A Katrina-Like Outpouring for the Mideast?
Inside Higher Ed, DC
July 27, 2006
By Wick Sloane
Imagine. No interruption of study and research for all students and
faculty in the Middle East shut out in this latest war. Lebanon.
Israel. Gaza. Iraq. Everyone.
John Waterbury, president of American University of Beirut, who was
stuck in the United States when war broke out, is in Washington seeking
federal aid and hopes to soon be on his way back to his campus. I’ll
bet he and all his Middle East colleagues would welcome help from us.
Never mind U.S. visas for now. We have the Web, satellites, cell phones
and air drops. Imagine seeing on CNN: classes and seminars and students
studying in the rubble. Now. On all sides of all borders. People from
around the world showing life will go on. Saturday, I listened to a
friend describe the ballet precision of his evacuation from Lebanon
last week. With thousands of others. The U.S. government can do such
things. Punch the “Reverse Route” button. Of course, this is difficult.
Hurricane Katrina was an act of God. American higher ed scrambled
to help. This Middle East war is of man. (And Yale at that, given
higher educations of U.S. leaders Bush, Cheney, Bolton and Bremer,
at least.) Are U.S. colleges and universities planning to help there,
too? Mustn’t we try?
AU-Beirut, a U.S. chartered institution, is closed for classes. I
telephoned the New York office, on Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, as it
happens. Steve Jeffries, the AUB vice president there, knew of no
unified offers of help yet. “Right now, we’re working on humanitarian
and medical issues,” he said. Students, faculty and staff in Beirut,
calling the situation the Challenges, are helping anyone they can with
blood drives and shelter and medicine for the wounded and the refugees.
The American Council on Education’s president, David Ward, offered
empathy but no call for help in his regular newsletter to presidents
last week. The National Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities may be too busy howling in self-interest about a proposed
national database of student academic records.
Enough. Something must be happening.
I wrote to a few of the higher ed presidents and panjandrums I know.
These places claim a tax benefit for producing leaders, not just
wealth. Roger Mandle, president of Rhode Island School of Design, has
told me several times that the field of design has to move to illumine
intractable social issues. What would solutions here look like?
I wrote Rick Levin at Yale and Morty Schapiro at Williams, my
schools. Ruth Simmons at Brown, where I pay tuition. Mike McPherson,
president of the Spencer Foundation. Roger Mandle. Clayton Spencer
at Harvard and John Strassburger, president of Ursinus College. What
plans are under way? What is the obligation of U.S. higher education
here? AU-Beirut has not heard, so far, from American higher ed.
No reply so far from Levin at Yale, whom I met when I was a student
and he a professor at the School of Management. Schapiro, of Williams,
says he is trying to come up with some ideas.
Ursinus College, in Philadelphia, may be the only place to have
an offer.
“Ursinus could offer free housing, board and tuition for the fall
semester for up to five students if not more,” said Strassburger,
the Ursinus president. “We probably could come up with salary for a
school in residence teaching some Middle East subjects for the fall
or the year.”
Strassburger over the weekend e-mailed an Ursinus faculty member
and alumnus, the retired Ambassador Joseph Melrose, recalled to
the Lebanon desk at the U.S. State Department. Acknowledging the
complexity, Melrose, speaking for himself, replied that American
colleges and universities should plan for transfers from those able
to get a visa. “I would also encourage you all to continue to reflect
on what might be done for Lebanese students in the future. It would
be refreshing to have at least a skeletal plan in place.”
I keep thinking of the one-time Columbia University President Dwight
D. Eisenhower, who said, “I like to believe that people in the long
run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments.
Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
Even knowing what help might work, for now, is vexing. Looking around,
at least two of the Web sites for Lebanese colleges didn’t work at
all. The sites that work show the enormous need.
“Due to the present conditions of our dear and bleeding country,”
the Web page of Haigazian University, Beirut, announced the end of
classes for now. “Offices and other functions of the University will
continue with as little interruption as possible, whenever possible.
May God keep you all in His Grace.” (The university’s name, the site
reports, honors Armenag Haigazian, an Armenian educator with a Yale
doctorate, who passed up escaping to the United States to continue
teaching and then died in the Kharpert prison.)
Lebanese American University has closed classes in Beirut and Byblos.
The Web site goes on: “We urgently ask each and every employee to
be very conservative in their usage of the utilities, especially
electricity and water, so that we can deal with the expected shortages
of these very essential resources, in an optimized manner.”
At the Yale Web site? Nothing on the Middle East. But this, ironic,
headline: “Yale president says U.S. should adopt more open attitude
in attracting int’l students.”
No “Out of the Office” autoreplies to my presidents’ and panjandrums’
e-mail. So far, only replies from Williams and Ursinus. I just tried
Joe White, president of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana,
and Jim Duderstadt, emeritus president of the University of
Michigan. I’m sure those two will have far better ideas than mine.
In May 1977, I was in the hospital lobby at American University Beirut,
visiting with a friend whose husband was a doctor there. The hospital
was neutral. Around me were fighters from all sides of the civil
war, with submachine guns. The American University Hospital treated
everyone. A precedent for U.S. higher education today?
I’d left Jerusalem that morning over the Allenby Bridge, the back
door of the Promised Land, to Amman. Then, in service taxis up
through Damascus into Lebanon and in Beirut by dinnertime. I’d spent
an afternoon in Jerusalem with an American Quaker missionary, who’d
been there for decades. Why was the Holy Land always in such trouble?
This has always been a tough place, he reminded me. “You have to
remember that God has sent his best people here to this region three
times, and the place is still in trouble. All I know is that we can’t
give up.”
While I was walking my dog this week, a young friend, Kirsten Nyborg,
stopped to talk. Harvard 2006, now an intern for Campus Crusade for
Christ. Would she give her Harvard a nudge? “That’s pretty bad,” she
said of the silence. “We’ll put this out on our listserv, too. We’ll
send everybody – Junior Year in Beirut for All. Bring a rake. We’ll
get things cleaned up.” And she jogged off.
What’s become of Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, Yale ’63, who
evacuated Iraq ahead of the U.S. troops. (“L” for “Let’s disband
the Iraqi army and not collect the weapons first.”?) According to
the Yale alumni directory, Bremer is managing director, Marsh Crisis
Consulting. Perhaps Rick Levin should give Bremer a call?
Wick Sloane is chief operating officer at Generon Consulting in
Massachusetts and former chief financial officer of the University
of Hawaii system.
07/27/sloane

Turkey deserves our thanks
Montreal Gazette , Canada
July 27, 2006
Published: Thursday, July 27, 2006
Relations between Canada and Turkey have been a little tense since
April, when our government declared that what happened to Armenians
in Turkey 90 years ago was genocide. It’s a view Turks strongly
reject. Further, Turkey is a Muslim country, and Ottawa has given
firm moral support to Israel in the current Lebanese fighting.
On both counts it would have been an easy matter for Turkish
authorities to find themselves too busy to return calls last week
when Canada requested the use of a Turkish port and airport to funnel
Canadians out of Lebanon.
All Canadians should take note and bear in mind that Turkey avoided
this temptation. The port of Mersin and the nearby airport at Adana
were instead opened wide to Canadians coming off chartered cruise
ships.
With the principal staging post at Larnaca, Cyprus, overflowing
with people of many nations, the cooperation of Turkey’s government
simplified the evacuation process for many Canadians.
And beyond the government’s reaction, news reports say individual
Turks and local authorities exerted themselves to help.
The numbers still have not been tallied but it appears that several
thousand Canadians have moved through Mersin and Adana. They, and
all of us, offer sincere thanks to the government and people of Turkey.
s/editorial/story.html?id=dc31551a-b36b-45d1-a742- 342f0a6c3ed3

Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway project will strengthen regional and international integration
The Messenger, Georgia
July 27, 2006
As reported in Svobodnaya Gruzia, the Minister of Transport of
Azerbaijan, Namik Gasanov, stated before the meeting of the heads of
the transport ministries of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Kazakhstan,
which is due to take place on July 27 in Astana, that the construction
of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway project will strengthen regional
and international integration.
“The project will make Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey like a united
organism, and in this sense it has great importance at least from
the regional standpoint,” he stated, noting that “being a unit of
the infrastructure-transport chain, which links Europe and Asia,
this project has very great importance in view of international
integration as well.” Gasanov highlighted that realization of the
project will lead Azerbaijan to Europe via Turkey.
According to him, experts’ assessments show that the project is very
profitable from the economic standpoint also. “It will bring large
profits from freight and passengers transportation,” he said. Gasanov
also said that money invested in the project would be recovered in
two or three years of the railway’s operation.
The Azeri minister also said that the project has great political,
as well as economic, importance. “This project is also important in
regard of the settlement of interstate relations,” he said.
Touching upon obstacles the project faces, Gasanov stressed that
attempts are being made in this direction by Armenia. “Armenia is
making every effort, even with the help of the U.S. Congress, to impede
this project and prevent its implementation.” According to him, Armenia
will not be involved in one of the greatest regional projects because
of their “destructive policy” and “occupation of Azeri territories.”
Gasanov also commented on the cost of the project and said that,
according to preliminary data, the cost of this project is USD 400
million. At prior negotiations, the Turkish side agreed to allot USD
200 million for the realization of the project. “The parties have
been continuing negotiations on this issue. Georgia also expresses its
readiness to finance this project, but clarity in this issue will be
made at the negotiations in Kazakhstan,” Gasanov stated. According
to him, construction of the project will start in 2007 and will be
completed within two to three years.

UN Resident Coordinator at National Assembly
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
July 27, 2006
On July 26 the RA NA President Tigran Torosyan received Ms. Consuelo
Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator and newly appointed UNDP Resident
Representative in Armenia.
The issues on the cooperation between the NA and the UN organization
were on the pivot of the meeting. Ms. Consuelo Vidal expressed
readiness to promote the organization of the upcoming election
processes through development programs to ensure free and fair
elections. In this regard the NA President Tigran Torosyan highlighted
both: reform of the Electoral Code and the establishment of necessary
atmosphere among political forces. The agreement on debates of
introducing clarity into cooperation programs in the election processes
was reached.
Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator and newly appointed
UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia wished to clarify from the NA
President the fate of the draft on Lobbying in the development of which
the UN has participated as well. And in this regard they referred to
the support of international organizations to law creation works. It
was noted that some cases of non-effective use of allocated sources
were registered in the work with international organizations. The
agreement was reached to debate steps directed to the increase
of effectiveness of the support of international organizations in
legislative works.
The other issues of mutual interest were debated during the meeting.

In the Parliament
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
July 27, 2006
On July 25 the representatives arrived from different regions who
were in Yerevan within the framework of young people’s civil education
program visited the National Assembly.
Hranush Hakobyan, the Chairwoman of the NA Standing Committee on
Science, Education, Culture and Youth,familirized young people with
the parliamentarism and the history of the Armenian parliament. The
procedure of the legislative body formation, the main functions and
activity were presented to the participants. Mrs. Hakobyan detailed
legislative initiative-lawsystem, noting, that first initiation
deliberated in the Committees before becoming law, gets relevant
conclusion, and only after that it is presented to the ratification
of the Parliament. The head of the Committee answered the questions,
which related to twelve-year education, preservation of national
culture, problems of science development.
The activity of the sub-divisions of the NA staff was presented to
the young people, visited the Parliament. Maro Asatryan, the head of
Information Department, accompanied the guests to the sitting hall,
where they got familiar with the work of the electronic system of
the hall, walked through the parliament visiting official and working
meting halls.
“The draft laws, submitted to the NA , undergo an examination “,
– informed Ashot Khachatryan, the head of Legislative Analysis and
Development Department. He also noted that his department provide
MP’s with professional advice, implement research and analytic works.
Anahit Adamyan, the head of Public Relations Department, presented
functions of the department, the content of its work, kinds of its
organization and answered the questions.
” All the materials of information character prepared by the department
of public relations, and also all materials concerning structural
divisions of the staff, texts of laws in function are placed on the
website of electronic page “, – says Tatul Soghomonyan, the head of
Secretariat. According to him the functions of Secretariat are various:
applications and letters from citizens are registered, then handed to
the NA governing bodies or the MP’s direct through Secretariat. Lusine
Hovhannisyan informed details about the work of the website.
Hovhannes Zargaryan , Deputy head of the staff, summing up the day
passed in the Parliament,
expressed gratitude to young people for active participation and
wished them good luck.
He noted, that as a result of the programs which were carried out
by USAID and other international organizations during last yearsthe
NAreceived both technical and consulting assistance which promoted
increase of the effectivness of works. Mr. Zargaryan noted, that the
doors of the National Assembly are open before youth, and they always
can address questions interested them to the staff. They can also
get information about activity of the Parliamentthrough Internet site
adding their fund of knowledge. He expressed hope, that the day which
had been passed in the National Assembly, will have its continuation
and become the basis for deeper knowledge of functions of system of
the state management.

HUMANITARIAN PROGRAM TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN ARTSAKH ON THE INITIATIVE OF BARONESS COX
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
July 27, 2006
Vice-speaker of the House of Lords of the UK Parliament Baroness Cox
will visit Artsakh, this time with a new humanitarian program.
Her partners are a representative of The Children’s Hospital Trust Fund
Daniel Liles, the responsible of the Birth Links Company Cathy Malone,
who will render humanitarian and technical aid to the Center of the
Newborns’ Reanimation that will be opened in Stepanakert within the
program’s frames. The Center being opened in Artsakh will become a
branch of the Center of the University Hospital N 3 in Yerevan.
Baroness Cox informed that a representative of Birth Links Company
Cathy Malone had been to Karabakh six years before and was implementing
various programs there at present. “My goal is to bring to Armenia and
Karabakh as many people as possible, as they will tell the truth about
the Armenians and Karabakh in the future”, Caroline Cox underscored,
Noyan Tapan reports.

Summer reading blowout
Hour.ca, Canada
July 27, 2006
Brett Hooton and MJ Stone
After Pride, you’ll need some recuperation time! Make the most of
summer’s potential for relaxation by picking your favourite park
bench, poolside, beach or hammock and curling up with one – or five –
of these summer reading critics’ picks.
[parts omitted]
Sosi By Linda Ghan (Signature Editions), 222 pp.
Okay, it’s not exactly the lightest of summertime books, but Sosi is
worth the serious effort. Marked forever by the loss of her Armenian
mother and Turkish father, Sosi is raised by Jewish relatives. Events
in Turkey inspire Sosi, who’s haunted by the Armenian genocide,
to flee to Jerusalem with her family. There she falls in love with
a young photographer named Ara and begins to think she’s finally
putting her past behind her. But when Ara disappears under mysterious
circumstances, Sosi seeks sanctuary in Montreal, fuelling her sorrow
with gin and jazz until fate finally provides her with an opportunity
to heal. (MJS)
cle=9847

Pilot Error Blamed In Armavia A320 Accident
Aero-News Network, FL
July 27, 2006
Russian investigators say it was pilot error that caused the crash
of an Armavia Airlines Airbus A320 back in May… killing all 113
people on board the plane.
As Aero-News reported, the accident happened during foul weather as
the Armenian aircraft was on approach to the airport in Sochi… a
Russian seaside resort.
A spokeswoman for the civil aviation authority that links Russia with
eleven of its former republics says a terrain avoidance alarm sounded
in the cockpit shortly before the crash… but the crew was unable
to add power and pull up in time to avoid crashing into the Black Sea.
Of the 113 people on board that flight… 26 were Russian citizens.
Their families will receive about $3,800 from the state… on top of
the $8,900 already paid out by the airline.

Crew blamed for Armenian air crash
Western Mail, UK
July 27, 2006, Thursday
First Edition
RUSSIAN air safety officials said the crash of a commercial airline
in May that killed 113 people was due to pilot error.
The pilots of the Airbus-320 operated by Armenia’s Armavia airline
allowed the plane to descend too low as it faced bad weather on its
approach to the airport outside the Russian resort town of Sochi.
Tatyana Anodina, the head of the region’s civil aviation agency,
said an automated system warned the two pilots that the plane was
flying dangerously low, but that a last-ditch effort to gain altitude
failed to head off the crash into the Black Sea.
‘The human factor in bad weather played a role,’ Russian Transport
Minister Igor Levitin said. Most of the victims were Armenian, but
there were also 26 Russian citizens.

WORLD BANK CITES WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA
AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 26, 2006 Wednesday
Corruption and bribery in Armenia has increased compared to previous
years, the World Bank said in a recent report. A survey conducted
among representatives of numerous private companies of the country
suggests that Armenian companies continued to give bribes last year,
the WB Yerevan office said. Armenian customs and taxation bodies
are the most corrupt, as businesspeople and potential investors
continue to face serious problems in this area and are regularly
prompted to give bribes, according to the study. Corruption is also
ingrained in the judiciary field, although its levels remain unchanged
compared to 2002, the WB said. The World Bank experts indicated that
corruption poses serious risks to business in Armenia, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan. The reforms in Armenia, Russia and Albania carried
out in 2002-2005 to solve the problem were very slow. The cases of
corruption are widespread in the registration of companies in Armenia,
Russia and Moldova, the report said. The WB research of this kind is
conducted in 26 countries and Turkey three times a year.
From: Baghdasarian