CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS PASS FINAL READING
Armenpress
Sept 28, 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: With a vote of 90 and without votes
of ‘no’ and abstentions the Armenian parliament has passed today in
the third and final reading a package of constitutional amendments
that will be put on a national referendum on November 26.
Opposition lawmakers from Ardarutyun (Justice) bloc and the National
Unity boycotted the voting. The Armenian parliament passed also in
the second and third final reading a bill on making changes to the
Law on Referendum. The changes are meant to make the Law on Referendum
comply with already amended Election Law.
Before putting the bill to a second reading Hrayr Karapetian from
the ARF said the bill incorporated some of changes, proposed by the
opposition. He, particularly, mentioned a suggestion by an opposition
lawmaker from Ardarutyun-Arshak Sadoyan- envisaging the secrecy
of ballot.
The bill also incorporated two other opposition proposals saying that
precincts may have no more than one ballot box and that voting results
must be tabulated and made public every three hours, but nevertheless,
the opposition boycotted the voting.

DEFENDANT OPENS FIRE AT PLAINTIFF AND LAWYER IN MOSCOW COURT
MosNews, Russia
Sept 28 2005
A plaintiff and his lawyer were targeted by a gunman, believed to be
a defendant, in a justice of the peace building in Moscow Wednesday.
A man armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle opened fire at the
plaintiff and his lawyer on Wednesday, Interfax news agency reported.
Both of them were badly injured in the attack, the news agency
reported.
The gunman, of Armenian origin, was overpowered and detained at the
scene of the incident. According to preliminary information, he was
the defendant in a case being heard in the building.

Sunday, September 25, 2005
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SEMANTIC PERVERSIONS
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If you call a crook an honest man, he will be flattered. He will thank you and after congratulating himself he will think: “I am good. I must be doing something right.” When he says “good” he means bad; and when he says “right” he means wrong.
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An honest man doesn’t care to be called honest. He is too busy trying to survive in a dishonest environment to have any use for flattery.
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A really smart man doesn’t identify himself as smart. He doesn’t even talk smart. I have myself dealt with smart men who pretended to be idiots because they knew from experience the best way to take advantage of another is to let him think he is the smart one and no idiot like himself could ever hope to deceive him.
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When odars call us smart, we are flattered. We welcome flattery no matter how false. And when others fail to flatter us, we flatter ourselves.
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We identify ourselves as the first nation to convert to Christianity, but we avoid asking ourselves: How genuine is our faith? Do we love one another? Are we even tolerant of one another? As for loving our enemies…don’t make me laugh.
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We have become beggars for flattery and masters of self-deception. We call our military defeats moral victories thus asserting our moral superiority even as our own ablest writers tell us treason and betrayal are in our blood (Raffi) and we survive by cannibalizing one another (Zarian).
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Our leaders tell us we are in good hands even as they depopulate the Homeland and alienate the majority in the Diaspora.
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A handful of young hotheads, after taking over the Ottoman Bank in Istanbul, negotiate a safe passage abroad for themselves. That same day, in retaliation, several thousand innocent Armenians are slaughtered by a mob of enraged Turks, and to this day this fiasco is described as a heroic episode that made headlines around the world. Nobody wants to know if these headlines saved a single life or were of any practical value to anyone. The heroes are exalted and enshrined in the annals of our glorious past and the anonymous victims are reduced to the status of a statistical footnote and forgotten.
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Monday, September 26, 2005
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To understand reality also means to want to change it, but whereas fools aim to change others, never themselves, the wise concentrates on themselves. The wise have a better chance to succeed.
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Schopenhauer observes somewhere that women have been carefully designed so that men may make asses of themselves. That is something worth thinking about.
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If you are going to pretend to know better, first make sure how much the other knows.
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A rule without exceptions: Those who think they sit at the right hand of god, sit at the left hand of the devil.
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According to Nejdeh, “Hye lineluts araj, petk a mard linel!” Roughly translated: “If you want to be an Armenian start by being a human being.” And according to a frequently quoted Armenian motto: “Mard bidi ch’ellank!” Roughly translated: “We will never qualify as human beings.” Figure that one out if you can.
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If some of my readers don’t like what I say it may be because “the torch of truth burns many asses.”
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You become a success when you no longer care if others see you as a failure.
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Before you decide to assess yourself as smart, make sure you know the difference between smart and smartass.
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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
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Changing the world has never been my ambition, only sharing my understanding with my fellow Armenians. I now suspect I bet on the wrong horse. I had a better chance to succeed if I had aimed at changing the world.
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When two brainwashed dupes contradict each other, it is not themselves that do the contradicting but their respective propaganda lines.
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Gresham’s Law, named after the 16th-century English merchant Sir Thomas Gresham, states, “Bad money drive out good money,” meaning: adulterated gold drives out pure gold, for the simple reason that it is cheaper. By extension, opportunists drive out men of principle, and mediocrities drive out those who seek to achieve excellence.
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An extension of Grisham’s Law: “Evil knows how to organize itself because it appeals to the selfish instincts of the majority.”
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Likewise, recycled crap drives out objective judgment, and hoodlums and their verbal abuse drive out dialogue.
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There is more to Armenian history than the massacres. To focus on the massacres and to ignore centuries of subservience, divisiveness, intolerance, dogmatism, betrayal, abuse of power, incompetence, and anti-intellectualism is to misrepresent and misunderstand the historic significance of the massacres.
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One reason our dime-a-dozen pundits concentrate on the Red Massacre is to cover up and ignore its White variant. But I have said that before…
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What’s done is done and not even God can change the past. We are in a far better position to change the present. If we prefer to lament, adopt a passive stance, and deceive ourselves into thinking we are in good hands, it may be because after centuries of subservience to foreign tyrants, subservience to our own mini-sultans, neo-commissars, and pseudo-ayatollahs comes naturally to us.
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If I repeat myself it may be because our blunders keep repeating themselves and not repeating myself would amount to either giving up or covering up.
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
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CONFESSIONS OF A FAILURE
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If I repeat myself it may be because I have run out of ideas. Which may explain why I am a slum-dwelling failure. Which may also explain why any writer who decides to write for Armenians is destined to be a failure, Saroyan being the sole exception that confirms this rule. But many literary critics see even Saroyan as a failure. If he continues to be admired by Armenians it may be because Armenians have been successful in ignoring and silencing their critics. They don’t mind tolerating brown-nosers, but critics they treat the way Turks treated Armenians at the turn of the last century. If I have said this before, I apologize. Henceforth I promise to do my utmost to say something different, such as, Armenians welcome criticism because, as the first nation to convert to Christianity, they are a tolerant and compassionate folk not only towards their fellow Armenians but also towards their enemies. And Armenians are tolerant and compassionate because as the first nation to suffer genocide in the 20th century they know all about the evil of intolerance and hatred. You want to hear more new ideas? How about this? Van, Erzrum, Kars and Ardahan belong to us in the same way that Detroit, New York City, Washington, Chicago and Dallas belong to the Apaches, Sioux, Seminole, and Cherokee Indians of North America, and our chances of getting them back are as good as theirs. The main thing is not to give up, to persevere, to have faith in our leaders and to support them. The best is yet to come. All our dreams will come true provided of course you send them a little money.
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Speaking about new ideas: Paul Valéry once asked Einstein: “Do you carry a notebook on your person so that when a new idea comes you may put it down for future reference?” And Einstein replied: “New ideas don’t come to me that frequently.” And sure enough, good old Einstein spent the last twenty years of his life in search of a new idea that he never found. It is such a heavy burden being a mediocrity among geniuses!
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TRIAL POSTPONED
A1+
| 12:39:54 | 28-09-2005 | Social |
The trial of the assassination of Gourgen Margaryan in Hungary has
been postponed once again till December 15. During the trial the
Armenian officer who had left for Hungary with Gourgen Margaryan gave
evidence The testimony of the officer from Lithuania who was absent
from the trial has also been read. As for the second Azeri officer,
he was absent from the trial for the third time with the sane excuse
of being ill.
The experts who had realized the forensic examination of the
psychological state of Ramil Safarov were also invited to the
trial. Taking into account the fact that the conclusion of different
experts differed from each other, the Court decided to realize double
examination. The advocate of Ramil Safarov mentioned that the court
decision will depend on the results of the examination.
Let us remind you that on February 19, 2004 in Hungary the Azeri
officer Ramil Safarov murdered the Armenian officer Gourgen
Margaryan. The officers participated in courses of English in the
margins of the NATO program “Cooperation for the Sake of Peace”.

CONSTITUTION ADOPTED
A1+
| 13:09:48 | 28-09-2005 | Politics |
Today the Parliament continued the special session and adopted the
draft Constitution by the third hearing with a distribution of votes
90-for, 0-against, 0-undecided. After that Arthur Baghdasaryan put the
decision to apply to Robert Kocharyan to fix the day of the referendum
to voting.
In this connection Viktor Dallakyan announced that the NA
regulation-law 60th article 5th clause has been violated. According
to it, the draft was supposed to be distributed to the deputies an
hour before the voting.
“Nothing has been distributed to us”, he said, but the coalition
deputies claimed the vice versa. “You are violating the law”, announced
Viktor Dallakyan. In answer to this Arthur Baghdasaryan said, “Let
them think what they want, and now let’s vote”.
Let us remind you that yesterday the National Unity had announced that
they will boycott the session, the “Justice” bloc is not participating
in the voting at all. After the break the draft was adopted, and the
special session was over.

IN WASHINGTON WITH SPECIAL MISSION
A1+
| 11:39:09 | 28-09-2005 | Official |
On September 24-28 the RA Governmental delegation was in Washington to
participate in the RA-USA inter governmental working group session,
as well as in the annual meeting of the World Bank and Currency
International Fund.
During the visit the members of the Armenian delegation met the deputy
executive director of the “Millennium Challenges” corporation Charles
Setness. The course of the investigation phase of the Millennium
Challenges Armenian program was discussed.
In the margins of the session of the RA-USA inter governmental
economics working group the parties have discussed a wide circle of
issues about the economic cooperation between RA and USA.

FAREWELL TO AMBASSADOR
A1+
| 13:25:01 | 28-09-2005 | Official |
Today Robert Kocharyan had a farewell meeting with the Greek Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Antonios Vlavianos who
is finishing his diplomatic mission in Armenia.
The sides agreed that Robert Kocharyan’s upcoming official visit to
Greece will become a new impetus for the continuation of political
dialogue between the two countries and the economic cooperation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NO DESTABILIZATION IN THE COUNTRY
A1+
| 15:40:30 | 28-09-2005 | Politics |
“The Constitutional referendum cannot be reason for destabilization
in the country”, claimed the NA President Arthur Baghdasaryan during
the briefing with the journalists.
He announced that all the political powers must preach the new
constitution, “It is not the monopoly of the coalition”. The NA
President promised to do everything within his authorizations,
especial when a large part of the society is not aware of the
amendments offered.
As for the postponing of the referendum, Arthur Baghdasaryan does
not see any need of it. According to him, the referendum will be
organized during the last decade of November.
Arthur Baghdasaryan also mentioned that he had made several conclusions
after the Elections of local governing bodies, particularly, that the
electoral rolls are really in a sad state. According to him, this
fact must be in the center of the attention of the corresponding
bodies. The NA President promised to take care of it himself and
added that there have been other errors too which must be corrected.

DAYS OF WORLD ARMENIAN CONGRESS STARTING IN RA AND NKR TODAY
Pan Armenian News
28.09.2005 03:37
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Traditional days of the World Armenian Congress
and the Union of Armenians of Russia (UAR) are starting in Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh today. The events are initiated by outstanding
public figure and entrepreneur, head of the World Armenian Congress
and UNESCO Good Will Ambassador Ara Abrahamian. The presentations
of UAR editions will be held in the National Academy of Science. The
opening ceremony of the Days will take place in the National Theater
of Opera and Ballet after Alexander Spendiarov. The members of the
Russian delegation will meet with Armenian writers, servicemen of the
Armenian Armed Forces and Russian frontier guards. “Together Forever”
festival of schoolchildren symbolizing the age-old friendship between
Armenia and Russia will be as well organized.

RA NA ADOPTED ADDRESS TO PRESIDENT ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM
Pan Armenian News
28.09.2005 03:25
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 28 the Armenian National Assembly with
90 votes “for”, no “against” and abstentions adopted the address to
Armenian President Robert Kocharian to hold the referendum on the
constitutional amendments. Justice and National Unity opposition
factions did not take part in the voting. Today the Armenian
parliamentarians adopted the package of amendments to the Organic Law
of the country and the law “On Referendum”. As Vice Speaker Tigran
Torossian told journalists, the President is entitled either to sign
or decline the address within three weeks. According to T.
Torossian, the referendum will be held no sooner than 45 days and no
later than 60 days after the signing. In his turn Parliament Chairman
Artur Baghdassaryan informed that the referendum will be held in
the third decade of November. He also stressed that the spreading
of propaganda among the population is the task not only of parties
serving on the coalition but also of all the political forces and
public organizations, IA Regnum reports.