LILIT MKRTCHIAN STILL HAS ONE POINT
KRASNOTURINSK, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 25, the meetings of the
third tour of the ladies chess North Ural Cup international supper
tournament were held in Krasnoturinsk. Lilit Mkrtchian, representative
of Armenia, ended the game with the Lithuanian Victoria Chmilite
in a draw. L.Mkrtchian is in the 8th place with one point in the
competition among 10 participants.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HOUSE AFFIRMS POLICY OF REGIONAL COOPERATION AND REJECTS ATTEMPTS TO ISOLATE ARMENIA
WASHINGTON, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. U.S. House of
Representatives voted on July 25 to help ensure that U.S. regional
cooperation and economic integration is maintained by making certain
that no Export-Import funding is used for a railroad project sponsored
by the Turkish and Azeri governments that seeks to exclude Armenia
from economic and regional transportation opportunities, the Armenian
Assembly of America reported.
Lawmakers approved H.R. 5068, the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization
Act of 2006, which included an amendment by Congressman Joseph Crowley
(D-NY), along with Congressmen Edward Royce (R-CA) and Brad Sherman
(D-CA), ensuring that taxpayer dollars will not be spent on efforts
that would isolate Armenia – which is already facing dual blockades
by Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The amendment, which was unanimously approved by the House Financial
Services Committee last month, states that “The Bank shall not
guarantee, insure, extend credit, or participate in an extension of
credit in connection with the development or promotion of any rail
connections or railway-related connections that do not traverse or
connect with Armenia, and do traverse or connect Baku, Azerbaijan,
Tbilisi, Georgia, and Kars, Turkey.”
In a statement submitted for the House record, Crowley said “This
language will assist in promoting stability in the Caucasus region,
help in ending long standing conflicts, and save U.S. taxpayers the
responsibility of funding a project that goes against U.S. interests.”
Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who spoke in favor of
H.R. 5068 on the House floor, said “I support the provisions which
would prohibit the Export-Import Bank from funding railroad projects
in the South Caucasus region that deliberately exclude Armenia.”
The Crowley-Royce-Sherman provision was modeled after H.R. 3361,
the South Caucasus Integration and Open Railroads Act, both of which
the Assembly strongly supports. The legislation, which also has a
Senate counterpart, would prohibit U.S. assistance for the promotion
or development of a railroad that would connect the three countries
and exclude Armenia. The House bill, introduced by Armenian Caucus
Co-Chair Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), along with Co-Chair Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ) and Caucus Member George Radanovich (R-CA), currently
has 87 cosponsors.
The proposed bypass railway is estimated to cost upwards of 0 million
and is expected to take years to construct. The existing line, which
crosses Armenia, is in working condition and could be operational in
a matter of weeks at very little cost. Armenian government officials
have repeatedly said that a new costly railway is unnecessary given
that a railroad linking Armenia, Georgia and Turkey already exists.
“Passage of H.R. 5068 with the Crowley-Royce-Sherman provision,
which was modeled after H.R. 3361 helps ensure that the U.S. will
not be party to the flawed policies of Armenia’s neighbors,” said
Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.
Ardouny also drew a parallel to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
and noted that when the pipeline was first announced, it was in
the context of supporting multiple pipelines but instead all routes
bypassed Armenia.
“This time we must ensure that Armenia is not bypassed,” Ardouny said.
Recently, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried reiterated
U.S. policy in the South Caucasus which seeks to promote regional
cooperation and economic integration.
“The U.S. Government strongly encourages regional integration in the
Caucasus, including in our discussions with Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Turkey, and other countries in the region,” Fried said. “Removing
trade barriers would improve regional integration and enhance economic
cooperation and development. The proposed railway would bypass Armenia
and thus not be beneficial to regional integration.”
Similarly, Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse explained that
“Because the proposed railway would bypass Armenia, and thus not be
beneficial to regional integration, we have no plans to support such
a railway financially.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told an Azeri news agency last
summer that, “We are currently working on a new project – a new rail
road Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku..If we succeed with this project,
the Armenians will end in complete isolation, which would create an
additional problem for their future, their already bleak future…”
Meanwhile, a meeting of transport ministers from Azerbaijan, Turkey
and Georgia, slated for mid-June, was postponed following action by
the U.S. Congress to prohibit American companies from participating
in the railway construction. The meeting is scheduled to take place
on July 27 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The Export-Import Bank is a federal government agency which provides
loans, loan guarantees and insurance to support exports of U.S. goods
and services to international markets.

ACCORDING TO IAC CONCLUSION, CREW IS GUILTY IN A-320 ARMENIAN LINER CRASH
Yerevan, July 26. ArmInfo. As a result of study of reasons of A-320
“Armavia” liner May 3 crash, it became clear that the airplane,
which was carrying out an automatic process of landing, was on the
exact landing line when, by the air controller instruction, caused
by meteorological conditions, the screw stopped landing and started
the right turn with climb at the height of about 340 m, it is said in
the official conclusion of the Intergovernmental Aviation Committee.
According to the conclusion, the pilot-in-command switched off the
autopilot system during the right turn and, after a short period of
climb under conditions of horizontal position loss by the airplane,
he put the liner in a landing position again. Under conditions of such
inadequate actions of the pilot-in-command, there was no proper control
by the second pilot with respect to landing parameters: steering
incline, height, speed. Further actions of the screw, it is said in
the conclusion, were dictated by signals of the warning system about
the threat of approaching the land, they were not coordinated and not
aimed at the airplane withdrawal from the landing regime. According
to IAC, no faults were fixed in the airplane engines and systems, it
was responding to both the autopilot commands and screw actions and
the quantity of aviation fuel was enough for successful completion
of the flight.
According to IAC, the crash happened May 3 at 2:13 AM by Moscow time.
The investigation was carried out in compliance with the rules of
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Interstate
Agreement, signed between the 12 states, including Armenia and
Russia. During investigation, all the documents concerning the
airplane, the screw and the airplane-maintaining services, underwent
study. The Commission has also prepared recommendations for prevention
of such air-crashes in future, it is noted in the conclusion.

IAC: UNFORTUNATELY, WHOLE BLAME FOR LINER -320 CRASH LIES ON SCREW AND PILOT-IN- COMMAND
Moscow, July 26. ArmInfo. “Unfortunately, the whole blame for the liner
A-320 crash near Sochi lies on the screw and the pilot-in-command,
the deputy chairman of the Intergovernmental Aviation Committee Oleg
Yarmolov said, commenting on the official conclusion of the Committee
about the air crash reasons.
Evaluating the degree of the screw guilt and deprivation of
the “Armavia” Company of license for flights as a possible
consequence, Yarmolov noted that any technical investigation serves
only for clarification of the crash reasons and development of
recommendations. He added that the issue of determination of guilty
persons and use of sanctions as a ban for the Company flights is not
a subject of the Committee investigations, this is a priority of law
machinery and administrative authorities.
As for the character of recommendations in the IAC conclusion, Yarmolov
noted that they are particularly aviation and touch upon the issues
of professional preparation of pilots, as well as the check-up of
development of adequate actions of pilots in complicated situations. In
its turn, the Armenia’s State Department of Civil Aviation fully
agreed with the assessment, given in the IAC conclusion. The “Armavia”
itself withholds comments as yet.

RA GOVERNMENT TO RENDER HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO LEBANON
Yerevan, July 26. ArmInfo. RA Government has made a decision at today’s
special session on rendering a humanitarian assistance to Lebanon,
suffered from military actions.
As ArmInfo was told in the Government’s press-office, it was
resolved to send medicaments, tents and preparations to Lebanon as a
humanitarian assistance. It was also decided to send a humanitarian
cargo on July 27 evening by Yerevan- Allelo charter route.
As Gagik Yeganyan, the Head of the Migration Agency, informed, 550
people from Lebanon and 54 people from Israel have arrived to Armenia
during these days. He also said that 120 people more will arrive to
Armenia from Allelo July 27 by a charter route. The majority of the
evacuated people, as to Yeganyan, are citizens of Armenia. However,
he noted, there are citizens of other countries among them: 49 Lebanese
and 2 Israeli. It was noted at the session that the number of evacuated
people is growing day by day. Meanwhile, many of them have no relatives
in Armenia. In view of this, the Government has discussed the issue
of rendering a necessary assistance to these persons.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF USA AFFIRMED POLICY OF REGIONAL
COOPERATION AND REJECTED ATTEMPTS TO ISOLATE ARMENIA
Yerevan, July 26. ArmInfo. The House of Representatives today voted
to help ensure that U.S. regional cooperation and economic integration
is maintained by making certain that no Export-Import funding is used
for a railroad project sponsored by the Turkish and Azeri governments
that seeks to exclude Armenia from economic and regional transportation
opportunities.
As ArmInfo was told today in the Armenian Assembly of America, the
lawmakers approved H.R. 5068, the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization
Act of 2006, which included an amendment by Congressman Joseph Crowley
(D-NY), along with Congressmen Edward Royce (R-CA) and Brad Sherman
(D-CA), ensuring that taxpayer dollars will not be spent on efforts
that would isolate Armenia – which is already facing dual blockades
by Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The source reminds that the amendment, which was unanimously approved
by the House Financial Services Committee last month, states that “The
Bank shall not guarantee, insure, extend credit, or participate in an
extension of credit in connection with the development or promotion
of any rail connections or railway-related connections that do not
traverse or connect with Armenia, and do traverse or connect Baku,
Azerbaijan, Tbilisi, Georgia, and Kars, Turkey.”
In a statement submitted for the House record, Crowley said: “This
language will assist in promoting stability in the Caucasus region,
help in ending long standing conflicts, and save U.S. taxpayers
the responsibility of funding a project that goes against U.S.
interests.” Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who spoke in favor
of H.R. 5068 on the House floor, said: “I support the provisions which
would prohibit the Export-Import Bank from funding railroad projects
in the South Caucasus region that deliberately exclude Armenia.”

WIND WAS BLOWING TOWARDS TURKEY DURING EXERCISES AT ARMENIAN NPP
Yerevan, July 26. ArmInfo. Exercises were launched today in Yerevan
on the subject “Reaction to General Accident at the Armenian Nuclear
Power Plant”.
As the Head of the Department of Emergency Situations, Mayor-General
Eduard Barseghyan told the journalists today, the purpose of exercises
was to check and improve the skills of bodies of the State Department
and local government for organization of the population protection
during nuclear and radiation catastrophes. Representatives of 13
Ministries and Departments from Yerevan, Armavir, Aragats and Ararat
regions of Armenia, including the whole DES staff of 3000 employees,
as well as civil agents will participate in exercises to last on
July 27 in Armavir region, during which the population evacuation
will be developed.
An emergency situation at the ANPP was simulated during the enlarged
session of DES. Because of strong winds, the high-voltage power
transmission lines were disabled and standby diesel generators
were actuated. Water temperature increase in the primary circuit
caused metal fusion on the NPP containment. Atmospheric emission of
some million curie happened. The monitoring group has studied the
atmospheric emission.
Notification of population and prevention of panic were developed,
first of all, during today’s exercises. During the simulated emergency
situation at NPP, the wind was blowing towards Turkey.

Armenia air crash blamed on crew
BBC NEWS:
europe/5216210.stm
Investigators examining what caused an Armenian airliner to crash
with the loss of all 113 people on board have blamed pilot error.
The Armavia A320 Airbus plunged into the Black Sea on 3 May as it
tried to land near the Russian city of Sochi.
“The human factor in bad weather played a role,” Russian Transport
Minister Igor Levitin said.
Investigators said the crew lost control of the plane during the
descent and were unable to regain altitude.
Most of the victims were Armenian, but there were also 26 Russian
citizens. Among those on board were six children.
‘Lost control’
Mr Levitin was speaking in Moscow to announce the results of an enquiry
into the crash held by the Russian government and investigators from
Armenia and France.
Tatyana Anodina, head of the inter-governmental committee that took
part in the enquiry, said that during the descent the captain “did
not ensure control of the plane as far as angle and altitude were
concerned,” according to Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency.
Ms Anodina said that the co-pilot also failed to “ensure necessary
control”.
She added that an alarm system had gone off as the plane was plunging
but it was too late to regain altitude.
The investigators said that there had been no engine failure or
fuel shortage.
The A320 crashed at about 0215 (2215 GMT) as it made a second attempt
to land at Adler airport, just outside Sochi.
It was initially refused permission to land because of poor weather.
The plane reportedly hit the sea at an angle of 60 degrees, six
kilometres (four miles) from the coast.
Armavia said the plane was in good condition and that the crew were
experienced. The Airbus was manufactured in 1995.

At the heart of the Lebanon crisis lie the lethal mistakes of George Bush
Jonathan Freedland
Wednesday July 26, 2006
The Guardian
Instead of pursuing a Middle East peace deal, the White House’s big
idea has been to bomb people into democracy
It was meant to be over by now. This time last week Israeli military
planners were demanding another 72 hours to finish the job: that’s all
they needed, they promised, to clear southern Lebanon of Hizbullah. Yet
the enemy has proved stubborn. Despite two weeks of bombardment,
Hizbullah’s formidable arsenal remains in place. Yesterday they fired
yet more rockets – 60 of them – deep into Israel, reaching the city
of Haifa and killing a teenage girl in the Arab village of Maghar.
This persistence is causing the first rumblings of Israeli disquiet.
Why are the Katyushas “still coming, and killing?” asks one Israeli
columnist. Are the Israel Defence Forces losing their edge, asks
another, wondering if “instead of an army that is small but smart,
we are catching glimpses of an army that is big, rich and dumb”. The
top brass deny they have been surprised by Hizbullah’s strength. They
expected nothing less, they say – not least because Iran has been
supplying the movement with more than $100m worth of arms. Which
would explain the serious hardware, including long-range missiles,
at Hizbullah’s disposal.
So far none of this has eroded the astonishingly high level of Israeli
public support for the war. I spoke yesterday to a “refusenik”, an
Israeli soldier whose principles compelled him to spend a month in
jail rather than serve in the West Bank or Gaza. Even he was clear:
“We had no choice but to hit back.” This is not about defending
occupied territory, because Israel is not an genuine occupier in
Lebanon. This is, he says, about defending the country from a proxy
army of a state, Iran, that is committed to Israel’s destruction.
Little has punctured Israelis’ sense of self-belief. They see few of
the TV pictures we see, showing Lebanese children, bloodstained and
weeping; they have victims of their own to concentrate on. As for
the rest of the world’s condemnation, it doesn’t cut much ice. Why
should Israelis listen to Vladimir Putin when he tells them their
response has been “disproportionate”? Was Russia’s pounding of Grozny
proportionate? As for complaints from Britain and Europe about the 390
civilians killed in Lebanon, those are a reminder of the more than
3,000 civilians killed in the 2001 onslaught against Afghanistan:
how was that proportionate exactly? Kim Howells was right to be
appalled by what he saw in Beirut. But he surely would have been
just as shocked had he visited the Iraqi city of Falluja after the
Americans had turned it to rubble.
Besides, not much of this criticism, including that from Howells,
has got through at all. The message projected by most of the Israeli
media is that the bit of the world that matters – the US – is behind
them. The government certainly echoes that line, and it will have
been emboldened by Condoleezza Rice’s show of understanding yesterday.
Indeed, for prime minister Ehud Olmert the backing of the US is central
to everything this war is about. The Tel Aviv University analyst Dr
Gary Sussman calls it a “war for the legitimacy of unilateralism”. This
approach, first pursued by Ariel Sharon and now Olmert’s defining
project, tells Israelis that it is OK to pull out from occupied
territory – whether southern Lebanon in 2000 or Gaza in 2005 – because
after withdrawal there will be a clear, recognised border, behind
which Israel can defend itself more vigorously than ever. That is why,
once Hizbullah had captured those two Israeli soldiers, Olmert had
to hit back. If he had not, he would have vindicated the critics who
brand unilateral withdrawal a glorified retreat, jeopardising Israel’s
security. He had to prove that pulling out did not mean running away,
that Israel could still defend itself. What’s more, because it had
moved back to the internationally recognised border, Israel would
now enjoy international legitimacy. Washington has obligingly played
its role, supplying the support that confirms Olmert’s logic.
This message is not aimed solely at the Israeli people. It is also
meant to restore the country’s “deterrence”, telling Hizbullah and
the rest of the region that they cannot cross Israel’s borders,
or seize its personnel, with impunity (no matter how Israel itself
behaves). Israel is especially keen to disprove the “cobweb theory”,
put about by Hizbullah: pull at one Israeli thread, such as its 18-year
presence in Lebanon until 2000, and the rest will unravel. The current
operation is designed to say that Israel does not do unravelling.
There is a last audience for this war. Olmert wants the Palestinians
to see that if Israel withdraws from further territory, as he intends,
it will not be a soft touch. On the contrary, as the world has seen,
if Israel is so much as scratched it will hit back very hard. The
prime minister wants this point seared into the minds of Hamas and
Fatah so that they remember it come the day Israel withdraws from
parts of the West Bank.
>From his own point of view, Olmert had little alternative. If he had
accepted the soldiers’ kidnapping, and sought their return through
diplomacy, most Israeli analysts are agreed that he would have been
finished. He would have confirmed his own weakness, a civilian with
no military record, and he would have proved the anti-unilateralists
right. His own plan, to withdraw from more occupied territory, would
be in shreds. As things stand, he should now have the credibility to
move forward.
That’s as close as we get to a crumb of comfort to be found in the
rubble of this last fortnight. Yet it need not have been this way.
Had one of the key players in the drama behaved differently, this
entire mess could have been avoided.
I’m thinking of the United States. It’s fashionable to blame the US
for all the world’s ills, but in this case the sins, both of omission
and commission, of the Bush administration genuinely belong at the
heart of the trouble.
Diplomacy has had a difficult task from the start, in part because
the US is not seen as an honest broker, but as too closely aligned
with Israel. Washington has long been pro-Israel, but under President
Clinton and the first President Bush there was an effort to be seen
as a plausible mediator. Not under George W. Far from keeping lines
of communication open with Hizbullah’s two key patrons – Syria and
Iran – they have been cast into outer darkness, branded as spokes,
or satellites, of the axis of evil. As a result there has been no
mechanism to restrain Hizbullah. Now, when the US needs Syria’s help,
it may be too late. Damascus will extract a high price, no doubt
demanding the right to re-enter, in some form, Lebanon. The White
House can’t grant that – not when it considers Syria’s ejection from
Lebanon in 2005 one of its few foreign-policy successes.
But the record of failure goes deeper than that. It began in the
president’s first week, when Bush decided he would not repeat what he
perceived as his predecessor’s mistake by allowing his presidency to
be mired in the fruitless search for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Even
though Clinton had got tantalisingly close, Bush decided to drop it.
While Henry Kissinger once racked up 24,230 miles in just 34 days of
shuttle diplomacy, Bush’s envoys have been sparing in their visits
to the region.
The result is that the core conflict has been allowed to fester. Had
it been solved, or even if there had been a serious effort to solve
it, the current crisis would have been unimaginable. Instead, Bush’s
animating idea has been that the peoples of the Middle East can be
bombed into democracy and terrorised into moderation. It has proved
one of the great lethal mistakes of his abominable presidency –
and the peoples of Israel and Lebanon are paying the price.
[email protected]

U.S. House backs funding ban on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri rail link
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 26 2006
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation banning U.S.
government assistance to controversial plans for the construction
of a railway that would link Turkey with Georgia and Azerbaijan and
bypass Armenia.
According to RFE, a resolution approved by legislators late Tuesday
contains a provision which says that the U.S. Export-Import Bank
can not finance or promote “any rail connections or railway-related
connections that do not traverse or connect with Armenia, and do
traverse or connect Baku, Azerbaijan, Tbilisi, Georgia, and Kars,
Turkey.”
The provision was unanimously backed by the House Financial Services
Committee last month under pressure from Armenian-American lobbying
groups. Its main sponsor, Congressman Joseph Crowley of New York, said
the ban will “assist in promoting stability in the Caucasus region,
help in ending long standing conflicts, and save U.S. taxpayers the
responsibility of funding a project that goes against U.S. interests.”
Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of
America, also welcomed the measure, saying in a statement that it
“helps ensure that the U.S. will not be party to the flawed policies
of Armenia’s neighbors.”
The administration of President George. W. Bush did not voice
objections to the bill, indicating its opposition to the railway
project currently discussed by the governments of Turkey, Georgia
and Azerbaijan. “The proposed railway would bypass Armenia and thus
not be beneficial to regional integration,” Assistant Secretary of
State Daniel Fried said earlier this year.
Similar legislation is due to be debated in the U.S. Senate soon. If
passed, it will effectively block participation of U.S. companies
in the $400 million project that has prompted serious concern from
Armenia’s government.
However, Turkish and Azerbaijani officials have already downplayed
the impact of U.S. funding restrictions. “I think the three countries
have enough funds to finance [the project] in one way or another,” the
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, told RFE/RL on June 21.
The Armenian government argues that there already exists a railroad
connecting Turkey to the South Caucasus via Armenia and that the
regional countries should reactivate it instead of spending hundreds
of millions of dollars on building a new one. The Kars-Gyumri rail
link has stood idle more than a decade as part of the continuing
Turkish economic blockade of Armenia. Tan said it could be reopened
only after a resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.