AZERI FM TO LEAVE FOR LONDON TO MEET WITH OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS
Author: A.Ismaylova
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 10 2006
On September 12, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
will leave for Great Britain to meet with the co-chairs of OSCE Minsk
Group, the head of the information and press department of Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry Tahir Tagizade informed Trend.
Mammadyarov will meet with the mediators on September 13 in London.
During the meeting, discussions will be held on the key principles
of the negotiations regarding the regulation of Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
As Mammadyarov said earlier, he is going during this meeting to know
the opinion of co-chairs themselves and their proposals on how to
find way through compromises to set afoot the issue.
On September 12, the co-chairs will meet with Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan in Paris. Earlier it was planned to hold the meeting
of Azerbaijan and Armenian foreign ministers, but in the final moment,
the sides didn’t consider this meeting necessary.

IRAN MAJLIS SPEAKER LEAVES TEHRAN FOR YEREVAN
Author: À.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 10 2006
(IRNA) – Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel left Tehran for Yerevan,
Armenia, Monday morning on the first of a two-nation visit that will
also take him to Kyrgyzstan, reports Trend.
Haddad-Adel is scheduled to hold talks with senior Armenian officials.
Speaking to reporters at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport,
he said “expansion of ties with Caucasus and Central Asian states
has always been on Iran’s agenda.
He said his visits take place upon invitations extended to him by
the parliament speakers of these two countries and in response to
previous visits they made to Tehran.
“During these visits, the sides will discuss avenues for bolstering
political, economic and parliamentary friendly cooperation as well
as the current situation in the region,” he added.
The Majlis speaker is accompanied in these visits by a number of
state officials and Majlis deputies.
–Boundary_(ID_vBrleLI5d635wkljvwWnVw)- –

ISLAM WORLD OUGHT TO UNITE ALL EFFORTS IN FIGHTING WITH TERROR – AZERI PRESIDENT
Author: S.Aliyev
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 10 2006
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated to the 5th conference of
the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Tourism Ministers that
opened in Baku on 11 September that some forces want to relate Islam
with terror. Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. We want to
live in peace and we will achieve it, Trend reports.
“Today it is the 11th of September. 5 years ago the world saw a
horrible terror attack, which killed a number of innocent people. The
Islamic world condemned the fact. We ought to unite al efforts for
struggle with terror. The terror should not be prevented by oneself,”
the Azerbaijani President stressed.
The head of state put a special accent on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict Nagorno-Karabakh, which he regarded as the most painful
problem in the region.
“Unfortunately, it has not been resolved yet. 20% of the Azerbaijani
territory is under occupation, whereas as a result of ethnic cleansing
by Armenia over 1 million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and
internally displaced people. It is a great humanitarian catastrophe,”
Aliyev stressed.
Mr Aliyev underlined that despite the resolutions adopted by the
international organizations in this respect, it still remains
unsettled. Moreover, Azerbaijan suffered from the Armenian terror
attacks which resulted in death of numerous people.

ARMENIAN MINISTER OF DEFENSE SERGE SARKISSIAN ARRIVES ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO BULGRAIA
Focus News, Bulgaria
Sept 11 2006
Sofia. The Armenian Minister of Defense Serge Sarkissian arrives on
three days official visit in Bulgaria on invitation of Defense Minister
Veselin Bliznakov, the press center of the Defense Ministry announced.
The two ministers will discuss the co-operation in the military field
and will sign joint declaration for its further development. They
will talk on issues concerning regional and international security.
During his visit Minister Serge Sarkissian will be received by the
President and Supreme Commander in Chief Georgi Parvanov, as well as
the Deputy Parliament Speaker Petar Beron and the leadership of the
Parliamentary Commission on Defense.

REPRESSION VS. FREEDOM
By Ralph R. Reiland
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA
Sept 11 2006
Imagine if insulting George W. Bush was a crime or if we jailed writers
for being critical of U.S. policies. Half the authors on The New York
Times’ best-seller list would be behind bars.
It’s different in Turkey. For the crime of “insulting Turkishness,”
best-selling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak is facing up to four years
in prison. Her trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 21.
At issue are several remarks made by a fictional character in Shafak’s
latest novel, “The Bastard of Istanbul,” already a top-selling book
in Turkey and set to be published next year by Viking in the United
States.
The charges against Shafak involve the word “genocide,” spoken in
her novel by a fictional character of Armenian ancestry regarding
the death of Armenians during World War I.
“I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who lost all their
relatives in the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915,” says the imaginary
character, “but I myself have been brainwashed to deny the genocide
because I was raised by some Turk named Mustapha.”
In the United States, some fictional Apache in a novel could say much
the same thing about the fate of his tribe at the hands of European
settlers and no one would be headed for the courthouse.
A historian at the University of Hawaii, David E. Stannard,
unincarcerated, described the forced removal and killing of native
Americans as “the worst human holocaust the world had ever witnessed,
roaring across two continents nonstop for four centuries and consuming
the lives of countless tens of millions of people.”
No American churchmen went to jail when the National Council of
Churches adopted a resolution that branded the journey of Christopher
Columbus as an “invasion” that resulted in the “genocide of native
people.”
In Turkey, however, public comment, even by a fictional character,
about the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by the
Ottoman Turks during and after World War I is a taboo subject and
potentially illegal.
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, adopted in June 2005, states
that:
“Public denigration of Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National
Assembly of Turkey shall be punishable by imprisonment of between
six months and three years.”
“Public denigration of the Government of the Republic of Turkey,
the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security
matters shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months
and two years.”
A third section of the Penal Code, applicable to Shafak, a Turkish
citizen and currently an assistant professor in Near Eastern Studies
at the University of Arizona, states, “In cases where denigration
of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country,
the punishment shall be increased by one third.”
Under Article 301, internationally acclaimed author Orhan Pamuk,
Turkey’s most famous novelist, was charged last year with “insulting
Turkishness” after he stated in an interview with a Swiss newspaper
that “30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were murdered in these
lands and no one but me dares talk about it.”
The Turkish Publishers’ Association reports that more than 60 writers
and journalists have been charged under Article 301 with various forms
of “insulting Turkishness,” including the intellectual transgression
of allegedly insulting Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938), the founder of
modern Turkey.
Five journalists were charged last year for articles they wrote
challenging the decision of an Istanbul court to ban an academic
conference dealing with the killing of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire from 1915 to 1917. The writers’ crime? Attempting to “influence
judicial procedures” by objecting to the court’s interference with
academic freedom.
The complaints against Pamuk and Shafak were filed by attorney
Kemal Kerincsiz, head of the Turkish Jurists’ Union. “We will not
allow insults and abuse of Turkishness in the name of freedom of
expressions,” explained Kerincsiz.
Less narrow-minded, Shafak portrays her upcoming court battle as
part of an ongoing struggle for modernity and freedom of expression:
“What’s going on right now is a backlash. There’s a clash of opinion.
On the one hand are the people who are much more cosmopolitan-minded,
much more multicultural, who want to keep Turkey as an open society
and who very much support wholeheartedly the European Union process.
But on the other hand are the people who want to maintain Turkey as an
enclosed society, more xenophobic, more nationalistic, more insular.”
Ralph R. Reiland is an associate professor of economics at
Robert Morris University and a local restaurateur. E-mail him at
[email protected].

IN OUR RACIAL MELTING POT, THE MOST ENGLISH OF TOWNS
By Rebecca Camber
DAILY MAIL (London)
September 11, 2006 Monday
IT merits a brief mention in the Domesday Book, and has a railway
museum, a pottery centre and one or two tea rooms.
The town of Ripley in Derbyshire sounds typically English ñ almost
an anachronism in the multicultural melting pot of modern Britain.
But it is no longer just its appearance which marks Ripley out as a
quaint reminder of another era.
Yesterday a survey named it as the most English place in Britain
according to its ethnic mix.
The distinction is revealed in a study of the geographical spread of
immigration across the UK.
Using electoral records and profession databases, researchers have
identified 200 ethnic groups, ranking them by socio-economic success
based on their jobs.
According to the report, Armenian immigrants, such as millionaire
property tycoon Bob Manoukian, are the most financially and socially
prosperous, while those arriving from Sierra Leone and Syria have fared
the worst. The English are among the least commerciallyminded races,
it reveals.
According to the analysis, 88.6 per cent of those living in Ripley are
of English origin, followed by the neighbouring village of Heanor and
Sutton-in-Ashfield just across the county border in Nottinghamshire.
A number of towns in East Anglia also had a high proportion of ethnic
English residents. Southall in West London has the lowest concentration
of English, at 17.8 per cent.
South Tottenham emerged as the most diverse area of Britain with 113
ethnic groups living in that section of North London.
Looking at the surnames and first names of 42.2million registered
voters in the UK, experts divided residents into 200 ethnic groups.
Then they compared each group with a marketing database of professions
to rank their socioeconomic success. It found that the Japanese and
Russians are the most entrepreneurial, with the highest number of
company directors per group. Richard Webber, a professor of spatial
analysis at University College, London, who developed the Origins
Info report said: ‘The patterns that this analysis have uncovered
are striking.
‘We are hoping it will prove a valuable tool for government and
business.’
The research revealed that ethnic clusters had formed decades after
immigrants first arrived in Britain. For example, Greek Cypriots
have concentrated in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire and Margate in Kent,
while a large Italian population can be found around Bedford and
Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire.
The Dutch live in large numbers in Plockton in the Scottish Highlands
and Llanwrtyd Wells, North Wales.
When looking at the ethnic composition-of the professions, the report
found a disproportionately high number of immigrants in business,
law and medicine.
Those from northern India are ten times more likely to be doctors
than the population as a whole.
Spaniards and Romanians are also significantly ‘over-represented’
as doctors, and those of Russian, Dutch and Nigerian descent as
barristers. Statisticians also found that one in four restaurants is
run by a Muslim and one in four chemists by an Indian or Sri Lankan.
–Boundary_(ID_3puE8owahnDUOlYipLVUqw)–

DEFENSE MINISTRY OF AZERBAIJAN DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT THERE MAY BE PROBLEMS WITH CONSCRIPTS
by Dzhasur Mamedov
Translated by Pavel Pushkin
Source: Voenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer, No. 34, September 06-12, 2006, p. 12
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 11, 2006 Monday
Drafting Police
CAN PROBLEMS IN DRAFTING CONSCRIPTS APPEAR IN AZERBAIJAN?; Many
observers did not pay attention to the events that happened last
month in Gyandzha.
Many observers did not pay attention to the events that happened last
month in Gyandzha; however, experts who studied the situation and
prospect of the armed forces of Azerbaijan seriously did not miss one
nuance. They took this event as a harbinger of a big threat expected
in the future. The matter is about work done in the Kyapaz District
with the persons evading the draft and use of police in solving of
this problem.
Ilgar Balakishiev, deputy director of the municipal police department,
reported that during the drafting campaign his subordinates visited
addresses of potential draftees and tried to bring them to the military
registration and enlistment offices. Samed Samedov, operational
officer on duty at the military registration and enlistment office
of Azerbaijan, confesses that in some regions of the country there
are cases of military service evasion but according to him there are
only a few of them.
For a country being in a state of war, study of the morale of the
conscripts is very important. Now it is believed that the wish of
an Azerbaijani soldier to fight for the Motherland is based not on
material but on moral values.
The events in Gyandzha shows that many people in Azerbaijan do not
perceive military service as necessary duty.
If the plans of buildup of the armed forces of Azerbaijan do not make
provisions for transition to contract service in the near future
the country may encounter a problem of conscript shortage. This
is a forecast of military expert Lieutenant Colonel of the reserve
Uzeir Dzhafarov. Dzhafarov states that there is already a problem of
shortage of conscripts in the country, “If the police joined solving
the problem it showed that symptoms of evasion did appear.”
According to Dzhafarov, if the system of drafting and service in
the army is not changed the problem will only grow. The military
expert presumes that already now there are financial possibilities
for transition of the armed forces of Azerbaijan to the contract basis.
Dzhafarov remarks, “At present so many unnecessary expenditures are
financed under the pretext of military expenditures. If the allocated
money is spent sensibly it is possible to do a lot. In my opinion,
there is no need to preserve large military formations now. Instead of
one huge mechanized infantry brigade it is expedient to maintain one
mechanized infantry battalion on the contract basis. The coefficient
of efficiency of such a battalion is bigger than such coefficient of
a brigade and is possibly even bigger.”
Major Ilgar Verdiev, officer of the press service of the Defense
Ministry, disagrees with this stance. Verdiev considers the events
in Gyandzha to be “ordinary.” He says, “There the matter was about
students enlisted to the higher educational institutions bypassing
the state entrance exams done by the state commission. They evaded
service. The problem was finally solved.” Verdiev does not share the
forecast about possible shortage of conscripts. According to him,
the army is manned with conscripts almost 100%. Answering the question
about transition to a contract army Verdiev said, “The parliament has
to amend military law. Only after that it is possible to do anything
for transition to contract service.”
According to Lieutenant General Zakir Gasanov, commander of the
Interior Forces, “The armed forces should be manned on a mixed
basis.” Gasanov proposes, “In the framework of capabilities of the
state crews of tanks, artillery crews and other specialists responsible
for combat operations can serve on a contract basis.”
Gasanov explains that transition of the entire army to the contract
system of service is connected with big financial expenditures. The
general adds, “It is necessary to bear in mind the state of war with
Armenia because there is a need for annual increase of the number
of shooters.”
Major General Tadzheddin Mekhtiev, former Defense Minister, sees
prospects of Azerbaijani armed forces not only in contract manning.
Mekhtiev says, “Yes, we need a strong army only for counteraction to
the neighbor. However, Azerbaijan should have such strong economy
to be able to maintain a professional army.” Mekhtiev says that to
begin with “It is necessary to form one brigade. Afterwards it is
necessary to broaden it to a corps and to study the experience. It
is necessary to form a contract army on the competitive basis from
the former soldiers and sergeants.”
As we see, there are many opinions. So far, it is clear only that
debates about a professional army will grow especially bitter when
the parliament starts debating amendments to the military laws of
the country.

ALREADY IN 2008, 70% OF THE PERSONNEL OF THE RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES WILL CONSIST OF CONTRACT SERVICEMEN
Nikolai Sviridov
Source: Voenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer, No. 34, September 06-12, 2006, p. 7
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 11, 2006 Monday
To Raise Competitiveness Of The Military Profession
Senior Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Belousov Speaks On
Rearming The Russian Army And Transition To Contract Basis; In June,
Voenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer (see issue No. 22) published an interview
with Senior Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Alexander Belousov.
In June, Voenno-Promyshlenny Kuryer (see issue No. 22) published
an interview with Senior Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General
Alexander Belousov. The interview was dedicated to combat training
and building the Armed Forces, as well as strengthening the training
material and technical basis and creation of an inter-branch system
of training the Armed Forces. The interview caused big interest.
Readers ask with which means of armed struggle will our soldiers
and officers be supplied by that time, how will the institution of
contractors and legislative base develop? The Senior Deputy Defense
Minister agreed to continue the started conversation.
Question: We have talked to you mostly about results of combat
training, its support with the necessary means and re-equipment of
the training material and technical base. Which armament and combat
hardware are already being supplied or will be supplied in the near
future to the Armed Forces?
Belousov: By the end of the current year the Ground Forces will
receive approximately 30 new T-90 tanks. This is almost an entire tank
battalion. The troops will also receive more than 180 modernized T-80
and T-72 tanks. I emphasize that with good modernization they will
serve for a long time and will comply with the highest requirements.
More than 40 BMP-3 were ordered for 2006. The troops will also receive
350 modernized BMP-2 and BMP-3 vehicles. The troops will also receive
more than 100 new armored personnel carriers BTR-90 and BTR-80 and
approximately 170 modernized armored personnel carriers.
The Armed Forces started receiving the missile system Iskander to
replace Tochka-U. Almost in 20 years Tochka-U exhausted its service
life. The Airborne Forces will receive approximately 90 modernized
BMD-2 and BMD-3 vehicles.
Modernization costs the state much less than manufacture of new
vehicles, although the modernization is very serious. For example,
it is possible to say that armored personnel carriers have only bodies
left. New powerful diesel engines and other equipment are mounted on
them. In principle, such armored personnel carrier does not differ
from BTR-80 or BTR-90.
Much more new automobiles will be purchased and received. These are
4,500 automobiles on standardized bases of Ural and KamAZ and 500
modernized Ural and KamAZ automobiles.
This year, in the Air Force it is planned to modernize about 50
frontline airplanes Su-24, Su-25, Su-27 and MiG-29 and 20 air defense
systems. Approximately 100 missiles are ordered for them. It is also
planned to buy ten new helicopters Mi-28N and Ka-50.
As you already know, five regiments have been already been rearmed
with the new mobile missile system Topol-M in the Strategic Missile
Forces. One more regiment of the ground-based Topol-M systems will
be put on combat duty by the end of 2006. Incidentally, this system
is made in Russia entirely.
Question: In 2008, conscripts will serve in the Armed Forces for one
year. Will approaches for organization of combat training change
because of this? First of all, I mean contract servicemen because
the main burden will be laid on them.
Belousov: For which standards are we striving? By 2008, our army should
become professional by two-thirds. This means that professionals will
consist 70% and conscripts will consist of 30% of its strength. This
process will go on further. Hence, we tested a special program for
training contract servicemen. For a year we tested it in the 42nd
division but finally had to give it up. Why?
Due to some peculiarities it should be of one-year cycle. This
means that training period should amount to one year and should
not be less (now it amounts to half a year). The period starts from
single training and ends with training of a battalion. However, this
circumstance implies the relevant manning with personnel and its 100%
participation in the training process. It is impossible to achieve
this everywhere yet.
In a few years when the professional army is settled down it will be
possible to transit to a one-year training cycle. Now, I think, it is
too early to do this because so far there is a very big percentage of
resigning contract servicemen. This system will start working fully
only when contract servicemen start serving for two or three terms.
This is the optimal scenario. Now not all servicemen serve until the
end of even the first contract and resign. Why? Some servicemen choose
military service not as vocation but as a possibility of temporary
additional earning. This motive forms psychology of temporary laborers.
Thus, in my opinion the contract system as such has not started working
in full force yet. As long as it does not start working we cannot
expect high results. In any case, I understand that this is directly
connected with attractiveness and prestige of military service and
competitiveness of the military profession on the labor market. This
is a long process. For contract servicemen it is necessary to create
the necessary conditions not only for service but also for life. One
of the basic ones is granting housing, not a separate apartment but
at least a family hostel. Then men having families will come to the
army and this will serve as a powerful stabilizing factor.
Question: A painful issue is training junior commanders. It seems
that sergeants are trained in the troops normally but the problem
remains. What is the matter?
Belousov: All sergeants will be only contract servicemen.
The Ground Forces alone will need 45,000 sergeants. That is why
implementation of this program will take many years. At any rate,
it is necessary to move on this path. With this proposal the Defense
Minister addressed the President. Other proposals were also worked out
for settlement of the problems of strengthening military discipline,
law and order in the Armed Forces. As we know, the President has
agreed with him. Now everything is at the stage of consideration.
Question: Many exercises were already held this year including
the international ones. In which international exercises will our
servicemen participate by the end of the year?
Belousov: There are very many of them and there is no need to
mention them all. Moreover so that the term of their organization
may be corrected. Among them is Russian-American exercise from
Olrgau series. It will be held in the Moscow Military District on
the territory of the Gorokhovets training range. We will evidently
take part in the exercise in the Baltic Sea named Baltops, which will
be dedicated to interaction of ships of multinational forces. Joint
exercise with units and formations of the Russian Armed Forces will be
held in Armenia. The Northern Fleet will interact with the US Navy in
the Barents Sea. There will be a joint antiterrorist exercise of the
armies of Russia and Uzbekistan. There will also be Russian-French
staff command exercise at the brigade level and exercise of special
units of Russian Airborne Forces and American commandos.

FROZEN CONFLICTS IN THE TERRITORY OF THE CIS CEASE BEING INTERNAL
Svetlana Gamova
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, September 08, 2006, p. 6
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 11, 2006 Monday
Guam Appeals To UN;
Guam Requests Un To Discuss The “Drawn Out Conflicts” In Moldova,
Georgia And Azerbaijan Again; unregulated conflicts in post-Soviet
space may receive a new status if they are discussed at the next
session of the General Assembly of the UN to be held at the end
of September.
Unregulated conflicts in post-Soviet space may receive a new status
if they are discussed at the next session of the General Assembly of
the UN to be held at the end of September. Four GUAM member states
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) sent a relevant request
to the headquarters of the UN. The letter sent to New York says that
“the drawn out conflicts in GUAM space, namely in Moldova, Georgia
and Azerbaijan, have been impacting life of more than 16 million
people for more than 15 years and for more than 15 years have
been endangering international peace and security and threatening
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the three member states
of UN.” In their letter GUAM member states said that international
mediation in resolving these conflicts did not have any results and
this circumstance forced the countries with unregulated conflicts to
turn to the UN.
This is not the first address of GUAM to the UN. However, last
year a similar request failed to receive support of members of the
General Committee who recommended the General Assembly include these
or those issues into the agenda. This year, opinion of the members
of the committee may be influenced by the recent events in Georgia
and Moldova. Situation grew worse in South Ossetia; a state coup was
prevented in Tbilisi and Georgian authorities connected this directly
with Russia. Moreover, Georgian authorities openly accused Russia
of subversion activity in the territory of another country. Chisinau
has reasons to complain about Russia too. One of the reasons is the
referendum planned by the Trans-Dniester Republic for September 17,
and regarding possible entrance of the republic into Russia. It is
known that this event is supported by Russian politicians. Neither
Moldova nor Georgia needs this intermediary and they try to get rid of
Russian participation in the negotiation process with the separatist
regions. The tribune of UN may play an important role in this aspect.
So far, discussion of only one former hot spot in the CIS was
included in the agenda. This is discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Its formulation does not require comment, “Situation on
occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” This issue was included in
the agenda of the 59th session of UN in autumn of 2004, for the
first time according to the initiative of Azerbaijan. Official Baku
explains that “the goal of this initiative is discussion of the
situation by the UN due to illegal actions that Armenia undertakes
on occupied territories of Azerbaijan including establishment of
illegal settlements, exploitation of natural resources etc.” This
issue remains on the agenda of the autumn session of 2006.
Yerevan did not like the news. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan announced that attraction of the UN to the problem on which
OSCE was working was inappropriate.

PORTERFIELD PUTS FAITH IN ARMENIA
Sunday Express
September 10, 2006 Sunday
Scottish Edition
Behind The Dugout
FAR-TRAVELLED former Aberdeen manager Ian Porterfield is optimistic
he can turn Armenia into a football force.
The globe-trotting ex-Chelsea boss took charge of the former Soviet
state for the first time last week, losing 1-0 to Belgium.
Porterfield, below, has managed in Scotland, England, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Oman, Trinidad and Tobago and South Korea. And he’s relishing his
latest adventure in Armenia.
He said: “I had a couple of offers after I left Busan Icons in South
Korea, but the Armenia job intrigued me.
“There is a lot of potential out here and we will see what we can do.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge here.”