WE LEARN THE TRUTH FROM OTHERS
James Hakobyan

Lragir.am
18 Oct 06

Unfortunately, it is a fact that very often the Armenian public
learns about events connected with Armenia from the outside rather
than its government, which is allegedly elected in free, fair and
transparent elections. For instance, we learned from the U.S. Embassy
that a package of documents on a case of corruption was delivered to
the government of Armenia. Later, of course, the government stated
that these documents are not enough for calling the minister of
environmental protection to account, nevertheless, if the U.S.

Embassy had not announced, the taxpayers would not have learned about
the accusation against the government living on their expense.

Meanwhile, it seemed that the government should be happy to announce
the first that the accusations of corruption are false.

Similarly, the public learns from foreigners that the Armenian
government is likely to sell a section of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
to the Russians. And the more the Armenian officials, including the
prime minister, the minister of defense, the minister of energy
refute this information stating that there is no such decision
on the pipeline, the more Russian officials confirm it. In fact,
they obstinately confirm what the Armenian government obstinately
refutes. And it is at least amazing that the Armenian government
does not demand explanations from Russia and does not make efforts
to prevent attempts at misleading the Armenian public. It means that
the government itself is misleading the public.

And it appears that it is misleading not only the public. And
apparently the consistent efforts to refute information hiding
the sale of the gas pipeline is not determined by the reaction of
the public. The point is that Iran is against the sale of the gas
pipeline. The officials of this country have announced in Yerevan
that they are not likely to include a third part in the pipeline
project. And the Armenian government assures Iran that it takes no
steps at involving a third party. Meanwhile, it appears to be the
contrary, and the Armenian officials are lying not only to their
people but also to Iran. It is difficult to say how long the lie
will last. Maybe until the Russians announce that the gas pipeline
already belongs to them. Of course, it may be only a section and not
the whole of the pipeline. But what difference does it make how many
meters of the pipeline belong to Russia? After all, it is impossible
to transport the gas running through this section of the pipeline
via air. And as soon as Russia gets a section of the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline, it becomes pointless to speak about the diversification of
the energy security of Armenia.

Consequently, it becomes apparent that the government’s commitment
to enhancing energy security is a lie. And all we can do is to ask
Russia when official Yerevan tells the truth and when it hides it. Even
if the Russian government demanded money in return for information,
it would probably be worthwhile to give the money we pay to the state
budget and which is spent on the salaries of the government officials,
who are supposed to be frank with the citizens.