Category: News

The Economic Times
July 31, 2004
NOT BY BREAD ALONE
Adam Smith may not have got it exactly right when he observed in The
Wealth of Nations that “No society surely can be flourishing and
happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and
miserable.”
Flying against the face of that argument is the conclusion of a World
Values Survey conducted in 65 nations from 1999-01 by social
scientists and first reported by the British magazine New Scientist.
The survey indicated that poverty-stricken Nigeria had the world’s
highest percentage of happy people. When Cervantes stated in the 16th
century that “There are but two families in the world, the haves and
the have-nots”, he may never have anticipated that the 21st century
have-nots would have it in terms of happiness! Nigeria was followed
by Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico, in that order.
At the bottom was Romania, just below Armenia and Russia. India was
ranked 21, not too bad for a nation which used to believe that
everything was maya!
The country whose Declaration of Independence describes as sacrosanct
“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” did not figure in the
top ten, despite being the unrivalled economic and military
superpower.
The US was ranked 16th. The 19th century American writer Nathaniel
Hawthorne had enough wisdom to observe that “Happiness in this world,
when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit and
it leads us to a wild goose chase.”
Richard Layard of the Centre for Economic Performance of the London
School of Economics may have put his finger on it when he was
recently quoted in Newsweek as stating that satisfying relationships
had a greater bearing on happiness than income.
What better way of forging such relationships than in nations like
Nigeria where community trust has helped people survive hard times?
Conversely, a single-minded pursuit of individual happiness could end
up in what the American writer Norman Mailer once called “an
air-conditioned nightmare.”

The Guardian (London) – Final Edition
July 31, 2004
Weekend: Relationship Spirit: WAIT TILL YOUR MOTHER GETS HOME
by MIL MILLINGTON
Ten-year-old First Born has a school project to do. He’s been doing
it for about three weeks. Well, when I say he’s been doing it for
three weeks, that’s overstating the tenacity of his application a
tickle. The other day I called home from something that had taken me
away, to see how everyone was courageously struggling on in my
absence. FB answered the phone.
Me: “Have you done some more of your project?”
FB: “Yes.”
Me: “Have you really? Or is that an outrageous lie?”
FB: “It’s an outrageous lie.” (He pronounces “outrageous” as though
there’s a diaeresis over the “e”: I imagine him saying it, then
taking a puff on a cigarette that’s smouldering in a long black
holder, like Noel Coward.)
Me: “I see.”
FB: “Yeah . . . So, do you want to speak to Mama, or what?”
Anyway, today I forced him to do some more work, and he again wailed
about the shocking cruelty of it all: how it was brutal, and brimming
with wrong, and – to be blunt – couldn’t help but call to mind the
massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. In response, I
told him to do a word count. He did.
“Pft,” I commented. “I have to do twice that number of words every
day.”
He gave me a contemptuous look. “But you chose to do your stupid
job.”
First Born has never forgiven me for becoming a writer. When I was an
IT manager, his child-eyes looked up at me and gleamed with pride. I,
in his words, “played on computers all day”. I was like a cross
between Nelson Mandela and Batman. When I switched to writing novels
for a living, it went beyond disappointment for him, and into
betrayal. Even this very column is 306 daggers in his heart.
The guilt tortures me.
From: Baghdasarian

The Mirror
July 31, 2004, Saturday
GERS GO BAKU TO THE FUTURE
EXCLUSIVE BY LAURIE HANNA
RANGERS LOY-_OIL: Travelling Gers fans can look forward to a scenic
trip to Baku
RANGERS fans in far-flung Azerbaijan last night urged supporters to
ignore scare stories and support their team in the terror hotspot.
Graeme Johnstone, 43, a member of the Baku Rangers Supporters Club in
the Azerbaijani capital, says he’s got his fingers crossed PFC
Neftchi beat CSKA Moscow to claim a tie against the Ibrox giants in
the Champions League qualifiers.
And he said that Rangers fans should make the trip to his adopted
homeland if Neftchi get through.
Celebrating yesterday’s draw, he said: “It’s excellent news, really
brilliant.
“I know it depends on the next game but it would be fantastic news
for all the fans over here.
“I know that Azerbaijan may have its problems but it is a great place
and is well worth visiting.
“I am from Glasgow and I’m sure we would see a lot of the boys from
back home if the team were to come over.”
The supporters club has more than 60 members and enjoys the banter
with their rival Celtic supporters club in Baku.
Graeme, who has spent the last year working for an oil firm in
Azerbaijan, said: “We get to watch a few games a season, usually all
the Old Firm and European ones, plus some other league games.”
Scots visiting the country are sure of a warm welcome from the UK’s
official representative there – as he is from Glasgow.
But Vice-consul Derek Lavery admits he’s not a bluenose – he’s a
Partick Thistle fan.
Derek, from Bearsden, has spent the last two years in the country
with his wife, having worked in Germany and Pakistan.
And he revealed that he misses his beloved Thistle and would much
prefer the Jags to be heading to Azerbaijan.
He said: “Whenever I lived in Glasgow, I went to Firhill all the time
and I still go when I am back.
“However, I don’t get much time to go home any more.
“I would love to see them again soon.”
Derek added that, although the country is volatile and still in
dispute with neighbouring Armenia, fans would be made welcome by
locals.
He said: “The Armenian military forces protect the area while the two
governments are still trying to negotiate some sort of settlement.
“There is occasional firing, even though there is a ceasefire, but
any fans coming out here should be OK.
“There are a lot of Scots here working for oil companies. BP are
building a massive oil pipeline through the country and on to Georgia
and Turkey.
“There is somewhere in the region of 3,000 Brits in the country and
the majority are Scots.” Closer to home, bar owners in Newcastle have
boarded up their windows as the city prepared for an invasion of
17,000 Scots football fans this weekend.
Police have held a summit in a bid to head off football hooliganism
as Rangers arrive for a pre-season tournament involving Feyenoord.
Strathclyde Police Supt Kenneth Scott, a football intelligence
officer said: “We have been liaising with Northumbria Police in
connection the forthcoming tournament.
“Strathclyde Police officers will also be attending to offer advice
to the host force.”
The last time Rangers played in the region, three men were stabbed
after a friendly game with Sunderland.

Guardian/Observer, UK
Aug 1 2004
Iraq violence as puritans ban alcohol
Radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his army of devotees blamed
for campaign of intimidation
Rory McCarthy in Baghdad
First came the warning: a sheet of paper stuck to the door of Na’aman
Khalil’s shop ordering him to close his off-licence. ‘You are
corrupting the people of the Earth and you should stop,’ said the
message, signed by a group calling itself the Monotheistic Movement
of Jihad.
Five days later, a parcel of explosives detonated just outside the
building, smashing the windows and gutting the shop. Four other
alcohol stores along the same street in Baghdad’s largely Christian
al-Ghadir district were bombed that same night.
No one was injured, but the message was clear. After the bombings and
a spate of other attacks across Baghdad, most of the city’s alcohol
shops closed.
‘They have achieved their aim. Whatever they wanted, they have got
it,’ said Khalil, 24, who says the bombing cost him seven million
dinars (around £2,600) in destroyed stock. ‘If I open the shop again
I don’t know what action they would take. Probably they would kill
me.’
There have been no arrests, but police and many Iraqis blame the
attacks and explosions on supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical
Shia cleric. A few days before the warning letter arrived, several of
al-Sadr’s followers met around 30 Shia tribal leaders in the al-Hekma
mosque in Sadr City, the slum area in eastern Baghdad which forms the
cleric’s powerbase.
They produced an edict, obtained by The Observer, in which they
listed nine crimes punishable by death. These included theft,
kidnapping, robbery, spying ‘for the Wahabis, al-Qaeda and
Saddamists’, trafficking in women, and selling alcohol, pornographic
CDs and drugs.
The edict, it states, was drawn up because of the ‘critical and
sorrowful situation and lack of security and to serve the common
good’. Most of the tribal leaders who signed were from Amara, Kut and
Nasiriyah, towns in southern Iraq where a Shia uprising in April was
strongest.
‘After the end of the dispute between our army and the Americans, our
army is working on stability and controlling the looters and other
violent groups,’ said Sheikh Raed al-Kadhimi, one of al-Sadr’s aides
in Baghdad. He boasted of a number of checkpoints and patrols in Sadr
City, and said one had captured several hundred tonnes of stolen
sugar, which he said were returned to the government.
The movement, made up largely of young, unemployed urban men, has
easily moved into the power vacuum left by the absence of properly
trained and equipped Iraqi police and security forces.
‘Neither the government nor the police are controlling the
situation,’ said al-Kadhimi. ‘The al-Sadr tide is the only active
tide in the country.’ He denied that his men took part in the attacks
on alcohol shops: ‘We have never taken such action. All this has been
done by fanatical individuals.’
Much of the movement’s strength is in its organisation. The group has
its own religious police, the al-Amur bil Ma’arouf, or Promotion of
Virtue. They have divided Baghdad into three areas: east, west and
the central Kadhimiya area, home to the biggest Shia shrine in the
city. Each area has its own unit. In Kadhimiya it numbers around 40;
in the eastern sector, around Sadr City, it is at least 100 according
to Sayed Adnan al-Safi, an al-Sadr official and editor of one of the
movement’s newspapers. He said the groups are unarmed and co-operate
on patrols with the regular police, although the Interior Ministry
has denied any involvement.
‘In Kadhimiya we have minimised and controlled places where alcohol
is sold. We have controlled the sale of immoral CDs and we have
stopped fraud,’ said al-Safi. ‘People have begun to understand and
are co-operating with us to control the general violence. We are not
issuing any punishments ourselves, otherwise we would be considered a
state within a state. We pass cases on to the police for punishment.’
There is little doubt that the movement is about more than
controlling crime. In the past week al-Sadr’s followers have
proselytised among Iraq’s minority faiths. A group of them delivered
a video of speeches by al-Sadr to the Armenian Orthodox church in
Baghdad. A priest, who asked not to be named, said the speeches
criticised the Christian faith. ‘We have been living in Iraq for 100
years and have never had a problem between Muslim and Christian,’ he
said. ‘These people are explaining the Koran in the wrong way. Islam
is a religion of peace and humanity.’
Until now al-Sadr has boycotted the political process in Iraq,
reviling the government as ‘illegitimate’. But according to
al-Kadhimi, the movement could develop a political dimension if its
leader ordered one. ‘From the beginning we have been asking for fair
and honest elections,’ he said. ‘We will have to see what happens [at
general elections] in January.’

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 30 2004
Opposition party’s protest actions not sanctioned
Mayor’s Office of Baku has not sanctioned the protest actions of the
opposition Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (WAPFP) scheduled to
be held outside the embassies of NATO member-states in Baku,
ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense.
The party chairman, MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev says the issue will be
considered at the WAPFP board meeting on Monday.
The WAPFP plans to hold up to 10 pickets starting August 2 in protest
against the participation of Armenian officers in NATO training
sessions due in Baku in September.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 30 2004
Armenia may send troops to Iraq

Armenia may send troops to Iraq, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency has
reported.
The Armenian government has approved the decision by the country’s
defense ministry to join the memorandum `On commanding and regulating
the work of the multi-national stabilization force in Iraq’.
Earlier, Armenia announced that it was ready to send trucks, ten
field engineers and three military doctors to Iraq.*

Iranian, Azeri foreign ministers discuss ties, Caspian Sea, Karabakh
IRNA web site
31 Jul 04
Tehran, 31 July: Iran and Azerbaijan discussed here Saturday 31 July
possible avenues for bolstering of bilateral ties in various fields.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, in a meeting with his
Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi, expressed his country’s
determination and interest in further expanding ties with Iran.
He stressed the importance of the upcoming visit by President Mohammad
Khatami to Azerbaijan and said the visit would be a major stride
towards expansion of mutual relations.
The Azeri minister expressed satisfaction with growing economic
relations between the two sides and hoped new economic agreements
would be signed during President Khatami’s visit to Baku.
Mammadyarov assessed talks on legal regime of the Caspian Sea as
positive, adding: The Caspian Sea should be the sea of friendship and
cooperation among the littoral states.
He hoped littoral states would reach a consensus on the legal regime
of the sea.
He voiced Azerbaijan’s interest in joining the North-South Corridor
and stressed the role Baku plays in materializing the projects to this
effect.
Kharrazi, for his part, said Iran attaches special importance to
expansion of ties with neighbouring states, adding: President
Khatami’s future visit to Azerbaijan would be an indication of high
level of ties between the two countries.
“Tehran regards as important its ties with Azerbaijan Republic
particularly both from economic and geopolitical points of view and
considers the common borders as borders of friendship and peace,” he
said.
He outlined the background of relations between Tehran and Baku since
the independence of Azerbaijan, saying: “Iran attaches great
importance to a powerful Azerbaijan which safeguards national and
regional interests in this sensitive and strategic region.”
He urged the two sides to further try to achieve high level of
cooperation.
Kharrazi termed trade and economic cooperation between the two
countries as “progressive” and added: “Iran and Azerbaijan have
launched good cooperation in various fields including transfer of
electricity, development affairs, road-building, construction of power
plants and energy. “Such cooperation can further expand.”
He said Iran regards strengthening of popular bonds as very important
and underlined the importance of continued supportive policies and
easing travels of Iranian and Azeri nationals within framework of
policy to further expand mutual transactions.
The two sides also exchanged views on regional issues, including
Karabakh.
Kharrazi stressed that, as a friendly country, the Islamic Republic of
Iran is ready to contribute to settlement of Karabakh dispute.
He said: Tehran pursues settlement of Karabakh dispute within
framework of the charters of the UN and of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC).
The Azeri foreign minister arrived here early Saturday on a two-day
official visit to discuss bilateral ties.
Azerbaijan’s special envoy for Caspian Sea affairs accompanies
Mammadyarov in the current visit.
Mammadyarov is also to visit the northeastern city of Tabriz. He is to
return to Baku through the autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NKR PRESIDENT GETS ACQUAINTED WITH COURSE OF ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS TO
ARTSAKH UNIVERSITY
STEPANAKERT, July 30 (Noyan Tapan). On July 30, NKR President Arkady
Ghoukassian got acquainted with the course of entrance examinations to
the main higher school of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic – Artsakh
State University (ASU). According to the Head Information Department
attached to the NKR President, the examiners and applicants, who did
not expect the visit of the President, got an unexpected possibility
to ask questions to him connected with the current examinations. The
president gave corresponding instructions to members of the admission
commission on ensuring fair and transparent examinations of knowledge
of applicants. The President was accompanied by the Secretary of the
NKR Security Council Karen Baburian.

Tehran Times, Iran
Aug 1 2004
Tehran, Baku Can Play Effective Role In Maintaining Regional
Security: Khatami
TEHRAN (IRNA) — President Mohammad Khatami said here Saturday that
Baku and Tehran could play effective role in restoring security and
stability to the region given the historical and cultural bonds
between the two countries.
In a meeting with visiting Azeri Foreign Minister Elmara Mammadyarov,
Khatami added the region belongs to all its countries and therefore,
the regional countries should cooperate to restore stability and
develop it.
Pointing to the determination of the two countries’ officials to
expand mutual relations in recent years, he said the agreements
signed by Tehran and Baku will ensure mutual interests and deepen
bilateral cooperation.
Touching upon crises in the region, Khatami expressed hope that the
existing problems would be resolved through wisdom and adoption of
proper policies.
For his part, the Azeri foreign minister submitted to Khatami a
letter of invitation from his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev to pay a
state visit to Azerbaijan.
Mammadyarov cited the achievements made during late Azeri president’s
visit to Iran and called for efforts to be made to ensure bilateral
and regional interests. The Azeri official briefed Khatami on the
political and economic situation of his country, saying “Azerbaijan
republic, since its independence, has embarked on strengthening its
infrastructures. We do hope that we will attain progress and
development given the independence and numerous natural resources in
the country.” Iran, Azerbaijan Call For Expansion Of Ties
Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi also in a meeting with his
Azeri counterpart, discussed possible avenues for bolstering of
bilateral ties in various fields.
Mammadyarov assessed talks on legal regime of the Caspian Sea as
positive, adding the Caspian Sea should be the sea of friendship and
cooperation among the littoral states.
He hoped littoral states would reach a consensus on the legal regime
of the sea.
“Tehran regards as important its ties with Azerbaijan Republic
particularly both from economic and geopolitical points of view and
considers the common borders as borders of friendship and peace,”
Kharrazi said. Kharrazi termed trade and economic cooperation between
the two countries as “progressive” and added, “Iran and Azerbaijan
have launched good cooperation in various fields including transfer
of electricity, development affairs, road-building, construction of
power plants and energy. “Such cooperation can further expand.”
The two sides also exchanged views on regional issues, including
Karabakh.
Kharrazi stressed that as a friendly country, the Islamic Republic of
Iran is ready to contribute to settlement of Karabakh dispute.
He said Tehran pursues settlement of Karabakh dispute within
framework of the charters of the UN and of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC).

ERDOGAN’S VISIT TO BE A SERIOUS TEST FOR TURKISH-IRANIAN RELATIONS
Azg/am
30 July 2004
Turkey’s American Policy is an Obstacle on This Path
On July 27 the prime minister of Turkey Ragep Tayyip Erdogan left for
Tehran on a three-day official visit. He was welcomed in the Sadabad
palace and had a half an hour private talk with the first
vice-president of Iran Islamic Republic Mohammad Reza Arif.
According to Turkish press, the talks were mainly on the PKK successor
People’ s Congress of Kurdistan, and the Iranian side met the wish of
Turkey and promised to enroll the Kurdish Congress into the list of
terrorist organizations. The same newspapers write that the Turkish
PM is successful in his talks on reassessing the price of the Iranian
gas. It seems that Turkey may go further attempting to transfer
Iranian gas to Europe via its territory.
Iran will not benefit from declaring the PKK a terrorist organization
because it will awake Kurdish aggression in the country and the USA
will use this situation for its purposes.
Taking into consideration the fact that Iraq is within reach and that
the Kurdish leaders of Iraq Jalal Talabani and Masud Barzani that are
under Washington ‘s control and have close ties with the PKK, we think
that Iran should refrain from pleasing Turkey and taking that
decision.
Otherwise, the USA will only be glad if Iran meets Turkey’s wish. The
USA can’ t put up with the idea that the Iranian gas will go to
Turkey, as this will bring Turkey and Iran to economic cooperation.
But the perspective of the Iranian gas to be exported to Europe is
even torturous for the USA as it wants to see Iran weak, with unstable
inner political life and isolated from the world. This is especially
true now when the two bordering countries of Iran Afghanistan and Iraq
are occupied and the American military bases are located in the
Caucasus and the Middle East.
It was not a coincidence that just a day before Erdogan’s visit
Washington threatened to bomb Iran to prevent the opening of the
nuclear power plant. Israel joined America in expressing displeasure
over Erdogan’s visit.
It is obvious that the Turkish-Iranian cooperation will involve Syria
as well and thus it cannot be acceptable for both Israel and the USA.
It seems that the Great Middle East project should also contradict
Iran. Erdogan’s visit to Tehran may be considered a success unless
his plans were to incline the Iranian government to the project and
please America.
By Hakob Chakrian