BENEDICT’S EGG
By: Roderick T. Beaman
Ether Zone, IL
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The Truth Doesn’t Make Them Free
Pope Benedict XVI’s quote of a medieval ruler who stated that Muhammad
and Islam had brought “evil and inhuman” things to the world has
raised rankles throughout the Islamic world.
Islamic believers are so horrified at it that they are burning churches
and shot one 60 year-old Italian nun in the back.
I have read only excerpts from the words of The Prophet Muhammad and
Islamic scripture and although those excerpts may have been carefully
selected to prove a writer’s viewpoint there is little doubt that
there is a far higher incidence of exhortations to violent vengeance
threaded throughout Islamic scripture than in Christian scripture.
I know of only two references to violence in the New Testament. In
one, Jesus states that he does not wish to bring peace but discord
between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters-in-law, etc. He knew
his message It’s been explained as the disagreement that his message
would engender. The second is where Paul states that if the arm is the
problem, cut it off and if the eye is, gouge it out. Neither concerns
retribution against nonbelievers. They are far fewer than the many
that I have read from The Qur’an and other Muslim sacred scriptures.
It is especially telling to examine the methods of conversion to
Christianity vs. Islam. The term Dar-al-Islam means an area where
Islam has triumphed, Dar-al-Harb refers to areas in the midst of
conquest and Dar-al-Suhl means areas yet to be conquered. This
should not bring comfort to nonbelieiver, infidels as they call
them. Dar-al-Salam refers also to the government, not necessarily
that all within are Muslim.
Christianity was expanded through persuasion. To achieve Dar-al-Islam,
it is not necessary that all within become Muslims. Rather, the entire
government and society are according to Islamic scripture. Often,
infidels are accorded secondary citizenship and have no choice but
to live according to Islamic law, under which conversions to other
religions are capital crimes! It’s like what’s ours is ours; what’s
yours is negotiable.
Muslims claim that ‘Islam’, means peace, however others translate it
as submission, authoritarian flavored. What happens if one doesn’t
submit? History suggests the sword is the alternative.
Most of what today is Islamic, was once Christian, primarily
Catholic. Christianity originally dominated most of the Mideast and
North Africa. The apostles went to Europe through Rome, and from
Judea across northern Africa and north into what is today Asia Minor
and Armenia. St. Thomas brought Christianity east into Iraq, Iran,
Afghanistan and even India. In 1498, Portuguese explorers found
Christians on the west coast of today’s India who traced their
conversion to St. Thomas.
St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, today’s Annaba, Algeria, is one of
the most important theologians in western history. His book, The City
of God, was fundamental to the development of Christian theology and
is cited by Catholic and Calvinist authorities.
Indeed, it would be nigh impossible to be able to speak with any
authority on Christianity without a thorough understanding of that
epochal book.
Today, The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria is Islamic and
has fewer than 60,000 Christians out of a population of nearly
28,000,000. Most are likely descendants of French, Spanish, Maltese
and other Christians who fled after independence from France in
1962. It is highly unlikely that they are descendants of original
Christians who resisted conversion under the Berbers. Christianity
was the dominant faith before Muhammad.
I was taught in Catholic grammar school that most of the conversions
from Christianity were under threat of violence. As biased as those
teachings may have been, history supports that conclusion. Muslim
hordes swept east, west and northwest threatening to overrun all of
Europe. They were stopped only in the Balkans and in Southern France
in 732, by Charles Martel. The Mediterranean was in danger of becoming
an Islamic lake, as it had once been Roman. That threat was one of the
reasons that Pope Urban II called for the Crusades to drive back the
Muslim hordes. The onslaught of those hordes was part of the reason
for the Crusades. Christianity’s very survival was at stake.
Another reason was to make The Holy Land safe for Christian pilgrims
who were being harassed and killed.
A muslim caliph had ordered the destruction of The Church of The
Holy Sepulchre in The Holy Land and a hospice for Christian pilgrims
looted. It would be analogous for a Christian ruler to destroy The
Great Mosque in Mecca and deny Muslims access to Mecca and Medina.
It took several hundred years to drive the Moors out of Iberia. Islam
left its imprint on Spanish and Portuguese art, architecture, music
and even language.
Fatima is an arabic word. Later, Islam attempted another conquest
only to be stopped at Vienna in the seventeenth century.
During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, American Christian military
personnel could not have services if stationed in Arabia. Then there
was the fatwa placed upon Salman Rushdie for his satire of Muhammad.
Islamic tolerance and peace?
Personally, I believe that Islam is a false religion of a false prophet
and Muhammad may even be the false prophet that the scriptures warned
against. Islam is an entire social prescription, unlike Christianity
and far more than even the most extreme Jewish sects such as the
Hassids.
I have known several Muslims over the years. Most seem like decent,
peace-loving people. Some have not. But nevertheless, it is a religion
with a constant thread that advocates violence to further its ends.
It is a religion that emphasizes the possibilities of great rewards and
pleasures in the afterlife for martyrdom. With 1.5 billion adherents,
all its leaders need is to convince a very small fraction of them for a
series of horrors to be unleashed on the world. With the acceleration
of violence in recent years, exemplified by 9/11, there is a very
strong possibility that this is the beginning of a third attempt to
bring the world into Dar-al-Islam.
The Pope has not apologized for his remarks, nor should he. He was
quoting someone else. The truth remains as the truth but this may
unleash more than anyone has thought possible as often as has happened
throughout history. This despite The Vatican having been critical of
the war in Iraq. Gratitude may not count for much in Islam.
The assaults this time around, however, will not be simply from without
but compounded by the millions of Muslims who will undoubtedly be
sources for fifth columns throughout Western Europe. Germany, Italy
and France all have substantial Muslim minorities, as does America,
and in many cases they are poor and uneducated, the most vulnerable
to all extremism, especially religious. It is further compounded
by demographics.
The fertility rate of native Germans is currently below replacement
level and Italy’s is not much better. Immigrant populations throughout
Europe, just as in the United States, have some reproductive rates
far higher than natives, partly due to generous subsidies. The specter
of Muslim majorities in many formerly Christian countries is very real.
Hold onto your hats. This could be a very rough ride, compounded by
the coming economic collapses in the West.
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with
this notice and hyperlink intact.”

FEATURE: SOUTH AMERICAN HIGHS, LOWS
Lucy Craymer
Hawke’s Bay Today, New Zealand
Tue, 19 Sep. 2006
The Cooper family – Garth Cooper, who grew up in Havelock North, wife
Sandra, six-year-old Nadine and five-year-old Frank – are 9 1/2months
into their holiday of a lifetime and they still have a way to go.
The Coopers are travelling through North and South America on Yamaha
XT600 and XT250 trail bikes. By the end of their ultra long-distance
road trip they will have visited 28 countries.
When Hawke’s Bay Today last caught up with them the family had
travelled through North Argentina and Brazil.
Garth said they had got back on the road after a good rest in Manaus,
Brazil, on the Amazon River – after team hair cuts and five hours
washing red clay off their clothes.
“We headed north towards Boa Visa through reserve Indigena Waimairi,
where you were not allowed to stop or take photos.
“It turned out a few years ago the Brazilian military and indigenous
people had a disagreement, which resulted in a shootout – 250-odd
Indians killed and 100-odd police. We didn’t stop or take photos.
“We did see a lot of toucans and macaws flying overhead in this
lush forest. Sandra’s bike left a trail of oil along the wet road –
an oil seal had come loose so it was easily fixed.
“Boa Vista was our last town in Brazil before crossing into Venezuela.”
Garth said it was easy to exit Brazil but going through Venezuelan
immigration was not so easy.
He said because they were locked in an office at lunchtime the kids had
started screaming and yelling, upsetting the immigration official,
who decided not to delay things and let them through as quickly
as possible.
In Venezuela they needed gas and although the petrol was cheap at
only four cents a litre but the queues were 500 metres long, he said.
“We couldn’t fill up our spare cans with petrol because it’s illegal
in Venezuela,” he said. “Sandra’s bike didn’t have enough range to
make the next station so I had to run petrol into my half-litre cooker
bottle, filling her tank half a litre at a time.”
Garth had problems seeing the point of it all, especially as Sandra’s
bike only holds seven litres, so they weren’t going to sell the extra
gas on the black market.
It was to be the first of many frustrations for the Coopers in
Venezuela as they felt everyone they met tried to short-change them
or make up a price.
“You couldn’t buy food, drink, oil or anything without being ripped
off,” he said.
“We found the place very dirty – there was rubbish all along the
roadsides, the beaches were covered in rubbish and even when we paid
to go to private beaches they were filthy.
“In the mountains, in the west of Venezuela, Sandra managed to run
over a stray dog which ran out in front of her. If that wasn’t bad
enough, 20 minutes later while Sandra was passing a car the driver
of the vehicle swerved across into her lane. He hit the luggage and
handle bars and pushed Sandra off the road. She almost crashed but
was able to regain control and come back onto the road.
“When we stopped in the next town, the car driver who had tried to
drive Sandra off the road caught up – he wanted money for the dent
in his door and a new wing mirror.”
Garth said he told the man they would not be paying because it was
his fault and the man let the matter drop.
Garth said although they did meet a couple of nice people Venezuela,
was the biggest disappointment of the trip and they were glad to
leave with all their property intact. Colombia, however, proved a
surprise – packed with interesting tourist sights and experiences,
along with really friendly people.
“The border crossing into Colombia turned into a nightmare,” he said.
“Immigration was finished within a minute but the bikes took eight
hours in very hot conditions, with very hot and grumpy kids to be
processed through customs.”
The police and customs officers fed and gave them drinks. Garth said
the customs officers’ job would have been on the line if they had
acted without authority.
“We did finally convince the person in charge, who was on the phone,
to let their officer fill in our customs document so we could leave.”
The following day the Coopers were looking at a map in Cucuta on the
roadside when a family in a car stopped to help. They ended up going
back to the family’s house for the night and cruising the town in a
’50s Chevrolet truck.
The city was modern, with every convenience on hand.
>>From Cucuta, the Coopers headed south toward the capital, Bogota,
passing through many beautiful colonial towns in the high Andes
mountains.
He said they saw many farmers working the fields by hand or with the
assistance of oxen.
“Mules in big trains carried loads of sugar cane down to the sugar
mills kilometres away,” Garth said. In Colombia, they still used
traditional methods in a modern environment and it had been great to
see both working side by side.
The Coopers encountered many heavily armed military checkpoints on
the road but found the soldiers pleasant.
“Our route south took us through the towns of Chinocarta, Bucaramanga,
San Gill, Satamarchan to Zipaquira, which is famous for its underground
salt cathedral, which is 180 metres underground,” he said.
“It was a great sight and, once again one, of the guides put us up
in his family home for the night.”
Garth said the home had a big courtyard surrounded by all the rooms.
Bogota proved a big, bustling city, which was in the process of
being modernised.
It had an amazing bus system running down the middle of the
roadways. It was the rainy season in Bogota, water half-a-metre deep
was running swiftly down the streets, and cars were being spun around
from the current.
Garth said he was thankful they had left their bikes at the Yamaha
shop and caught a taxi to their hotel.
“We visited the old town and gold museum, which was wonderful, even
though there was heavy rain. We left Bogota after a TV interview for
a motorcycle programme.”
The television crew were amazed that the Coopers were planning to
travel from one end of South America to the top of Alaska with a five
and six-year-old.
“We still find it hard to believe ourselves,” Garth admitted.
“From Bogota, we headed south through Guamo, Espaina, Ibague, crossing
the high Andes mountains to Armenia.
“The trip over the mountains was amazing, as far as the scenery
went. We were in the clouds or above them on several occasions.”
The military presence was greater in the mountains because it is from
there that the guerilla army and paramilitary operate.
Garth said the military were in light armoured vehicles and had
sophisticated weapons.
“We passed through loads of coffee plantations and longed to sample
some of the famous product,” he said.
“There were also many sugar plantations along the way down to Cali.”
As the Coopers travelled through Cali, another TV channel filmed them
from inside a moving vehicle as they rode through town.
“It was a hoot as the camera man jumped out at the traffic lights to
get a better angle, filming us before we had an interview on the road
side,” Garth said.

ELBRUS SPEED RACE RESULTS ARE IN: DENIS URUBKO WINNER AT 3 HOURS 55 MIN!
Mounteverest, NY
08:07 pm EST Sep 18, 2006
It’s no chance that Denis Urubko has climbed 10, 8000ers without O2
including new routes on BP and Manaslu. Four days back Urubko proved
his skill. Image courtesy of RussianClimb.com
Luck can create success but not excellence. Repeated success is not
a sign of repeated luck – but of mastery.
It’s no chance that Denis Urubko has climbed 10, 8000ers without O2
including new routes on BP and Manaslu. Four days back Urubko proved
his skill again – this time on Elbrus: Denis not only won the extreme
class (Azau 2400 m – Elbrus West Top 5642 m) 2006 race, but at 3 hours
55 and minutes he also beat the 2005 record (4 hours and 10 minutes).
Fastest Snow Leopard wins Classic race, Space engineer climbs 2000
meters under 5 hours
In the classic race (Garabashi, 3708 m – Elbrus West top 5642 m),
Andrey Puchinin won at 2:46:09. No wonder perhaps:
Hoping to become the first speed Snow Leopard in one season, Andrey
Puchinin started his quest on Peak Lenin July 16, topping out the
next day at 2 pm.
August 7, he did Korzhenevskaya peak BC to summit in 8 hrs and 50
minutes. One week later, on August 14, Puchinin did Peak Communism
BC to summit in about 18 hrs. Next came a peak Korjenevskoy (7105 m)
round trip in only 14 hours and then Andrey Puchinin set out from BC
and summited Khan Tengri shortly after lunch. After Pobeda Puchinin
ran straight for Elbrus – and up in less than 3 hours…
Among other favorites: Just back from his no O2/no sherpas Everest
attempt, Gagarin’s former space engineer and 7-time Snow Leopard
Boris Korshunov 71 finished the classic race at just under 5 hours
(4:58:10)! Perhaps he even made it back for the Soyuz rocket launch
carrying Anousheh Ansari – which took off from Kazakhstan today!
Lena from RussianClimb reports that the race was very interesting
and promises a story soon. Meanwhile, check out all the results at
RussianClimb.com
Denis Urubko (Almaty) is one of the strongest high mountaineers in
Kazakhstan. He has climbed 10, 8000ers without O2 including a new
route on BP in alpine style in 2005 (nominated for Golden Ice Axe)
and a new route on Manaslu in 2006. Denis has won several speed
climbing competitions including the Khan Tengri (7010 m) speed race
in 2000 (7 hours 40 minutes to summit and 12 hours 21 minutes for
the entire climb).
Mount Elbrus (5642 m), located in northern Caucasus (Russia) is the
highest peak in the European continent. These days, Elbrus biggest
fame comes from being one of the ‘Seven Summits’.
Elbrus belongs to the Caucasus (or “Kavkaz” meaning ‘more than
mountains’), mountain range. This mighty range links the Caspian
Sea to the Black Sea, and creates the natural boundary between the
mountains of Russia and the southern states of Azerbaydzhani, Georgia
and Armenia. Mt. Elbrus, the pinnacle of this 700-mile stretch,
has long been a distinguished climbing center for the European and
Russian climbing communities. Elbrus can easily be seen from most
of the high passes in the area and is a traditional climb for those
looking to ascend above 18,500ft.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM: “THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS ‘SMURFS’ BOXER”
EastsideBoxing.com
18 Sept 2006
18.09.06 – IBF middleweight world champion Arthur Abraham has been
dealing with countless issues just days before his mandatory defense
against Edison Miranda, the Columbian knockout artist at the Rittal
arena in Wetzlar, Germany (10:20 PM, live in Germany at “das Erste”
– ARD). First of all, Abraham received his German passport at the
district office in Berlin-Charlottenburg. However, the passport
contained his Armenian name “Avetik Abraham,” not his stage name
“Arthur Abraham,” a name that he uses for boxing..
After much wrangling, Abraham was allowed to use his stage name for
his passport. However, he was no longer allowed to use the moniker
“Smurf’s boxer,” a nickname that has made Abraham widely known in
Germany, a country where the cartoon “The Smurfs” is still wildly
popular. In addition, Abraham can no longer use the Smurf’s hat or use
the song as his walk in music before fights, as both are protected by
copy rights by the “Studio Peyo S.A., which holds the rights and use
for the Smurf’s figure,” Sauerland’s managing director Chris Meyer
has learned.
“For that reason, Arthur Abraham, will now be competing under the
stage name “The artist formally known as ‘Smurf’s boxer,’ following in
the example of the singer ‘Prince.’ All of Abraham’s photos with him
wearing the Smurf hat, had to be deleted at the Sauerland’s website
boxen.com. “It’s a great pity, Abraham said later. “Back then,
when my Manager, Mr. Sauerland, had the idea about the Smurf’s,
I was sceptical, too. But, in the meantime, the Smurf’s brought me
so much luck, and the fans liked that, too.”
Besides Abraham’s powerful punching style, his walking in before fights
wearing the Smurf’s hat, while Father Abraham sang the Smurf’s song,
has been Abraham’s trademark. Now things will be slightly different,
as “Arthur has thought up something really special,” Manager Wilfried
Sauerland reveals. “He’s a world champion; he’s undefeated, and has
the Middleweight’s hardest punch worldwide. Plus, he’s the king of
his weight class; He’s King Arthur!”
“King Arthur” is going to be making his first appearance with his new
King’s outfit when he fights challenger Edison Miranda on Saturday
night in Germany. Certainly, Miranda will understand this message
better than the funny Smurf’s cap.

TURKISH PARLIAMENT MEETING EARLY TO WORK ON EU REFORMS
Joshua Pantesco at 8:12 AM ET
JURIST
Monday, September 18, 2006
[JURIST] The Turkish parliament, the Grand National Assembly [official
website], is scheduled to meet Tuesday, two weeks earlier than usual,
to work on passing reform measures aimed at gaining membership to the
European Union [JURIST news archive]. The EU has cautioned [JURIST
report] Turkey that its EU bid [EU backgrounder] will not be accepted
unless the country improves its record on torture and other human
rights violations, including the restriction of freedom of expression.
EU lawmakers especially oppose Article 301 of the Turkish Penal
Code [Amnesty backgrounder], which makes it a crime to insult
Turkish identity. One Turkish lawmaker said that Article 301, which
has been used to prosecute writers Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk for
discussing the alleged Armenian genocide, will be revised to rebut EU
criticism. Earlier this month, the EU Parliament said Turkey has been
slow to deliver promised legal reforms [JURIST report], including
“persistent shortcomings in areas such as freedom of expression,
religious and minority rights, the role of the military, policing,
women’s rights, trade union rights and cultural rights.”

GUAM LAW-ENFORCEMENT AND SPECIAL SERVICE EXPERTS GATHER IN BAKU TO DISCUSS COMBAT AGAINST TERRORISM
AzerTag,
[September 18, 2006, 22:19:58]
In compliance with annual plan of the GUAM Working Group on combat
against terrorism, drug trafficking and other kinds of dangerous
threats of organized crimes, the first meeting of the law-enforcement
and special service experts passed in Baku to discuss combat against
terrorism, 15-16 September. The Ministry of National Security of
Azerbaijan and Euro-Atlantic Consultative Group have organized the
meeting.
In meeting, participating were high-rank representatives of the
law-enforcement and special service bodies form Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova, as well as Euro-Atlantic Consultative Group
and representative of the US Embassy in Baku.
Participants of the action stressed necessity of preventive measures to
reveal plans and intentions of the terror organizations, their finance
channels, exchange of data and experience in combat against terrorism.
The Azerbaijani side informed on the Armenian aggression, uncontrolled
areas and their sequences, the existent threats against safety of the
transport ands energy infrastructure in region and measures undertaken
to prevent them.
In meeting, also was speaking the project manager of Euro-Atlantic
Consultative Group, general Alexander Farkas.
Participants have signed a protocol on results of the meeting.

TELECOM FIRMS BATTLE OVER TERRITORY IN NEIGHBOR STATES
By Maria Levitov – Staff Writer
St Petersburg Times
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
MOSCOW – Telecoms firms are vying with each other for market share in
neighboring countries as the domestic mobile market reaches saturation
point.No. 2 mobile operator VimpelCom plans to cover the entire
Commonwealth of Independent States within two years, while market
leader MobileTeleSystems is considering a bid for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s
telecoms company, Telekom Srpske. MegaFon, the top-three firm with
the smallest geographical reach, is also considering expansion.
The need to outbid foreign mobile giants is a big hurdle for
acquisitions abroad, but the country’s top mobile firms must find
new markets to grow, analysts said.
“I think that within two years, all the CIS countries will be
involved,” VimpelCom CEO Alexander Izosimov said Friday at an investor
conference organized by UBS.
VimpelCom and MTS have already expanded into less-developed mobile
markets, as mobile-service penetration reached 100 percent in Russia
last month, according to AC&M consultancy’s latest estimates.
Through subsidiaries, VimpelCom is present in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Georgia, while MTS has is in Ukraine,
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.
“Future competition will require us to be bigger,” MTS CEO Leonid
Melamed told the conference.
The rate of profit growth in Russia is slowing for each of the
three largest mobile operators, according to research firm J’Son
and Partners.
MegaFon, which operates in Russia and Tajikistan, has “no set targets
for acquisition,” but is eyeing Armenia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and
other countries for expansion, the company’s acting CFO, Raymond Ho,
said on the sidelines of Friday’s conference.
MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon all have spare cash for acquisitions,
but finding attractive CIS assets is increasingly difficult, said
Yelena Bazhenova, telecoms analyst at MDM Bank.

US ISSUES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT ON CYPRUS
Financial Mirror, Cyprus
18/09/2006
US State Department issued on Friday its annual international religious
report, noting that Cyprus’ constitution provides for freedom of
religion, which is “generally respected” by the Cypriot government.
According to the report, the Government at all levels sought to
protect the freedom of religion “in full and did not tolerate its
abuse, either by governmental or private actors.”
The State Department’s report, presented to the US Congress, also
refers to northern part of Cyprus, occupied since the 1974 Turkish
invasion, as “area administered by the Turkish Cypriots,” reiterating
however that the US “does not recognize” the occupying regime, nor
does any other country except Turkey.
The report says that the occupying regime “provides for freedom of
religion and Turkish Cypriot authorities generally respected this
right in practice,” adding that “the politically divisive environment
of Cyprus, however, engendered some restrictions on religious freedom,
particularly for Greek Cypriots and Maronites.”
On the government-controlled areas, the report says that 96 percent
of the population belongs to Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, while
estimated 0.7 percent of the remaining population was Maronite,
slightly less than 0.4 percent was Armenian Orthodox, 0.1 percent
was Latin (Roman Catholic), and 3.2 percent belonged to other groups.
“The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom,” the report says, adding that in
July 2005 the first Buddhist temple in Cyprus opened in Nicosia. In
September, Cyprus’s first new synagogue in at least twenty years
opened in Larnaca.
As far as the restrictions on religious freedom is concerned, the
report recalls since 2003, when restrictions of movement were relaxed,
“Greek Cypriots have reported relatively easy access to Apostolos
Andreas Monastery and other religious sites in the area administered
by Turkish Cypriots.”
“Likewise, Turkish Cypriots enjoyed relatively easy access to religious
sites, including Hala Sultan Tekke in the Government-controlled area,”
the report says.
The report also refers to the request submitted by the government for
an additional Church of Cyprus priest be assigned to minister to the
Greek Cypriots living in the Karpas region “of the area administered
by Turkish Cypriots.”
“Turkish Cypriot authorities agreed in principle to this request,
but the first proposed individual could not go for personal reasons,”
the report says, adding that “Turkish Cypriot authorities objected to
the second individual who was proposed, claiming he disliked Turkish
Cypriots and had made inappropriate statements about their community.”
“Turkish Cypriot authorities asked that the Government nominate a
different priest. At the end of the reporting period, the position
remained open and the Government had not nominated a new priest,”
the report adds.

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CONGRATULATES ARMENIA ON INDEPENDENCE DAY
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.09.2006 12:32 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has sent
a congratulatory message on the 15th anniversary of declaration of
Armenia’s independence. The letter specifically says, “I am sending
my warm regards to those, who mark the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s
independence. It is always important that people enjoy their legacy
together and I have the honor of sharing the celebration of the 15th
anniversary of Armenia’s independence with the Armenian community
of America.
You enrich our country and especially our state by diligent labor,
commitment to duty and preserving cultural traditions. I thank you
all for your activities on behalf of the State of California.
Honoring our ancestors, we start to understand ourselves better. Allow
me to congratulate you on this important holiday and wish success of
behalf of all people of California,” Schwarzenegger’s message says,
reports the Administration of California Governor.

KARABAKH TALKS CALLED “NONSENSE” IN BAKU
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.09.2006 12:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “There are no real negotiations over settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict but there is only an appearance,”
Azeri political scientist Zardusht Alizadeh stated. “None of the
parties wants to retract their positions. There is no real ground
for a compromise. Official Yerevan claims independence of Nagorno
Karabakh and its unification with Armenia.
Azerbaijan says it will never agree to give even part of its land
to Armenia. Outside these principles, there is no serious search
for a trade-off and appeal to public and international laws in the
negotiating process. Taking surface political interests, both the
parties to the conflict and the co-chairs are trying to find a solution
option in interests of the parties will become closer. However,
the interests do not become closer.
The parties make public that they will not make any trade-off. U.S
co-chair Matthew Bryza sated this. He said the parties do not seem
to withdraw from the core principles they insist on. But, one of the
parties need to withdraw from core principles in order to reach an
agreement,” the political scientist underlined.
Alizadeh also said “there are some strong forces, who are making
efforts for freezing and delaying the conflict.” The political expert
said the resolution of the conflict has reached a deadlock and the
negotiations are held only for appearance. Political scientist Vafa
Guluzadeh called the processes for the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict “nonsense”, reports APA.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress