Sunday, September 03, 2006
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In Voltaire’s play MAHOMET OU LE FANATISME, the Prophet says, “Whoever dares to think for himself is not born to believe in me. Silent obedience shall be your only path to glory.” One of Voltaire’s many biographers points out that MAHOMET is not a Christian’s attack on a false religion, but an attack on all organized religions, which “are an imposture in the service of political oppression.” See Roger Pearson, VOLTAIRE ALMIGHTY: A LIFE IN PURSUIT OF FREEDOM (New York, 2005).
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Napoleon didn’t like men who could think for themselves either. He once said, “A man with an idea is my enemy.”
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Most of my so-called critics attack not my ideas but my freedom to express them, that is, my fundamental human right of free speech. But like all born and bred fascists, they are not aware of this.
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Nothing enhances wisdom or the appearance of it than silence. But fools being fools are driven by an inner compulsion to confess who and what they are.
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I am not afraid of being wrong. Why should I be? Am I not human? I leave infallibility to imams, commissars, and my critics. What I am afraid of is turning into a fool. Because, according to Nietzsche, that’s what happens to people who make it their business to deal with fools.
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I have been a source of disappointment to many people, beginning with myself. If I knew how to pray I would go down on my knees and say, “O Lord, give me the strength to say ‘A plague on all your houses!’ and fall silent.”
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Samuel Beckett once said that his ambition in life was “to sit on my ass and do nothing but fart.” A line and an ambition worthy of a Zen master.
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Monday, September 04, 2006
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Since everything is connected with everything else, no one is equipped to know and understand everything about anything. Only god (if he exists) may know and understand everything. We miserable mortals are condemned to know and understand only a fraction of reality.
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All conflicts and disagreements are results of partial understanding and knowledge. Religions are popular because to believe in god means to follow the guidance of one who knows everything and is never wrong. But since “of the gods we know nothing” (Socrates), all assertions made in the name of god are based on total ignorance.
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Perhaps the most useful kind of knowledge is that which reveals to us the depths and breadth of our ignorance.
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Voltaire and Tolstoy saw no merit in Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky loathed Brahms, and Nabokov didn’t much care about “Faulknermann” and “Tolstoevsky.” Great men are poor judges of other great men. So are gods of other gods. And when gods disagree, massacre is sure to follow. Hence the dictum: “Since it was a religious war, there were no survivors” (Voltaire).
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A wise man once said, “I am willing to worship a man who is searching for the truth, but I would gladly kill him if he said he found it.”
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
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Speaking of the mindset of drunk drivers caught on the scene of an accident, a policeman is quoted as having said in today’s paper, they begin with a “sense of invincibility” and end by trying to “blame it on somebody else.” Overconfidence followed by the blame game: it explains so much about human nature, or life as we experience it, reality as we perceive it, and history as we write it.
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You want to learn from history? Examine your own heart.
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There are those who see nothing questionable in being subservient to an imbecile with more money. There are others who find the prospect unspeakably degrading and unbearably repellent.
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Unmasking a lie does not necessarily mean the destruction of the lie. That’s because what motivates most men is not love of truth but loyalty to self-interest. Where self-interest enters, black lies and white truths turn into shades of gray.
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The crimes of capitalism are many – no doubt about that. But so are the crimes of Christianity, Islam, and Communism. Where power enters, abuse of power is sure to follow.
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006
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Armenian literature is a riskier racket than the mafia, and the only way the survive it is by dying young. Organized crime has two enemies: the police and rival families. Armenian literature has many more, among them tuberculosis (in the 19th century), Talaat and Stalin (in the 20th), and (in the 21st) censorship, audience apathy on the part of the majority, verbal abuse on the part of a faceless and anonymous minority, and last but far from least, the doubletalk of bosses, bishops, and benefactors, and their flunkies, who publicly deliver speeches in support of literature but the moment the sun sets they get their shovels out and start digging.
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I remember one of our bosses once delivering a speech in which he said, “Writers and poets have more influence in shaping the minds and souls of people than anyone else in the community.” Stalin once delivered a similar speech in which he called writers “engineers of the soul.” What happened next we know.
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I remember another one of our bosses saying in another speech, “My fondest ambition is to retire on a distant island and spend the rest of my life in solitude reading…” That one committed suicide, some say he was assassinated by members of a rival family.
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IN CASE OF FAILURE OF THE PEACE TALKS BAKU WILL SEARCH FOR OTHER WAYS OF CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
ArmRadio.am
05.09.2006 15:19
Azerbaijan is not willing to restart the war against
Armenia. Nevertheless, in case of failure of the talks on the peaceful
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, it will have to discuss other ways
of “resolving the issue of occupation of Azerbaijani territories,”
said Ramiz Mehtiev, Head of Staff of the Office to the President of
Azerbaijan, Day. Az reports.
Mehtiev noted also that Azerbaijan continues undertaking consistent
measures for the reinforcement of the militant capacity of the
armed forces, and one of the steps in this direction was the recent
establishment of the Ministry of Military Industry.
“Creation of the Ministry was necessary in the light of the fact that
20 percent of the country’s area is occupied,” Mehtiev said.

US GOVERNMENT COMPLETES $30,000 OF RENOVATIONS TO THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL CINEMATHEQUE
ArmRadio.am
05.09.2006 15:42
The US Embassy announces the completion of $30,000 worth of renovations
to the National Cinematheque of Armenia. This project has allowed
the Cinematheque to create a climate-controlled space to preserve
its collection of over 270,000 Armenian films, audio recordings,
and photos. The Cinematheque is the only existing collection of
Armenia’s film heritage, and houses the first Armenian silent film,
rare musical recordings, and historically significant Armenian photos.
The US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, through which
the US Government provided the funding, works worldwide to assist
countries in preserving museum collections, ancient and historic
sites and traditional forms of expression. This program strives to
help preserve the cultural heritage of countries throughout the world
by providing small grants to support heritage preservation. Since
its creation in 2001, this program has supported almost 300 projects
worldwide, totaling $6.7 million.

AZERI MEDIA DISTORTED ISRAELI MP WORDS ON KARABAKH
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 12:59 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Words I said over the Nagorno Karabakh issue
during my visit to Baku in May were distorted,” Knesset MP Yosef
Shagal said. In his words, he never stated the position of his country
over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. “Israel will express its attitude
to the NK conflict after Azerbaijan announces its position over the
Israeli-Palestinian confrontation,” Shagal said, reports APA.

BBC HELPS LAUNCH COMMUNITY RADIO STATIONS IN GEORGIA
BBC World Service press release, London
4 Sep 06
Members of two minority ethnic groups in Georgia will have a new
voice for their news and views with the launch of two new community
radio stations.
They are being set up by the BBC World Service Trust as part of the
Making Waves project to promote the rights of Armenian and Azeri
minorities living in the enclaves of Javakheti and Kvemo-Kartli.
With a radio station in each region, local people will be able to voice
their opinions, receive key information and play an active role in the
democratic process. The stations will improve coverage of cultural,
ethnic and religious issues.
Experienced broadcasters from the BBC are working alongside local
journalists and volunteers to develop their broadcasting and management
skills.
Simon Derry, Media Development Director of the BBC World Service
Trust, described the project: “We want to demonstrate the role the
media can and should play in building bridges between communities.
“Training is critical to the success of the project. We will train
at least 120 journalists and media managers in diversity reporting
and provide media skills workshops for non-governmental organization
(NGO) workers active in Georgia.
“We hope this will help to shatter existing stereotypes, improve
communications between the media and NGOs and help the Georgian media
to connect with minority groups.”
The first round of journalism training for community members in both
regions is already completed; the location for one of the broadcasting
stations has been identified and the project was officially launched
in July.
At the launch event in Tbilisi, Making Waves was warmly welcomed by
representatives of the republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
[Passage omitted]
Making Waves is funded by the European Initiative for Democracy and
Human Rights (EIDHR), a European Union programme that aims to promote
and support human rights and democracy in third world countries, with
support from the British Embassy in Georgia and the UK Government’s
Global Conflict Prevention Pool.
Project partners assisting with implementation are Studio Re (Georgia)
and IREX Europe.

OFFICIAL BAKU “SURPRISED” AT OSKANIAN STATEMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 13:45 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Statements of Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian regarding
the terms of Yerevan’s further participation in the Nagorno Karabakh
peace talks cause at least “surprise of official Baku,” stated Head of
the Information Department of the Azeri MFA Tahir Tagizadeh. “There
is an impression as if the Armenian FM has completely forgotten that
Armenia has assumed commitments over settlement of the conflict to a
number of international organizations, including the UN, OSCE and CE,”
Tagizadeh said.
“If Oskanian considers possible making statements like that,
stipulating that Armenia’s further participation in the talks with
additional moments, then Azerbaijan has sovereign right to raise
the issue of Armenia failing to meet its commitments before any
international organizations,” the Azeri diplomat said.
We note that the Armenian FM stated Monday that the opportunity to
hold the recurrent round of talks between Armenian and Azeri FMs
depends on the position of the Azeri party in the discussion of the
Karabakh conflict in the UN, reports Interfax-Azerbaijan.

TURKISH ENVOY SAYS CLAIMS IN SPAIN ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE “UNFORTUNATE”
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
4 Sep 06
Madrid, 4 September: “This is a wrong and unfortunate approach,”
said Turkey’s Ambassador to Spain Volkan Vural when commenting on
the move of two Spanish MPs to bring the so-called Armenian genocide
allegations to the Spanish parliament.
Two MPs from Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) have asked the Spanish
parliament to debate the so-called Armenian genocide allegations,
taking into consideration a letter from the Armenian committee.
In the motion they submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
Spanish parliament last June, ECR MPs Rosa M. Bonas i Pahisa and Joan
Puigcercos i Boixassa asked the parliament to acknowledge the so-called
Armenian genocide saying that “a crime against humanity was committed”.
They also “insist that Turkey should recognize the so-called Armenian
genocide” and “the EU should be a means to close up this matter”.
Necessary initiatives launched
In an exclusive interview with AA [Anatolia] correspondent, Ambassador
Vural said: “After we learned about this motion, we launched
initiatives at the Spanish Foreign Ministry and the parliament. We
sent a letter to the two MPs and the head of the Foreign Affairs
Commission in which we deemed this move as wrong, and we told them
that this will harm Turkish-Spanish relations. And, Turkish Foreign
Ministry has expressed its concerns to the Spanish government.”
Vural thinks that adoption of the motion by the Foreign Affairs
Committee is not likely.
“Even though it is adopted, it is obvious that it won’t have a legal
meaning. Everybody will see how wrong and unfortunate it is to make
historical incidents a tool for politics,” he commented.
Vural said: “ERC MP Rosa Bonas wrote a letter to me, and said that she
does not have any negative feeling for Turkey. She also said that she
has always supported Turkey’s EU membership and believes that Turkey
should become an EU member.”
Ambassador Vural added that he will meet Bonas in the coming days.
On the other hand, Bonas said that they will change some parts of
the motion, adding: “We will take out the article asking Turkey to
recognize the (so-called) Armenian genocide.”

GREEK CYPRUS THREATENS TO VETO TURKEY’S EU BID
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 14:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Greek Cyprus is ready to block the opening and
closing of the EU’s negotiating chapters with Turkey if Ankara doesn’t
open its ports and harbors to Greek Cypriot ships and planes, stated
Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas.
Stressing that the position of the Greek Cypriot administration on the
issue remains firm, Lillikas said, “The policy we’re following is one
that doesn’t allow Turkey’s smooth accession.” Asked about the Finnish
warning to Turkey regarding fulfilling its commitments towards Greek
Cyprus and the Union and the implementation of the Ankara protocol
that extends the Customs Union to the 10 new EU members, including
Greek Cyprus, Lillikas said, “If Turkey continues to maintain the same
stance then there will be relative reactions and a relative stance
on behalf of the Greek Cypriot government,” reports the New Anatolian.
We remind that Turkey has refused to open its ports and harbors for
use by the Greek Cypriots unless the Union ends the isolation of the
Turkish Cypriots.
However, the 25-nation bloc is demanding that Turkey open its ports
to EU member Greek Cyprus by the end of this year. If not, Ankara’s
entry talks, which began last fall, may be suspended.

MEHTIYEV: “BAKU DOES NOT WANT WAR, BUT DOES NOT RULE OUT ITS RESUMPTION”
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 14:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Azerbaijan does not wish resumption of the war
with Armenia, however, in case peace talks on the Nagorno Karabakh
settlement fail it will have to consider other ways to solve the issue
of territories controlled by the NKR Defense Army,” stated head of
Azeri President’s Administration Ramiz Mehtiyev.
The presidential Administration head also noted that Azerbaijan
continues actively taking measures to strengthen national armed forces
military efficiency and one of the steps in this regard is the latest
creation of the Ministry of Armaments Industry, reports Day. az.

GLOBAL GOLD MINING DEPRIVED OF LICENSE FOR WORKS AT ARMENIA AND NAKHICHEVAN BORDER
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2006 14:41 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Ministry of Environment Protection of Armenia
has deprived Global Gold Mining American company of the license for
prospecting at the Marjan lot at the border of Armenia and Nakhichevan,
Armenian Minister for Environment Protection Vardan Ayvazyan stated
on September 5. In his words, the company failing to fulfill its
commitments was the cause of deprivation of the license. “The company
failed to fulfill its commitments at the Marjan lot, thus we deprived
it of the license,” the Minister said.
We note that recently the Global Gold Mining has invested $6.5 billion
in geological prospecting in Armenia. Before the yearend the company
plans to increase the investment volume up to $9.6 billion. In 2004
the company was license for prospecting in Tukhmanuk, Hankavan, Getik
regions (border zone of Armenia and Azerbaijan), as well as at the
Marjan lot at the border of Armenia and Nakhichevan, reports IA Regnum.