RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER DISCUSSES CIS SECURITY ISSUES AT BAKU NEWS CONFERENCE
Interfax-AVN military news agency website, Moscow
31 May 06
At a news conference following the meeting of CIS defence ministers
in Baku on 31 May Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister
Sergey Ivanov commented on a number of regional and international
security issues.
On the subject of Iran, Ivanov said that Russia’s proposals on
resolving the nuclear problem remained under consideration. “Russia
has made a number of well-known proposals and initiatives, which
remain on the negotiating table, and as far as I know, these were
positively received by the international community,” AVN (0700 gmt)
quoted him as saying. “Russia, on the one hand, believes that every
country should have the right to benefit from using nuclear energy
for peaceful purposes, but, on the other hand, advocates that all
international nuclear non-proliferation regimes be very strictly
observes and enforced,” he added.
Ivanov proposed bringing the adapted Conventional Armed Forces in
Europe (CFE) Treaty into force on a temporary basis from October
this year, a second AVN report said (0736 gmt). “We are fulfilling
all our obligations under the CFE, including under the flank zone
restrictions in the North Caucasus,” Ivanov stressed. Pointing out that
the adapted treaty has so far only been ratified by four countries,
including Russia, he said this was a sign of “double standards”
in the evaluation of Russian and US military presences abroad.
He saw the recent agreement allowing the USA to set up a base in
Bulgaria, which could house up to 5,000 troops, as further proof of
this. “In response to our question about the purpose of this [base] we
are told that this is an insignificant military presence,” he said. “At
the same time, demands are made that Russia withdraws its peacekeepers
from the Dniester region, where there are only 1,500 of them. Some
of them fulfil peacekeeping functions and prevent the resumption of
military actions between Moldova and the Dniester region, and some –
several hundred – guard ammunition and property depots that have been
left behind by the former 14th Army.” “We have already withdrawn all
the heavy hardware restricted under the CFE from there, but we cannot
abandon these depots, because this is Russian property and we are a
responsible state, and we cannot allow this ammunition to find a way
into somebody else’s – terrorists’ – hands. We will guard these depots
until a political settlement of the Dniester problem is achieved,”
Ivanov said.
Speaking on regional issues, the Russian defence minister raised
the possibility of sending a peacekeeping contingent into Nagornyy
Karabakh and said that the rotation of Russian peacekeepers in South
Ossetia would continue, despite complaints from the Georgian Defence
Ministry. He insisted that the withdrawal of Russian military hardware
from the Akhalkalaki base in Georgia to Armenia would not have negative
effects in the region. “This cannot lead to the destabilization of
the military-political situation in the region.
Moreover, the withdrawal of this hardware does not violate the flank
zone restrictions of the CFE,” a further AVN report (0740 gmt) quoted
him as saying.
Ivanov also told the news conference that Russia believes that the
Caspian states (Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and
Iran) should be responsible for ensuring security and order in the
areas without the intervention of third parties, AVN reported at 0855
gmt. “We must introduce order here – we must fight against poaching,
the pollution of the Caspian and the drugs trafficking, which takes
place in the region. This is all in our hands,” he said
At 0801 RIA-Novosti added that Ivanov had also commented on Russia’s
decision to pull out of a project to build An-70 military-transport
aircraft with Ukraine. “As for the An-70 project, this project is
being carried out in accordance with technical requirements set out
in 1984 and there is still no end to the work in sight. We will see
what happens next,” he said, promising the Defence Ministry would
issue a separate statement on the issue.

SERGEY LAVROV: THE CONFLICTS IN KARABAKH AND CYPRUS CAN BE RESOLVED WITH THE CONSENT OF THE SIDES
ArmRadio.am
01.06.2006 15:56
“It’s hard to compare the conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh and Cyprus,
but the common thing is that these can be resolved with the consent of
the sides only,” declared RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov preceding
his upcoming visit to Ankara.
“Russia does not only observe the conflicts, but also participates
in international efforts to resolve these.” In case of Cyprus,
it is the UN Security Council format and the leading role of the
five permanent members. In case of Nagorno-Karabakh it is the OSCE
Minsk Group format. In both cases the major efforts are directed at
maintenance of direct dialogue to provide for mutually acceptable
results,” Sergey Lavrov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN LEADER AND WB REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSSED IMPLEMENTATION OF JOINT PROGRAMS
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.05.2006 18:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
World Bank Country Director for Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus
Donna Dowsett-Coirolo and WB Yerevan Office Director Roger Robinson,
reports the Press Service of the Armenian leader. During the meeting
the parties appreciated the process of implementation and results of
joint programs. Dowsett-Coirolo informed that Armenia is leading in the
World Bank rating on implementation of WB programs and steps undertaken
to improve business and investment atmosphere. Expressing satisfaction
with that fact, the President stated that the republic will not stop on
what is achieved and the process of reforms will continue. The matter
of struggle against corruption was also discussed. The Armenian leader
informed that process of reforms in the judicial and legal sphere
has been launched and Armenia expects consultative assistance from
the WB in that respect.

MONTENEGRO IS BACK ON THE MAP, AND IT NEED NOT BECOME RURITANIA: EUROPE IS THE WORLD’S LEADING THEATRE OF STATE PROLIFERATION, BUT MORE DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN WORSE
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Jun 01, 2006
How many countries are there in Europe? Your answer depends on what
you mean by Europe – and what you mean by a country. The European
Union currently has 25 member states. The Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has 55 “participating states”, but
they include Andorra, the Holy See, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San
Marino, which are all within the bounds of the EU without being member
states, and Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Canada and the United States – some or all
of which would not be considered by some or most Europeans to be in
Europe. When the central Asian “stans” joined the OSCE in 1992, someone
quipped that its Europe now resembled Nicholas of Cusa’s definition
of God – His centre being everywhere and His circumference nowhere.
The Council of Europe, which claims on its website to represent
800 million Europeans, has 46 member states, including Andorra,
Liechtenstein, Monaco and Turkey. The Eurovision Song Contest has
a variable line-up, but this year’s 24 entries included hopeful
crooners from Turkey, Armenia, Moldova and Israel. The Miss Europe
beauty pageant has had contestants from Turkey, Israel and Lebanon.
The Union of European Football Associations (Uefa), which describes
itself as “the governing body of football on the European continent”
and, interestingly, “an association of associations based on
representative democracy”, has 52 members, including Andorra,
Azerbaijan, Turkey and Israel, but also England, Scotland and Wales
as separate national teams. (We are so used to this, we forget how
odd it is.)
However you draw up the tally, there’s no question that Europe has
more countries per head of population than any other continent. China
is one country for 1.3 billion people, Europe is between 45 and 55
countries for, at most, 800 million people. On a generous estimate,
we have an eighth of the world’s people but a quarter of the world’s
states. This week, we’ll get one more. Step forward, Miss Montenegro!
On May 21, 86% of the 484,720 people on the newly cleansed Montenegrin
electoral register (described by the OSCE as the best in Montenegrin
history) turned out to vote in a referendum – and 55.53% of them
chose independence. According to rules embraced by Montenegro, under
pressure from the EU, a majority of 55% on a turnout exceeding 50%
was needed for the vote to be valid. So they just scraped through. You
may well ask by what right the EU, whose Maastricht treaty was passed
by a majority of just 51% in a referendum in France, imposed this 55%
hurdle on Montenegro. In the event, the effect was positive, for it
meant that the mainly Serbian opponents of independence participated
fully in the voting, believing that they could win. It will now be
harder for Serbs to question the result’s legitimacy.
The Montenegrin parliament has to formalise the claim to independence,
and the knotty details of a velvet divorce from Serbia must be
negotiated, but there’s no doubt that a country called Montenegro
will soon appear on the political map of Europe. Or rather reappear
– for Montenegro has been there before, between 1878 and 1918. As
Elizabeth Roberts reminds us in her richly detailed and timely new
history of Montenegro, Realm of the Black Mountain, in the 1870s
the Montenegrins were supported, idolised and idealised by liberal
Britons on account of their armed struggle against the Ottoman
Turks. Gladstone described them as “a band of heroes such as the
world has rarely seen”. Tennyson gushed:
They rose to where their sovran
eagle sails,
They kept their faith, their freedom,
on the height,
Chaste, frugal, savage, arm’d by day
and night
. . . and so on, and on. The resulting kingdom of Montenegro was the
model for the comic Ruritanian-style kingdom of Pontevedro in Franz
Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow – provoking an angry demonstration by
Montenegrin students at its premiere in Vienna. It was extinguished
with the help of the western allies after the first world war,
and replaced by Yugoslavia; but 80 years on the “sovran eagle” –
double-headed, crowned, yellow gold on red – will again fly over the
black mountain.
This is, in the first place, a shattering defeat for the nationalist
project of a Greater Serbia, opportunistically embraced by the
post-communist Slobodan Milosevic. Many Montenegrins, like the
communist-turned-dissident Milovan Djilas, considered themselves to be
“quintessential Serbs”, even “the salt of the Serbs”, and Montenegro to
be a historic heartland of Serbianness. When Kosovo follows Montenegro
to independence, as it surely will, then Serbia will be a landlocked
rump state – a bruised, brooding loser of European history.
Yet the Montenegrin pole-vault over the high bar set by the EU is
also a defeat for a certain west European approach, which kept urging
the former Yugoslavs to stay together when they obviously wanted
to part. In the region, people referred to the Union of Serbia and
Montenegro, the ramshackle state structure that Montenegro has now
voted to leave, as “Solania” – an ironic reference to Javier Solana,
the EU’s foreign policy chief, who was its main architect.
Solana’s fear was that a Montenegrin dash to independence might
encourage Kosovo Albanians and Bosnian Serbs to demand the same,
undermining the fragile peace that the EU was working to preserve
in the Balkans. Though the fear was understandable, I believe this
approach was misguided. If peoples really want to divorce, and that is
possible within the frontiers of viable states, they should be allowed
to. What matters is that they do it by peaceful, constitutional and
democratic means.
To be sure, the resulting patchwork of little states has elements of
absurdity. Once there was a language called Serbo-Croat. Officially,
there are now four different national languages: Serbian, Croatian,
Bosnian and Montenegrin. If and when the four countries eventually
join the EU, will there be simultaneous interpretation between the
four official languages? Even if common sense prevails (something you
can never count on in European institutions), the result of having so
many small states must be a further increase in the EU’s transaction
costs of diversity.
But the costs within a dysfunctional multi-ethnic state are even
higher. The unresolved issues of sovereignty and constitutional status
have crippled attempts at economic and social reform in Serbia and
Montenegro and Kosovo for the past five years. Sometimes it’s better
to cut the Gordian knot; sometimes good fences do eventually make good
neighbours. Now the citizens of Montenegro and Serbia know that they
have to make their own way to prosperity, democracy and the rule of
law. Only then can they advance, via the OSCE, the Council of Europe,
Uefa, Miss Europe, the Eurovision Song Contest and Nato, to today’s
ultimate seal of European belonging: EU membership.
If the EU keeps its doors open but its entry standards high, the end
of Solania need not mean a return to Ruritania. State proliferation
in Europe makes things more complicated in the relations between
countries, but simpler inside them. More need not mean worse.

RUSSIA TO BE INVOLVED IN KARABAKH PEACEKEEPING EFFORT, AZERI PAPER SAYS
Azadliq, Baku
1 Jun 06
The opposition daily Azadliq has said that despite Azerbaijan’s
efforts, Moscow will never recognize Armenia as “an aggressor” state.
In an article on 1 June, the paper said: “Russia does not want to
recognize Armenia as an aggressor and in no way can Azerbaijan accept
Armenia’s current position. It appears that Azerbaijan will have to
agree to Armenia’s demands. In any case, those turning towards the
north should think again.”
It added that Russia will remain loyal to its 200-year-old Caucasus
policy and Armenia will continue to be Russia’s outpost in the South
Caucasus.
Speaking in the Azerbaijani capital during a meeting of CIS defence
ministers on 31 May, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov had twice
mentioned the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Nagornyy Karabakh.
According to the newspaper, “Russia will never accept the
implementation of this plan” in Karabakh, unless it is involved in it.

THE ARMENIAN CODE
Aram Abrahamian
Aravot.am
01 June 06
No advertising promoter could provide for the commerce success of
”Da Vinchi’s Code” film than it did the church. First Vatican did
the advertisement of the film and the Armenian Apostolic Church added
a little to it in our small country. Those who didn’t know at all Den
Brawn’s and wouldn’t be interested in the film ran immediately to the
cinemas to know what the church criticized so much. The complaint of
the elite of Catholics can be explained; first one of the intrigues of
the book /I haven’t watched the film/ refers to a totalitarian sect
which acts by Vatican sponsorship, second, inquisition, forbidding
literature and culture works, firing people and books include in the
”traditions” of that church. But our church, which doesn’t have
such traditions, has no reason to forbid that film.
A paper is given with the thicket of that film in Cinema ”Nairi”
in which the church warns, ”This film has no connection with the
Biblical truth”. But is there anybody who think that it has; the
books are written and films are shot for not “having connection”
with any truth. A group hands out leaflets at the same Cinema, which
starts with the following; “Dark powers want us to pull up from our
roots and make us disown our secret belief. “Da Vinchi’s Code” false
film throws mud at Bible, God Son and Cross sacrament”.
Frankly speaking I didn’t notice such feeling during reading the book;
it is a usual easy reading detective, which is in mode today but
will be forgotten soon. The version of Christ who has wife and heirs
gives some sort of sharpness to the film. In the same way Bulgakov in
his famous novel needed in ” re-editing” the Bible for grasping the
Soviet reality. And finally, 10 of thousands foreign enemies were
trying to obliterate our belief but they didn’t succeed in it, and
now will Den Brawn destroy our 1700 year s old culture with his book?
I’m inclined to think that our officials can do it who all have already
broken ”Don’t steal” and some of them ”Don’t kill” precepts.
–Boundary_(ID_7jcy5lvvnhLZ1UYKK7+FMA)- –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARF AGAINST THE “UNION IN FAVOR OF ARMENIA”
Anna Israelian
Aravot.am
01 June 06
A new scandal inside the authority.
The ARF bureau representative Hrant Margarian alluding to the Public
Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepian said in his interview given to “Azatutiun”
b/s; “There is some sort of feudalism in Armenia. There are some
people who consider themselves the feudalists of a region. I mean
the feudal of Aragatsotn region, who thinks that region belongs to
him. And if it is so the region mayor should obey him. But when he
doesn’t see it he can’t bear it and tries to use police ways, making
pressure on him.” And the checking of the activities of region mayor
Gabriel Sundukian who is from the ARF the ARF representative explained
by political reasons. Hrant Margarian had also spoken about the case
happened to the chairman of Oshakan electoral commission Spartak
Eghiazarian; ”He made a speech in the parliament and spoke about
rigged elections. The Chief of Police, Lyova Khachatrian who was
close to the Prosecutor worked with him and he declared at once that
it was lie”. We were interested from Lyova Khachatrian elected from
Aragatsotn whether he had played his role that Spartak Eghiazarian
refused of his declarations and began criticizing the region mayor
of Aragatsotn. ”We should address that question to Egiazarian whom
I haven’t known, don’t know and began know during last some months. I
know him now. He has come we helped him to fill a post.”
Hrant Margarian mentioned on the occasion of the prepared materials
against the region mayor of Aragatsotn Gabriel Gyozalian; “The
fact is that examinations which last some months didn’t give any
result.” To our question whether they have any discrepancy with the
region mayor Levon Khachatrian answered; ” There aren’t such things
in my functions, to examine cases or bring criminal cases”. But
to the question whether he is satisfied with the region mayor’s
work Levon Khachatrian answered; “The ARF has carried out a lot of
patriotic activities and does up to the present day both in Armenia
and abroad. And if there are some ARF members aren’t in their right
places or make some declarations about our relations let them find
the reason inside them. I don’t complain about anybody. And if those
persons complain of anything, let them find the reason inside them.
We should remind that Levon Khachatrian is also the member of “Union
in favor Armenia” initiating group. The ARF Bureau representative
Hrant Margarian assured in his interviews given to both “Azatutiun”
and “Iravunq” that party was formed by the Public Prosecutor Aghvan
Hovsepian. “The RA current Prosecutor has no right to form a party. He
can’t carry out political activities either in direct or indirect
way. This is the end of everything”, he said. But the political groups
are still sure that it is just the Public Prosecutor’s structure. Levon
Khachatrian answered to it; “I consider this simply a political game,
throwing obstacles in our way. There is no reason for it. We all know
very well that the Public Prosecutor doesn’t carry out such problems
and he simply isn’t inclined in playing political and party games. He
spends his free time on public activities.”
–Boundary_(ID_3sbFgCWoFWPRBn5neMUDu w)–

CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
Spero News
June 1 2006
I’m going to be creating a new WIKI on Christian Nationalism.
What, you ask is Christian Nationalism?
KINGDOM COME: THE RISE OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
(excerpt)
Roy Moore and Rick Scarborough are Baptists, D. James Kennedy is a
fundamentalist Presbyterian, and John Eidsmoe is a Lutheran. All of
them, however, have been shaped by dominion theology, which asserts
that, in preparation for the second coming of Christ, godly men have
the responsibility to take over every aspect of society.
Dominion theology comes out of Christian Reconstructionism, a
fundamentalist creed that was propagated by the late Rousas John (R.
J.) Rushdoony and his son-in-law, Gary North. Born in New York City
in 1916 to Armenian immigrants who had recently fled the genocide
in Turkey, Rushdoony was educated at the University of California at
Berkeley and spent over eight years as a Presbyterian missionary to
Native Americans in Nevada. He was a prolific writer, churning out
dense tomes advocating the abolition of public schools and social
services and the replacement of civil law with biblical law.
White-bearded and wizardly, Rushdoony had the look of an Old Testament
patriarch and the harsh vision to match — he called for the death
penalty for gay people, blasphemers, and unchaste women, among other
sinners. Democracy, he wrote, is a heresy and “the great love of the
failures and cowards of life.”
Reconstructionism is a postmillennial theology, meaning its followers
believe Jesus won’t return until after Christians establish a thousand
year reign on earth. While other Christians wait for the messiah,
Reconstructionists want to build the kingdom themselves.
Most American evangelicals, on the other hand, are premillennialists.
They believe (with some variations) that at the time of Christ’s
return, Christians will be gathered up to heaven, missing the
tribulations endured by unbelievers. In the past, this belief led to
a certain apathy — why worry if the world is about to end and you’ll
be safe from the carnage?

ARMENIA-DIASPORA ECONOMIC FORUM THIS FALL
Lragir.am
01 June 06
The second Armenia-Diaspora Economic Forum will take place in Yerevan
on September 20, announced Tigran Davtyan, Deputy Minister of Trade
and Economic Development, on June 1.
“The Armenia-Diaspora Economic Forum will be devoted to the 15th
anniversary of independence of Armenia. The Ministry of Trade and
Economic Development anticipates 500-1000 businessmen to take part
in the forum,” said Tigran Davtyan. It is suggested that all the
businessmen and international organizations, interested in the
development and prosperity of Armenia, will attend the forum. The
forum is held on alternative means, it is not funded from the state
budget. This time participation fee will be cut from 100 to 50 euros.
The first forum was held in 2003, the number of participants was 1000.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO US RESPONDS TO TURKISH AMBASSADOR’S ARTICLE IN NEW YORK TIMES
Yerkir
01.06.2006 18:00
YEREVAN (YERKIR) -­ In response to an article by Turkish Ambassador
to the United States Nabi Sensul published in the New York Times on
May 24, and disputing the fact of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian
Ambassador to US Tatul Margarian sent a letter to the newspaper.
Margarian’s letter appeared in the May 31 issue ofthe paper.
“While the Turkish ambassador argues that the history should be left
to historians, the Turkish government itself has made the history
a precondition for normalizing relations with Armenia,” the letter
stated.
“Turkey should first of all come to terms with its history and stop
harassing Turkish authors who have the courage to study the events of
1915. Only after that Turkish historians would be able to research the
rich documents, including the death sentence rendered by the Turkish
Court Martial in 1919 for the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.”
“Historians and lawyers, including Raphael Lemkin, the author of the
term genocide, have long recognized that the 1915 events correspond to
the description of a genocide defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention,”
the letter went on saying.