Category: News

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
May 28 2004
OSCE: Prague Conference Aims To Build Business Climate In Central
Asia, Caucasus
By Breffni O’Rourke
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is
holding a key conference in Prague (31 May-4 June) which aims to help
its Eastern member states develop an economic climate where business
and private enterprise flourish. The five-day OSCE Economic Forum
is the culmination of a series preparatory meetings held mostly in
Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
Prague, 28 May 2004 (RFE/RL) — Building a house is a complicated
task. You need the raw materials like timber, clay, and stone. You
need skilled workmen to turn the raw material into usable components
like bricks and window frames.
You need more workmen to build the structure. And then you need someone
who can visualize the size and layout of the building so that it fits
its purpose.
And under all that, you need a solid foundation so that the whole thing
will not fall down.The OSCE calls for clear laws and regulations on
property rights, including land ownership, as well as on taxation,
curbing corruption, and improving companies’ access to financing.
One could say that building a house has many similarities to
constructing a successful business environment. At least in that
a properly functioning structure in both cases depends on the
interlocking of many different components.
Just as a house without a roof is useless, so is a business opportunity
without entrepreneurs to exploit it.
With this in mind, the OSCE is holding its annual Economic Forum in
the Czech capital Prague to help bring together the many ingredients of
a successful business climate. The Central Asian states and the South
Caucasus republics will be represented, as will the Balkan countries.
OSCE Economic Adviser Gabriel Leonte says high-level government
officials will be there, but others besides.
“This is not only a meeting for government officials,” he said. “We
have invited also regional organizations, and international
organizations. Also the business sector and the civil society is
invited to participate, as well as the academic community — because
the OSCE believes strongly that this issue can best be addressed if
all the stakeholders cooperate and work together.”
The 55-nation OSCE acts as a partner with the local business
communities. At the Prague forum it is particularly emphasizing the
need to build what it calls the “institutional and human capacity
for economic development.” In other words, framing laws which help
business, as well as training people — especially young people —
to think in business terms.
In its introductory paper to the forum, the OSCE says it “can promote
economic empowerment of men, women and youth” by providing information
and training. It urges the authorities in member states to improve the
working environment for small and medium-size businesses — enterprises
which are considered the backbone of the business environment.
The OSCE calls for clear laws and regulations on property rights,
including land ownership, as well as on taxation, curbing corruption,
and improving companies’ access to financing.
At present, local business people can find the path to profits a
difficult one. And as for Central Asia, some countries there have come
in for severe criticism from Westerners who have invested heavily, but
found their enterprises beset by difficulties, including disagreements
over taxation.
The OSCE’s Leonte agrees there are shortcomings.
“All the statistics indicate that these countries [in Central Asia]
still have to do a lot of things in order to perform better, and to
develop the business environment, in order to attract investment and
develop grass-roots initiative.”
The OSCE says a good financial infrastructure is a key element in
encouraging economic activity across the board. Access to financing
is often vital for business people with bright ideas, but no start-up
capital. The problem is the regular banking system is often reluctant
to get involved in offering microloans, because of the small returns
they generate and the risk factor.
With this in mind, the OSCE says it can offer to others its experience
in Kazakhstan, where with local partners it made a national assessment
of the “microcredit” industry, meaning the availability of small
loans for small businesses.
The OSCE will also offer at the forum the expertise gained by its
office in Yerevan, Armenia, on developing the Armenian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry. Chambers of commerce provide companies with
a useful source of information and contacts at home and abroad. The
project in Yerevan was carried out last year with the help of the
International Chamber of Commerce and strengthened the ability of
the local chamber to provide effective services to its members.
As to engaging young people, the OSCE has a program called YES —
Young Entrepreneurship Seminars — which it says is an idea which
could well be extended further. Under that program, summer camps for
young people on economic themes have been held in Tajikistan.
The Prague Economic Forum will also be discussing regional integration,
in the light of the European Union’s success in raising living
standards.
OSCE adviser Leonte notes the link between economic well-being and
security.
“The OSCE is not a development agency. We are a security organization
and we recognize that the lack of economic development might pose
some threats to security in the broader sense. And therefore we try to
work with governments and civil society and with other international
organizations involved in these countries to assist them to do better.”
The Economic Forum is being held at the Czech Foreign Ministry and
runs until 4 June. More information about the forum can be found at

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
May 28 2004
Western Press Review: Putin’s Speech, NATO’s Black Sea Interests,
Prosecuting Wartime Abuses, The Arab Summit
By Khatya Chhor
Prague, 28 May 2004 (RFE/RL) — Among the topics being discussed
in the media today are Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first
formal address this week since winning a second term; refocusing NATO
attention on the Black Sea-South Caucasus region; determining command
responsibility for crimes committed in wartime; events in Iraq, as
preparations continue for the 30 June handover of power; and this
week’s summit meeting of Arab leaders in Tunis, among other issues.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first formal address to the
Federal Assembly (both legislative bodies) since his reelection in
March is the topic of an editorial today in New York’s leading daily.
The Kremlin head’s words this week (26 May) showed “the real, core
[Putin], not a rookie [or] a shaky politician looking for votes. The
speech was the program of a man very much in charge of Russia. Too
much, in fact,” the paper remarks dryly.
Putin’s main theme was his commitment to tackle the tough economic
problems — including housing, health care, education, and jobs — that
affect every Russian family. And while such pledges are not original,
Putin is “serious,” the paper says. “His enormous popularity among
Russians comes largely from his success in bringing stability and
growth to a chaotic land.” Aided by high oil prices, Putin has made
“impressive progress in reforming the decrepit economic institutions
he inherited.”
Yet despite the welcome promises of economic reform, “The New York
Times” says it was Putin’s “Soviet echoes” that reverberated most
loudly through the great Marble Hall of the Kremlin. The most chilling
was Putin’s denunciation of civil associations that have been critical
of his government and his swipe at Western critics, whom he accused
of trying to prevent Russia from being strong and free.”
Such comments are reminders of a time when the Kremlin assumed
“that economic growth and national security require an all-powerful,
centralized state apparatus.”
The paper writes: “The longing of the Russians for a measure
of security is understandable. But it is imperative that Putin be
reminded at every turn not to confuse the laudable goal of improving
the lives of the Russians with a restoration of the authoritarian,
centralized rule that destroyed their lives to begin with.”
WASHINGTON POST
A joint contribution today by James Dobbins of the Rand Corporation
and Philip Gordon of the Brookings Institution says the United States
must soon make needed changes in its military strategy if it is to
stabilize Iraq.
“Reaching the goal of a stable, unified and non-threatening Iraq does
look increasingly difficult,” say the authors. But the withdrawal
of U.S. troops from Iraq would create a security vacuum “that would
quickly be filled by the most heavily armed and violent groups
in Iraq.” Iraq’s many different ethnic, religious, and cultural
communities “would probably struggle to establish control over
that country’s vast energy riches. Civil war, ethnic cleansing, and
genocide [would] be a likely result. Iraq’s neighbors — including
Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — would probably be drawn in,
supplying arms and money to their preferred factions.”
To achieve success in Iraq, the United States needs a major strategic
shift. “Henceforth, American forces cannot afford to destroy villages
to save them. They cannot afford to use artillery, gunships and
ordnance from fixed-wing aircraft in populated areas, regardless
of the provocation. They cannot afford to sacrifice innocent Iraqi
civilians to reduce American casualties. They cannot afford to sweep
up, incarcerate and hold for months thousands of Iraqis — many of them
innocent — to apprehend a smaller number of guilty ones. They cannot
afford to use pain, privation or humiliation to secure information.”
Dobbins and Gordon say an insurgency “cannot be defeated without the
support of the population.” And the United States will not receive
that support from the Iraq people “unless it puts public security at
the center of its military strategy.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
Vladimir Socor of the Washington, D.C.-based Jamestown Foundation
says that at its upcoming (27-28 June) summit in Istanbul, “NATO can
celebrate a triumph.” Seven new members from the Baltic to the Black
Sea will attend the alliance summit as members. “This — along with
the previous accession round by three Central European countries —
represents the alliance’s greatest strategic, political and moral
victory in its 55-year history.”
But the alliance “cannot avoid addressing the issue of peacekeeping
and conflict resolution on its own vital strategic perimeter,” Socor
says. “Thirteen years after the end of the Soviet Union, peacekeeping
in this region remains in practice Moscow’s monopoly, which only
serves to freeze the political settlements of the conflicts.”
Two years ago, both NATO and the United States seemed ready
“to engage jointly with Russia in peace-support operations
and conflict-resolution efforts in Moldova, Georgia and the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. [However,] nothing further has been
heard about these intentions since those summits.”
Socor observes that U.S. “forces and resources are now overextended
worldwide.” Thus he suggests European nations should be ready “to
take the lead in peace-support operations and conflict settlement in
the Black Sea-South Caucasus region, Europe’s doorstep.”
The United States, NATO, and the European Union “have the strategic
and democratic motivations, as well as the means, to initiate a
transformation of peacekeeping and conflict resolution at this
crossroads, where the access routes to the Greater Middle East and
the energy transit routes to Europe intersect.” Socor says this “must
become a Euro-Atlantic priority.” June’s NATO summit agenda would be
“incomplete” if it did not indicate its readiness to address this
vital issue.
FINANCIAL TIMES
In a contribution to London’s leading financial daily, a former U.S.
ambassador-at-large for war crimes, David Scheffer, discusses the
difficulties of determining command responsibility for abuses committed
in wartime. In the wake of the Abu Ghurayb prison scandal in Iraq,
Scheffer looks at how the international war crimes tribunal in The
Hague has dealt with offenses committed during the Balkan wars of
the 1990s.
He says some of the same “[fundamental] questions of ‘responsibility'”
that arose from the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at the Trnopolje
Camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are likely to be addressed in the Abu
Ghurayb investigation. Was there, from top U.S. administration
officials down to prison guards, a common intention to institute
practices prohibited by the Geneva Conventions? Who had de facto
control over the U.S. personnel and private contractors conducting
interrogations? And who had the authority “to subject detainees to
inhumane treatment?”
The Hague tribunal has, in recent years, determined “responsibility”
for abuses and the complicity of military and civilian leaders
“by asking whether the individual had superior responsibility for
subordinates, or was a co-perpetrator in a joint criminal enterprise,
or aided or abetted an atrocity by knowingly assisting or encouraging
it.”
The tribunal’s determination of command responsibility rests on whether
“there was a superior-subordinate relationship where the accused had
‘effective control’ over the perpetrator. Such control should exist
when a superior has the power to prevent or punish atrocities committed
by subordinates.”
The Hague tribunal “has shown that responsibility for atrocities,
especially war crimes committed against detainees, requires serious and
objective review of evidence up the chain of command.” Scheffer says,
“The die, therefore, is cast for U.S. judges and Congress, which can
punish such crimes, to enforce the law with unassailable integrity.”
THE ECONOMIST
London’s weekly magazine observes that the meeting of Arab leaders
in Tunis last week “was supposed to have been about two things:
political reform and a uniform stand on thorny issues such as Iraq
and Palestine.” But following the summit’s end, “Commentators from
Morocco to the Gulf, in unprecedentedly uniform derision, variously
deemed the meeting ‘ridiculous,’ ‘a failure,’ ’empty rhetoric’ and
‘instantly forgettable.'”
The strains between the Arab League’s 22 members have been exacerbated
by the “muscular” approach to the region by the United States,
the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Washington’s unflagging support
for Israeli policies, its “icy hostility to old adversaries” like
Syria, and its “aloofness” from longtime allies such as Egypt and
Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the sudden U.S. preoccupation with promoting
democracy throughout the Middle East has “shaken Arab palaces and
streets alike.”
But the heads of state and envoys meeting in Tunis did make
an attempt to address “both their own peoples’ and Americans’
concerns.” The summit’s final communique “restated a commitment to
a comprehensive Palestinian-Israeli peace and made a new gesture to
Israel by condemning ‘all operations that target civilians, without
distinction.'” The text also, “unsurprisingly,” condemned the U.S.
president’s recent rejection of the right of displaced Palestinians
to return to Israel as well as his contention that Israel should be
allowed to keep some of the territory it has occupied since 1967.
Some statements were made about the leaders’ commitment to social and
political reform in the region, but many of these were “notably vague.”
The “Economist” notes that 34 Arab nongovernmental organizations from
14 countries issued a statement of protest, calling for a specific
timetable for change or for holding elections.

EuropaWorld
May 28 2004
Stepping up the battle to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into
the clutches of terrorists
VIENNA, 26 May 2004 – In a significant move to reduce the risk of
terrorists getting their hands on portable missiles that can bring
down civil and military aircraft, the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe has taken a decision to tighten export
controls on so-called MANPADS.
At its 423rd meeting today, the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation
(FSC) decided unanimously to adopt principles developed under the
Wassenaar Arrangement, a smaller group of nations that have agreed to
promote transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of
conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies.
“We have recognised the threats posed by unauthorised proliferation
and use of man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), especially to
civil aviation, peace-keeping, crisis management and anti-terrorist
operations”, said Armenian Ambassador Jivan Tabibian, whose country
currently holds the Chairmanship of the FSC.
By this decision, the 55 participating States of the OSCE agree to
incorporate these principles into their national practices and
regulations. Any infringement of export control legislation, related
to MANPADS, will be a criminal offence.
The States will report transfers of MANPADS, categorised in the OSCE
Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons as portable launchers of
anti-aircraft missile systems, by making use of the OSCE’s own SALW
Information Exchange requirements.
“We are determined to contribute to reducing the risk of diversion of
small arms and light weapons on to the black market”, said the FSC
Chairman. “This decision is in line with the commitments undertaken
by the OSCE at Maastricht in December, when we adopted the OSCE
Strategy to Address Threats to Security and Stability in the 21st
Century.”
The OSCE would be using all the tools at its disposal to address the
proliferation of MANPADS, he added. “The participating States will
review the implementation of these principles on regular basis.”
As well as invoking these principles to enhance effective export
control of small arms and light weapons including MANPADS in the OSCE
area, the 55 States will also try to promote their application to
non-OSCE countries.

CHS students hear first-hand stories of survival
By MICHELLE COLE 05/28/2004
Coventry Courier, RI
May 28 2004
COVENTRY – High school students from across the state heard firsthand
the stories of survivors during Coventry High School’s first annual
History Symposium last Thursday.
The theme for the day was “Terror and Tragedy in the 20th Century,”
and presentations focused on three infamous historical events: the
Armenian genocide; the Holocaust; and the Cambodian genocide.
Nicole St. Jean and Mackenzie Zabbo, two CHS seniors, organized
the history day as part of their CIM project. The students had
participated in a “Terror and Tragedy” unit in their 11th grade
history class and decided to pursue the issues as their CIM project
to share the experience with others, according to Matthew Brissette,
social studies chairperson.
Five schools attended the History Symposium last Thursday, packing
about 450 students into the high school auditorium to learn from the
guest speakers.
“If [the students] can see things firsthand, it’s going to have that
much more profound of an impact,” Brissette explained.
With moving presentations from the survivors, students learned how
some childhoods end suddenly and tragically as young children are
caught in the crossfire of government changes and warfare.
For Loung Ung, one of the three guest speakers, her childhood – with
its memories of going to the movies with her father and sitting on
his lap eating fried cricket snacks – ended when a new regime took
power in Cambodia.
She was five years old.
In 1975, Ung’s family joined in the mass evacuation of homes from
the city of Phnom Penh and was forced to try to farm in primitive
“labor camp villages” in the countryside. She shared memories of
malnutrition and starvation and how she ate charcoal – imagining it
was cake – for her sixth birthday.
These changes were part of the new Khmer Rouge regime’s desire to
create a utopian agrarian society, Ung explained, and any who were
different or did not conform to this ideal were killed. Ung told
students how both of her parents – as well as 20 other relatives –
were killed by the regime. At nine years old, she was orphaned and
had to train as a child soldier.
In 1979 the Vietnamese army defeated the Khmer Rouge, and Ung was
able to escape the country. Today, she speaks to audiences about the
dangers of land mines – which still threaten the people in Cambodia
decades later – and the need for justice and peace. She is the
author of First They Killed My Father: a Cambodia Daughter Remembers
(published by HarperCollins in 2000).
“Peace is a choice. Peace is an action,” Ung said. Other speakers
included Moushegh Derderian and Alice Golstein. Derderian was born
in Turkey in 1911 and is a survivor of the Armenian genocide. From
1915 to 1923, more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the
Ottoman Turkish Government in a move to exterminate all of the
two million Armenians from the multi-ethnic Empire, according to a
handout. Golstein was born in Germany at the beginning of the Nazi era
and experienced many of the devastations leading up to the Holocaust.
“[The History Symposium] went very well for the first time,”
Brissette said. “Most students seem to be pretty positive [about
the experience].”
Brissette said he hopes the history day will continue in the coming
years through student organization and departmental support.

PRIME MINISTER ANDRANIK MARGARIAN’S ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF FIRST
REPUBLIC DAY
ArmenPress
May 27 2004
YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Andranik Margarian
issued a message today to the nation on the occasion of the First
Republic Day, which runs below.
“Dear compatriots, I congratulate you on the occasion of the First
Republic Day. Due to the collective will of our nation and its
unbending spirit the centuries-long desire to restore Armenia’s
statehood came true On May 28, 1918.
In the row of our victories, celebrated in May, the heroic battles of
Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan and Karakilisa stand, in terms of implementing
the idea of independence by relying on our own strength after a
six-century long break that has become later a basis for new feats
of arms and new manifestations of Armenia’s freedom-loving spirit.
Though the First Republic did not live long, but its lessons-freedom,
independence, sovereignty and building a strong state, and which is
more important-to maintain it, have been passed from generation to
generation to have displayed itself anew in late 1980-s. The struggle
for the independence of Artsakh has reaffirmed our resolute to maintain
our historical achievements.
The 13-year long Third Armenian Republic is moving ahead today
resolutely, developing gradually its economy and consolidating its
sovereignty, reinforcing its role and place in global processes.
There is no alternative to independent Armenia, based on democratic
values and I believe that no force, no difficulty is able to impede
our march.
I once again congratulate you all on the occasion of this beautiful
festive day. I wish you all good health. strong belief, strength and
will to surmount difficulties. We have to be united and our historical
achievements will become the guarantee of our efforts for building
a strong and prospering homeland.

120 MILLION DRAMS PROVIDED TO SHIRAK REGION FOR WORK AGAINST MONEY PROJECT
ArmenPress
May 27 2004
GYUMRI, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS: About 25 percent of the 500 million drams
provided by the Armenian government for ” Work Against Money” project
is given to Shirak taking into consideration the level of unemployment
in the region and the previous effectiveness of the project.
According to the data provided by regional employment center from
the total 120 million provided to the region 82 million is given
to Akhurian and Gyumri, 20 million to Artik and its neighboring
territories, 10 million to Maralik city and its neighboring communities
and 4 million each for Amasia and Maralik communities.
As different from the previous years, this year instead of cleaning
the streets people will renovate green zones and forest areas. At the
same time reconstruction of secondary and cultural establishment and
streets will be conducted.
Shortly registration of citizens eager to participate will start.
Last year such an initiation provided work to 1500 unemployed.

NON-RESIDENT AMBASSADORS RECEIVED BY FM, PRESIDENT
ArmenPress
May 27 2004
YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS: Non-resident ambassadors accredited in
Armenia, other high level diplomats held meetings today with Armenian
foreign minister Vartan Oskanian, minister of trade and economic
development Karen Chshmaritian and Head of Armenian Development Agency
V. Movsissian.
According to FM press services, the ambassadors came from about 40
countries of Europe, Asia, American, Africa, Middle East and CIS.
Armenian foreign minister outlined major policy trends of Armenia,
Armenia’s efforts to reduce tension in the region and establish
stability and cooperation. Exchanging ideas, Oskanian told about
Armenia’s security issues, energy resources and Nagorno Karabagh
conflict regulation prospects.
The guests conferred economic situation with minister of trade and
economic development K. Chshmaritian. They exchanged ideas about
present state of economy and prospects for development, the legislative
field stipulating foreign investment.
The aim of the meeting was to introduce non-resident ambassadors to the
present situation of Armenia, outline major external policy trends,
indicate economic prospects and developments as well as introduce to
historical cultural values of the country. Later the ambassadors were
also received by president Kocharian.

Times Union, Albany, NY
May 28 2004
‘Burgers and genes’ changing medicine
Saratoga Springs–Medical school graduates told new challenges await
them
By RICK KARLIN, Staff writer
Tomorrow’s physicians are entering an era in which “the distinction
between illusion and reality is blurred,” Nobel laureate Dr. Joseph
Goldstein told the 168 graduates of Albany Medical College on
Thursday.
His point was that the pace of progress in medicine is growing so
swiftly that technologies which couldn’t even be imagined years ago
are almost upon us.
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Within a decade, maybe even in six years, Goldstein predicted, it’s
possible that people will be able to visit their corner drug store
and order up their own personal “genomes,” or genetic profiles, which
they can put on CDs and bring to their doctors. The physicians,
presumably including some of Thursday’s graduates, may then be able
to predict the odds that a patient may get certain types of cancer,
heart disease or other ailments.
That’s all the more amazing, he said, when one considers that the
field of genetics, and the link between genes and many diseases,
barely existed in the 1960s when Goldstein was a medical student.
Goldstein, who won the 1985 Nobel prize and the 2003 Albany Medical
Center prize for his research into how cholesterol accumulates in the
bloodstream, gave the address at the medical college’s 166th
commencement exercise, held at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Medicine since the 1960s has been transformed by “burgers, chips and
genes,” said Goldstein.
The “burgers” referred to the rise of McDonald’s and the fast food
industry which has transformed the eating habits — and cholesterol
levels — of much of the nation, explained Goldstein.
“Chips” are the silicon microchips which have enabled the rapid
digitization of medicine as well as the rest of society.
“Genes,” of course, mark the revolution in genetics which could lead
to the on-demand CDs. Technology wasn’t the only aspect of medicine
that has changed over the years, according to Thursday’s speakers.
Among the changes are what Albany Medical College Dean Dr. Vincent
Verdile termed one of the “disturbing trends,” in which
pharmaceutical firms are sponsoring an ever-growing percentage of new
drug studies.
Those studies are also leading to more and more favorable outcomes,
noted Verdile who warned the newly minted physicians to be cognizant
of that trend.
The medical school graduates, who were heading to various residency
programs nationwide, seemed to be well aware of the rapid changes in
their field. “Things will always keep changing, hopefully for the
better,” said Ken Ofordome, who came to the college from Nigeria via
California and who is planning on a career as a urologist.
Siranush Yegiyants, a native of Armenia who has also lived in
California, said she expects the continued growth of managed care to
have a greater impact on her chosen specialty of plastic surgery.
“I’m definitely going to be affected by HMOs,” she said.
Jonathan Gainor of Voorheesville grew up hearing about how medicine
has changed.
His uncle, Barry Gainor, is a physician and professor at the
University of Missouri and grandfather John Gainor was a well-known
Albany-area doctor.
“He made a special impact on their lives,” the younger Gainor said of
his grandfather who would make as many as 18 house calls in a day.
“Can you imagine going to 18 houses in one day?” mused Barry Gainor,
who was back in the Capital Region for his nephew Jonathan Gainor’s
commencement. Those days, of course, are gone he said, adding,
“Everything changes and you have to adapt.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
May 28, 2004
If you think the Armenian Apostolic faith says
nothing about current moral issues, think again!
New York, NY – Abortion, reproductive technologies, homosexuality,
gay marriage, suicide, euthanasia – these issues are hotly debated and
highly politicized. Various faith communities and organizations are
grappling with them for all sorts of different agendas. Whether we
like it or not, we are forced to face these issues in our personal,
professional and communal lives. One cannot have an intelligent
conversation nowadays without discussing these issues. Our faith,
steeped in the Holy Scriptures and the rich theological tradition,
gives us ample resources to think critically and intelligently about
these moral and ethical topics.
For this reason, the Armenian Religious Education Council (AREC)
of the Eastern Prelacy has organized a unique program for adults in
the Mid-Atlantic region entitled “Critical Issues of Life and Faith,”
scheduled to take place at St. Mary of Providence Center in Elverson,
Pennsylvania, June 25-27, 2004 (for details, please visit the Prelacy
web site at ). An eminent Armenian Orthodox
ethicist and theologian, Prof. Vigen Guroian, will be the main speaker
for the Saturday portion of the program.
Dr. Vigen Guroian is a Professor of Theology and Ethics at Loyola
College in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of six books and
nearly 150 articles, and three books are forthcoming. Professor
Guroian is the first Armenian theologian ever elected to the
American Theological Society and the Orthodox Theological Society
of America. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Society
of Christian Ethics, has been active in both the National Council
of Churches and the World Council of Churches. He has established
himself in the American academic community as a prominent Orthodox
theologian and ethicist. AREC recently commissioned Prof. Guroian to
write pamphlets on moral and ethical issues for the general public.
In addition to the presentations by Prof. Guroian, the Saturday program
will include small group and panel discussions. The panelists will be
Very Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian (Media Relations Officer, Catholicosate
of Cilicia), Dr. Carlo Bayrakdarian (Psychiatrist), and Dr. Meline
Karakashian (Psychologist and Educator). On Friday evening, the program
will begin with a Bible study – ” Jesus Christ claims our total being –
body and soul,” led by Deacon Shant Kazanjian, director of AREC.
The general public and specially parents, educators, Church delegates
and board members should take advantage of this unique edifying
Christian educational program. Those who wish to attend only a portion
of the program may do so. For further information and registration,
please visit the Prelacy web site

Olympics needn’t be Hellen earth
By Philip Howard
The Times (London)
May 28, 2004, Friday
They said that Athens would never be ready for the Olympics in time.
According to The New York Times: “Athens is a dump, the transport
system is on a par with provincial cities of Algeria, the democracy
is bogus, the Games will be crooked, and the Greeks know as little
about amateur sport as the Chinese.”
Luckily, The Times was there to put the record straight. But this was
all about the Olympics in Athens in 1896. Michael Llewellyn Smith,
our former Ambassador to Athens, describes the invention of the modern
event in his book Olympics in Athens 1896: The Invention of the Modern
Olympic Games, which is about to be published.
He records how much Pierre de Coubertin and the other founding fathers
of the Neo-Olympics owed to such British pioneers as Tom Brown’s
Schooldays, the Much Wenlock Olympics in Shropshire (where shin-kicking
was one of the games), and such British contests as the University
Boat Race. Coubertin took care not to acknowledge his sources.
Our archives show how instrumental The Times itself was in the rebirth
of the Olympics. The archaeologist, Charles Waldstein, former director
of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, put the record
straight about Athens. He contradicted rumours that the site and
buildings would not be ready in time, and that the Games would be
a failure.
Having inspected the stadium and rifle ranges, he was happy to
congratulate the organisers and the architect on the energy and
intelligence with which the work had been pushed forward, and the
stupendous effect produced by the stadium. He gave this testimony,
naturally, in a letter to the Editor of The Times.
Our man in Athens was a leading and eccentric player in the renaissance
of the Olympics. James David Bourchier, who began his career as a
beak at Eton, and ended it as a Bulgarian national hero, was one
of the few Times hacks (so far) to be portrayed on a stamp wearing
Bulgarian national costume.
He was also stone deaf. It was a common sight in the gardens of the
Royal Palace in Sofia to see King Ferdinand of Bulgaria shouting
state secrets into Bourchier’s ear-trumpet. A British diplomat said
that whenever a great noise was heard in the Balkans, it was either
Bourchier telling a state secret to a prime minister, or a prime
minister telling a state secret to Bourchier. An Irishman and classical
scholar, he sympathised with the struggles of the Macedonian Greeks
for complete freedom from Ottoman overlordship. His lush moustache
and melancholy eyes would add distinction to our newsroom today.
In 1896 Bourchier had got into hot water in Bulgaria for taking
the side of Muslim Bulgarians. The man from The Times was accused
of being an enemy agent, or even an Armenian agitator. His contacts
were threatened with death or ruin. So we decided to transfer him to
Athens. Bourchier wrote to the managing editor: “I have always been
glad to think that The Times attaches more importance to questions
of scholarship and art than any other newspaper, and perhaps I may
say that, in my own case, work in this field -which is done con amore
-is likely to be my best.”
To mark the opening of those first renaissance Games, The Times
published a two-column think piece from Our Special Correspondent
-Bourchier of course. He paid tribute to Courbertin. He regretted
that the festival could not have been celebrated at Olympia among
the monuments of ancient grandeur being brought to light by the
archaeologists. But he accepted that this was impossible. Modern
visitors could not be expected to camp out in the fields or under the
portico of a temple, like visitors to the ancient games. Athens was
the only place capable of supplying modern comforts and infrastructure.
Bourchier castigated the British for not turning out: “It is greatly
to be regretted that England, the home of latter-day athletics, will
be very inadequately represented at the festival, and that Oxford and
Cambridge, where the physical and mental training of Ancient Greece
has found its nearest counterpart in modern times, will hardly be
represented at all.” He said that the Olympic Games should never be
removed from their native soil.
As one Greek said, you cannot tread twice in the same river. We can
regret that they did not decide always to hold the Olympics at their
original home of Olympia.
We miss the brave amateurism of those first games, at which a
Princeton boy picked up the first discus he had seen, and won the
event; a British tourist went in for the tennis, and won; and nobody
knew whether the triple jump was hop, hop, jump, or hop, step and
jump. Either would do.
We deplore some of the sillier modern sports, as opposed to knitting,
which featured in some of the early Olympics. Bring back shin-kicking,
I say. We regret that the Games have been taken over by commercialism,
bribery, corruption and cheating. But we cheer for their ancient charm
and modern magic. And we can be sure that The Times will continue
to support and report them with the enthusiasm and wisdom of James
Bourchier, our Special Correspondent.