NK CELEBRATES 61st ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY IN GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR, FORMATION OF NKR DEFENSE ARMY AND 14 YEARS OF LIBERATION OF SHUSHI
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
May 10 2006
STEPANAKERT, May 10. /ARKA/. Nagorno-Karabakh simultaneously celebrated
three holidays, namely 61st anniversary of victory in Great Patriotic
War, formation of the NKR Defense Army and 14- years of liberation
of Shushi.
According to “ARKA”s correspondent in Stepanakert, festival began
early in the morning with festive march of army columns along the
streets of the republic.
Authorities of NKR, with President Arkady Ghukasyan at the head, as
well as governmental delegation from Armenia headed by the RA Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan visited Memorial Complex of the capital,
where they honored the memory of people killed in the Great Patriotic
and Karabakh wars. Flowers were laid at the memorials of the Great
Patriotic War hero Marshal O. Baghramyan, legendary hero of Karabakh
war Ashot Gulyan and on graves of perished warriors.
Solemn events were held in Shushi. Flowers were laid on the memorial of
Vazgen Sargsyan and twice Hero of Soviet Union, pilot Nelson Stepanyan.
In educational institutions and institutes of Nagorno-Karabakh meetings
were held with veterans of the Great Patriotic War and Karabakh war,
concert and sportive events.
In the evening in the central square of Revival of Stepanakert local
and invited from Armenia artist performed in front of people of
Karabakh and after which was a festive firework.

ATTORNEY GENERAL PLANTED TREES IN STEPANAKERT
Lragir.am
10 May 06
On the occasion of May 9 holiday the delegation of Armenia, including
Attorney General of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepyan, arrived in Karabakh.
The Attorney General did not make any statements. Instead the head of
Nig-Aparan Society planted trees in Stepanakert. The newly-appointed
Attorney General of NKR Armen Zalinyan also planted trees. Plant
trees and sleep tight!

NORWAY READY TO FACILITATE GARABAGH SETTLEMENT, ITS OFFICIAL SAYS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 10 2006
Baku, May 8, AssA-Irada
Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Kjetil Skogrand has said his country
stands by to facilitate settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
“Just like other countries, we believe the talks on the conflict
resolution will be prolific and peace will be restored in the region.
Official Oslo is ready to provide the needed assistance to speed up
the negotiations,” said Skogrand visiting Baku as part of his visit
to the South Caucasus region.
He noted that Norway supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group
mediating the peace process.
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the Norwegian
official on Monday. In a news briefing after the meeting, Skogrand
reiterated that his government is ready to do its best to achieve a
solution to the long-standing conflict.
Skogrand is also expected to meet with President Ilham Aliyev and a
number of other officials.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH WRITER TIRELESS IN FIGHT FOR FREE SPEECH
By Jeff Heinrich, The Gazette
The Gazette (Montreal)
May 10, 2006 Wednesday
Final Edition
Ragip Zarakolu speaks in Montreal tonight. He’s considered a radical
by Ankara for saying his homeland is in denial about Armenian genocide.
Ragip Zarakolu was just a boy when he first learned of the Armenian
genocide of 1915 to 1917. His mother told him it indirectly killed
her father – through disease. Little did Zarakolu realize that, as
a Turk, he would make it his life’s work to publish the truth about
the genocide.
Considered radical by the authorities in his homeland, Zarakolu,
58, has been in and out of jail since the 1970s for opposing Turkey’s
censorship laws. Books he has published have been seized and destroyed,
and he has been fined repeatedly.
Now, in a trial that began in November, he faces up to six more years
in jail for translating and publishing the journal of an Armenian
pogrom survivor edited by the man’s granddaughter, retired McGill
University professor Dora Sakayan.
While he waits for the trial to resume June 21 in Ankara, Zarakolu
lives in Connecticut with his second wife and travels on lecture
tours. Tonight, he’s been invited by the Congress of Armenian Canadians
to address about 300 local Armenians in St. Laurent.
The subject of his speech, taboo in Turkey, is one whose truth has been
acknowledged by the governments of 21 countries, including Canada,
that 1.5 million minority Armenians died during forced evacuations
by the Ottoman Turkish government from 1915 to 1917.
“If Turkey wants to be a strong state and show that it’s a great
nation, then it must take responsibility for the genocide,” he said
yesterday in an interview after flying to Montreal.
“There was injustice, and Turkey must accept that.”
Zarakolu grew up on the Princes’ Islands, off the coast of Turkey
southeast of Istanbul. His father was governor of the islands, a
multicultural place where they and other Turks mixed with Armenians,
Jews and Greeks.
“I never thought of them as a danger, or anything stupid like that,”
he recalled yesterday. “I grew up with them. There was always a
connection.”
An honorary member of PEN, the international writers’ association,
Zarakolu has a lot of support both inside and outside his homeland
as he campaigns to get Turkey to remove an article from its penal
code that criminalizes free speech.
Established a year ago, Article 301 makes it illegal to publish
material that “denigrates Turkishness” and the institutions of
the state, be they the government, the judiciary, the military or
the state security apparatus. Under the law, doing so from outside
Turkey is sanctioned more severely – it increases one’s jail sentence
by one-third.
About 60 other publishers, journalists and writers are also being
prosecuted under the law, which has raised considerable controversy
as Turkey negotiates membership in the European Union.
The Turkish government has long refused to call the events of 1915
to 1917 a genocide. Its official position is that the Armenians died
in the context of the First World War – from disease and starvation –
and not that the state had a role in planning mass extermination.
In Montreal yesterday, Turkish consul-general Gerard Emin Battika did
not respond to a Gazette request to clarify his government’s position
and comment on Zarakolu’s visit.
“The importance of people like Mr. Zarakolu is to show the world
that it’s not just non-Turks, but also Turkish people who want to
see the democratization of their country and recognize what was wrong
in their history,” said Taro Alepian, chairperson of the Congress of
Armenian Canadians.
“Then all of us, collectively, will be able to turn the page on
history and finally have closure. When Turkey finally admits that
the genocide occurred, the wound will start to heal.”
Ragip Zarakolu speaks tonight at 8 p.m. at the Tekeyan Centre, 805
Manoogian St., in St. Laurent. The speech will be in English.
[email protected]

RECOGNITION IS A START
By Sheila Copps
The Toronto Sun
May 10, 2006 Wednesday
Final Edition
But The PM’s Official Acknowledgement Of The Armenian Genocide Has Angered Turkey
A couple of years ago, I hosted a fundraiser in my home for a Liberal
MP. At the time, I received a rather nasty note from members of a
local Turkish political action committee explaining why they would
not attend.
They refused to step foot in my home because, as former heritage
minister, I had indirectly funded an Atom Egoyan film entitled
Ararat. They went on to outline how this film distorted history by
characterizing the loss of 1.5 million Armenian people as genocide.
It did not seem to matter to these activists that as minister,
I had absolutely no say as to which film received funding from the
government. Telefilm guarded its independence jealously and would
never bow to a ministerial intervention for funding.
I wondered whether they had even seen the film. It was a sensitive,
modern portrayal through the eyes of a self-described Armenian
descendant, which asked questions about the genocide from a Turkish
and Armenian perspective.
For Egoyan, of Armenian heritage, the genocide was part of his story
and the telling of it was an important personal journey.
Notwithstanding his perspective, he made sure the film included a
Turkish protagonist who held opposing views.
The film was not objective (most historical accounts never are),
and it did not pretend to be. But the fact that a local political
committee could refuse an invitation to my home almost 90 years after
the incidents shows just how deeply the issue still divides supporters
of Armenia and Turkey.
Today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is feeling the political heat
from Turkish anger about his public comments recogizing the genocide.
Turkey said in a statement that it “rejects and condemns attempts
based on long years of propaganda and political designs to create
one-sided versions of history and to have lies be acknowledged as
though they were facts.” Its governmet has recalled its ambassador
to Canada and is threatening economic sanctions.
For years, Canadian parliamentarians have actively worked for
recognition of what happened to the Armenians as genocide. The first
parliamentary resolution was passed a decade ago, characterizing the
deaths as a “tragedy.” In 2004, a “genocide” resolution sailed through,
despite opposition from Foreign Affairs, which feared reprisals from
NATO ally Turkey.
The parliamentary resolution did not convince the government, much
to the chagrin of the 75 Liberal members who supported it. Business
with Turkey was just too lucrative to risk.
Ankara argues that history has been misinterpreted, that the casualties
were simply the normal toll on civilians in a war-torn period for
both countries. Others question why a 90-year-old wound matters. But
all reconciliation starts with recognition.
Holocaust deniers propagate more holocausts. Unacknowledged genocides
promote future acts of genocide.
That is why we should care that Armenia saw 1.5 million people
wiped out, spawning a diaspora which started in Canada with a plan
to resettle 100 orphans known as the Georgetown Boys. That is why
we should care that Hitler wiped out six million Jews and up to 11
million people in the Second World War. That is why we should care
that Rwanda lost up to 1 million in the genocide of Tutsis and moderate
Hutus. That is why we should also investigate recent published reports
from China on organ harvesting and execution of Falun Gong followers.
When genocide is long ago or far away, it is easy to ignore. When
trade trumps human rights, it is profitable to gloss over the messy
aftermath of genocide. It is a credit to Armenian-Canadians that they
have never wavered in their pursuit of genocide recognition. It is
a credit to the current government that it finally recognized what
Parliament understood years ago.

THE RUSSIAN MILITARY LEAVE GEORGIA IN AN ENGLISH WAY
by Vladimir Novikov, Andrei Ivanov
Source: Kommersant, May 4, 2006, p. 10
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 10, 2006 Wednesday
Military hardware was withdrawn from Akhalkalaki at night
THE RUSSIAN MILITARY WITHDREW MILITARY HARDWARE FROM THE AKHALKALAKI
BASE (GEORGIA); Nongovernmental organizations stated that they will
not give up attempts to prevent the withdrawal of the Russian base
from Akhalkalaki.
The Russian military and the Georgian authorities prepared for
the withdrawal of military hardware from the 62nd military base in
Akhalkalaki as a military operation. Local residents held actions
of protest against the withdrawal of the Russian military base last
week. The protesters stated that many locals will lose jobs. The
leaders of the Virk movement fear that the threat of the Turkish
expansion will increase after the withdrawal of the base.
Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili reproached the Russian
special services of plotting provocations aimed at hindering the
withdrawal of the bases. Major-General Andrei Popov called these
accusations unfounded. He stated that Russia is prepared to withdraw
part of military hardware until May 15.
The Georgian Interior Ministry sent the Task Force to Akhalkalaki
on Wednesday night. Policemen had to stop people who could try
to blockade the base. However, only a dozen of people protested
against the withdrawal. It turned out that the military hardware
left the base on May 3. The protesters stopped their action when they
learnt this. Organizers of the picket stated that it’s inadmissible
to organize such actions when the Armenian people grieve over the
crash of a jetliner over the Black Sea. Nevertheless, nongovernmental
organizations stated that they will not give up attempts to prevent
the withdrawal of the Russian base.

ART OF LIVING TOGETHER
By Neal Keeling
Manchester Evening News, UK
May 10, 2006 Wednesday
ASYLUM seekers are being shown in a different light in an art
exhibition.
Works on show at Salford Museum and Art Gallery focus on the
experiences of foreigners trying to make new homes in the city.
They include striking portraits of men from Kosovo photographed by
Johnny Mobasher.
Johnny said: “They showed up all dressed up. Having your picture
taken is a bigger deal in their country than here.
“I thought they would be in the day-to-day clothes that they go to
language or cooking classes in.
“People have an existing image of asylum seekers and refugees. But
these are intelligent, family men, who find themselves in a different
country. Not all refugees look like they have crawled under barbed
wire across a border.”
As well as having their pictures taken, the men contributed to the
exhibition by taking 50 photographs themselves with a disposable
camera to capture snapshots of their lives in Salford.
There are currently 1,214 asylum seekers and refugees living in
Salford. They include Congolese, Kosovan Albanians, Iraqis, others
from the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Iran and Afghanistan.
There have been several high profile attacks on them. Last year a
Kurdish man was left with a broken leg by a gang of racist thugs.
And a Latvian man was lucky to survive when a screwdriver was plunged
into his head after 20 youths surrounded him.
Yet the city has historically been a destination for immigrants,
starting with Flemish weavers in the 14th century, Armenian merchants,
as well as Greek, Christians, and Jewish people.
One exhibit features 52 birds made by Salford artist Isobel Pickup and
Iranian artist Maryam Patala, from luggage and bags. They represent
the 52 languages spoken in the city.
Emma Summers has created 21 ceramics, referring to the fact that
every 21 seconds there is a new refugee around the world.
Coronation Street and Shameless actor Chris Bisson was at opening
launch of the exhibition yesterday. He said: “What strikes me about the
exhibition is that people from Salford – of all ages and different
cultural backgrounds have been involved in creating sculptures,
paintings, films, and photos.
“It has brought the entire community together – sharing their
experiences including sad and happy stories and exploring issues such
as uncertainty, fear, hope and trauma.”
The exhibition, called What Would You Do If, is open to the public
until November 19.
[email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TABLEAU
Translated by Pavel Pushkin
Field reports from Den Security Service agents
Source: Zavtra, No. 18, May 3, 2006, p. 1
Agency WPS
May 10, 2006 Wednesday
Iran can produce fuel for nuclear power stations independently; The
International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran, sent to the UN
Security Council by IAEA Director Mohammed ElBaradei, does not contain
proof that Tehran’s nuclear program is aimed at building a nuclear
bomb. But it does confirm that Iran’s current technological level
enables it to produce fuel for nuclear power stations independently.
The International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran, sent to the UN
Security Council by IAEA Director Mohammed ElBaradei, does not contain
proof that Tehran’s nuclear program is aimed at building a nuclear
bomb. But it does confirm that Iran’s current technological level
enables it to produce fuel for nuclear power stations independently,
according to our sources in New York.
The meeting of new German Chancellor Angela Merkel with President
Putin in Tomsk confirmed that despite the defeat of Gerhard Schroeder
interests of the large German business regarding conquering of the
Russian space did not change. Inside sources state that until the end
of 2007 large stakes (possibly blocking ones) of Gazprom and Russian
Railways will be in the hands of the leading corporations of Germany.
Beginning of construction of the oil pipeline to Daqing that
practically coincided with this visit also was a long-awaited curtsey
of the Kremlin to Beijing.
The visit of President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev to Moscow
and mass unrest of Kyrgyz opposition including the pro-American one
demonstrate the slow but decisive ousting of the US from the Central
Asian region by the authorities of Beijing. The key issue is the
functioning of the American air base in Gansi that ensures not only
the necessary connection in the systems of control over the airspace
of the region but also uninterrupted drug traffic from Afghanistan,
report sources in Tashkent.
Signing of an agreement of Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia on establishment
of the Bolivarian Initiative of Americas in Havana was organized
under unofficial aegis of China and became an “asymmetric response”
to the “pressure on the verge of foul” on the part of the US to
which Hu Jintao was exposed during his visit, reported sources in
Philadelphia. It was also possible that this loud action that deals a
serious blow on the prestige of Bush was coordinated with Saudi Arabia
and other leading countries of the Islamic world and Peru would become
the next candidate for joining to the Bolivarian Initiative. Candidate
from the leftist forces Olianta Umala has serious chances for victory
in Peru.
New technological difficulties in functioning of the oil pipeline
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (due to increased density the oil mixture is
pumped badly in mountainous conditions), report sources in Yerevan,
may become a pretext for large-scale provocations against Armenia on
which Baku and Ankara are prepared to lay responsibility for possible
explosions at the pipeline and a new aggravation of the situation
in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to our sources in Kiev, rumors about the upcoming
establishment of an “orange-blue” governmental coalition in Ukraine
are evidently exaggerated. A kind of turmoil is currently underway
in the “triangle of parties” that have won the elections and it will
most likely last until the beginning of June. Information weapons
are the main weapons in this “duel of nerves.” Now these weapons
are eagerly used both against the Kremlin system of Gazprom-Rosneft
(British scandals) and against the “team of Yushchenko” (disclosure
of Ukrainian beneficiaries of RosUkrEnergo). Thus, is Washington
pointing unambiguously once again at the need to form a “greater
orange coalition,” even with Yulia Timoshenko as prime minister,
because it considers the “queen of Independence Square” to be quite
manageable due to the compromising materials received from imprisoned
former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko.
Celebration of the “centennial anniversary of Russian parliamentarism”
in St. Petersburg looked a more than doubtful action both from the
historic and from the political points of view, especially given that
the overwhelming majority of Russian citizens disapprove of the Duma’s
performance. According to various polling agencies, about one-third
of respondents consider the Duma necessary and just over a quarter
of respondents trust it. Along with this, our experts note that
“the zero countdown point” was indicated clearly: 1906, which sets
constitutional monarchy as a political model desirable for the Kremlin.
The first “foreign visit” of Alexander Lukashenko after inauguration
to St. Petersburg was dedicated primarily by resolving of the
“gas problem” because a threefold increase of prices of Russian gas
actually “meant a soft economic blockade of Belarus on the side of
Russia.” The negotiations resulted in a promise of Putin “to consider
the forms of compensation” in exchange for a number of economic and
political preferences on the part of Minsk, reported sources in the
near-governmental circles.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE AUTHORITIES AND ETHNIC MINORITIES: EXACERBATION IN SPRING
Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part A (Russia)
May 10, 2006 Wednesday
“It’s hard to tell what is going on: neo-fascism run rampant, or
a full-scale campaign to eradicate it,” said [Newsweek Russia in
early May.
Throughout April, there were regular media reports of crimes being
committed against “aliens.” St. Petersburg took priority, confirming
its notoriety as the capital of Russian neo-fascism. Liana Sisoko,
a half-black nine-year-old girl, stabbed 11 times in the hallway
of her apartment building; Lamsar Samba from Senegal, shot dead;
Desire Da Leko from the Ivory Coast, attacked – that is by no means
a complete list of neo-Nazi victims in St. Petersburg.
“The cleansing of St. Petersburg continues,” said the Freedom Party’s
website after another “feat” by its fighters from the White Patrol
movement. They stabbed two guest-worker women: Ilfuza Babayeva from
Azerbaijan and Ainur Bulekbayeva from Kazakhstan.
The security and law enforcement seem to have become more active as
well, says [Newsweek Russia]: “Whole groups of neo-Nazis are being
arrested, and some of them are even getting prison sentences.”
According to official reports, 13 extremists have been convicted in
Russia since the start of this year (the same period of 2005 produced
four convictions). But a Prosecutor General’s Office source told
[Newsweek Russia] that this doesn’t offer any grounds for optimism:
“It’s a temporary phenomenon. They’re only going after the obvious
targets, those who have drawn police attention to themselves. There’s
no question of any systematic anti-xenophobia efforts – it’s just
another campaign.”
Indeed, says [Newsweek Russia], the number of convictions is growing –
but the sentences are becoming lighter. And this change has happened
in recent months. Only 57 people were convicted of inciting ethnic
hatred in 2005, and only two of them (minors) received suspended
sentences. But when six members of the St. Petersburg neo-Nazi group
Schultz-88 were tried in December for assaulting a man from Azerbaijan,
the court only sent one of them to jail: group leader Dmitri Bobrov,
sentenced to six years. The other gang members went free, with short
suspended sentences. Several months later, a jury found that the
people who killed Tajik girl Khursheda Sultonova were only guilty
of hooliganism.
Moscow has also shown what it is capable of: its subway system,
promoted as “the safest in the world,” was the scene of an attack
in April. Vagen Abramiants, a 17-year-old Armenian Moscow resident,
was stabbed to death.
[Novye Izvestia] reports that witnesses of this murder first said it
was an ethnically-motivated attack, and described the attackers as
typical skinheads: shaved heads, short black jackets, boots. Then
another theory emerged: a fight over a girl. But the only suspect
– Denis Kulagin, a senior student from School No. 674 in Moscow –
retracted his initial evidence and was released unconditionally,
while investigators returned to the hate crime theory.
That same day, the media reported another attack in Moscow on people
of non-Slavic appearance. Some unidentified individuals armed with
knives attacked two 25-year-old Tajiks near the Cherkizovsky market.
One of the Tajiks, stabbed 17 times, died there; the other was
hospitalized. According to [Novye Izvestia], the Prosecutor’s Office
“isn’t inclined to link this incident to ethnic issues.”
[Novye Izvestia] says that neither prosecutors nor rank-and-file
police officers want a conflict with Moscow police chief Vladimir
Pronin, who said recently: “The skinhead websites are outraged:
why does Pronin still refuse to recognize our existence? But I don’t
recognize them. We don’t have any such organization. They’re nothing
more than petty thugs from Moscow and the Moscow region who target
people because of the color of their skins and try to attack them.”
“We have developed a strange tradition,” says Maksim Sokolov in
[Izvestia], “whereby reclassifying a crime as hooliganism is regarded
as condescension, and quite often actually is.”
But according to the Criminal Code, murder motivated by hooliganism
is still aggravated murder (Article 105.2i), and the penalty for it is
no less severe than for ethnically-motivated murder (Article 105.2l):
up to and including capital punishment, although there’s a moratorium
on that.
The “only” difference is the murder motive, says Sokolov: “Specific
proof of ethnic hatred is required, but no one can really know what
another person is thinking. Hooliganism is much easier to prove,
since unmotivated aggression is the distinct qualifying sign.”
Indeed, “if a crime is not prompted by greed or a personal grudge –
that is, if there are no rational motives for the crime – only one
motive remains: obvious disrespect for society as such, the desire
to destroy for destruction’s sake, right up to unmotivated murder.”
Those are the “hooliganism motives” of which common-sense opinion
takes such a condescending view.
However, says Sokolov, from a legal standpoint there shouldn’t
be any grounds for condescension here: “Unmotivated aggression
is much more dangerous than motivated aggression. The latter is
somewhat predictable, at least, so some protective measures can be
taken – but the former is completely unpredictable. In other words,
‘hooliganism motives’ describes the behavior of a rabid animal,”
and the response to such acts should be appropriate.
Nevertheless, says the [Vedomosti] newspaper, Russian legal practice
still treats “ethnic hatred motives” as an aggravating factor in
any crime.
On the other hand, the police find it advantagous to conceal racist
factors in any case: because “ethnically-motivated assault,” for
example, “isn’t just a common brawl, but a serious crime that threatens
the Constitution’s provision of equal rights for all citizens. In
other words, it’s a clear sign of failure for the police.”
Meanwhile, human rights organizations maintain that the killings are
the work of young skinheads, led by more experienced people. Antuan
Arakelian, an analyst with the Strategy Center, describes the murder
of Senegalese student Lamsar Samba as “an object lesson.”
Arakelian told [Novye Izvestia]: “There has been a series of
these demonstrative crimes in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They are
synchronized to some degree, indicating skilful management. The
skinheads are just the tools – and certain groups connected with
official structures are very good at using such tools.”
In Arakelian’s opinion, the climate of fear in society is being created
deliberately: “Russia is witnessing a purposeful campaign to tighten
the screws regarding legislation and its enforcement in the areas of
civil rights and liberties, non-governmental organizations, migrants,
and the Internet. There seems to be an effort to persuade the public
that a hardline approach to all these phenomena is required.”
The increase in ethnic hate crimes has intensified the public debate,
says [Vedomosti]: “Some are scaring ordinary citizens with the
prospect of neo-fascism, while others see a political game in all
this. One thing is clear: the state has all the leverage it needs to
fight crimes of this nature, but those abilities are not being used.”
[Ekspert] magazine takes a similar view: “Ethnically-motivated street
violence – that’s the most conspicuous and the most-discussed aspect
of xenophobia.” However, that is only the most obvious and scandalous
side of the situation, and it could be brought under control quite
quickly, given the political will to do so.
Boris Strugatsky, a prominent writer, says in an interview with
[Novaya Gazeta] that “yet another upswing in violent neo-Nazism is
taking place, and our leaders are either unable or – scary thought –
unwilling to take action against it.”
Of course, “all kinds of political forces” are seeking to take
advantage of the situation for their own purposes.
The situation “looks like an emergency,” says Strugatsky: “Unless
the authorities – at the very top, the presidential level – show some
political will, bloodshed and abominable events await us.”
Strugatsky went on to say: “I don’t rule out the possibility that
‘anti-fascist detachments’ might be established. And then we would
see a repeat of what happened in Germany in the early 1930s: a war
between ‘brown’ and ‘red’ storm-troopers. We remember where that led.
Or have we already forgotten?”
In [Literaturnaya Gazeta], historian Valery Solovei says that contrary
to the assertions of the authorities, “the situation in Russia isn’t
as good or stable as we are led to believe.” Solovei even reports that
“one of the Kremlin’s most well-known political strategists” is known
to “start repeating hysterically that Russia is heading for disaster”
whenever he has too much to drink in the company of friends.
Solovei participated in a [Literaturnaya Gazeta] debate on nationalist
issues in Russia and media coverage of them. In his opinion, Russia
“isn’t experiencing waves of public outrage yet, but the authorities
are seeking to prepare for them in advance by perfecting a system
for harsh suppression of mass protests.” Under the circumstances,
it can be “advantageous” for the authorities to “wave the bugaboo of
‘fascism’ – since ‘fascism’ provides excellent ideological cover for
the very toughest measures.”
And [Ekspert] magazine notes that “fascism-fighting month” on national
television networks in April “seems all the more ambiguous, given
that television broadcasting itself and Russia’s political class have
shown an increasing tolerance for xenophobic propaganda of late.”
[Ekspert] maintains that the “media tsunamis” on this issue “sometimes
resemble a game that’s convenient for everyone involved.”
[Ekspert] says: “In effect, the nationalists get access to television
airtime – if not directly, then via detailed coverage of their
activities. The authorities demonstrate that they’re concerned about
the problem. The opposition gets another opportunity to criticize
the authorities.”
Television networks themselves have an interest in this issue:
according to the laws of the genre, “news programs need at least a
dash of intrigue or suspense, but the political mainstream isn’t very
lively.” So the problem is solved by giving airtime to nationalists:
“since many of them refrain from saying anything too appalling, and
they don’t mention the issues that the Kremlin really dislikes: freedom
of speech, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and so on.” From this standpoint,
says [Ekspert], the television networks actually prefer Alexander
Prokhanov to Boris Nemtsov, for example.
“Whom do the authorities see as the true enemy: the political
opposition, or neo-fascism?” When [Novaya Gazeta] put this question
to Boris Strugatsky, he replied: “For the authorities, the enemy
is anyone who aspires to power – regardless of their ideological
convictions or preferences.”
However, Strugatsky says that the neo-Nazis are the most dangerous
from that standpoint: “They are better-organized ideologically and
have more support among the masses, who are inclined to xenophobia
and authoritarianism.”
Strugatsky says: “The neo-Nazis are the leading claimants to political
power. We can only hope that the authorities understand this.”
Analyst Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the Sova Center, tells
[Ekspert] that Russia’s nationalists have turned out to be quick
learners. They have fully “mastered the political techniques used
by extreme right-wing groups in Europe, known for their ability
to use propaganda that skirts the boundaries of what is legally
permissible.” From the legal standpoint, there’s nothing actionable
in the statements made by Russian neo-Nazi leaders.
Then again, says [Ekspert], there might not be so much demand for
the issue of nationalism if public politics in Russia “wasn’t so
sterile.” When television broadcasts fail to discuss “many truly
important issues,” we inevitably see “phantom issues” – such as
those raised by the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, which
has managed to “adapt socially-acceptable political language for
xenophobic propaganda.”
These propaganda efforts haven’t been wasted.
The [Vedomosti] newspaper says: “Russia has had, and continues to
have, a favorable political and psychological climate for developing
xenophobic attitudes. Two wars in Chechnya fostered xenophobia among
Russia’s leaders – with the call to ‘wipe them out in the toilets’
being directed at bandits of a specific ethnic group.” Subsequently,
the war on international terrorism has only intensified Islamophobia.
These days, “patriotic” rhetoric at the federal level becomes actual
use of skinhead groups at the regional level: “They have been used
in several regional election campaigns, or even in business conflicts.”
What’s more, the [Kommersant] newspaper reports that during the
May Day holidays in Moscow, young nationalists from the Russian
All-National Union (RONS), with the support of Russian Orthodox
pensioner organizations, made a number of attacks on members of
sexual minorities.
RONS activists disrupted gay events at two Moscow night-clubs. Gay
rights groups have accused the Russian Orthodox Church and the federal
authorities of turning a blind eye to the activities of the RONS,
saying that the authorities are out to “score points in the lead-up
to elections.”
[Kommersant] notes: “Curiously enough, until now the radical
nationalist organizations had confined themselves to the ‘Russia for
Russians’ slogan and taken action against ‘aliens,’ mostly. But now,
according to the RONS, it’s the gays’ turn.”
RONS spokesman Miron Kravchenko described the purpose of the campaign
as follows: “We have to put a stop to promotion of this unnatural
way of life. They (gays) have to think about their behavior.”
Although the RONS claims to be motivated by religious beliefs,
the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church has found it
necessary to emphasize that it has nothing to do with these actions.
Ed Mishin, a leader of Russia’s gay rights movement and
editor, says that the police only made a show of dispersing the
anti-gay activists. Mishin says: “The authorities are still aiming to
suppress dissent: it used to be the Jews, and now it’s us.” All the
same, he maintains that the authorities “will let these nationalists do
as they please for the next six to twelve months, and then start taking
measures against them – scoring points for the next parliamentary
and presidential elections.”
This view is also held by Stanislav Belkovsky, president of
the National Strategy Institute, who told [Kommersant] that “the
authorities are the catalyst for such incidents.” Although “Russia
doesn’t have a substantial skinhead movement – only groups of youths
who gather for specific events,” the authorities aim to use such
incidents as proof that “fascists could take power tomorrow,” and
“citizens need to be shown that the present authorities are the
lesser evil.”
However, Boris Strugatsky says that it isn’t the worst-case scenario
for the authorities to take this attitude to neo-Nazis: “The real
worst-case scenario would be if Nazis (in one form or another)
actually came to power.”
Then again, Strugatsky considers this unlikely: “That place is
taken, and no one’s planning to give it up to anyone, including
the neo-Nazis.”
All the same, when this interview (done shortly before Victory Day)
asked him why the fascism-immunity our country acquired in 1941-45
has turned out to be so weak, Strugatsky replied that our country has
never developed immunity to fascism as such. What it had was hatred
of German fascism: “All those visuals of SS officers, death camps,
murdered civilians, our country’s devastations, the millions who
never came back from the war – all this, taken together, was called
‘the brutal face of German fascism.'” But in the Russian mindset,
all this coexisted easily with “our innate xenophobia, our approval
of strong-man rule and harsh measures, the notorious concept of
‘order,’ and the other attributes of common Nazism – nothing other
than dictatorship of the nationalists.”
These days, opinion polls indicate that xenophobic attitudes are on
the rise: over 50% of respondents approve of the “Russia for Russians”
slogan to some extent. [Ekspert] magazine reports that “over half
of respondents dislike Chechens and Roma; these figures reach 60-70%
among respondents under 25.”
[Novoe Vremya] magazine maintains that xenophobia is “a consequence
of the lawlessness that has come to dominate Russia.”
According to [Novoe Vremya], the prolonged period of Communist rule
produced a “special kind of morality” and a “special, communal type
of person” to go with it: “When those in power can steal openly and
kill with impunity, theft and murder cease to be sins. Everything is
permitted – as long as ‘they’ remain untouched.”
[Novoe Vremya] quotes the radical Petr Yakovlevich Chaadaev from almost
two centuries ago: “In the face of our misfortunes, I believe it is
permissible to refrain from sharing the ambitions of the unbridled
patriotism that has brought our country to the brink of destruction and
now thinks to rescue the country by persisting in its own illusions,
unwilling to acknowledge the desperate situation those illusions
have created.”
The 19th Century writer’s thoughts are echoed by Boris Strugatsky:
“As long as xenophobia and approval of dictatorship exist in Russia,
neo-Nazism will remain a first-degree looming threat.”
These statements appear to be two sides of the same coin.

CHELTENHAM MAYOR TELLS OF AIR CRASH SYMPATHIES
Gloucestershire Echo, UK
May 9, 2006 Tuesday
Cheltenham mayor Brian Chaplin has offered his sympathies to families
of the victims of the air crash at Sochi in Russia.
Sochi has been one of Cheltenham’s twin towns since 1959.
On Wednesday, an Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia plunged
into the Black Sea as it tried to land.
The accident claimed the lives of 113 people.
Coun Chaplin said: “It’s a concern to anyone with any compassion such
as with any tragedy like this anywhere in the world.
“It hasn’t directly affected the people of Sochi but is still
a tragedy.”
Trips to Sochi for Cheltenham residents have been organised for June
17 to 27 and the end of September.