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Apr 03 2006
That’s the soulful sound of the duduk. The duduk is a kind of folk
oboe from Armenia. It’s played here by the Armenian master of the
duduk, Djivan Gasparyan. In Gasparyan’s homeland, the duduk embodies
Armenian culture and pervades folk music. But there’s no need to
leave the United States to hear it. There’s probably one playing at
a theater near you. The World’s Adeline Sire explains.
The duduk has become the stuff of Hollywood soundtracks. It’s about
2000 years old, so it’s probably the oldest and the hardest working
instrument in show business. Many blockbusters have featured it,
including The Crow, Dead Man Walking, The Siege, and even Hulk. The
trend started with the 1988 film “The last temptation of Christ.” That
soundtrack was composed by British rock musician Peter Gabriel.
Venezuelan-born musician Pedro Eustache was haunted by the sound of
this mysterious instrument.
Pedro: “I said what the heck is that? It sounded like a cello meets
a voice, meets a clarinet, meets a lot of pain, incredibly expressive
and it just rocked my world.”
Eustache took up the duduk in 1994 and studied with master Djivan
Gasparyan. He soon learned the secrets of this rudimentary instrument
made of Armenian apricot wood. It’s topped with a large reed that
sounds like this:
Eustache is a freelancer and in Hollywood, he’s very much in demand
by film composers. He plays dozens of woodwinds from around the
world. But he treasures the duduk. And likes to improvise on it.
Pedro: Duduk is such a difficult instrument, pfffff…..it kicks
my butt all the time, excuse my French–which is not French– but
duduk can express something very specific, peculiar, particular,
that nothing else can express. I would say evocative, I would say
extreme expression from sweetness to pain and they say in Armenia,
the sound of this instrument is a prayer.”
That quasi-holy sound has made the duduk a welcomed guest in religious
film epics. In 2004, 16 years after “the last temptation of Christ
” the duduk appeared in Mel Gibson’s film “the Passion of the
Christ.” And this time, Eustache was playing.
More than an instrument, the duduk is a dramatic device. John Debney
composed the score for “the Passion of the Christ.” He says he chose
the duduk because it sounds just like a human voice. But he says that
usually when film composers use it, they aim to refer to the distant
past and distant lands.
Debney: “It does evoke something ancient. I think that most westerners
are drawn to this instrument because it is a plaintive instrument that
is very exotic and very beautiful. And I think that’s very appealing.”
Filed under “ancient times” evoked by the duduk, you find the films
“Gladiator” and “Alexander.” And as for exotic, in 2005 alone, the
duduk evoked a fictitious land in “Chronicles of Narnia,” and the
middle east in “Syriana” and “Munich.”
Pedro Eustache is the featured duduk player in Munich’s soundtrack. And
he’s played many more gigs, even in settings beyond Hollywood. He
says the duduk is quite a chameleon.
Eustache: “I’ve played this in churches, in Hispanic churches, I have
played this in huge arenas all over the world, I have played this from
Dubai to India to Japan to Venezuela, I’ve used this in Iranian pop,
you know, it’s pretty amazing.”
Eustache also performs with classical Indian music master Ravi
Shankar. In 2002, Eustache performed with Shankar and his band
in London. It was a memorial concert for the Beatles’ George
Harrison. Shankar had written a duduk solo for Eustache. And that solo
didn’t fall on deaf ears. Paul McCartney was so impressed by the sound
of the instrument that he inquired about the musician who’d played it.
McCartney: “He said that he called Ravi Shankar….and said “Ravi,
I want to have that Indian musician that plays this mournful Indian
instrument…. voovoovoo…. and Ravi said “No no no, he’s not Indian,
he’s from Venezuela and the instrument is from Armenia.. hahaha…”
McCartney called Eustache and invited him to play a duet on his latest
album “Chaos and creation in the garden.” The song is “Jenny Wren.”
Pedro Eustache is convinced that this folk horn from Armenia has a
powerful and limitless reach. He says it will definitely outlive its
current fad. It’s just a hunch but it’s based on experience.
Eustache: “I’m from Venezuela, South America. My parents came from
Haiti and I am a whole multicultural weird thing. My point being,
there are things that go beyond geography and chronology an the sound
of the duduk is one of them. I have played this instrument anywhere
and everywhere and it affects people, it immediately capture’s
people’s sensibilities, it connects deeply with them, I think there
is something so incredibly universal about the sound, the strength,
the reality of this instrument.”
Its appeal is so universal that last November, UNESCO issued a
proclamation naming duduk music a “Masterpiece of the Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”
As for Eustache, he’ll next play on a couple of songs Stevie Wonder
is writing for a documentary. Eustache says the R’N’B star loves the
instrument so much he’s getting one for himself. The duduk’s next
appearance will be brought to the silver screen by composer Hans
Zimmer. Zimmer asked master Djivan Gasparyan to the play for the
soundtrack of “The Da Vinci Code,” out this May.
For the World, I’m Adeline Sire.
Pedro Eustache is a woodwind player and a duduk specialist.
For information about Pedro Eustache and his latest solo CD, go to:
om

ARMENIA CEDES MORE ENERGY ASSETS FOR CHEAPER RUSSIAN GAS
Emil Danielyan
EurasiaNet, NY
April 10 2006
Armenia’s leadership has controversially agreed to hand over more
state energy assets to Russia in return for avoiding a doubling
of the price of Russian natural gas in the near future. Gazprom,
Russia’s state-run gas giant, is now set to assume control of a major
Armenian power plant, and may also obtain a controlling share of a
planned Armenian-Iranian gas pipeline.
Gazprom representatives announced both deals April 6 after four
months of confidential negotiations between the Armenian and Russian
governments. Armenian leaders, however, have only confirmed the power
plant transfer. On April 7, Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian
asserted that pipeline rights could not be transferred, citing the
fact that construction on the energy route had not yet been completed.
If both deals go through as envisioned, the deals would give Moscow
a stranglehold on the Armenian energy sector, raising questions about
Yerevan’s recent pledges to ease its economic dependence on Russia.
Indeed, the chief strategic reason used initially by Armenian leaders
to justify construction of the Iran-Armenia pipeline was that it
would break Russia’s gas-supply monopoly.
The Armenian-Russian transfer talks were triggered by Gazprom’s late
2005 decision to drastically raise the price of gas exports to several
ex-Soviet states, including Armenia. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive]. Gazprom said it would charge Armenian customers
$110 per thousand cubic meters, up from the existing price of $56
per thousand cubic meters. Russian gas generates nearly 40 percent of
Armenia’s electricity and is also the main source of winter heating
for hundreds of thousands of Armenian households. Not surprisingly,
Armenian authorities scrambled to get the Russians to reconsider the
measure. Armenian President Robert Kocharian traveled to Russia twice
in less than two months to discuss the matter with Russian leader
Vladimir Putin.
Gazprom representatives made it clear that the gas price hike would
be scaled back only if the Armenian government ceded more of its key
energy assets. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. When
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian publicly ruled out such
a possibility in January, the price hike seemed inevitable. And on
March 10, Armenian state regulators allowed the Armenian national
gas operator to raise the retail price of gas by 52 percent for
households and 80 for industrial consumers. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. The subsequent Russian-Armenian agreement
thus came as a surprise.
According to an Armenian government statement, Gazprom will be granted
ownership of the large, but incomplete gas-fired power plant located
in the central town of Hrazdan in exchange for supplying Armenia with
almost $189 million worth of gas free of charge. Gazprom would also
pay an additional $60 million in cash, and would pledge to invest at
least $150 million to complete construction of the plant.
“This proposal [by the Russian side], which has been discussed for
so long, is quite attractive in both economic and energy terms,
and we could not have turned it down,” Movsisian told reporters.
Defending the controversial deal, Kocharian and Movsisian emphasized
the fact that Armenian families will be paying 65 drams (14 U.S.
cents) per cubic meter of gas, instead of the planned 90 drams,
until the end of 2008. Kocharian also suggested that the deal would
stimulate Armenia’s economy.
Attention now is centering on the pipeline issue. In its initial
April 6 statement, Gazprom said it would enjoy control of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, which is expected to begin operation in
early 2007. When Armenian officials denied this, Gazprom promptly
edited its statement. The amended version contains no references to
the pipeline in question, speaking instead of unspecified “facilities
of Armenia’s gas sphere.”
Still, Russian media outlets consider Gazprom’s takeover of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to be an accomplished fact. The Kommersant
daily wrote on April 7 that Gazprom will now make sure that Iran
does not re-export its gas to Georgia and possibly other ex-Soviet
countries via Armenia.
In a further blow to Tehran, the Armenian government has reneged on its
pledge, reaffirmed by Movsisian as recently as last December, to let a
state-owned Iranian company complete the Hrazdan plant. The government
was due to repay the large-scale Iranian investments with electricity
to be generated at the facility. It presented the arrangement as proof
of its stated efforts to diversify Armenia’s sources of energy. Russian
energy companies already own the country’s largest thermal power plant,
also located in Hrazdan, several hydro-electric plants, as well as
its natural gas and electricity distribution networks. In addition,
Russia manages the finances at the Metsamor nuclear power station.
Armenian opposition leaders and independent observers say the
settlement of the Russian-Armenian gas dispute will make Armenia even
more dependent on Russia, both politically and economically. “This
deal will accelerate the process of Armenia’s transformation into
a Russian province,” Smbat Ayvazian of the pro-Western opposition
Hanrapetutiun (Republic) party charged in a newspaper interview.
Kocharian, however, brushed aside such criticism in weekend televised
remarks, arguing, among other things, that Western energy giants
continue to show little interest in the Armenian energy sector. “I
don’t know of any European or American proposals on our energy that
we have turned down,” he said.
Kocharian’s decision to essentially accept the terms offered by the
Russians was all the more unexpected given an unprecedented amount of
anti-Russian rhetoric publicly voiced by politicians and especially
the TV stations loyal to him earlier this year. They were particularly
angered by the fact that Armenia, one of Russia’s staunchest ex-Soviet
allies, is to pay the same price for Russian gas as neighboring
pro-Western Georgia. The Armenian leader is widely believed to have
orchestrated this PR campaign as part of his negotiating tactic. His
spokesman Victor Soghomonian pointed to growing anti-Russian sentiment
in Armenia on January 24, saying that “it is the Russian side that
has to think about doing something about that.”
Armenia’s “energy security,” meanwhile, appears to have been a high
priority for the United States of late. US Assistant Secretary of
State Daniel Fried and his deputy Matthew Bryza focused on the issue
during separate visits to Yerevan in early March. While stressing the
importance of diversifying the landlocked country’s energy supplies,
both men publicly expressed US unease over Armenian-Iranian energy
cooperation. Washington is therefore not necessarily unhappy with
the Kocharian administration’s deal with Gazprom. As Bryza put it,
“Armenia has a long and positive experience working with Russian gas
suppliers and that needs to continue.”
Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.

NATO KEEN ON DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
April 10 2006
Deputy Speaker of Azerbaijan Parliament, head of the Azerbaijan
delegation at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Ziyafet Askarov met
with the special envoy of the NATO Secretary General in the South
Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simons.
Having noted, that after signing in 1994 between Azerbaijan and NATO
of the PfP program, the bilateral contacts dynamically develop, Z.
Askarov has stated, that today Azerbaijan as the present partner takes
part in many actions of NATO. Azerbaijan is interested in development
and strengthening of communications with the Euro-Atlantic alliance
and for this purpose carries out all the obligations assigned. We also,
he said, take active part in the antiterrorist coalition. Militaries of
Azerbaijan have joined the peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan
and Iraq. The relations between Milli Majlis and Parliamentary
Assembly of NATO have reached a desirable level. In 1997, Azerbaijan
was admitted to the Assembly with observer status, and in 2002 0 became
member of this Organization, which is evidence to development of links,
and that Azerbaijan is a reliable partner. Despite this, there are
problems impeding all-round development of these ties. Territorial
claims of Armenia against Azerbaijan are threat both for the country
and the entire South Caucasus, he emphasized.
Then, Ziyafet Askarov has in detail informed on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, emphasizing importance of activation of the role of NATO,
being the guarantor of peace and stability on the planet.
Mr. Robert Simons has told, that the NATO also is interested
in development of links with Azerbaijan and closely watches the
processes ongoing in the country, and that the Organization highly
estimates the progressive steps undertaken in the country after the
past parliamentary elections.
The sides had comprehensive exchange of views on other questions
representing mutual interest.

MISS IRAQ QUITS ‘CUZ OF DEATH THREATS
Sploid (satire)
April 10 2006
A young Iraqi-Armenian woman has relinquished her hard fought crown
as the sauciest lady in all of Iraq after only four days because of
numerous death threats.
When Tamar Goregian was crowned Iraqi Queen of Beauty on April 6 she
told the crowd, “Maybe beauty is the final step to end violence and
preach world peace after all.”
Nope.
On Friday, April 9, Goregian told pageant officials she could no
longer wear the crown. She was scared away by death threats from
religious zealots who called her “Queen of the Infidels.”
“I respect her decision. The country is undergoing rough times,
and we understand her desire to protect herself and her family,”
said the pageant’s director.
This was the first year that the Miss Iraq pageant had been held in
Iraq after four years in Kenya. It had been deemed far too dangerous
to hold the contest in Iraq. It appears it still is.
Inexplicably, Gorgian’s runner-up, Maiden of Beauty,” Mona Hilmi,
has agreed to take over the duties. She’s alleged to be “equally
intelligent and beautiful.”
Hilmi hopes to be the first Iraqi to represent her country at the
Miss Universe pageant since 1972, when Wijdan Sulyman attended the
cattle call in Puerto Rico.
q_abdic.php

TURKEY REFUSES TO ACCEPT SWISS COMPANY’S BID FOR AIRCRAFT CONTRACT
By Burak Ege Bekdil, Ankara
DefenseNews.com
April 10 2006
A Swiss aircraft manufacturer has been denied permission to join the
bidding for Turkey’s procurement of basic jet trainers for “political
reasons,” officials said.
Defense officials saidPilatus has not been allowed to obtain a Request
for Proposal (RfP) for an approximately $500 million contract for
the purchase of basic trainer aircraft for the Turkish Air Force.
“There is an understanding that Swiss bidders should not join Turkish
military contracts,” a senior official said. “We don’t think Swiss
contenders would be reliable partners in defense contracts.”
A Foreign Ministry official here said that it would be unrealistic to
expect a Swiss company to join a defense program in Turkey, especially
at a time when “serious disputes deeply strain bilateral ties.”
A Swiss diplomat in Ankara admitted that the Swiss company had been
“red-listed” in Turkey.
In 2003, the Swiss canton of Vaud officially recognized genocide
against Armenians by Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1921. The lower house
of the Swiss parliament, against the Bern government’s advice, soon
adopted a similar resolution, unleashing an angry response from Ankara.
Switzerland was a regular supplier of small arms and ammunition to
Turkey until 1991, when it imposed an arms embargo against Ankara,
citing human rights violations. Despite the embargo, Swiss suppliers
sold armaments to Ankara through licensing.
Switzerland quietly ended its embargo last year, but Ankara continued
to keep Swiss weapon suppliers on its “red list.”
Pilatus would have been the fourth international bidder in the Turkish
jet trainer contract if it had been allowed to submit its offer. The
three bidders for the program are Brazil’s Embraer, Korea Aerospace
Industries (KAI) and U.S. company Raytheon.
1677356&C=europe

CONFESSIONS OF A MAP-MAKER
By Philippe Rekacewicz
Le Monde Diplomatique, France
April 10 2006
Earlier this year, Le Monde diplomatique published the second edition
of its atlas (1), and the United Nations Environmental Programme, in
partnership with the paper, published a translation of the part of it
that focuses on environmental issues (2). It’s a difficult business
being a mapmaker. Maps, as mere visual representations of the idea
of the world, are just as subject to diplomacy, border disputes and
international struggles as real geopolitical territory.
In 2002 I was at a meeting in Prague at the end of an international
economic forum on the management of water resources in Eurasia. The
Azerbaijani delegate suddenly spoke: “This is not acceptable. Mr
Chairman, I refuse to continue if our work is to be based on the
document you have just submitted.” He had just spotted a map of the
Caucasus which suggested that Nagorno-Karabakh, the cause of a war
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, was a part of Armenia. For Baku,
it is occupied territory and an integral part of Azerbaijan. Any
other representation is unacceptable. The chair proposed a break in
proceedings so that the offending document could be removed. But the
Armenian delegate protested and the meeting degenerated into a slanging
match. Only hours later, after the offending borders had been blanked
out and the maps reprinted, was it possible for work to resume.
The name of the sea separating South Korea and Japan has been a source
of friction for years. Korea calls it the East Sea, Japan the Sea of
Japan. The websites of both foreign ministries (3) draw attention to
detailed files on the background to the dispute. To avoid trouble,
and endless letters from embassies, cartographers often leave out the
name altogether. (Which only goes to show that long-term pressure may
pay.) Rather than risk censorship, or the loss of valuable contracts,
many publishers prefer to remove anything that might upset readers. At
the end of the 1990s the World Bank asked its map department to stop
publishing maps of such sensitive areas as Kashmir.
You have to understand that geographical maps are not the same thing
as territory. At best they are only a representation of reality on
the ground. Maps merely reveal what map-makers or their superiors
want to show. They inevitably present a truncated, partial, even
deliberately misleading picture of reality.
Readers may be taken in by the final form of a map, with its mass
of details and neat precision. Merely being printed gives maps
some authority, and they often bear the seal of governments or
international bodies. But even the most detailed topographical maps
demand considerable imaginative thought and painstaking design, each
item being carefully chosen, some highlighted, others disappearing
altogether. The individual or organisation producing a map is
responsible for selecting objects and events, as well as deciding
how they are visually represented. Their work demands imagination
and creativity, but there is also scope for lies and manipulation.
At the beginning of the 1990s the disappearance of the Iron Curtain
gave map-makers a superb opportunity for an unusual field test. We
ventured into the border zone, in former East Germany, in the same
state of mind as 16th- or 17th-century explorers entering uncharted
territory. The only information we had came from topographic maps
so distorted as to bear almost no relation to the terrain. Along a
strip of land 10-20km wide, all the key geographical features – roads,
villages and major infrastructure – had been erased from the maps.
The authorities had made it very difficult for strangers to find
their way. They had also clearly marked the edge of their empire.
These circumstances drew our attention to grey areas, which are all
too common in map-making. Maps may mislead the reader by omission,
offering a truncated view of reality. Map-makers are always forced
to choose, selecting the geographical features that will appear. But
such decisions often depend on how much they know and on their overall
worldview. And maps, when used for political ends, may deliberately
distort reality. Seemingly inoffensive charts may prove highly
effective tools in a propaganda war, enabling governments and big
corporations to disseminate their ideological claims.
Governments are extremely secretive about their cartographic activities
and the satellite images on which they are now based. They classify as
top secret any document of strategic, economic or military value. In
the 1980s certain Gulf states used to subcontract the printing of
maps to France’s National Geographical Institute.
They demanded that the printing presses be covered with sheets and
watched over by armed guards. All the test runs and offcuts had to
be pulped.
We map-makers must make a point of demolishing the illusion that
there can be an official, universally accepted representation of the
world’s political divisions. There is no such thing as the right map
showing the approved version of a country. Finding the relevant form
of cartographic expression is a constant challenge. Each approach has
its own truth, backed by a rationale, but there are no rules nor is
there a supreme authority to which to turn in search of easy answers.
No one has the final word on what are only intellectual constructs,
inspired by a culture, history and geography. If necessary the UN,
constantly buffeted by conflicting forces, is the public body best
placed to suggest a fair solution.
Maps are also pictures, the creation and production of which owes
a great deal to art. More exactly, to quote Jean-Claude Groshens
(4), they are “at the meeting point between art and science”, works
made of colour, form and movement, yet containing exact quantitative
and qualitative data. But as we marvel at the elegant masterpieces
produced by ancient cartographers, we should not forget that their
true political purpose was to provide monarchs with a representation
of the land over which they ruled.
Our cultural environment conditions us to interpret colours in a
certain way. We expect to find threatening forces portrayed with
dramatic hues. We may recall the colours used in maps during the cold
war: red for the baddies, blue for the goodies. According to Michel
Pastoureau, blue is “calm, peaceful, the favourite colour of all
western countries because it is neither aggressive nor transgressive”
(5). Yet Nato is far from being peaceful. Colours are misleading.
Green, for instance, does not represent the same thing in Norway
(environmental protection), Saudi Arabia (Islam) or Ireland, where
as the dominant colour of the national flag it rallies people of
Irish descent all over the world. Look at maps of Africa produced in
Europe and you will see they make considerable use of yellow ochre
and dark green, to represent the continent’s dry dusty savannah and
its dense equatorial forest. But it is apparent from a brief tour of
the markets of Ouagadougou or Bamako that Africa’s true colours are
much more vivid.
A primary schoolteacher in Chad, obliged to use textbooks imported
from France, once complained to me: “There is something wrong. The
maps are so pallid. It’s almost as if they were sick.”
Maps may claim to be works of art, providing they do not restrict
themselves to representing geographical features but also express
people’s perception of human society and the ways we organise the
space we occupy. To achieve this, map-makers must both watch from the
sidelines and join in the game. They must be observers, economists,
demographers, earth scientists, geographers and artists, enabling them
to build, or rather invent, their worlds. They must conceive and draw
a carefully balanced mixture of the world as they see it and as they
would like it to be.

PACE SPRING SESSION STARTS
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 10 2006
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly started its spring
session today.
The correspondent of the Europe bureau of APA reports from the session
that before the session PACE President Rene van der Linden held a press
conference dedicated to the opening of the spring session. Informing
abut the issues to be debated at the session, van der Linden also
touched on the rerun of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. The
PACE president said they focus their attention on the elections in
Azerbaijan and added that this issue will be on the agenda of the
summer session.
“Azerbaijan is the member of PACE. We shall focus our attention on
the rerun of parliamentary elections scheduled for May 13 and will be
discussed at the summer session,” Mr.van der Linden said. “Depending
on the process of the elections, PACE might consider the issue on
Azerbaijan delegation’s mandate,” he added.
PACE president also touched on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
Noting that both Azerbaijan and Armenia are Council of Europe member
countries, Mr.van der Linden expressed interest in reaching a positive
result in the negotiating process for the settlement of the conflict
between the two countries.
Saying that it is regrettable that the Presidents of the two countries
could not reach an agreement at Rambouillet, van der Linden stressed
the importance of the sides reaching a consensus to solve the problem.
Commenting on changing of format of the talks, replacement of mediator
OSCE Minsk Group with the Council of Europe, the PACE president did not
consider it advisable to replace the OSCE Minsk Group with COE format.
Then the spring session of PACE started. PACE President Rene van
der Linden made an opening speech. Parliamentarian from the former
Yugoslavia Igor Ivanovski presented his report on the conclusion of
the bureau session. The report also touched on the re-elections in
Azerbaijan. Mr.Ivanovski proposed to reconsider the number of the
members of the Subcommittee on Nagorno Garabagh.

AIR FRANCE OPENS REGULAR FLIGHTS TO ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 10 2006
YEREVAN, April 10 (Itar-Tass) – Air France has begun regular flights
between Paris and Yerevan.
Airbus A-320 planes seating 159 business and economic class passengers
will be used on the route.
Cities in Eastern and Central Europe are Air France’s priority
destinations, Air France Senior Vice President for Europe and North
Africa, Etienne Rachou said.
“Our company tries to keep abreast with the development of our
countries’ relations, contribute to higher economic and tourist
exchanges with Armenia, bearing in mind the large Armenian Diaspora
in France,” he said.
Air France hopes that passengers from Los-Angeles, U.S., where the
largest Armenian Diaspora resides, will guarantee high seat occupancy
rates. The company offers many connection flights across the Atlantic
Ocean.
“This is a strong political message on the eve of the Year of Armenia
in France festival,” French Ambassador to Armenia Henry Cuni said.
The launch of Air France flights to Yerevan “proves that Armenia is
of strategic interest to French investors,” he said.

GAZPROM TO RAISE GAS PRICES FOR BELARUS FROM 2007
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 10 2006
MOSCOW, (Igor Tomberg for RIA Novosti) — Gas prices for Belarus
“should be at least three times higher,” said Alexander Ryazanov,
deputy CEO of Gazprom. This means about $140 per 1,000 cu m.
The news shocked the Minsk authorities, which had said they were
ready to pay a higher price but apparently did not imagine it would
be so high. The price rise will tear nearly a $2 billion hole in the
Belarusian budget.
According to a contract between Gazprom and Beltransgaz, the Belarusian
state-owned gas company whose pipelines carry Russian gas to Europe,
this year the Russian gas monopoly is to deliver 21 billion cu m of gas
at 2005 prices ($46.68). In return, Minsk promised to assist Gazprom’s
operation in the republic, notably not to change gas transit tariffs.
First, the two states are creating a union state, Gazprom deputy CEO
Alexander Medvedev, director general of Gazexport (a 100% subsidiary
of Gazprom), said, explaining the non-market price. Second, Belarus is
the only country where Gazprom owns the trunk gas pipeline and leases
the land under it. And third, the gas holding has resumed takeover
negotiations with Beltransgaz, he said. If the negotiations are
successful, Gazprom will take under its control the entire Belarusian
gas transportation network.
But the talks are apparently skidding because Ryazanov said a
price compromise was contingent on Gazprom’s involvement in the gas
transportation and distribution infrastructure of consumers.
Minsk flew into a fury. Such statements “are an element of blackmail
and outrageous behavior,” said Stepan Pisarevich, head of the
Belarusian upper house’s commission on the economy, budget and
finance. Price rising is an unavoidable element of discussions on the
creation of a joint venture on the basis of Beltransgaz and Gazprom,
he said.
Pisarevich recalled that gas prices for Belarus were stipulated in
the Union State Treaty and the agreement on creating equal conditions
for economic entities.
Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said almost the same. “The Belarusian
government will adhere to the existing agreements on equal energy
prices for the economic entities of the Union State,” he said.
Gazprom has the same price policy for all former Soviet republics,
company press secretary Sergei Kupriyanov said when commenting on the
harsh statement by Belarusian politicians. The gas price for Belarus
is based not only on the Union State Treaty, he said, but also on
other documents regarding gas pricing and the creation of a JV on the
basis of Beltransgaz. Kupriyanov said the JV was to be created in 2003.
But some Belarusian politicians view the situation differently. Roman
Vnuchko, head of the lower house’s commission on the monetary and
credit policy and banking, said Gazprom exposed itself to blackmail
by selling gas to Belarus at Russia’s domestic prices.
“Belarus is a headache for Gazprom; it is a precedent that prevents
the gas holding from raising prices for other partners,” Vnuchko said.
Settling price relations with friendly Armenia was another
difficulty. As if on prompting, Gazprom’s top managers made their
statement about leveling off prices for all consumers during the
visit by the Armenian president.
Gazprom (and the state as its beneficiary) are often accused of a
selective approach. Though gas prices were rapidly raised for other
ex-Soviet states, Belarus continued to get the fuel at Russia’s
domestic prices. Therefore, the latest decision of Gazprom looks like
a political win for the gas holding and the Russian authorities.
However, the level at which information is made public is also
important. The holding’s management is not in a position to set prices
for Belarus. Politics is too closely connected with the economy in
the case of Belarus. Belarussian experts claim that Vladimir Putin
had once offered Alexander Lukashenko to give economic entities,
both state and private ones, a free hand in solving their economic
problems. Presidents should discuss purely political matters, Putin
allegedly said.
This is exactly what Gazexport head Ryazanov meant: Gas prices and
the issue of ownership of the gas transportation infrastructure are
purely economic matters.
Gazprom will hardly triple gas prices for Belarus next year because the
republican economy would not survive even a double price. The issue
is to be discussed by politicians, and the results of playing the
“gas card” may surprise even Gazprom. This may accelerate the merger
of Belarus and Russia or transition to the common currency.
However, the current situation has again put the finger on Moscow’s
resolve to throw around its energy weight in foreign policy.
Igor Tomberg is a leading researcher of the Institute of Economics
at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and
may not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

ACADEMY OF ART PLANS TO ESTABLISH ORCHESTRA
Mehr News Agency, Iran
April 10 2006
TEHRAN, Apr. 10 (MNA) — The Academy of Art is planning to establish
an orchestra of string instruments, the Persian service of CHN reported
on Monday.
The orchestra, which will probably be called the Academy of Art
Orchestra, is to be conducted by veteran musician Shahin Farhat.
Farhat said that the orchestra would begin with fifteen musicians
and would perform at seminars held by the academy, adding that it
would record the music produced by the academy or other Iranian
organizations.
“The ‘Iran Symphony’, recorded in Armenia with the Armenian
Philharmonic Orchestra, was sponsored by the Academy of Art, so the
academy must have an orchestra of its own so we don’t have to go to
Armenia for recordings,” he noted.
The academy’s program for this year includes workshops on publishing
old music manuscripts, studying the music of the Isfahan School in
the Safavid era, and Iran’s dastgahi music. In Iranian music, a set
of notes, their special characteristics, and an associated group of
traditional melodies that constitute a basis for improvised performance
is called a dastgah.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress