Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

ABOUT 1,350 REFUGEES TAKE SHELTER IN JAVAKHK

Noyan Tapan

Au g 26, 2008

AKHALKALAK, AUGUST 26, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. Refugees have
appeared for the first time in Javakhk as a result of the strained
Georgian-Ossetian conflict. Local residents give shelter to refugees
whose number is increasing from day to day since August 10.

A-Info agency reported that by unofficial data, there are 1,347
refugees in Javakhk, including 820 in Akhaltskha, 238 – in Akhalkalak,
217 – in Ninotsminda, and 72 in Tsalka.

The work on providing refugees with food and lodging was organized
in the regions on the first days of hostilities thanks to efforts of
the local government bodies and residents.

THERE ARE STILL MANY TICKETS FOR ARMENIA-TURKEY MATCH

Panorama.am
13:24 26/08/2008

Recently rumors spread that nearly all the tickets for coming
Armenia-Turkey match on 6 September have been sold out. Moreover, they
said people had to pay great sums of money to get to the "Hrazdan"
stadium where the match will take place.

Press secretary of Armenian Football Federation Georgi Matevosyan
told panorama.am that those rumors have absolutely no grounds. From
52000 tickets only 5000 were sold, the rest is still for sale in the
booking-office of Vazgen Sargsyan state stadium. The minimal cost of
the tickets is 3000 drams and the maximal 10000 drams.

The accountant office workers of the state stadium can’t say what
kinds of tickets are most popular among people now. The situation
will be clear 3 days after match, when the agents return the tickets.

OBAMA TAPS SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS CHAIRMAN BIDEN AS HIS VICE-PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE

armradio.am
25.08.2008 13:30

With the selection of the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, Senator Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-DE), as his Vice-Presidential
running-mate, Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Senator
Barack Obama has chosen a person with a long record of support on
Armenian-American issues, reported the Armenian Assembly of America
(Assembly).

Senator Joe Biden, now in his sixth term, has championed the cause
of freedom and human rights throughout his career. In 1987, Senator
Biden wrote to Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair Hovnanian
with respect to his support for S.J.Res. 43, declaring April 24th
as the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Armenian
Genocide. In the letter, Senator Biden agreed with Chairman Hovnanian’s
view "that we must not allow a revisionist rewriting of the history
of the terrible atrocities committed against the Armenian people."

In 1989, as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Biden supported
S.J.Res. 212, which also affirmed the Armenian Genocide. During the
Committee hearing, Biden was sharply critical of revisionist scholars
supporting Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. Biden also
told the Armenian community that "it is particularly regrettable
that the Turkish government has chosen to make an issue of this
resolution and make an unprecedented lobbying campaign against it in
Congress. Nonetheless, we cannot cave into the pressure of an important
ally and rewrite history by denying the occurrence of the genocide."

"Chairman Biden has consistently demonstrated his leadership on foreign
policy issues, including as it pertains to acknowledging the historical
truth of the Armenian Genocide, as well as U.S. policy and funding
in the South Caucasus," said Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.

Speaking about the right to self-determination during the early stages
of the Soviet Union’s disintegration, in 1990, Senator Biden said
that "We [United States] must place the right of self-determination
at its center.

Nagorno Karabakh only reminds us of the need, and the responsibility,
of the United States to let it be known to the whole world that we
condemn the suppression of free speech and expression everywhere,
condemn the use of force to silence those who seek freedom, and
recognize the right of all peoples to decide for themselves the form
of government under which they choose to live."

Senator Biden also voted in support of Senator John Kerry’s (D-MA)
"Conditions on Assistance to Azerbaijan" amendment to the Freedom
Support Act in 1992, which became known as Section 907. Following the
devastating earthquake in Armenia in 1988, as well as Azerbaijan’s
ongoing assault against Armenians, in 1993, Biden joined in signing
a letter to then Secretary of State Warren Christopher calling for a
"stronger U.S. response to the crisis in the Republic of Armenia,"
as "the people of Armenia are experiencing winter without fuel or
adequate supplies of food as a result of the continued economic
blockade imposed by neighboring Azerbaijan and the sabotage of a
natural gas pipeline through Georgia."

Throughout the 1990s, Biden defended Section 907 of the Freedom Support
Act, which was adopted in response to Azerbaijan’s hostile actions
and blockade against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. In a critical vote
in 1999, when opponents, including oil companies tried to repeal
Section 907 to curry favor with Azerbaijan, Senator Biden stood by
his principles and voted to maintain this important provision of law.

In the 110th Congress, Chairman Biden continues to play a critical
leadership role, from his introduction of legislation honoring the
legacy of slain journalist Hrant Dink and calling upon Turkey to
repeal Article 301 of its penal code, which punishes discussion of the
Armenian Genocide, to his cosponsorship of S.Res. 106, which affirms
the Armenian Genocide, as well as taking the Administration to task
for its flawed policy with respect to the ability of Ambassadors to
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

The Assembly recently praised the efforts of Senator Biden along with
his Senate Foreign Relations Committee colleagues for ensuring that
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide remained at the forefront
during the nomination of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to serve as
the next U.S. Ambassador to Armenia.

Senator Obama is also on record with respect to Armenian issues
having stated "I have stood with the Armenian American community in
calling for Turkey’s acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide." Obama
has also stated that he strongly supports passage of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106).

Saakashvili’s Account of Events that Led to Conflict

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 25 Aug.’08 / 03:30

President Saakashvili said in his lengthy televised speech that it was
Russia and west’s muted reaction to blame for the current crisis.
Saakashvili was speaking at a meeting with a group of lawmakers, including
from his ruling National Movement Party, as well as from the parliamentary
minority, late on August 24.
His speech, which lasted for over an hour and was aired live by the Georgian
television, was an attempt to explain to the Georgian audience what led to
the armed conflict with Russia.
For recent two weeks President Saakashvili was using western media
extensively appearing almost daily on the international TV networks to shape
public opinion abroad. His extensive televised speech at the meeting with
lawmakers was the first comprehensive attempt by Saakashvili to shape
opinion of the local audience, especially in the face of expected `tough
questions,’ which some politicians, including ex-parliamentary speaker, Nino
Burjanadze, have warned to raise.
He started his speech by thanking lawmakers, including those from the
parliamentary minority, for demonstrating unity against the background of
the Russian occupation.
`It was the moment when lustration has happened,’ he said. `There is no need
for law on lustration any more. Just look at what was said by whom
[referring to politicians’ statements] and who was giving interviews to the
Russian media in recent days and everything will become clear…. Our unity is
a gallows for our enemy… We will overcome this misfortune if stay united.’
Saakashvili then started to recount major events in relationship with Russia
starting from very first days of his presidency in early 2004, when, as he
said, he tried to build constructive relations with Russia.
`From the very first day of my presidency I paid visit to Russia. I thought
it was a very good meeting with Putin and we had very frank talks. The first
thing what he asked me was to strengthen border.’
He said that Russians were especially concerned about the situation in
Pankisi gorge, a north-eastern mountainous area in Georgia close to the
Russian border, and about illegal cross-border movement at the Chechen
section of border.
`I want to acknowledge that we really helped Russians in this. We stopped
arms trafficking and [illegal] cross-border movements,’ Saakashvili said.
`Se have created a serious factor through which they [Russia] managed to
establish order.’ [Also on this matter:
]
Saak ashvili then recalled 2004 events in Adjara, when ex-leader of the
Autonomous Republic, Aslan Abashidze, was forced to flee to Russia.
Saakashvili said that Russia and in particular then Foreign Minister, Igor
Ivanov, did not at all play a positive role.
`But despite of this fact, next day [after Abashidze fled overnight on May
6] I phoned President Putin – because of politeness – and thanked for
accepting developments in Adjara with understanding,’ Saakashvili said.
`I remember that conversation very well; on my polite remarks, he responded
roughly: `Now remember, in Adjara we did not intervene, but you won’t have
any gifts from us in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.’ That’s what he said to
me.’
After that, Saakashvili continued, `series of provocations’ started in
breakaway South Ossetia leading up to the clashes in summer, 2004.
He said that since then Russia, which was in direct control of situation on
the ground in Tskhinvali, was preventing any attempt of direct talks with
the local community in South Ossetia.
`The first major blow for Georgia came in January, 2006 when power line and
gas pipelines were exploded,’ Saakashvili said.
He said that in the course of 2006 the Russian intelligence `started getting
very active,’ including through, as he said, financing `Giorgadze’s groups,’
as well through staging series of terrorist acts including in the town of
Gori, when blast killed three policemen and injured 27 other people.
Saakashvili recalled that Georgia arrested, as he put it, the Russian
military intelligence operative, Roman Boiko, for masterminding the Gori
blast. `But Russians asked us to quietly release him [Boiko] and to forget
this incident… We handed him over to Russia hoping that Russia would have
appreciated it,’ Saakashvili said. `Now I think it was a mistake.’
After that incident the Russian intelligence, Saakashvili said, further
boosted their activities in Georgia.
`And as a result we were forced to demonstratively arrest several of their
military intelligence operatives,’ he said, adding that Russia had further
extended already existing economic embargo on Georgia after that incident.
`But they have failed to achieve their goal through this economic embargo;
people did not come out in the street and did not overthrow the government,’
Saakashvili said.
Then he recalled November, 2007 events, but spoke briefly about it saying
that he did not think that `every participant of those events were
cooperating’ with Russia.
He, however, said that the Georgian authorities possessed the information
passed by `the western intelligence services’ according to which, he said,
that just before the November events two Russian criminal bosses, one of
them Vyacheslav Ivankov, with nickname Yaponchik, `who has close links with
the Russian leadership,’ were visiting Georgia and Armenia. `They were
discussing various scenarios of regime change in Georgia,’ Saakashvili said.
A military intervention was the only option left for Russia to overthrow the
government in Georgia, after all the other scenarios have failed,
Saakashvili said.
`I suppose that Russia started thinking about the military intervention in
Georgia sometime in 2007,’ he said. `[In July, 2007] Russia announced about
pulling out from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty limiting military
forces in [Europe] and in Caucasus.’
Up to 3,000 Russian armored vehicles of various types rolled into Georgia,
he said.
`We had only 200 tanks, because we had no right to have more according to
the treaty; Russia brushed off its commitments by withdrawing from the
treaty,’ Saakashvili said.
He then once again criticized `western partners’ for not paying enough
attention to this move by Russia.
`It was obvious that they would not need 3,000 tanks for Chechnya in 2007. I
was telling this to many western partners: just look what Russia is doing;
it is simply concentrating military hardware on the Georgian border. Was not
that a signal that something was being prepared?’ he said.
Saakashvili then recalled then President Putin’s visit to Dagestan in North
Caucasus in February, 2008 and remarks made there, when he instructed the
Russian authorities to reconstruct the road leading from Dagestan to Georgia’s
Kakheti region. The only legal land road between Georgia and Russia is
closed down by Moscow since 2006.
`Should not have these remarks by Putin been a wakeup call for the world?’
Saakashvili asked. `These remarks were aired by the strictly censored
Russian television stations, meaning that he [Putin] wanted the world to
hear this.’
`But there was a zero reaction from the world,’ he said.
He also slammed EU’s reaction to the Russia’s admission of violation of the
Georgian airspace in July.
`This admission by Russia was a clear sign that they were testing western
reaction,’ Saakashvili said. `It took six days for EU to make a statement
about it and the statement was just saying: we call on the both sides to
refrain from provocations. It was in fact inviting Russia to do something
else, because [the EU statement] amounted to saying: we are not interfering
in this matter. That was very alarming reaction that led to what then
happened.’
Saakashvili also said that there was again international silence when the
Russian forces started military exercises in the North Caucasus practicing
in `peace enforcement in Georgia.’
`They [Russia] were saying it publicly deliberately to see what kind of
reaction it would have; but it was silence again; zero [international]
reaction,’ Saakashvili said.
He also said that when he was warning western leaders about possible Russian
military intervention, they were, he said, `thinking that I was
exaggerating.’
In February, 2008 Saakashvili said, he had met with Putin and after the
meeting he had an impression that `Russia was threatening with war.’
Then there was a NATO summit in Bucharest in April, he said, `which made a
strategic mistake.’
`Instead of giving to us NATO membership action plan [MAP], they [NATO]
said: we are not giving MAP to Georgia because there are conflicts, but we
will get back to this issue in December,’ Saakashvili said. `Saying this
amounted to telling Russia: do something before December, otherwise in
December Georgia may get MAP.’
He said that Georgia was limited in options. `Saying no to NATO would not
have given us any guarantee,’ he said.
Saakashvili pointed out that he had explained to western leaders, including
to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President George W. Bush, that
Russia’s decision to repair railway in breakaway Abkhazia’s Ochamchire
district only aimed at preparing for bringing in troops and military
hardware for intervention in Georgia.
He then confirmed for the first time reports about offering Russia to divide
Abkhazia into spheres of influence.
`I tried to somehow negotiate with Russia,’ Saakashvili said. `I’ve sent a
letter to the Russian President [Dmitry Medvedev] telling him let’s
negotiate: your peacekeepers are clearly delegitimized and let’s agree on
the following: area up to Kodori rive, involving Gali and Ochamchire
districts [of Abkhazia] are almost empty and people are not living there;
let’s return displaced persons on the first stage to those areas; move your
peacekeepers on the Kodori river and we are ready to sign a new agreement
through which the Georgia’s territorial integrity will be protected, but
your interests will also be taken into account.’
`If Russia really wanted to avert war, they would have agreed on such a good
proposal for them; they in fact were getting through this proposal
protection of their economic interests and somehow legalizing their presence
[in Abkhazia] with our consent and on the other hand we also were
benefiting, because we would have launched return of people and economic
projects,’ Saakashvili said.
The Russia’s response, he continued, apparently written by the Foreign
Ministry, however, amounted `to making fun of us.’
`The response said that at this stage it was too early to speak about the
return of displaced persons to Abkhazia,’ he said.
Saakashvili also said that his first meeting with Medvedev in June in St.
Petersburg was `very good.’
During the next meeting with Medvedev in Astana in July, however, he said,
the Russian President’s `stance was totally changed.’
`It was clear that some other forces came into play,’ he said. `He
[Medvedev] started to push for the new conditions, like immediately pull
back from upper Kodori gorge, the demand, which was totally impossible to
fulfill. So it was clear that they were not willing to negotiate. So I had
an impression after that meeting that he [Medvedev] knew something, which I
did not know… I had a gloomy mood after that meeting, because it was clear
that they [Russia] was preparing for something bad.’
Saakashvili pointed out that the Georgian authorities expected Russia’s
attack from the Abkhaz direction, rather than from South Ossetia, `so major
forces’ of the Georgian army were deployed in the west.
He said that as situation started to deteriorate on August 7, `we moved one
brigade [of the Georgian armed forces] closer to South Ossetia, and later
another [brigade] as well.’
`But our major forces were still deployed in the west; there was a brigade
at Senaki [military base] and we did not call back our brigade from Iraq,
because I was deeply convinced up to the last minute that Russia would not
have done such a large-scale provocation,’ Saakashvili said.
`Although we were under fire from the 120mm mortar launchers I announced a
unilateral ceasefire; at that time we already had one killed soldiers in the
village of Avnevi and four others were wounded; [Georgian Defense Minister
Davit] Kezerashvili was begging me to let him open artillery fire, because,
he was telling me, otherwise he was not able to bring [wounded soldiers]
from [the village]. But my response was that we could not open fire whatever
happened,’ Saakashvili said.
He said that the Georgian side tried to communicate with the Russian
authorities, but they were claiming as if they were no longer controlling
South Ossetian separatist authorities and their militiamen.
He said that information came late on August 7 that the Russian military
hardware was rolling through Roki Tunnel into South Ossetia. He said that
Georgia was observing existing agreements and had no heavy arms in the
Georgian-controlled areas of the breakaway region.
`So the only way to stop their [Russian forces and South Ossetian militias]
movement into the Georgian villages was to use medium-size artillery for
blowing up the bridge at Didi Gupta and for [closing] the road coming from
Roki Tunnel… So as soon as they [the Russian tanks] started to roll into
South Ossetia we started firing to the road [at Roki Tunnel]; at the same
time we were responding to the fire coming from the South Ossetian positions
including from the center of Tskhinvali, their government headquarters and
from their Defense Ministry,’ he said.
Saakashvili also said that he `strictly ordered’ not to fire in direction of
civilian population and `this order was fully observed.’
`We conducted our first flight [apparently by SU-25 warplanes available in
the Georgian army] at dawn [August 8] in direction of Java and Roki Tunnel
and our pilots informed us that whole area was full of the Russian
military,’ he said and added that it was impossible for such large number
of the Russian army to concentrate in the area just overnight.
By saying this Saakashvili was apparently trying to counter the Russia’s
claims that it has sent its troops into South Ossetia only after the
Georgian forces started to attack Tskhinvali.
`If someone thinks that it was Georgia, which triggered what had happened,
should better realize how it was possible to bring in such large army only
in hours; this is unreal,’ Saakashvili said.
He has also claimed that Russian army’s, as he put it, unnoticed
infiltration into South Ossetia before the conflict started was `a failure
of the international intelligence.’
`When we are asking our western partners: did not you see them coming, they
are responding that their satellites were directed mainly on Iraq and that
they could not fly over [Georgia], but it was impossible to see what was
happening on the ground because it was cloudy. So it was a serious failure
of the international intelligence; they would not have hidden this
information from us, if they knew it; but they also did not know it,’ he
said.
He also said that the Georgian artillery had destroyed `large part of this
Russian military in Java during the early stage of the conflict.
`The 4th brigade and the military unit from Kojori have destroyed hundreds
of soldiers… and Gen. [Anatoly] Khrulev [a commander of Russia’s 58th army]
was wounded. After that Putin arrived in Vladikavkaz, mobilizes entire
forces and Russia’s entire forces moved towards Georgia… Russians conducted
200 combat flights’ Saakashvili said.
`We managed to stop them on the first day, on the second day and on the
third day 500 more armored vehicles started moving into Georgia [from Roki
Tunnel],’ he added.
He then justified withdrawal of the Georgian forces from South Ossetia and
adjacent areas saying that it would have been impossible to stop additional
500 units of the Russian armored vehicles and the Georgian troops were under
the risk of `destruction.’
`So we took that decision [to pull back]; this was the time when the world
started waking up,’ Saakashvili said. `One hour after the President Bush’s
statement [Russian] tanks stopped rolling [in direction of Tbilisi].’
He said that the Georgian soldiers `fought hard,’ although acknowledged that
`there could have been some mistakes in planning.’
In the end of his speech, Saakashvili said that Russia’s goal was `to
collapse the Georgia’s economy; to trigger chaos and as a result to put an
end to the Georgian statehood.’
`Our goal is to overcome [the economic] crisis; it will take three or four
months; it won’t be easy, but we will overcome this heavy crisis in three or
fourth months and in next year or year and a half Georgia’s economy will
again start to grow rapidly,’ Saakashvili said.
`The main thing what we have gained from everything that happened is that
our positions became very strong. If so far foreigners were telling us:
negotiate yourself [over the conflict settlement], we have no time for you;
now it has become the problem for the world,’ he added.

Washington Post
Aug 24 2008

Georgian Democracy A Complex Evolution

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 24, 2008; Page A17

During the current conflict between Russia and Georgia, U.S. officials
have frequently referred to the former Soviet republic as a democracy,
a nation President Bush once called "a beacon of liberty." Speaking
before the Veterans of Foreign Wars last week, the president declared,
"Georgia has stood for freedom around the world — now the world must
stand for freedom in Georgia."

But the story of Georgia’s democracy is more complex than the
administration’s rhetoric suggests, and some experts say U.S. policies
have undermined the country’s democratic trends.

After the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia brought the government of
President Mikheil Saakashvili to power, the Bush administration scaled
back funding for voluntary civil and social organizations in order to
devote resources to building up the central government — precisely as
such organizations were being weakened by a drain of top officials
joining the new government. Separate aid efforts to create a
professional civil service have also been thwarted by objections by
the Georgia government.

As a result, experts and aid specialists said, Georgia’s central
government has become more powerful, while other governmental and
nongovernmental institutions have become weaker since the 2003
overthrow of leader Eduard Shevardnadze, resulting in few outlets for
popular discontent. Last November, the government used excessive force
to disperse largely peaceful demonstrations in Tbilisi, Georgia’s
capital, according to Human Rights Watch, and Saakashvili briefly
imposed emergency rule.

Last month, the Georgian government further tried to limit aid to
nongovernmental groups, bluntly informing foreign donors that future
technical assistance "would be provided in direct response to
government requests." According to a copy of the government’s July 7
briefing, provided by a person who attended it, future projects must
focus on infrastructure, such as roads and sanitation. The Georgia
government "did not appreciate" and was opposed to projects "which
eventually attain policy dynamics of their own and become a burden on
the government and/or confuse the policy-making process," the briefing
document said.

"Georgia is a semi-democracy. We have traded one kind of
semi-democratic system for another. There is a real need to understand
that what happened is another one-party government emerged," said
Lincoln Mitchell, who worked for the National Democratic Institute in
Georgia from 2002 to 2004 and is author of the forthcoming book
"Uncertain Democracy: U.S. Foreign Policy and Georgia’s Rose
Revolution."

Under Shevardnadze, there was freedom of assembly and the press, and
the government was too weak to crack down on dissent, Mitchell
said. But the state was rife with corruption, and elections were
poorly run. Under Saakashvili, the central government is stronger and
official corruption has been reduced, but the media have far fewer
freedoms and there are fewer civil organizations. Elections still
don’t function well. Mitchell added that Parliament has been weakened
through constitutional changes mandated by Saakashvili, making it
difficult for the legislative branch to restrain executive power.

"We undermine Georgia’s cause when we overstate their democracy," said
Mitchell, now an assistant professor at Columbia University. "If we
declare victory prematurely, as I think the Bush administration has
done, it is not good for democracy generally and not good for Georgia
in particular."

Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch,
agreed that "relative to its self-image and the way it is portrayed in
the United States, Georgia is not a pristine democracy." But, he said,
compared with such neighbors as Armenia, Azerbaijan and other former
Soviet republics in the region, "it is a much better place."

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, pressed by foreign
reporters last week on the nature of Georgia’s democracy, acknowledged
that Tbilisi "has not even come close to finishing its democratic
evolution. It still has a long way to go on many fronts. . . . And we
are committed to helping Georgia move even deeper in its democratic
evolution."

Still, aid specialists said working in Georgia is often a frustrating
experience, with initiatives blocked by a rotating cast of ministers
or officials who are frequently replaced by Saakashvili. While the
president wins praise for his crackdown on corruption and his ability
to attract investment, former and current aid workers said it is often
difficult to make real improvements.

"I was excited to go to Georgia. I thought it had real prospects,"
said Jamie Factor, who has spent 15 years working on international
donor programs to advance democratic reforms in transitional countries
and served in Georgia in 2006 and 2007. "But I couldn’t have been more
disappointed in terms of being able to accomplish anything."

Out of a total of $67 million the Bush administration has requested in
aid for Georgia for fiscal 2009, more is devoted to military
assistance ($15.2 million) than democracy programs ($14.8
million). Before the conflict with Russia erupted early this month,
Georgia’s armed forces made up the third-largest foreign force in the
U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

"Georgia has made enormous strides in governmental reform but must
improve the effectiveness of key institutions, strengthen political
pluralism and increase public participation to truly consolidate its
democratic gains," the State Department said in its budget
justification to Congress.

Officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development say that
the Georgian government did not pressure the United States to reduce
funding to civil society groups but that the agency "rebalanced"
funding after the Rose Revolution because it could begin to work
directly with the Georgian government. An official, speaking on the
condition of anonymity to answer questions about particular programs,
said that efforts to create a professional civil service have suffered
a setback. "USAID can only engage in this type of wholesale reform if
the host country wants it and is behind the initiative," the official
said.

DEFENSE MINISTERS OF CSTO MEMBER STATES TO MEET WITH ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

National Legal Internet Portal
Aug 21 2008
Belarus

Defense ministers of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization)
member states will have a meeting with Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, BelTA learnt from the CSTO press service.

"A session of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CSTO member
states has finished in Yerevan and the ministers are going to meet
with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan," the press service noted.

During the session in Yerevan, the defense ministers of the CSTO member
states discussed the plan of coalitional military construction of
the Collective Security Treaty Organization for the period till 2010
and also the issues concerning the operational and combat training of
CSTO’s forces and facilities. The ministers also considered the draft
resolution on development, financing and implementation of the CSTO
special interstate programmes, the avenues of organization’s activity
in H2 2008 and H1 2009. The defense ministers of the CSTO member states
also discussed the issue regarding the conflict in South Ossetia.

In line with the established order, Armenia has chaired the Council
of Defense Ministers of the CSTO member states.

On August 22, the defense ministers of the CSTO member states are
expected to take part in the 4th round of the joint command post
exercise Rubezh 2008 which will be held in Armenia.

US GLOBAL STRATEGY IN GEORGIA
by Axin Arbili

OpEdNews
US-Global-Strategy-in-Geor-by-Axin-Arbili-080821-8 89.html
Aug 21 2008
PA

Russia attacked Georgia; Georgia is under Russian occupation; Georgia
is a democracy, Russia isn’t; Georgia is small and peaceful, Russia is
big, aggressive, guilty; Russia is the old Soviet Union threatening its
neighbours, violating international law, annexing countries; Russia
is imperialistic; Georgia is innocent and a victim, etc etc. That’s
basically what the US government and corporate-controlled media
are telling us and the whole world, that’s what they want us all
to believe. Russia is told to respect the "territorial integrity"
of Georgia and to stop its aggressions while Georgia is continuously
assured of Western assistance. Washington , London , Paris , Berlin
are competing with each other in condemning Russia and in showing their
solidarity with the Georgian president Saakashvili. Press conferences
are held in Tbilisi on a frequent basis with heads of Western states,
with French and German ministers, and soon also again with Secretary
of State, Dr. Rice, to repeat the message: Georgia is an innocent
democracy under attack and occupation that needs to be supported;
that Russia is the imperial aggressor.

Western support for Georgia and Western condemnation of Russia has now
become unconditional. Never mind the facts on the ground; never mind
the fact that it was Georgia that started the military aggression to
reconquer South Ossetia; never mind the thousands of civilians killed
by Georgian military, the bombardments of Ossetian villages and its
capital, Tskhinvali. Never mind the fact that Ossetians and Abkhasians
are distinct nations that do not want to be part of Georgia; just
ignore the fact that they seek independence and their own states,
as demonstrated in several referendums, that self-determination
has been their wish for decades if not centuries. Consequently,
during his news meeting on Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer made no reference to these essential questions, rather
he reaffirmed the West’s position by telling Russia what to do and
threatening actions if it didn’t. How strange that for a military
organisation the most important question is irrelevant and omitted:
Who started the aggression, who is the aggressor? Instead, NATO
membership-promise to Georgia is reiterated. When it comes to its
geostrategic interests, questions of right or wrong are meaningless
to the West. In this conflict, the US demonstrates once again the
unchanging characteristics of its foreign policy, namely hypocrisy,
double standards, distortions, and deceptions.

Facts are inconvenient for the West if they don’t support Western
interests, so they must be swept aside with lots of media and political
manipulations. But there are major Western interests in Georgia and
in the Caucasus that cannot be concealed easily. To understand and
predict US/Western foreign policy, just look where the oil and gas
reserves of the world are located and the routes of transport to the
West. Georgia is in the focus of Western attention and support due to
a major oil pipeline, the BTC pipeline (initials for the cities Baku ,
Tblisi, and Ceyhan), which runs through Georgia . It is carrying oil
from the Caspian Sea to Europe , and it is of vital importance for
the West in terms of energy supply and security.

The aim of US foreign policy is and has always been primarily to
control energy resources and routes by all means, at all costs. That
meant historically to go to war against any nation that challenged
US objectives, to conquer and occupy their countries; and to
set up puppet regimes in the regions that would follow US/western
instructions. Most of the Middle East consists of such client states,
which have been obedient for decades ( Saudi Arabia , Pakistan ,
Iraq , Egypt , Turkey , etc). None of these countries is democratic,
but that is of no concern to the USA/EU/NATO – as long as they stay
firmly on the path shown to them. If there is no such country in
the region to make use of, it is right and convenient for the US to
simply create one. For a recent example, see the Serbian territory
of Kosova . Despite the legal, historical, moral rights of Serbs on
their ancient land, there was no talk of the "territorial integrity"
of Serbia; rather it was decided to give Albanians a second state in
which US military and material interests in the Balkans could be firmly
founded; and the largest military base outside the USA could be built.

The other two transit countries of the BTC pipeline are Azerbaijan
and Turkey . The latter already has the American client-state-status,
and work is now fully underway to secure both Azerbaijan ‘s and Georgia
‘s inclusion into US-led Western control and exploitation system. Part
of Western "democracy promotion and strengthening" are US military
bases in these regions, training and equipping the local armies, and
other economic aid that will facilitate to establish a functioning
client state useful for US/Western geostrategic and energy interests.

These client states not only get military and economic aids in
return, but their national self-appraisal, interests or aspirations,
too, are accepted, promoted, and encouraged. It doesn’t matter if
these views are exaggerated, delusional, egomaniac, undemocratic,
intolerant, immoral, inhumane, undemocratic, militaristic, criminal
or just plain fascist as long as they don’t threaten the strategic
arrangements. Take Turkey for example. That state is based on a
nationalistic state ideology and racial philosophy originating from
20th century European racism. Contrary to propaganda, Turkey is
not a democracy but a military dictatorship where the generals have
control over the parliament, government, and judiciary. According to
the Turkish Weltanschauung, there are no other peoples than the Turks
in Turkey , and thus 40 million Kurds, ancient inhabitants of Media,
Anatolia and Kurdistan , simply do not exist officially. Greeks,
Assyrians, and Armenians were previously decimated, expelled, or
exterminated by the Turks, crimes which are still not recognized
by the Turkish state. There are no Kurdish rights as an ethnically
distinct population; there is no Kurdish language, no Kurdish schools,
universities, no Kurdish names for Kurdish-born children or for the
Kurdish villages, town, cities, and the Kurdish landscape. All of that
is prohibited by the fascist Turkish state. In fact, in Turkey there
are more animal rights than Kurdish rights. Any Kurdish resistance
against this injustice and crime has been declared terrorism and
punished mercilessly and systematically. In the last 25 years only,
more than 4,000 Kurdish villages have been eradicated, millions of
Kurds displaced, thousands of extra-judicial murders carried out with
no consequence for the perpetrators whatsoever. In February of this
year, the Turkish army invaded "northern Iraq " and since then, it is
flying raids against Kurds who do not accept the Turkish fascism and
occupation of Kurdistan . Where was the Western outcry and condemnation
of Turkey then? There was and is none. The genocide against the Kurds
by Turks has been and is being carried out in the eyes of the whole
world without any protest or action. In fact, Turkey is receiving
weapons and intelligence assistance from the USA as part of their
grand strategic deal. Turkey can carry out its terror and murderous
campaigns against the Kurds because it is part of the American
client/slave-system in the region, and because the Kurds aren’t.

Other examples of US-style democratisation efforts could be
given. Right now the business of democracy is focused in Georgia . As
usual, it starts off militarily. Up to a 1,000 US military advisers
were dispatched to instruct the Georgian army how to implement
tactics and handle German and US-made weapons. Now they are all
suddenly very surprised that the Georgians are making use of their
newly acquired knowledge. But they shouldn’t deceive themselves or try
to deceive others. Just a couple of days before the Georgian military
invaded South Ossetia, Secretary of State Rice on her visit to Tbilisi
reassured the Georgian president that the US would always support their
"friends". It is to be seen how far that support will go. But judging
from their actions and words, there is no change of US foreign policy
doctrines and objectives: Whatever is necessary to secure the energy
sources and expand control of remaining ones – it will be done. As
de facto global empire – claiming ownership to space even -, the
US acts without moral or legal principles. In fact, it sees it as
the exclusive right of the Western "civilisation" to decide what is
legal and what not, what is moral and what not. Furthermore, there
is no free choice in the US global empire as democracy and freedom
outside of US control is regarded as threat to its strategic master
plan, and every action or position unfavourable to US interests is
severely punished by Washington, with threats, sanctions, embargo,
proxy wars, bombing, invasion, occupation, etc.

The Balkans were the starting point of the First World War that aimed
at destroying Russia . WWII and the cold war had the same aim. Today
the conflict in the Caucasus may lead to a third global war as the
West, once again, targets Russia as the major threat to its world
dominion.

I’m Kurdish, and thus I don’t have a place to call my homeland. My
ancient country, Kurdistan, has been under occupation for centuries by
barbaric forces. They are against a free Kurdistan, against free Kurds,
against freedom and democracy. The West supports them and the brutal
status quo. They set up most of the local regimes as puppets, trained
and equipped their armies to maintain the status quo: Exploitation
and control of the energy resources. They don’t want a change of
this status quo of terror and injustice, they don’t want freedom,
democracy, justice for the region. I want to inform the public about
the injustices done to my people and my country with real and relevant
information, by serving truth – something the elite and corporate
controlled media of the West will never do.

Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
Aug 15 2008

Armenian opposition papers not to be published due to lack of
newsprint

Two Armenian opposition dailies, Haykakan Zhamanak and Chorrord
Ishkhanutyun, will not be published on 16 August and 19 August,
because of the lack of newsprint, Haykakan Zhamanak reported on 15
August.

The publishing house has problems with the delivery of newsprint, the
paper said. It added that it planned to save the available stock of
newsprint until the problem was settled. Haykakan Zhamanak said that
it would resume publishing on 20 August.

Chorrord Ishkhanutyun said on 15 August that there were some
difficulties with the import of newsprint due to the recent
developments in Georgia.

The Economist
August 16, 2008
U.S. Edition

The dangers of the safe route; Caucasian pipelines

How conflicts in the Caucasus affect Western oil

Georgia?s pipelines to the West weren?t bombed but they remain
vulnerable

IT?S not just the Russian-Georgian conflict that has made August such
a rotten month for the West?s favourite oil pipeline. On August 5th a
pumping station on the 1,100-mile (1,760km) Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
pipeline in eastern Turkey was set ablaze. The PKK Kurdish separatists
claimed responsibility. The entire route, which had been carrying
850,000 barrels of Caspian crude oil a day to Western markets, shut
down and world oil prices, which had been falling, nudged up
again. BP, which spent $4 billion on BTC and still manages it, put a
brave face on things, saying that the disruption would be
temporary. But the station was still burning when Georgia and Russia
went to war two days later.

The company?s other oil pipeline, Baku-Supsa, carrying crude to
Georgia?s Black Sea coast (now blockaded by Russian warships), had
only recently re-opened but was also forced to shut down. On August
12th, even as the conflict was fading, BP stopped putting gas into the
Baku-Erzurum gas pipeline. The only pipeline from Azerbaijan that was
fully operational this week is the one running through Russian soil to
the port of Novorossiisk.

For the past decade Georgia has been championed as a reliable country
through which new pipelines, safely controlled by Western companies,
could bypass both Russia and Iran. On the face of it, the past week
has made a mockery of that claim. But not completely. Georgia will
point out that its energy infrastructure survived the war unscathed:
no pipeline was bombed. Russia, mindful of the need for good relations
with Azerbaijan and Turkey, has been careful to point out that this
was not an oil war.

Yet the crisis’including the dangerously unresolved dispute between
Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh’raises wider issues. South
Caucasus is supposed to be the location for the next generation of
so-called "fourth corridor" projects, by means of which Western
strategists dream of ending Europe?s dependence on Russian gas and
getting Caspian gas to European markets.

The jewel in this scheme, the Nabucco pipeline’designed to ship
Caspian gas to Europe in 2013’is already in trouble for lack of
unequivocal European support, a rival Russian scheme called South
Stream and the fact that there is no major Western energy company
based upstream in Turkmenistan to lobby for the deal. One of the first
foreign-policy initiatives by Russia?s president, Dmitry Medvedev, was
to court Azerbaijani and Turkmen leaders in order to persuade them to
sell their gas to his country. With an eye on events in Georgia, they
must now decide how to respond to his friendly advice.

Yerevan: Regional problems needed to be solved by regional states

Tehran, Aug 17, IRNA
Iran-Armenia-Movsisyan

Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said here Sunday that regional
problems should be solved by regional states themselves.

Movsisiyan, telling Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that
Tehran-Yerevan ties serve both sides’ interests, hailed Iran as a
country with an `undeniable’ role in regional arrangements.

He hoped that during upcoming visit of Armenian foreign minister to
Tehran, Iran and Armenia will strive to work out a mechanism for
drawing necessary strategies for more consultations between Iran and
the Caucasus states.

Mottaki said Caucasus is a region of high significance and Iran and
Armenia can in cooperation with other regional states reach a formula
for restoration of peace and stability there.

He said holding meetings to pool regional states’ views in connection
with regional issues will be helpful.