Author: Nahapetian Lilit

ACTION AGAINST KILLINGS THROUGH NATIONAL HATRED HELD IN MOSCOW

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.06.2006 13:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ June 3 an action in commemoration of those killed
by skinheads through national intolerance and hatred was held in
Moscow. As reported by the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of
Russia, the action was initiated by MSU students and tutors, the
MSU Armenian Student Association, the Union of Intellectual Youth
Interaction. It is known that the Union of Armenians of Russia refused
to participate in the action motivating its not being authorized.

To remind, May 25 Artur Sardaryan, aged 19, was killed in a train
near Moscow. The investigation considers the crime was committed
through national hatred. Two unknown beat the youth to death right in
front of dozens of witnesses. April 22, skinheads knifed 17-year-old
student Vigen Abrahamyants. His four friends were beaten. This crime
is also rated as a crime through national hatred. The search of the
criminals has not produced effect yet.

San Francisco Chronicle, CA
June 3 2006

WISHING ON A STAR
Channing brings melody, memories to severely ill Burlingame fan
Mike Weiss, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, June 3, 2006

After decades as a Broadway star, Carol Channing has transformed
herself into something of an old-fashioned doctor, the kind who makes
house calls. She does it because she believes that performance — not
least her own — has healing effects.

The star of “How to Marry a Millionaire” and “Hello, Dolly” and
recipient of three honorary doctorates dropped in Friday at the
Burlingame home of Gordon Cline, who is dying from chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease.

Cline, 77, who needs a constant supply of oxygen, and Channing, 85,
who was raised in San Francisco, traveled the world and now lives in
Modesto, immediately were on a first-name basis.

Channing was barely in the door of Gordon and Billi Cline’s yellow
frame cottage — wearing her signature oversize black-rimmed glasses
and a shiny fire-engine-red jacket — when she broke into her theme
song, adapted to the circumstances:

“Hell-o, Gordon, Hell-o, Gordon

“So nice to have you here where you belong

“You’re looking swell, Gordon … and you are.”

Beaming, Cline, who had shaved for the occasion — there are days
when he is too short of breath to make the effort — exclaimed: “I
didn’t even have to ask!”

Soon, to the delight of their adoring spouses — Harry Kullijian,
Channing’s junior high sweetheart, whom she married recently, and
Billi Cline, whom Cline met at a concert in 1995 after the deaths of
their spouses — the entertainer and the retired chemist were in a
full flirt.

“What’s that for?” Channing asked, pointing at the tank that feeds
Cline oxygen through a nasal tube.

“That’s my lifeblood,” he answered.

“I used to take oxygen between my afternoon and evening shows,”
Channing said.

And the mention of her shows reminded Cline what he wanted to see: “I
want to see you do Marlene Dietrich.”

The spirited get-together was arranged by Pathways, a nonprofit, San
Jose-based hospice that, since Cline’s hospitalization, has provided
the Clines with home nursing visits, spiritual counseling and a level
of caring that Gordon calls “a godsend.”

Channing began to work with organizations like Pathways while
recuperating from ovarian cancer when she discovered that performing
did her more good than resting.

“You reach to the heavens to get the show out,” she said in her
famously scratchy, baby-talk voice, “and the heavens somehow answer
us. It heals my fellow actors, heals the audience, and it heals me.”

Cline has needed oxygen for four years. But his health took a turn
for the worse in January, when he went out in a driving rain to sand
a sticky gate leading to Billi’s glory: a landscaped backyard, the
crowning achievement of which is a two-tier pool stocked with carp.

He was in an intensive-care unit for two weeks. Twice, Billi went to
the hospital thinking her husband was about to expire.

“He was so ill, it’s almost like I’ve gone through his death already.
And I don’t mean that tritely,” said Billi, a trim woman with a
down-home style who shares a love of travel with Gordon. Four times
they have hauled his oxygen to remote regions of Alaska that can be
reached only by bush plane.

In their own ways, and with help from Pathways, the Clines have come
to terms with the inevitable. Her husband may have months left, Billi
said, or he may have hours. Nonetheless, asked to sum up his life,
Gordon said one word: “Happy.”

Cline has left his funeral arrangements entirely in Billi’s hands.
When Billi picked out their burial plots, she said, the man from the
cemetery told her they were so full they had instituted a new system,
double dips. She found that funny and shared a laugh with Gordon
until she figured out the man had said double depths. And then they
had an even better laugh.

Billi sometimes cries when talking about what is coming. And she says
angrily about her husband’s lifelong smoking habit: “I have to admit
that sometimes I wish some of the CEOs of tobacco companies could be
hooked up to a respirator.”

After a while, the couples settled in the Clines’ sunroom overlooking
the pond. Channing and Gordon held hands. Her fingers are twisted
with arthritis, his discolored because the steroids he needs for his
illness also make him bruise easily.

Channing said her late father still comes to her when she needs him
most. “I know,” she said, making a dismissive backhand gesture, “this
is not the end of us. It is not.”

“We’ve been kind of wondering,” Gordon Cline said, “what’s going to
happen with our previous spouses?”

“Maybe we’ll swap, huh?” his wife said, mischievously.

Soon Cline needed a rest — his breath was coming in gasps — and
while he regathered himself, the honorary doctor who made 5,000
appearances in “Hello, Dolly” talked about why she likes to make
house calls.

“I want it on my tombstone: ‘She Lifted Lives,’ Channing said. “And
what about Gordon? He’s an inspiration. He knows he’s going soon, and
it doesn’t frighten him. He has every will to live. And he is so in
love with his wife.”

It is almost time to leave when the name of Marlene Dietrich, the
Hollywood star with the head-turning legs, came up again. Cline still
wanted to see the impersonation, so Channing lifted the leg of her
black slacks and showed a bit of ankle.

“Armenians are funny about their wives,” Channing said about her
watchful husband. “They won’t let them take their pants off for
friends.” Big laugh all around.

The goodbye took awhile, what with autographing photos and CDs, but
in the end, the 85-year old diva blew the dying man a kiss.

“You and I, Gordon, will be together again,” she said, and left.

Panorama.am

14:25 03/06/06

DA VINCI CODE IS A LITMUS PAPER

Da Vinci Code has become a litmus paper to unveil the state of
Christianity in our country. It turned out that Christianity is not a
state of being for us whereas it should have been an ideology, a means
of communication between us and God, preacher of Bible Church Samvel
Navoyan told a press conference today.

In his words, the film is banned even in Azerbaijan whereas in Armenia
you can rent it at DVD Centers. Khachik Stamboltsyan thinks that the
film and the identical book are released by masons who aim to support
the unbelievers and nihilists. He also thinks that it tries to
`confuse people and redirect them from real Christian faith.’ The
producers have reached their aim since the premier of the film was
held on May 18 in 70 countries at the same time.

In Armenia Da Vinci Code is shown in Nairi cinema only but soon Moscow
Cinema House will also show the film. The tickets are sold off very
quickly and the book costs about $10 in the country. Some say that the
large-scale criticism has caused even more interest among the
people. 75 of people said in a TV survey yesterday that Da Vinci Code
does not cause any harm to Christianity. /Panorama.am/

The Times, UK
June 2 2006

Calls for freedom make the jigsaw of Europe more complicated than
ever

By Jeremy Page and Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor

MOST people would struggle to point out Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya
Respublika on a map, let alone pronounce it.
Those who can, know it as a hotbed of smuggling, the site of a vast
Soviet-era weapons dump, or perhaps the home of Sheriff Tiraspol
football club.

But this tiny sliver of land, known in English as Transdniestr, is
the latest European enclave to make a bid for independence following
Montenegro’s decision to declare statehood last month.

Igor Smirnov, Transdniestr’s `President’, has announced that its
550,000 people will vote in a referendum in September on whether to
seek formal independence from Moldova.

`The recent example of Montenegro proves that a referendum is
becoming a norm for solving conflicts,’, said Mr Smirnov, 64, a
former metalworker.

In the unlikely event that Transdniestr wins independence, it would
become Europe’s 19th new country since the collapse of communism in
1989, and the fragmentation goes on.

>From the Basques of Spain to Turkey’s Kurds, there are minorities who
yearn for a country of their own, and Montenegro’s example has
kindled hopes that even tiny enclaves in Europe’s forgotten corners
can still become viable states.

The fear is that declarations of independence by mini-states could
spark fresh instability in already unstable regions.

In the Balkans, Montenegro’s independence drive is likely to be
followed by Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian province of
Serbia. That could spark fresh moves by the ethnic Serb Republika
Srpska to break away from Bosnia, and Herceg-Bosna’s Croats to join
Croatia.

In the Caucasus, Russia is still struggling to contain the separatist
rebellion in Chechnya. Georgia is split by breakaway regions in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There is still no resolution to
Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed enclave in Azerbaijan that is controlled
by Armenia.

Not even Western Europe is immune. Nationalists in Northern Ireland
still seek a united Ireland. Scotland is in theory closer to
independence that at any time since the Act of Union with England 300
years ago. Separatist movements are active in the Basque country,
Corsica, Sardinia and Italy.

As for Europe’s newest would-be state, Transdniestr broke away from
Moldova in 1990 and the two sides fought a war in 1992 that left more
than 1,500 people dead. Although never recognised internationally, it
has close ties to Russia, which helped the ethnic Russians in the war
and has maintained 1,500 troops there.

Officially, they are there to keep the peace and guard a stockpile of
40,000 tonnes of weapons stored there in case of a Nato invasion. In
reality, this remains Moscow’s westernmost strategic outpost – a
bulwark against the expanding EU and Nato. It is also a haven for
money-laundering, smuggling and illegal weapons sales.

Mr Smirnov runs it as a personal fiefdom, financed by local oligarchs
and propped up by nostalgia for the Soviet Union. It has its own
currency based on the old Soviet rouble, uses the old Soviet Moldovan
flag, and stages annual Soviet-style military parades. Police wear
uniforms bearing the hammer and sickle.

There is no direct telephone link to Moldova and no mobile network.
Shop windows display tawdry goods from the 1970s and 1980s. The only
redeeming feature is Moldova’s only FIFA-approved football stadium,
which is home to the country’s top football club, Sheriff Tiraspol.

Peace talks, mediated by the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, have stalled over Transdniestr’s refusal to
accept autonomy within a Moldovan state. Russia has backed the
referendum.

Karel De Gucht, the Belgian Foreign Minister and OSCE chairman, has
said that there is no legal basis for a referendum and urged both
sides to return to the negotiating table.

Sydney Morning Herald. Australia
June 3 2006

Briggs gets second shot at Pole, as Darchinyan aims at Mexican

Brad Walter
June 3, 2006

PAUL Briggs yesterday was guaranteed a second title shot, while
Australia’s only current world champion, Vic Darchinyan, prepared to
take on undefeated Mexican flyweight Luis Maldonado in Las Vegas this
weekend.

Briggs, who lost a majority points decision to Tomasz Adamek last
May, will again fight the Polish champion after the WBC ordered him
to stage a mandatory defence of his light-heavyweight title against
the Brisbane-based former kick-boxing champion.

As the No.1 contender, Briggs has been awaiting the re-match for some
time but Adamek has so far refused to give him a re-match.

However, WBC president Jose Sulaiman said yesterday that Adamek would
be stripped of his belt if he did not fight Briggs.

“The World Boxing Council has always been very proud of world
champion Adamek, considering him one of the most powerful champions
nowadays; he was also elected 2005 boxer of the year, and for such
reason we are puzzled about his strange and unexpected behaviour,”
Sulaiman said.

No date was given for the title fight but Sulaiman said it would have
to take place “in the very near future”.

Trained by Johnny Lewis, 30-year-old Briggs will use his coming fight
against Argentina’s Jose Alberto Clavero at Brisbane’s Chandler Arena
on June 16 as a warm-up for Adamek.

Meanwhile, Darchinyan, who will put his IBF and IBO belts on the line
in the main undercard to the third showdown between lightweight
Mexican warriors Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, predicted he
would stop Maldonado inside the 12 rounds tomorrow (AEST).

Of his 25 fights since turning professional after representing his
native Armenia at the 2000 Olympics, Darchinyan has won 20 by
knock-out, but Maldonado boasts an impressive record and is expected
to be the Jeff Fenech-trained 30-year-old’s toughest opponent since
winning the IBF title from Irene Pacheco 18 months ago.

“Maldonado is undefeated, a good fighter and this will be an exciting
fight,” Darchinyan said. “[But] I’m in very good shape. I will knock
him out.”

Darchinyan indicated he would consider moving up a weight division if
he won the fight.

ARMENIA: WAITING FOR LENIN
By Marianna Grigorian and Gayane Mkrtchian in Lernamerdz

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
June 1 2006

How an Armenian village chose communism, after the Soviet Union
had ended.

In Soviet times, the village of Lernamerdz was one of the few places
in Armenia that did not have a statue of Lenin. The villagers say
that they were fairly passive communists and that there were only
seven communist activists amongst them.

But then, after Armenia became independent, and statues and busts of
the great leader were taken down all over the country, in 1996 the
people of Lernamerdz (its name means “near the mountains” in Armenian)
erected a basalt bust of Lenin in the middle of the village. It weighs
two tonnes and is now an important part of the village and a source
of great pride.

The villagers say they came to understand the value of communism only
after it had disappeared.

“In 1990, when the Soviet order fell apart, we wanted to know what
was right in this life,” explained Azat Barseghian, secretary of the
local communist organisation in Lernamerdz, situated in the Ararat
valley not far from Yerevan. “It took us six years to work it out,
and in the end we realised that there is only one truth – socialism.

We adopted the communist ideology and we bear our cross to this day.”

“As soon as Lenin returns, water will babble in the streams and people
will begin to live better,” said 41-year-old Ararat.

Lernamerdz is known as “Little Cuba” in Armenia. The spirit of
communism reigns in almost every house. There are 103 households and
530 residents in the village. According to village elder and staunch
communist Saak Mirzoyan, 102 of the 103 households are communist.

Little Cuba has become a tourist attraction. Visitors from Russia,
Vietnam, France, Belarus, Greece, Cyprus and other countries record
their impressions, good wishes and appreciation in Lernamerdz’s
visitors’ book, which has a portrait of Lenin on the first page.

In one corner of a red stone house, 61-year-old Azat carefully adjusts
a large photograph of Lenin. Elsewhere, there is a small bust of Lenin
behind the glass door of a cupboard – a small shrine to communism.

“The statue of Lenin gives us strength, it is witness to our faith
and progress,” said 41-year-old Arthur Pilosian.

Around this source of strength the villagers organise all the
important village events. They celebrate the birthday of the great
leader, the day he died, the anniversary of the October Revolution,
and the socialist holidays of May 1 and November 7.

Under the proud, unwavering gaze of Lenin, children are pronounced
pioneers and are anointed members of the local Komsomol organisation.

On these occasions, the 50 red cravats which Azat keeps carefully in
his house are not enough to go round.

“They often make fun of us in the press, saying we are ‘tying the
dregs of communism around our children’s necks’,” he said. “No,
we are tying cravats around their necks to keep their souls clean.”

Albert Mirzoyan, 14, unlike his contemporaries in other regions of
the country, is quite clear about who Lenin was. He reels off details
of all the communist holidays, which are celebrated with great fanfare.

“Do you know how much we look forward to May Day?” he says excitedly.

“It’s our favourite day. We go to Yerevan and go on parades.”

But 15-year-old Armen Barseghian, who proudly shows off his red cravat,
says he likes the red flags and balloons most of all; the fact that
the whole village, both old and young, takes part in the procession;
and the way everyone shouts, “May Day!”

Lyuda Harutiunian, 38, lives in the neighbouring village of Voskehat.

She says that in Lernamerdz it feels as if they are still living
through an era when everyone lived well, like they used to.

“Celebrations in this village take me back to my school days, when
we marched in red ties,” she said.

“The people of this village are very friendly and I think that this
is the result of the idea of solidarity which is part of communism,”
said the headmaster of Lernadzor school, Zaven Grigorian, who lives
in the neighbouring village of Aghavnatun.

Until recently pupils in Lernamerdz’s village school graduated wearing
their red cravats.

However, the village people say that after an “order from above”, and
the arrival of a new headmaster, pupils no longer had to wear them,
since they were not “part of the progamme”. But neither the end of
the cravats, nor attempts to “outlaw” learning poetry about Lenin
and socialism, broke the spirit of the villagers, according to the
new headmaster, Zaven Grigorian.

“Everyone thinks the same way, and, most importantly, everyone is
united,” he said. “And this is passed on to the children. I think
you can achieve a lot through unity.”

The villagers of Lernamerdz agree with this point of view. They say
their faith in the future and the fair ideals of communism help them
to overcome the social hardships which every household has experienced
since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But life has been no easier here than in other villages in Armenia,
especially since village land has been privatised.

Lernamerdz is famous not only for its newfound commitment to communism,
but also for its high quality tarragon, which allowed them to survive
in hard times.

The villagers say that in the Nineties from April to winter, tarragon
from Lernamerdz was delivered directly to Tbilisi, providing the
villagers with a decent and stable income. Nowadays, middlemen get
the lion’s share, buying the tarragon at very low prices in large
quantities and then selling it on for several times the amount.

“People say there was no freedom in communist times,” complained one
Lernamerdz resident. “But now people are tied to their homes even
more than during communist times.”

One villager proudly said that Lernamerdz is the only village
in Armenia where socialism still survives and the villagers have
remained true to the ideas of their ancestors. And he believes its
time is coming again.

“It was possible to destroy a strong state which had existed for
70 years, so why can’t you destroy a government built on the sands
left over from that state?” he said. “I think communism will win in
the end.”

(For a photo essay accompanying this story go to
;s=f&o=321321 &apc_state=henpcrs )

ARMENIAN TEAM WON AGAIN

Lragir.am
31 May 06

The men’s team of Armenia won in the ninth round of the Chess Olympiad
in Torino. In the ninth round our team defeated the team of Ukraine
which was the third in the chart after the eighth round. The Armenian
team got 26.5 points and tops the tournament chart with still four
rounds to go before the end of the tournament. The Chinese chess
players with 25.5 points rose to the second place, defeating the
Georgian team 1.5:2.5. The Russian team lost to the French team,
descending from the second to the fourth place. After this victory
the French team is the third on the chart with 24 points. The Russians
are the fourth with 23.5 points.

TURKEY SEEKS TO NORMALIZE TIES WITH ARMENIA

Anatolia news agency
31 May 06

Ankara, 31 May: “Turkey is intending to pursue efforts to normalize
relations with Armenia,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik
Tan said on Wednesday [31 May].

Tan told a weekly news conference that Turkey was resolved to establish
peace, tranquillity and stability in its region as its traditional
foreign policy principle.

“Success of Turkey’s efforts to normalize relations (with Armenia)
depends on a more flexible and constructive approach from Yerevan as
well as to the overcoming of bilateral and regional problems. It also
depends on Armenia’s willingness of abiding by international law,”
Tan noted.

Giving information to journalists about the process, Tan said Turkey
has asked Armenia to establish a joint commission comprising Turkish
and Armenian experts to investigate the incidents that had occurred
in 1915.

Tan said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter
to Armenian President Robert Kocharyan in April 2005 including this
suggestion.

“Upon the response letter of Kocharyan to Erdogan, a negotiation
process has started between the two countries to seek a common ground.

Three rounds of talks were held so far,” Tan indicated.

ARMENIA ‘BARRED’ FROM CIS DEFENSE MEETING IN BAKU
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 30 2006

Armenia said on Tuesday that Azerbaijan has effectively prevented
it from participating in this week’s meeting in Baku of high-ranking
defense officials from the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The one-day session of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers is
scheduled to open in the Azerbaijani capital on Wednesday. Official
Yerevan said last week that Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian will
not attend it, presumably because of the unresolved conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian Defense Ministry decided to send a
lower-level delegation to the gathering instead.

In a statement, the ministry said it has been informed by the
Moscow-based Secretariat of the increasingly moribund CIS structure
that the Azerbaijani authorities have refused to guarantee the
security of the Armenian participants. It condemned the move, accusing
Azerbaijan of failing to honor its international obligations.

“We expect an official response from the CIS Council of Defense
Ministers to the incident,” added the statement.

A spokesman for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry confirmed that Baku
is against Armenian participation in the meeting. “We came out against
the participation at the meeting of occupier-countries – Armenia –
which occupies 20 percent of territory long held by Azerbaijan,”
the Associated Press news agency quoted Ilgar Verdiyev as saying.

Many Azerbaijani government officials and civil society representatives
consider the physical presence of any Armenian citizens in their
country an affront to the memory of Azerbaijanis killed during the
1991-1994 war for Karabakh. The Azerbaijani government was driven
by such considerations when it refused to allow a group of Armenian
army officers to take part in a NATO-led military exercise that had
been due to take place on Azerbaijani soil in September 2004. NATO
officials responded by canceling the multinational drills.

In a separate development, President Jacques Chirac discussed the
Karabakh conflict with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev in
Paris on Tuesday. “There is no alternative to a peaceful, negotiated
settlement,” he told Aliev, according to the Associated Press.

The meeting came three days after Chirac reportedly sent a letter to
the Azerbaijani leader urging him not to miss a “unique opportunity”
to settle the conflict. He apparently referred to Aliev’s upcoming
meeting in Bucharest with President Robert Kocharian. International
mediators hope the two men will reach a framework peace agreement on
Karabakh there.

Aliev was in Paris to attend a session of the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly. Addressing the Assembly on Tuesday, he called Karabakh
“a black hole of Europe.”

EUROPE IS NOT A KINDERGARTEN, NO ONE CAN BE DRAGGED TO IT BY FORCE:
ARMENIAN MP

Yerevan, May 29. ArmInfo. “Europe is not a kindergarten, no one can be
dragged to it by force,” said MP Shavarsh Kocharyan, Leader of the
National Democratic Union of Armenia at a seminar “European System of
Values As an Expression of National Interests of European States:
National-Democratic Values Ratio in Europe” at the Congress Hotel
Monday.

The point is whether Armenia needs to pass the long way of European
countries to the present democratic system or it can attain the
admission to the European family “just jumping over stages” like
Slovenia, Poland, Baltic states did and like Bulgaria and Romania
will do in 2007, Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

Using the term “Europe,” not only the 25 EU member-states and the
nominees to this organizations are meant, but also Switzerland,
Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Norway. The countries that have accepted
the European system of values, the corner stone of which are human
rights protection, scattering of power among different branches and
observance of Christian ideals, are considered European
states. Armenia should apply to “its roots, to the Christianity” to
count on future admission to the European Union. It must not imitate
integration into Europe and democracy as the response of European
community will be negative in this case, Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

In his turn, Head of the Caucasian Media Institute, political expert,
Alexander Iskandaryan, said the way to Europe is not a way to
democracy. EU moves from democracy and from resolution by elected
bodies to resolutions by bureaucratic, administrative bodies. Besides,
the way to European Union does not mean a way to capitalism. Classical
capitalism is currently observed in Armenia, while the EU
member-states experience real socialism. The course of formation of
national states of European type extends from West to East, that is
why, Turkey will join EU someday. Armenia will do it in some 50 years,
Iskandaryan said.

Further on the existence of really national countries at the EU, the
political expert declared: “Where are the Serbs of ‘Voevoda’? Why can
Croatians do what, for instance, Azerbaijanis cannot in Nagorny
Karabakh, from the point of view of Europe?” The matter is the
location of Croatia as many Europeans can easily occur, for instance,
in Germany via Croatia, Iskandaryan said. At the same time, Europe is
a multi-level culture of resolving conflict situations in a flexible
peaceful way. Any country can join it, changing itself as “Europe is
not the Santa Claus to bring gifts,” Alexander Iskandaryan declared.