YEREVAN – SALE ZONE
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| 15:17:47 | 29-08-2005 | Social |
New people are added to the group of those shelterless who have been
ousted of their houses. Together with the residents of the North
Avenue, Buzand and Yeznik Koghbaci streets the residents of Kanaker
and Malatia-Sebastia are already participating in marches.
In the Malatia-Sebastia community there are good pieces of land too. In
particular, the lands of the ex collective economy N22, which were
allotted to the workers of the economy, families of dead soldiers
and socially insecure families. These lands are being sold too.
The above mentioned lands form about 50 hectares. 30 of them have been
allotted to the Defense Ministry, which it its turn has resold them,
but the new owner of the lands is unknown.
Although there are families who have rent contracts of the lands,
the contracts are found invalid. As for the compensation for the
lands, it is miserable. 1 square meter usually costs 40 cents, and
the families of the dead soldiers are paid 2 dollars.
It is noteworthy that 20 hectares of the whole territory is not
considered a green zone, therefore no necessary compensation is
given. As for the Yerevan municipality, it has started to sell the
territory in an auction.

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic
Aug 27 2005
Azerbaijan, Armenia Leaders To Discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

(RFE/RL)
27 August 2005 — The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia are expected
to meet today to discuss the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The talks between Presidents Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan and Robert
Kocharian of Armenia are due to be held in Kazan, in the Russian
republic of Tatarstan, where leaders of the Commonwealth of
Independent States held a summit yesterday.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held separate telephone
talks this week with Aliev and Kocharian and urged them to “make the
compromises necessary” to reach a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly ethnic Armenian enclave, broke away from
Soviet Azerbaijan in 1988, sparking a war in which some 35,000 people
were killed. A cease-fire took effect in 1994.

Air Force (Monthly), UK
August 2005, Issue 209
Postcard from Armenia
Elio Viroli and Stenio Bacciocchi visit the Armenian Air Force, which
has either been at war or on a heightened state of alert for much of
its 13-year existence.
Rugged and landlocked, the former Soviet republic of Armenia has some
three million inhabitants and occupies some 312,200 sq. miles
(502,330 sq. km) of territory. Its declaration of independence from
the USSR on September 21, 1991, brought challenges to the sovereignty
of Armenia’s Nagorno Karabak province, a mountainous area of some 81
sq. miles (130 sq. km) inside neighbouring Azerbaijan, mostly
inhabited by Christian Armenians and surrounded by Muslim Azeris.
During the fighting over Nagorno Karabak between 1991 and 1994, both
the Armenians and the Azeris used USSR aircraft still based in their
territories. Azerbaijan had some important air bases: Gandzha and
Sital Tchay were home of MiG-21s, MiG-25s, Su-22s and Su-24s, while
at Sanchagaly, some 70 L-39s were armed with unguided rockets.
Armenia had helicopters as well as aircraft from the DOSAAF (Russian
civilian training) air bases. As a result, this particular air war
was fought between a well-equipped Azerbaijan Air Force and a small
Armenian Air Force. Although the latter comprised mainly helicopters,
it also operated a good number of anti-aircraft weapons such as SA-7
MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems), 9K32 Strela and Zsu 23-2,
plus – during the last phases of the conflict – some of the more
sophisticated SA-14s. The fight for the Lachin Corridor, linking
Armenia and Nagorno Karabak, led to the loss of almost 30 Azerbaijani
aircraft to MANPADS and other anti-aircraft ground fire: Armenia lost
ten helicopters and two fast jets. When the fighting ended, the
Armenian Air Force had some 13 Mi-24 Hind helicopters left, plus
seven Mi-8/17s and five Su-25Ks. The Armenian Air Force was
officially established in October 1992, though it suffered for many
years from lack of funds, acquiring no further aircraft or
helicopters. Last year it took delivery of Su-25Ks from the Slovak
3rd Flight at Malacky air base, including aircraft 5036, 6017, 8073,
8074, 8075, 1006, 1007, 1008, 1027 and the Su-25UKB 3237; two L-39s
were acquired recently from Ukraine.
Armenia’s Minister of Defense, Dr. Serge Sargsyan, invited the
authors to visit all the Armenian Air Force bases. At Yerevan we met
Col. Daniel Balayan, commander of the Military Aviation Institute,
created in 1993 to train pilots and technical personnel for careers
in the air force and in civil aviation. The college has been
completely rebuilt, and now has comfortable air-conditioned
classrooms. Currently, 80 cadets from the technical branch are
studying there, and a new pilot course is due to start soon. A pilot
can only attend the institute by being officially accepted – 100
students are selected from 700-800 candidates. The course includes
flying the Yak-52 for 80 hours and the L-39 for 60 hours.
The first period of training is carried out at Arzni air base, some
18 miles (30km) northeast of Yerevan. A former DOSAAF base, it now
flies aircraft and helicopters of the former Russian Air Force. At
the moment the composite air wing has no numerical definition,
although one is expected to be created in the near future. The Arzni
airfield is not used for training as at present there are no courses
there for pilots. However, ten Yak-52s are kept in perfect condition,
alongside one Yak-55 for acrobatic training and a four-seater Yak-18T
for liaison work. Three An-2s are still used for paratroop dropping,
and a half-dozen Mi-2s are available for training, though only two or
three are kept in flyable condition.
At Yust, in the Yerevan area, stands Erebuni air base, still a
Russian base where some dozen `Red Star’ MiG-29s stand ready for air
defense of the capital, Yerevan. There are still over 5,000 Russian
military in Armenia as a consequence of a treaty between the two
nations. Erebuni is a helicopter station housing the former Soviet
7th GvVP and its Mi-24P/K, Mi-17 and Mi-8MTK. The area is very
beautiful – the landscape is dominated by the snow-capped Mount
Ararat.
The Armenian Air Force’s most important base is at Gyumri, a town 80
miles (130km) north of Yerevan, destroyed by a terrible earthquake in
1988 which claimed thousands of lives. The airbase has a 10,450 ft
(3,185m) runway and is the home of a former Russian Air Force
Regiment, which flies Su-25Ks and Su-25UTKs, and houses some L-39s.
Commander-in-chief of the Armenian Air Force is Colonel Stepan
Galstyan (42) who met us at Gyumri. A former MiG-23 fighter pilot
based in the north of the Soviet Union at the time of its collapse,
he returned to his native country and became the first Armenian Su-25
pilot. Unusually, the recently acquired Slovak Su-25Ks have retained
the colour scheme and the national insignia of the Slovak Air Force.
The old Armenian Su-25s, those in service since 1993, carry an
Armenian roundel. Of the four L-39s we could see in Gyumri, two had
Armenian roundels, while the two newly-acquired from Ukraine are
completely anonymous. No precise details are known as to the future
of the Armenian Air Force, but we are able to say that the Armenians
are intending to build up a small, but well-organized, air force.
Photo 1: An Armenian Air Force Mi-24P on the ramp at Erebuni, wearing
a sand-style camouflage. There would appear to be no standard
camouflage markings for the Hind fleet.
Photo 2: The Armenian Air Force Insignia
Photo 3: Aircrew and engineers talk over the day’s proceedings in
front of an Su-25K – which appears not to have moved for a while if
the bird-droppings on the top of the tail are anything to go by!
Photo 4: With its chute trailing behind, an Armenian Air Force
two-seat Su-25UBK Frogfoot prepares to turn off the runway at
Armenia’s premier air base at Gyumri.
Photo 5: A Mi-24K equipped with a 7.62mm rocket pod and wearing a
two-tone green camouflage, ideal for operating low in the Armenian
and Azerbaijani countryside during the winter.
Photo 6: Devoid of any markings, or even its construction number
(usually worn on the tail), this ex-Ukraine Air Force L-39 moves
along the taxiway in Gyumri.
Photo 7: An Armenian pilot taxies his Su-25K back to the apron after
a flight.
Photo 8: This Yak-55 is used for training students in the art of
flying acrobatics.
Photo 9: Map of Armenian Air Force Bases.
Photo 10: The Four seats of this smart Yak-18T make it ideal for
liaison.
Photo 11: One of the ten Yak-52s on the inventory of the Armenian Air
Force is pictured at its home base in Arzni. Note how the colours of
the roundels differ between aircraft.
Photo 12: A Mi-8 Hip on the ramp at Erebuni, armed with a rocket pod.
Photo 13: This Mi-2 Hoplite is one of at least two known to be flown
from Arzni, probably used for helicopter pilot training.
Photo 14: As can be seen from this picture, the Su-25 Frogfoots still
wear Slovakian Air Force titles and numbers, while the two other
Frogfoots sport contrasting Armenian roundels.

Russia needs “national idea” to avert imminent crisis – view
Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moscow 12 Aug 05
A Russian commentator has described the situation in Russia as
stagnation which, if unchecked, could bring about the collapse of the
state. Writing in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, Yevgeniy
Anisimov said that the strengthening of the state machine that has
become “tainted with corruption” should not be mistaken for a
strengthening of the state; that the situation in Russia exhibited
“all the prerequisites for a revolution”; and that, if one were to
occur, the consequences would be disastrous – “uprisings and punitive
expeditions; wars fought over regions that are rich in resources”. The
following is excerpted from Yevgeniy Anisimov’s article, published on
12 August, subheadings as published:
We are being drawn ever more deeply into a state of stagnation. Of
course, we could choose not to call it stagnation, we could choose to
call it stability, but in doing so we would be burying our heads in
the sand. Stability signifies calm and regular development while
during a period of stagnation problems are hidden away out of sight,
where they accumulate and mature, ready to break through to the
surface at some future date. Anyone who remembers the Brezhnev era
will have no trouble finding similarities between that period and the
present day.
At that time oil prices were high – now they are also high; back then
people received handouts – that is happening now too; at that time the
authorities resisted the reforms that were imminent and overdue – now
they are doing the same thing. How did this all end in the 1980s? It
ended in a collapse of the system. How might this all end now? It is
scary even to think about it. But we must think about it. If only in
order to be prepared for possible future changes.
Business in uniform
Two extremely strong factors are exerting an influence on the
present-day life of the country: oil prices and an abrupt
strengthening of officialdom. Not a strengthening of the state (it is
actually growing weaker) but of bureaucrats. The strengthening of the
power vertical has turned out to be a double-edged sword: on the one
hand, it has been possible to stop the mayhem wreaked by the oligarchs
and the regional barons, while on the other hand, officials who have
had a taste of power have started to become even more intensely
involved in making money. And the state machine has become tainted
with corruption. Ministerial posts were for sale then and are still
being sold now, foreign law-and-order bodies are hunting former
ministers (foreign law-and-order bodies, not our own!).
The police offers a very clear example of the regeneration of state
bodies.
Previously there were entrepreneurs, there were bandits who
“protected” them and there was a police force that did the absolute
minimum to fight against crime. Then, at some point, a decision was
taken at the very top to eliminate the economic basis of crime – for
this read: replace bandit protection with police protection. And
within just a few years the entire police force turned into an
organization of “turncoats in uniform”: station staff and patrol men
scavenge for crumbs, collecting tribute from outsiders and small
traders; the leadership at district level “protects” the markets; and
one can only guess what the top management gets up to: most probably
it is “protecting” its subordinates.
But now imagine a situation in which there is a genuine requirement
for police intervention – for example, mass disturbances like those
that occurred in Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan. Will the turncoat cops go
against the furious crowd? Hardly. They have a business to run, they
need to make money, they do not need to risk their lives for God knows
what.
Today, alas, the state machine can do NOTHING, in spite of all its
apparent enormous size and power. What is more, this is true at all
levels. Attempts to carry out monetization of benefits demonstrated
this with utmost clarity.
After all, not only is it necessary to replace benefits with money,
one also has to carry out pension reform, to sort out the health care
system and to do the same with education and communal services. Can
the state allow itself to make abrupt moves in even one of these
areas? No it cannot – there would be an outburst of popular
indignation.
And indeed why would officials do this? They now have only one goal –
to last until 2008 in order to ensure themselves a comfortable future,
and they couldn’t care less about anything else. There is not much
time, certainly not enough time to do both with long-term
programmes. And for that reason they have chosen a strategy: take no
sudden actions, do nothing to alarm the people, let everything take
its natural course. In a word – stagnation.
And however strange it may be, this is the best possible strategy at
the present time. If the government cannot make a decent job of
carrying out a monetization of benefits; if the whole of the Far East
rises up in protest over its attempt to prohibit right-hand-drive
vehicles; if students are being driven into the army with one stroke
of the pen – it is better for this government to do nothing at
all. Otherwise it will cause the country to blow apart.
Stagnation cannot last for ever – it is like a boil, a furuncle that
is going to burst at some point with consequences of one kind or
another. Any doctor will tell you that it is better to lance the boil
surgically because otherwise there may be sepsis, an infection of the
blood. Besides, they will not allow us to rot away slowly all on our
own – the resources at our country’s disposal are too great.
This is not a dead bear but a sick bear
We have known for a long time how the United States views
us. Z. Brzezinski has spoken about this with the utmost frankness, and
not long ago former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that it
is not right for one country to own and dispose of such vast resources
– especially when it does so without skill. But in recent years new
claimants have joined the list: China and the Islamic world. As long
as the Islamists do not unite we can speak of them as no more than a
destabilizing factor that uses other players in its own
interests. China, on the other hand, is a serious matter.
At the present time the Chinese are actively seeking access to new
sources of energy. They are holding talks with Iran; they are prepared
to buy the largest American oil company carrying out development work
in East Asia; they are constant participants in Russian tenders for
field development; and Chinese capital was also involved in the story
of the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz.
China’s rapidly developing industry needs oil, and the Chinese are
prepared to fight for it – even with the Americans.
The Russian leadership has made its position perfectly clear: control
of strategic industries and infrastructure sectors will remain with
the state. The presence of foreign companies in these areas will be
subject to restrictions.
And this includes the oil and gas sector. Quite understandably,
neither the Chinese nor the Americans are happy with this
position. But while the Chinese are counting (and not without reason)
on special terms of cooperation with Russia in the oil and gas sphere,
everything seems to suggest that the Americans are taking a more
decisive stance. If the state authorities do not give us what we need
– why do we need such authorities and why do we need such a state?
Nobody is denying the influence that the United States exerts on the
processes under way in Georgia and Ukraine. Next in line are
Azerbaijan and Russia – the American budget is already allocating
money for the “development of democracy” in these countries.
The goal of the Americans is this: with the assistance of “democratic”
levers to stir up the situation inside the country to such a degree as
to enable a government loyal to them to come to power. If the country
shatters into fragments at the same time, so much the better – it is
easier to reach agreement with the weak rulers of small states. And
they do not need the whole of Russia – only the regions rich in
resources.
The time bomb is already ticking
So what do we have at the present time? Growing discontent on the part
of the people; a state machine that has been eaten away by corruption
and is unable to function; powerful foreign players with a vested
interest in a change of regime. All the prerequisites for a
revolution. The only thing required for an explosion is the detonator.
The detonator could be something like Beslan or Dubrovka – a
large-scale terrorist act in the heart of Russia – or a large-scale
technological catastrophe like the recent power cut in Moscow, but
with more serious consequences.
Imagine the scenario if a disaster of this kind were to occur in
winter. Inside the apartment buildings it is dark and cold; people
come out onto the streets to gather around campfires; vodka appears,
and so do political agitators and agents provocateurs. And if the
crowd embarks on a trail of destruction – who is going to stop it? The
police? Don’t make me laugh, they will find little cracks in which to
hide. What about the army? It will not come out of its barracks,
because the army is also home to a great deal of discontent.
And that will be it, a chain reaction will roll across the country. In
places where the leadership is still able to control the situation
(primarily, in the national republics situated along the Volga River)
a state of emergency will be introduced and all power will pass to the
local elite, which has long dreamed of freeing itself from the yoke of
the federal centre. Then there will be darkness. Uprisings and
punitive expeditions; wars fought over regions that are rich in
resources; bands of robbers?
We are still quite a long way from the point at which the development
of the situation becomes irreversible. But not so far away that we can
simply dismiss the threat. The main uncertainty lies in the fact that
we do not know how full the cup of national patience is. We cannot
trust opinion polls: they sometimes produce results that are
completely contradictory because they are trying to please the
customer. We can only believe that long-suffering nature of the
people will make it possible for us to take steps that lead us away
from the abyss. But which steps?
First, there must be national agreement on a very important issue –
choosing a social order for the country. It is customary to think that
this choice has already been made and that there is no way back. We
will not be going back, that much is clear, but in which direction
should we move forward? Accept privatization or not? Build state
capitalism or normal capitalism based on private ownership by
citizens? Forgive the economic crimes committed in the troubled years
after the start of the reforms? We will certainly obtain answers to
these questions, but there are different ways of doing so: either by
peaceful means, in a time of national discussion resulting in
decisions that are binding upon everyone; or each of the fragments of
a once unified state will have to try and get answers by sweat and
blood.
Second, an ideology must be formulated on the basis of the agreement
that has been reached. The very same national idea that many people
are talking about. Once again it may arise peacefully or it may be
born in the course of bloody clashes between the bearers of different
national ideas. At the moment we have neither idea nor ideology.
Third, the supporters of a newly born ideology must organize
themselves around it. Political leaders must show themselves, leaders
who will initially create structures parallel to the existing state
structures and then dismantle the state apparatus that has been eaten
away by corruption. Something similar has occurred on more than one
occasion in our history: the oprichnina [the radical rule of Ivan IV],
“the fledglings of Peter’s nest” [Peter the Great], Bolshevist
commissars.
Prediction. Which scenario is possible?
Is this a fantasy? An unscientific utopia? I agree. In the present
situation, everything that has been described above is no more than a
mental exercise and empty theorizing. Well, who is going to call into
question his or her own power and property out of sheer goodwill? And
if this is the case we must be prepared for one of three possible
versions of the future.
The pessimistic version: A “coloured revolution”
Opposition to the current regime under the slogans “No to bureaucratic
thieves!”, “No to thieving oligarchs!” and “Give us
democracy!”. Gradually the fight is going beyond the bounds of
peaceful demonstrations and progressing to a stage of strikes and
blockades on railways and other trunk routes. There may be bloody
provocations, and then an explosion is inevitable. Central power is
paralysed and the regions are finding themselves left to their own
devices – a situation of which they are eagerly taking full
advantage. Officially the country is being preserved as a unified
whole, but in reality it is breaking up into pieces under the
protectorates of various foreign states.
The optimistic version: “Tsushima” [reference to the Battle of
Tsushima Strait, fought in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War].
For the sake of preserving internal stability Russia is drawn into
what it believes will be a “small and triumphant war” and suffers a
crushing defeat that is extremely humiliating for the nation’s sense
of self. The angry people give birth to an accursed national idea and
a bearer who personifies it – a leader from among the military. This
general has the unconditional support of the people and, using what
are de facto dictatorial methods, creates a new state – with a new
ideology, new laws, a new state apparatus and so forth.
The realistic version is “Stagnation”
The current policy of doing nothing continues. Problems are buried
away out of sight, until they come to a head or until some detonator
goes off – then there is an explosion with unpredictable consequences.
So there you are. Only one of these three versions represents a chance
to preserve Russia as a unified state, but I propose that you should
make an independent assessment of how realistic that version
is. [Passage omitted] Postscript: Without an idea, any authority
starts to work for itself This is not the first time that I have
“scared” the readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda with stories of Russia’s
imminent disintegration. In the autumn after the August crisis of 1998
I wrote a series of articles under the general title “Russia will not
live to see winter” – just like that, without a question mark, that is
how confident I was of my prediction. Only one chance remained to
preserve the state – if a “dictator summoned by the people” emerges at
the head of that state. And as early as summer 1999 Vladimir Putin
became first prime minister, and then president. Of course, one cannot
call him a dictator, but he built a power vertical, he destroyed the
Chechen bandit “state”, he subdued the oligarchs and the regional
barons, and political opposition grew quiet under him. And then oil
prices also started to rise. The threat of the country’s
disintegration seemed to have disappeared. But then the threat arose
once again. But from where? And why?
My personal point of view is this: Putin has not yet brought to
completion everything for which the people gave him their support. He
has dealt with some of the oligarchs but there are others, who are
certainly no better, that he has not touched. He has created a
parallel state structure in the regions (federal districts and
presidential plenipotentiaries) but they have acquired no real power
and, little by little, they have become corrupt. State control over
oil and gas seems to have been restored, but the excess profits from
their export have remained in the Stabilization Fund, and have not
been used to generate an economic leap forward. Much was said during
Putin’s first term about making the economy less bureaucratic, but
since his re-election nobody seems to remember it any more. And a
great many other undertakings were abandoned at the half-way
stage. You cannot do everything yourself, but as soon as you transfer
power to somebody else – that’s it, the matter dies.
But the main thing is this: an ideology has still not emerged that the
people would consciously support and upon which Putin could rely when
carrying out his reforms. If there was an ideology there would be
genuine allies, and not members of One Russia. The management of a
state cannot be built on the same principles as the management of a
corporation – even a very large corporation. A state system is much
more complex. Without an idea and without ideals any state power
vertical will very quickly begin to work for itself, it will become
corrupt, and as a result it will cease to function altogether. Then
comes either a change of power or the collapse of the state.

The Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
August 27, 2005 Saturday
So dark, Diamanda
by Patrick Watson
AN INTERVIEW with Diamanda Galas is a bit like meeting Saint Peter.
It could go both ways.
“I’ve had eight or 10 interviews this morning. Some journalists ask
the most stupid f——- questions. I might go hang myself in the
bathroom,” she says.
It’s the kind of threat that, perhaps, holds just a hint of truth.
After all, this is the same woman who wrote The Shit of God, walked
the streets as a prostitute in Oakland, California, and has dedicated
four albums to the AIDS epidemic.
A classically trained pianist with an opera singer’s voice of four
octaves, Diamanda Galas has been performing her frighteningly
haunting ballads since 1978.
On her upcoming tour, Guilty Guilty Guilty, she promises a program of
homicidal love songs, including Johnny Cash’s Long Black Veil, Edith
Piaf’s Heaven Have Mercy and Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could
Cry.
They’re not exactly the kind of genres you’d associate with the gaunt
Gala, but at least the subject matter rings true.
“Morbidity and depression aren’t fascinating. It just happens to
exist in everything, like everything else. I’ve my share of the s—
that life is composed of,” she says.
“The stoics said if you expect from life only happiness, you’re a
fool. They had it figured out. I don’t make it up. I’m not fascinated
about going through morbid states, but when I talk about it, I talk
about it in an undiluted way.”
The LA Weekly called her “the original badass musician”.
It seems to make sense, particularly for the blatantly non-conformist
artist who has previously written works such as Plague Mass, Concert
for the Damned, and something called Defixiones, a meditation on the
Armenian genocide and the politically co-operative denial of it.
She is, she confesses, a ratbag of the worst kind and rejects most of
what society has to offer.
“It’s just a different way of doing it. People think that’s so
depressing and so desperate and it’s so this and that. In fact,
there’s no more to it than Greek women who mourn the dead saying
hello to those below,” she explains.
“It’s not scary music. What is scary to me is not to be able to
express myself. Not expressing myself, now that’s really scary.”
Asked what she thinks about being labelled the “princess of
darkness”, and she is outraged.
“I’m not the princess, I’m the queen of darkness. I don’t address
these things at all,” she says.
She also hates the term “Goth”: “In America you’re either black,
white or Hispanic. They look at my white skin and black hair and say
Gothic. They don’t see that I’m Greek.
“Lots of people come up with different opinions. I just do what I
do.”
Which includes, of course, her legendary fascination with AIDS.
“When I become involved with an issue like that it’s not going to
last just two months. It’s a lot of work. It takes years to get to
it. You have to look at opportunistic infections, medicines, suicide.
“Most artists exhaust a subject in five minutes and tomorrow will be
in Hawaii.”
But despite the jutting bones, the black clothes, the skin pallor and
the pagan poetry, Diamanda Gala says she’s just a musician. And, like
many, she feels she’s often misunderstood.
Not that she cares much.
“I think I’m the most lovable individual in the f—— world,” she
says.
“And, in case you’re wondering, I’m not going to go hang myself in
the toilet after this interview.”
Diamanda Galas plays Brisbane October 13, QPAC Concert Hall.
Bookings: 136 246

Riverfront Times (St. Louis, Missouri)
August 24, 2005 Wednesday
Simply Dvin
Is the food really as good and fresh behind the old Iron Curtain as
it is here?
By Rose Martelli
I wonder what the two women who work there — the sole employees of
this Armenian-Greek-Russian restaurant located in the Old Orchard
section of Webster Groves — are doing right now. I’m pretty sure
they’re not scrambling to turn over tables, fire up orders from the
elevator-size galley or haul ever-more stock out of the walk-ins and
lowboys. It’s not a particularly busy restaurant. In all the times
I’ve eaten at Dvin, whether stopping in for a quick solo lunch,
enjoying catch-up dinners with old pals or bringing in bunches of
friends in the hope of turning them on to my favorite
hole-in-the-wall foodie find, I have seen, in total, exactly two
other diners. Perhaps the women are instead tending to the jungle of
houseplants (cacti, dracaenas, ivy) that cram the storefront’s
entranceway and bay window. Or maybe they’re rearranging the
artificial flowers, with their shellacked-on dewdrops, that rest in
stem vases atop each of Dvin’s nine tables. There are straight lace
curtains to wash, fruit-and-floral-patterned plastic placemats to
wipe down. There are rainbow-colored ceiling fans (which remind me of
those rainbow-colored caps with the propellers on top) to dust, and
rows of framed landscape paintings on the walls and Russian nesting
dolls in the unrefrigerated deli case to keep orderly. So it’s no
wonder that when I arrive, the restaurant’s front door is often
locked, neon-lit “Open” sign be damned. When I knock, one of the
women answers in a housekeeping smock.
As I take my pick of tables, the younger woman will ditch her smock
and dutifully fetch me a plastic-sheathed menu, creased and tattered,
and a paper-napkin roll-up. She’ll also turn on some music, something
Europoppy or this one blowzy chanteuse who must be the Edith Piaf of
Greece, while the older woman retreats to the kitchen.
The waitress will jot down my order and take it to the kitchen. I
like to pretend that the back of the house is the setting for an
Eastern European sitcom/reality/cooking show. Occasionally I’ll hear
them bicker back there in their thick native tongues, and I’ll think
it’s like Sanford and Son meets It’s a Living, or the episode of
Seinfeld where Elaine couldn’t tell if the Korean ladies in the nail
salon were making fun of her. But I also dream of watching the
cook-woman work, with lots of close-up shots of her adroit, expert
hands chopping garlic and eggplant, stirring a cauldron of borscht,
rolling meat. I wish I could be a great meat-roller, but I don’t
trust my spastic knife skills to carve a pocket inside a breast or
filet without splitting the thing wide open.
And when my food arrives and I dig in, I entertain myself by
thinking: Do they realize how great their food is? Was an everyday
meal behind the old Iron Curtain really this good and fresh, this
imbued with homemade goodness?
Meat blintzes: four mounds of ground chicken — which gives the meat
an airiness and a delicacy that could never be achieved in plain old
breast meat — wrapped in crepe-thin pancakes that carry a seductive
honey flavor. Chicken Kiev: more chicken, two fist-size portions of
it rolled around a center of fresh herbs, lightly breaded like
they’ve been sprinkled with pixie dust and oh-so-lightly fried, sided
with a nimble, couscous-y rice and a dollop of cold tomato compote.
Armenian dip, a twist on standard hummus: kidney beans, fried white
onion, olive oil and sesame seeds, something like refried-bean dip
but more special, with more integrity and texture.
Roasted red peppers: delectable slices of sweet bells, marinated in
olive oil and garlic until they drip and ooze Mediterranean
sensuousness, topped with sliced black olives and crumbled feta.
Vareniky: a signature of Ukranian cuisine better known stateside by
their Polish name, pirogies — delightful and almost silly, doughy
dumplings that resemble half-cooked ravioli, coagulating into a
single mass of starch around their mashed-potato-and-cheese stuffing.
And goulash — who knew goulash could ever be this sprightly and
earthy? Another Ukranian interpretation on Dvin’s menu, it foregoes
Hungary’s sour cream and buttered noodles, allowing its watery beef
broth, assailed with herbs like cilantro, paprika and rosemary, to
take center stage.
How strange that while their food possesses a sense of sweetness and
light, the Dvin women’s own demeanors can read — at least here, in
the relatively affable land of the Midwest — as stern and humorless.
There’s a firmness to the waitress’ reply when we ask her what herbs
are in the goulash: “I don’t know. She cooks.” Later that evening,
when we inquire about dessert (baklava and napoleons are listed on
the menu), she tells us they’re all out. We suspect she just wants us
to leave.
Usually small, family-style establishments like Dvin make up for what
they can’t provide in hip cuisine and expensive flatware with
just-plain-folk personality and charm. If Dvin has a certain charm,
its cut-and-dried charmlessness is its charm.
I didn’t want to peel back the curtain (iron, lace, whatever) and
find out the true story of Dvin, partially because I’d be robbing
myself of my little fairy tales, and partially because I was worried
they’d hang up the phone on me when I put on my reporter’s hat and
called. In fact, I was instructed to show up in person if I wanted to
ask questions, so I did.
Dvin is owned by chef and Russian native Lidiya Skilioti, who bought
the place from its existing Armenian owners nine years ago. She never
cooked professionally back home, but since moving to the U.S. around
1990 she’s worked at a Bob Evans and at Brandt’s in the Loop. Her
daughter, Natalya, has been waitressing for her at Dvin for the past
seven years. They told me that their head count at the restaurant
varies widely, even on a Saturday night.
I asked Lidiya why she decided to take the plunge and buy her own
restaurant. She answered, “I love making food and everything. Here,
we do only homemade and hand-cooked. Only natural and fresh.”
A few minutes later, I thanked them for their time and got up to
leave. Lidiya headed into the kitchen once more, but Natalya
instructed me to sit tight a moment. We chatted about the weather. It
was kinda nice.
Lidiya came out from the kitchen. She passed me a to-go box. Inside
was a piece of crumb cake with a thick, creamy slab of cheese
filling.
I took it home and ate it that night. It was delicious, just as I
imagined it would be.

Aging & Elder Health Week
Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week
Patient Care Law Weekly
Pharma Investments, Ventures & Law Weekly
Life Science Weekly
September 4, 2005
BUNIATIAN INSTITUTE OF BIOCHEMISTRY, YEREVAN;
Hypothalamic peptide analyzed, neuroprotection after hemisection
defined
Recent research published in the journal Neurochemical Research has
reported on the neuroprotective action of hypothalamic proline-rich
peptide-1 (PRP-1) at various time survivals following spinal cord
(SC) hemisection.
“The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the neuroprotective
action of PRP-1 produced by hypothalamic nuclei cells (nuclei
paraventricularis and supraopticus) following lateral hemisection of
SC,” wrote A.A. Galoyan and colleagues, Buniatian Institute of
Biochemistry.
“The dynamics of rehabilitative shifts were investigated at various
periods of postoperative survival (1-2, 3, and 4 weeks), both with
administration of PRP-1 and without it (control).
“We registered evoked spike flow activity in both interneurons and
motoneurons of the same segment of transected and symmetric intact
sides of SC and below it on the stimulation of mixed (n.
ischiadicus), flexor (n. gastrocnemius) and extensor (n. peroneus
communis) nerves,” the investigators explained.
“In the control group (administration of 0.9% saline as placebo), no
significant decrease of post-stimulus activity of neurons was
observed on the transected side by the 2nd week. This activity
strongly decreased by week 3 postaxotomy, with some increase on the
intact side, possibly of compensatory origin. No shifts occurred by
the 4th week.
“Regardless of the period of administration, PRP-1 increased neuronal
activity on the transected side, with the same activation levels on
both SC sides,” wrote the researchers.
They continued, “These data were confirmed by histochemical
investigation. PRP-1 administration, both daily and every other day,
for a period of 2-3 weeks led to prevention of scar formation and
promotion of the re-growth of white matter nerve fibers in the
damaged area.
“It also resulted in prevention of neuroglial elements degeneration
and reduction in gliosis expression in the lesion supporting neuronal
survival. Thus, PRP-1 achieved protection against ’tissue stress’,
which was also confirmed by the registration of activity on the level
of transection and restoration of the motor activity on the injured
side.?
“The obtained data propose the possibility of PRP-1 application in
clinical practice for prevention of neurodegeneration of traumatic
origin,” Galoyan and coinvestigators concluded.
Galoyan and colleagues published their study in Neurochemical
Research (Neuroprotective action of hypothalamic peptide PRP-1 at
various time survivals following spinal cord hemisection. Neurochem
Res, 2005;30(4):507-525).
For additional information, contact A.A. Galoyan, NAS RA, Buniatian
Institute Biochemistry, 5-1 Sevag Str, Yerevan 375014, Armenia.
The publisher’s contact information for the journal Neurochemical
Research is: Springer, Plenum Publishers, 233 Spring St., New York,
NY 10013, USA.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Aug 27 2005
PRESIDENTS ILHAM ALIYEV OF AZERBAIJAN AND ROBERT KOCHARYAN OF ARMENIA
MEET IN KAZAN
[August 27, 2005, 20:20:48]
On August 27, visiting Tatarstan capital Kazan, President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with his Armenian counterpart Robert
Kocharyan in the presence of the OSCE Minsk group Co-chairs.
The parties widely discussed the ways of peaceful settlement of
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Afterwards, the Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Robert
Kocharyan of Armenia continued the talks in private.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Gazette (Montreal)
August 28, 2005 Sunday
Turkish diplomat remembered
CP; CanWest News Service
Turkish Canadians gathered yesterday at the spot in Ottawa where a
diplomat from their homeland was murdered 23 years ago. Atilla
Altikat’s killers are still free, although a group called the Justice
Commandos of the Armenian Genocide claimed responsibility. Dozens of
people from Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto gathered for Muslim prayers
and speeches and handed out leaflets showing Altikat’s bloodied body.

The Calgary Herald (Alberta)
August 27, 2005 Saturday
Final Edition
Running their way around the world: Marathoners see the world, stay
in shape
Dianne Rinehart, For CanWest News Service
On June 18, Jean Marmoreo and her husband Bob Ramsay found themselves
running in a marathon, one of many half-marathons and marathons they
jump at the chance to do each year.
But this one — held under the midnight sun on the summer solstice in
Tromso, Norway, at latitude 70, 100 kilometres north of the Arctic
Circle — was dramatically different from the rest.
“That was definitely the most exotic one I’ve done,” says Marmoreo, a
62-year-old physician and veteran of 12 marathons and seven
half-marathons in destinations including New York City, Washington,
D.C., Santa Monica, Calif., San Antonio, Texas, and Chicago.
“The only place I haven’t run a marathon is in Toronto,” Marmoreo
says with a laugh about her home city (although she has run
half-marathons here).
For Marmoreo and Ramsay, and hundreds of thousands of others around
the world, the increasingly popular sport of marathoning is
definitely about the destination.
Marmoreo and Ramsay first started running marathons annually in New
York City in 1994, running three consecutively.
“There was such a social experience there, we thought nowhere else on
earth could be like this,” she says.
That’s when they got the “new” destination bug.
They followed that up with San Antonio. Then in 2001, they ended up
doing their first Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., at the
end of October, only about six weeks after 9/11.
Running with marines past the rubble at the Pentagon was such a
moving experience they invited a few of their friends to train with
them that winter and join them the following fall. Eighty-five did,
and Jean’s Marines was, well, up and running!
And they haven’t stopped.
What has grown from a group of friends getting together to train with
Marmoreo and Ramsay in 2002 has now become a pack of more than 500
women training each year under the Jean’s Marines banner, with
alumnae starting their own mini-pack destination marathon runs, that
have included Venice, Medoc, France, Ottawa, Niagara Falls and the
uphill
giant of them all, Jungfrau, Switzerland, run by Jean’s Marine
alumnus Arax Acemyan.
Before the 2002 Marine Corps Marathon, Acemyan was a 50-plus,
cigarette smoking, self-described couch potato. But when she decided
to train for the Marine Corps Marathon, she tossed the cigarettes —
for good.
Then after finding out her ex-husband, whom she hadn’t seen in 10
years, was also training in Europe for a marathon in Jungfrau in
September, she decided to squeeze that one in before her Washington
training goal.
The running course is gruelling. Bad enough a marathon is 42 K, but
this course additionally climbs a 2,000 metre-finish line over the
route. Despite the fact it took her almost seven hours to complete —
“but I got my medal” — and might have caused lesser women to give up
on the sport, Acemyan followed it up four weeks later with the Marine
Corps in Washington in just over five hours, and hasn’t looked back.
Last year, she ran Medoc and this year she will do Chicago.
“I love to travel,” says Acemyan, who is of Armenian descent and
originally from Istanbul. “And (marathons) are a goal for me to keep
in shape. If I didn’t have a goal, I wouldn’t train.”
But the vacations aren’t solely about running. Marmoreo and Ramsay,
and two other Jean’s Marines-in-training, combined the Tromso run
with a spectacular vacation of sea kayaking, hiking and ocean
cruising.
And when Acemyan went to Venice, she and four other girlfriend
running-mates stayed in the romantic city for nine days in an old
palace that had been converted to a bed and breakfast. “We did five
trips, ran the marathon, and ate and drank,” Acemyan remembers
fondly.
When she ran the Medoc Marathon, where all 6,000 entrants dress up in
costumes, then race from chateau to chateau, tasting wine, slurping
oysters and munching on cheeses en route, she spent two weeks away,
travelling with her group of running pals for a week to St. Emillion
before the marathon, and then on her own to Nice for another five
days after it.
Fellow Jean’s Marine alumna Darlene Roth, 50, a nurse who has also
run the More half-marathon, says for her, the marathon and the
running are the “icing on the cake.”
The real goal is the destination travelling with her girlfriends. She
and her fellow travelling companions turned the More half into a
shopping and spa trip.
“We’re a bunch of wild women,” she says of the bonding that takes
place during training for each trip. “We just have a lot of fun.”
Even training runs turn into a bit of travel adventure, she says,
with teammates picking a “really nice restaurant” each week to run
to. “Any pound you lose (training) you gain back!”
Mila Luka, 38, a product manager with Bank of Montreal and mother of
two youngsters, was one of Acemyan’s four running-mates along for the
Venice marathon. She found the marathon itself — especially because
she had flight problems getting there — not exactly “ideal.”
“But oh, but the food and the drinking!” she remembers of the group’s
routine to meet each night in a little bar for cocktails. “It was a
fabulous trip, fabulous food, fabulous wine and fabulous company.”
Luka combined the beauty of her trip to Venice with a trip to Trieste
to visit an aunt, who then accompanied her and her husband Chris to
Rijeka, Croatia, formerly Fiume, Italy, where her mother grew up.
It was her first trip to Italy.
Running in other countries “is a fabulous way to see a destination,”
she says. The Marine Corps Marathon’s Washington route — which she
ran twice — “was phenomenal. Anything you ever wanted to see in
Washington was on that route.”
And Luka has set her sights on another destination marathon: Big Sur
in California, known for it’s tough up-and-downhill course along the
majestic Pacific coast.
Need to know
For a complete inspiring list, check out the International Marathons
Races Directory and Schedule at
Dianne Rinehart, a Toronto-based freelance writer, ran the first
Jean’s Marine Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., in 2002 and
has run three Vancouver Sun 10K runs and several Toronto 10Ks.
GRAPHIC:
Colour Photo: CanWest News Service; Destination marathoner Arax
Acemyan, in black, is a former self-confessed couch potato.;
Photo: Calgary Herald Archive; The Jungfrau Marathon is a steep price
to pay for runners.