The Delaware County Times, PA
Dec 10 2004

Gil Spencer: In this instance, CIS is running the asylum

Garegin and Nadia Ambartsoumian have been in this country for eight
years, raising their three children and working hard. Nadia works
six, sometimes seven days a week, cleaning houses and offices.
Garegin, a house painter, works long hours, too. After three years on
his own, his business is starting to take off.

Their girls, Karina and Rimma, are honor students at Upper Darby High
School. Their son, George, goes to the Armenian Sisters Academy in
Radnor.

They live in row house in Drexel Hill — but not for long, if the
Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has anything to
say about it. And it does.

The CIS wants the Ambartsoumian family to go back where it came from,
namely Georgia or Ukraine. One of those places in the former Soviet
Union. It doesn’t really matter which one. As the bartender says at
closing time, “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”

Well, George can. He’s a natural-born American citizen. So he can
stay on, but without his parents and sisters. He’s 8.

The Ambartsoumians applied for refugee status soon after they arrived
here in 1996. They fled the Soviet Union four years earlier after
years of what they claim was religious and ethnic persecution.

Nadia is a Baptist. Her father was a Baptist minister. Under the old
communist regime, religion was frowned upon.

“In communist country,” Nadia said in her still-thick Eastern
European accent, “they don’t let people to believe in God.”

For practicing his beliefs, Nadia’s father was sent to Siberia.
Overall, he spent 25 years of his life there. When she was old
enough, Nadia went to live with him.

“I was three years with my father in Siberia,” she said. But her
mother stayed in Ukraine with her sisters.

After returning home to Odessa, Nadia met Garegin. He’d come from
Georgia to work construction. She was working in a hotel. They
married and had two children.

But life was tough for the mixed couple. She is Ukrainian. He was
born in Georgia but is Armenian by ancestry. In the cauldron of
ethnic tribalism that passed for the former Soviet Union, Gari and
Nadia increasingly found themselves the targets of ethnic and
religious harassment.

When they decided it was time to get out, they headed first to Canada
and then to New York.

They arrived June 5, 1996, declaring themselves refugees and
requesting political asylum. Nadia gave birth to George five months
later.

They moved to the Overbrook section of Philadelphia and then to
Drexel Hill a couple of years later. They’ve been in Delco ever
since.

Though she speaks five languages, the only work Nadia could get was
cleaning houses.

“I just housekeeper,” she says.

But she’s a good one, according to the people she works for. More
than that, they say, she’s a special human being.

“She is just the most lovely person,” said Ginny Brookins, who lives
in Wayne.

In 1997, Brookins was battling cancer when Nadia came to work for
her. Today Nadia is more than an employee.

“She really has become a dear friend. She would do anything for you,”
Brookins said.

George Aman, an attorney who lives in Radnor, is another of Nadia’s
clients.

“She is a very nice woman, a fine woman, who works very hard,” he
said. “It would be a terrible shame to have her deported.”

Though she has her own lawyer, Aman has taken an interest in Nadia’s
case. He’s written letters on her behalf and called newspapers too.

“All of (her clients) want her to stay,” he said, “for economic as
well as personal reasons.”

But none more than Brookins, who Nadia helped through one of the
toughest times of her life.

“This is the type of family we need in the United States: Generous,
hard working, just the kind of people you want to know,” she said.

Unfortunately, when it comes to winning asylum, the U.S. government
isn’t swayed by such testimonials.

“We have people who have been illegally present for years who develop
equities in the community,” said Bill Strassberger, a CIS spokesman.
“But they have to have a basis to qualify for asylum.”

In 1999, an immigration judge decided that Garegin and Nadia had
failed to establish that they were sufficiently persecuted in their
home countries.

Though both of them described numerous incidents of their being
harassed, threatened and beaten, the judge found insufficient
evidence that they had a “well-founded fear of future persecution.”

Their second appeal was heard last month by a three-judge panel, and
the original decision was upheld. They were given 30 days to leave
the country, since extended until the end of the school year.

Unless someone intervenes on their behalf, this could be their last
Christmas in America.

Happy holidays.

(More about the Ambartsoumians and their situation Sunday.)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Denver Post, CO
Dec 10 2004

Immigration agency frees Armenian family

By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer

An Armenian family that has been held in an immigration detention
center in Denver for nearly five weeks was unexpectedly released
Thursday, setting off a wave of joy that quickly spread through a
small Western Slope community that has fought for their freedom.

“I’m shaking. It happened so fast. It’s incredible. I feel like I’m
in a dream,” said Gevorg Sargsyan, moments after he, his sister Meri,
brother Hayk and father Ruben walked out of the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Center where they had been held since Nov. 4.

The four members of the Sargsyan family were taken into custody while
their attorney was waging a legal battle to obtain visas for them
based on their contention they were victims of a con man who
trafficked in fraudulent visas. That battle will continue now that
the Sargsyans are free from detention.

The family has lived and worked in Ridgway for more than six years.
When they were taken into custody, Hayk was a senior honor student at
Ridgway High School. Gevorg was on the dean’s list at the University
of Colorado, where he was studying chemical engineering. Meri was
well known for playing piano in local churches. And Ruben, a
space-optics scientist in Armenia, had been working multiple jobs to
provide for his family.

His wife, Susan, and their daughter Nvart, who both work in Ouray and
Ridgway, were not taken into custody because their immigration cases
were being heard separately.

Since realizing last summer the Sargsyans were in danger of being
deported, Ouray County residents have raised more than $30,000 for
their legal defense, wrote hundreds of letters and e-mails, and
pressured officials from regional immigration officials to President
Bush to take another look at the case and allow the family to stay.

“We are very glad ICE made this decision,” said Pete Whiskeman, a
Ridgway businessman who has helped lead the effort to free the
Sargsyans.

Carl Rusnok, a Dallas-based spokesman for the immigration division,
said the Sargsyans were released on orders from Washington on
Thursday.

“They were released because they are not a threat to national
security and not a flight risk,” Rusnok said. “Frankly, we can use
the detention space for more dangerous criminals.”

PUBLIC LIVES
Details, Details, Down to the Tiniest Elf
By LYNDA RICHARDSON

Published: December 9, 2004

IT is left to Bob Rutan to make sure the elves in Macy’s Santaland do
not become bitter or resentful, standing on their feet all day and
ushering visitors through a maze of holiday displays, a permanent
smile plastered on their perky faces.

The task requires a certain tough-mindedness, as well as a measure of
bonhomie. This is a job for Mr. Rutan, the architect behind Santaland
and a onetime “straw boss” for Santa at Macy’s who was charged with
carrying the big guy’s water, tidying his magical workshop and
providing a clean suit whenever a baby spit up on him.

On a recent morning, Mr. Rutan, Macy’s director of event operations,
is leafing through “The Elfin Manual” in his cluttered 16th-floor
office at the flagship store on West 34th Street. The training guide
is handed out to 149 seasonal employees who don elf tunics, knickers
and pointed caps topped with pompoms. Mr. Rutan oversees their
training and assigns them to 18 positions in Santaland, from crowd
control and photos to directing the way to Santa.

Mr. Rutan flips through the pages, reciting a few dos and don’ts – how
elves must clock in and out, how to handle a frightened child and how
they must keep up their energy level.

He casts an eye at his visitor, ruminating on his daily patrols of
Santaland. “Sometimes I need to call out and say: ‘Let’s get Twinkles
off this position. She needs a break. She’s been here for four
hours. She’s starting to lose it.’ ” He says this with a straight
face, which must be what happens when one spends a lot of time around
elves and the North Pole’s most famous resident.Tall and lanky,
Mr. Rutan, 45, has shaggy, shoulder-length brown hair and wears a navy
suit and black cowboy boots. He is in charge of the daily operations
and logistics of Macy’s annual grand events – Santaland, the
Thanksgiving Day parade, the Fourth of July fireworks and its flower
show. He is also the department store’s archivist and historian. His
dramatic bass voice can be heard at the starting line of the
Thanksgiving Day parade, announcing floats, bands, balloons and Santa.

Mr. Rutan began at Macy’s in 1991 as a temporary employee, padding his
income as a struggling – well, starving – actor. He was promoted to
Santaland hiring manager in 1998 and was named to his current position
a year later.

On this day, he is animated as he talks about the appeal of Santaland,
which started in 1975 and has become an elaborate affair that attracts
a quarter-million visitors during the Christmas season. “The great
thing for me is that I will never get tired of a kid coming in and
seeing their face light up when they see Santa,” he says.

He is eager to take a trip to Santaland, on the eighth floor. Visitors
are lined up with strollers, sharp elbows and cameras at the
ready. Mr. Rutan makes his way through the garland-strung maze adorned
with candy canes, Nutcracker soldiers and snow crystals. He exudes a
John Wayne persona with his cowboy boots and swaggering strut. He left
his black Stetson in his office.

He began wearing western dress when he studied theater at Glassboro
State College in New Jersey, now Rowan University. But he has loved
western films since he was a boy in Lakewood, N.J., where his single
mother was the vice president of a company that made frames for doors
and windows. He has about 600 movies and television episodes of
old-time westerns like “High Noon,” “Have Gun Will Travel” and
“Maverick” in the apartment in Douglaston, Queens, that he shares with
his third wife, Elina Kazan, Macy’s director of publicity.

Mr. Rutan’s job at Macy’s is to promote an annual rite of good cheer,
something far removed from his acting roles. He played monsters,
murderers, even Dracula. In his office, there is a scowling photo of
him when he was cast as the treacherous Antonio in a production of
“The Tempest.” He looks like a cross between Charles Manson and
Rasputin. The photograph frightens his 10-year-old daughter, Sabrina,
who feels blessed that her father now works for Santa.

Back in Santaland, Mr. Rutan pauses near a three-level train set. He
calls a manager to report that the trains are not moving. He is not
pleased. He moves through bright holiday scenes that turn icy-blue and
white before opening into a cluster of Christmas trees at Santa’s
Village.

Mr. Rutan turns, with a boyish grin. “This area that has elves, snow
globes, the sleigh – it’s oversaturated with Christmas, and that gets
you ready for the next step, the man himself.”

ONE cannot resist asking about a famous essay, “The Santaland
Diaries,” by the humorist David Sedaris, who in the early 1990’s
toiled as an elf at Macy’s and wrote a thorny account about his
exercise in humiliation. Mr. Rutan says the essay was
accurate. Santaland was too commercial then, he says. Visitors were
hustled through, and some elves, and even Santa, were disgruntled
about their lot in life.

“We’ve had an amazing turnaround,” he says. “We really wanted to bring
back the true feeling of Christmas.”

In the Rutan era, he says, the emphasis is on team spirit. “I wanted
crews that enjoyed what they were doing,” he says. “There can be no
egos. The little elf is as important as I am in this operation.”

>From The New York Times

*Bob Rutan is of half Armenian, half Scottish descent. His wife Elina
Kazan is Armenian from both parents.

Donbass Voters Committee, Ukraine
Dec 10 2004

Orange political technologies of Ukraine: «freedom management»

Valiriy Panyushkin, the well-known communist, expressed in the
brightest way the delight of Russian near-political public concerning
the events in Ukraine. «I was in Kiev, – Mr Panyushkin writes. – I
saw exulting city. I saw the square full of people in orange scarves
and coats. There were so many people that I could not cover them with
my sight. I saw cars running along the streets and horning in time of
slogan «Yuschenko! Yuschenko!» This was not going on just in the
center, but also in any street, i.e. not for the sake of greeting the
supporters but just to express their joy. People were sitting on car
roofs waving flags and also shouting. Together with revolutionary
rapture I felt the bad envy of the fact that I will not be see
anything like this in Moscow for a long time. I was praying to God to
allow me to live on two more years in order to see in Moscow events
similar to those I see now in Kiev».

Actually Mr. Panyushkin need not wait for two years. He can go to
cinema archive and take video tape, for example about celebration
twenty years since the foundation of NKVD bodies (People’s
Commissariat of Internal Affairs) (Moscow, 1937) and see the same
events: sincerely delighted people, ecstasy of the revolution,
scansion – just of joy -not «Yuschenko!» but «Stalin!» and «Yezhov!».

At that time another person of international importance – Lion
Feuchwanger – wrote an enthusiastic book «Moscow, the year 1937».
There are also narrations about free people, about kind and wise
leader, foreign liars who simply could not – provided they come to
joyful Moscow and look into the eyes of soviet people – understand
sincere outburst of repenting people’s enemies at the absolutely free
and open proceedings on the «Right-Trostkist Center».

1. What and how to seize.
In fact in Ukraine we faced a phenomenon that is partially new and
partially eternal. We speak about usurpation technologies, about
technologies of seizing the power. The question is what can be
usurped and in what ways can the power be seized. This is closely
connected with the character of power legitimacy and the basis of the
generally recognized principle of sovereignty. During the monarchy
epoch, when the power was a divine attribute, the overturns resulted
in seizing the throne, and some symbolic excuse for seizing the power
was important (blood relationship with more legitimate monarch,
crowning in the Reim Cathedral, etc.). As it was correctly noted by a
well-known political technologist – Lenin, during the New Time epoch
the state acted openly as a system of violence. That is why XIX and
the first half of XX centuries became the period of military juntas,
dictator regimes basing on the right of force. Correspondently, the
overturns resulted in seizure of control over «military structures»:
effective military and police formations.

At the end of XX century the generally recognized principle of real
legitimacy has changed again under the powerful pressure of
American-European civilization. This change resulted in geopolitical
competition. It turned out that the authoritarian regimes opposing
the USA and Western European interests could be effectively destroyed
and the corresponding territories could be taken over «the external
control» after launching certain programs insured from the outside by
superior military and technical power and supported by public opinion
of the «civilized countries». Now the only principle of the power
legitimacy – including under the menace of direct use of military
forces on the part of «world community» – is the principle of support
by the majority of population expressed via free voting at elections.
«Democratic values» are the only currency for which one can buy
international acknowledgement of legitimacy of either one or another
new regime. However, violent introduction of «western standards» as
the only legitimacy criterion did not exclude revolutions, turnovers
and putsches of the political everyday life. The goal of seizure has
changes. The only thing officially acknowledged by the «West» is
public opinion expressed via «free democratic election». This means
it is necessary to ensure hold of control over the public opinion.
The usurpation of a throne as a purport and a goal of violent
revolutionary turnovers was substituted by usurpation of the power.
Usurpation of the power is the usurpation of free choice. Moreover,
it turns out that one can ensure usurpation of freedom and the
following control over such freedom by the similar rough, violent and
manipulative measures as in case of palace or military revolutions.
It turns out that stratocracy can be successfully substituted by
mediacracy.

It turns out that manipulation by «free democratic choice of
population» is as technological process as many other managerial
schemes nowadays. The technology of the power usurpation is based on
a set of measures using which at first the will of a certain group of
people is declared to be the will population majority, and then the
population majority equate this will with their own. In modern
«orange» reality this is ultimately confirmed by free democratic
election with involvement of international observers. In fact these
are sect-totalitarian technologies, political habbardism, because
they come to excluding even the possibility of real choice, to the
reality falsification and turning it into the reality without any
alternatives.

Certainly, they are much tougher and inhuman than the most uncivil
administrative technologies, e.g. the election falsification. Because
by using those technologies they try to correct the reality by
applying the force and they try either to overcome or to subdue the
other people’s will. In this case both events take place – to cancel
and nullify.

The scheme of such technologies implementation is the following. It
is required two preconditions: first, real public dissatisfaction
without any good «power-community»channels of interaction, second,
infrastructure of the revolution. The above mentioned political
technologist – Lenin described these conditions in his famous formula
of revolutionary situation: negative self-impression of the
population should be «increased» excessively i.e. to produce evident
social discomfort; the power inability to function in line with
former regime should be generally acknowledged; at last there should
be initial organizational group which shall be producing the process
(e.g. «new type leading party») as well as more wide community to be
used as an «incubator of revolutionary mood» (as a rule the
«intellectuals in opposition») and constantly operating
information-communication channels via which these ideas can be
effectively broadcasted outside (kitchens, mosques, underground
leaflets, western radio via jammers, internet).

In Ukraine in 2004 as well as in Russia in 1917, in Iran in 1979 and
in France in 1793 etc. dissatisfaction, forced public inactivity,
irresponsible arrogance of the self-confident power and lack of
opportunities to really control communications ensured such
preconditions. Then next four technological stages follow (they are
included one by one but then they are implemented simultaneously).
The first stage: it is claimed a simple formula of the truth «enemies
are against our people». Patriots are against aristocrats (France,
1793). «Bourgeoisie and proletariat. The one who is not for one class
is for the other» (Russia, 1917). «The faithful against American
devils» (Iran, 1979). «There is the only conflict in Ukraine now:
between the population and the criminal power» (Mr. Yuschenko,
extract from his speech at the meeting on the occasion of his
nomination to the presidential election, 2004).

The second stage: leaving the dialog via nullifying the enemy. The
enemy is claimed to be not just an opponent or adversary and
certainly not a competitive part of population: it is declared to be
the enemy of people, an obstacle to be eliminated. The enemies of
people «should be swept away» (1937, Vyshinskiy). «Each vote for
Yuschenko is another «no» to criminals» (quotation: TV advertisement
of Mr. Yuschenko). «Yanukovich is a choice of deceived slaves»
(quotation: slogan at the meeting near the Ukrainian Embassy in
Moscow).

The third stage: active and aggressive promotion of «our» brand.
External signs of «our people» and aggressive everyday revolutionary
fashion play the important role («Sansculottes» and Ohrygian caps in
revolutionary France, «Islamic clothes» in the days high society of
Iran, roses and flags with crosses in Georgia, «red» in Russia in
1917, «orange» in Ukraine in 2004). Moreover, the key advertising
slogan of the campaign promoting this brand becomes «our people are
good!» («Proletariat is the leading class», «The faithful will live
in paradise», «We are sincere, conscious, clever and kind people, and
that criminal power is a monster hiding in its thievish shelters»).
The public opinion – at the average man’s level – is imposed the
threat of being out of «fashionable party» (red, orange, etc.).

The fourth stage: the information image of inevitable victory is
implemented. It can be motivated on the religious bases (this is
Allah’s will) or on the scientific bases (proletariat victory is
historical regularity), or it can have no motivation at all (creeping
line on Yuschenko web-site: «40…30…5 days till Yuschenko’s victory»).
But the key thing is that the expectation of catharsis, inevitable
and joyful regeneration of all society «immediately after the
victory» is being forced. All these set together ensures the mode of
manageable collective excitement. Certainly, it is necessary to set
the race and the rhythm to the process and to ensure spectacular
drama. In fact, psycho-technique of mass hysterics is rather simple
and effective.

2. What is the result and how is it received. During some time the
situation undergoes «initial warming-up». The basic formula «our
people against enemies» is completed with emotions, examples and
obligatory «evidentiary facts» (tyrants’ victims – they were six all
in all in France in the Bastille captured on July 14, 1789; people
shot down in Timishoar – these were they, thousands of dead bodies,
who caused Ceausescu quick overthrow and putting to death, however
later on nobody could find any dead bodies there; Russian
revolutionaries exhausted by barbarous deportations; Ayatollah
Khomeini exiled to Paris; Gongadzhe killed personally by Kuchma).
Then the process launches. At first dissatisfaction and accuses are
synchronized. More and more people are involved into a single moment
and joint «knowledge of what is good and what is bad». Formula «our
people – enemies» becomes the constant source of interpretation
allowing transferring of any event into another illustration of the
only true doctrine. So, the interpretation dictatorship is
established in the society very soon and a new language is introduced
specifying only those thoughts which are in line with the «truth».
Thus, «White Guards» ideologists use the terminology of «class
struggle», though it is impossible to introduce the territorial
integrity ideology within such terminology. So, such words as
«power-oriented candidate Yanukovich» and «people’s candidate
Yuschenko», being absurd and stupid when repeated so often, penetrate
into the speeches of neutral commentators as well as into the
speeches of «power-oriented candidate» supporters, just because there
are no other interpretations in this new language. Then restrictions
are withdrawn from the enemy. Very soon acknowledgement of the enemy
as a human being becomes impossible. In the event that the enemy is
the present power, any self-equating with the power becomes
impossible – psychological base of the internal legitimacy of any
political regime. The enemy becomes an object of biologically alien
view – American devil, aristocrat, bourgeois, Donetsk criminal and he
can only get «Out!» Thereby all moral and instinctive limitations of
methods and scale of intragroup struggle are eliminated. In this
regard, Gebbels’s statement that: «Jews look like all other people,
but actually they are not human beings», and very brave idea of
liberal Yelena Tregubova that Kremlin is populated with «mutants»:
«Outwardly they sometimes remind people a little, but in fact they
are not human beings at all, they are completely another biological
type that can not be interbred with us» – these are links of the same
chain, «mantras» effectively releasing either one or another «our
person» from chimera of conscience.

It is important to emphasize the fact that at this stage the
involvement of «criminal power» into sparkling of the revolutionary
enthusiasm is invaluable: less and less popular elite is getting less
adequate and more odious; the least attractive people and the most
disgusting characters are brought to the forefront (actually, at this
stage those elite representatives, who are still able to normal
counteraction with population and to hear and listen to people,
undergo heavy influence of mass mood; the most odious scoundrels only
stay on the power’s part, this fact causes even greater irritation
and aggression in the society). At the same time self-equating with
«our people» grows in geometrical progression. Belonging to «our
people» is becoming more fashionable and prestigious. Homeless
people, blue blood princes and confection-manufactures with slightly
criminal background decorate themselves with red carnations and
orange stripes. Quantity of «our people» is growing very quickly. The
recently marginal sect is increasing the number of its allies.
However this is not the majority. The majority appears at the next
stage.

The victory announced in advance always faces serious obstacle. This
obstacle is common people who are not engaged into the revolutionary
process yet (indifferent to politics Russian, Iranians of high
society, Russian speaking Ukrainians, etc. and ordinary political
opponents who are not united by extensive feeling of hysterical
solidarity). As a rule, there are many such people; the majority is
passive in the society where unpopular authoritarian government
rules. In this very moment explosion takes place!

Postponing of the victory announced in advance whatever it was caused
by (by conciliation, the power’s attempt of finding a compromise, and
finally by the winning of a candidate from the «party of the power»
let alone such gift as a winning of this candidate) is declared to be
the very grave crime of people’s enemies, a theft of this desired
victory.

Then follows immediate and mass outburst of indignation transferring
into mass inspiration of people who are not majority yet but they are
very numerous! The great affect of sudden mass mutual identification
turns the minority into victorious, aggressive and powerful crowd.

Here the last transformation takes place. Common people «accused» of
«stealing the victory» have to make their choice – when they are
either with «our people» i.e. with «the nation» or they are with
«enemies». So, this «obedient» passive majority, which was crying
«Viva the King!», was voting for retention of USSR and for the party
of Shevardnadze supporters, suddenly falls into millions of lone
persons ashamed of themselves, feeling outcast, worthless and weak,
who have the only chance to avoid disgrace and obstruction – to join
«the nation». Moreover, to make everyone including this person sure
that he/she has always been together with them!

…In 1978-1979 before the ceremonial return of Ayatollah Khomeini
from long Paris immigration, Iran was an exited, adverse, but
developing Asian state still belonging to high society. «Brutality of
sheikh security» has never resulted in mass public hanging of the
«oppositionists» on street lamps. The majority supported the public
reformer Mehdi Bazargan, who was appointed as a Prime Minister under
the pressure of opposition. The situation reached the «street lamps»
stage very quickly; they started from the «sheikh security». Within
several months westernized, high society kingdom turned into
monolithic, fanatic theocratic republic under the total control of
Shiite mullahs.

The presidential supporters won the parliamentary elections with
slight preponderance in Georgia in autumn 2003. The parties in
opposition also won about 10-20% with the winners. After the «Rose
Revolution» which befell the population’s anger upon «falsifiers»
(and falsifications, even if they really took place – there was no
legal proceedings on this issue – can not have turned 10% into 20%,
and 20% into 50%) after Shevardnadze renunciation of the power, after
a month mass euphoria, Mikhail Saakashvili («Misha! Misha!»), the
democrat, got 96% of votes at the extraordinary presidential
election. After the re-voting of parliamentary elections (the court
abolished the results of elections based on the parties’ lists) only
the union of former oppositionists led by Saakashvili, Zurab Zhvania
and Nino Burdzhanadze managed to overcome the barrier.

In August 1991 the aggressive crowd of supporters of so called
«United Committee of Chechen Nation» (OKCN) initiated voluntary
resignation of Chechen-Ingushetia Administration headed by Doku
Zavgayev (due to his support of GKCP), then, with «arbitral»
involvement of democratic Russia leaders, they dissolved the republic
Parliament and assigned the authorities to «temporal committee»
headed by Lechi Magomadov, USSR deputy, (this was done in compliance
with the legislation, formally, according to the resolution of the
dissolved Parliament). Soon afterwards, against all agreements,
«democratic presidential election» in Chechnya Republic was held; the
minority of Chechen population of the integrated, at that time,
Chechen-Ingushetia Republic took part in this election. The election
winner was claimed to be Dzhokhar Dudayev, the General and OKCN
Leader. Later on there was an attempt of stealing the «victory of the
proud nation». Having examined the reports on the «democratic
election» and protests of law-abiding Chechens, RSFSR Parliament
tried to support the initiative of Mr. Rutskoy, the Vice President,
and to restore the law in the republic. It turned out soon that
Dzhokhar Dudayev was supported and had always been supported by all
population in Chechnya.

By the way, Yuschenko team is absolutely correct, demanding immediate
re-voting of the second round. The decision on the re-voting itself
against the background of orange unrest will become the germ of the
«orange majority» crystallization, irrepressible and totalitarian
majority.

3. Freedom epidemic: reality and prospects. Avalanche-like mass
synchronization is a menacing, dangerous and ancient event. The power
seizure via freedom usurpation has more ancient history than
«democratic values» in their «politically correct packing» on the
verge of XX-XXI centuries. Powerful national revolutions such as
Great French revolution, Great October revolution and Iranian Islamic
revolution are the signs of approaching epoch of orange
totalitarianism.

The orange political technologies introduce the only but very
important novation in the totalitarian revolution practice.

In fact, the role of the «crystallization germ», of being the
initiative group is very important for any mass movement. Formerly
such group used to evolve from the people mass under the influence of
public mood, and it used to win pre-revolutionary tender so to say.

Very many things depended on its composition and the style. Thus, the
American Revolution was headed by people of a respectable type, who
immediately set up a barrier against the revolutionary disorders.
Neither «ayatollah» Franklin nor «fighter» Washington used the energy
of the wave of mass inspiration of colonists for elimination of all
restrictions. The similar situation saved Russia in 1989-1991. There
were also very few «really impetuous» people, and Boris Yeltsin who
took the position of the leader, being authoritarian, turned out to
be a spontaneous democrat who was not able to intensify mass
hysteria.

Bolsheviks and Iranian mullahs are completely other type of winners,
having used money of German Joint Staff, anti-American political
support of USSR, etc., they managed to reach a long-term mass
hysteria and established the totalitarian dictatorship, the power,
which is more frightening, dreadful and despotic than any stratocracy
or monarchic tyranny of distant past. «Orange political technologies»
begin when a tail waving the dog is held by somebody’s brawny hand.
So called «orange political-technological group» (OPG) is in the germ
of «orange revolution crystallization», this group is motivated,
organized and financed by an external center.

Unlike «new type parties» and «Islamic revolutionary advices» OPG
does not participate in the tender on psycho-technical efficiency,
where the accepting party is represented by population. They are
selected by those people who set tasks to them.

We do not speak here about any kind of conspiracy: «external
centers», which catch the tail of «non-democratic state» in order to
twist it and throw the «authoritarian power» against the wall, emerge
depending on the situation and in the natural way. Thus, in case of
Georgia, Serbia and Ukraine the political will of the USA government
is combined with European bureaucracy on the one side and specific
initiatives of certain financial-political speculators (such as Boris
Berezovskiy, George Soros or Milan Panich) on the other side, who are
interested in the power overthrow in some countries based on their
personal reasons of economic and political character.

The peculiarity of the orange political technologies is not in the
fact that they result in crowds of exited and inspired people in the
street, but in the reasons of such excitement and inspiration. The
religious delight of a respectable Christian or Buddhist reminds the
religious delight of «Aum Shinrikyo» sect member or scientologist to
the extend as drugs ecstasy reminds the delight of a happy person.
The key difference is that: in one case we speak about strong and
natural emotions and in the other – about dirty and criminal
manipulations aimed at obtaining the definite business benefit by a
transnational corporation of Habbardists or international drug mafia.

The orange political technologies put into production a very
profitable business of manipulative freedom management. It is worth
listening to Yulia Timoshenko warning: «the orange revolution will
become the worldwide freedom epidemic». It will become dangerous,
highly infectious and pathogenic epidemic.

Actually, «orange plague» epidemic is a hurricane dissemination of
total non-freedom, replication of spiritual slavery, enslavement of
people at the level of their personal everyday consciousness. After
another outburst of the orange revolution, instead of ineffective
police-military states and administrative-bureaucratic states the
exited, hysteric communities of inadequate people, who lost their
ability for critical analysis of reality and guided by fascist
regimes having signatures on their standards about «democracy and
freedom» instead of swastika, stay on the earth surface.

Inadequacy and hysteric character of population make them directly,
drug-like dependant on the «sponsors of the democratic process».
Having lost their ability to alternative thinking, they sink into
their historical childhood and turn into half-colonies on their own
initiative. Thus, a new world colony is founded; it is controlled by
midiacratic methods and is expanded due to such «orange revolutions».

This is a serious threat for the worldwide stability.

Just as drug addict unlike a happy person loses the feeling of
reality and dies very soon, the «orange world» is doomed to collapse.
The drug discredits emotions, undermines the ability of natural
positive human feelings. The orange political technologies discredit
the democracy, undermine its base -trust in the procedure, ritual,
free political competition. After several violent captures of «free
people’s will» the contestation of the election results become
generally used practice. So, together with Ukraine Roumania and
Mozambique demand recounting of votes. However, the most interesting
thing is that such «freedom epidemic» will stop neither on these
countries nor on Armenia, Kazakhstan or Russia. Yes, the developed
countries seemed to be protected so far by the immunity from the
orange plague- by the developed democratic system and a high living
standard. The orange political technologies first of all work for
destruction of the reality as it is, and all immunities of the West
are based on the reality. Moreover, mediacracy has its peculiarities
– information and communication channels always work both sides. So,
the triumphal presentation of «Fahrenheit 911» film throughout
pre-election America is just a forerunner of the return to its native
country of the interpretations describing «election falsification»
and «criminal power». The second drug threat connected with orange
epidemic is non-controlled expansion of symptoms. The inflammation
can not last forever, and even if it lasts too long, it transfers
into suppuration and disintegration. Now Kiev streets do not look as
festive as they were a week ago. Today faces of «orange» mothers,
fathers and children begin to express gloomy dissatisfaction. These
faces will become even gloomier after the «victory», because the
paradise will not come instead of the hell, just OPG people will come
to the power. The inspiration inertia will be requiring an outlet,
and it will be necessary to recruit the new «people’s enemies»
instead of the nullified ones. In case of Ukraine, this will result
first of all in political disunity and later on in the increase of
territorial conflicts on the very small scale. Thus, the
confrontation between the «orange Center and West» and «white and
blue South-East» will be substituted by the war of indefinite color
against all.

As for Russia, there is already some embryo of «orange
infrastructure» here.

First of all, regular communication channels between the power and
society are blocked. So called control over mass media does not solve
any political tasks, it is impossible to block Internet, and it is
there where the initial bouillon of the future «formula of the truth»
of «our orange people» is cooked. The key thing is that the power
refused the sound sensible relations with the society. The only
representative of the power, who sometimes addresses the population
directly on some important issues, is Vladimir Putin. As for the
rest, the «orange» were given all freedom for creation of the power
information image in the form of homunculus with Fradkov’s charisma,
Gryzlov’s intellect, Surkov’s democracy, Mironova’s beauty and
Ustinov’s incorruptibility, taking into account the fact that the
power, having established control over the federal TV channels,
relaxed and lost the ability to resist in the serious information
struggle.

Second, there are several applicants for OGP role, they are: «Comitet
– 2008», «Yabloko», «Otkrytaya Rossiya» (by the way, the orange color
as a brand was developed by «Otkrytaya Rossiya» designers three years
ago). The «initial bouillon» of mass dissatisfaction is ready –
«democratic intellectuals» of large cities, the audience of «Ekho
Moskvy» radio voting month by month at the virtual election between
Putin and Khodorkovsky with 80% result in favor of Khodorkovsky.
There are communication channels, but the power does not understand
that on the eighth year of active Internet existence mass media of
«calibration resource» turned into first class mass media making
public opinion in the most active circles. We need not speak about
external sources of political will and financing.

The «development testing» of orange technologies already took place
at the Governor election in St. Petersburg in 2003. The truth formula
is getting more concrete taking the form of a primitive but very
consecutive putinophobia. The specific motive for orange avalanche
can always be found, for example, at the next parliamentary election.

One fact makes us a little quiet: Russia still has active immunity
from the orange epidemics. Having passed the euphoria of democratic
revolution in 1991, exasperation of communist putsch in 1993 and a
long train of doubtful presidential, parliamentary and governor
elections, Russian population managed to enter «post-democratic»
stage, having exhausted all illusions allowing transformation of
«democracy and freedom» into fetish. However, this does not mean that
the «orange threat» to freedom, democracy, human rights and
historical fate of Russia can be regarded as less serious.

Dmitriy Yuriev.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Dec 10 2004

AZERBAIJAN, U.S. MILITARY COOPERATION DISCUSSED
[December 10, 2004, 11:47:51]

As informed in AzerTAj from the press-service of the Ministry of
Defence, on December 9, Minister of Defence of the Azerbaijan
Republic colonel-general Safar Abiyev met the delegation headed by
the assistant of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense on the
International Security Affairs of the United States James McDougal.
Colonel-general Safar Abiyev said that President Ilham Aliyev highly
estimates co-operation with the United States of America in the field
of defense, and the Azerbaijan party is satisfied with continuation
of discussions in the given sphere. We are interested in development
of co-operation from the NATO within the framework of the program ”
Partnership in the name of the Peace”. This year the President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has presented the secretary general of the
NATO the Plan of activity on individual co-operation. Working on this
plan, we carry out his positions. We trust, that our co-operation
from the USA and the NATO will be expand henceforth’.

Both sides have discussed various issues of co-operation between the
Azerbaijan Republic and the USA in the field of defense and have
expressed confidence that shortly this co-operation will reach the
highest level. James McDougal has told: ” Since 2002 of the attitude
between the USA and Azerbaijan in military sphere have considerably
become stronger. And we shall not stop at a present level “.

Minister of Defence, colonel-general Safar Abiyev has noted that the
U.S. administration always supported Azerbaijan. However we are
surprised with the actions undertaken by the Congress of the USA in a
question of settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict. While
occupation of the Azerbaijan lands by Armenia is the indisputable
fact, some congressmen take steps in support of the aggression fact.
Annually achieving granting of Armenia the help in millions dollars,
such congressmen thus render to separative regime of Nagorno-Karabakh
political and material support. Colonel-general Safar Abiyev said
that despite of all this, Azerbaijan perceives and will perceive
henceforth the USA as the ally. Therefore Azerbaijan waits for
all-round aid from the United States.

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Dec 10 2004

Calendar features old Armenian photos

For the 18th year, Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives is
publishing its calendar, titled Armenian Families in the Ottoman
Empire before 1915. In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the
Genocide, Project SAVE’s calendar is a unique learning experience.

From its vast collections of over 25,000 images, Project SAVE
Archives staff made a special effort to select families from a
variety of professions and types of communities (city, town, village,
sophisticated or not). Included are the faces of 20 Armenian families
living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries throughout the vast
area of the Ottoman Empire including not only places in Historic
Armenia, but also in what is today Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece and
Romania.

Special attention was given to researching what each family was
doing before 1915; during the Genocide, which started in 1915 and
continued through 1923; and what happened to family members who
survived the Genocide.

The public can order calendars by mail or in person in time for
Christmas giving. For more information, check out
; call Arpie at Project SAVE, 617-923-4542; or
e-mail [email protected]. Also inquire about wholesale orders
to benefit your favorite nonprofit organization.

Calendars can also be purchased in person at the Archives,
starting with the Project SAVE Open House on Sunday, Dec. 12, 1-5
p.m., and during the weeks until Christmas, same hours or by
appointment. Project SAVE staff will assist you and give you a “tour”
of the archives.

As in the past, one calendar is $15 plus postage and handling
(plus 5 percent sales tax for Massachusetts residents). Two or more
calendars sent to the same address cost $12.50 each plus postage and
handling (and 5 percent sales tax for residents).

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Dec 10 2004

Next Frontline Monitoring to Be Held in Geranboy

OSCE representatives will hold the next monitoring on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani frontline on December 10 in Bosunlu village,
Azeri Geranboy region.

Defence Ministry’s press office reports that on the Azeri side
monitoring will be held by Imre Palatinus and Peter Kay, field
assistants of personal representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office, and
on the Armenian side by Andrzej Kasprzyk, personal representative of
OSCE Chairman-in-Office, and his field assistants Miroslav Vymetal
and Alexander Samarskii.

Kazinform, Kazakhstan
Dec 10 2004

Foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia meet in Brussels

Baku. December 10. KAZINFORM. On the eve of the Euro Atlantic
Partnership Council /EAPC/ session in Brussels, Foreign Ministers of
Azerbaijan and Armenia met in presence of the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs to discuss on the base of the so-called “Prague process”
the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan
announced, AzerTaj reports. Addressing the EAPC session participants,
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov expressed the need
to further develop political dialogue with NATO allies and partners
to strengthen security in the region.
“Security Cooperation between NATO and Partners in the South Caucasus
will enhance the prospects for tackling the complex problems of the
region”, he said.
He also touched the illegal settling of ethnic Armenians in the
occupied territories saying “transfer of settlers into the occupied
territories runs counter to sincere and serious negotiations,”
Speaking of the successful cooperation of Azerbaijan with the
Northern Atlantic Alliance, Minister Mammadyarov focused on
Azerbaijan’s active involvement in the peacemaking operations in
Kosovo and Afghanistan, as well as the international coalition in
Iraq.
“There has been very good progress on cooperation not only in the
military sphere.
Border security, science, environment, civil emergency and public
affairs represent new developing areas of partnership between
Azerbaijan and NATO,” he continued.
In Brussels, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov also met with Foreign
Minister of France Michel Barnier, European Union Foreign Policy
Chief Javier Solana and EU Special Representative on South Caucasus
Heike Talvitie.

KurdishMedia, UK
Dec 10 2004

Authors from Middle East get together in Diyarbakir

09/12/2004 Roj TV
Kurdish and Arabic writers Taha Xelîl, Lokman Dêrikî, Mihemer Ebû
Hamra, Yussef Bazzî and Ferec Beyraqdar came together at the panel
named “Two Languages, A World: Kurdish and Arabic Authors Tell” and
organized in the scope of the 2nd Literature Days.

The panel was arranged by Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality to
strengthen inter-cultural relations. To the panel held in theatre
hall of Metropolitan Municipality and started with the presentation
of Taha Xelîl , Lokman Dêrikî, Mihemer Ebû Hamra, Yussef Bazzî and
Ferec Beyraqdar attended as speaker.

Stating he had a long-past friendship with his Kurdish counterpart
Selim Berekat, Muhammed Ebû Hamra, author living in Beirut, says:
“While in Beirut Selîm Berekat was telling his adventures, we could
understand that Baas regime in Syria was implementing a cruel
dominance over Kurds. Before I have met him, I did not know how much
he is devoted to Kurds and Kurdistan. Mr.Berekat was treating the
Arabic Language in a romantic manner. My character was deeply
influenced by him. I have traced Berekat on his way. His hatred
against Arabic administrations caused me to have similar anger
against Arabic rules. The reason is that why the underdeveloped
countries do not see salvation in Europe? The reason of which, for
me, is that they have not been aware of their deficiencies.”

‘I have grasped we are not Arabic’

Lokman Dêrikî, who lives in Syria and writes in Arabic, by touching
on his childhood spoke as such: “While I was very young , I was happy
and speaking Kurdish but when I started school , I encountered a
language that left an impression on all my life, Arabic. At the
beginning of school, because I did not know Arabic, one of my
teachers, Emel, sometimes was teaching the lessons in Kurdish to me.
That time I would be very happy. As time passed, speaking in Kurdish
lessened day by day but speaking in Arabic increased. I was a kid so,
that is why I could not understand the reason is what? Later I
understood that we are not Arabic but Kurdish, namely, we are
minority.”

“The reality of history will be written by literature”

Yussef Bazzi, who jointed the activity from Beirut, stated that his
mother was Armenian and father Christian. “Because my father and
mother were from different religions, they much difficulty. My father
was killed in the Beirut Inner War and mother immigrated. That is to
say, I was an orphan and war kid. But I am also a man of the peace in
languages, and of dialog and compromise. My adventure shows the
history of the Middle East, which will fluctuate between peace and
war. And the reality of History will written down by literature.”

“Due to violence the Middle East remained back”

The last speaker of the panel, Syrian Author Ferec Beyreqdar said
People’s in the Middle East have deep knowledge but they are not as
learned as Westerners are. “This privilege is seen not only among
Peoples in the Middle East but also among the regimes. The reason of
this is the religious, tribal and sect violence that has been lasting
for a long. That is why Publics in the Middle East remained back. The
salvation is the brotherhood of People’s so we should hold
conferences and panels in many countries” he says

The open session ended with the panelist’s responses to participants’
questions.

BBC News
Dec 10 2004

1988: Death toll rises in Armenian earthquake

Up to 45,000 people have died and a further 500,000 are homeless
after the devastating earthquake which ripped through Armenia,
official figures revealed today.

Rescue work is currently still concentrating on finding any
survivors, but hope is waning in Armenia which borders Turkey and
Azerbaijan.

The Soviet Union declared today a national day of mourning as the
death toll rose and President Gorbachev toured the cities devastated
by the earthquake.

It measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and affected an area 80
kilometres in diameter.

Spitak, a town of 25,000 inhabitants, has been completely destroyed
and cannot be rebuilt – a new city will have to be built over the
wreckage.

Devastating consequences

The city of Leninakan, with 290,000 inhabitants, and the towns of
Stepanavan and Kirovakan in the northern area of Armenia, were also
hit by the earthquake.

It struck three days ago at 1141 local time when children were at
school and most people at work.

With most of Armenia covered in high-rise buildings the consequences
have been devastating.

The scale of the destruction has brought criticism the infrastructure
was substandard, prompting Soviet authorities to pledge Spitak will
be rebuilt with blocks no more than five storeys high.

Medical Aid

The disaster has led to an unprecedented level of openness by the
Soviet authorities as they struggle to cope with the devastation.

The Soviet Union has made an appeal for medical aid requesting, in
particular, blood transfusion equipment and dialysis machines.

America is sending medical aid and sniffer dogs capable of detecting
survivors.

Dogs sent by France alerted aid workers to 60 people buried alive
under the rubble yesterday.

India has sent clothes and blankets while Britain is transporting
excavating equipment

Five tonnes of clothes have already been collected by Aid Armenia
based in Britain.

In Context
The final number of people who died reached 25,000.
The former Soviet Union came under heavy criticism for failing to
co-ordinate rescue work and acting promptly – revealing it had no
contingency plans for any disasters.

Twelve thousand families remain displaced as a result of the
earthquake after new cities, started by Moscow in 1989, have remained
half-built.

A project by the Urban Institute, policy researchers, along with its
partners, the Institute for Urban Economics in Moscow and the
American University of Armenia, is underway to resolve this.

The goal is to provide permanent housing to those still displaced by
the earthquake while restoring the original city centres.

Watch/Listen
The earthquake measured 6.9 on the Richter scale

BBC News report on the British response to the tragedy

Your Memories?
Write your account of the events.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress