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08/13/2004
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1) Georgian PM Comes Under Fire in Ossetia
2) New Pastors Appointed to Western Prelacy Parishes
3) Holy Martyrs Armenian Elementary & Ferrahian High School Receives LAUSD
Grant
4) The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Another Four Years

1) Georgian PM Comes Under Fire in Ossetia

TBILISI (AFP/Civil Georgia)–Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said Friday
that he came under attack from South Ossetian troops while visiting the
separatist region on a peace mission.
He told Georgia’s private television that no one was hurt in the attack. The
station showed footage of gunfire as he passed through an area that saw three
Georgian soldiers killed Thursday.
“They were shooting directly at us,” he said. “I see this as Ossetia’s
response to our peace initiative.
“Both Ossetian and Russian peacekeepers knew that only my convoy was passing
through that region at the time,” he said.
Zhvania went to its northern separatist region, which is trying to join
Russia, late Thursday amid Georgian efforts to win back its control.
Those attempts have so far led to shootouts between Georgian, Ossetian, and
Russian troops, which are also acting in the region as peacekeepers.
The pro-Moscow region’s self-declared president denied his forces were
responsible for any attack.
The village of Eredvi, where the incident occurred, “is controlled by
Georgian
troops,” Eduard Kokoity told Russia’s Interfax news agency. “There was no
shooting from the Ossetian side, and we view this as a provocation.”
At least five villagers were reported injured at Eredvi in shooting that
started early Friday morning, according to Georgian television.
The station claimed the attack came from the Ossetians in yet another
exchange
of accusations in the escalating conflict.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili raised the prospect on Thursday of
“ethnic cleansing” in the separatist region after fighting there left four
soldiers dead and around 40 people injured.
A senior Russian official also sounded an alarm over the latest developments
in South Ossetia, a territory located along the Georgia-Russia border which
has
enjoyed a measure of de facto independence since fighting a war with
Tbilisi in
the early 1990s.
Russia has proposed an emergency meeting of a tripartite
Georgian-Ossetian-Russian commission charged with resolving the dispute and
appealed in the meantime for an immediate ceasefire.
The United States on Thursday urged Russia and Georgia to end rising tension
over the separatist Georgian region.
“We are urging Georgian officials to move quickly to avoid further conflict,”
deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
“We’re also making the point with Russian officials that it’s important to
work with the South Ossetian authorities to end hostilities immediately.”
He said US diplomats had been in touch with Georgian authorities in Tbilisi
and that the message had been conveyed to Moscow in meetings with officials
from the Russian embassy in Washington.
Ereli also told reporters that the United States backed Russia’s call for an
emergency meeting of the so-called “Joint Control Commission,” a tripartite
Georgian-Ossetian-Russian commission charged with resolving the festering
dispute.
Georgia’s parliament has overwhelmingly passed a resolution demanding that
Russian peacekeepers withdraw from its separatist region of South Ossetia and
instead be replaced by international troops. The non-binding resolution has
been passed in a 117-3 vote on the same day Zhvania came under fire from South
Ossetian troops while visiting the separatist region.
Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze was barred from entering
South Ossetia’s self-declared capital Tskhinvali region on August 13.
“The Ossetian side is categorically against my entering the Tskhinvali
region.
I simply want to pass via Tskhinvali [capital of breakaway South Ossetia] and
meet with Georgian population of the breakaway region,” Nino Burjanadze
said at
the Tkviavi administrative border between breakaway South Ossetia and the rest
of Georgia.
She reiterated that the Georgian Prime Minister is ready to hold talks with
South Ossetian de facto President Eduard Kokoity; however, the latter is
categorically against.
Saakashvili has vowed to reassert Tbilisi’s authority over the entirety of
his
Caucasian country, which splintered into several separatist regions in the
wake
of the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

2) New Pastors Appointed to Western Prelacy Parishes

LA CRESCENTA–On Thursday, the Prelate and the Joint Session of the Western
Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America announced new pastoral
appointments in three parishes of the Prelacy.
The appointments, which were based upon the considerations discussed during
the 32nd Representative Assembly held in May of this year, will help advance
the Prelacy’s mission.
Rev. Fr. Vrouyr Demirjian was appointed as assistant to the Prelate at the
Prelacy and will be in charge of the Christian Education department and Youth
Movement program.
Rev. Fr. Hrant Yeretsian was appointed as Pastor of Forty Martyrs Arm.
Apostolic Church in Orange County.
Rev. Fr. Nareg Pehlivanian and Rev. Fr. Ashod Kambourian were appointed as
pastors of Holy Cross Cathedral in Montebello.
Rev. Fr. Khoren Baboushian was appointed as Pastor of St. Sarkis Arm.
Apostolic Church in Pasadena.

3) Holy Martyrs Armenian Elementary & Ferrahian High School Receives LAUSD
Grant

ENCINO–Holy Martyrs Armenian Elementary & Ferrahian High School was able to
obtain a $56,000 grant allocation from Los Angeles Unified School District for
use during the school year 2004-2005. The grant was allocated under the “No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001.” A large portion of these grants will be
applied
toward faculty development programs and approximately $10,000 will be devoted
toward attaining scientific resources.
In addition, a special grant allowed five elementary teachers to attend the
5-day Governor’s Reading Institute this past summer. Through the institute,
teachers acquire training in the use of the Open Court Reading series.

4) The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Another Four Years

BY SKEPTIK SINIKIAN

So I think I’ve finally figured out how this internet thing works. For a
system of communication that’s supposed to simplify the way we do things, this
internet business is pretty confusing. Trying to understand how to work
with it
when you’re coming in at the middle is like starting to watch `Days of Our
Lives’ midway through the season and understand what the heck is going on. (I
still don’t know why Stefano is evil or why Marlena was possessed). I’ve
finally set up my web blog. After trying and trying and giving Asbarez readers
the runaround, the blog/website is finally up and can be visited at
This time it’s for real. Feel free to write back
and
exchange ideas. I don’t take things personally, so all types of comments and
letters are welcome. After all, everyone has an opinion, and it’s not a crime
yet in this country to share your opinions openly.
Take last week’s column for instance. I wrote about the flip-flopping of the
Democrats at their National Convention and stated my opinion. In response, I
received numerous letters from Republicans and Democrats alike. Republicans
praised me for finally seeing the light and Democrats thought I had been
sniffing glue. But my column wasn’t an endorsement of Republicans. I simply
stated my opinion about the Democratic Convention. I doubt anyone would
disagree with me when I say that it was probably the most boring week of
television up until the Republican Convention later this month.
One of the letters I received last week was a forward of a letter to the
Editor by an Armenian who is presumably a Republican and was obviously a
President Bush supporter. I’ve decided to share an excerpt from this letter
because it illustrates an opinion that I disagree with and is part of my
response this week to Armenian Bush supporters.
`[T]his Presidential election is not about the issues that both parties are
talking about, or who can make the most promises to whichever interest group
gives them the most money or votes–because all of these factors are
irrelevant. The issue is simply who Osama and his buddies would fear most as
President of the United States of America.’
I agree with the first part of this statement that says that this election is
not about the issues that the parties are talking about because the issues
that
the two parties are talking about non-issues such as Kerry’s war and post-war
record. Did Senator Kerry throw medals or ribbons over the fence of the White
House in protest of the Vietnam War? Did he throw his own ribbons or someone
else’s ribbons? Who cares? I don’t care if Kerry threw an orangutan in pajamas
over the fence because its irrelevant. The real issue in this election is the
question that Ronald Reagan asked Americans when he challenged Jimmy Carter
and
then when he was seeking reelection to the White House against Walter
Mondale–`Are you better off today than you were four years ago?’ My answer is
a resounding `no.’
And as for the question of whom Osama and his buddies would fear more? I
personally think they would fear someone who was able to restore America’s
glory and respected position in the world rather than gallivanting around the
globe like a vigilante gunslinger from an old Western.
I appreciate that there are folks out there that still believe this election
is about the War on Terror, but the War on Terror isn’t going to put books in
classrooms for our schoolchildren. Nor has it helped bring down the cost of
colleges and universities or created any stable, long term jobs.
The next time you call AOL or any other Internet Service Provider and you
wonder why your customer service call is being answered by some young kid
living in Punjabi, India, ask yourself why these jobs have left America and
why
places like West Virginia have an economy that parallels those in the third
world. Or the next time you hear about another kid that died in Iraq, ask
if he
was looking for Bin Laden. Ask where your retirement investments have
disappeared to and why the top executives of Enron (Bush’s top campaign
contributors) are still free and being driven around in limousines. And
finally, the next time Vice President Dick Cheney talks about national energy
policy and national security, ask how much money his former employer,
Halliburton Inc., has invested in Azerbaijan, a country which harbors Al Qaeda
cells and hires Taliban fighters to fight against Christian Armenians
defending
their land in Karabagh.
I’m not a fan of Michael Moore and this column isn’t my version of
`Fahrenheit
9/11.’ Nor is this an endorsement of one candidate over another. But, I’m
sorry to say that there are a lot more questions to ask in this election that
simply who will Osama Bin Laden and his buddies fear more. The real
question is
not who we will fear more but how long will we have to live being afraid of
ourselves, of the world around us, and those enemies out there who relish in
terrorizing us and our children. There are too many questions to be asked and
no one who is willing to answer them truthfully.
I don’t want to live in a country where my beliefs and political views are
defined by who a nefarious criminal genius fears more. We’ll just have to wait
until November to see if the rest of America shares my sentiments.

Skeptik Sinikian is an angry Armenian-American with lots of useless ideas and
opinions. He’d love to hear from you at SkeptikSinikian@aol.com or visit
him at

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