibition within the framework of the festival "Rythmes et
Couleurs", this exhibition presented 40 splendid photographs in black
and white (extracted from the book "Les Yeux brûlants", 2006), taken
in Armenia and Turkey between 1989 and 1999.

Two photos poked the anger of the Turkish representatives.

The first with the Title "a city inhabited in majority by descendants
of Armenian genocide of 1915, originating in Sassoun, currently
in Turkey".

And the second illustrated a gathering of people in front of the
mausoleum of Yerevan, under the Title "Memorial of the genocide
perpetrated by Turkey in 1915 was written during which a million and
half of Armenians perished".

During the opening of the exhibition, Turkish-French nationalists
barricaded the exhibition and blocked the entrance. "We feel insulted
by this exhibition; the Armenian genocide is not a reality!" one of
the demonstrators said.

Another added "We cannot agree to be fingered of a Genocide that not
all historians agree" – "We are wounded".

(note by Jean Eckian:French Parliament officially recognized in 2001
the 1915 Armenian genocide).

The municipality closed the exhibition when a request to remove the 2
offending pictures was turned down by Antoine Agoudjian, who described
it as a "serious attack to the freedom of expression" adding "should
we remove an artistic work because it disturbs? Is it normal to yield
to such pressure?"

In November 2006, the French socialist party will submit to the
Parliament a resolution requesting to penalise the denial of the
Armenian genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_3LRWiGU0G4nf+Kl5/SdpRQ)- –

THE BLEEDING HEART OF ISLAM
By Bret Stephens

The Wall Street Journal
IsraPundit, Canada
June 20 2006

Picture a map of Muslim lands, circa 1993. In the Balkans,
Orthodox Serbs were at war with Bosnian Muslims. In Sudan, the
Islamist government in Khartoum was waging a campaign of murder
and enslavement against the Christian south. Israel was fighting
Hezbollah in southern Lebanon even as it signed a peace agreement
with the Palestinians – one that would, in time, literally explode
in its face. In the Caucasus, Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians
were battling over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, while 200 miles north
Muslim Chechnya had declared independence and was about to be invaded
by Russia. Further east, India and Pakistan were lobbing artillery
shells across the Line of Control in Kashmir.

Picture that map today. The violence at the periphery of Islam has, for
various reasons, faded. But the antagonisms at its center have grown.

Look at Palestine, where the ostensibly secular Fatah party of
President Mahmoud Abbas and the fundamentalist Hamas of Prime
Minister Ismail Haniyeh may be in the early stages of civil
war. Look at Darfur, where Arab Muslims are slaughtering African
Muslims. The dynasts of Jordan and Saudi Arabia are being forced to
confront the terrorism of al Qaeda. In Egypt, liberals oppose the
Muslim Brotherhood, the Brotherhood opposes the government, and
the government suppresses them both. In Iran, the youth confront
the clerical establishment. Pro-independence factions in Lebanon
are struggling to survive a campaign of assassination and terror by
Syria. The bloody heart of it all, of course, is Iraq.

Amid routine slaughter in Baghdad and Darfur, nobody would call the
present state of affairs good. But it is an improvement over the
previous state, not only because a clash within one civilization is
better than a clash among several, but because Islamic civilization
has long been in need of a reformation. That’s what’s happening today
in one Muslim state after another: The struggle for power has become
a contest of ideas (and vice versa), with fateful consequences and,
sometimes, good results.

Take Saudi Arabia. Before Sept. 11, says Hawazen Nassief, a Saudi
journalist at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, "the Saudi
government lived in denial and refused to acknowledge that its blind
support for strict Wahhabi religious institutions and preachers was
breeding extremism, intolerance and violence." The denial persisted
even after the disclosure that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.

What changed? Ms. Nassief points to the succession of al Qaeda attacks,
beginning in May 2003, on residential complexes, government offices,
oil facilities and foreigners. "It was a slap on the face," she
says. "There was no international player to blame for this deviancy
except the political, social, economic and religious climate of
the kingdom. The shattering of the viable image of the kingdom led
the government to allow critical voices that were previously pushed
underground. . . . The minute the government loosened its restrictions,
people flooded the media with criticism of the status quo."

A similar dynamic took hold elsewhere in the Arab world as the
phenomenon of suicide bombing – widely admired when the victims were
Israeli or American – boomeranged on Muslims. After Sept. 11, Jordanian
newspapers were filled with speculation that the deed could not have
been the work of Muslims and must have been orchestrated by Zionists,
Christian evangelicals, the Bush administration or some combination
thereof. But the delusion and the pretense came abruptly to an end
after suicide bombers murdered 63 Muslims at three hotels in Amman,
Jordan, on Nov. 9, 2005. The Amman bombings, Salafist cleric Abu
Basir al-Tartusi wrote in a Web posting translated by Memri, "cannot
be considered Islamic," adding that "he who approves of a sin is like
he who committed it."

At an off-the-record session last month of young Arab leaders at
the World Economic Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the sense of
exhaustion with the way things are was palpable. A young Saudi
on his social life: "I can’t go anywhere. Malls are strictly for
families. It’s horrible." A Gulf State participant on her upbringing:
"Teachers don’t encourage disagreement. We are not raised to choose. We
don’t have a culture of accepting the other."

An Egyptian on Arab political life: "’Deviant’ ideas are
dangerous. Young people are suspect. Leaders are inaccessible."

Not that the participants there – upper class, fluent in English,
many of them educated in the West – were especially representative of
their societies. But what struck an outsider was the extent to which
the nature of elite conversation had changed. The Arab intelligentsia’s
stale litany of complaint against imperial America, perfidious Zion,
the legacy of colonialism and so on – what Bernard Lewis described
as the habit of asking, "who did this to us?" – is giving way to a
new mentality. Now the question is: "What did we do wrong?"

It’s in this context that an event such as January’s protests over
the Danish cartoons is best understood. The (mostly orchestrated)
demonstrations were, above all, an attempt by Islamists and autocrats
to remind Muslims that their principal grievances were external,
not domestic. They sought to impress Western audiences with the
intensity of Muslim rage while silencing domestic critics who didn’t
share that passion. Burning down Scandinavian embassies, however,
does not contented Muslims make. Six months after l’affaire Muhammad,
the offending cartoons have faded from memory, whereas the reality
of domestic misrule remains.

There is a perception in the West – general in Europe but strong also
in the U.S. – that the Reformation of Islam awaits the resolution
of a centuries-long Hegelian dialectic. The world moves faster
than that. Through wireless connections and satellite dishes, the
outside world is filtering into the Middle East, mostly uncensored
by regimes or imams. Not everyone likes it, but many do, and the
difference between them not only bloodies the Middle East, but also,
increasingly, offers it hope.

ABOUT BRET STEPHENS

Bret Stephens is a member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial
board. He joined the Journal in New York in 1998 as a features editor
and moved to Brussels the following year to work as an editorial
writer for the paper’s European edition. In 2002, Mr. Stephens,
then 28, became editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, where he was
responsible for its news, editorial, electronic and international
divisions, and where he also wrote a weekly column. He returned to
his present position in late 2004 and was named a Young Global Leader
by the World Economic Forum the following year.

Mr. Stephens was raised in Mexico City and educated at the University
of Chicago and the London School of Economics. He lives with his
family in New York City. He invites comments to [email protected].

VLADIMIR PUTIN LAUNCHES KAZAKH SATELLITE
by Andrey Kolesnikov

Kommersant, Russia
June 19 2006

A meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building
Measures in Asia took place in Kazakhstan on Saturday. Kommersant
special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov saw many of the same faces
there that he had seen at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
summit. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and Azeri President
Ilham Aliev signed an agreement to include Kazakhstan in the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. But even that couldn’t cloud Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s good mood after the launch of a Proton
rocket at Baikonur, where he traveled with Nazarbaev to watch.

The foundation of the CICBM was proposed by the president of Kazakhstan
at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in 1992, but its first summit
meeting took place only in 2002. This is the first time Russia has
shown in interest in the organization at all. When leaders from China,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Palestine and
Israel were heading to Almaty – not all heads of state, of course –
the presence of Chinese President Hu Jintao practically forced Putin
to attend as well.

Putin and Aliev met the evening before the summit began. Kommersant
learned that Aliev informed Putin of the agreement to be signed between
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and received the reaction he was hoping for –
an apathetic shrug.

Nazarbaev said at the summit that he intends to achieve "calm
and plenty" for his country. The summit itself was far from clam,
however. Uzbek President Islam Karimov was even more fiery in his
anti-American rhetoric that he had been in Shanghai. "We cannot
allow a situation where the opinion of only one country will count
in the world!" he said. "Trust between international subjects can be
compared to planting a tree that needs constant watering. But someone
is poisoning the very atmosphere it is growing in!"

The Chinese president nodded as he listened to Nazarbaev. Israeli
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres smiled indulgently.

Aliev used the summit to speak yet again about Nagorny Karabakh and
how, "as a result of ethnic cleansing, more than a million of our
citizens were made refugees and displaced persons and demand the
withdrawal of occupational forces from the territory of Azerbaijan."

Afghan President sat for an hour and a half without his lambskin hat
and green robe, looking much kinder than with them. He donned them
to address the summit (he never appears on television without them
because they are a symbol of his country). He told the summit that
he was not responsible alone for combating narcotics in his country.

"Narcotics are not a problem of Afghanistan," he said. "A significant
part of the profit goes to the international mafia."

It was quickly becoming clear that, unlike the SCO summit two days
earlier, the CICBM summit was aimed at a mass audience.

Peres, the seasoned Israeli diplomat, called the Palestinians "very
smart, capable people, with whom we can cooperate economically." He
added that "It’s not the government that should do that. The government
wants to make war and not peace."

Peres looked calm and confident, which may have been why the member
of the Palestinian Executive Committee looked just the opposite. He
began speaking about how Israel had seized the territory of another
state and was not ignoring Palestine’s right to achieve progress,
but soon stopping speaking, mortally offended after his English
interpreter asked him to speak more slowly and calmly.

"I distributed my speech yesterday in Arabic and Russian," Nazarbaev
pitched in. "Of course, I didn’t give it out in English."

"Can I continue now?" the Palestinian delegate suddenly enquired. His
interpreter had been changed. He spoke less than the allotted time
in any case.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Said Abbas-Irakchi told the summit
that "Iran, as a party to the nuclear nonproliferation agreement,
as a full member of the international community, shares the ideas
of nuclear disarmament and, observing all legal norms, intends to
use its right to the use of nuclear weapons." I thought that the
interpreter has misspoken and Irakchi had said "nuclear energy,"
but it turned out to be Irakchi’s slip of the tongue.

Or was it a slip of the tongue?

International scandal was avoided thanks to Peres, who ostentatiously
laughed at the phrase and did everything possible to show that it
was a mistake.

The president of Russia spoke about the important role of the CICBM
in solving the region’s ecological problems. Apparently he had more
confidence in the SCO’s political role.

At 4:45 a.m. local time, a Russian carrier rocket was to launch
a Kazakh communications satellite into orbit. The satellite cost
Kazakhstan $65 million, and its launch by Roscosmos at least another
900 million rubles.

"It’s not worth citing the specific figure," Roscosmos’ new press
secretary Igor Panarin said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because the price was set not only by the commercial cost of the
project, but b the character of the friendly relations between the
presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia," he explained.

Panarin added that the 4:45 launch time had ten minutes’ leeway. It
was understood that that was an allowance for Putin’s habitual
lateness. But the presidents arrived 45 minutes before the launch
was scheduled, and the countdown began.

We watched the takeoff from a distance of 2800 m. It took place
on schedule, creating an immense bright blue horseshoe against the
sunrise. It was beautiful and the launch was successful.

"I told you it would be a success!" Panarin said after the launch. He
had said that. He was asked several times about the possibility
of failure.

The presidents were photographed against the background of another
Proton rocket. Putin did not approach the reporters, most likely to
avoid questions about the Azeri-Kazakh pipeline agreement.

Nazarabev’s grandson Altai and his son-in-law, Altai’s father Timur
Kulibaev also took pictures in front of the rocket. It was obviously
a big day for the Nazarbaev family.

OSKANYAN AND SARGSYAN IN THE SAME PLACE

A1+
[08:44 pm] 14 June, 2006

Serge Sargsyan and Vardan Oskanyan, the RA Ministers of Defense and
Foreign affairs, participated in the meeting of the NATO and Armenia
(format 26+1).

The meeting was dedicated to the discussion of the realization of the
Individual Partnership Action Plan NATO-Armenia. Ministers Sargsyan
and Oskanyan made speech referring to the issues about cooperation
between Armenia and the NATO and the realization of the IPAP.

The Ambassadors of the NATO member-countries also made speech assessing
the progress of Armenia in the realization of the IPAP provisions,
paying attention to the democratic procedures in Armenia as security
guarantee, the reforms of the defense field and the issues about
enlarging political dialogue with the NATO.

The Ministers also answered questions regarding the foreign policy of
Armenia, the security components, regional issues and energy security,
as well as the present phase of the settlement of ht Karabakh conflict.