MISMATCH OF THE CENTURY
by Justin Burke
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
May 11 2006
As the United States enters a potential Cold War II with Russia,
it has one hand tied behind its back. From EurasiaNet.
It was just about five years ago when President George W. Bush said
he looked into the soul of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin,
and pronounced that their meeting was “the beginning of a very
constructive relationship.” Now, amid sharp geopolitical maneuvering
in the Caucasus and Central Asia, the United States and Russia seem
to be girding for Cold War II. Unlike the epic conflict during the
last half of the 20th century, Washington is poorly positioned to
defeat Russia in a new superpower standoff.
Talk of a revived Cold War followed U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s
blistering attack on Russia in a 4 May speech in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Cheney criticized the Kremlin for carrying out a drastic rollback
of political rights, as well as using its energy infrastructure as
“tools of intimidation or blackmail.”
The bulk of Cheney’s speech in Vilnius focused on the Bush
administration’s global democratization mission. The vice president
used terms that, ironically, seemed to parallel the Marxist belief
in determinism. “We have every reason for confidence in the future
of democracy because the evidence is on our side and because we are
upholding great and enduring values,” Cheney said. He lent a messianic
tone to his comments by adding, “We are created in the image and
likeness of God, and he planted in our hearts a yearning to be free.”
Referring specifically to the former Soviet Union, Cheney indicated
that the United States wants to “free this region from all remaining
lines of division, from violations of human rights, from frozen
conflicts,” including the stalemated Caucasus wars in Nagorno-Karabakh,
Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.”
The vice president attempted to hedge his harsh words about the
Kremlin’s behavior, saying “None of us believe that Russia is fated
to be an enemy.” In Moscow, though, officials and media analysts were
having none of it. The Kremlin termed Cheney’s speech “completely
incomprehensible,” while Russian media outlets fulminated that
Washington was trying to stoke a new Cold War. The Kommersant daily
published a commentary that compared Cheney’s comments to Winston
Churchill’s famed “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946. “The Cold War has
restarted, only now the front lines have shifted,” Kommersant said.
To a great extent, Cheney’s words were merely a public admission of
a trend that has been readily evident for at least two and a half
years. The sharp decline in relations can be traced to the point when
U.S. forces began struggling to contain the insurgency in Iraq. It
has long been clear to anyone who truly follows developments in the
Caucasus and Central Asia that the two countries were antagonists,
not allies. Both sides maintained the increasingly apparent fiction
that they were partners when, in fact, they were competitors for
political and economic influence in those two regions.
Cheney’s comments on Russia are largely accurate: The Putin
administration has indeed restricted individual liberties, and the
Kremlin has certainly used state-controlled energy companies to
increase its geopolitical leverage, especially in Central Asia.
But in picking a fight with Russia, the Bush administration seems to be
making dangerous assumptions about the United States’ current strengths
and weaknesses, while ignoring the old Wall Street caveat that says
“past performance does not ensure future results.” It’s already clear
that a new-style Cold War – if it unfolds, as now seems likely – will
be more economic than political and ideological in nature. And instead
of the struggle focusing on Western and Central Europe, the epicenters
of the new conflict stand to be the Caucasus and Central Asia. Given
these factors, the United States is at a severe disadvantage as it
moves toward the next stage of geopolitical competition with Russia.
For one, Russia has a decided geographic advantage, as its territory
borders the Caucasus and Central Asia. More importantly, as the United
States has become bogged down in Iraq, Russian energy companies have
made deep inroads into the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Moscow even wields extensive influence over the energy infrastructure
of Georgia, the closest U.S. ally in the two regions. In just the
last few months, Moscow also has significantly reinforced its grip on
energy export routes, the key to victory in the geopolitical struggle.
The United States has few mechanisms at its disposal to break the
Russian stranglehold. Any chance of U.S. success seems to be tied to
the fate of two pipelines running through Azerbaijan and Georgia to
Turkey; the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil route that opened in 2005
and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas link that is projected to
open later this year. It appears that for both pipelines to accomplish
their strategic aims, Kazakhstan must opt to ship a large amount of
its abundant natural resources via those two routes.
After making his speech in Vilnius, Cheney flew to Kazakhstan to
lobby President Nursultan Nazarbayev on making a commitment to the
U.S.-backed pipelines. At the same time Cheney was in Astana, Kazakh
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov was on a working visit to Azerbaijan,
where he announced that the Kazakh government was interested in
exporting oil via BTC and exploring the feasibility of also sending
natural gas to Western markets via the Baku-Erzurum route. On the
surface, such statements seem encouraging. But deep down they don’t
have much value. Kazakh officials, including Nazarbayev, have made
similar statements in the past. Akhmetov may have gone further than
any Kazakh official by saying that the country could sign a BTC export
agreement as soon as next month. Still, there is no certainty that
an agreement will in fact be signed in June.
Whether or not that happens, the crucial issue is how much energy
Kazakhstan is willing to export via Azerbaijan. And on this Astana
remains mum. In April, Kazakhstan committed to significantly increasing
its oil exports via Russia. It could well turn out that Kazakhstan
could decide to send only a token amount of its oil and gas via
Azerbaijan – just enough to remain in the Bush administration’s favor,
without tilting the U.S.-Russian energy contest in Washington’s favor.
LOOKING SOUTH
Another U.S. response to Russia’s growing influence in Central Asia
is to try and reorient the region toward South Asia. This intention
was reflected in a recent U.S. State Department reorganization that
created the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. Central Asian
policy had formerly been handled by the State Department’s Europe
and Eurasia bureau. Apparently connected with the State Department
reorganization, U.S. officials in late April advanced a plan to
develop a new electricity grid linking Central and South Asia. The
plan counts on electricity generated in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to
serve as the engine for the development of stronger inter-regional
ties. This vision stands a good chance of short-circuiting, however, as
it does not seem to take into account that Russian companies control a
significant part of Tajikistan’s electricity-generating infrastructure.
In addition, the United States is now vulnerable on an issue that
used to be its strength: ideology. During the original Cold War, the
appeal of democracy enabled the United States to occupy the moral
high ground. In recent years, U.S. credibility on democratization
and human rights issues has been severely damaged by scandals, in
particular the Abu Ghraib prison torture incident in Iraq.
Authoritarian-minded leaders in the Caucasus and Central Asia,
even those on friendly terms with the United States, are now less
inclined than ever to listen to U.S. rhetoric on the need to respect
human rights. For example, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev during
his recent visit to Washington brushed aside criticism over his
administration’s human rights record by invoking Abu Ghraib. “Things
happen everywhere. Does Abu Ghraib mean that the U.S. government is
not democratic?” Aliyev said during a meeting with nongovernmental
organization representatives.
Many policy-makers in the Caucasus and Central Asia also view U.S.
statements concerning democratization with cynicism, believing that
the Bush administration harbors double standards. Cheney during his
recent trip helped stoke such cynicism: Immediately after his Vilnius
speech, he traveled to Kazakhstan, where democratization concerns took
a back seat to energy issues. Nazarbayev’s administration has faced
considerable international criticism in recent years for manipulating
elections and for restricting political freedoms, yet Cheney glossed
over Kazakhstan’s shortcomings. During a short news conference
on 6 May, according to a White House transcript, Cheney expressed
“admiration for all that’s been accomplished here in Kazakhstan in the
last 15 years, both in the economic and political realm.” Earlier,
Cheney held a high-profile meeting with several representatives of
Kazakhstan’s political opposition. But he remained silent when Kazakh
authorities prevented one of the country’s highest-profile opposition
figures, Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, from attending that meeting.
Since March 2005, when Kyrgyzstan experienced its Tulip revolution,
democratization has come to be associated with upheaval by many in
Central Asia. Indeed, Kyrgyzstan has seen a dramatic rise in crime
and corruption since the ouster of former president Askar Akayev.
Russia has been able to capitalize on this by casting itself as a
purveyor of political stability, even if such stability comes at the
cost of political and civil liberties.
During that 6 May news conference, Nazarbayev appeared to tell the
United States, in diplomatic terms, that Kazakhstan is going to go
its own political way, regardless of what the United States thinks.
“We have to get used [to the fact] that every independent state,
while solving its problems, has a certain policy, and everybody should
learn to respect this policy,” Khabar television quoted the Kazakh
president as saying.
Justin Burke is editor of EurasiaNet.

NEVER MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WAITERS
Borders Today, UK
May 11 2006
I was humbled this week by an exchange with a young waiter.
After some pleasantries about nothing in particular, I confessed I
couldn’t place his accent at all. He explained he was from Yerevan
in Armenia, writes Peter Clarke.
My ignorance of Armenia, I admit it, is almost total. I knew it was a
former Soviet Republic and somewhere in the Caucasus. I knew they had
been the subject of Turkish genocide and they have their own Orthodox
Church. That is about it.
My new friend disarmed me with his life story. He holds a PhD in
engineering but has to earn his way as a migrant waiter as his nation’s
economy has shrivelled and stalled. I could see his intelligence behind
his darting eyes and his merriment. He remarked Scots have little
appreciation of how lucky we are. Our complaints about our lives are
petty footnotes compared to the experiences of millions abroad.
He observed that most migrants or immigrants, once they have picked
up our language, love Scotland, or Britain, more than the natives.
This is my feeling too.
I was born in Venice, Italy, with family roots in the badlands of
Belarus. Yet I think I know more and have a deeper affection for
Scotland than most who have never known anything else.
My new friend then disarmed me totally by quoting both Scott’s,
‘The Young Lochinvar’ and Burns ‘My Heart is in the Highlands’,
saying Scottish authors are highly regarded in the mountains of
Armenia. How many Borderers could quote these poems without flaw? I
felt thoroughly diminished.
The accession of the former Warsaw Pact nations to the European
Union three years ago, with Bulgaria, Romania and possibly the former
Yugoslav nations joining the EU next year, soon all the more humble
jobs will be filled by these brave migrating people. As far as I
can learn most want to return home as soon as they have accumulated
some funds.
This seems to me a genuinely new and largely unmapped phenomenon. In
past centuries we operated a version of farming termed transhumance
– living on upland shielings with our stock. Now we have a variety
of this transhumance by way of young people travelling thousands of
miles, grateful for jobs we are reluctant to take. I am resolved to
try to be more thoughtful when I encounter them.
We are told the Union Flag will be 300 years old in 2007.
The Act of Union that abolished the English and Scottish parliaments
to create one of Great Britain, never authorised the overlay of
the St George’s Cross on the St Andrew’s Cross. It just came to be
through usage.
I like the notion that it evolved rather than being designed by a
committee. St Patrick’s diagonal red did not get incorporated until
Ireland joined the Parliamentary Union in 1801.
Recent research has confirmed the curious fact all the earliest
representations of the Scottish emblem are shades of red, from scarlet
through to pink. The blue, a sort of washed-out imperial purple,
was a later accretion. I have seen it explained that red is the most
readily available dye and that blue was just not possible in a form
that could endure the weather.
I have also seen it asserted that the saltire was pink as the first
five Scottish Stewart monarchs were gay. I could believe anything of
that dynasty, including the notion the last one, Bonnie Prince Charlie,
was too. James VI and I was certainly not.
I had the good fortune, if that isn’t too incongruent a phrase,
to attend a beautiful service to mark the end of a life in my valley.
Ettrick Kirk is a perfect setting for a funeral. As it happened it was
a fine spring day but the location works well on a bleak wet winter
day too. Lonely kirks engulfed in ancient trees are difficult to beat.
The life of Mrs Janet Scott of Cacrabank was remembered by several
generations of relatives and her neighbours. She died rich in affection
and honour and in her 93rd year without much discomfort.
Samuel Sirocky, the minister, surely the first Czech divine in our
glen, chose his words with felicity. At many funerals we go through
the courtesies of giving thanks for a life but on this occasion with
was no hint of the sentiments being contrived.
It is not easy to make the leap of imagination back to the Borders
she knew in her earliest years, in Peebles. There were barely any
cars. Transport was by steam train or by cart. Work consisted of
two options – the mills or the hills. The Liberals were running the
country. Electricity and phones had been invented but not reached
our rural fastnesses.
She, and her friends, could have had no conception of the terrible
wars and cruelties of the 20th century or of the technical advances.
Janet Scott once perplexed me by boasting her remote and handsome
home was so ‘central’. Central?! “Oh yes,” she said, “20 miles to
Innerleithan and 20 miles to Hawick and 20 miles to Selkirk”. I later
realised that far back, you walked these distances without complaint.
Mrs Scott’s was a lovely life, in a lovely family in a lovely glen.

OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN ORGANIZES TRAINING COURSE AIMED AT INTEGRATING FUTURE POLICE OFFICERS INTO SOCIETY
Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)

May 11 2006
/noticias.info/ YEREVAN, 11 May 2006 – A two-day training course
entitled “Future Professionals for Consolidated Democracy” for
entry-level students will start tomorrow in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia.
The class is aimed at increasing the degree of integration of future
police officers into society. Half of the 40 students come from the
Police Academy, while the other 20 represent Yerevan State University,
the State Pedagogical University and the State Economic University. The
course, which is organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan in close
co-operation with the Police Academy, will foster debate on various
current issues related to social development, democracy and rule of
law. It will also help students build inter-personal and communications
skills.
“This course is an effort to break the prevailing stereotype of
police officers and to facilitate a dialogue on democratic processes
in Armenia among future professionals,” said Blanka Hancilova,
Democratization Officer at the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
Hrachya Avetisyan, a first-year student at the Economic University
said he hoped to exchange ideas with other professionals-to-be during
the training.
“I want to live in a democratic country where mutual respect and
co-operation prevail and where human rights are not violated,”
he said. “I believe that young people can make a change if we work
together.”
The OSCE Office plans to continue offering similar training courses
to students.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ESB EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ALEX AND ARTHUR ABRAHAM
EastsideBoxing.com
May 11 2006
11.05.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: Picture it if you can: A German
boxing ring, in a crowded auditorium. A tall opponent named Kingsley
Ikeke and the soon to be champ Arthur Abraham still to make his ring
walk. The music begins to play and Abraham, dressed in the traditional
garb of what can best be described as a large smurf (basically just the
white hat) makes his way to the ring. On his face is one of the most
serious, focused scowls I, and many other fans have ever seen. All
the while Pierre Kartner, aka Father Abraham, a guy eerily similar
to jolly old St Nicholas Klause, belts away his European chart topper
“The Smurf Song,” accompanied by three hot chicks, dressed like female
smurfs and painted blue. The best way to define the whole affair is
psychedelically surreal. There was no metal, or rap, no artificial
extra emotion, rather only authentic elation coming from the Armenian
native, who was overjoyed at getting a chance to fight for a major
world title, and wanted to share that moment with all the fans who
came out to support him, by representing the characters, described
in one of Germany’s biggest pop hits..
Though the heavyweight scene is where most observers begin to notice
the dominance of former Soviet fighters, that dominance is not
exclusive to that weight alone. Arthur, as well as his undefeated
younger brother, Alex, along with Roman Karmazin, Sergei Dzindziruk
and a slew of others represent the next class of fighter in the
intermediate weights.
This Saturday Arthur will once again don the Smurf hat, and with
the same joyous determination that won him the belt he will defend,
represent his tiny yet proud homeland of Armenia. His opponent will be
tough power punching Kofi Jantuah a name familiar to American fans,
and a fighter who will take advantage of the bout if Abraham is not
on top of his game.
Last week I spoke with both Arthur, and Alex, on this upcoming fight
as well as other related boxing issues and none boxing issues. Here
is the gist of that conversation.
Arthur Abraham
ESB: Good Evening Arthur! First of all thanks for your time.
Arthur: Sure no problem.
ESB: Tell us how has your life changed after you captured one of the
major titles?
Arthur: Well nothing much has changed, I remained the same person I
was before I won the belt. Earnings changed a bit obviously. The press
bothers me a bit more now, people ask for autographs, newspapers call
more often. This has changed but I am still the same person I was. Oh
and there is more training now (laughs).
ESB: Can you tell us how the preparation for the fight is coming along?
Arthur: Its brutally tough. Every day only sparring, my arms are
almost falling off. Sometimes they hurt so much I don’t have the
strength to punch. I have such a huge work load.
ESB: Can you say who you’re sparring with? How many rounds of sparring
have you done?
Arthur: I have a bunch of different sparring partners not just the
same few. Boxed against somebody from America today but I don’t
know his name. Knocked him out though. Good fighter something like
24 wins in 27 fights. I just can’t remember all their names. Every
day or two I spar with new guys.
As far as rounds well I did eight today, tomorrow I will do eight. So
far something like 6,8 a day.
ESB: Your next opponent, Jantuah, is also from Africa like Ikeke
but unlike Kingsley he has a puncher’s reputation. What do you think
about him as an opponent and fighter?
Arthur: Of course he is a strong opponent, but no matter how strong
they are, I don’t get in the ring, to lose or just win. It doesn’t
matter if he is a puncher or a technical fighter because he will be
standing in my way and whoever does that I have to get around them
and win. His style of fighting is not relevant.
ESB: If you win your next opponent will most likely be Colombian
Edison Miranda? Will this fight take place in Germany as well?
Arthur: Its too early to say if the fight will be in Germany. First
we will try to win this fight and then we will consider how and where
the fight will be set up. To me it doesn’t matter really where the
fight takes place since I am always ready and always have to win.
ESB: It is obvious to most that the capital of boxing, at least for
your weight, is America. Are there any concrete plans or negotiations
with some of our America promoters to set up a fight or fights here?
Arthur: Sure! My manager has already been in contact and negotiating
with HBO. They have been interested for awhile, but also I don’t want
all the exposure and everything right away. I want to build up slowly,
step by step. If you can understand I just don’t want all the fame
right away.
ESB: Well that leads into my next question then, regarding if you would
be ready to face Wright, Taylor or Hopkins right away or would you…~E
Arthur: (interrupting) I am always ready to fight with Taylor or
Hopkins. If they call me tonight and say, “tommorow your fighting
with one of them,” I will be there ready to fight with one of them.
ESB: Well then speaking of the elites can you tell us who you think
will win the following fights: Taylor-Wright?
Arthur: I think Winky Wright will win. He is much more sound
technically and I think he will pressure Taylor constantly and not
give him a good chance to compose himself and fire back. I think
Wright will win.
ESB: How about Tarver Hopkins?
Arthur: Really? When?
ESB: I don’t have the date off the top of my head but it is signed
definitely.
Arthur: Well then I don’t know, but I think Tarver will win. Hopkins
is old already and really he is looking more so to make big money. He
won’t be able to break Tarver with his name.
ESB: If you won’t be able to breakthrough to America in the near
future, then it seems likely you will fight some Kohl fighters. Can
you comment on a fight with Felix Sturm or perhaps your countryman
Khoren Gevorgyan? What do you think about them as boxers?
Arthur: My manager already tried to set up a fight with Sturm. He
offered them one million Euros for the fight with me and they
refused. Now they are negotiating manager to manager, and they will
try to agree to something.
ESB: How about Gevorgyan? Are you friends with him?
Arthur: Gevorgyan? Well he isn’t a champ or that famous yet, so it
won’t be that interesting to fight him now. I am friends with him
though. I know all the Armenians here, we are always in contact. Talk
on the phone often.
ESB: Who do you think is Pound for Pound right now and why?
Arthur: (without hesitation) Mayweather because he is strong, fast,
and a good puncher. He is very good, and I like his style very much.
One has to try really hard to become a fighter like Mayweather. He
is very professional, and he has and knows how to do it all.
ESB: Whenever I, or other writers ask fighters from the former USSR,
if they would like to compete professionally in their homeland, the
answer is always negative due to financial reasons. If you achieve
the necessary success in Germany or America, would you like to fight
in Erevan, even if the money might not be as good?
Arthur: Of course! That is my goal. Of course I want to fight in
Armenia, that is my homeland, and I will fight there one day. However
like I said, I just became champion, and I don’t want to move and do
everything too fast. Little by little we will move towards and fight
in Erevan. If I fight there we will probably gather up a whole stadium
full of people. Everyone loves us at home, my brother and myself,
and that is why we really want to box there.
ESB: At what age did you start boxing and why?
Arthur: I started at 15. When I watched boxing on TV back then, I
saw these champions of the world, and how they were sitting on the
shoulders of their corner men. I always wanted the same to happen
to me. How they cried, and celebrated with pure joy, when they first
became champions. It was very emotional and touching for me inside,
and I always wanted to be there, celebrating just like them. I promised
myself I would became champion of the world before my 25th birthday
and my dream has come true.
ESB: Who were some of your favorite fighters back then, both national
and international?
Arthur: Mike Tyson, but only the young Tyson, when he was killing
everybody. Not the shadow of him now that fought later and recently,
but when he was young.
I also like Kostya Tsyzu. I really respect him and think he was a
terrific boxer.
ESB: Are you acquainted with Kostya?
Arthur: No I am not. Germany is far away from Australia (laughs). I
think we will meet one day, when the time comes we will meet.
ESB: Ok now the important question: who’s idea was it to pick the
Smurf Song for your entrance music?
Arthur: Well my name is Abraham too. The guy who sings it is a musician
called Papa Abraham, and it’s a very popular song in Germany. Everybody
loves it, its how do you say it, like a national sensation. All the
little kids and adults love this song, so it was very good for my
image. So the song was chosen for me, and that is why I am becoming
more of a household name, and why I am popular here.
ESB: Yea its very interesting and funny to see you with the hat and
the blue female smurf entourage. Have you ever watched the cartoon. I
remember it when I was a kid.
Arthur: Yea of course! It’s a cartoon, I watch everything. Thing is
everybody does and goes to see hip hop, or metal, and nobody will put
on the same type of show. It all becomes similar and boring. I am the
only one who does it this way, and that is why its so interesting
(laughs) and why everybody watches, and is delighted. When I enter
the arena everybody stands up and starts to sing and clap and wave
their hands and cheer for me.
ESB: What do you like to do in your free time outside the ring?
Arthur: Good question, in my free time the first thing I don’t want to
do is train, and I don’t want to hear anything about the sport. I fly
to Erevan, there I spend time with my parents, friends, or my brother
or with a girl. I don’t drink, or smoke. I go to places where I can
spend time and be happy.
ESB: What kind of music do you listen to and like?
Arthur: Different stuff, Armenian, Russian lounge pop, Russian techno,
I really like Irina Allegrova. Oh and I like Hip Hop, American black
music. I like 50 cent, not everything, but most of them.
ESB: Tell us about your family. Kids? Girlfriend?
Arthur: No I am not married and don’t have kids, live with my brother
have a few girls I know.
ESB: Alright now I will ask you some questions about your brother
and then after I talk to him I will ask him the same ones about you.
Arthur: Yea sure go ahead.
ESB: When you were small did you fight a lot? If so who got the better
of who?
Arthur: When we were small we did fight, but not a lot. I don’t
remember who won we were small, it wasn’t serious fighting, the way
brothers usually fight when they are young. However, that was then
now we are living in peace. We are together 24/7, only now we sleep
in different rooms (laughs).
ESB: Do you spar against each other now?
Arthur: We have never sparred against each other in our lives. We
will never spar or fight against each other.
ESB: Who’s side did your parents take when you two argued?
Arthur: I don’t remember but usually back then they watched out for
the younger ones, so that the older one doesn’t do something to them.
ESB: Alex is younger then you?
Arthur: Yea my brother is a year and a half younger.
ESB: can you name one habit of your brother that you can’t stand and
that drives you nuts?
Arthur: (laughs) When we are home: Computer, Internet, Television,
Stereo with music, and the phone is on too. PLUS he eats at the same
time. We come home everything goes on right away. He is my brother
though we can live together.
ESB: The Klitschko brothers claim they will never fight against each
other because they promised their mother. Did you make the same sort
of promise?
Arthur: No we didn’t promise anybody we were just raised that way
that we won’t consider it. How can I seriously fight my brother? How
can I hit him?
ESB: No I understand. How about say hypothetically if such a fight
were to happen can you analyze it and give a prediction?
Arthur: No it will never happen there just isn’t an answer to that.
ESB: Arthur thanks for your time. Now if its possible can I speak
with Alex?
Arthur: Sure! No problem. I will get him.
Alex Abraham
ESB: Hey Alex!
Alex: Hey!
ESB: Can you tell us from an independent perspective how your brother
is looking in training?
Alex: He is training superbly. He is feeling really good right now,
and I think the American will feel the result.
ESB: Will you be in his corner for the fight?
Alex: No I will be sitting at ringside, but I will have a chance to
give advice as necessary.
ESB: When will your next fight be?
Alex: My last bout was a week ago when Klitschko fought. Right now
there is no information about my next fight but I think I will fight
next sometime in August.
ESB: The only half blemish on your record is against Silvan Gomis a
fight that ended in a draw. Can you tell us what happened?
Alex: Well I fought him again after that and won. First time we fought
I was really sick and felt terrible the night of the fight.
Then we lined up a repeat and I won without any major problems. I
took all the rounds easily.
ESB: When did you start boxing and what was your amateur record?
Alex: I started at fifteen like Arthur. I had about 70 fights,
something like 62 wins 8 losses.
ESB: Which fighters did you like back then?
Alex: Arthur and I loved Tyson back then he was awesome. Now I like
Joe Calzaghe he is a very good fighter.
ESB: Can you give us your thoughts on who will win between Karmazin
and Spinks? Also who of the elite fighters in your division would
you like to fight if you could?
Alex: I think Karmazin will probably win. If I could I would fight
the WBO champ Sergei Dzindziruk.
ESB: What do you like to do in your free time?
Alex: (laughs) I like to go to Armenia there is a lot to do there.
ESB: What type of music do you like?
Alex: Everything! A lot of the stuff they show on Russian MTV here.
Armenian music, Russian music.
ESB: Can you name some of the artists you like?
Alex: HMmm I like….Allegrova…~E or Pugachova. Oh and Shufutinsky
he sings a lot of good songs.
ESB: What about movies?
Alex: I like movies with John Reno, and also Scarface. Tony Montana
(laughs).
ESB: Ha! Al Pacino.
ESB: I read your trying to help your parents move to Germany how is
that coming along?
Alex: Yea we are trying to help the and hopefully soon they will join
us here. We have to get them German documents and then everything
will be cool.
ESB: Now I will ask you some questions about Arthur if you don’t mind.
Alex: Yea sure.
ESB: When you were younger and fought each other who won?
Alex: Easy. Arthur was bigger I was smaller you get it.
ESB: Who’s side did your parents take in arguments?
Alex: Well parents defended me cause I was smaller (laughs)
ESB: Do you like the song your brother enters the ring to?
Alex: If there is a large crowd and they are into it and like it then
we like it too, if no then it’s a different matter. Its good because
it promotes him, a lot of people in Europe know his name cause of it.
Our first job is to box, but it is also important besides that to
give the viewers a good show.
ESB: Can you name a habit of your brother’s that you don’t like
that much?
Alex: (chuckles) No I like everything about him. We live together
peacefully. We are always together.
ESB: Alex I want to thank you and Arthur for taking the time to talk
with us. I wish him luck on Saturday and you as well in the future.
Alex: Sure! No problem. Thanks for calling.
As always I want to thank Heiko Mallwitz for helping set this interview
up, and another thanks to both Alex and Arthur for talking to us
from training camp. Good luck to Arthur on Saturday and here is to
hoping HBO decides to pick up his fights so everybody in the boxing
world benefits.
p=6904&more=1

PRESIDENTS OF AZERBAIJAN AND KOREA MEET IN PRESENCE OF DELEGATIONS
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
The one-on-one meeting of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and
Roh Moo-hyun of Korea was continued in presence of the two countries’
delegations.
Greeting once again visiting President Rooh Moo-hyun and members of
his delegation, the Azerbaijani leader expressed confidence that the
visit would contribute to development of bilateral relations in various
fields. “At the meetings we are going to have today and tomorrow, we’ll
have the opportunity to discuss issues of bilateral relations. I am
sure that after this visit, our relations with the Republic of Korea
will be more intensively developed in all spheres,” he said.
Korean President Roh Moo-hyun first expressed deep gratitude to
the President and people of Azerbaijan for the hospitality shown to
him and his delegation. “I am the first President of the Republic
of Korea to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan since our counties
established diplomatic relations. Today’s political and economic
development of Azerbaijan creates additional opportunities to enhance
our cooperation. Both countries’ potential is huge, and must be used
in full measure. This is why I am accompanied by four ministers. Mr.
President, taking this chance, I would like to invite you and your
ministers to our country,” he said.
President Ilham Aliyev thanked his Korean counterpart for the
invitation, and said: “You came to Azerbaijan with so representative
delegation. I share your opinion that the huge economic potential of
the two countries will serve development of our bilateral relations.”
He noted that Azerbaijan is already capable to make investments itself,
and stressed the necessity of taking advantage of not only Korean
investment opportunities but also the country’s personnel potential
and experience in economic sphere.
President Roh Moo-hyun pointed to importance of restoration of the
historic Silk Road and other transport corridors, noting that his
country is interested in the global projects being implemented in
the region, as well as in opening of an embassy in Baku.
President Ilham Aliyev noted in his turn that Azerbaijan’s rich natural
resources, the global energy projects implemented in the country and
the attention paid to the non-oil sector and regional development on
the one hand, and high technology and great experience of the Republic
of Korea on the other hand, could balance trade relations between
the two countries. “They (relations) do not meet today’s potential;
there are great opportunities for their expanding,” he said.
The Azerbaijani leader also highly appreciated the Republic of
Korea’s position with regard to settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
President Roh Moo-hyun said Korea will continue the international
and regional cooperation with Azerbaijan and to support its fair
position in the conflict. He also expressed his county’s readiness to
cooperation with Azerbaijan in the fields of air transport, sea ports
construction and applying high technology in chemical and engineering
industries.

PLAYING FOR HER MOTHER
Alyson Sena , Reporter
Palisadian-Post, CA
May 11 2006
For classical concert pianist Ritta Bardakjian, playing piano is a
gift her parents gave her when she was just a child growing up in
Kuwait in the 1970s. The gift originally came in the form of a piano
that her parents shipped from England, where they traveled frequently
on business.
“I sat at the piano whenever I felt lost, lonely or sad,” says
Bardakjian, a Pacific Palisades resident who earned her Doctor of
Musical Arts degree from USC last May. The rich and soothing power
of music has inspired Bardakjian throughout her life, and became
particularly resonant last July, when her mother passed away.
“I wanted to do something in my mom’s memory,” says Bardakjian,
who organized a concert that will take place on May 20 at 7 p.m. at
Pepperdine University’s Raitt Recital Hall. “I just know she would
want me to continue to practice and perform.”
Bardakjian’s program will include Beethoven’s Opus 13 (Path’tique),
Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 (“Funeral March”) and Schumann’s Symphonic
Etudes because her mother, Jackline, “adored Schumann.”
Bardakjian, who is Armenian, grew up listening to Western as well as
Eastern music. She started playing piano when she was about 5 years
old and studied with a teacher from South America who was “very
focused and intense.” As young Ritta developed her playing skills,
the teacher advised her mother to send her outside Kuwait where she
would have the opportunity to seriously pursue her talent.
So, when Bardakjian was 13, she went off to a boarding school in
Uppingham, outside London. Her choirmaster at the school encouraged
her to audition for a conservatory in London and, two years later,
she was training at the London School of Music, where William Lloyd
Webber (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s father) was director.
Bardakjian received her music degree from the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver and made her Canadian debut in 1981, performing
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. In 1983, at age 20, she got the
opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall because the Armenian Ladies’ Guild
was looking for Armenian talent and chose her to perform at an event.
She says she wasn’t nervous because “when you’re young, you’re more
gutsy. Egos don’t play as big a role.” It was a thrilling experience
just knowing she was “touching the keys the greats have touched.”
Bardakjian was accepted to The Julliard School and the Paris
Conservatory on scholarships but declined them both to study with
Hungarian pianist Georgy Sebok at the University of Indiana while
working towards her master’s degree in music.
Sebok “taught me that I had to use the piano as an instrument but
not battle with it,” says Bardakjian, who has also studied with other
renowned artists such as Polish pianist Marek Jablonski and American
pianist Leon Fleischer and Kevin Fitz-Gerald.
Currently, Bardakjian teaches piano to students as young as 5,
though she says that children at that age have to be “exceptional”
in their skills. Bardakjian has a 10-year-old daughter, Angelica,
who studies piano and ballet.
To inquire about lessons with Bardakjian, contact: 573-9622. For
tickets to the Pepperdine concert, contact: 506-4522.

OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS EXPECT RESPONSE OF YEREVAN AND BAKU ON NEW NK PROPOSALS
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 11 2006
The OSCE Minsk group (OSCE MG) Co-Chairs wait for the response of
Yerevan and Baku on the mediators’ “new proposals” during RA and AR
FMs’ meeting in Strasbourg May 18 – 19, the OSCE MG Russian Co-Chair
Yuri Merzlyakov stated, REGNUM reports.
Having refused to comment on the essence of the “new proposals”, the
Russian mediator remarked “they contain some new elements, mainly,
concretization and detailing of the proposals put forward before”.
“They have already been delivered to the conflict parties by a French
Co-Chairman Bernard Fassier”, Merzlyakov said. He also informed the
mediators’ visit to the region had been scheduled for mid-May.

HEARINGS ON STABILITY IN S. CAUCASUS TO BE HELD IN PACE MAY 12
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 11 2006
Parliamentary hearings on the subject “A Pact on Stability in the
South Caucasus” will be held in Strasbourg May 12, 2006.
In the course of the hearings the MPs’ attention will be focused
on the ways of achieving stability in the South Caucasus region
applying the model of the South – Eastern Europe, “Novosti – Armenia”
Information Agency reports quoting the Press Service of the Council of
Europe. A Romanian MP Adrian Severin is to make a report. To note,
the hearings have been initiated by the PACE Political Affairs
Committee. Representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the
European Union, the World Bank and the counties of the “Great Eight”
will participate in the hearings.

TURKISH DELEGATION ON FRENCH BILL: OBJECTION ALONE NOT ENOUGH
Zaman, Turkey
May 11 2006
A Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) delegation arrived in Paris
Tuesday to meet with members of the French Parliament over the new
legislative proposal to criminalize denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide.
The Turkish delegation, made up of Parliamentary Foreign Affairs
President Mahmet Dulger and parliamentarians Musa Sivacioglu, Onur
Oymen, Gulsun Bilgehan Token, met President of the French National
Parliament Jean-Louis Debre, leader of the People’s Movement Union
(UMP) Bernard Accoyer, and PS Group Leader Jean Marc Ayroult.
French politicians asserted that they are opposed to the bill,
officials reported.
Turkish parliamentary members then asked their French counterparts
to persuade other groups as well.
Known for his anti-Turkish viewpoints, former Prime Minister and
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs President Eduard Balladur said his
group also opposes the bill.
Moreover, the Turkish delegation also met some French members of the
parliament and Jacques Blanc, the Turkey-France Friendship Group Chair.
Communicating the Turkish people’s harsh criticism of the French
proposal, the delegation highlighted that history was the subject
area of historians.
As part of the latest developments, a declaration made by a group
in Turkey consisting of journalists, authors, and academics, known
for their controversial opinions on the so-called Armenian genocide,
was published in the French Liberation newspaper.

ARMENIA IN CONTEXT OF IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM: “THERE CANNOT BE SO EVIDENT CONNECTION”
Regnum, Russia
May 11 2006
“A stage-by-stage and, which is most important, well-considered
settlement of the Iranian problem could encourage easing tension in the
world on the whole. And, on the contrary, any deviations can provoke
a completely unexpected deterioration of new conflicts including the
one in Nagorno Karabakh,” chair of comparative politics department
of Moscow State Institute of International relations of Foreign
Affairs Ministry of the Russian Federation (MGIMO), Mikhail Ilyin,
PhD, has said to a REGNUM correspondent.
According to him, the Iranian nuclear program is “a complicated issue
that influences world development ion the whole, various countries
and regions, and moreover, Transcaucasus, and Armenia, which is a
close neighbor of Iran.” However, talking about the risk of Armenia
becoming a hostage to Iranian nuclear ambitions, Mikhail Ilyin said
that “there cannot be so evident connection” in this.
Earlier today, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei approved
decision made by the UN Security Council to postpone the issue of
sanctions against Iran.