Author: Jalatian Sonya

Economics upstages diplomatic drama
By Gideon Rachman in Davos

FT
January 31 2009 02:00

The organisers of the World Economic Forum like people to get along.
The forum specialises in getting rivals and enemies to share platforms
in Davos: Palestinians and Israelis, Indians and Pakistanis, Americans
and Iranians.

But this week, the Davos consensus broke down in spectacular fashion.
Recep Tayip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, stormed out of a
session with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president. Angered both by
events in Gaza – and by what he saw as unfair handling of the
discussion he was taking part in – Mr Erdogan vowed never to return to
the forum.

The cosy Davos world has already been profoundly shaken by the global
financial crisis. The Erdogan walk-out also pointed to the threat posed
to the consensual tradition of Davos by developments in international
politics.

For some years, Turkey has been a poster child for the politics of
reconciliation that are promoted by the forum. It is a secular Muslim
state that is also democratic, a member of Nato and has close ties to
Israel. But there has been a growing, latent conflict between Turkish
foreign policy and public opinion in the country. Opinion polls in
Turkey have regularly revealed very high levels of anti-American and
anti-Israeli sentiment. Some of those tensions burst into the open in
the emotional performances of Mr Erdogan and Mr Peres in Davos.

The walk-out also highlighted the extent to which the conflict in Gaza
has further poisoned relations between Israel and moderates in the
Islamic world.

This development creates a tricky foreign policy dilemma for Barack
Obama, the new US president. Mr Obama has made it clear that improving
relations with the Muslim world is one of the highest foreign policy
priorities of his administration. But he has also stressed his
commitment to Israeli security and congressional support for Israel is
still strong.

The Obama administration was barely represented in Davos. The new
president sent an old friend, Valerie Jarrett, to represent him –
rather than the senior foreign policy advisers who had originally been
on the forum’s programme. But the main geopolitical issues raised at
Davos still revolved around the US.

The two leaders who topped the bill at the forum were Wen Jiabao, the
Chinese premier, and Vladimir Putin, the prime minister of Russia. Both
struck a similar note. They made appeals for international
co-operation. But they also pointed to America’s central role in the
global financial crisis and stressed the need for a multi-polar world.

On substance, however, the Russian and Chinese reactions to the early
steps taken by the Obama administration were rather different.

The Russians have reason to be pleased. They believe that a deal may be
in the works in which the Americans go slow on the deployment of
anti-missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, and downplay the
hopes of Georgia and Ukraine to join Nato. In return, Russia would be
asked to provide more help on other important issues – in particular,
the drive to halt Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Chinese delegation at Davos, however, were clearly displeased and
alarmed by the suggestion by Tim Geithner, Mr Obama’s newly-confirmed
Treasury secretary, that China has been "manipulating" its currency. In
public and in private, they were at pains to dismiss this suggestion
and to pin the blame for the global economic crisis on the US.

For all the drama caused by the Erdogan walk-out, the tensions between
the Chinese and the Americans on display in Davos may turn out to be
more significant in the long term.

They suggest that international economics may be the dominant foreign
policy issue of the Obama years.

VISITED THE DETAINED DEPUTIES

A1+
[07:21 pm] 29 January, 2009

As assigned by Speaker of the RA National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan,
NA Chief of Staff Gegham Gharibjanyan and Chief Adviser to the NA
Speaker Victor Mnatsakanyan paid a visit January 29 to see NA Deputies
Myasnik Malkhasyan, Sasun Mikayelyan ["Kentron" penitentiary] and
Hakob Hakobyan [Hospital for detainees" penitentiary].

The deputies submitted an open letter asking the NA Speaker to convene
an NA extraordinary session with the RA Prosecutor General. They
mentioned that their guilt was not unsubstantiated and that they
demand the Prosecutor General to present evidence.

Gegham Gharibjanyan and Victor Mnatsakanyan cleared things up for the
deputies regarding their appeal. It was noted that according to article
70 of the RA Constitution, the Speaker of the RA National Assembly
convenes an extraordinary sitting or session by the initiative taken
by the President of Armenia, at least one-third of the total number
of deputies or the government.

By the 2008 March 3 decision of the NA, the trial takes place based on
the order established by the RA Trial Code after receiving consent for
mediation by the RA Prosecutor General on engaging Myasnik Malkhasyan,
Sasun Mikayelyan and Hakob Hakobyan as guilty and applying arrest as
a means of release.

The case is currently being investigated and must be held based on
principles of rule of law, human rights, respect for liberties and
dignity, release of criminal investigation, version of innocence,
fair examination of the case and other principles.

The NA Chief of Staff informed deputies that with the purpose of
drafting the bill on making amendments and additions to articles 225
and 300 of the RA Criminal Code, a Working Group has been created by
the order of NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan, which will be assigned to
take into account the standards set by precedents of the European
Court of Human Rights and the issue of corresponding the principle
of legal conviction of the law when drafting the bill.

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

29 January, 2009

The French Department of Hauts-de-Seine grants 500,000 euros to the Hayastan
All Armenian Fund

Patrick Devedjian, President of the French Department of Hauts-de-Seine, and
Bédros Terzian, President of Fonds Arménien de France (the French affiliate
of Hayastan All Armenian Fund), have signed a convention to set up a program
for agricultural development in the Tavush region, Northern Armenia.

Tavush is one of the poorest areas of Armenia, where the productivity of the
agricultural sector can be substantially improved with the introduction of
modern equipment and quality seeds. At present, only 45% of the arable land
is exploited, mainly due to the lack of water and insufficient technical
equipment.

The 500,000 euro (US$675,000) grant by the French Department for the year
2009 will be a major contribution for the financing of a two-year program
for revamping the irrigation network, setting up a milk gathering station as
well as an agricultural base with tractors and combined harvesters. A
particular effort will be made towards technical training and the
improvement of production quality.

The signing of the Convention was preceded by the unanimous vote in favor of
this grant by the Department’s Assembly, a sign of the confidence inspired
by the French affiliate of the Hayastan All Armenian Fund as a partner for
local and regional authorities in carrying out development projects.

The criteria followed by the Department in choosing partners for
international cooperation include the latters’ skills, past experience,
transparency as well as the integral value of the project itself. Armenia is
one of the four countries included in the Hauts-de-Seine poverty eradication
program. Others include Cambodia, Mali and Haiti.

HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN SAID THE NUMBER
Karine Asatryan

A1+
[08:00 pm] 27 January, 2009

The Resolution 1643 on Armenia approved today expresses what John
Prescott and George Colombier agreed on during their visit to Armenia
in mid-January, told "A1+" George Colombier.

He considers that the creation of the Fact-finding group, in which the
opposition is represented, is a positive development. The co-rapporteur
praises the 28 pardons granted by Serzh Sargsyan, as well as the
fact that a Working Group has been established and is headed by David
Harutyunyan to revise articles 225 and 300 of the Criminal Code. That
was the letter that the co-rapporteurs received from NA Chairman
Hovik Abrahamyan on December 22. The letter also states that within
a month the group will present its proposals to the parliament.

Do you know that the opposition considers that 28-the number of
pardons-doesn’t correspond to reality? In response, Mr. Colombier
told "A1+" that he is informed about that charge, but has received
information from the Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia
and in addition, that number was announced by head of the Armenian
delegation to the PACE David Harutyunyan.

According to Colombier, they decided not to suspend the Armenian
delegation’s voting rights because they consider that there will
soon be positive developments in Armenia with regard to the release
of persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events of
March 1-2.

The second co-rapporteur John Prescott told journalists that the
Resolution passed today corresponds to the reality in Armenia. In
response to the journalist’s question, he expressed regret that
the opposition accuses him of taking bribes. According to him, the
co-rapporteurs are doing their best. He expressed his honest opinion
and said that he doesn’t take bribes.

PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TO MEET IN ZURICH ON JANUARY 28

ArmInfo
2009-01-26 13:27:00

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan will leave for Switzerland
on January 28 with working visit to take part in the international
economic forum in Davos.

As the presidential press service reports, discussions on settlement
of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, in particular, meeting of the Armenian
and Azerbaijani Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev will be
held the same day in Zurich. This meeting will become the third
after election of Serzh Sargsyan president of Armenia. Bilateral
meetings of the Armenian president with the presidents of other
states and representatives of international structures are scheduled
during the international economic forum. Moreover, S. Sargsyan will
meet representatives of the Armenian community of Switzerland, the
message says.

Birmingham Post, UK
Jan 24 2009

Holocaust Memorial Day is a chance to make a stand against hate

Jan 23 2009 Agenda

We must learn the lessons of history to avoid the horrors happening
again, says Benjamin Zephaniah.

Genocide is an appalling crime against humanity that we hope will
never again be repeated. Today, as we approach Holocaust Memorial Day
(), we might stop and reflect on the fact that it still
has the potential to be repeated and perpetrated around the world,
unless we are on our guard and understand that our actions today have
consequences tomorrow.

The use of the term genocide can be problematic and contentious but it
shouldn’t disguise historical fact. One of the first modern day
genocides took place in Armenia, a part of modern day Turkey in 1915.

This massacre of 1.5 million people, indiscriminate of age or gender,
is still not acknowledged as genocide by Turkey – long after it took
place. The United States did not recognise or act on the events at the
time and consequently Hitler admitted looking at the Armenians and
deciding that if they can get away with it, he could also.

If people don’t recognise something, its entire existence is
erased. It begs the question – if the United Kingdom and United States
had not recognised the Holocaust when it happened, would anyone think
it had ever existed? Who decides what we remember and what we don’t `
and does it mean that things we don’t remember or recognise didn’t
exist and don’t count?

My earliest recollection of hatred was in the late-60s when I was
eight years old and I still have the scar to prove it. I was walking
home from school in Handsworth, Birmingham, when another boy came
cycling past with a brick in his hand. He hit me across the back of my
head with the brick and shouted `You black bastard!’, as he rode off.

When I got home, blood pouring from the back of my head, my mother
told me that some people in the world are just like that and it’s
something we have to live with. It was not even a consideration to
report the crime ` it would have been ignored anyway.

This incident was the first time I realised I was different and that
people actually hated me for who and what I was. The scar on the back
of my head is a constant reminder of this.

People have to understand the past to see the future, they have to
start recognising the dangers of the present to prevent them
escalating into the Holocaust of the future.

A close late friend of mine recently told me a story of how, when she
was very young, she went to a political meeting in Austria with her
mother and auntie. After the meeting, the two adults were debating the
event, concluding that the main political figure, who was a radical
speaker, would never amount to anything and should just be
ignored. That main figure was Adolf Hitler.

When people don’t recognise these dangers, the problems start. Call it
innocent ignorance, call it optimism, however you want to look at it,
unless we recognise and stand up to these figures, who knows where it
can lead? My friend’s mother and auntie certainly would never have
imagined what Hitler could go on to do in the years that followed that
meeting.

Bob Marley said in one of his songs `Well the biggest man you ever did
see, was once a baby’, and that is what interests me as a writer.

Hitler was once a baby looked on adoringly by people. He then went on
to become one of the most powerful men in history, orchestrating the
killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

The boy who racially attacked me in Handsworth may have gone on to
abuse and physically hurt other people since. His attack on me was
left unchecked so what’s to stop him?

It is so important that we have Holocaust Memorial Day in January to
remind us to acknowledge how bad we can be to each other, whether it’s
direct and intentional or indirect and unintentional. All it takes is
one discriminatory group to gain power and it can all fall apart. We
must join together to recognise where these acts of hatred, regardless
of size, can lead if left unchecked.

I urge all Britons to `Stand up to Hatred’ and recognise the impact we
can have on our future. By considering these things, next time we see,
hear, or experience any act of hatred anywhere and in any form, we can
make a better future.

Holocaust Memorial Day is on January 27.

* Benjamin Zephaniah is a Handsworth-born poet

HUNDREDS COMMEMORATE SLAIN TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST DINK

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Jan 20 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Hundreds of Turkish people commemorated Monday slain
Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, in Istanbul on the second
anniversary of his murder.

People gathered in front of the weekly Turkish and Armenian language
newspaper Agos in the central Sisli neighbourhood of Istanbul, where
Dink was killed.

Dink, editor in chief of Agos newspaper, was shot dead outside the
offices of the paper in Istanbul in January 2007. It is argued that the
Turkish deep state Ergenekon encouraged a young Turkish nationalist
to murder Dink. USAK experts say that the main reason was not the
Armenian issue but the Turkish secret state. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ihsan
Bal for instance told the JTW "Dink was not murdered because of the
Armenian issue. He was targeted to as a victim by a secret organization
to polarize Turkey and to cut international support to the current
Turkish Government".

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sedat Laciner similarly sees the Dink Murder
as a typical deep state business: "Their aim is to continue the
militarist understanding in Turkish politics. They try to prepare
society for a possible military coup and the Armenian issue
gives them a good tool. Inside they make efforts to polarize the
people as Turkish-Kurdish, leftist-rightist, religious-secularist,
nationalists-others etc. Outside their main aim is to cut international
support to the AK Party Government. The AK Party has good relations
with the European Union and the United States and the Dink Murder
was done to spoil Turkey’s foreign relations".

The Times

January 17, 2009

My Week: George Bush

According to Hugo Rifkind

Monday
My fellow Amerindians. This will be the last time I stand before you
as a Precedent. Many roads have we sailed together, this past decade
of eight years. As the old saying goes, what does not make you
stronger, destroys you. And that’s what has happened.

I am not a man for self-pity. Ain’t that pathetic? I’m so against
self-pity that sometimes it hurts, and that’s the truth. I sometimes
think nobody else realises that. It’s been hard. Many have been the
changes we have seen. Eight years ago, many of us would have
recognised Eyeraq on a map. Now, we could probably see it from space.

Where there were threats, we have counted them. Katrina came and went,
and I never even met her. Some guy called Dick Cheney used to work for
me. I ain’t seen him in months. In summeration, whatcha gonna do? I
shouldn’t a’ stood under that sign that said `Mission Accomplished’.
That wasa mistake. We were trying to say something, and people thought
we were trying to say something different. `Accomplished’. That was
the problem. It’s a very long word.

Tuesday
People of Amarillo. It seems I may have misunderestimated just when it
was that my final speech was in fact to take place. I ain’t going to
go on, but I will say this. Some folk reckon I should be doing more to
help the suffering Gazillions in Israelia. I say, the war on terrr is
a global affair, and we gotta accept that the Israelians know best. It
just ain’t our place to be Crocodile Dundee.

Wednesday
United Straits! As Mark Twain once said, rumours of my departure have
been greatly exfoliated. I’ve had Tony Blair in town, so he can get
the Presidential Medal of Freedom Fries. Tony’s my breast friend on
this old Earth, ’cause he stood shoulder to shoulder with me. Me, Tony
and Jesus against the world. I never get Tony and Jesus confused.
Tony ain’t got no beard.

Thursday
Still here. Seems I got my diary confused. What can I say? It’s been a
hard week. I’d be lying if I said I had not had some sleepless nights.
I’d be lying if I said I said I wasn’t changing all the taps
around. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t lifting up the carpet and
planting cress.

This morning, in the Oval Office, there was a man.

`I remember you,’ I said. `You’re Dick Cheney. Where you been?’
`Mainly hiding,’ he said, and then we shared a little laugh, for
reasons I do not know.

Cheney says he’s gonna retire. Kick back, find some other guy to shoot
in the face. Me, I’m gonna take a holiday. Catch up on some sports.
Windsurfing, jet-skiing. Although they say Obama’s going to outlaw
waterboarding. Maybe I’ll still be able to do it in Hawaii. Cheney
stares at me. `Christ,’ he says.

`I’ll be glad to get out of here.’ `Me too, Bud,’ I say, happily. `Me
too.’

Friday
People of America. Yeah, I know where I am. Fool me once, shame on
you. You fool me . . . aw hell. I never could get that.

But now it’s time. The bend is near. And so I’ve erased thefinal
curtain. Pretty soon, I’ll be hangin’ up my spurs and handing over to
President Osama. Packing up the wife, gathering the dogs, stirring my
daughters from whatever downtown barstool they’ve just slid down.

And I gotta say, I think we done pretty good. Eyeraq does not have the
problem of overpopulation it once did. Afghanistan has taken the first
step towards becoming many thriving democracies. And don’t go
cryin’ about the economy.

As my friend Norman Brown in the United England always tells to me,
this economy is a global problem which started in Armenia. So you want
to go and blame anybody, heck, you go blame them.

Chemical & Chemistry
January 16, 2009

STRUCTURAL CHEMISTRY;
Studies from A.A. Karapetyan and colleagues reveal new findings on
structural chemistry

"Addition of trichloroacetonitrile to 2,5-dimethyl-1,5-hexadiene in
the presence of cuprous amine complexes is studied. Single crystal
X-ray diffraction unambiguously proves that the main product is a
racemic mixture of the cyclic symmetric nitrile: (1r,3R,6S)- and
(1r,3S,6R)-1,3,6-trichloro-3,6-dimethylcyclohe ptanecarbonitrile,"
scientists in Yerevan, Armenia report.

"Established relative configuration of the product confirms the ring
closure mechanism suggested before. Also, a side product
2,5-dimethyl-2,5-dichlorohexane is isolated (the product of
hydrochlorination of the starting alkadiene)," wrote A.A. Karapetyan
and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "Low-temperature (190 K) structural
examination of this centrosymmetrical molecule indicates that the unit
cell comprises one molecule."

Karapetyan and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Structural Chemistry (X-RAY STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF
1,3,6-TRICHLORO-3,6-DIMETHYLCYCLOHEPTANECARBONI TRILE AND
2,5-DIMETHYL-2,5-DICHLOROHEXANE – PRODUCTS OF THE REACTION OF
2,5-DIMETHYL-1,5-HEXADIENE WITH TRICHLOROACETONITRILE. Journal of
Structural Chemistry, 2008;49(5):965-968).

For more information, contact A.A. Karapetyan, NAS Armenia, Center
Organ & Pharmaceutical Chemical, Molecular Structural Research Center
Science Technology, Yerevan, Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Structural Chemistry
is: Springer, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013, USA.

ARTHUR BAGDASARYAN SAYS ESSENTIAL PROGRESS REGISTERED IN IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTIONS OF PACE

ARMENPRESS
Jan 15, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS: Secretary of National Security
Council Arthur Baghdasaryan received today co-rapporteurs of PACE
Monitoring Commission John Prescott, Jorge Columbien and secretary
of the commission Bas Klein. Press service of the National Security
Council told Armenpress that the interlocutors discussed issues
connected with the implementation of PACE 1609 and 1620 resolutions.

A. Baghdasaryan noted that an essential progress has been registered
in the implementation of the resolutions. Armenia has adopted
way of reforms. The goal of the Armenian authorities is to deepen
them. Applying of punitive measures against Armenia at the January
session of the PACE may take the country away from the way of reforms,
thus a more balanced position from the PACE is expected. Particularly,
it is necessary to define concrete suggestions of reforms pointing
concrete periods of time for their implementation.