Author: Nanijanian Alex

WIKIPEDIA SLEUTHS WIN JOURNALISM AWARD FOR WIRED.COM
By Ryan Singel

Wired News
a-sleut.html
Sept 10 2008

Wired.com’s Threat Level blog won the 2008 Knight-Batten Award for
Innovation in Journalism on Wednesday for finding a way to let you
readers highlight the worst whitewashing of Wikipedia entries by
corporations and governments.

Threat Level accepted the $10,000 award for editor Kevin Poulsen’s
post that combined a voting widget and internet superstar Virgil
Griffith’s WikiScanner application that let you readers find and
highlight the worst self-interested anonymous edits to Wikipedia
entries. The judges found that the tool "finally inserts an air of
accountability to those who edit the site to fit their own agendas."

Readers used Griffith’s clever WikiScanner to check the anonymous edits
made from internet space assigned to a specific company or government
agency. They then submitted the damning finds to a Reddit-powered
voting widget for others to verify and vote up or down.

Some of the top whitewashes spotted by you citizen journalists?

Dow Chemical removing an entire section that included discussion of
the Bhopal disaster, silicon breast implant problems and Agent Orange,
for one.

Controversial voting machine maker Diebold deleted criticism of
its electronic voting machines, while someone inside the Turkish
government removed a reference to the Armenian genocide. Then there
was the anonymou Exxon employee decided to make the Valdez oil spill
disaster entry less damning — and the FBI employee who took down an
aerial photo of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Of course, you readers should have gotten the award for finding,
submitting and rating the spin jobs — a really fine bit of citizen
journalism that we are proud to have a small part in sparking.

But being privacy-respecting folks, we don’t know who you are and
will just have to accept the award on your behalf.

Knight-Batten also awarded $2,000 special distinction awards to
Politifact.com and Ushahidi.

Congressional Quarterly and the St. Petersburg Times collaborated
on Politifact.com, which rates campaign statement’s accuracy and
highlights false statements by candidates.

Kenyan techies launched Ushahidi, a site that mapped incidents of
political violence ahead of the country’s presidential election using
accounts texted to the site by bloggers and citizen journalists.

Jacquelin Dupree won a $2,000 Citizen Media award for her one-woman
chronicle of the changes to Washington D.C.’s Southeast/Ballpark
district, Her site combines interactive maps and before-and-after
photos, which the judges described as "an incredible wealth of
information, especially impressive for a one-person effort."

Threat Level is thrilled to have won and is honored by the good
company of the other finalists. And of course, deepest thanks to all
you anonymous citizen sleuths.

A full list of the finalists and runners up can be found here.

PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER’S RESIGNATION TO BE DECIDED ON SEPTEMBER 16

Interfax
Sept 9 2008
Russia

Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Tigran Torosian has said
that the question about his possible resignation will be decided by
the Council of the Armenian Republic Party (RPA) on September 16.

"Such decisions must be approved by the party’s council. This is
written in the charter. There is no sense in commenting on anything
before that happens," he told journalists.

Torosian, who is also an RPA member, has recently denied media reports
about his possible resignation.

However, last week the ruling RPA party led by country’s president
Serzh Sargsian proposed Ovik Abramian as a candidate for National
Assembly Chairman.

"Having discussed whether it would be appropriate for Tigran Torosian
to continue to serve as Chairman of National Assembly [the party’s
executive body], resolved that his continuing to stay in this position
should not be deemed appropriate," the RPA said in a statement.

Last week the Armenian president sacked his chief of administration
O. Abramian after the latter was elected as an MP at the country’s
parliamentary by-elections on August 24.

"FAILURE OF GEORGIAN BLITZKRIEG COOLED TEMPERS IN AZERBAIJAN"
by Alexander Terentiev

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 10, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL SCIENTIST NAIR ALIYEV ON THE EFFECT OF THE
DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH OSSETIA ON THE REGIONAL SITUATION; An interview
with Azerbaijani political scientist Nair Aliyev.

Question: What was Baku’s reaction to the Russian-Georgian conflict?

Nair Aliyev: Azerbaijani reaction to the events in Georgia was
determined by the domestic political situation. Azerbaijan will elect
its president on October 15. Success of the Georgian blitzkrieg in
South Ossetia would have strengthened the positions of the party of
war in Azerbaijan, and left the national leadership without any other
option save for commencement of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Many
in the Azerbaijani establishment were saying on the first day of the
conflict that Mikhail Saakashvili did us a grave disservice. Georgia
was eventually defeated, its economy was badly damaged, and this turn
of events became a trump card on the hands of enemies of the military
solution to the problem of Karabakh. Saakashvili’s fiasco cooled some
tempers in Azerbaijan and strengthened the positions of whoever stands
for the use of economic leverage in the matter of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani GDP tripled over the last seven years. Armenian
economy cannot match this pace – not to mention economy of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Hence the widespread opinion in Baku that Azerbaijan
will just "buy" Nagorno-Karabakh one day, offering Armenia some
economic privileges in return.

Question: Were there any fears that Armenia might follow in Russia’s
wake and recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh?

Nair Aliyev: Well, very many view the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
as a mirror image of the Russian-Georgian conflict. Russia granted
citizenship to the residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Armenia
did so with the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Had Baku turned
aggressive, OSCE mechanisms might have kicked in, ones stipulating
aide to whatever OSCE member was under attack. In other words, Russia
as an ally of Armenia could find it necessary to intervene on its
behalf. It was because of Azerbaijan’s position that Armenia never
recognized Nagorno-Karabakh, not even when Moscow recognized South
Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Question: And how did the Azerbaijani population take the news of
their recognition by Russia?

Nair Aliyev: This recognition played havoc with Russia’s own image
in the eyes of the Azerbaijanu population. It took the hostilities
themselves in stride, but recognition of the self-proclaimed republics
created a campaign of criticism. On the other hand, pro-Russians
in Azerbaijan never miss a chance to point out that Azerbaijan is
friends with Turkey, the only country that recognized North Cyprus.

GUL KNOCKED DOWN A TABOO
Mehmet Ali Birand

Turkish Daily News
Sept 9 2008

Until the game was over, I had my heart in my mouth. I expected
an incident during the football match played between the national
football teams of Turkey and Armenia on Sat. in the Armenian capital
Yerevan. Frankly, it was a horrible match. Neither Armenian nor
Turkish players were good on the field. But in the end, we won it,
2-0. I cannot help myself but to mention here, if we had played that
game against the Belgians we could’ve been nailed down by them. Let’s
know this.

The only minor incident was that a group of people whistled while
the Turkish national anthem was played.

It wasn’t a big deal at all.

We had so many of them; let’s not forget about the Turkey-Greece
matches by the way!

Until President Abdullah Gul and the National Football Team left
Yerevan, nothing had happened. So we relaxed big time.

But what happened in the Armenian capital? Let me tell you what.

· First of all, a new period of dialogue has begun.

· The Turkish Foreign Ministry delegation remained in Yerevan to
devise a road map and a time line.

· Bilateral talks that have continued in Switzerland for months will
be taken to a higher level.

· Contacts among foreign ministers and leaders of both countries
will begin.

· Armenian President Serge Sarkisian will visit Istanbul for a return
game. (Frankly, my real fear is the possible protests at the match
here. Armenians showed that they are not against rapprochement. We’ll
see what we will do. The Armenian administration and society showed
sincerity and their preference for close relations. Now the ball is
in our court. We’ll see if we really want this to happen.) No matter
what, Sarkisian’s visit to Istanbul will accelerate talks.

Until the date, Armenians had always wanted to talk about opening the
border without any conditions. Turkey, on the other hand, had insisted
on talks on conditions and underlined that talks were possible only
if all the issues between the two countries such as border issues,
the genocide allegations and the Karabakh issue.

Both sides made compromises. The Armenians gave the impression that
they would discuss all issues. Ankara took steps showing that they
gave up on preconditions.

Now what?

>From now on, we should closely follow some developments.

· Statements issued by the Armenian and Turkish officials will be
followed. We’ll check to see if friendship remarks outweigh those of
hatred who will say what about this new process.

· We’ll see how the Armenian Diaspora will react to this. Will
Yerevan support the Diaspora’s fierce stance or will it put a distant
between them?

· Will Armenians make any gesture in the Karbakah conflict with
Azerbaijan, even if it is only symbolic? Or will they do nothing?

Unfortunately, the Turkish-Armenian relations are not only at Ankara
and Yerevan’s discretion. Foreign powers are involved in and effective
so much, I am sure a new crisis will outbreak in the days to come.

If Sarkisian and Gul maintain their approaches of the day, they
change the course of the history. If they give into fanatics, nothing
positive will come result. Still, I extend my gratitude to both Gul
and Sarkisian for knocking down this taboo.

Is Erdogan jealous of Gul?

We had begun the weekend with excitement.

What was to happen over the weekend? Was the risk Gul took to bring
anything good or a disaster? What would be the score of the game? What
kind of reactions were we shown if we had won it by 5-0 or had been
defeated? Could there have been any protests? Or were the games of
some circles who are after tension be ruined and we start a new period?

There, as we have begun to talk all these, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan stole the show. All TVs and everyone was getting prepared to
talk about Gul’s visit to Yerevan, Erdogan, all of a sudden, targeted
Aydın Dogan, the Dogan Holding’s owner for two days.

Can you imagine prime minister of Turkey was excoriating the owner of
the biggest group of the country? Who cares about Armenia? It turned
out to be such an exciting event and so many rumors were involved
that we all forget about Gul and Armenia. Attention was turned to
this mouth-watering subject. The entire visit ran to waste.

If Erdogan wanted to scare away Dogan and make the independent media
keep silent, couldn’t he have waited for a couple of days?

Besides, I have been a journalist for 40 years. To date, I have seen
many government leaders who argued with the media. But I assure you
that I have not seen any government saving itself from such battle
of words.

Erdogan has done so many good jobs in this country. I supported him
in my articles and will continue to do so. But in this subject, he is
awfully wrong. He has risen to the bait of some. I do believe in Dogan.

You may feel differently. I respect you. But this is my view.

–Boundary_(ID_YVZylUS5NcKpicfntRZ/0A)–

LEVON ARONIAN EARNS 6 POINTS AT GRAND SLAM CHESS TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan

Se p 8, 2008

BILBAO, SEPTEMBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN. First games of the second stage
are scheduled for September 8 at the Grand Slam Chess Tournament in
Bilbao, Spain.

Armenian chess player Levon Aronian beat Vasily Ivanchuk of Ukraine
in the 4th round and drew with Temur Rajabov of Azerbaijan in the
5th round.

Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) with 9 points is in lead of the points
table.

Magnus Carlsen (Norway) has 8 points, Levon Aronian – 6 points,
while Vasily Ivanchuk, Viswanathan Anand (India) and Temur Rajabov
have 4 points each.

L. Aronian plays against M. Carlsen in the 6th round on September 8.

Radio Netherlands, Netherlands
Sept 6 2008

Armenia and Turkey want to improve relations

Published: Saturday 06 September 2008 20:22 UTC
Last updated: Saturday 06 September 2008 20:30 UTC

After a meeting in the Armenian capital Jerevan, Armenian President
Serge Sarkissian and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gül have said
they want to improve relations between the two countries.

President Gül has now left Armenia. This was the first time a Turkish
head of state has visited the former Soviet Union republic, since its
independence in 1991. There are no diplomatic relations between the
two countries and the border is closed. A qualifying match for the
World Cup between Armenia and Turkey provided an opportunity for
President Sarkissian to invite President Gül to his country. Turkey
won 2-nil. A return invitation was extended for the next match between
the two countries.

Relations between Armenia and Turkey are strained because of the
deaths during and after the First World War of up to 1.5 million
Armenians, who were killed or starved to death during mass
deportations by the Ottoman Turks. Ankara denies that a genocide took
place.

CSTO FMS ADOPT STATEMENT ON SOUTH OSSETIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.09.2008 17:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization adopted a statement on South Ossetia,
calling for peaceful resolution of problems and welcoming Russia’s
peacekeeping activities in the region.

"The CSTO Foreign Ministers supported the six principles for resolution
of the South Ossetian conflict," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian told Interfax.

PARISYAN UNDER PRESSURE
by Danny Acosta

Sherdog.com
ressure-14257
Sept 2 2008

The fight comes natural to Karo Parisyan (Pictures), an Armenian-born
welterweight who started Judo when he was 9 years old and mixed
martial arts when he was 14.

Looking to rebound from his first stoppage loss — a TKO at the hands
of American Top Team’s Thiago Alves (Pictures) — in seven years,
Parisyan (18-5) will meet Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) at UFC 88
"Breakthrough" this Saturday at Philips Arena in Atlanta. He declared
himself ready for the Japanese standout mere days before they collide.

"If I get hit by lighting and I lose, God forbid, I don’t care,"
Parisyan says. "All I know for this fight is I trained twice as hard
as I did for the Thiago Alves fight. I have to thank Thiago Alves. He
woke me up."

New to the UFC scene but seasoned by plenty of international
experience, Yoshida (10-2) made his Octagon debut in May and choked Jon
Koppenhaver (Pictures) unconscious with an anaconda choke. "Zenko"
will enter the bout on a nine-fight winning streak. Included in
that streak was a TKO victory of Akira Kikuchi (Pictures), the last
man to defeat reigning EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields
(Pictures). Despite the obvious risks, Parisyan wants to match skills
with the fourth-degree Judo black belt.

"I think I’m a little better MMA fighter than he is," Parisyan
says. "Anyone can beat me at 170. I know what’s going to be on the
table. I’m going to try my best to neutralize everything he does and
beat him up."

Outside the cage, Parisyan (18-5) fights a different battle, one with
which millions are familiar. Panic disorder has become a daily threat
to normalcy.

According to the American Psychological Association, one out of every
75 people suffers from the condition. Parisyan noticed symptoms prior
to his UFC Fight Night 13 bout against Alves in April. It affected
his training, and, at one point, he wanted to go home before the
fight, not for fear of competing but as a coping mechanism for his
anxiety. He succumbed to strikes against the red-hot Brazilian in
the second round. A nine-year veteran, he had been finished only one
other time as a professional.

"I blame the loss because of my training, not being mentally focused
and being burned out from all these years; I didn’t blame it on my
panic attacks," Parisyan says. "If people think I blame the loss on
a panic attack — people say I’m lying — it really upsets me. People
that actually don’t have any idea what we go through can just sit there
and just judge you and say, ‘He’s just lying. He’s bulls–tting. He’s
a liar.’ It’s not right."

Jeff Sherwood/Sherdog.com

Parisyan found an ally in the form of MMA coaching guru Greg
Jackson.Panic disorder manifests itself in many ways. Symptoms include
dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, paralyzing terror and feelings
of insanity or oncoming death. They range from mild to severe.

"I thought it was heart problems," Parisyan says. "But when I asked
the doctor what was wrong, he said throughout the years, all the
stress you go through in fighting, working out to fight — all that
stuff you go through — it builds up like a bubble, and eventually
it bursts and hits you with panic attacks. That’s what they told
me. Twelve years down the line you start burning out, and somehow
you have to repair it."

Despite his refusal to take prescription pills, Parisyan actively
addresses the problem. He stays away from triggers — small rooms
make him feel claustrophobic — and has found support in doctors,
friends and family. However, the unpredictable nature of the disorder
makes it nearly impossible to wrangle.

"After the Alves fight, I had moved into a new house," Parisyan
says. "The night before I was going to move, it hit me. At the middle
of the night, 2 a.m., I woke up just breathing crazy. My heartbeat
was going through the roof. My blood pressure was 160 over 120. My
mind was racing. I thought I was having a heart attack; I didn’t
know what was going on, and I was afraid to wake anybody up because
I didn’t know what it was."

Panic disorder can even distort reality. In a profession that demands
control over one’s mind and body, Parisyan finds himself in a daily
struggle with an elusive opponent.

"I think my biggest problem with these panic attacks is I’m not able
sleep," he says. "Sometimes my bed becomes like a casket, like a
dungeon. I can’t go in the bed. I have to sleep on a couch sitting
up and stuff."

Even though panic attacks are short and infrequent because the
body cannot handle the dramatic changes over an extended period,
the simplest act can set off Parisyan.

"If I put my head into a pillow and my head sinks into the pillow,
I feel like I’m gonna choke," he says. "All kinds of stuff; it’s
unbelievably hard."

Parisyan discovered an ally in revered mixed martial arts coach Greg
Jackson. He traveled to Jackson’s academy in Albuquerque, N.M., to
train alongside Rashad Evans (Pictures), Keith Jardine (Pictures)
and others in advance of his fight with Yoshida. When anxiety forced
Parisyan to return to California after only one full day in the gym,
Jackson followed him to the Golden State in support.

"It means a lot," Parisyan says. "He came out for a couple of days
just to see where I’m at, how I’m doing for training, put a game plan
together and went back home."

While fans await the latest additions to his lengthy highlight reel of
Judo throws and rolling kimuras, Parisyan seems anxious to climb back
into the cage again. Supporting five family members, the 26-year-old
has a heavy burden to shoulder every time he competes, and his match
with Yoshida will be no different.

"I have so much at stake," Parisyan says. "I have so much stress on
me. People don’t understand how tough it is. I need to be able to
conquer this match. Not sounding selfish at all, [but] I fight for
myself. I fight to prove something to myself, to feel good about
myself when I walk outside."

RUSSIAN NUCLEAR POWER COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA ENTERING NEW PHASE

Interfax
Sept 1 2008
Russia

Russia is open to involvement in uranium exploration and mining in
Armenia and the construction of a new nuclear power generating unit
there, a Kremlin source told Interfax.

"Apart from continuing to help maintain the safety of the Armenian
Nuclear Power Plant, Russia is prepared to become involved in exploring
and mining uranium reserves in Armenia, in extending the life of
the existing nuclear plant and building a new generating unit,"
the source said in the run-up to Armenian President Serge Sargsyan’s
visit to Moscow.

The source said nuclear cooperation between the countries was entering
a new phase.

US VICE PRESIDENT TO DISCUSS ENERGY ISSUES AND WAR ON TERROR IN BAKU

Today.Az
7323.html
Sept 1 2008
Azerbaijan

One of the main issues to be discussed during the meetings of US vice
president Dick Cheney in Baku will become energy issues.

Novosti-Azerbaijan reports with reference to White House that Cheney’s
visit to Azerbaijan will be held on September 3 in the framework of
his trip to the South Caucasus region, which will start on September 2.

It is noted that the United States want to help Azerbaijan develop
its energy reserves and ensure their safe supply to the market which
responds to the mutual interests of not only the United States but
also all of the European countries.

"Azerbaijan offers great opportunities for development and supply
of additional energy sources both from the Caspian region as well as
Central Asia to the international markets", says the statement.

In the framework of the visit, the sides will also discuss the
peaceful resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, US support of efforts for strengthening democracy
and supremacy of law in Azerbaijan, preparing to hold presidential
elections.

Presidential elections will be held in Azerbaijan on October 15 of
this year.

Cheney will also discuss the recent events in Georgia and issues of
war on terror in Baku.

"Azerbaijan is an important partner not only in the framework of
cooperation in combat with terrorism. Azerbaijan’s peacekeeping forces
are deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US vice president will
express gratitude to Azerbaijan for this help", says the statement.