Category: News

Saving Private Ivan: Mike Davis Remember Normandy’s heroes – but also that
the Red army played the decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Jun 11, 2004
The decisive battle for the liberation of Europe began 60 years ago
this month when a Soviet guerrilla army emerged from the forests and
bogs of Belorussia to launch a bold surprise attack on the mighty
Wehrmacht’s rear.
The partisan brigades, including many Jewish fighters and
concentration-camp escapees, planted 40,000 demolition charges. They
devastated the vital rail lines linking German Army Group Centre to
its bases in Poland and Eastern Prussia.
Three days later, on June 22 1944, the third anniversary of Hitler’s
invasion of the Soviet Union, Marshal Zhukov gave the order for the
main assault on German front lines. Twenty-six thousand heavy guns
pulverised German forward positions. The screams of the Katyusha
rockets were followed by the roar of 4,000 tanks and the battle cries
(in more than 40 languages) of 1.6 million Soviet soldiers. Thus
began Operation Bagration, an assault over a 500-mile-long front.
This “great military earthquake”, as the historian John Erickson called
it, finally stopped in the suburbs of Warsaw as Hitler rushed elite
reserves from western Europe to stem the Red tide in the east. As a
result, American and British troops fighting in Normandy would not
have to face the best-equipped Panzer divisions.
But what American has ever heard of Operation Bagration? June 1944
signifies Omaha Beach, not the crossing of the Dvina River. Yet the
Soviet summer offensive was several times larger than Operation
Overlord (the invasion of Normandy), both in the scale of forces
engaged and the direct cost to the Germans.
By the end of summer, the Red army had reached the gates of Warsaw
as well as the Carpathian passes commanding the entrance to central
Europe. Soviet tanks had caught Army Group Centre in steel pincers
and destroyed it. The Germans would lose more than 300,000 men in
Belorussia alone. Another huge German army had been encircled and
would be annihilated along the Baltic coast. The road to Berlin had
been opened.
Thank Ivan. It does not disparage the brave men who died in the North
African desert or the cold forests around Bastogne to recall that 70%
of the Wehrmacht is buried not in French fields but on the Russian
steppes. In the struggle against Nazism, approximately 40 “Ivans”
died for every “Private Ryan”. Scholars now believe that as many as 27
million Soviet soldiers and citizens perished in the second world war.
Yet the ordinary Soviet soldier – the tractor mechanic from Samara,
the actor from Orel, the miner from the Donetsk, or the high-school
girl from Leningrad – is invisible in the current celebration and
mythologisation of the “greatest generation”.
It is as if the “new American century” cannot be fully born without
exorcising the central Soviet role in last century’s epochal victory
against fascism. Indeed, most Americans are shockingly clueless about
the relative burdens of combat and death in the second world war. And
even the minority who understand something of the enormity of the
Soviet sacrifice tend to visualise it in terms of crude stereotypes of
the Red army: a barbarian horde driven by feral revenge and primitive
Russian nationalism. Only GI Joe and Tommy are seen as truly fighting
for civilised ideals of freedom and democracy.
It is thus all the more important to recall that – despite Stalin, the
NKVD and the massacre of a generation of Bolshevik leaders – the Red
army still retained powerful elements of revolutionary fraternity. In
its own eyes, and that of the slaves it freed from Hitler, it was the
greatest liberation army in history. Moreover, the Red army of 1944
was still a Soviet army. The generals who led the breakthrough on the
Dvina included a Jew (Chernyakovskii), an Armenian (Bagramyan), and
a Pole (Rokossovskii). In contrast to the class-divided and racially
segregated American and British forces, command in the Red army was
an open, if ruthless, ladder of opportunity.
Anyone who doubts the revolutionary elan and rank-and-file humanity
of the Red army should consult the extraordinary memoirs of Primo
Levi (The Reawakening) and KS Karol (Between Two Worlds). Both hated
Stalinism but loved the ordinary Soviet soldier and saw in her/him
the seeds of socialist renewal.
So, after George Bush’s recent demeaning of the memory of D-day to
solicit support for his war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, I’ve
decided to hold my own pri vate commemoration.
I will recall, first, my Uncle Bill, the salesman from Columbus, hard
as it is to imagine such a gentle soul as a hell-for-leather teenage
GI in Normandy. Second – as I’m sure my Uncle Bill would’ve wished –
I will remember his comrade Ivan.
The Ivan who drove his tank through the gates of Auschwitz and battled
his way into Hitler’s bunker. The Ivan whose courage and tenacity
overcame the Wehrmacht, despite the deadly wartime errors and crimes
of Stalin. Two ordinary heroes: Bill and Ivan. Obscene to celebrate
the first without also commemorating the second.
Mike Davis teaches American history at the University of California at
Irvine and is an editor New Left Review; his latest book is Dead Cities
[email protected]

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
June 11 2004
WE ARE WELL AWARE OF WHAT OCCURS ON SOUTHERN CAUCASUS
[June 11, 2004, 11:42:29]
These words have been told by the deputy chief of Headquarters of the
US European Command general Charles Wald at the meeting with Minister
of Defiance of Azerbaijan, colonel-general Safar Abiyev.
As was stated from the press-service of the ministry, Mr. Safar
Abiyev, having noted, that similar meetings have strategic character
and that the USA pays great attention to Azerbaijan, reminded that the
situation in region of the South Caucasus continues to remain intense,
and a part of lands of Azerbaijan to this day is under occupation of
Armenia. He added: ¡°It is impossible to freeze the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict. It is high time to call a spade a spade and it is necessary
to recognize Armenia as a state ¨C aggressor¡±.
General Charles Wald has thanked for reception, saying that shares his
views on the stated idea, and has emphasized, that present position
in region of the South Caucasus is under the control of the largest
international organizations of the world. We are well aware of what
occurs in the region¡±, he said.
Minister Safar Abiyev has told that Azerbaijan seriously prepares
for ¡°Cooperative Best Effort-04 ¡± exercises, which will take place
in September of this year within the framework of the NATO ¡°PfP¡±
program.
Having noted, that carrying out in Azerbaijan similar exercises is
very significant event which even brings Azerbaijan with the NATO
closer, the American general has told: ¡°The US European Command of
Armed Forces thinks much of cooperation with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
is a state having great authority in the region. Relations between
the USA and Azerbaijan are improving and our relations are long-term.
The US and Azerbaijan have common strategic interests.
Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan has noted, that cooperation of
Azerbaijan and the USA every day becomes closer, he has also reminded
on importance of cancellation of the 907 Section to the ¡°Freedom
Support Act¡±.
In the meeting on which the wide exchange of opinions on questions of
the international and regional safety was held, also presenting was
the Charge d’Affaires of the US embassy in Baku Nancy §®celdowney,
and the military attach¨¦ lieutenant colonel Brendan Mcalon.

Azeri Defence Ministry reports Armenian truce violation
Assa-Irada
10 Jun 04
Baku, 10 June: The [Azerbaijani] Defence Ministry press service has
told Assa-Irada news agency that the positions of the Azerbaijani
armed forces in the village of Koxa Nabi of Tovuz District [on the
border with Armenia] came under fire from positions in Armenia’s Berd
District at 0010-0025 [1910-1925 gmt] on 10 June.
Also, at 0050-0125 [1950-2025 gmt], the Armenian military on the
positions near the village of Kuropatkino in the Armenian-occupied
Xocavand District [in Karabakh] fired on the positions of the
Azerbaijani armed forces deployed on the opposite side.
The enemy was silenced with retaliatory fire. There were no casualties.
From: Baghdasarian

Government Boosts Spending With 2003 Budget Savings
By Atom Markarian 11/06/2004 12:13
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
June 11 2004
The Armenian government unveiled on Thursday plans for a nearly 4
percent increase in public spending this year which will be financed
with resources saved up during the implementation of its 2003 budget.
Ministers decided to seek parliament approval for raising the projected
2004 expenditures by 12 billion drams to almost 330 billion drams ($580
million). The measure would mark the first-ever growth of the Armenian
state budget mid-way through a fiscal year. Officials said the extra
money was largely freed by Armenia’s debt settlement agreements with
Russia and Turkmenistan which reduced the amount of funds set aside
for external debt servicing last year. They said the government also
economized on state procurements.
According to Finance and Economy Minister Vartan Khachatrian, most of
the additional expenditures, 7 billion drams, will be channeled into
the construction and repair of secondary schools across the country.
The rest of the money will be spent on the reconstruction of the
country’s northwestern regions still reeling from the 1988 earthquake
and improving supplies of water and natural gas in rural areas.
Government spending, which is still too small to meet Armenia’s
socioeconomic needs, will be further boosted with a new $20 million
budgetary loan which the World Bank is expected to disburse in
October. The money will likely be included in the state budget for
next year, though.
Khachatrian revealed that the Armenian government would like to
receive within the next five years $700 million in assistance from
the United States under Washington’s Millennium Challenge Account
(MCA) program of promoting political and economic reforms around the
world. He said Yerevan expects to secure $100 million as early as this
year and to invest it in education, health care and social services.
“We want to focus on direct investments in the economy, especially
in the rural areas,” Khachatrian told reporters.
Armenia is among 16 developing nations of the world that were
recently selected by the U.S. to be eligible for the additional aid.
Its allocation and amounts will depend on specific proposals to be made
by their governments. The top executives of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation, which is administering the scheme, visited Yerevan last
week to discuss ways of using the potential extra aid with government
officials and civil society representatives.
Senior officials from the U.S. State Department have made it clear
that the Armenian authorities must also improve their “poor” human
rights record if they are to benefit from the MCA.

Azeri defence chief urges world to recognize Armenia as aggressor
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
10 Jun 04
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev has once again urged the
international community to recognize Armenia as an aggressor.
At today’s meeting with the deputy commander of the US European
Command, Gen Charles Wald, Abiyev said that the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict could not be frozen. The fact that Yerevan is an aggressor
should be confirmed.

Azeri campaigner sees hidden agenda in Armenians defectors
Ekho, Baku
5 Jun 04
The two Armenians who fled Azerbaijan during the armed conflict
in Karabakh in 1990 and have returned to Baku asking for refugee
status in order to go to the West and leave Azerbaijan disgraced as
a country dangerous to Armenians, Azerbaijani human rights activist
Eldar Zeynalov writes in the Ekho newspaper. Should Azerbaijan accept
the men, it might urge thousands of Chechens to follow suit and harm
Azerbaijan’s relations with Russia, he said. According to Zeynalov,
the Azerbaijani authorities have a hand in this story seeking to keep
the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Baku under
control. The following is the text of an article headlined “About the
defectors: Who needs them and what for?” by Eldar Zeynalov, director
of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan, in the Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekho on 5 June 2004. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:
Azerbaijan still dangerous for Armenians?
The press keeps discussing the theme of the two Armenian defectors,
Roman Teryan and Artur Apresyan, time and time again, although less
intensively than two months ago when they turned up in Baku [from
Armenia]. Based on an opinion about me as a “defender of Armenians”,
some newspapers with a reputation for printing scandal have addressed
me on several occasions. I did explain my attitude but the press
never reported my words.
My stance, based on international law on forced migration, could
not be clearer than it is. A refugee is a foreigner who underwent
discrimination in his home land, which posed a threat to his life,
health or property, and who seeks asylum in another country that he
thinks is safer.
Are these Armenians foreigners to us? They argue that they lived
in Baku before the events in Karabakh. If so, they are our former
compatriots and can certainly apply for reinstatement in their
previous citizenship. All the more so that our authorities have been
treating them with overt sympathy. It was really dangerous for them
to live in Baku in 1990. How about today? Floundering in statistics,
the authorities keep saying that some 20,000 or 30,000 Armenians still
live in Baku. Why not let in another two, what is wrong about it? All
the more so that these good Armenians risked their life advocating
Azerbaijan in Armenia.
However, if such loyal returnees from Armenia and our former citizens
cannot live here, a great number of questions arise that need to be
answered before we rush slap-bang to help them move to the better-off
parts of Europe. If a person left Azerbaijan in 1990, was recognized as
a refugee, then came back home but cannot stay here, it is tantamount
to our authorities signing a confession that nothing has changed
since 1990 and it is still dangerous for Armenians (at least males)
to live here.
Returnees’ hidden agenda?
The “defectors” themselves must have been thinking as much, given
that they had asked from the very start for entry into a third state,
seeking asylum abroad before they turned to Azerbaijan. The question
arises how to define a situation with the two Armenians who actually
came to our country to set it up by making it deport themselves
to a third state and thereby prove that Azerbaijan is dangerous
for Armenians to live in and human rights are not observed here?
Strange as it may seem, this fact was disregarded above all by media
outlets normally specializing in exposing real and imaginary Armenian
provocations.
There is another point. Well, assume Azerbaijan and Armenia are
dangerous for them. Why then should they go to Germany or the
Netherlands while hundreds of thousands of Armenians who are afraid
to live in Azerbaijan and do not care about “mother Armenia” have no
problems living in other CIS states, for instance Russia, Ukraine and
even Belarus? Having no language or cultural barrier, living next to
their friends and relatives, what else would they need to be happy?
What they seek is probably a comfortable seat on the back of a Western
state. They have tried to do it on their own but to no avail. Now they
are trying to ride into paradise on another vehicle. The vehicle is our
state which is expected to blemish itself by giving them a paper with
umpteen seals affixed to certify that it is bad here. The organization
that took on the task is a specific state body, the one in charge
of safeguarding the state border that these guys crossed legally,
once they are not in jail. This body sheltered those nice guests in
an “inn” on the top of a building at the head of Parliament Avenue
[National Security Ministry], called a news conference for them and
did a lot more to promote this story.
Interests of national security
Did the state pursue any interest in getting involved in this fishy
business? Taking a closer look, one can see that from the very
outset, both the “defectors” and the state officials, and even the
non-governmental organizations that joined in (not all of them,
by the way) are coming down heavily on the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) like a ton of bricks. If the UNHCR
office refuses to grant the Armenians refugee status, its will prove
to be inefficient; if it does, it will disgrace our country. Public
statements by local UNHCR office staff may give a cue to what all this
rush is about. It is the UN plans to give up its responsibility in
June for establishing the status of those seeking refuge in Azerbaijan.
Indeed, there is a dozen staff sitting at the UNHCR office, with only
a few of them doing the job of interviewing and inquiry. On the other
hand, the government has special services and a whole state committee
for refugees. So it is right up their street, all the more so that
the UNHCR office, the International Organization for Migration and
other international organizations have talked themselves hoarse and
run themselves off their feet coming and training our officials who
must deal with such things as part of their remit.
Fancy 8,000 Chechens turning up at our offices tomorrow to ask for
refugee status based on our very well written law. Should we grant
them the status, we would thereby recognize that the thing going on in
Chechnya is a real war and genocide of Chechens rather than a police
operation. We could also spoil our relations with the mighty northern
neighbour [Russia]. Should we deny the status or deport them, the
Chechens would sue Azerbaijan at the European Court and, I can assure
you, they would win the case (precedents can be found in Georgia).
So let the UNHCR office fiddle around with all that and be the whipping
boy. Ah, they do not care for it? Okay we will play a dirty trick
on them in the form of the Armenian defectors. Tomorrow they [UNHCR
staff] may see hungry Azerbaijani people coming from tents to smash
their windows. The day after tomorrow, a bellicose non-governmental
organization may stage a pogrom and accuse the UNHCR office of
inefficiency in getting our refugees back home and therefore being
Armenian agents. Unsmiling tie-wearing guys from a serious office
would keep watch over the process, throwing in their instructions
once in a while. That would go on until the local UNHCR office “became
reasonable” and came back under the control of our authorities, as it
used to be. It seems that they see no other scenario for the future,
unfortunately. There may be a far cry between the stubborn Ukrainian
and the pliable French.
All this looks very funny viewed from aside, my dear sirs. Would I
take part in this show? No, thanks!

Journalist Attackers Fined By Court
By Karine Kalantarian 11/06/2004 12:39
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
June 11 2004
A court in Yerevan convicted Thursday two men of involvement in last
April’s unprecedented attack on journalists covering an opposition
rally but stopped short of imprisoning them, fining each of them
100,000 drams ($182) instead.
Ashot Avetisian and Hrair Harutiunian admitted assaulting journalists
and smashing their cameras and were found guilty of “deliberately
damaging property” belonging to other persons. The light punishment was
demanded by city prosecutors who cited “many mitigating circumstances”
such as the defendants’ confession of their guilt. The trial was
dismissed as a farce by some of the journalists subjected to violence
during the April 5 demonstration held in the Armenian capital by the
opposition National Unity Party (AMK). “For me it’s obvious that they
were simply carrying out orders on that day,” one of those reporters,
Anna Israelian of the “Aravot” daily, told RFE/RL. “I still don’t
have an answer to the question of how strictly those carrying out
orders must be punished.
“The pre-trial investigation and the court did not wish to establish
the complete picture of what happened on that day. They just buried
the case.”
The AMK demonstration was nearly disrupted by about two dozen men
who hurled eggs at the party’s leader Artashes Geghamian and set off
firecrackers. Journalists at the scene filmed the attempted disruption
only to have their video and still cameras smashed by the well-built
thugs. According to eyewitnesses, among them an RFE/RL correspondent,
scores of police officers led by General Hovannes Varian stood nearby
and looked on as the ugly scene unfolded. Their conspicuous refusal
to intervene prompted speculation that the violence was engineered
by the Armenian authorities.
Of all journalists questioned in connection with the case only
Israelian has testified that the two defendants were among the
attackers. The two other journalists, including a cameraman for state
television, said they do not remember the men’s faces.
Avetisian and Harutiunian, for their part, refused to be cross-examined
in the court, asking their lawyer to read out their written pre-trial
testimony. They both denied being hired by anyone to stir up trouble
and claimed to have found themselves at the site of the Geghamian rally
“by chance.”
The announcement of the court verdict followed a brief but extremely
tense trial. The small courtroom was packed with about 30 burly men
who appeared to be the defendants’ friends or acquaintances. Several
of them blocked entrance to the courtroom before the start of the
hearings, preventing journalists from entering it and ignoring their
protests. They did not relent even after being approached by the
court chairman, Zhora Vartanian.
“Step aside and let them go in,” Vartanian told them. “Listen to me,
I am the chairman of this court.”
The journalists were allowed to make their way into the courtroom
only 15 minutes later. But two of them, officially listed as
“victims” in the case, walked out shortly afterward in protest
against the psychological pressure exerted by the attackers’ friends.
Police guards showed up only half-way through the trial.

KfW may credit Yerevan hydro plant modernization
Interfax
June 11 2004
Yerevan. June 10 (Interfax) – ZAO International Energy Corporation
hopes to receive a credit of 15 million euros from Germany’s
Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau by the end of 2004 to modernize
Yerevan Hydroelectric Plant, plant Deputy General Director Mels
Akopyan told Interfax.
He said that representatives from KfW are currently discussing this
project with IEC General Director Mikhail Mantrov in Moscow.
Akopyan said that the German bank is waiting for the question of
guarantees to be resolved before providing the credit. He said that
he hopes that the credit will be provided under beneficial terms.
IEC has taken on the obligation of repaying a credit for 18 million
euros already received from KfW to restore the fifth and sixth
power-producing units at Kanaker Hydroelectric Plant, which is also
part of the Sevan-Razdan Cascade power plant. This credit was provided
to the Armenian government at the end of 2000 for 40 years at 0.75%
per annum, with a grace period of 10 years.
The Sevan-Razdan Cascade united six hydro plants build between 1930
and 1962 and is one of the main electricity producers in Armenia. The
plant has a capacity of 556 megawatts or about 18% of the total power
capacity of Armenia.
ZAO International Energy Corporation was set up at the start of
September 2003 by Unified Energy System of Russia to operate the Sevan-
Razdan plant. The company has a license from the Armenian commission
for the regulation of natural monopolies to produce electricity in
the country for 15 years.

U.S. to extend Armenia $700 mln
Interfax
June 11 2004
Yerevan. INTERFAX – Armenia expects to receive $700 million in aid
from the United States in 2004-2008 under the Challenges of the
Century program, Armenia’s Finance Minister Vardan Khachatryan said
on Thursday.
Armenia hopes to receive $100 million of the aid before the end
of 2004.
The government is currently developing specific projects in order to
receive this money. It is anticipated that the money will be used in
education, healthcare and social services, and to rebuild the country’s
infrastructure, such as irrigation systems and rural area roads.
Armenia also expects to receive $20 million – $25 million from the
World Bank under a program to fight poverty, Khachatryan said.

Viet Nam joins ITI – UNESCO
Viet Nam News Agency, Vietnam
June 11 2004
Ha Noi, June 11 (VNA) – Viet Nam, Ukraine and Armenia have been
admitted to the UNESCO’s International Theatre Institute (ITI) at
its 30th World Congress.
The world congress, dubbed ”Myths and Rituals: Challenges for
Contemporary Creation in the Third Millennium”, was held in Tampico,
Mexico from May 29 to June 4 with the attendance of 242 delegates
from 62 member countries.
Trong Khoi, General Secretary of the Viet Nam Theatrical Artists’
Association, who led the Vietnamese delegation to the congress,
said Viet Nam’s pavilion, the most attractive at the congress, was
decorated with billboards of Viet Nam’s famous dramas like ”Rung
truc” [Bamboo Forest], ”Othello” and ”A ca ve o nha hang Maxim”
[A bar girl at Maxim’s Restaurant].
Bilingual books on theatrical arts in Viet Nam, its several traditional
musical instruments, videos and CDs about performing arts in the
country were also introduced at the congress.
The 31st ITI – UNESCO World Congress will be hosted by the
Philippines.-Enditem