CIS, EURASEC, SCO, CES AND OTHERS: GENESIS OF POST-SOVIET INTEGRATION PROCESSES
Regnum, Russia
June 25 2006
A session of EurAsEC Interstate Council presided by Byelorussian
President Alexander Lukashenko convened in Minsk on June 23. The
agenda has been announced beforehand: the heads of states discussed
Uzbekistan’s access to the organization, creation of the Customs union,
and the concept of EurAsEC’s international policy were discussed.
EurAsEC is an international economic organization whose functions
are to form common external custom borders of its founding countries
(Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan),
developing a common foreign economic policy, tariffs, prices, and
other constituents of common market functioning. A treaty on EurAsEC
foundation was signed on October 10, 2000 in Kazakhstani capital
Astana by presidents of Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
and Tajikistan. In May 2002, a EurAsEC observer status was granted to
Moldavian and Ukrainian leaderships on their request, later Armenia
also received the status.
EurAsEC is an open organization. It could be accessed by any state
that will not only take on responsibilities defined in the Convention
on the foundation of the Community and other conventions effective in
the framework of the Community, but will also take efforts to meet
these obligations. EurAsEC observer status is granted to a state or
an international (intergovernmental) organization on their request.
EurAsEC is a successor of the CIS Customs union that is fully
consistent with the UNO principles and international legal norms. It
is designed to effectively promote the process of creating by the CIS
Customs union member countries of a Common Economic Space (CES) and
coordinating their approaches to the integration into international
economic and trade system.
Among the top near-term EurAsEC priorities are:
1) transport: solving the problem of common tariffs, increasing
commodity traffic, simplifying customs rules, completing internal
official procedures on the signed conventions, and creating
transnational forwarding corporations;
2) power industry: joint exploration of hydro-energy complexes in
Central Asia, solving the problem of energy and water supplies,
and creating a common energy budget;
3) workforce migration: assuring migrants’ social protection, creating
an effective system of regulation and control of workforce migration,
combating migration-related crime, solving problems due to migrants’
and their employers’ taxpaying;
4) agro-industrial complex: coordinating agricultural policies of
EurAsEC member countries, creating a common grocery market of Community
member countries, reducing transporting expenses, and establishing
new market institutions in the field.
Interestingly, EurAsEC creation and functioning is considered one of
the most successful projects within the CIS. On June 7 2006, Community
Secretary General Grigoriy Rapota said that the Minsk session would
become decisive in EurAsEC formation and development.
He also informed that a Customs union contractual base of 12 agreements
had been developed on the expert level, 16 more agreements still were
to be adopted. Discussing access of EurAsEC member states to the WTO
was also planned to be discussed at the meeting. “How the Customs union
can be married to accessing WTO? There are several options,” Rapota
said. “First is to create a Customs union, with its eventual access to
WTO. Another option is to join WTO independently, coordinating member
countries’ positions with all others, thereby minimizing possible
‘damage.'” Rapota also said that almost everything was ready for
the Customs union establishment; time schedules and development pace
remained to be set.
The CIS has essentially accomplished its historical mission. And the
fact that a number of CIS member countries – seriously or jokingly –
announced their intent to exit the organization since the beginning of
2006 is yet another evidence of the trend. Nobody is questioning such
intentions; in fact, Russia’s authorities themselves openly admitted
that the CIS had been created for the “civilized divorce” of the former
union republics. They also pointed out to the fact that it is thanks
to the CIS that former Soviet republics managed to escape repeating
the Balkan-style “blood-bath divorce” on the post-Soviet space.
A lot of CIS “subsidiaries” have been created right inside the CIS
all along its existence: Customs union, Central Asian union, Eurasian
union, the Russia-Belarus Union State, and, of course, GUUAM-GUAM.
For different reasons, the only effective structure within the CIS is
CSTO which is a military, military-political, and military-technical
rather than economic cooperation organization. In other words, at
least for the six CIS member countries, the set of challenges and
risks of the current period appeared to be a better unifying factor
than the desire to join efforts catching up with economic development
of the world “economic locomotives” and improving welfare of their
own peoples.
That is why, frankly speaking, as early as when the projects on
EurAsEC and CES creation started to emerge, they were envisioned
as prototypes of some political and economic future of CIS and all
the integration structures that were created within it. Only with a
greater accent on purely economic aspects, rather than military and
military-related ones, due to the necessity of developing cooperation
in such a sensitive field as establishing national security of member
countries from the viewpoint of joint resisting the attacks of the
terrorist “international.”
The year 2006 is, however, a decisive one in many respects. May be that
is why we sense the tension and hear public apprehension voiced in a
number of western capitals, related directly to the efforts to take
steps towards further EurAsEC development? All the more so, toward the
development of SCO that is, we believe, is also one of the integration
structures that arouse within the CIS, despite the Chinese membership?
The western creature (some argue that it is a purely a U.S.-Turkish
strategic project) in the face of GUUAM kicked the bucket after
the so-called “Andijan events,” when the Uzbekistani leadership got
disappointed in the U.S. tutelage over the “democratic processes”
in Central Asia. First, the leadership almost immediately drew the U.S.
military base out of the Uzbekistani territory. Second, it also did
not hesitate to withdraw from GUUAM, which automatically returned
the bloc to the embryo state. Third, on January 25, it formalized
Uzbekistan’s full-fledged membership in EurAsEC. This was how the
initiative to create and raise a U.S.-Turkish Trojan horse within the
CIS to counterweight the growing Russian influence on the Eurasian
space collapsed.
True, instead of GUUAM-GUAM, the CIS public received a set of two odd
symbiotic structures: the Organization for Democracy and Economic
Development-GUAM (ODED-GUAM) and the notorious Commonwealth of
Democratic Choice (CDC). If one looks at them closely, they will
notice that “geographically speaking,” the only aim of creating
these quasi-structures (whose member countries have very little in
common economically) is imposing strict limits on Russia’s room for
maneuver in the Baltic and Black Sea regions, as well as fencing
these reservoirs from other CIS countries who decided not to put
bets on the openly anti-Russian integration structures created in
the post-Soviet space.
It is hard to believe that the proposed ODED-GUAM and CDC projects
would create “alternative” to Russia suppliers or transit zones of
energy carriers in the post-Soviet space, as is apparently desired
by the Washington gurus of the “Baltic-Black Sea union.” For all the
projects put forward by Baltic, Ukrainian, and Georgian spokespeople
could be at best described as economically unprofitable from the
start. Indeed, they are not at all economic in their nature: they
just broadcast of the anti-Russian political trend that has become so
popular today to the west, north-west, and south-west of the modern
borders of the Russian Federation.
The senseless strategic projects are not viable, no matter how many
states were pushed in their boundaries by the authors of the projects,
and how much money was assigned for the waste paper.
Speaking frankly, today, both the patrons of ODED-GUAM and CDC and the
heads of member states of these structures do not have as much time as
they used to have in the 1990s when foundations for the anti-Russian
strategic projects were laid in the post-Soviet space.
Really well-grounded Eurasian projects mentioned above, like EurAsEC,
CES, and, of course, the SCO are a different story. In fact, CSTO
and SCO have started cooperation, at least, in the issue of joint
resistance to the international terrorism.
Today, it is becoming ultimately clear that in some of their aspects
the original plans of EurAsEC, CES, and CSTO creators also crashed,
since it was assumed that, sooner or later, Ukraine would become
a qualified member of these integration projects. As we can see,
the “revolutionary” leadership of the modern Ukraine is even ready
to induce the emergence of intra-national “demarcation lines,” as
long as it “breaks away” and becomes the updated “sanitary cordon”
designed to “restrain” Russia and her allies. As for the Ukraine’s
desire to trench herself all along the Russian-Ukrainian border, it
is reminiscent of a swift-flowing episode of regressive schizophrenia,
just as the revived talks about Kievan Rus being a historical precursor
of Ukraine, not of Russia.
Therefore, we must give up the hope that the Ukrainian leadership at
some last moment will “jump on a departing train,” realizing that
all the western roads, except for the one to NATO, are blocked by
exactly economical barriers richly seasoned with political reasoning
about the Constitution of the United Europe not being ratified. In
this case, perspectives of EurAsEC and CES, rather than of CSTO,
are more interesting, although these days in Minsk issues are being
discussed at the CSTO, not CES Heads of states’ council.
If we manage to resolve issues impeding activities of EurAsEC member
countries, then, keeping in mind that the Community is in its essence
an expanded CES option, we should also remember that the structure
still remains open for new memberships, i.e., to everyone, including
states that have never been CIS or former USSR members. Comparing
the levels of interstate negotiations, especially for the last 6-8
months, one will notice that countries that have never been former
USSR members are interested not only in SCO but also EurAsEC.
Opinions have already been voiced that the Ukraine itself (apparently,
the country will soon also depart from its observer status in the
Community) could be replaced in the margins of the structure by
Iran who already has an observer status in the SCO and continues to
develop ties and cooperation almost with all the CIS member countries
bordering it.
Thus, the Minsk summits will really become decisive ones. But not
only for the EurAsEC further development. Essentially, the issue at
stake is about what the geopolitical layout in the post-Soviet space
may become on the eve of G8 summit in St. Petersburg coming July.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN TO EARN $140 BLN FOR 20 YEARS
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 25 2006
By estimation of international financial institutions, Azerbaijan
will earn $140 bln only from the oil projects for 20 years.
“Azerbaijan will take advantage of these opportunities to strengthen
the army, so that any moment it could win our occupied lands back. I
have no doubt about that and hope that our policy will lead to this,”
said President Ilham Aliyev at the graduation ceremony at the Heydar
Aliyev High Military School.
According to the President, Armenia gets nothing by temporizing.
“The time is not working for them, and on the contrary, the time is
on our side” said the President.
“Azerbaijan will never put up with separation of Nagorno-Karabakh
from Azerbaijan, and will restore its territorial integrity by either
peaceful or military means.”

ARMENIA’S NON-CONSTRUCTIVE STANCE DOES NOT ALLOW RESOLVING CONFLICT
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 25 2006
Speaking at the graduation ceremony at Heydar Aliyev high
military school President Ilham Aliyev said that resolution of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the number one
problem for Azerbaijan.
“Unfortunately, there is no progress in this sphere. Indeed, the
talks are going on; the talks are being held within some framework.
However, they are all not effective because we cannot achieve any
results” said President Ilham Aliyev in his speech.
According to the Head of State, Azerbaijan’s commitment to the
negotiations for over ten years demonstrates its constructivism.
Despite occupation of Azerbaijani lands and the fact that over 1
million Azerbaijan became refugees and IDPs because of the Armenia’s
policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijan, our country is trying
to take advantage of all the available opportunities for peace.
Therefore, Azerbaijan’s stance in the negotiations is very
constructive. Unfortunately, Armenia’s non-constructive stance does
not allow us to resolve this conflict.
“I reiterate that we highly appraise the efforts of the international
community, their decisions including the activity of the OSCE
Minsk Group. Indeed, they try to secure an agreement. Armenia’s
non-constructive stance, disregard for the international legal norms
do not allow to settle the conflict. In this case, Azerbaijan should
make some corrections in its policy. Our patience is not endless,”
added the President.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“LIVE FREE OR DIE”
By: Preston Taran*
AMIN – Arabic Media Internet Network
June 25 2006
This simple phrase is something that should be taken to heart by the
Palestinian people. By now it should be clear to the Palestinians,
that aside from words by a few European leftists, they are clearly
alone. Remember, they cannot be fed by these words. Whether Hamas
recognizes Israel or not, they will still be without help. During
the two Intifadas worldwide support was minimal. Not even their Arab
brothers helped them. Perhaps, Arab states are fearful that many
aspects of the Palestinian people are more advanced than their own
societies (a free press, but for how long?)
South Africa received support and obtained their independence. The
Armenians, though ignored eventually obtained a state of their own.
The list of successful independence movements is endless. The
Palestinians in comparison are forgotten and ignored. Perhaps, they
have a poor public relations section in their ministry, both now and
in the past.
The Palestinian people are starved in more ways than one. Not only
is their economy in shambles, but even their military ordnance is
pathetic. Their childlike rockets are useless and only give the
Israelis an excuse to pummel them with real firepower. What is next?
A civil war?
Should they not look at themselves and say that even if they accept
the Israeli state, they will not be free? Freedom is earned with
unselfish sacrifices by the community as a whole; not with wishful
thinking and platitudes.
What is to be done? I have come to the conclusion that the immortal
words “Live Free or Die: Death is Not the Worst of Evils” is something
that is quite relevant at this fateful juncture in history.
These words of American Revolutionary war hero General John Stark in
1809 (the hero of the Battle of Bennington in August, 1777) should be
taken to heart. Stark knew that life was pointless without the basic
freedoms given to us by the Creator. Having a beating heart is not
the only criteria for living.
The Palestinian people have not one corner of their rump state safe
from Israeli aggression. The children and others die on a daily basis,
so we can no longer say that to be militant will cost lives. A greater
effort must be made to obtain their rightful place in the community
of nations. Palestinian life is already cheap in the eyes of the world.
It is time to do anything that any people desiring to be free would
do. Ultimate sacrifices must be made, as they were in our American
Revolution and for that matter during our Civil War. Men sacrificed
their lives so a nation united and free could come into being. Yes,
to live as a slave is a far worse proposition than to be sacrificed
in order that a sovereign Palestinian state becomes a reality.
* Preston Taran is a writer and editor living in New York.

SOAD CALGARY BOUND
By MIKE BELL — Calgary Sun
Jam! Showbiz, Canada
June 25 2006
For System Of A Down, the vacation is over.
Now, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get back to work.
Well, in order to get ready for summer vacation.
Which, um, will precede an extended vacation.
Don’t question it, or even attempt to make sense of it, just be
thankful the Armenian-American metal band is returning to our fair
city for a ‘Dome show Monday.
And for those who were lucky enough to catch the band nine months
ago in the same venue, drummer John Dolmayan says that first break
in SOAD’s schedule bodes well for their return visit.
“We haven’t toured for over seven months and we have a lot of desire
to get out there and play onstage again,” Dolmayan says from his home
during a break in his World Cup-viewing.
“So we’ll probably have a little bit more energy than we had last time.
“Last time we came out it was after about five months of touring,
and you know how it is, you just burnout after awhile, you get tired.
“Although you may not have noticed it, we feel like near the end
of the tour we get a little tired — now you’re catching us on the
beginning of the tour.
“Nice and fresh.
“Although,” he says jokingly, “you’ll have to deal with whatever
cobwebs are there …”
Of course, those who caught the quartet’s incredible show last
September will take them however they can get them, especially because,
since that show the band released its second album of 2005 Hypnotize,
the companion piece to the earlier dropped Mezmerize.
With the pair of albums and a year of touring, burnout was
understandable.
That’s also the reason after the brief tour they’re embarking on,
SOAD will follow it up with a stint on this year’s Ozzfest, something
Dolmayan likens to summer camp for bands, because of its easy pace
and enjoyable atmosphere.
And then, once those shows wrap up, the band will take an extended
hiatus, which the Lebanese-born drummer estimates will last more than
two years.
While there have been rumours the break will be permanent, fuelled
further by confirmation guitarist Daron Malakian is starting a new band
Scars On Broadway — with bassist Shavo Odadjian a likely member —
Dolmayan says the temporary cessation of SOAD business will likely
further the band’s career.
“It’s hard to maintain focus after so many years of doing the same
thing over and over again,” he says. “We need a break from each other
as well as the whole scene and the pressures of being in a band that’s
at the level were at.”
As to how he’ll spend the next couple of years, Dolmayan says he
won’t pursue a musical project of his own, noting he has no wish to
be a songwriter, even admitting he’s not that good at it.
“Everyone’s got a position, and I’m happy with mine.”
Instead, he’ll spend the time doing something else he loves.
“I’m starting a comic book company based on the Internet …,” he says.
“That’s what I’ll be pretty much diverting most of my attention to.
It’s my other passion — I love music and comics are what I’ve also
been into since I was a kid.
“I’m a nerd, man. I’m staying true to my nerd roots.

GREEK CYPRIOT AMBASSADOR WAS NOT WELCOME IN AZERBAIJAN
Mehtap Cicekcar (JTW) With Hurriyet 23 June 2006
Journal of Turkish Weekly
June 25 2006
Greek Cypriot Ambassador to Moscow, Leonidas Pantelides, met with
frustration on a trip he took two days ago to the Azerbayjianian
capital of Baku to attempt to block decisions made in support of
Northern Cyprus at a meeting of Islamic Conference Organization
(IKO-ICO) foreign ministers. Pantelides was reportedly unable to
receive a hotel room in Baku, and spent the night going between bars,
restaurants, and the streets of the capital. The Greek Cyprus has
made efforts to prevent any co-operation between the European Union
and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan had started direct flight to the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) last year.
According to sources in Turkey, Ankara had known that the Greek
Cypriots would be sending a representative to the ICO meeting,
and had contacted Baku authorities to ask that the Greek Cypriot
representative be blocked from the meeting.
When in fact the Greek Cypriot authority did send Pantelides, the Azeri
leadership told him that they would not extend accreditation to him for
the ICO conference, and that all the hotels in the capital were full.
At a previous IKO conference in Yemen, a Greek Cypriot ambassador did
succeed in entering into proceedings, even attempting to participate
in a commemorative group photograph, though he was discovered by the
Turkish delegation at the last moment.
Meanwhile, one of the results from the ICO conference in regards to
Northern Cyprus was a firm proclamation in support of the entity, with
a stress on the necessity of lifting current isolationary blockades
on the northern side of the island.
It is also reported that Azerbaijan is not happy with the close
relations between Greek Cyprus and Armenia. Both states signed
aggrements including military and intelligence co-operation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MAILER EFFECTS LAST: LONG AFTER ELECTION GLENDALE COUNCILMAN WANTS PROBE
By Eugene Tong, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
June 25 2006
GLENDALE – If the City Council were a high school cafeteria, Councilman
Frank Quintero – at least for now – would be the quiet kid forced to
eat lunch by himself.
Weeks after a failed state Assembly run in which he caught flak for
an attack mailer some denounced as anti-Armenian, the mood around
him seemed tense at last week’s council meeting.
In contrast, the other four council members – three of them
Armenian-Americans – joked and jibed while approving budgets and
countering critics.
“It’s almost like he’s a whipped puppy dog, losing that election,”
said Barry Allen, head of a local watchdog group called Vanguard.
Quintero, who lost to Burbank school board member Paul Krekorian in
the 43rd Assembly District’s June 6 Democratic primary, has denied any
connection with the offending mailer distributed by the Oakland-based
California Latino Leadership Fund.
“I don’t have any ill feelings toward any council member,” he said
in an interview. “I had nothing to do with that flier. It was an
independent expenditure.”
The mailer sought to link his Armenian-American opponent to terrorism
by way of the Armenian National Committee of America, which endorsed
Krekorian. A former ANC leader no longer tied to the advocacy group
was sentenced in 2001 to 37 years in prison for stolen explosives
and weapons possession.
“Things like this shouldn’t be happening,” said Councilman Bob
Yousefian, who was among those offended by the mailer. “And this was
done by people who had been discriminated (against) in the first place.
“All bets are off against the candidate (when running for office).
But when you attack a whole group of people, I don’t think that’s
fair game.”
Quintero said he was ready to put the campaign behind him and return
to work. He also is pressing for a state investigation of the mailer,
a matter the City Council is slated to consider Tuesday.
“I’m back at the job I was elected to do,” he said. “I’m looking
forward to spending my time working (on) city issues. There are plenty
of things we need to work on.”
But members of the council’s Armenian-American majority may not be
as forgiving.
“(Quintero) has chosen to completely deny it and not take
responsibility for it,” Yousefian said. “He has to take some
responsibility for it.
“Time has a tendency to heal things. I hope that will take place. I
think Frank is going to have to take steps to basically wave the
olive branch.”
Councilman Ara Najarian – who is also pushing for an investigation
to help “clear up some of the air” – downplayed the flap.
“There may be some tense and uneasy moments,” he said. “(But) we’re
not going to vote against Frank just because he votes one way. We’re
not trying to isolate him or alienate him. He’s a full-fledged member,
and I for one expect him to participate fully.”
It’s in the best interest of politicians to make nice, said Sherry
Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at University of Southern
California’s School of Planning and Public Policy.
“To get anything done in politics takes a majority of the vote,” she
said. “You can’t hold a grudge.” But with three Armenian-Americans
on the council, “the defeated candidate has a harder job.”
City Manager Jim Starbird, who has more than 30 years’ experience
in municipal management, is optimistic that the council will remain
functional.
“Maintaining a professional relationship despite their differences is
always important in maintaining a council that will function well,”
he said. “I’m hopeful that we can separate the campaign issues that
arose from the Assembly race and the issues that confront the city.
“You don’t really expect all members of a council to think alike all
the time. What’s important is how they express these differences, and
working through the differences they have and coming to a conclusion.”
As for Quintero, who was elected in 2001 with help from the ANC,
he still has time to mend bridges with his former supporters.
“He still has two more years before the next election,” Allen said.

WOMAN HELPED CREATE PITT’S ARMENIAN ROOM
By Jerry Vondas
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA
June 25 2006
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
August 1988 had a special meaning for Alice Kabakjian Lewis, daughter
of Armenian immigrants who achieved the American dream – that of
raising their family in a society devoid of sectarian strife.
During that month, the Armenian Nationality Room was added to the
Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh, a project that
Mrs. Lewis; her husband, Alexander Lewis; and numerous members of
the Armenian community strived to complete.
Alice K. Lewis, 91, of Mt. Lebanon, died Thursday, June 22, 2006,
in St. Clair Hospital, Mt. Lebanon.
“Alice and her husband, from the very beginning of the Armenian Room
project, were faithful members and very generous donors to the room,
which is patterned after a 10th- to 12th-century Armenian monastery
library,” said E. Maxine Bruhns, director of the Nationality Rooms
Program.
“They followed it through until its dedication,” she added.
Dennis Lewis recalled his mother’s pride in helping to create the
Armenian Room.
“Although the Armenian community in Pittsburgh is rather small,
they represent a group of Christians who date back to the early days
of Christianity,” he added. “The room and its artifacts serve as a
memory of a cultured people.
“Although my brothers, Alex and Brady, and myself were raised in a
typical American household, we’re proud of our Armenian heritage,”
Dennis Lewis said.
Lewis also recalled the achievements of his maternal grandparents,
Dicran and Dicranouhi Kabakjian, who arrived in the United States in
1912. His grandfather became a professor of physics at the University
of Pennsylvania and raised his mother and her siblings in the Lansdowne
area of Delaware County.
In 1936, Alice Kabakjian received a degree in English from the
University of Pennsylvania.
Shortly afterward, she met Alexander Lewis, who at the time was
completing a master’s degree in chemistry at Penn.
“My parents were married in 1942,” Dennis Lewis said. “Dad entered the
Navy and for the next three years my parents were based in California,
where Dad was involved in analyzing the fuel supplies used by the
military.
“They arrived in Pittsburgh in 1946, when Dad went to work for
Gulf Oil. Dad had the opportunity to receive his doctorate from the
University of Pittsburgh and in later years was appointed president
of the Gulf Oil Foundation.”
Because of Alexander Lewis’ position with Gulf Oil, the family traveled
around the world, Dennis Lewis recalled.
“It was never dull,” he said. “My mother, who was fluent in French,
was a big asset for my father in his travels.
“She was an active member of Southminster Presbyterian Church (Mt.
Lebanon) and took the time to write a book about the Armenian genocide
in 1915.
“She interviewed her Aunt Grace and titled her book “Shnorhig,” which
means grace in Armenian,” he added. “Her aunt was one of 20 Armenian
female music students who attended Anatolia College in Merzifon,
Turkey, and, with the protection of the American consulate, were able
to escape the genocide.”
Mrs. Lewis is survived by her sons, Alexander III, of Lafayette,
Calif., Dennis, of Mt. Lebanon, and Brady Lewis, of Squirrel Hill;
six grandchildren; and sisters Louise Treichel and Lillian Bailey,
both of Philadelphia.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Alexander Lewis Jr., and
her brothers, Raymond and Armen Kabakjian.
Friends will be welcomed from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today at the
Laughlin Memorial Chapel, 222 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Monday in Southminster Presbyterian Church.
Interment will be in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery.

IRAN’S WESTERN BEHAVIOR DESERVES CRITICISM
by Rostam Pourzal
Monthly Review, VA
June 25 2006
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Iran must really adore
the American model of state conduct. Contrary to popular perceptions,
the decision-makers in Tehran agree with their nemesis, Akbar Ganji,
who recently told the Voice of America that the West was “the cradle
of civilization.” Two recent moves by Iran are especially noteworthy
in this regard.
First, the police in Tehran try to imitate the beating of women
in Turkey on the International Women’s Day of 2005. Turkey is the
closest ally of the US and Israel in all of Middle East and North
Africa, and its security apparatus is modeled after and integrated
with Washington’s war on terrorism. Now comes evidence that the
Iranian leadership is inspired by America’s disrespect for the United
Nations, too.
Following the precedent set by President Bush’s appointment of the
thuggish John Bolton as the US ambassador to the world body, Iran is
sending its notorious former prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, who locked
up Ganji for six years, to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
The Bush Administration must be feeling pretty flattered.
But appearances can be misleading. Photographic evidence indicates
that Istanbul police savagely attacked and beat up the peaceful rally
of women on March 8 of last year, rather than just try to disperse
them. In these photos, the Turkish protesters are running from the
police, with panic clearly visible on their faces. It is a sign of how
far behind “civilization” Iran is that the widely condemned images
of the police breakup of Tehran women’s protest earlier this month
show no such pandemonium.
Iran also lags behind Turkey in its treatment of Armenians, a
Christian minority native to the region. Thousands of Armenians march
freely through Tehran every year to commemorate the genocide their
co-religionists suffered in the Ottoman Empire ninety years ago. By
contrast, Turkey severely punishes any public hint that well over
one million Armenians were massacred by the Turks. Armenian citizens
of Turkey are reluctant to speak out on the genocide even when they
travel abroad for fear that they will be placed under surveillance for
“national security risk” when they return.
Iran has much catching up to do, especially as Turkey is not the only
US ally that is ahead of it in teaching women the price of protest.
Two months after the Istanbul beatings, a few hundred women were
savaged by state troopers in Bhopal, India, as they gathered to
protest the contamination of local ground water. You may recall
that some 7,000 Indians died in Bhopal within days after a massive
toxic leak from a local factory of the American chemical giant Union
Carbide. Ever since that fateful night in 1984, India has not dared
push the company hard to compensate the survivors, because it is
afraid bad publicity will discourage American investment in India.
The Bhopal women were attacked last May for demanding that the
government at least provide safe drinking water, because their well
water is still contaminated with the leaked Union Carbide toxins. By
contrast, I noticed on Iran’s sparsely populated Qeshm Island in
2000 that the islanders no longer drink their salty ground water
like generations before them, because boatloads of fresh water are
regularly sent there by the Iranian government for free.
Alas, at this rate, we will never catch up with America’s proxy
woman-beaters in India. According to Amnesty International, 15,000
Bhopal inhabitants have died of injuries inflicted by the Union Carbide
leak. That is five times the highest estimate of the Kurdish death
toll from Saddam Hussein’s bombardment of Halabja with chemicals that
he procured from the NATO allies of the US. 100,000 more in Bhopal
are still suffering from chronic, debilitating effects of the Union
Carbide poisoning, according to AI.
But we should not lose all hope; some “civilization,” as Akbar Ganji
calls it, will trickle down to Iran from the West. For example, Iran’s
controversial appointment of Saeed Mortazavi as a delegate to the UN
Human Rights Commission is a sign that Tehran is fully committed to
closing the gap. According to Human Rights Watch, Mr.
Mortezavi “has been implicated in torture, illegal detention, and
coercing false confessions by numerous former prisoners.” It is too
early to tell whether Mortazavi can compete with the US ambassador
to the UN, John Bolton, for viciousness. Bolton’s record, too, is
far from ordinary.
He received his early political inspiration in the 1964 campaign of
Barry Goldwater, the Arizona Senator remembered for his promise to
use nuclear weapons against North Vietnam if elected president.
Jesse Helms, one of the most racist Neanderthals ever to chair the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was another Bolton admirer. He
said fondly that Bolton was “the kind of man with whom I would want
to stand at the gates of Armageddon.”
Piety did not stop Helms or Bolton from defending the Chilean mass
murderer Augusto Pinochet or the Contra mercenaries who terrorized
Nicaragua. It was such outrageousness that drove Larry Birns, the
director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, to say of Bolton’s
nomination as UN ambassador: “[T]here is no one in U.S. public life
today more ill-suited for that position than Bolton. His nomination
reflects nothing less than an affront to the American people, the
diplomatic community and people of goodwill everywhere. . . .” 59
former US ambassadors painted a similar picture of Bolton in opposition
to his nomination.
Bolton’s fondness for Contra-style war crimes was quite evident
when he led the push in 2001 as Undersecretary of State to withdraw
Washington’s signature on the Rome Treaty, thereby putting the Bush
Administration at odds with the new International Criminal Court. He
told the Wall Street Journal that ending the American endorsement
of the ICC was “the happiest moment of my government service.” Had
the US not quit the ICC, American atrocities in Afghanistan, Iraq,
and elsewhere could, of course, be brought before the court today as
war crimes.
We could also discuss how Iran imitates American interference in Iraq,
executions by the dozen in Texas, torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghreib
prisons, Bush’s opposition to women’s right to abortion, and a host
of other “civilized” behavior. You get the idea. Now someone tell
Akbar Ganji and other heroes of the Iranian opposition movement.
Based in Washington DC, Rostam Pourzal writes regularly on the
politics of human rights. MRZine has also published Pourzal’s
“Market Fundamentalists Lose in Iran (For Now)” (3 August 2005);
“Open Letter to Iran’s Nobel Laureate” (27 February 2006); “Open
Letter to Iran’s Nobel Laureate: Part 2” (9 March 2006); “The Shah:
America’s Nuclear Poster Boy” (25 May 2006); “Iranian Cold Warriors
in Sheep’s Clothing” (20 May 2006); “MEK Tricks US Progressives,
Gains Legitimacy” (12 June 2006); and “What Really Happened in Tehran
on June 12? Did Human Rights Watch Get It Wrong?” (18 June 2006).

EXPERT: SPEAKING OF SETTLING THE NK CONFLICT IN A YEAR OR TWO IS TOO OPTIMISTIC
Regnum, Russia
June 25 2006
“Nagorno Karabakh is a conflicting party, and the people of the
republic is not only object but also a subject of international law.
And it is the people that has to decide its own fate,” researcher
at the Institute of World Economics and International Relations
of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian political scientist,
turcologist Victor Nadein-Rayevskiy said at a news briefing at the
Caucasus Institute for Democracy.
He said that each country has to be granted certain guarantees.
“Resolving a conflict depends on the readiness of the conflicting
parties to compromise, on the capability to respect one’s partner and
understand their apprehensions in security issues.” However, so far
we do not have such guarantees, first of all, from the Azerbaijani
party. “Despite the Azerbaijani party’s promises of widest possible
autonomy to the Nagorno Karabakh, up to the level Tatarstan enjoys in
Russia, apprehensions of both Nagorno Karabakh government and people
are not dismissed.” Nadein-Rayevskiy also found it relevant to remind
the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the South Ossetian
conflict. “President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that people we also
have to consult with. It is the people who have to decide their fate –
that is the essence of democracy,” Nadein-Rayevskiy said.
He reckons that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is “very far from being
resolved.” “Arguing that, in a year or two, it will be possible to
make a progress in the settlement process, is too optimistic.”