Author: Boshkezenian Garik

PACE OFFICIALS ARRIVE IN ARMENIA

ArmenPress
June 10 2004

YEREVAN, JUNE 10, ARMENPRESS: Gurgen Arsenian, the head of the United
Labor Party parliamentary faction told Armenpress that the overwhelming
majority of Council of Europe demands which Armenia has to respect lie
within the responsibility of the executive bodies. Commenting on two
senior officials from the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE) commission monitoring the fulfillment of Armenia’s membership
commitments, Jerzy Jaskiernia and David Chupina, who are arriving
tomorrow in Yerevan to get first-hand information on the ground,
Arsenian said that with respect to PACE April resolution that came
after the crackdown on the opposition, a range of steps were taken,
particularly, many people arrested for participation in unsanctioned
anti-government rallies, were released.

Galust Sahakian, the head of the Republican Party faction argued that
on the whole Armenia is fulfilling these demands, particulalry, those
calling for amendment of criminal and administrative offences codes,
electoral code and constitutional reforms.

Levon Mkrtchian from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) noted
that the ongoing processes should not be linked to PACE resolution,
as almost all political forces underscored the need of dialogue and
acting within the frames set by the laws in order to diffuse the
stand-off between the authorities and the opposition.” This is not a
process imposed on us from outside, but rather an indication of the
level of our political maturity,” he said.

Council of Europe officials will confer with the chairman of the
Constitutional Court, parliament chairman, his deputy, leaders of
pro-government and opposition factions. They are also scheduled to
meet with president Kocharian, prime minister Margarian, foreign and
defense ministers, the chief of police and chief prosecutor.

VLADIMIR PRYAKHIN HOPES VAGHARSHAK HARUTYUNYAN TO BE RELEASED FROM JAIL SOON

A1 Plus | 21:47:00 | 08-06-2004 | Politics |

Robert Grigoryan, the lawyer of General-Lieutenant and former Armenian
Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan met with OSCE Ambassador in
Armenia Vladimir Pryakhin on Tuesday.

The meeting was initiated by Vladimir Pryakhin.

Grigoryan told Pryakhin that his client is charged with attempting
a coup, making seditious calls and insulting the authorities. But
actually no exact wrongdoing is mentioned and presumption of innocence
is violated, he said.

“Instead of proving his fault, they want him to prove his innocence”,
Grigoryan said.

Pryakhin get familiar with the case and expressed hope that Vagharshak
Harutyunyan would be freed soon.

Ukrainian President: Time Is Working For Azerbaijan

Baku Today
04/06/2004 16:50

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said on Thursday that
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be
resolved only through restoration of the latter’s territorial
integrity, Azertag reported.

“This conflict should be resolved by peaceful means and only through
restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial unity. The time is working
for the benefit of Azerbaijan,” Kuchma told a joint press conference
also attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Armenian army has been occupying one-fifth of Azerbaijani territories
since 1991-1994 war. Peace negotiations mediated by Minsk group of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have yielded
no result in bringing a no war no peace situation to an end between
the two former Soviet republics.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Boise Weekly, Indiana
June 3 2004

Many media outlets are currently lamenting an unravelling of
administration policy and progress in Iraq. There seems to be a lack
of coherence (or presence of confusion, if you prefer) among our
expressed vital interests, our professed humanitarian imperatives
and the strategies, costs and timing associated with achieving
a “success” defined with reasonable clarity. This confusion is
weakening the support of our populace and making potential allies
(nation participants) reluctant to shoulder part of the load in
putting Iraq back into autonomous and reasonably compliant operation.
America’s preemptive strike in March 2003 was ostensibly due to
imminent threat of use of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam
Hussein and retribution for Iraq’s support of al Qaeda which implies
some responsibility on the part of Iraq for the 9/11/01 World Trade
Center tragedy. In the administration’s world of smoke and mirrors,
the Saudis somehow skated free of this opprobrium.

To anticipate the sincerity, speed and quality of aid the States
might receive from our recently disaffected allies it is instructive
to understand how the Europeans view and remember our role in World
War I. President Wilson led our nation into the war for the reason:
“support of Christianity and, in particular, American missionary
colleges and missionary activities.” A corollary, long-term objective
was that “the peoples of the region were (to be) ruled by governments
of their choice.” As the realities of the war took hold and as the
complexities of defining a durable peace loomed on the horizon the
reasons and objectives for the war morphed through at least five
iterations in 1918.

Designing the peace and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire at the
end of World War I was an enormously complex task. In a diplomatic note
from President Wilson to the French ambassador on March 24, 1920, the
United States ducked any responsibility to further participate with
England and France in Middle Eastern affairs. Moreover, the United
States reneged on a commitment to accept mandates from the League
of Nations to assume responsibilities for Armenia, Constantinople
and the sea lane between the Aegean and Black seas. Yet the note
concluded with a requirement that the anticipated treaty should be
consonant with American views and in particular Wilson’s views on
specific Middle Eastern matters. A last requirement was that treaty
nonparticipants would not be discriminated against and that existing
American rights in the area would be preserved.

What were these existing rights? As defined in 1919 and 1920 by
the Department of State, beyond the rights in the capitulation
agreements, the United States insisted on freedom of navigation of the
aforementioned sea lane; and protection of missionary, archaeological
and commercial activities. Salient among these commercial interests
were those of the American oil companies. Standard Oil of New York had
exclusive, pre-war licenses from the Ottoman government to prospect
in Palestine and Syria, but not Iraq.

In 1919 Standard Oil of New Jersey jumped on the bandwagon and
lobbied with the American delegation to the ongoing Peace Conference
for similar preferences in Iraq. Unfortunately this was followed by
a secret oil bargain between only France and Britain to monopolize
the Middle East’s oil output to the exclusion of U.S. interests.
This agreement was leaked to the American embassy and the reaction
was severe. Not only did this deal discommode the two oil companies,
it was viewed as an affront to the United State’s interests. The
Department of State was advised: “It is economically essential … to
obtain assured foreign supplies of petroleum.”

This March 24, 1920, fundamental shift in American foreign policy
was made even more strident under the administration of President
Harding. The professed advocacy and protection for Christian activities
in the Middle East dissolved into nothing when the administration
declined to intervene in September 1922 in the self-described
“sacrifice and martyrdom” of the Christians in Smyrna, the greatest
city in Asia Minor, by the Turkish army. In a delayed response to
pleas for intervention in the Smyrna massacre, the Secretary of State
in Boston, October 1922, opined that “the entire situation was the
result of a war to which the United States had not been a party; if the
Allies, who were closely connected to the situation, did not choose to
intervene, it certainly was no responsibility of America’s to do so.”

Finally in July 1928, with the Red Line agreement, U.S. participation
in oil ventures in Iraq was assured.

In essence, by March 1920, the United States stopped being a team
player of the entente Allies, and in the following years extorted
what they could from exhausted, depleted and disarrayed British and
French governments, and backed away from any responsibility to help
manage the peace in the Middle East.

In early June 2004 it seems the shoe is now on the other foot. With
this history in the Middle East it seems plausible that no nation will
step forward today to shoulder part of the responsibility for managing
the peace in Iraq and the surrounding area. The impertinence of the
United States in almost single-handedly deposing Saddam Hussein without
substantial international support and snubbing long-term allies as
feckless traitors and cowards in the process, sets the stage for a
torturous time in Iraq for the United States.

This legacy could be as intractable as the Jew/Israel/Arab/Palestine
debacle has been over the last 100 years. Moreover, the most obvious
scam of the last century has been the attempted gulling of the U.S.
citizenry and erstwhile allies that the United States’s war motivation
has humanitarian and self-preservation bases as opposed to a control
of petroleum basis.

President Wilson’s participation in the 1919 Peace Conference with
Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau was characterized by Arthur
Balfour as: “These three all-powerful, all-ignorant men, sitting
there and carving up continents, with only a child to lead them.”
One could conjure up a similar observation regarding President
Bush’s inner circle stampeding our nation and by reckless haste,
leaving international cooperation and institutions in disarray,
to go half-cocked into an Iraq adventure—before it “gets too hot
over there.” This hubris will haunt our nation for decades to come
and stiffen resistance by Muslims everywhere to the initiatives and
prerogatives of the United States. “Shock and awe” and “Bring ’em on”
cockiness is not mature foreign policy. This is the most visible and
memorable occurrence of the government of a first-rate, industrialized
nation having a tantrum.

Gene E. Bray,

Priest defies Israel’s ‘separation wall’

Worldwide Faith News (press release)
June 3 2004

World Council of Churches 7 Feature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 03/06/2004 – feat-04-12

“These are my guests, and this is my house”
Priest defies Israel’s ‘separation wall’

By Larry Fata

Free short video and photos available, see below.

“No! These are my guests, and this is my house!” The admonition is
delivered to Israeli soldiers attempting to stop a group of Palestinian
women crossing the grounds of a monastery. The messenger is Father Claudio
Ghilardi, a Passionist priest from Italy. His message is clear: at least
as far as the monastery grounds are concerned, he will not permit the
harassment of Palestinians by soldiers. The soldiers desist as long as
Father Claudio is present. The Palestinians continue on their way,
attempting to cross the monastery and reach Jerusalem on the other side.
The continuation of their journey depends on whether soldiers are waiting
at the exit, but at least they were able to get this far, thanks to Father
Claudio’s intervention.

Father Claudio cuts an elegant figure in his long black robe and matching
black beret. He seems weary on this particular day, however. He relates
how he has been chasing Israeli border police off the grounds and dealing
with soldiers all morning. The source of his weariness can be seen looming
in the distance; it is Israel’s “separation wall.” An ugly concrete
behemoth standing about 30 feet (nine metres) tall, dwarfing the much
smaller but more aesthetically pleasing stone monastery walls, the
“separation wall” stands poised to invade, as the two gaping holes in the
monastery wall attest. For now, work has stopped only a few feet from the
monastery grounds, thanks in part to the interventions of both the Italian
consul and the Vatican apostolic nuncio, but much damage has already been
done. And Father Claudio does not think that this reprieve will last for
very long. “This is not a barrier,” he exclaims. “This is a border. Why
don’t they speak the truth?”

The Santa Marta dei Padri Passionisti monastery is located at the
confluence of East Jerusalem, Abu Dis and Al-Izariyyeh (Bethany), the
latter the biblical home of the sisters Mary and Martha and their brother
Lazarus. It seems that the Israeli authorities want to build their wall
right through the monastery grounds, in contravention of the 1997 agreement
between the State of Israel and the Vatican respecting ecclesiastical
property. Not only will the people of Bethany, Abu Dis and parts of East
Jerusalem be cut off from the rest of Jerusalem economically, but the 2,000
Christians living in the vicinity of the monastery will lose their
spiritual centre as well.

Father Claudio’s church, named for St Martha, is now empty. The faithful
are not allowed to come to the church because it is situated on the
Jerusalem side of the grounds. They can enter the monastery on the Bethany
side but are not allowed, when soldiers or police are present, to approach
the Jerusalem side where they could conceivably exit. Many of the
Christians who used to fill the church come from the bordering towns of Abu
Dis and Bethany, and most lack the permits to enter Jerusalem. Due to
these conditions, Father Claudio celebrates mass where they are allowed to
go in a church belonging to the neighbouring Comboni sisters’ convent on
the Bethany side.

The monastery forms the centre of a Catholic “complex” that includes three
nearby convents. The Sisters of Charity run an orphanage for 45 children;
the Comboni Sisters have a school for 38 elementary-aged students; and the
Sisters of Notre Dame de Douleurs in Abu Dis have a rest home for 74
elderly Bedouins. The convents and the people they serve will be cut off
from each other and from Father Claudio.

On top of all the religious and property issues, there is the matter of the
archaeological importance of the grounds. The monastery is the site of
some large cisterns dating back to Roman times and 12 large tombs belonging
to members of the early Jewish-Christian community, with inscriptions in
Aramaic. Some of these finds have been disturbed or damaged by the
activities surrounding the construction of the wall. “When they came, they
damaged these sites,” Father Claudio says. “The government does not
respect the history of this land * a history that is important to the
Jewish people as well.”

Much has been said by the Israeli government about its need for a wall to
stop terrorist attacks within its pre-1967 borders. Much has been written
criticizing the placement of the wall in some places deep within the West
Bank, de facto annexing much Palestinian land. Israel has stated that the
“separation fence” or “barrier,” as the government prefers to call it, is
necessary to separate Israelis from Palestinians.

Even if one accepts the government’s argument that the wall is necessary
for Israel’s security, most Palestinians can’t understand why it has to go
through this area. “There are no Jews here. It’s not going to separate
Jews from Palestinians. It will separate Palestinians from Palestinians,”
comments Emad, who currently holds a Jerusalem ID and can make the short
walk to get to work, but will be unable to do so if the wall through the
monastery is completed.

And what will the wall do to the dwindling Christian community in the Holy
Land? Christians once made up a thriving and healthy 10-15% of the
Palestinian population. They now are officially only 2%, and some say that
the actual figure is closer to 1%. Building a wall right through the
monastery, separating Christians from their church and community services,
will only cause the further exodus of Christians from the Holy Land.

“We have lived here for over 100 years, under Turkish, British, Jordanian
and now Israeli governments, and no one ever tried to stop the people from
coming to pray. This wall will stop people from coming to church to pray.
Why? It is scandalous,” protests Father Claudio.

Israel has denied charges that it is trying to force the churches out, but
its recent policy denying most visa applications for clergy and lay church
workers, making it difficult if not impossible for the churches to continue
their work, will also cause erosion in the Christian community here.

Despite difficulties, Father Claudio vows to stay

Driving along the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives on our way to see
Father Claudio, we pass Beit Fage (Bethpage), where Jesus stopped to eat
some figs on his way into Jerusalem. It is from here that Christians begin
their Holy Week celebrations on Palm Sunday, following in the footsteps of
Christ as he descended from the top of the Mount of Olives and into the Old
City of Jerusalem. Soon, Bethpage will be cut off from many of the
Christian communities outside Jerusalem because of the wall, making the
Palm Sunday procession an endangered tradition for the local population.

Upon arriving in the area known locally as “Bawabe,” we can immediately see
part of Father Claudio’s problem. A temporary concrete wall blocks the
road that used to connect East Jerusalem with Bethany. There is a small
opening where, today, a soldier is checking IDs. This wall runs
perpendicular with the monastery, meaning that part of the property is on
what would be the Jerusalem side of the wall and part on the other side.
The wall is covered with graffiti: “Love God, love people;” “Peace comes
by agreement not separation;” and “God leads us to peace.” Going towards
Bethany and Abu Dis is not a problem, and the soldier pays us no mind, nor
does he pay any mind to the Palestinian students crossing on their way to
Al Quds University or the many other Palestinians going in that direction.
But he checks all the IDs of the Palestinians coming into Jerusalem. Those
without the blue Jerusalem ID or the proper permits are not allowed
passage.

There is a sea of taxis and mini-vans that serve as shared taxis here, on
both sides of the Bawabe wall. There are also makeshift stands selling
everything from fruit and vegetables to shoes and t-shirts. These
entrepreneurs try to take advantage of the foot traffic Israel has created
with its plethora of checkpoints; it is a booming cottage industry of sorts
in an area that has an unemployment rate of 60% or higher. We make our way
through the crowd, to enter the seeming oasis of peace and tranquility that
is the Santa Marta dei Padri Passionisti monastery.

The grounds are actually a beehive of activity. There are soldiers all over
the place attempting to stop Palestinians, and Father Claudio is
intervening on behalf of his “guests.” Members of the Ecumenical
Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) are acting as
witnesses and advocates. All this in a beautiful pastoral field dotted
with olive, almond and pine trees that, at this moment, is simply
pandemonium.

Mostly, the Palestinians trying to cross are people who work in Jerusalem
but don’t have the proper permits. There are also people crossing to get
medical attention, since facilities in some parts of the West Bank are few
and far between. This morning, Father Claudio was woken up at 4 a.m. by
the sounds of tear gas being fired by border police in what is essentially
his back yard. Soldiers have been maintaining a constant presence on the
grounds, and recently, the border police have started making regular
appearances as well.

“These people help me when the soldiers are in the area,” Father Claudio
says, referring to the Ecumenical Accompaniers. Alexandra Rigby-Smith, an
accompanier from Sweden, was working at the monastery today. “Many of the
people were scared,” she said. “We tried to help them get past the
soldiers so they could go to work, the hospital, university, to see family,
etc. One Bedouin woman was shaking, she was so nervous. We were able to
get some people through, but one pregnant woman, who was on her way to the
doctor, was refused a pass. That was very frustrating.”

Father Claudio tells us that a few months ago, soldiers found explosives on
one of the Palestinians crossing the monastery. But he doesn’t see that as
a reason for collectively punishing the entire community. One of the
soldiers tells a member of our group that the Palestinians dug a tunnel
below the monastery grounds to bring explosives into Jerusalem. We
inspected the “tunnel”, and there is definitely an opening large enough for
a person to get through, but not much more.

For Father Claudio, it is hardly surprising that people try any way to get
to the other side where they can find work: “The father of one family I
know with eight children hasn’t worked in one month. I help them
spiritually and I give them some food. Much more than that, I cannot
do.”

But Father Claudio does do much more. People see the monastery as a safe
haven. The sick come to him and he takes them to the hospital in his car,
using his status to get around the closures. He has had to rush women in
labour to the hospital as well. Were it not for him, these women would
have had to deliver their babies at home, a situation that adds to the
infant mortality rate in Palestine. The people call him “abuna” – our
father – even if they are not Christian.

But even Father Claudio is not always able to circumvent the authorities,
and he’s not immune from the troubles either. He shows us a scar on his
arm. “This was a gift from the army,” he tells us. “They fired tear gas
and it hit me right here.”

Father Claudio takes us around the monastery on an impromptu tour, pointing
to buildings owned by the Latin Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Greek Orthodox
and Anglican Churches. Some of the buildings are used as low-cost housing
for local Palestinian Christians. The wall will separate all of these
community centres.

All the while our group is walking along a dirt path between the rows of
olive trees, Palestinians are scurrying by us in the other direction trying
to cross. Soldiers are stopping them and the ecumenical accompaniers are
advocating for them. When Father Claudio comes by, he tells the soldiers
not to bother the Palestinians and, curiously, they listen without
argument. Of course, he can’t intervene on behalf of every Palestinian who
tries to cross and he can’t be present at all times.

“This wall doesn’t respect the human rights of the Palestinian people,”
Father Claudio says. “It doesn’t respect private property because the
Israeli government takes the land to build it. It is not the land of the
government, it is the land of poor people. What more do they want from
these people?”

Father Claudio gets some help with the many caretaking chores from another
Italian priest from Abu Dis. Otherwise, he is essentially alone, but it was
not always this way. Before the outbreak of the current Intifada in 2000,
there were five priests living in the monastery with him. They all left
because of the fear and uncertainty caused by the situation. When asked if
he will be forced to leave as well, he replies defiantly: “The only way I
will leave is if they kill me. This is my home. These people are my family.”

Our tour ended at Father Claudio’s church, where the absence of worshippers
is symbolic of the disappearing presence of Christians in the Holy Land.
Located just a few hundred metres away is the traditional site where the
Gospel tells us Jesus called into the tomb of Lazarus and brought him back
from the dead. If the wall is completed, it may take a miracle of a
similar magnitude to bring back the Christian community here.

Larry Fata, a Catholic teacher and journalist from USA is managing editor
and communication officer of the EAPPI.

A free short movie (3 min., 50 Mb) featuring Father Claudio is available
at:
> News & Updates > Catholic monastery could be divided
by
wall or click on this Link

Free high resolution photos are available at:

Media contact in Jerusalem: Cathy Nichols, Phone +972 2 628 9402

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)
was launched in August 2002. Ecumenical accompaniers monitor and
report violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,
support acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and
Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offer protection
through non-violent presence, engage in public policy advocacy,
and stand in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling
against the occupation. The programme is co-ordinated by the World
Council of Churches. Website:

For more information contact:
Media Relations Office
tel: (+41 22) 791 64 21 / (+41 22) 791 61 53
e-mail:[email protected]

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.

Opposition Reports Fresh Arrests
By Karine Kalantarian and Ruzanna Stepanian 02/06/2004 01:19

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
June 2 2004

The Armenian opposition reported on Tuesday renewed “administrative”
detentions and imprisonments of its activists ahead of the resumption
of its anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan.

Dustrik Mkhitarian of the Artarutyun alliance told RFE/RL that eight
activists in Yerevan and other parts of the country have been
arrested since Monday for allegedly disrupting public order or
“insulting” police officers.

She said five of them were sentenced to between five and ten days in
prison while the others were fined and set free. She added that
another oppositionist, the leader of an Artarutyun chapter in the
nearby town of Abovian, was detained and being questioned by the
local police as of Tuesday afternoon.

Arrests were also reported by the opposition National Unity Party
(AMK), Artarutyun’s top ally in the two-month campaign for President
Robert Kocharian’s resignation. AMK leader Artashes Geghamian said
two of his activists in the central town of Gavar got five-day and
ten-day jail terms under the Soviet-era Administrative Code after
publicly informing local people about his visit to the area due on
Wednesday.

The reported arrests come in advance of yet another unsanctioned
rally which Artarutyun and the AMK plan to hold on Friday following a
two-week pause. Leaders of the two opposition groups pledged on May
21 to stage “permanent” anti-Kocharian rallies from June 4. They also
said they will “rethink” their tactics to pull larger crowds in the
capital.

The upcoming rally was formally banned by the Yerevan municipality on
Tuesday in response to a written notification from several opposition
leaders. A written reply signed by an aide to Mayor Yervand Zakharian
pointed to the ongoing criminal investigation into the opposition
drive for regime change. It also cited a clause in the new Armenian
law on rallies which bans public gatherings in cases where they
“jeopardize citizens’ life or health.”

The law was enacted last month over serious objections voiced by
legal experts from the Council of Europe and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe. They believe that it fails to
meet European standards to which Armenia has committed itself.

The opposition said it will challenge Zakharian’s decision in the
court and will press ahead with the rally regardless of the outcome
of the lawsuit.

More than a hundred people have been subjected to administrative
detentions, mainly in closed trials and without access to lawyers,
over the past two months. Most of them were ordinary participants of
the opposition demonstrations. Hundreds of other opposition
supporters faced similar punishment during and in the wake of last
year’s presidential election.

The authorities’ controversial enforcement of the Administrative Code
has prompted strong protests from prominent international human
rights organizations. In its April 28 resolution on the political
crisis in Armenia, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE) urged the authorities to “immediately end the
practice.” Human Rights Watch similarly said in a May 4 report that
Yerevan should “cease using arrest as a means of pressuring the
opposition.”

In a related development, the head of the Yerevan office of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reiterated on
Tuesday his calls for the release of more than a dozen opposition
leaders and activists who face criminal charges stemming from the
opposition push for power. “I think that the release of those
individuals would create necessary prerequisites for ending the
political deadlock in which the opposition is refusing to engage in a
constructive dialogue with the government,” Ambassador Vladimir
Pryakhin told RFE/RL.

Pryakhin was particularly concerned about the fate of the most
prominent of the detainees, former Defense Minister Vagharshak
Harutiunian. “Vagharshak Harutiunian could not have done something
for which he could be sentenced to between 10 and 15 years’
imprisonment,” he said.

Harutiunian and another senior member of Artarutyun, Suren
Sureniants, are being prosecuted for allegedly calling for a “violent
overthrow of constitutional order,” a charge they both deny.
Sureniants spent several days on hunger strike in his prison cell
last month to demand the release of all “political prisoners.” His
defense lawyer, Robert Grigorian, told RFE/RL that state prosecutors
have asked a court in Yerevan to prolong his pre-trial detention by
two more months.

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
May 28 2004

Western Press Review: Putin’s Speech, NATO’s Black Sea Interests,
Prosecuting Wartime Abuses, The Arab Summit
By Khatya Chhor

Prague, 28 May 2004 (RFE/RL) — Among the topics being discussed
in the media today are Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first
formal address this week since winning a second term; refocusing NATO
attention on the Black Sea-South Caucasus region; determining command
responsibility for crimes committed in wartime; events in Iraq, as
preparations continue for the 30 June handover of power; and this
week’s summit meeting of Arab leaders in Tunis, among other issues.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first formal address to the
Federal Assembly (both legislative bodies) since his reelection in
March is the topic of an editorial today in New York’s leading daily.
The Kremlin head’s words this week (26 May) showed “the real, core
[Putin], not a rookie [or] a shaky politician looking for votes. The
speech was the program of a man very much in charge of Russia. Too
much, in fact,” the paper remarks dryly.

Putin’s main theme was his commitment to tackle the tough economic
problems — including housing, health care, education, and jobs — that
affect every Russian family. And while such pledges are not original,
Putin is “serious,” the paper says. “His enormous popularity among
Russians comes largely from his success in bringing stability and
growth to a chaotic land.” Aided by high oil prices, Putin has made
“impressive progress in reforming the decrepit economic institutions
he inherited.”

Yet despite the welcome promises of economic reform, “The New York
Times” says it was Putin’s “Soviet echoes” that reverberated most
loudly through the great Marble Hall of the Kremlin. The most chilling
was Putin’s denunciation of civil associations that have been critical
of his government and his swipe at Western critics, whom he accused
of trying to prevent Russia from being strong and free.”

Such comments are reminders of a time when the Kremlin assumed
“that economic growth and national security require an all-powerful,
centralized state apparatus.”

The paper writes: “The longing of the Russians for a measure
of security is understandable. But it is imperative that Putin be
reminded at every turn not to confuse the laudable goal of improving
the lives of the Russians with a restoration of the authoritarian,
centralized rule that destroyed their lives to begin with.”

WASHINGTON POST

A joint contribution today by James Dobbins of the Rand Corporation
and Philip Gordon of the Brookings Institution says the United States
must soon make needed changes in its military strategy if it is to
stabilize Iraq.

“Reaching the goal of a stable, unified and non-threatening Iraq does
look increasingly difficult,” say the authors. But the withdrawal
of U.S. troops from Iraq would create a security vacuum “that would
quickly be filled by the most heavily armed and violent groups
in Iraq.” Iraq’s many different ethnic, religious, and cultural
communities “would probably struggle to establish control over
that country’s vast energy riches. Civil war, ethnic cleansing, and
genocide [would] be a likely result. Iraq’s neighbors — including
Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — would probably be drawn in,
supplying arms and money to their preferred factions.”

To achieve success in Iraq, the United States needs a major strategic
shift. “Henceforth, American forces cannot afford to destroy villages
to save them. They cannot afford to use artillery, gunships and
ordnance from fixed-wing aircraft in populated areas, regardless
of the provocation. They cannot afford to sacrifice innocent Iraqi
civilians to reduce American casualties. They cannot afford to sweep
up, incarcerate and hold for months thousands of Iraqis — many of them
innocent — to apprehend a smaller number of guilty ones. They cannot
afford to use pain, privation or humiliation to secure information.”

Dobbins and Gordon say an insurgency “cannot be defeated without the
support of the population.” And the United States will not receive
that support from the Iraq people “unless it puts public security at
the center of its military strategy.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE

Vladimir Socor of the Washington, D.C.-based Jamestown Foundation
says that at its upcoming (27-28 June) summit in Istanbul, “NATO can
celebrate a triumph.” Seven new members from the Baltic to the Black
Sea will attend the alliance summit as members. “This — along with
the previous accession round by three Central European countries —
represents the alliance’s greatest strategic, political and moral
victory in its 55-year history.”

But the alliance “cannot avoid addressing the issue of peacekeeping
and conflict resolution on its own vital strategic perimeter,” Socor
says. “Thirteen years after the end of the Soviet Union, peacekeeping
in this region remains in practice Moscow’s monopoly, which only
serves to freeze the political settlements of the conflicts.”

Two years ago, both NATO and the United States seemed ready
“to engage jointly with Russia in peace-support operations
and conflict-resolution efforts in Moldova, Georgia and the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. [However,] nothing further has been
heard about these intentions since those summits.”

Socor observes that U.S. “forces and resources are now overextended
worldwide.” Thus he suggests European nations should be ready “to
take the lead in peace-support operations and conflict settlement in
the Black Sea-South Caucasus region, Europe’s doorstep.”

The United States, NATO, and the European Union “have the strategic
and democratic motivations, as well as the means, to initiate a
transformation of peacekeeping and conflict resolution at this
crossroads, where the access routes to the Greater Middle East and
the energy transit routes to Europe intersect.” Socor says this “must
become a Euro-Atlantic priority.” June’s NATO summit agenda would be
“incomplete” if it did not indicate its readiness to address this
vital issue.

FINANCIAL TIMES

In a contribution to London’s leading financial daily, a former U.S.
ambassador-at-large for war crimes, David Scheffer, discusses the
difficulties of determining command responsibility for abuses committed
in wartime. In the wake of the Abu Ghurayb prison scandal in Iraq,
Scheffer looks at how the international war crimes tribunal in The
Hague has dealt with offenses committed during the Balkan wars of
the 1990s.

He says some of the same “[fundamental] questions of ‘responsibility'”
that arose from the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at the Trnopolje
Camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are likely to be addressed in the Abu
Ghurayb investigation. Was there, from top U.S. administration
officials down to prison guards, a common intention to institute
practices prohibited by the Geneva Conventions? Who had de facto
control over the U.S. personnel and private contractors conducting
interrogations? And who had the authority “to subject detainees to
inhumane treatment?”

The Hague tribunal has, in recent years, determined “responsibility”
for abuses and the complicity of military and civilian leaders
“by asking whether the individual had superior responsibility for
subordinates, or was a co-perpetrator in a joint criminal enterprise,
or aided or abetted an atrocity by knowingly assisting or encouraging
it.”

The tribunal’s determination of command responsibility rests on whether
“there was a superior-subordinate relationship where the accused had
‘effective control’ over the perpetrator. Such control should exist
when a superior has the power to prevent or punish atrocities committed
by subordinates.”

The Hague tribunal “has shown that responsibility for atrocities,
especially war crimes committed against detainees, requires serious and
objective review of evidence up the chain of command.” Scheffer says,
“The die, therefore, is cast for U.S. judges and Congress, which can
punish such crimes, to enforce the law with unassailable integrity.”

THE ECONOMIST

London’s weekly magazine observes that the meeting of Arab leaders
in Tunis last week “was supposed to have been about two things:
political reform and a uniform stand on thorny issues such as Iraq
and Palestine.” But following the summit’s end, “Commentators from
Morocco to the Gulf, in unprecedentedly uniform derision, variously
deemed the meeting ‘ridiculous,’ ‘a failure,’ ’empty rhetoric’ and
‘instantly forgettable.'”

The strains between the Arab League’s 22 members have been exacerbated
by the “muscular” approach to the region by the United States,
the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Washington’s unflagging support
for Israeli policies, its “icy hostility to old adversaries” like
Syria, and its “aloofness” from longtime allies such as Egypt and
Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the sudden U.S. preoccupation with promoting
democracy throughout the Middle East has “shaken Arab palaces and
streets alike.”

But the heads of state and envoys meeting in Tunis did make
an attempt to address “both their own peoples’ and Americans’
concerns.” The summit’s final communique “restated a commitment to
a comprehensive Palestinian-Israeli peace and made a new gesture to
Israel by condemning ‘all operations that target civilians, without
distinction.'” The text also, “unsurprisingly,” condemned the U.S.
president’s recent rejection of the right of displaced Palestinians
to return to Israel as well as his contention that Israel should be
allowed to keep some of the territory it has occupied since 1967.
Some statements were made about the leaders’ commitment to social and
political reform in the region, but many of these were “notably vague.”

The “Economist” notes that 34 Arab nongovernmental organizations from
14 countries issued a statement of protest, calling for a specific
timetable for change or for holding elections.

Charles Aznavour a fêté son 80e anniversaire sur scène

Swiss Info
24 Mai 2004

PARIS – Charles Aznavour a fêté son 80e anniversaire sur scène au
palais des Congrès à Paris. Plusieurs personnalités dont le président
Jacques Chirac et son épouse ont assisté au concert au profit de
l’Institut national du cancer.

Ce concert exceptionnel était retransmis en direct sur les chaînes
de télévision privées françaises TFI et RTL. Le ministre de la Santé
Philippe Douste-Blazy était également présent.

De nombreux artistes étaient venus et Charles Aznavour a notamment
interprété ses chansons en duo avec Johnny Hallyday, Liza Minnelli,
le ténor Roberto Alagna, Patricia Kaas ou Nana Mouskouri.

Entouré de chanteurs de toutes générations qui lui avaient fait
la surprise de leur présence et d’un orchestre, Charles Aznavour a
interprété trois chansons seul. Il a commencé par «Je me voyais déjà»
et a terminé par «Mort vivant» une chanson sur le délit d’opinion
extraite de son dernier album intitulé «Je voyage», disque d’or.

Pour l’artiste international Aznavour qui se dit «mélodiste et non
compositeur», «la retraite c’est la mort». Il a été longuement
ovationné par la salle debout, y compris le couple présidentiel
tandis que tous les chanteurs réunis sur scène lui souhaitaient
«joyeux anniversaire».

Farewell, Little Red Schoolhouse
BY Aida Rogers

Lexington County Chronicle, SC
May 22 2004

Rep. Ted Pitts, right, presents Maro Rogers a proclamation from the
state legislature at her retirement party Sunday while her husband,
Hugh looks on.

Hundreds of students wished their first teacher well when Maro K.
Rogers held her final open house at the Little Red Schoolhouse in
Lexington.

Best estimates are that Rogers taught about 1,500 students in 41
years at the kindergarten.

She taught three generations in some families.

“It’s a part of what Lexington was then, and still is today,”
said Anne Wilkins Brooks who, with her sister Sarah Wilkins Weiss,
attended the school in the 1960s. Brooks enrolled her daughters Baker
and Anna there.

“It’s literally pulling your child up to the white picket fence where
Maro stands, waiting on your child. Each child gets out one at a time,
and that’s how they come out. You don’t dump your kids off and leave
them. It’s an involvement.”

Rogers opened the Little Red Schoolhouse when, as a young mother
of two, she realized there were no kindergartens nearby to educate
her children.

She and husband, former Lexington Mayor H. Hugh Rogers, built a
kindergarten in their back yard on Fox Street.

Helping teach was Rogers’ mother, “Miss Mannig” Kouyoumjian, who
played piano and banjo. Two more children were born, with all four
attending the kindergarten.

As the Rogers children got older, they helped with its annual Christmas
and spring recitals, with Hugh Rogers appearing for 40 straight years
as Santa Claus. At the 2003 Christmas recital, son Clifton took the
role. Daughter Myda Rogers Tompkins has been teaching and providing
piano accompaniment since 1991.

“I learn all the time from my pupils,” Rogers says. “I learned
something just yesterday.”

And they have learned a lot from her.

Rogers is Armenian and a native of Iraq. She came to America via a
scholarship to Columbia College.

At every Christmas recital, students sing “O Christmas Tree,” in
English and Armenian. Likewise, spring recitals of the past have
featured Arabic and Gypsy dancing, as well as music and dancing of
Japan, Hawaii, and the American South.

The Little Red Schoolhouse has always been a kindergarten — not a
day care. Students learned their alphabet and took field trips to
farms, grocery stores, the library, post office and museums. They
did finger-painting and physical exercise.

“It’s much more than playing ball and making crafts,” Anne Brooks said.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
May 21, 2004, Friday

A festival crammed with delights The films in Cannes ranged from a
balletic martial-arts epic to a gripping family drama made for just
$218

By SUKHDEV SANDHU

This was meant to be the year when Asian cinema conquered everything
before it at Cannes. Korean pulp maestro Chan-Wook Park certainly
didn’t take any prisoners with Old Boy. It’s a dark revenger’s tale
about a wild-haired guy who is hellbent on finding out why he was
imprisoned in a windowless apartment for 15 years and who it was that
killed his family.

Violent, nasty and thoroughly exciting, it features gag-or-glee
scenes in which characters eat live octopuses and chop out their own
tongues. One terrific kung-fu scene where the guy takes out more than
a dozen assassins, a scene shot in profile and almost in silence,
will have had Quentin Tarantino (head of the voting panel and a huge
Park fan) in raptures.

More poetic was Zhang Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers. This Chinese
martial arts epic about a love triangle that develops between members
of the ninth-century Tang Dynasty and its radical opponents has very
little blood-letting. Instead, the fighting is choreographed with a
deftness and grace that turns it into a form of ballet. It’s rare to
see a female lead, Zhang Ziyi, play such a prominent role, not least
since she portrays a blind double agent. Costume and music are used
to ravishing effect, while the russet colours of the landscapes in
which the drama unfolds are both unusual and deeply lovely.

Coffee and Cigarettes by American indie giant Jim Jarmusch is a
low-key but delightfully droll collection of dialogues between
well-known and counter-cultural faves, mostly playing themselves.
Cate Blanchett is a feted Australian actress who is visited during a
press junket by a snarky, punky cousin (also played by Blanchett).
Iggy Pop pow-wows with Tom Waits; Jack and Meg White of the White
Stripes have a curious dialogue about motor technology; Bill Murray
works undercover as coffee-guzzling restaurant hand, before being
spotted by members of the WuTang Clan. Best of all is a double-header
in which Alfred Molina arranges a meeting with Steve Coogan to inform
him that they’re cousins. Coogan, in LA to hustle for Hollywood
roles, is distinctly unimpressed – until he learns that Molina is a
friend of Spike Jonze. The film is a tribute to the joys of creative
idling and ends with a nice touch: the slogan “Long live Joe
Strummer”.

One of the more subtle pleasures of the festival has been Argentinian
director Lucrecia Martel’s La Nina Santa. It’s an oblique and
elliptical comedy of manners set in a small hotel that’s hosting a
medical convention. It’s run by a glamorous middle-aged mother who is
attracted to a delegate with an unfortunate tendency to rub against
young girls, one of whom is his suitor’s teen daughter. Not that she
minds – she’s a languorous adolescent who wants to use the Catholic
doctrines she studies in school to try to save him. The plot is full
of false turns, and belly laughs are scarce. Still, as both an
exquisitely constructed strand of higher sitcom, as well as a
portrait of the tensions around burgeoning adulthood, this is an
attractive curio.

Made for $218.32, Tarnation by Jonathan Crouette is a painfully
revelatory documentary about the director’s mother, who was
needlessly given electric shock therapy for much of her life, and
about his own subsequent descent into drug abuse and self-mutilation.

Intercut with home footage, it uses techniques associated with
experimental cinema (split screens, sound distortion), but puts them
to unusually emotional effect. Sumptuously soundtracked by Nick Drake
and Belle and Sebastian, and executive-produced by Gus Van Sant, it’s
likely to attract big audiences when it’s released in the UK.

Cannes prides itself on its respect for celluloid history, and this
year saw a welcome showcase for some of the key films of the
Brazilian Cinema Novo movement of the early 1960s, and a great print
of Mehboob Khan’s 1957 social epic Mother India.

Also of note has been Wall, Simone Bitton’s investigation of the
barriers constructed to separate Israelis from Palestinians, which
expands into an urgent and deeply felt tone poem about the psychology
and politics of the Middle East. I Died In Childhood is a haunting
portrait of the great Armenian director Sergei Paradjanov made by his
nephew. Including footage from now-unknown classics such as The
Colour of Pomegranates, it will be of interest to fans of Russian
Ark.

So who will win this year’s Palme d’Or, to be announced on Sunday?
The smart money’s on Walter Salles’s The Motorcycle Diaries and Wong
Kar Wai’s 2046 (due to be shown last night, after a race against time
to get it finished). The strangest film, though, was Thai director
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s wild and imaginatively unfettered
Tropical Malady. That, and Michael Winterbottom’s audacious and very
affecting 9 Songs, have been my favourites of Cannes 2004.