Author: Taslakhchian Andranik

US CONGRESS REDUCING FINANCIAL AID TO ARMENIA AND SELF-APPOINTED NKR

Today, Azerbaijan
Dec 18 2007

The House of representatives of US congress and US Senate coordinated
the volume of aid to Armenia and unrecognized "Nagorno-Garabagh
Republic for 2008, reducing it as compared to 2007.

Thus, in 2008 the aide to Armenia will total $58.5 million and to
Nagorno Garabagh-USD 3 million, which is lower than in 2007.

On June 12, 2007, the House of Representatives of the US Congress
adopted its own version of the draft law for a fiscal year of 2008,
according to which Armenia will receive $68 million as an economic
aid from US and $6 million as a direct aid to the self-appointed
"Nagorno Garabagh Republic".

Moreover, the draft law envisions military aid of $3 million to Armenia
and Azerbaijan for external military funding and $500 thousand for
international military education and trainings.

In line with the draft law, adopted by the US Senate on September 6,
Armenia will receive $39 million which is $4 million higher than
requested by the President.

Yet the draft law does not envision assets for the "Nagorno Garabagh
Republic" or mention the parity issue in military aide.

On June 29 of 2006, the Committee on External Assignments of the US
Senate approved the provision of financial aid to Armenia in the amount
of $58 million for a fiscal year of 2007, which is $17 million lower
as compared to a fiscal year of 2006, as well as assignments for the
unrecognized "Nagorno Garabagh Republic" in the amount of $5 million,
which is $2 million higher as compared to 2006.

ACCORDING TO VARDAN OSKANIAN, OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS’ PROPOSALS ARE NOT FINAL

Noyan Tapan
Dec 18 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The proposals made by the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-chairs lately will be conveyed to the Karabakh party
without fail.

RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian stated at the December 18 press
conference dedicated to summing up the results of his latest visits
to Madrid, Strasbourg, and Moscow.

V. Oskanian reminded journalists that during the meeting in Madrid,
Russian and French Foreign Ministers Lavrov and Kouchner, as well
as United States Under-Secretary of State Burns handed the text of
the main principles of Nagorno Karabakh settlement to him and Azeri
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadiarov. According to him, the document
includes proposals regarding non-coordinated issues. At the same
time, V. Oskanian said that this document is not final and is open
for further discussions.

The Minister highly evaluated the meeting of the OSCE Foreign Ministers
in Madrid. He said that though no political statement was made during
the meeting, the Ministers adopted a number of important documents
regarding fighting trafficking, environmental problems, and other
issues. The OSCE member-states reached an agreement in Madrid that
Greece will assume OSCE chairmanship in 2009, Kazakhstan in 2010,
Lithuania in 2011.

V. Oskanian said that issues related to the commitments assumed by
Armenia towards the Council of Europe, as well as issues concerning
the forthcoming presidential elections were discussed during the
meeting with members of the Ago Group. He assured that the Armenian
authorities will do their best to hold normal elections. "Armenia
has no way back," the RA Foreign Minister stated.

THE CLINTONS, THE HIGH PRIEST AND CONFLICTING INTERESTS
by Sam Sedaei

Huffington Post, NY
intons-the-high-pr_b_77298.html
Dec 18 2007

While he was in China in the past summer to meet with potential
clients, he allegedly met with individuals from the Turkish
government. The meeting was about an upcoming bill in the U.S. House
that would have called on President Bush to declare that the killing
of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks after World War I
constituted genocide. The Turkish government was adamantly against
the bill and had already hired multiple American lobbying groups
to lobby the Congress against the bill. Following the meeting, he
called his firm back in Washington DC to asked them to begin writing
a preliminary proposal to pitch an offer to the Turkish government to
lobby the Congress to kill the genocide bill. The name of his company
was Burson-Marsteller – the 5th largest PR and lobbying firm on earth
– and he was its worldwide president and CEO. His name is Mark Penn,
and he is now serving as Hillary Clinton’s top political strategist.

Senator Clinton is the only top tier candidate on the democratic
side who openly receives money from lobbyists for her campaign. While
many seem outraged about this fact, most people are not aware of the
extent of influence and history of relationships and dealings between
the Clintons and lobbyists, and the inevitability of their continued
influence in policymaking should Hillary become president.

It is important to briefly review how Penn rose to his current
position. After the democrats lost the House and Senate in 1994,
Hillary asked Bill to bring in Dick Morris, a controversial friend
from their time in Arkansas, to help repair Bill’s image. Morris knew
Mark Penn from when he was a pollster in New York and brought him
to the White House to help with the effort. They pushed the Clintons
to the right and caused the origination of the term "triangulation,"
the idea of strategically adopting certain aspects of your opponent’s
position on issues, not necessarily because of the merits of those
policies but in order to immune oneself from criticism on that
particular issue. But Morris’s career was cut short after he let a
prostitute, Sherry Rowlands, listen in on a conversation with the
President. That left Penn as "the high priest," as the Washington
Post called him, in a White House where triangulation and polling
had become a religion. Following the Clinton presidency, Penn also
became the architect of Hillary Clinton’s victories in 2000 and 2006,
receiving $1 million from Hillary for the latter service.

But Penn’s involvement in Hillary’s campaign is inconsistent with the
party’s stated mission. He has been intimately involved in running
or lobbying for big corporations on issues that are directly contrary
to the interest of consumers and average Americans throughout his life.

Before he came to the White House in the 90s, he worked for Texaco –
a major oil company – and Eli Lilly, which is a major pharmaceutical
firm.

After moving to DC, he worked both at the White House and also
continued to expand his own polling firm, Penn, Schoen and Berland
(PSB), which served Microsoft as its biggest client. During his time
at PSB, Mark Penn has tuned out any sense of integrity and care for
the wellbeing of the general public from the process of deciding whose
interests to serve. Public welfare is naturally irrelevant to what he
does and why he does it. His firm defended Proctor and Gamble when the
latter’s fat substitute product, Olestra, was criticized for having
disturbing side-effects and put the blame for Texaco’s bankruptcy on
the greed of jurors.

Throughout the past seven years, Mark Penn has continued to keep
one foot in his corporate lobbying firm and another foot in Hillary
Clinton’s campaigns. Under his leadership, Burson-Marsteller has
followed the same corporate mentality of not including the public’s
wellbeing as a factor in deciding what projects to undertake. B-M
boasts in its website that the company recognizes its "obligations to
all who have a stake in our success, including shareowners, clients,
employees, and suppliers." (Notice that even the firm admits by
implication that the "public," "consumers" or "national interests"
don’t have a stake in the firm’s success.)

Burson recently lobbied the Texas legislature for TXU energy – a widely
despised energy company in Texas – in support of an initiative that
would secure the company’s ability to build three more coal plants
at a time when we are trying to put the usage of fossil fuels behind
us. This is hardly the first time that Burson has put the company’s
bottom-line ahead of the environment. The firm has served TXU for
almost a decade now on multiple projects, all aimed at multi-level
lobbying to push for company’s plans to continue to build coal
plants. In 1993, Burson led a $1.8 million campaign to successfully
defeat President Clinton’s proposed BTU tax on fossil fuels. Burson is
also behind a group called "Foundation for Clean Air Progress," which
has been deceptively named as it was specifically formed to hinder –
not help as the name implies – measures to control air pollution and
designed to pressure the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency not to
adopt tougher pollution controls. The Washington Post reported on June
17, 1997 that the group had participated in a "multimillion-dollar
campaign to turn back EPA regulations for smog and soot."

Burson was also hired by Blackwater USA to help Erik Prince with his
testimony to Congress two months ago about his employees’ killing of
17 Iraqi civilians.

One of the lobbying methods that Penn’s Burson employs is phone
campaigns to constituents of legislators who are the "targets."

Constituents receive a phone call, sometimes from a group artificially
created with an innocent-sounding name. Caller explains the reason for
the call and the issue in debate, tries to convince the constituent
why he or she should support a certain position and asks whether he
or she would be willing to write a letter to the target in support of
that position. If the constituent agrees to the one-sided argument,
the caller then asked for some personal information to compose a
personalized letter on the constituent’s behalf. The unique letter
is then written and sent to the constituent along with a pre-stamped
envelope and pre-addressed to the legislator. All the constituent has
to do is to sign the letter, put it in the envelope and throw it in
outgoing mail.

Burson also seeks to influence policy through its political action
committee. According to SourceWatch and the Center for Responsive
Politics, Burson’s federal PAC raised more than $69,000 for the 2004
election cycle. Of that amount, 37% went to democrats while 58% went
to republicans. Notice the firm’s role in helping to secure a larger
republican majority in Congress in 2004.

Lobbying and PACs have been a part of a long tradition of participatory
democracy in this country. But the involvement of Mark Penn as the
top strategist for the Clinton campaign is inapt for several reasons:

1) Burson-Marsteller – both through its lobbying efforts as well as
its PAC – pushes for policies that are often significantly detrimental
to progressive values and directly designed to serve the interest of
multinational corporations to the detriment of the American consumers
and workers. These policies are also contrary to many of Hillary
Clinton’s stated position on issues.

2) There was a great deal of criticism of the Armenian genocide bill,
the strongest of which was that it wasn’t the right time for the
bill because of our geopolitical interests. But the fact is that the
Congress has been intending to formally recognize this historically
unchallenged event for two decades. But every time the bill reaches
the floor, the lobbyists help to kill it. The inability of congress
to pass this important legislation contributes to hurting our image.

This is because each failure sends a message to the world that we
are willing to keep quiet on a human rights matter and pander to
a foreign government that refuses to accept responsibility for its
history because we need them as an "ally." Burson’s interest to lobby
the U.S. Congress on behalf of foreign governments and companies
with little or no transparency or accountability with regard to the
impact of their lobbying efforts on distorting our foreign policies
is extremely inconsistent with who we believe should or should not
have influence on our international relations.

3) Penn’s method of running his firm in the most secretive manner and
his position as a major strategist for Hillary Clinton is likely to
lead to a secretive presidential administration as well.

4) Mark Penn used his position in the White House to expand his own
wealth and business interests and strike a close friendship with
the Clintons in the 1990s. If Hillary is elected, Penn will have
even better access to the inner White House circle and be in the
unique position of lobbying the president personally from within
the Oval Office on behalf of his clients, which most often include
multinational corporations, labor-union busters, foreign governments,
and more republicans than democrats.

There has not been enough discussion about whether a politician
can be considered progressive if she has closely associated herself
with someone who has a consistent record of serving the interests of
oil, pharmaceutical and other major corporations as well as foreign
interests, often at the expense of Americans’ interests. In a recent
interview with Charlie Rose, President Clinton agreed that voting
for Obama – who doesn’t get money from lobbyists and whose campaign
lobbyists are not running – would be like "rolling the dice." But
Mark Penn’s life-long commitment to special interests, his intimate
involvement with the Hillary Clinton campaign and the influence he will
have to push his corporate agenda from within a Clinton White House
should be yet another factor to lead any sensible voter to realize
that supporting Hillary would be equivalent to raising the bet in
the middle of the game knowing you are holding the losing set of cards.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

THE SEMINARY MARKS SAINT HAGOP, SAINT MAROOKE AND SAINT MELIDOS

The administration and Student Council of the Seminary organized an event in
the "Prapion Doumanian" hall of the Seminary on December 14 dedicated to
Saint Hagop Medzpnatsi, Marouke the hermit and Bishop Melidos. A cultural
program was presented by the Seminary students.

Following the opening remarks by Hampartsoum Balekdjian, Sepasdian
Gharakhanian sang two acts from the hymn of Saint Hagop. The event then
proceeded as follows: Armenag Kusherian presented the life of Marouke the
hermit, Sarkis Isgenian performed a Bible reading, Kurkulian Viken talked
about the life of Saint Melidos, Gapriel Yeghiayan read sections from Nareg
and Daghelian Hrayr spoke about the life of Saint Hagop.

A theatrical performance by the Seminary students brought to life segments
of Saint Hagop’s life. This last part of the program was particularly
impressive for the new students, who became direct witnesses to important
events in the life of this great Saint.

The Seminary Dean V. Rev. Shahe Panossian praised the students for their
collective work to organize the event. The Dean then explained the meaning
and value of the concepts of "saint" and "holiness" and the path leading to
those honors- a true path void of fakeness and pretence. He invited the
Seminary students to live their lives with the examples of saints and to
strive to resemble them.

##
View the photos here:
tos/Photos63.htm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Theological
Seminary of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

Azat Artsakh Tert, Nagorno Karabakh Republic NKR
Dec 15 2007

The lands in the village of Mokhratagh were not cultivated.

By Nvard Soghomonian

The villade of Mokhratagh didn’t do the autumn sowing. There are
145 hectares of private lands there: 80 hectares of them are near the
village, 65 hectares near the town of Martakert.
The head of the village Levon Avanessian explained the reason.
After the privating the lands there was no technologies here and the
lands were being cultivated with graet difficulties. The average
fertility of the year of 2006 was 20-22 centner which is a good
result in such bad climate conditions.
We asked them maybe it’s their fault that the autumn sowing was
failed, the villagers answered that they payed on time. They also
said that they bought the seeds from our Government on time but…
Autumn sowing wasn’t done.
The head of the village said that the climate of the region lets
to do the sowing not later than in autumn because the only hope is
the nature.
Many restructions were done in the village after the war. 23
houses and a medical-room were made by such NGO-s as ARS (Armenian
Relief Society) and others. The villagers were pleased. 4 families of
perished soldiers’, war invalids’ and some other families are
represented to the administration to be assisted.
Before the war there were 280 families, the school had 170
pupils. Now there are only 362 people who live in the village of
Mokhratagh. Nobody leaves the village and nobody comes here. Most of
the young men are not going to marry because life conditions are not
good.
It’s painful that the village’s church which is of
historical-architectural value, is in danger of ruining: a part of
the roof is taken off, a tree grew on the wall and all of these show
that the church is out of attention.
But the smoky walls and the candles show that people come here
and pray. The head of the village said that if they manage to find a
sponsor, the church will be preserved.

"HONEST TAX-PAYERS SHOULD NOT BE CHECKED"

A1+
[07:08 pm] 13 December, 2007

"I do not know, why the tax check-ins carried out in the enterprises of
businessman, NA Deputy Khachik Sukiassyan are connected with politics
and whether this tax-payer has been selected by the computer program
or not. But we consider that tax check-ins should not be concurred
with politics and only objective mechanisms should be considered
in this matter in choosing tax-payers for check-ins. That will more
productive for the State Tax Service. They should not check honest
tax-payers", said International Monetary Fund Resident Representative
in Armenia Nienke Oomes to "A1+". We should remind, that after the
NA Deputy Khachik Sukiassyan announced of his intention to support
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, all enterprises belonging to the Sukiassyans’
family were checked by the Tax Service.

The mentioned computer program is worked out by the RA State Tax
Service (STS). This new program allows estimating the possibility of
carrying out tax violations and is aimed at checking those tax-payers
who are more likely to carry out violations. A month ago the STS
published a decision, according to which "50 percent of the list of
tax-payers to be checked-in should be selected from the first part of
the list by the risk program". "This is implemented in all developed
countries, where the tax inspector does not decide whom to check. The
possibility that this concrete tax-payer avoids paying taxes is based
on serious analysis", considers Nienke Oomes.

Within the frameworks of the 3-month program of International
Monetary Fund which costs 35 million dollars and is implemented
jointly with the RA Government, the Fund checks twice a year whether
the Government has carried out all conditions or not. For checking
purposes a delegation is invited from Washington to evaluate the
economic situation in Armenia.

"The main idea of the program is to classify the tax-payers according
to risk. Thus, we try to predict the possibility that a concrete
tax-payer carries out violations. This depends on the number of
violations in the past", said Ms Oomes.

ECONOMIC COOPERATION IS THE PRINCIPLE TOPIC
Harutyun Gevorgyan

Hayots Ashkharh
Dec 14 2007
Armenia

Armenia has officially established diplomatic relations with United
Arabic Emirates since 1998. Next year, by the initiative of UAE
authorities, the two countries will celebrate the 10 years’ anniversary
of the kind and friendly relations between the two countries.

Robert Kocharyan underscored this in all his meetings in UAE.

President Sheikh Khalifa ben Zaid al Nahayaniny and the vice-President,
the country’s Prime Minister, Governor of Dubai Sheikh Muhammad ben
Rashid al Maktum particularly emphasized that the President of friendly
Armenia Robert Kocharyan is a desirable guest in Arabic Emirates.

They also remembered the first visit of Armenian President, five years
back and ensured that the progress of RA-UAE relations having been
recorded several years back will be continuous, involving large scale
investment programs of the development of economy, trade, tourism,
agriculture and other spheres of vital activity.

Like in all his visits abroad, this time also Robert Kocharyan met
the representatives of the local Armenian community.

In his speech Robert Kocharyan first of all underscored that the
efforts to strengthen inter-state relations and the cooperation
with states situated near the Gulf and particularly UAE will be
continuous. Reminding that more than five years have passed after his
first visit to UAE our President underscored: "There is an essential
progress. The volume of the trade-circulation and mutual investments
has grown. The main topic of all the meetings was the promotion of
the development of cooperation in economic sphere. The interest of
UAE authorities towards Armenia was also obvious. Mutual variants
are elaborated for mutually beneficial cooperation."

Speaking about Armenia’s recent achievements Robert Kocharyan touched
upon the results of the economic reforms. He expressed belief that the
economic progress is going to be continuous. " We are well-conscious
that we don’t have gas, oil and our main potential is our effective
governing, as well as the profundity and effectiveness of reforms. It
is due to this process that during the recent years we have recorded
a two digit economic growth.

The progress is also provided due to our cooperation with authoritative
international organizations. Armenian state budget also grows
continuously, which provides an opportunity for us to give more
attention to social issues. The country already has the potential
to make large-scale investments and year by year the fund of risky
programs will grow."

The President also mentioned that serious achievements have also been
recorded in the democratic processes. "For the first time all the
international organizations recorded that May Parliamentary elections
in Armenia were in compliance with international standards.

The next challenge is the forthcoming Presidential election and
we anticipate similar evaluation for these elections as well. But
democratization is not only limited to elections.

It is a test that we must pass. The last stage of the judicial
legislative reforms is in store. This New Year we will have a
completely renovated judicial system. We are well conscious that
structural and legislative reforms can be effective only in case the
mentality of the judges change. It is a serious and really tough job.

The legislation in the sphere of the protection of human rights
has also changed essentially. The competencies of the local
self-governmental bodies have extended. Next year we will pass the
law on Yerevan. As a result the policy of the decentralization of
the authorities will be finalized.

Robert Kocharyan also underscored that though the situation is heating
up before the elections, it is still within permissible limits. "
Time will show which of the nominated candidates will be registered
and run for the elections. I believe all the developments will take
place within the framework of the law. The Electoral Code is amended,
in consideration of all the proposals made by the international
specialists. No one can say that the elections were flawed because of
the imperfectness of the law. Each of us must manifest political will".

President Robert Kocharyan also represented the development of the
negotiations on the regulation of Karabakh issue. "I can definitely
say, as an ex-President of NKR, no matter how the oil-prices rise
Azerbaijan will never have the advantage over Armenia, they used to
have in 90-ies. If we provide Armenia’s economic progress in future
we will hardly have any problems.

But we must try to find the solution of the conflict by means of
negotiations. Had the proposals for the regulation been made 10 years
back we would have definitely agreed. But today we expect more, taking
into consideration the internal political stability in Armenia, the
country’s economic progress, authority, and NKR de facto existence
that is an undeniable fact.

Time works for the benefit of those who manage to make the "de facto"
state irrefutable for everyone. The statehood is becoming accomplished
in Karabakh. It is undeniable. It is not only money that makes the
army efficient. By its state and economic effectiveness Armenia is
evidently higher than our neighbors."

UAE AND ARMENIA SIGN FIVE JOINT COOPERATION AGREEMENTS

Gulf News
74491.html
Dec 13 2007
United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi: The UAE and Armenia signed on Wednesday five agreements
to enhance joint cooperation in areas of foreign policy, agriculture,
culture, tourism and road.

Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Armenian
counterpart Vardan Oskanian signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) for establishing a mechanism for political consultation and
coordination on bilateral relations as well as on regional and
international issues of mutual concern.

Minister of Environment and Water Dr Mohammed Saeed Al Kindi and the
Armenian foreign minister also concluded an agreement for agricultural
cooperation.

The Armenian minister also inked a AED 37 million loan agreement
with Ahmed Sari Al Mazrouei, director general of Abu Dhabi Fund for
Development for rehabilitating a tunnel in Armenia.

AZERBAIJAN: TWO CIVILIAN INTERNEES TRANSFERRED UNDER ICRC AUSPICES

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – Switzerland
12 Dec 2007 13:05:51 GMT

Geneva (ICRC) – On 12 December, the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), acting as a neutral intermediary, facilitated
the transfer of two civilians, who had been detained in Baku and in
Nagorny Karabakh respectively.

The transfer took place in Agdam district of the Republic of
Azerbaijan.

Prior to their release and transfer, ICRC delegates had visited the
detained civilians on several occasions, in order to assess their
conditions of detention and treatment.

The ICRC had also forwarded family news between the internees and
their relatives.

Acting as a neutral intermediary and in accordance with its mandate,
the ICRC facilitated the transfer of the released civilians with the
full cooperation of all sides.

ICRC delegates had visited the civilians before the operation to
ensure that they were returning of their own free will.

RUSSIA’S DIASPORA CAPITAL: KEY ACTORS AND CONDITIONS FOR ACCUMULATION

Eurasian Home Analytical Resource, Russia
Dec 10 2007

ELENA YATSENKO, President of the Eurasia Heritage Foundation, Moscow

It is not the first year that the Eurasia Heritage Foundation
specializing in economic and socio-political developments in the
Post-Soviet space has been systematically analyzing the situation
around the Russian World. From our point of view, what appears to be
quite relevant here is the accumulation of one of the main resources
of the Russian World’s development – that of the diaspora capital.

It is noteworthy that modern diasporas have a number of distinctive
features.

First of all, diaspora is a political phenomenon. And the key factor
for its development is not an ethnic entity but rather a nation-state.

Diaspora forms a specific image of life behaviour, which is influenced
not only by demographic or ethnic reality, but by other factors too.

Modern diasporas are characterized by the shrinking role of the ethnic
component and that of religious adherence, while the search for some
other models of embedding or forging referential links with certain
world historic systems and ideological and political currents seems
to be an increasingly important aspect thereof. What we are seeing
developing behind the usual facade of the diaspora is the emergence
of transnational communities.

Life has proven that monoethnicity, monoculturalism and
monoconfessionalism are desirable but not necessary conditions for the
existence of a consolidated diaspora. Moreover, the aforementioned
factors do not necessarily imply that Metropolia’s interaction with
the diaspora will be intensive, not to mention efficient.

For example, in Russia, Tajikistan, and Israel about 80 % of the
citizens claim to belong to the titular ethnic group. However, the Jews
alone have been able to come up with a genuinely efficient model of
interaction with the diaspora and have established a diaspora network
over the centuries.

The following are typical examples of the most ethnically homogeneous
countries: Greece (98 % of the citizens belong to the titular ethnic
group), Poland (97,5 %), Armenia (96 %), Albania (95 %), Finland
(93 %), China (92 %), Hungary and Azerbaijan (90 %). These countries
have different levels of socio-political and economic development,
their involvement in the global processes is dissimilar too, yet some
of them have already created state-sponsored models of interaction
with their diasporas and in so doing gained political and economic
success at the international level.

It is common international practice to harness the diaspora’s potential
in establishing a network of economic, socio-political, cultural and
other links. For example, a very short while ago we all witnessed
the success of the Armenian diaspora when the USA in fact recognized
the Genocide of the Armenians of 1915-1923 by Turkey. And "the bamboo
network" (colloquial for The Overseas Chinese business networks, OCBN)
is in itself a model of how diaspora business circles operate in the
interests of their country of origin, while independently obtaining a
financial, economic, and political autonomy. It is enough to remember
that 4 % of Indonesia’s Chinese control about 70 % of the country’s
economy.

Let us take a look at the state-of-the-art of accumulation of Russia’s
diaspora capital. Who might become its key donors and actors? What
are the necessary conditions for it to emerge?

There are two ways of creating financial basis for any diaspora:
through the state’s efforts (in our case – Russia’s) or through
raising the diaspora’s capital with its own efforts.

So far the Russian diaspora has been gaining financial support via
social organizations, in the circumstances of lack of transparency in
distributing the resources, which impeded the creation of a resource
base and caused a cohort of "compatriots by profession" to appear. As
a result, all ways of communication with Russian authorities in charge
of interacting with the compatriots abroad, were monopolized by such
structures. It is especially true about the Post-Soviet space. Thus,
we have to admit that the paternalistic model of co-operation with
the compatriots’ organizations abroad has proven unable to create
the necessary infrastructure for developing a diaspora. As one of
the compatriots, who is well integrated in the social and business
environment of the country of residence, points out, this model "gives
a freebie fish instead of a fishing rod and the skill to use it".

At the same time we have to admit, first, that Russia is "overfocused"
on the problems of the part of the diaspora that has failed to adapt
to the new environment, whereas other countries concentrate more on
the diaspora representatives who have become part of the political and
economic establishment of the country of residence. Second, today’s
Russia is only capable of rending support to the veterans, pensioners,
socially vulnerable groups, and of coordinating certain cultural
programs. But it is unable to implement such ambitious projects as
creation of a network structure. There is no technology, no consistent
policy, no infrastructure. This all has yet to be created.

Yet Russia is not a monopolist in interacting with the Russian
diaspora. American and European foundations are active players in this
field too. They are interested in the young Russian-speaking elite,
they get involved through different schools, scientific centres,
etc. The approach they have adopted is this: let Russia mess around
with the marginal groups in the Russian midst, and we will deal with
the elite that has adapted and bring it up in the spirit of Western
values. Titular countries are also actively involved. And it is
not uncommon when they have more resources than Russia does. The
relationship with the country is established by way of long and
lengthy contacts at all levels: expert, economic, cultural. Support
groups or "influence agents" are brought into play. These are people
or groups that are in charge of establishing contacts in the ethnic
environment. At present Russia has no such practice.

Despite the fact that from historical point of view it has not been
long since the Soviet Union collapsed, this period of time was
enough for representatives of all waves of emigration, including
"the cataclysm diasporas", to decide what country to live in and
what to do next. Many compatriots have now well integrated into the
socio-political and economic realities of their country of residence.

They got used to living and working in a competitive environment
with a foreign language and a foreign faith. Many of them think
of themselves as "other" Russians, which does little to inspire
them to take part in the life of Russian cultural, educational and
charity organizations. Yet another deterring factor is the lack of
due management. Investment of resources must be efficient. Today it
is the necessary condition for the formation of the diaspora capital,
which can become the inner source for the development and enhancement
of the Russian World.

Businesses both in Russia and in the country of compatriots’ residence
want to understand what they will gain from their investment. And
this means that there is a need to convert financial capital into
political capital, which in its turn should yield certain benefits
and preferences with Russian authorities supporting businesses’
efforts through the official structures.

By the way, benefits and preferences for businesses supporting the
diaspora as stipulated by Article 16 of the Federal Law "On Russian
Federation’s Policy in Regard to Compatriots Living Abroad" still have
not come into force. Businesses do not regard themselves as acting in
a legal field as genuine participants of this process. As a result,
business and intellectual elite of the Russian diaspora remains
virtually unrepresented in the coordinating councils of Russian
compatriots, and marginal individuals are all but fighting to take
seats in them.

Systematic accumulation of the diaspora capital will not happen unless
a mutually beneficial system of partnership between Russian businesses
abroad and Russia’s economic agents is set up. To fulfil this task
the government has to initiate this process, think over a system of
incentives and control over them. It is important to take into account
the fact that Russian business has long ago crossed the country’s
boundaries and become supranational. It is now capable of becoming a
partner in this niche. Especially in the project activities. In other
words, businessmen in Russia and abroad could finance the projects
that contribute to the preservation and development of the Russian
language, culture and education abroad.

But to do this they have to be sure to gain certain benefits from
Russia. It is precisely the question of supporting the projects rather
than compatriots’ organizations abroad. Accordingly, to implement
project activities there is a need for competent management, which
implies training personnel. And this is an extremely important issue
related to the resources of the Russian World.

Another potential source of the diaspora capital could become
economic circles who have close ties with Russia, regardless of their
ethnicity. If the so-called titular businesses become involved in the
economic communication "Russia – Russian World", this will naturally
lead on to strengthening of the Russian language (the main language
of economic communication in the "near abroad"), generating interest
in Russia and what is going on here.

However, for them to become partners of the Russian World they
have to establish relations with Russian state institutions. This
is the missing link in building the system, where the state is the
structure-forming element of the diaspora and the major designer of
the Russian World. It is precisely the state that adds legitimacy
to its network structures. And the Russian World networks in their
turn enhance the state’s effectiveness and help Russia become a
global power.

It is this pattern that the European, Armenian, and now Azerbaijan
diasporas follow. For example, All-Russia Azerbaijan Congress is
headed by Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan. The Congress has
regional branches in 54 Russian regions and unites about 80 % of
social organizations, registered in Russia, which is about 1,5 million
people. The Union of Armenians in Russia is the largest Armenian
diaspora in the world – around 2,5 million people – which initiated the
creation of World Armenian Congress. The idea of uniting Armenians
world-wide was supported by 138 Armenian organizations from 52
countries in the world. World Jewish Congress, which was created with
the help of large bank structures and international Jewish capital,
has a powerful lobby practically in all countries of residence.

The Russian diaspora is a success story in Romania, where a community
of Russian Old Believers (Lipovans) has been living for three
centuries, since the Church Schism under Patriarch Nikon. Officially
the community comprises about 35 thousand people, but the unofficial
figure is around 100 thousand (which makes it the fifth national
minority in the country). Political activity of Russian Lipovans is
regulated by law, in particular by the Treaty on Friendly Relations
and Co-operation between the Russian Federation and Romania of 2004.

The research carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affaires of the
Russian Federation [1] asked the community members what spheres of
activity Russian-speaking people living in Romania are most successful
in. In their opinion, Russian-speaking people are most successful
in trade, agriculture, industry, entrepreneurship, culture, art and
sport. Today the local authorities are interested in making sure
that the community of Russian Lipovans is as broadly represented
as possible. They think that this will help them attract Russian
investment. Lipovans are very keen on bringing their representatives to
power. Over the past 18 years they have managed to create a lobby at
different levels of the executive and legislative branches of power,
and today to a certain degree they are capable of influencing the
state’s policy and defending their interests.

Prominent politicians and public figures are joining the ranks of the
community. As a result, people in Romania have started to show great
respect for the Lipovans and learn more about their problems. Thus,
they could become a "connecting link" between Romania and Russia. The
situation around studying and preserving the Russian language and
culture has also improved.

When building up the Russian World it is expedient to bear in mind
these models. But to do this Russian government and business community
should have a real image of the state-of-the-art of modern Russian
diasporas abroad. And the business community of the Russian World
has to understand the situation developing in its homeland.

That is why it needs information support. But, unfortunately, we have
to admit that for Russian authorities, society and business circles
Russian compatriots remain "terra incognita". At present there
is no comprehensive "geographical" map of the Russian diaspora,
no large-scale program of carrying out research or elaborating
recommendations. If we are to develop the Russian World, then the
information gap needs to be filled in a systematic way, and the
expert community that examines this complex and multi-faceted issue
professionally, needs to be involved more actively in addressing the
aforementioned objectives.

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