EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO RUSSIAN PAINTING OPENS AT ARMENIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. More than 40 albums and 35
post cards were presented at the exhibition under the title “Russian
Painting” that opened on September 14 at the Armenian National Library
in connection with the Year of Russia in Armenia. The exhibition
has departments of landscape painting, portrait-painting, as well as
historic and icon painting departments.
According to Gohar Haroutiunian, chief librarian of library’s painting
department, by means of the exhibits they tried to briefly present
the Russian painting from 14th century up to 1990-s.
Exhibitions of Russian incunabular and small books and exhibitions
dedicated to Armenian-Russian contacts were also organized at
the Armenian National Library within the framework of the Year of
Russia. Gohar Haroutiunian said that a display of Russian placards
will be organized in October at the library.

SECURITY FORCES MENTIONED IN BEIRUT’S EXPLOSIONS
Arabic News
Sept 18 2005
Lebanon-Syria, Politics, 9/17/2005
Lebanese parliamentarians on Saturday loomed to the responsibility of
the Lebanese security forces which worked during the Syrian presence
period for the al-Ashrafeyah explosions which took place on Friday
evening and killed one person and injured other 22.
Beirut’s parliamentarian Atef Majdalani, who belongs to al-Mustaqbal
( future) parliamentary bloc which is led by Saad al-Hariri, said
that this explosion is “part of the coward terrorist series which
will not stop before the discovering of the reality in the operation
of assassinating the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.”
For his part, Tripoli parliamentarian and member of the parliamentary
majority Elias Atta Allah said that even though former security
leaders are in prison, their security departments are still active.
Worthy mentioning that four leaders of the Lebanese security forces
close to Syria were arrested two weeks ago after they were accused
of being involved in the assassination of al-Hariri on February 14.
Al-Ashrafeyah explosion took place after the lifting of the banking
secrecy from the accounts of 8 Syrian and Lebanese figures suspected
to be involved in the assassination, at the request of the UN
investigating committee.
The Christian part of Beirut has witnessed 11 explosions since the
assassination of Hariri. Two of these explosions claimed the life of
the Lebanese journalist Samir al-Qasir and the leader of the former
Lebanese communist party George Hawi, opposers of the Syrian existence
in Lebanon.
The Lebanese security sources said the explosion resulted from a bomb
of 10 to 20 kg weight, adding that it was implanted under stairway
of a building rather than inside or under a car as stated earlier.
The explosions which took place near a branch for the Lebanese
Bablous Bank in al-J’eitawi suburb in al-Ashrafeyag area of a
Christian majority.
The explosion resulted in the collapse of the facade of one building
and destruction of its balconies, adding that the Lebanese security
forces cordoned the site of the explosion.
Lebanese security and medical sources said that the explosion resulted
in killing one elderly man (Armenian) and injuring of 22 persons one
of them is in a critical condition.
The explosion also resulted in setting fire in three cars which were
stationed near the site of the explosion and damages were inflected
in the nearby buildings.

THE ARC OF DANGER REQUIRES PRAGMATISM
By Douglas Hurd
Financial Times, UK
Sept 19 2005
A few weeks ago, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, was seen
in Baghdad talking uneasily about the need for compromise in Iraq.
There could be no more striking proof of the difference between the
first and second terms of the current Bush administration. Of course
neither George W. Bush nor Tony Blair, UK prime minister, will
admit any fundamental mistakes. We shall have to be content with a
change of approach disguised in familiar rhetoric. That change is
clear enough.
In Iraq, the emphasis is indeed on urging political compromise through
the country’s new constitution. The aim is to isolate the insurgents
and so weaken them to the point where, with luck, the new Iraqi
security forces can cope and American forces can withdraw. In Iran,
the Americans, having no alternative policy of their own, have so far
accepted the need for European diplomacy, despite their scepticism. In
both crises the gap between US and European views has notably narrowed.
The Middle East is just the starting point. It forms the central
segment of an arc of danger that stretches north and east through
Afghanistan to the Chinese border, and north and west through Ukraine
to Belarus.
Terrorism is rife all along this arc and the potential for conflict
is great. The components of crisis, already familiar to us in the
Middle East, re­appear here. There are disputes between nations over
territory, for example between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and between
Russia and Moldova. There are tensions between dictators and their
suppressed peoples, as in Uzbekistan and Belarus. There are tensions
between opposing versions of Islam, as in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There are tensions because of the huge sums to be made out of heroin –
and out of oil and oil pipelines. Sometimes, as in Chechnya, several
of these components combine in a deadly mix. We can expect a series
of conflicts along this arc, for which we are ill prepared.
Russia is much more heavily engaged along the two ends of this arc
than in the Middle East. Most of the republics along the arc were
once part of Russia; some still are. President Vladimir Putin does
not wish to regain lost sovereignty, not even in Belarus. But as
seen from the Kremlin, these countries are part of a Russian sphere
of influence. Russia joins China in rejecting the idea that the US,
Europe or any international organisation has the right to encourage
democracy or analyse the quality of elections in these parts.
With truly Soviet-era clumsiness, the Russians have mishandled their
relationship with Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltic states; and that
is only the beginning. They expect the west to treat as terrorists
any group that may challenge the status quo in Russia’s backyard. We
have been collecting strange allies under the banner of the war
against terrorism; that is one ­reason for welcoming the slow death
of the phrase.
We cannot rely on phrases to provide policy. Too much is made of the
contrast between stability and freedom.
In the Middle East, it sometimes suits the administration in Washington
to talk as if it was abandoning the old regimes in its new enthusiasm
for spreading freedom. This is not what is happening. The US and Europe
are rightly encouraging reform in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan but
they are not about to abandon President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah or
­General Pervez Musharraf. They need Mr Mubarak for the Palestinians,
King Abdullah for oil and Gen Musharraf for Afghanistan.
The same pragmatism should prevail along the whole arc of danger. The
difference between Mr Putin and the Chinese government and ourselves
is not that we want to see violent revolutions across the world
and they do not. No one wants to see Belarus or Uzbekistan become
another Chechnya or Iraq. The difference is that we Europeans see
the slow growth of home-grown freedom as the best road to stability,
whereas the Russians and Chinese prefer authoritarian rule, in which
they believe themselves expert.
Each of the crises emerging in this area will need its own combination
of public and private pressure and negotiation. Europe has to act as
one in all of these. It is frivolous to chatter in terms of separate
British, French or German policies – unless we are interested only in
chatter. A single European foreign and security policy will not emerge
from clauses in a constitutional treaty, but from facts on the ground.
This has already happened in our dealings with Iran; on the nuclear
issue Britain, France and Germany have been negotiating on behalf of
Europe with US approval. Our relationships with Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus are now, in substance, European relationships, which means
that we have to pay more attention than hitherto to the views and
interests of Poland and our Baltic partners.
As new leaders take over the European Union (to name but three
potential leaders: Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown),
old extreme positions towards the US should melt away, particularly in
London and Paris. The answer lies neither in obedience nor in rivalry
but in partnership. In Mr Bush’s second term, Europe working together
should find that partnership easier to achieve.
The writer was UK foreign secretary 1989-95. Lord Hurd is senior
adviser at ­Hawkpoint and is working on a biography of Sir Robert Peel
–Boundary_(ID_bp+uXEP8jhoaQp1f8jI55g)–

ARMENIA TO STOP NEGOTIATIONS ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IF AZERBAIJAN IS TO INSIST ON DISCUSSION OF ITS LAST YEAR’S INITIATIVE AT UN
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14. ARMINFO. Armenia will stop negotiations on
the Nagorno-Karabakh peaceful settlement if Azerbaijan is to put
forward any issue at the UN, and then Baku will be forced to continue
negotiations directly with Stepanakert, stated press-secretary
of Armenia’s Foreign Ministry Hamlet Gasparyan commenting on the
transfer of the issue “on situation in Azeri occupied territories”
to the agenda of the UN General Assembly’s 60th session.
In his words, in accordance with the UN regulations, the issue
undiscussed among others at Assembly’s 59th session may be
automatically transferred to the next session agenda. “However,
Azerbaijan can undertake no steps insisting on this point as it will
contradict to agreements reached by the sides earlier”, Gasparyan noted
adding that Armenia’s approach on this issue has not been changed.

ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF WORKS OF JEWELLERS AND DIAMOND MANUFACTURERS OF ARMENIA TO OPEN ON SEPTEMBER 29
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The annual exhibition of works of
jewellers and diamond manufacturers of Armenia will open in Yerevan
on September 29. As Artur Gyulnazarian, the Executive Director of the
Association of Jewellers and Diamond Manufacturers of Armenia informed
during the interview to the Noyan Tapan correspondent, gold adornments,
jewels and poli-precious stones and subjects made of them, souvenirs
as well as instruments and equipments used in jewellery and diamond
manufacture will be exhibited.
According to A.Gyulnazarian, about 3 dozens of companies and more
than 20 individual businessmen placed orders for participation in
the exhibition.
According to him, during such exhibitions, meetings of jewellers and
representatives of companies standing near to the sphere, exchange of
experience support development of jewellery and diamond manufacturing
in Armenia.

RUSSIA CALLS ARMENIA TO ORIENT
A1+
| 16:46:07 | 19-09-2005 | Politics |
Member of the Justice bloc Aram Sargsyan, son of Gaspar, participated
in the International Conference of Unrecognized States in which a
delegation of 9 officials with National Security Council secretary
Karen Babouryan participated from Karabakh.
Karabakh differed from the other unrecognized states of South
Caucasus by the fact that it did not announce about its desire to
join Russia. Mr.
Sargsyan said, “Karabakh is independent and if there is a problem to
join anyone, it would be only Armenia”.
By the way, the RF President’s advisor Modest Kolerov participated
in the Conference too who turned to the Armenian participants of the
Conference, “Brother Armenians, you must orient what you want and
where you want to go”.
But he did not comment on his words.
According to Aram Sargsyan, “The Russian authorities are disappointed
with the present authorities of Armneia, with the foreign policy and
with the absence of discussion of important issues with Russia”,
The Armenian delegation tried to mend the mistakes of our authorities
on the spot mentioning that the settlement of the Karabakh conflict
depends on both the Minsk group and Russia.
By the way, Aram Sargsyan also announced that this year there will
be no serious steps towards the settlement of the conflict.

BANK’S SECURITY CAMERA FILMS JEITAWI BOMBERS PLANTING EXPLOSIVE BAGS AND FLEEING
NaharNet, Lebanon
Sept 18 2005
Naharnet.com
Police investigators are focusing on a film taken by a security
camera of a bank at the scene of the Jeitawi bombing to pin down the
identity of two assailants seen planting two bags of explosives in
between parked cars near a coffee shop that took the brunt of the
explosion’s impact, An Nahar reported on Sunday.
Witnesses have told police they saw the two bag carriers climbing
out of a private car driven by a third man. The same car returned to
pick them up and raced off after explosives were placed on target,
according to An Nahar.
Investigators hope to establish the identity of the bombers and their
car driver from the film that was taken off the security camera of
a Byblos Bank branch overlooking the scene of the blast that rocked
Jeitawi’s St. Louis alleyway five minutes before midnight of Friday
-Saturday.
The owner of the cafe, a Lebanese Armenian in his sixties, was killed
in the blast and a total of 28 people in the shop and pedestrians
around it were injured. Police said Sunday that only three of the
wounded people remained hospitalized and the rest were given quick
first aid treatment and discharged.
Residents of the densely populated stricken street in a Christian
neighborhood of the Lebanese capital are still taking stock of the
damage caused by the explosion to their homes and shops, bakeries and
groceries. Beirut’s municipality launched a fund-raising campaign to
help residents to repair the damage.
An official statement said the first $100,000 donation came from Sheikh
Jassem Mohammed Al Bahr, reportedly a Kuwaiti. The City Council has
decided to extend an initial aid of $500 to every victim pending a
survey of the damage by Lebanon’s Higher Relief Board.
It was the 8th such bombing since March 19. Anti-Syrian politicians
blamed the new attack, like the previous bombings, to Syria’s secret
service and allied Lebanese intelligence operatives.
But Hizbullah which strongly condemned the Jeitawi blast as a
terrorist act of destabilization, publicly warned against handing
down prejudgments.
The warning seems to suggest the Party of God is determined to absolve
Syria from guilt no matter what and maintain its alliance with the
Assad regime although it has been domestically and internationally
coerced into terminating 29 years of ruthless tutelage over Lebanon
last April.

“BALZAC WAS MY TEACHER”
A1+
| 17:20:55 | 19-09-2005 | Politics |
A week ago member of the Justice bloc Aram Sargsyan, son of Gaspar,
started a collection of signatures and turned to all the NA groupings
and fractions to create a committee investigating the course of
realization of the Cognac Factory privatization contract.
He has not received an answer yet and he is sure there will be none,
as the deal was made under Robert Kocharyan and now no one wants to
revise the contract. Aram Sargsyan announced that the organization
which privatized the Cognac Factory has used half of the stored
spirit of the factory. “It is a violation of the contract, that’s
why we want to investigate the matter”, announced Aram Sargsyan today.
Aram Sargsyan informed that he will go till the end and he will either
learn that he is wrong, or prove that he is right. “Tomorrow we will
not be able to produce “Nairi” as 20 years are needed to have spirit
of that quality”, he announced.
Aram Sargsyan considers the attempts to qualify his action as one
against France totally meaningless, “I have always respected the
country, Balzac was one of my first teachers, and I consider de
Goll one of the best politicians in the history of the humanity. So,
France has nothing to do with what I want to find out”.
The deputy reminded that the company was sold for 28 million, and
now it costs 770 million. He also did not exclude the possibility
that it can be sold, “Buying for 8 million and selling for 1 billion:
who wouldn’t like that? ” he asked.

FIGHTING FOR A PIECE OF THE PIE IN CENTRAL ASIA
Mehr News Agency, Iran
Sept 19 2005
TEHRAN, Sept. 18 (MNA) — Following the recent tension in the former
Soviet republics, the major regional powers have begun competing with
each other. They are by no means seeking the establishment of democracy
in the region but are rather trying to acquire their perceived share
of the pie.
Although many political analysts believe that the United States,
Russia, and the Zionist regime are competing with each other in the
region, others experts say that the main actors on this international
stage are the United States, Russia, and the European Union.
The region which took shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union
is like a blanket that is supposed to cover three people with each
of the three pulling the blanket toward himself.
Due to their strategic position for the establishment of a unipolar
world system, the former Soviet republics are of great significance
for the United States. Using the Afghanistan war as a pretext, the
U.S. was finally able to establish military bases in Central Asian
countries, although these republics only agreed to the U.S.
suggestion in order to free themselves from Moscow’s political
influence.
Meanwhile, a U.S.-based committee on freedom of religion recently
asked Washington to register Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as two of
the world’s main violators of freedom of religion.
However, it should be noted that the case of Uzbekistan was only
brought up after it quit the GUAM organization and called for the
withdrawal of NATO military forces from its territory.
Moreover, the U.S. conservatives are now trying to turn the
Commonwealth of Independent States countries into a battlefield for
a new cold war. But, due to recent developments, the Central Asian
countries now believe that the presence of U.S. forces in their
territories is a significant destabilizing factor.
These countries are wary of U.S. claims about establishing democracy
and feel that the United States is using non-governmental organizations
to harm their national governments.
Along these lines, on July 5, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO), which consists of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, China, and the Russian Federation, called on the United
States to announce a specific date for the withdrawal of its military
forces from Central Asia. This measure was taken due to the entrance
of new players in the region and the reduction of U.S. influence in
Central Asia.
One of the significant regional players is the Russian Federation.
Russia, which regards Central Asia as its backyard, has become
irritated by the growing regional influence of the United States,
the European Union, the Zionist regime, and China and consequently
is trying to weaken this influence through trying to limit and/or
cooperate with these countries, a strategy which it calls “expected
participation and mutual respect”.
First of all, Russia disagreed with Washington’s initiative on
“exporting democracy”! Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory
Karasin warned that Russia can not brook the imposition of methods
of “democratization” in the former Soviet republics, “colored
revolutions”, or info-political pressure on governments because
this would certainly lead to regional instability and unpredictable
repercussions.
The European Union, which began presenting itself as an influential
international player after changing its monetary system and expanding
eastward, considers Central Asia to be a region which can change the
attitude of developing countries toward its power and influence.
EU officials frequently comment on developments in Central Asia and
are trying to send a message to regional countries that they want to
participate in the regional democratization process by dispatching
electoral observers.
This is made clear by the EU measures and the remarks of Slovenian
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, who is also currently the chairman
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in
which he said that the organization was determined to help the former
Soviet republics eradicate dictatorships and establish democratic
values in their countries.
In another development, it seems that the United States is no longer
willing to support these regional countries at any cost.
U.S. President George W. Bush recently sent a message to Kazakh
President Nur Sultan Nazarbayev asking him to hold a free democratic
election. Similar messages were then sent to the governments of the
Azerbaijan Republic and Armenia.
In addition, the U.S. Congress has approved bills to fund opposition
groups in these countries and in Moldova, where President Vladimir
Voronin was reelected due to the support of the United States.
The change in the U.S. geostrategy began with the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks. These terrorist incidents in New York and
Washington forced the United States to review its relations with
loyal but authoritarian leaders of other countries.
The clearest manifestation of the new U.S. strategy can be witnessed
in its attitude toward the Andijan incidents. Uzbekistan, which had
always been dependent on the West, was also supported by the West in
its suppression of the unrest.

OSKANIAN: ARMENIANS OF KARABAKH PROVED THEY CAN DEFEND THEIR INDEPENDENCE
Pan Armenian News
19.09.2005 04:27
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Vatran
Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov addressed the 60-the Session of the
UN General Assembly. Starting his speech Vartan Oskanian stated that
Armenia being ahead of its neighbors occupies the 83-th position
in the Human Development Index. “We achieved this result despite
our unfavorable geopolitical position,” the RA FM said adding that
Armenia has no sea borders and oil.
“But if we had oil income we would spend it on education, social
welfare and environment protection but never on doubling the military
budget”, he stated. When touching upon the Karabakh conflict the RA FM
noted, “The Armenians of Karabakh achieved independence de-facto. They
proved that they can defend their independence, form democratic
institutes and hold elections.” In his turn the Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister presented Baku’s position on the issue. “First, Armenians
should withdraw forces form the seized territories to escape the stain
of aggressor and create an atmosphere of trust”, Elmar Mammadyarov
said. In his words, “refugees should return to their houses and local
police should be formed in Karabakh to provide security for Armenians
and Azeris. The Karabakh Armenians should be given the possibility to
communicate with Armenia while Nakhichevan should have communication
with Azerbaijan.” “Thus the Lachin corridor should become the path
of peace used in both directions and controlled by international
peacekeepers at the initial stage,” he stated, reported RFE/RL.