AAA THANKS CONGRESSMAN TOM PERIELLO FOR SUPPORTING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
Noyan Tapan
11.11.2009
WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 11, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. During a
meeting on Capital Hill, Armenian Assembly Executive Director Bryan
Ardouny and Congressional Relations Associate Bianka Dodov emphasized
the importance of squarely affirming the Armenian Genocide and thanked
Congressman Tom Periello (D-VA) for his support of H. Res. 252,
the Armenian Genocide resolution.
ARMENIA THANKS SWISS FOR DEAL WITH TURKEY
SwissInfo
Nov 11 2009
Switzerland
Armenia has thanked Switzerland for the "very important" role it played
in brokering a landmark accord between the Caucasus state and Turkey.
During a visit to Bern on Tuesday, Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard
Nalbandian said he hoped his country’s parliament would soon ratify
the agreement normalising relations with Ankara.
The accord was signed in Zurich last month. It calls for the opening
of borders between the former foes, and for the establishment of
diplomatic ties.
Nalbandian, speaking at a news conference alongside his Swiss
counterpart, Micheline Calmy-Rey, said Switzerland’s mediation
efforts required "determination and restraint, imagination, prudence
and patience".
For her part, Calmy-Rey thanked Nalbandian for showing "political
will and engagement" and hoped that Armenian-Turkish relations would
soon be normalised.
Turkey and Armenia are pursuing rapprochement after almost a century of
animosity stemming from the First World War mass killings of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks.
Their common border was closed 16 years ago while Armenia fought a
war with Azerbaijan, a state with close ties to Turkey.
Nalbandian and Calmy-Rey signed two bilateral agreements during the
Armenian foreign minister’s visit – a treaty on air traffic and a
deal doing away with the necessity for diplomats to apply for visas.
GEORGE POCHEPTSOV: THERE IS NO INFORMATION WAR, THERE IS INFORMATION DOMINANCE
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.11.2009 16:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Rules of the game are changing in the world. There
has been a sharp acceleration of the development of the world,
decision-making process, dialogue with the population and establishment
of relations between the countries require intellectual support. The
interest towards information arose, George Pocheptsov, Ukrainian
professor, expert in communication technologies told a press conference
in Yerevan.
According to him, military no longer is interested in physical space.
He also noted that the tense situation can also be among the countries
that are in a fairly friendly relations. According to him, the conflict
is the norm of any living system.
Pocheptsov also noted that the term "information war" should be
replaced by information superiority, domination.
Expert in communication technologies, Professor George Pocheptsov is
the author of over 50 books on the theory of information warfare and
the theory of communication. In Armenia, he was invited by the Center
of Public Relations and Information of the President of Armenia and
the Armenian Association for Public Relations.
RENDITION PROSECUTED ABROAD WHILE U.S. COURTS DO NOTHING
By Mary Shaw
Online Journal
Nov 10, 2009, 00:10
The George W. Bush administration was the target of much criticism
from human rights groups for, among other things, its policy of
extraordinary rendition, in which detainees have been transferred
for interrogation in other countries that are known for their use of
torture. And human rights groups and individuals have long been calling
for an end to rendition, and accountability for all those who have
enabled or participated in the use of torture in the "war on terror."
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any kind of accountability will
be achieved here in the U.S. anytime soon. The latest evidence of
this came on November 2, when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
dismissed the case of Maher Arar against U.S. officials who had sent
him to Syria, where he was interrogated under torture for a year.
Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was detained at JFK Airport in
September of 2002 while on his way home to Canada from a vacation.
After his rendition to Syria and all the torture and abuse, Arar was
eventually released, with the Syrian government stating that they
had found no connection to any criminal or terrorist organization
or activity.
Still, that Court of Appeals apparently believes that the U.S. should
not be held accountable for violating international law by putting
Arar through that abuse. The court cited the Bush administration’s
favorite excuse — state secrets. Case dismissed. God bless America.
Maria LaHood, senior staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional
Rights (CCR), who represented Arar, aptly summed up the implications
of the decision as follows: "With this decision, we have lost much
more than Maher Arar’s case against torture — we have lost the rule
of law, the moral high ground, our independent judiciary, and our
commitment to the Constitution of the United States."
Indeed.
The only voice of reason out of the Second Circuit Court was in a
dissent by Judge Guido Calabresi: "I believe that when the history
of this distinguished court is written, today’s majority decision
will be viewed with dismay."
If it’s not ultimately viewed with dismay, then this nation really
has sold its soul to the Torture Industrial Complex.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world is not going to wait around for us
to get our act together.
On November 4, an Italian judge convicted 23 Americans, most of them
CIA operatives, for the abduction and rendition of Muslim cleric
Abu Omar, who was captured in Milan in 2003. One of the defendants,
a CIA base chief, received an eight-year sentence, while the others
were sentenced to five years each.
The defendants were all tried in absentia and are considered fugitives.
And while it’s unlikely that any of those 23 Americans will ever see
the inside of an Italian prison cell, the Italian court’s decision
makes a statement to the U.S. and to the world: that laws were broken
and accountability is crucial in a world that respects the rule of law.
Tom Parker, Amnesty International’s policy director for
counterterrorism and human rights, had this to say: "The United
States shouldn’t need a foreign court to distinguish right from
wrong. The Obama administration must repudiate the unlawful practice
of extraordinary rendition — and hold accountable those responsible
for having put this system in place — or his administration will
end up as tarnished as his predecessor’s."
I agree. The world agrees. But the rendition program continues
under Obama.
Obama talks about human rights. But talk — even Obama’s fancy variety
— is cheap. Continuing the practice of rendition is not change I
can believe in. In fact, it is no change at all.
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a
focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former
Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights
group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a
variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas
expressed here are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with
which she may be associated. E-mail: [email protected].
ARMENIA SHOULD HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE FOR TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2009 16:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia should have an alternative market for
transportation of goods, head of finance and budget committee of
the Armenian parliament Gagik Minasyan told a press conference in
Yerevan today.
According to him, last year’s developments in Georgia showed that
Armenia needs to have alternative markets and transit routes for
Armenian goods, Turkey could be such a country.
Moreover, as Gagik Minasyan said, the cost of transportation of goods
from the U.S. to the Georgian port of Poti is the same as the cost
from Poti to Armenia. "Naturally, with the opening of Turkish border we
will not receive manna from heaven , great possibilities will open for
Armenia, which should at the same time, meet the challenges," he said.
The Turkish economy is sufficiently developed and attractive (17th
place among the developed economies of the world). Besides 70 million
Turkish market, 1.5 billion European market (Turkey is a part of
European customs zone) will open for Armenia, he said.
According to Mr. Minasyan, no need to fear the Turkish dumping
policies. "The Armenian government should develop appropriate policies
to protect the domestic market. On behalf of the RA Prime Minister
all departments is undertaking studies to determine the risks and
opportunities to be brought by open borders with Turkey, "- he said.
According to Gagik Minasyan, in the case of opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border, Armenia would be able to export electricity
to Turkey, there is some interest in acquiring the Armenian cement,
certain types of agricultural products.
TIGRAN SARGSYAN MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF INTEL AND CISCO COMPANIES
PanARMENIAN.Net
08.11.2009 18:24 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has taken part in
the activities of All-Armenian Trade Council of St. Francisco. After
meeting, Armenian Premier left for Santa Clara to meet with Intel
company’s Vice President John Davis. Introducing the four pillars
of Intel development programs and visions, Mr. Davis stressed the
importance of cooperation in educational programs, particularly,
preparation of specialists teaching computer literacy, extended school
computerization and accessibility to global network. Parties also
discussed activities of National IT Development Council, as well as
government-initiated legislative changes promoting rapid and permanent
development of sphere.
To ensure on-going implementation of educational programs and
agreements achieved, Premier Sargsyan recommended Economy Minister
Nerses Yeritsyan to further talks and activities with the company.
In a meeting with Cisco company leader John Chambers, Armenian
delegation considered a wide range of issues of mutual interest,
such as ensuring access to global network, developing Gyumri as a
technological town, enhancing Armenia’s postal system etc. Parties
noted that new cooperation spheres could create new opportunities,
escalating mutual cooperation to a higher level. Premier also took part
in the ceremony of awarding Craig Barret with RA President’s prize for
his considerable investments in IT sphere development. In the evening,
Premier Sargsyan received representatives of San Francisco Armenian
community and answered their questions.
PRODUCTION PROCESSES GOING ON IN THE "NAIRIT" FACTORY
ARMENPRESS
Nov 9, 2009
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS: Certain production processes are
going on in the "Nairit" factory, which deals with the production
of rubber. Press secretary of the factory Anush Harutyunyan told
Armenpress that the first rubber will soon be received and after it,
steps toward using whole productive powers will be undertaken.
A. Harutyunyan said that about 50 people are in obligatory stoppage,
the majority is already working.
According to her, the factory continues supplying its partners the
stored product until the chief production starts.
The work of the "Nairit" factory has been suspended after the May 14
explosion in one of the workshops of the factory. Now the factory is
being re-operated.
DEFENSE MINISTER SEYRAN OHANYAN OFF TO DUSHANBE
armradio.am
09.11.2009 14:55
The delegation headed by the Defense Minister of Armenia, Seyran
Ohanyan, left for Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, to participate
in the recurrent sitting of the Coucnil of Defense Ministers of the
CIS participating states scheduled for November 10, Press Department
of the Armenian Ministry of Defense reported.
Public Television, Armenia
Nov 6 2009
Armenian presidential office removes 1,300 "anti-Armenian" videos from
YouTube
The PR and information centre of the Armenian presidential
administration has removed about 1,300 anti-Armenian video records
from the Youtube website in the past two months, the head of the
centre, Ara Saghatelyan, has told a news conference in Yerevan, the
state-owned Armenian Public TV reported on 6 November (at 1700 gmt).
The centre has developed conceptual methods aimed at neutralizing
information wars in the virtual world, the TV said.
"We are monitoring measures initiated in particular by Armenia’s known
neighbouring country [probably Azerbaijan] aimed against Armenia’s
information interests. We provide assistance in issues of
counteraction to such measures", the Novosti-Armenia news agency
quoted Saghatelyan as saying in its 6 November (1256 gmt) report.
Saghatelyan said that CIS and Baltic states are going to establish a
joint information platform, which will discuss issues linked to
information security, Armenian Public TV reported. Saghatelyan said
that a forum with participation of the media from the aforementioned
countries is scheduled for December of this year in Moscow, the TV
reported. Saghatelyan said that the new technical system has made it
possible to protect Armenian government’s websites from hacker
attacks. The head of the centre said Armenia relied on intellectual
capacity in the information war, whereas Azerbaijan relied on hired
workforce, the TV reported.
"Tentatively speaking, there is no website that cannot be hacked. It
is continuously reported that even databases of major banks are
hacked, and so on. … However, any government or any private party
strives to set up a system that would protect its network resources
from external interventions", Armenian Public TV quoted Saghatelyan as
saying at a news conference.
news.am, Armenia
Nov 7 2009
I would hardly think there could be a conflict over Karabakh again:
Bruno Scapini
11:12 / 11/07/2009The Ambassador of Italy to Armenia H.E. Bruno
Scapini kindly agreed to answer NEWS.am questions. Please find the
full interview below.
Q.: Mr. Scapini, please outline the scope of Italyâ??s interests in
Armenia and region on the whole. How important the region is for Rome
and what are the reasons for that?
A.: Well, I want to say that Italy, of course, is interested in
establishing good relations with all countries of the world. But with
Armenia, I think that the state of relations has been up to now
underweight, because there are a lot of potentialities that have been
going to my view, since independence, a little too silent. So we just
need now to bring up to the light all these potentialities, because
from the perspective of the two countries, I think, there are many
things we can share. There is a large convergence of economic and
cultural interests and cultural models that actually can be a very
good resource for cooperation. What I mean to say is that you need to
develop an economic export oriented basis, and the approach that the
Italian entrepreneurs might have can be conducive to a very good
result and to a very good collaboration.
Q.: Do you think it is possible to attract investments from Italy or
elsewhere to develop economy in Armenia?
A.: Yes, it is possible, but of course itâ??s important to have the
right knowledge of the entrepreneurships of the two countries. And I
think one of the very first things we must think of in the future is
just to develop good opportunities to get the Italian entrepreneurship
to come to Armenia and vice-versa in order to improve mutual knowledge
and mutual acquaintance.
Q.: Presently, the Armenian-Turkish normalization process launched.
What is Italyâ??s position in this regard? To your mind, will Ankara
open the border gate?
A.: Well, the problem of the Turkish border, I think, is just one of
the two important questions of foreign policy that Armenia has to face
to. The other question of course is Nagorno-Karabakh and generally
speaking, I am inclined to think that the solution of your regional
problems is just the prerequisite in order to give the opportunity to
Armenia to develop economically. And the position of Italy is to
support all peaceful initiatives in order to settle in a definite
manner these questions. Italy considers as praiseworthy the Armenian
position to try to solve these problems in a peaceful way and through
negotiations. The OSCE Minsk Group activity is very important in this
perspective because it can really help the country to overcome all the
difficulties that can derive from the single bilateral relations
between Armenia-Turkey on one side and Armenia-Azerbaijan on the
other. But I think itâ??s really urgent today to solve these regional
problems, because that can allow the country to look into the future
in a positive way, without barriers. That is most important. So, I
think that to talk about the possibility to eliminate this obstacle
with Turkey can really help the country in order to gain a wider
market. And that is what the Armenian Government shows to have in mind
now with the present step taken with the two Protocols for the
establishment of diplomatic relations. But I think the other problem
is to reach a peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh crisis. That is
also another important factor in order not only to open the borders
towards other areas of the region, but also to inspire the necessary
trust for foreign investors.
Q.: Do you think that opening of the border will stimulate the
export-import and cooperation between Armenia and Turkey?
A.: Why not? I think that even today I see a lot of contacts with
Turkey for touristic purposes. As Armenian tourists go to Turkey, it
could be possible just the contrary. So I think this factor is also of
great significance. In any case to have closed borders for a country
is not a favorable condition. It is important, particularly for
Armenia, which is a landlocked country, to have free trade with
foreign partners and at a lesser cost. In this respect I look upon the
program that the Government launched about the construction of
highways and railways with great interest.
Q.: Another problematic issue of the region is Karabakhi conflict.
What do you think, will the parties eventually reach a consensus? Will
Karabakh achieve independence?
A.: Actually, I think that two partners involved should solve the
problem in a peaceful way and it would be just a folly to think
otherwise. I do feel that a compromise must be found. A compromise
does not mean that either party should give up its views, but itâ??s
just a matter of adjustment sometimes, just to balance the needs of
the parties involved. I think, in this perspective, that the work the
OSCE Minsk Group is doing now about Nagorno-Karabakh, is just the
proper way to cope with this question. In other words the Minsk Group
is trying to get both parties to come to a compromise. Compromise
means to be reasonable, to accept logical situations and conditions
that can be beneficial to both sides. We speak of globalization today,
but globalization implies transparency. We must get involved in this
process, but in a sound way, which means we must cooperate and
activate partnerships at all levels in order to solve the problem.
Q.: Speaking globally, how can be Italy interested in Armenia?
A.: Given the presence of a wide convergence of links between our two
countries, based not only on religion, Christianity, but also on
common historical experience, I think that there is a very good
disposition on the side of Armenia to collaborate with Italy in many
fields and not only economically, but also culturally. And from the
cultural viewpoint, I think that much can be done to improve our
contacts and cooperation, for instance is the field of opera. I
noticed since the beginning of my stay here that there is a very
strong disposition on the part of Armenia to develop the knowledge of
lyric singing, which means that Italy, being the cradle of opera, can
offer the best product to cooperate, and that is exactly what we are
planning to do. Then, we have also many projects of cooperation in
order to help Armenia to restore archeological sites and that is also
a very important point. We have an archeological mission supported by
the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through a special body, which
is the CNR (National Research Center) concerning the area of the Lake
of Sevan. It is going to complete its work next year. Then we have
also other projects through international organizations that are being
carried out with the assistance of the United Nations Development
Program: for example the project in the village of Lusadzor â?? which
was recently completed â?? and the one for brucellosis control with FAO.
Another relevant point of the economy is the development of rural
areas and in that field I think we can afford to be optimistic about
the future.
Q.: What is the probability of Armenia-Azerbaijan military conflict in
the light of changes in the region after the August 2008 war?
A.: This is a very strong question, because I would hardly think there
could be a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh again. What happened almost
twenty years ago should just be once and for all. Now I would prefer
to talk about the possible peaceful solution and it is actually what
Italy wants. To resort to weapons or military confrontation is not in
the interest of any of the parties involved â?? neither Armenia, nor
Azerbaijan.
Q.: The other day you stated that Italy is ready to assist the
construction of Yerevan-Batumi highway and Iran-Armenia railway.
Please specify how Italian side could participate in these projects.
A.: When I had the meeting with the RA Minister of Transport and
Communication I said that Italy could be ready to evaluate any form of
participation in transport field. What I meant is that there are some
procedures to follow, as these important works need to be publicized
through international biddings. Italian enterprises can participate,
but they have to abide by certain conditions that will be stated by
Armenian authorities. To be able to carry out the work, funds should
be provided, but I think those who are interested in carrying out the
work can also consider some kind of financial assistance. But that is
a technical matter actually. According to me there could surely be
Italian enterprises interested in Armenia. And I will do my best to
assist Italian entrepreneurships also in this kind of perspective.