Civil Georgia, Georgia
Feb 24 2005

Of Pipes and Men

Tea Gularidze, Giorgi Sepashvili
Civil Georgia / 2005-02-24 14:05:06

Plans to Sell Trunk Gas Pipelines Stir Controversy

Negotiations between the Georgian leadership and the Russian energy
giant Gazprom over the potential sale of Georgia’s main gas pipeline
network are currently underway. The United States calls on Georgia to
excercise caution when making a final decision.

News about the government’s decision to privatize Georgia’s gas
pipeline system broke after President Saakashvili told the Italian
newspaper La Stampa on February 20 that Georgia is in fact
negotiating with Gazprom over this issue. This triggered fierce
criticism from the opposition, which questions the political
rationale behind these negotiations.

Despite the apparent determination by the Georgian government to keep
this issue of selling the pipeline on the table, US officials remain
cautious. In an interview with the Georgian daily 24 Hours, published
in Georgian on February 24, the U.S. President’s Advisor for Caspian
Energy Issues Steven Mann said said that as a sovereign state,
Georgia has the right to independently make decisions regarding
privatization, but the United States has been calling on the Georgian
leadership to use caution when making these kinds of decisions.

Mann added, that the United States has been working to secure
Georgia’s energy independence for many years and the U.S. will be
categorically against any steps which might hinder this process.

Selling of the trunk gas pipeline will contradict the plans of the
United States, which envisages the creation of alternative gas supply
sources for Georgia, Steven Mann said.

Mann also said that he has held many discussions with Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili and late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania
over this issue. While saying that the United States is not against
cooperation between Georgia and Gazprom, the U.S. official added the
latter represents an important part of Georgia’s energy sector.

Mann continued by saying that selling Georgia’s gas pipeline system
to Gazprom would reduce the selling potential of gas piped through
the Shah-Deniz project. The U.S.-backed Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas
pipeline, or the ‘Shah-Deniz project’, is part of the much broader,
BP-led oil and gas development project in the region, which also
includes the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Main Export Oil Pipeline
Project.

Nonetheless, Mann said that the Shah-Deniz project will be
implemented regardless of whether Gazprom buys Georgia’s gas pipeline
system or not.

Some observers suggested, that the recent revelation of the ongoing
talks between Georgian officials and Gazprom was intended to raise
the stakes in Georgia’s privatisation plans. Speaking with reporters
on February 22 Georgian State Minister for Economic Reform Issues
Kakha Bendukidze made it clear that Gazprom is not the only company
which can buy Georgia’s gas pipeline system.

`I think the fact that the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline is so
sensitive to these issues [of selling the trunk pipeline] means that
the Georgian gas pipeline system might have two potential buyers: one
may be the Shah-Deniz Consortium, the other – Gazprom; if one of them
wishes to gain a victory over the other, it should come and launch
talks with the Georgian government,’ said Bendukidze.

But BP, which leads the BTC and Shah-Deniz projects, has no intention
of taking part in this privatization process. `We will continue our
activities and do not intend to purchase anything,’ Tamila
Chantladze, a spokesperson for the BP Tbilisi Office, told Civil
Georgia on February 23.

In order to sell Georgia’s gas pipeline system the authorities will
have to make amendments to the Law on Privatization, which bans the
sale of facilities which are of `strategic importance’ to the
country. Georgia’s gas pipeline system is on the list of
`strategically important’ facilities. Bendukidze has been adamant
since his appointment that he sees no real meaning behind the
designation of certain facilities as `strategically important.’

A small group of opposition parliamentarians has already expressed
protest regarding the plans to sell the gas lines. `This will be a
huge mistake. This is really a strategic facility which should remain
under Georgian control,’ MP Davit Berdzenishvili, leader of the
opposition Republican Party, told Civil Georgia.

MP Davit Gamkrelidze, who chairs the New Rights-Industrialists
parliamentary faction, also called on the authorities to refrain from
selling the pipelines. `Transferring this facility to Russia will
finally destroy Georgia’s energy independence,’ he said at a news
conference on February 22.

The government will also have to convince Parliamentary Chairperson
Nino Burjanadze, who, in an interview with the Georgian daily
Rezonansi (Resonance) published on January 31, said she is
`categorically against selling the gas pipelines, especially to a
Russian company.’

Some observers say that the Georgian government, who normally take a
clearly defined pro-western stance, might be engaged in some kind of
political ‘horse-trading’ with Russia, in which Tbilisi may be
willing to give up its energy independence in exchange for the
political concessions by Moscow which are presently hindering ties
between the two countries. Above all these issues include the
resolution of the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

`Of course it is not ruled out that a particular political deal might
take place; however, it is difficult to say what kind of deal it will
be,’ economic analyst Revaz Sakevarishvili told Civil Georgia.

This latest situation surrounding the government’s decision to sell
the country’s gas pipelines is nearly identical to one which
occurred over the same issue less than two years ago.

In 2003, then-President Eduard Shevardnadze became a target of
criticism by the opposition – which, at that time included most of
the current officials – as a result of a declaration of intent over
strategic cooperation with Gazprom. Steven Mann arrived in Georgia
shortly after this hand-shake agreement was made and warned the
Georgian leadership not to undertake steps which could have
endangered the Shah-Deniz project.

But the Georgian authorities at that time signed an agreement with on
strategic cooperation for 25 years, which is still valid. It
envisages the supply of natural gas to Georgian customers and the
rehabilitation of gas pipelines, including two trunk-line gas
pipelines, one of which will be used for transporting gas to Armenia
and the other to Turkey, via the Adjara Autonomous Republic. Analysts
say that Russia is mainly interested in purchasing those pipelines
which are used for transit purposes.

Russia is currently the only supplier of natural gas to Georgia.
Although a reserve pipeline with Iran has been recently repaired, its
capacity is far below what the country requires. Iranian gas is also
nearly three times as expensive as the gas Georgia receives from
Russia.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 24 2005

European Court of Justice receives 769 appeals from Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan forwarded 769 appeals to the European Court of Justice in
2004. 160 of them were rejected, while 357 are being considered and
16 coordinated with Azerbaijani government agencies.

No information is available on the remaining 236 appeals, according
to the head of the Council of Europe (CE) Information Office in Baku
Aytan Shirinova.
She said that Azerbaijan is represented at the Court by one lawyer,
one judge and one state agent, which seriously affects consideration
of the appeals.

Last year, Armenia sent 204 appeals to the Court, of which 43 were
rejected, while 153 are currently under scrutiny, Shirnova added.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 24 2005

India investigating reports on illegal gold development

The Indian government has started investigating whether or not any
Indian company is involved in developing gold deposits in Azerbaijani
regions occupied by Armenia.
The Indian ambassador in Baku acknowledged earlier that Indian
companies are operating in the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan, which
is under Armenia’s occupation.

The Azerbaijani ambassador to India Tamerlan Garayev told the
Azerbaijani TV channels that the Indian foreign minister has
requested official Baku some time to clarify the issue.
“If any Indian company is working in the occupied lands, serious
measures will be taken against it,” Garayev said.

Interfax
Feb 24 2005

Terrorist attack prevented in Chechnya

GROZNY. Feb 24 (Interfax) – Law enforcers have prevented a major
terrorist attack in Chechnya’s Kurchaloi district.

A landmine was discovered by the side of a highway leading to the
village of Tsatsan-Yurt. A special police battalion killed two
militants in the Gudermes district, while carrying out a
reconnaissance operation, the local police department told Interfax
on Thursday.

A law enforcement source said one of the dead militants is believed
to be an Armenian citizen.

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:

PRESS RELEASE
February 24, 2005
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ANCA DISCUSSES ARMENIAN AMERICAN CONCERNS
WITH U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA JOHN EVANS

— Talks Include Special Focus on U.S.
Policy on the Armenian Genocide

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
met this week with Ambassador John Marshall Evans, the U.S.
Ambassador to Armenia.

The meeting, held in the ANCA offices in Washington, DC, was
characterized by a substantive and meaningful exchange on a broad
range of issues of concern to Armenian Americans, particularly U.S.
recognition and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. Joining
Ambassador Evans were Aaron Sherinian, the U.S. Embassy’s Political
Officer and Assistance Coordinator in Yerevan, and Robin Phillips,
the USAID-Armenia Mission Director.

The Ambassador’s meeting with the ANCA followed a two week tour of
Armenian American communities in Boston, New York, New Jersey, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno and Washington, DC. During his
presentations in these cities, the Ambassador spoke with a level of
candor on the historical reality of the Genocide that was
specifically welcomed by Armenian Americans.

“We welcomed the opportunity to exchange views with the Ambassador,
and value his insights and clarity regarding our nation’s diplomacy
toward Armenia and the region,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive
Director of the ANCA. “Along with those who heard him speak during
his public lectures around the nation, we appreciate the
forthrightness of his remarks about the Armenian Genocide. We take
note of the fact they coincide with a new level of awareness within
the Administration, and the American public, regarding the current
attitudes in Turkey toward the United States.”

Commenting in the wake of the Ambassador’s visit, ANCA Chairman Ken
Hachikian said, “On this 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
we urge the Bush Administration to take the decisive step of
breaking with Turkey’s shameful campaign of genocide denial. The
time has come for the U.S. government to adopt a fresh and positive
approach to the Armenian Genocide issue – in terms of both White
House and Congressional initiatives – in a manner consistent with
our nation’s moral obligations to truth and justice, and in light
of new realities in the region.”

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 24 2005

OSCE report on Karabagh of familiarization nature

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) has been paying more attention
to the Karabagh issue of late, as OSCE is closely cooperating with
both Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Assembly’s rapporteur on Karabagh
Goran Lennmarker told journalists on Tuesday, according to Assa
Irada.

`I will be careful enough during the talks with the parties to the
conflict. Preparing a report on the Upper Karabagh conflict is aimed
at drawing the attention of the international community to the
conflict,’ he said.

The rapporteur explained the prolonged settlement of the Upper
Karabagh conflict with the lack of the international community’s
awareness on the problem. He emphasized that the conflict resolution
depends on the parties and that his mission does not aim to interfere
with the work of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Just like the PACE, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s report will be of
familiarization nature, he said. Lennmarker went on to say that his
fact-finding report on Karabagh will include the causes, status and
prospects for resolving the conflict. `I am thoroughly studying the
situation. I may further make some conclusions on the basis of my
observations,’ he said.

The rapporteur added that the Karabagh conflict must be settled in
peace so that the OSCE would tackle other important problems in the
South Caucasus.

Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia
The Mercury, Australia
Feb 24 2005

On this day

25feb05

1988 – Thousands demonstrate in Soviet Armenia despite directive to
local authorities to restore order.

1308 – Edward II is enthroned as King of England.
1545 – Scots defeat English forces at Ancrum Moor.
1570 – England’s Queen Elizabeth I is excommunicated by Pope Pius V.
1601 – England’s Earl of Essex is executed for treason.
1713 – Sweden’s King Charles XII is taken prisoner by Sultan of
Turkey.
1723 – Death of Sir Christopher Wren, English architect and designer.

1836 – American inventor Samuel Colt patents his revolver.
1841 – Explorer Edward John Eyre leaves Fowlers Bay in South
Australia on an overland trip around the Great Australian Bight.
1899 – Death in France of Paul Julius Reuter, German founder of the
international news agency that bears his name.
1914 – Death of Sir John Tenniel, English artist and illustrator of
Alice in Wonderland.
1948 – Communist coup in Czechoslovakia.
1954 – Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser usurps power as president of Egypt;
Syria’s President Chickekli flees following army revolt.
1956 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev goes before Communist Party
congress in Moscow and denounces late dictator Joseph Stalin.
1961 – Sydney’s last tram runs, to La Perouse in the eastern suburbs.

1964 – Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) becomes world heavyweight boxing
champion for the first time by knocking out Sonny Liston in Miami.
1969 – NSW Legislative Council expels Country Party member AE
Armstrong for “unworthy business conduct” for his part in helping
secure divorce evidence for another member.
1972 – Soviet Union’s Luna 20 spacecraft returns to earth with
samples of the Moon’s surface; President Kenneth Kaunda announces his
cabinet’s decision to impose a one-party state in Zambia.
1976 – United States vetoes UN resolution deploring Israel’s
annexation of Jerusalem.
1982 – Australian Government announces decision to purchase HMS
Invincible from England.
1983 – Death of Tennessee Williams, US playwright.
1986 – Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos resigns, brought down
by a “people’s power” uprising, military revolt, and US pressure.
1987 – Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslims bury 23 militants killed by
Syrian soldiers in Lebanon, and claim they were massacred with axes
and bayonets.
1988 – Thousands demonstrate in Soviet Armenia despite directive to
local authorities to restore order.
1990 – At least 60 people are killed in India as violence mars
elections in eight states.
1991 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein orders his forces, under attack
by allied ground troops, to withdraw from Kuwait. An Iraqi Scud
missile hits a US marine barracks near the Saudi city of Dhahran,
killing 28 soldiers and wounding several others.
1992 – Imelda Marcos accepts Philippine government conditions for
returning her husband’s body.
1993 – US Marines and Nigerian soldiers blast at snipers in central
Mogadishu, Somalia, in a five-hour battle that kills one Somali; Kim
Young-sam is sworn in as South Korea’s first civilian president for
32 years.
1994 – Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein, armed with an automatic rifle
and hand grenades, kills 40 Muslims at a mosque in Hebron, before
being beaten to death.
1995 – Two bombs blow apart a train car reserved for the military in
north-eastern India, killing at least 26 soldiers and wounding more
than 30.
1996 – Haing Ngor, a Cambodian refugee whose Academy Award-winning
performance in the film The Killing Fields mirrored his own ordeal at
the hands of the Khmer Rouge, is murdered in the US.
1997 – President Jiang Zemin delivers a final eulogy for leader Deng
Xiaoping, vowing that China’s opening to the outside world will
continue; Two days after a gunman goes on a fatal rampage at the
Empire State Building in New York, the observatory reopens with metal
detectors.
1998 – Death aged 90 of Italian abstract artist Luigi Veronesi, who
designed sets at Milan’s prestigious La Scala theatre; Death aged 82
of BA (Bob) Santamaria, Australian anti-communist crusader, political
commentator and Catholic intellectual.
1999 – China vetoes an extension of the UN peacekeeping mission in
Macedonia, which borders war-torn Kosovo province. Macedonia had
established diplomatic relations with Taiwan a month earlier.
2000 – Four white New York City police officers who killed unarmed
African immigrant Amadou Diallo in a barrage of 41 bullets are
acquitted of all charges.
2001 – The commander of the US submarine that struck and sank a
Japanese trawler off Hawaii expresses his “most sincere regret” – but
Commander Scott Waddle stops short of an apology.
2001 – Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman in Test cricket
history and Australia’s most revered sporting figure, dies. He was
92.
2002 – The driver of a cash transport truck overpowers his partner
and drives off with a record $US8.7 million ($14.68 million) in euro
bills in Germany’s financial capital of Frankfurt. The robbery comes
in the wake of two similar ones in five months.
2003 – Two bomb blasts damage the Colombian consulate and Spanish
Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela; five people are wounded. The
explosions come two days after President Hugo Chavez Frias accuses
Spain and Colombia of meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs.
2004 – The Czech parliament decides to send more than 100 soldiers to
Afghanistan in the first combat role for the Czech armed forces since
World War Two.

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 24 2005

3 Azeri soldiers captured

Three soldiers of the Azerbaijan Army accidentally passed to the
Armenian side of the frontline on February 15, as they lost their way
close to Terter District.

The three – Hikmat Taghiyev, Khayal Abdullayev and Ruslan Bashirov
-are being interrogated by Armenian secret service. The Armenian side
says that it is trying to determine whether this was merely an
accident or the Azeri soldiers were on a special assignment. The
Ministry of Defence is currently in talks with the Armenian side on
the return of the lost soldiers.

Information about them has been forwarded to the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the State Committee on Prisoners,
Hostages and Missing Persons told Azernews. Armenian sources say that
the soldiers are safe and sound.

Contra Costa Times, San Francisco
Feb 24 2005

Local woman rejoins the living

NOW THAT Mary Lawson of Pleasanton has been brought back to life in
the Social Security Administration’s database, she’s talking on
national TV about the ills of a bureaucracy that declared her dead
and cut off her benefits.

Lawson, 84, appeared Monday on cable network MSNBC’s “Hardball”
program with Chris Matthews to discuss a Social Security snafu that
declared her dead as of Jan. 10.

When Matthews asked her opinion of President Bush’s proposal to
overhaul Social Security she said, “I think that, before you change
the system, you change the people who work for the system.”

Lawson’s daughter, Peg Gardner of Livermore, accompanied her on
television.

Lawson speculates someone mistyped a digit in the Social Security
number of a person who died, mistakenly identifying her as the dead
person. From there, reports of Lawson’s “death” trickled down to
Medicare, which stopped paying her doctor bills, and to at least one
credit agency.

With help from aides of Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, Lawson got her
January Social Security check last week after being declared alive.

FREEWAY ICON TURNS 90: Commuters who see those “Donald D. Doyle
Highway” signs while driving Interstate 680 through the San Ramon
Valley can be rest assured that Doyle is a real person.

Doyle, who served in the state Assembly in the 1950s, and who helped
establish the route for the freeway corridor, turned 90 on Feb. 6 and
threw a big party.

The energetic Rossmoor resident still drives and says he gets a good
feeling when he sees signs with his name on the freeway. One is
posted at the southbound approach to Alamo and the other is
northbound near Alcosta Road in San Ramon.

“It’s a nice feeling to know my work came to some recognition, not
that I was looking for it,” Doyle said. On the other hand, “It’s
amazing when I hear people say, ‘When are you going get that highway
fixed, Doyle? It’s too bumpy.'”

NEIGHBORS SEE RED: Some residents of rural Bel Roma Road north of
Livermore might soon have plenty to say about Pardee Homes’ nearby
2,150-unit development proposal, to appear on the city ballot some
time this year.

But their more immediate focus is on paintball.

Alameda County’s East County Board of Zoning Adjustments today will
consider Clifton Matthews’ proposed permit to operate a paintball
park on 21 acres at 3726 May School Road, about a third of a mile
west of Dagnino Road.

With horses and a rural lifestyle on Bel Roma Road’s five-acre lots
not far to the west, “We just don’t feel it fits in with the
environment out here,” said resident Gail Vardanega.

Today’s meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. in the public works building at
4825 Gleason Drive, Dublin.

REMEMBERING GENOCIDE: The San Ramon City Council received an unusual
request Tuesday night from Gevorg Der-Galestanian, who arrived at
city offices wearing distinctive Armenia insignia in a black SUV
adorned with the Armenian flag.

Times reporter Scott Marshall says that during the council meeting’s
open forum segment, Der-Galestanian, an Iranian of Armenian descent
who works at SBC, asked the council to establish some kind of
memorial to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.

“I am still struggling and fighting for my rights as a genocide
survivor,” he told council members, who listened silently.

An estimated 1.5 million people were killed outright or died later of
starvation in the genocide. From 1915-18 during World War I, the
Ottoman Empire forced people to move from Armenia and Anatolia to
Syria. Deaths attributed to the deportations continued until 1923.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Fort Smith Times Record, AR
Feb 24 2005

Cocaine Suspect’s Attorney Enters Not Guilty Plea
By Aaron Sadler

An attorney for a New York City woman accused of having cocaine
valued at $912,000 entered a not guilty plea on his client’s behalf
Wednesday in Crawford County Circuit Court.

Florence Hinds, 54, was arrested by Arkansas State Police on Feb. 9.
She was a passenger in a pickup on Interstate 40, where police said
they found 19 pounds of suspected cocaine hidden inside the tailgate.

She is charged, along with a co-defendant, with possession of cocaine
with intent to deliver. She is free on $15,000 bond. Attorney Marvin
Honeycutt of Van Buren entered the plea for her at Wednesday’s
arraignment.

Ainsley Fitzroy Hoffman, 48, was the driver of the pickup. He is also
free on bond and has a court appearance next week.

State Police Cpl. Olen Craig said he was patrolling the interstate
near the Oklahoma border when he noticed the pickup swerving toward
the shoulder.

Hoffman gave police permission to search the vehicle and a
drug-sniffing dog alerted to the drugs, a report stated.

Also Wednesday, Circuit Judge Gary Cottrell reduced by half the bond
for a Glendale, Ariz., man charged with possession of methamphetamine
with intent to deliver.

Bond was set at $50,000 last week for Robert Nirzakanian. He was
arrested along with Dora Uriarte, 40, of Long Beach, Calif., at the
truck inspection station on I-40 near Van Buren.

Highway police said they found more than six pounds of suspected
methamphetamine in the tractor-trailer rig Nirzakanian was driving.
The drugs were in a bag filled with women’s clothing, police said.

Fort Smith attorney Robert Blatt, who represents Nirzakanian argued
for the bond reduction to $25,000. He said his client, an Armenian
immigrant, had no prior criminal record.

Blatt said Nirzakanian was training Uriarte on how to drive the rig.
He said the fact the suspected drugs were found along with women’s
clothing is another reason for reduced bond.

Uriarte, who is free on $50,000 bond, pleaded not guilty Wednesday.