Author: Nalbandian Eduard

VISE-SPEAKER OF GREEK PARLIAMENT: I HAVE NEVER MET WITH FOREIGN MINISTER OF UNRECOGNIZED NAGORNO GARABAGH REPUBLIC

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 14 2006

The vise-speaker of Greek Parliament Georgi Surlas made statement on
his meeting with Georgi Petrosyan, the Foreign Minister of unrecognized
Nagorno Garabagh Republic, Greek Embassy told the APA.

"I surprised with the articles published in Azerbaijan about my
meeting with the foreign minister of Nagorno Garabagh republic. I
declare that I had no meeting with him. I have met with Ovannisian,
vise-speaker of Armenian parliament and the ambassador of the Armenia
in the frame of friendship relations on November 7. Ovannisian had
an unofficial visit to Athens," he said.

It should be mentioned that, Armenian mass media spread information
that Georgi Petrosyan, the foreign minister of so-called Nagorno
Garabagh Republic had official meeting with Georgi Surlas.

SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICTS IN SOUTH CAUCASUS DISCUSSED IN BRUSSELS

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 14 2006

November 13 Armenian, Azeri and Georgian FMs met with the European
Union’s high-ranking officials. To note, RA FM Vardan Oskanian arrived
in Brussels to participate in Armenia-European Union Cooperation
Council’s current sitting.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA MFA Press
Service, at the meeting the European Union had been represented
by Finland’s FM Erkki Tuomioja, the EU High Representative for the
Foreign Policy Javier Solana, the European Commission’s Commissar
for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Germany’s Minister
of State Gunter Gloser, the EU Special Representative for the South
Caucasus Peter Semneby.

In the course of the meeting the parties discussed a wide spectrum
of the regional issues. In part, they considered the process of the
settlement of the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and the
South Ossetia.

The same day the EU representatives and the South Caucasus countries’
FMs held a joint press conference.

To note, the Armenia-European Union Cooperation Council’s 7th plenary
sitting will be held November 14. Armenia-EU Action Plan will be
signed in the course of the sitting.

ALGERIAN PM BILHADIM SAYS FRANCE SHOULD ACCEPT ITS PAST CRIMES IN ALGERIA

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Nov 15 2006

* Algerians cannot understand why France, championing the genocide
issues in Europe, do not apologize from the Algerians for the genocide
committed by French in Algeria.

* Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem renewed his call on
France to admit to crimes it committed during its colonization of
Algeria, if it wanted full normalization of bilateral relations

* Abdulaziz Bilhadim, the Prime Minister of Algeria criticized France’s
accusing Turkey of Armenian ‘Genocide’. According to Mr. Bilhadim,
France should first face its own history instead of accusing other
countries

Umit YEKPARE (JTW) – Abdulaziz Bilhadim, the Prime Minister of
Algeria, reminded France of their accusations about Turkey regarding
the so-called Armenian ‘genocide’. He said: "you should also face
your own history. You should accept your crimes waged between 1830
and 1962. 1.5 million people died."

Algeria is "ready" to cooperate with France "so that it recognizes
crimes committed against Algerians," Algerian Prime Minister Belkhadem
said. "The Algerian can forgive, but will never forget."

However Nicolas Sarkozy, French Interior Minister, urged the
Algerians to forget their colonial past. "I come as a friend. I
attach much importance to this trip," Sarkozy said on his arrival,
yet he refused to apologize from Algeria fort he French crimes during
the colonial years in Algeria. Sarkozy even accused the Algerians for
"some past mistakes":

"Suffering is not just on one side… There is suffering on both sides,
and each one of us must travel the two sides of the Mediterranean
towards appeasement and towards a common future. We should avoid
words and deeds that harm, and try to understand" he added.

* "First apologize for the colonies"

The Prime Minister of Algeria, reminded of the words of President
Chirac, said: "France should accept its crimes during the colonial
period in order to establish friendly relationships."

Algeria, its colony for years, where more than 1,5 million of people
were killed, is asking France to apologize from Algeria. France
recently accuse Turks of committing genocide during the First World
War against the Armenians. However Turkey says that France is not
sincere in its accusations but abusing the Armenian Issue to prevent
Turkey’s EU membership. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sedat laciner from USAK
says "if France is sincere in its accusations, it has to accept many
genocides committed by the French in the recent past."

* Sarkozy Does not Want to Speak About the French Past in Africa

French Home Affairs Minister and possibly candidate for the Presidency
in France Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy has been deeply affected when Prime
Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem kept attached to Algeria’s claim
consisting in France recognizance and apology for the colonial era
crimes. Sarkozy, in his latest Algeria visit, argued that France is
not a colonial country right now. The French official told Belkhadem
"our generation has nothing to do with colonialism", noting that "the
colonial system deserves to be incriminated". According to Mr. Sarkozy,
Algeria should forget its colonial history to mend the relations.

The lack of a positive response of any sort from France, delayed
Algerian-French friendship treaty that, was going to come into
existence by the end of 2005. However, Normalization of ties, has
since independence been very gradually, slow. Algeria always hoped
that, France’s apology for the Genocide would be necessary in order
to sign a friendship treaty by the end of the year similar to the
1963 Franco-German reconciliation treaty.

FORMER DIRECTOR’S TENURE MARKED BY MISTRUST, FALLOUT
Story By Stephen Muiruri

The Nation, Kenya
Nov 14 2006

Mr Joseph Kamau’s exit from the CID today comes in the background of
a major fallout between him and police commissioner Mohamed Hussein
Ali which culminated in his suspension in June.

State House officials watched from the sidelines as the country’s
two policemen went for each other without raising a finger.

Maj Gen Ali and Mr Kamau enjoyed a good working relationship for
several months after their appointment by President Mwai Kibaki on
April 5, 2004.

They frequently appeared at crime scenes together either to lead the
war on crime or commend the officers.

It first happened on April 22, 2004, when Maj Gen Ali and Mr Kamau
personally led the hunt for gunmen who had shot dead two policemen
in a Nairobi slum.

The two led hundreds of General Service Unit and regular police into
action, combing the dense Lunga Lunga-Mukuru kwa Njenga slums minutes
after the killing.

The commissioner and Mr Kamau again successfully coordinated a Flying
Squad search for police killer Daniel Kiptum Cheruiyot which ended
after he was shot dead on January 27, 2005.

Cheruiyot died under a hail of police bullets under the watch of Mr
Kamau. Maj Gen Ali visited the scene soon after the man was gunned down
in Nairobi’s Zimmerman estate. He had killed CID officer Christopher
Karue at Imara Daima and constable Maina Cheserem in Parklands.

Their unity paid dividends when they united in May 2005 and convinced
President Kibaki to fire director of public prosecutions Philip Murgor,
whom they at the time regarded as a common enemy.

The police chiefs had charged Mr Thomas Cholmondeley with shooting
of KWS warden Samson ole Sisina at the Delamere family’s Soysambu
ranch at Gilgil on April 19, 2005. Mr Sisina was killed while on an
undercover operation on the sale of game meat.

Though Mr Murgor was acting attorney-general Amos Wako’s instructions,
Maj Gen Ali and Mr Kamau took their battle to State House where they
accused Mr Murgor of frustrating their work.

They were joined by Internal Security minister John Michuki.

Mr Murgor was sacked a few days later and replaced with Mr Kerioko
Tobiko.

But cracks started emerging between the country’s two policemen when
Maj Gen Ali started being suspicious of the CID chief because of his
closeness with Mr Michuki and the media.

At one time, there was a strong talk that the Government would sack
the commissioner for unknown reasons.

But when Maj Gen Ali sought clarification from Mr Michuki during one
of the functions at Harambee House, the minister denied it and asked
him to carry on with his duties.

Maj Gen Ali viewed the CID chief with suspicion and saw him as an
enemy within.

During the Kanu regime, former President Moi created several centres of
power in the force and received regular briefs from the commissioner,
CID director, GSU commander and a cable of influential officers.

This created a mistrust among senior officers and Mr Moi exploited it
for political reasons and to get a wider picture on what was happening
in the country.

In fact, commissioners who served under Mr Moi and President Kenyatta
were regarded as hostages of the CID director and the GSU commander
of their time.

But when President Kibaki took over, he restored a clear chain of
command where all officers were supposed to be directly answerable
to the commissioner and not outsiders.

The commissioner was also supposed to be answerable to the Internal
Security minister.

However, this did not work out as the President intended.

Mr Kamau and other well-connected officers have been accused of
disregarding the force’s chain of command by side-stepping Maj Gen
Ali and taking orders from people outside the force.

On his part, Maj Gen Ali has been having an icy relationship with Mr
Michuki because, according insiders in the force, the commissioner
was uncomfortable being answerable to a minister who is a civilian.

He argues that since he was still a serving military officer, he
should be directly answerable to the president, who is the commander
in chief of the armed forces.

But Mr Michuki and Maj Gen Ali’s management styles of are almost
similar-both are dictatorial.

Mr Michuki found Maj Gen Ali too rigid to work with an opted to deal
with Mr Kamau directly.

And it’s for that reason that the minister, the top spy and other
top Government officials plotted the Standard raid behind Maj Gen
Ali’s back.

It brought to the open a boardroom row which had been simmering
between Maj Gen Ali against the minister and Mr Kamau for a long time.

It also created a rift between Mr Kamau and the commissioner splitting
the force into two camps.

An attempt by Maj-Gen Ali to force Mr Kamau to resign due to the raid
flopped when the later declined to step down arguing he was acting
under the instructions of top Government officials. Mr Michuki had
to step in to save the CID chief.

The golden opportunity for Maj Gen Ali to edge out Mr Kamau came
after the two Armenian brothers caused a breach of security at the
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on June 7.

The incident involved Mr Artur Margaryan and Mr Artur Sargsyan who
brandished guns when challenged to open their luggage by customs
officials.

Instead of being charged, they were quietly deported, prompting claims
they were receiving top-level protection.

The two Armenians had first came to public attention during the
Standard raid and it was alleged that they took part in the invasion.

The row between Maj Gen Ali and Mr Kamau impacted negatively on the
war against crime.

Ironically, President Kibaki appointed the two after sacking the then
commissioner Mr Edwin Nyaseda and CID chief Daniel Ndung’u amid public
concern over soaring crime.

Mr Nyaseda and Mr Ndung’u, who were appointed three months after
President Kibaki took over power, were shown the doors after serving
a year in office.

At the time they were sacked, vicious gangs on a mission to kill, steal
and destroy were on the rampage and the police seemed to be powerless.

Kenyans were quickly getting impatient with the Kibaki administration,
which had promised to improve security.

In an attempt to stamp his authority in the force, Maj Gen Ali
rendered the CID almost impotent as he waged war against key elite
units attached to it.

Officers perceived to have been close to Mr Kamau were transferred
while the elite units were rendered ineffective after being starved
of money to buy information from the underworld.

This crippled the entire force’s ability to detect and immobilise
dangerous criminals.

The fighting was blamed for the increase in violent crime in various
parts of the country.

WAR DEAD REMEMBERED

Emirates News Agency
November 12, 2006 Sunday 11:55 AM EST

ABU DHABI, 12th November 2006 (WAM): Those who have died in the wars
of the last hundred years were remembered this evening at the annual
Remembrance Day service held at St. Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi.

The service was attended by Sheikh Ali Al Hashimi, Religious Adviser at
th Presidential Affairs Ministry, ambassadors and heads of diplomatic
missions from over thirty five countries and a large congregation.

In an address, the Vicar of St. Andrews, the Reverend Clive Windebank,
told the congregation: "we are here to remember and to mourn those
cut down in the wars of the 20th Century and the early years of the
21st Century." "Bloodshed continues, and war takes on new and fearful
forms," he said, "and we mourn for all humanity."

"Over the last century, there has been a calamitous catalogue of
carnage of human loves," he said, "and that carnage continues."

"Ultimately, however," he added, "God will triumph overall, because
he is all-loving." Readings during the service were delivered by
the British Ambassador, edward Oakden, and the American Ambassador,
Michelle Sison.

The annual Remembrance Day service was first initiated at the end of
the First World War, and is held on the Sunday closest to the 11th
November, the day on which the ceasefire at the end of that war came
into effect.

Besides the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States,
, other countries represented at the service included Canada, the
member states of the European Union, Russia, Australia, South Africa,
, Brazil, Argentina, Armenia and several Muslim and Arab countries,
including Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Bosnia,
Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

VimpelCom Acquires Armenian Telecom Operator

Wireless IQ , NY
Nov 3 2006

November 3, 2006 | 11:32 AM

Vimpel-Communications today announced that it has signed an agreement
with Hellenic Telecommunications Organization ("OTE") to acquire 90%
of CJSC Armenia Telephone Company. The purchase price for 90% of
Armentel is euro 341.9 million plus the assumption of approximately
euro 40 million in net debt and obligations.

Armentel is a fixed-line and mobile operator in Armenia with licenses
in the GSM-900 and CDMA standards. Armentel’s subscriber base
includes approximately 600,000 fixed-line subscribers and 400,000
GSM subscribers.

The closing of the purchase of Armentel by VimpelCom is subject to
the fulfillment of certain conditions, including approval by the
government of Armenia.

Commenting on the signing of the purchase agreement, Alexander
Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, said: "We are
pleased to announce the signing of this agreement that will enable
our entry into Armenia, the sixth CIS country outside of Russia in
which VimpelCom will have operations. With approximately 40% mobile
market share, Armentel occupies a strong position in the Armenian
market and we will work to enhance this position."

The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia
and Kazakhstan and recently acquired cellular operators in Ukraine,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Georgia. The VimpelCom Group’s cellular
license portfolio covers a territory with a population of about 237
million. Geographically, it covers 78 regions of Russia (136.5 million,
representing 94% of the Russia’s population), and the entire territory
of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Georgia.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006

Turkey Held a Protest against France’s Parliament’s Passing a Bill
Concerning So-Called Armenian "Genocide"

Source: Trend
Author: E. Husseynov

04.11.2006

Today, on November 4, an action of protest against the French
Paliament’s passing a bill concerning the so-called Armenian
"genocide", that envisages a criminal responsibility for a denial of
the so-called "genocide", Trend Special Correspondent to Igdir
reports.

The action was organized by the Municipality of the Turkish Village
of Igdir on the Turkish border with Armenia. Nurettin Araz, Head of
the Municipality, addressing the arrangement, stated that such
decisions as the one made by the French Parliament is aimed "to drive
Turkey into the corner" by means of the Armenian issue. Mr. Aras said
that in the issue of Turkish membership in EU, "there are people who
sincerely wants Turkey’s joining EU, who realizes its importance to
Europe, and on the contrary, there are those who are scared from
Muslim Turkey, who say "we are the Christian club, and there are no
place for Turkey in it". Mr. Aras asked a question, what France,
which is considered to be the address of independence, which itself
have committed massive massacres for centuries, will gain from it?

He also pointed out that according to the research conducted by
American, English, and Russian experts, Armenians themselves have
killed over 2.5 mln. Turks for the last century. "They killed
hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan. On March 31,
1918, they killed more than 10,000 Azerbaijanis just in one day", he
stressed. The participants of the protest scanned: "Real genocide was
in Khojali", "Why France does not acknowledge Khojali Massacre?!",
etc.

Notably, the arrangement was held in village Khakhmed, where in 1919,
Armenian forces buried dozens of Turks alive. As a result 51 bodies
were found. In this location a memorial was raised in 1995.

BIA, Turkey
Nov 4 2006

Independent Media Forum Starts

The Istanbul "International Independent Media Forum" has been
introduced to participants and observers at a meeting held at Hill
Hotel. Savio, Casagrande, Ferguson, Iskandaryan, Alankus, Kurkcu,
Mater, Sinar, Jaura and many others attend press conference.

BIA News Center
03/11/2006 Ayca ORER

BÝA (Istanbul) – The Istanbul "International Independent Media
Forum", bringing together activists, specialists, workers, students,
analysts and initiatives striving for an independent and democratic
communication environment from across the world and Turkey, has been
introduced to participants and observers on Friday in a press
conference and meeting held at the city’s Taksim Hill hotel.

Making the opening speech of the 3-day event held under the framework
of the "Establishing a Countrywide Network for Monitoring and
Covering for Media Freedom and Independent Journalism"-BÝA² project,
bianet Project Coordinator Ertugrul Kurkcu said the goal of the forum
was to debate how media workers could guard the interests of the
society while conducting their work.

Kurkcu said the forum taking place at the Bilgi University Dolapdere
Campus between November 4-5 had been organized jointly by the IPS
Communication Foundation and the Inter Press Service.

The central theme of the forum is "Another world is possible" with
participants discussing a variety of media related issues with
special emphasis on alternative media.

Kurkcu told Friday’s introduction meeting that among the forum
discussions, social gender and media would be looking at the
wide-spread discrimination against women in media while a debate on
peace and independent media would hear experiences of news coverage
discouraging conflicts. Developments in Iraq and Beirut are among the
issues to be looked into, alongside the role of the local media in
Turkey which is expected to increase in the coming years, Kurkcu
explained.

The forum will look into many issues concerning the media from
examples of efforts to create an independent, alternative, media to
creating a more open, democratic, transparent and accessible media
through civic journalism. Ways to create global, regional and local
alternative networks is also among the discussion topics.

A total of 90 participants from various countries and Turkey are
attending the event. Organizers have said 58 of the participants are
men, 32 women. 71 come from Turkey while 19 are from other countries.
Participants are made up of 16 academics, 49 journalists from the
Turkish local media, 15 professional journalists, 2 NGO
representatives and 5 students.

World issues to be discussed

Speaking at Friday’s meeting that was held before a scheduled evening
reception that formally launches the forum, a number of participants
addressed current issues facing the media.

Savio: Lack of explicating journalism

Internationally renowned expert in communications issues and IPS
Executive Board Chair Dr. Roberto Savio told the audience that there
were two reasons that influenced the independence of the media. The
first, he explained, was the threat from economic circles while the
second was the gap between the mainstream and local media.

Savio, who founded numerous news and information projects, always
with an emphasis on the developing world: Inter Press Service (IPS)
news agency, the Latin American features service ALASEI and the
Women’s Feature Service, also referred to the world-wide increase in
intern users while newspaper sales figures declined. He stressed that
there was a changing readership.

Savio said that at current reporting was primarily limited to
observing incidents without explicating them, adding that what
journalists needed to ask themselves was "can the journalism we are
doing now last for a long time?"

Sinar: War shouldn’t be reduced to figures

Dov Sinar of the Netanya Academic College said for his part that 20
to 25 yers ago it was believed that alternative media was required
only for totalitarian regimes but that over time democratic regimes
had also started to need an alternative media.

Underlining that the media had to be extremely careful in relaying
events, Sinar said the question of "what happens in war or peace
conditions" should never be forgotten.

Sinar said that in the occupations of Iraq and Gazza, humans were
being reduced to being figures only and that this situation further
emphasized the importance of the alternative media.

Ferguson: Biggest enemy is money

Robert Ferguson of London University told the meetings that after the
collapse of the Soviet Repubic it could be observed that the problem
previously described as being totalitarian regimes was in fact a
problem of money for the media.

"When the big enemy went" he explained, "the economic relations of
the media surfaced." Furguson said there were still newspapers in
Britain that were distributed for free and noted that it had to be
understood under which conditions these newspapers served.

Alankus: Alternative media debate world-wide

East Mediterranean University lecturer Dr. Sevda Alankus, told the
meeting that next week they would be holding a peace journalism
meeting in North Cyprus were participants from both sides of the
divided island would be discussing peace.

Alankus noted that alternative media was now being debated throughout
the world and described alternative media as a necessity.

Rights Reporting Awards to be Granted

Following the opening ceremony of the forum, "BIA2 Rights Reporting
Awards" dedicated to a journalist from the mainstream media and local
media will be granted alongside an award to communication students.

The awards will go to Yuksekova Haber newspaper reporter Necip Capraz
from the local media; Radikal newspaper reporter Timur Soykan from
the mainstream media and students Aycin Gelir and Eylem Tuna from the
Anadolu Universty Communication Facility.

About the forum

The Forum is to be launched by speeches delivered by Le Monde
Diplomatique newspaper editor-in-chief Ignacio Ramonet’nin and IPS
General Director Mario Lubetkin’in .

The first day, Saturday, sees two panels taking place in the Forum:
"New Global Mainstream Media Environment Limits and Challenges" and
"Independent Media Environment and Prospects for non-Mainstream".

A panel on the second day, meanwhile, focuses on communication
education: "Education for Communication: Critical or Mainstream?".

Two important group discussions will take part on the second day of
the forum. "Social Gender and Independent Media" moderated by
journalist and writer Ipek Calislar is to bring together women rights
activist and journalist Angella Castellanos from Colombia, bianet’s
Nadire Mater, Kaos GL’s Ugur Yuksel, Media Monitoring Group’s Dr.
Hulya Ugur Tanriover, Pazartesi magazine’s Beyhan Demir and Ucan
Supurge’s Oya Ozden Saner.

Later, the "Independent Media for Peace" discussion moderated by
Birgun newspaper editor-in-chief Murat Celikkkan is to bring together
Alexander Iskendaryan from the Armenian Caucasus Media Institute,
Acik Radio’s Avi Haligua, bianet’s Erol Onderoglu, Yucel Gokturk,
Merve Erol, Erdir Zat and Siren Idemen from Express, Cyprus Turkish
Union of Press Workers’ Huseyin Yalyali, Georgia Social Researches
Center’s Marina Muskhelishvili, Azerbaijan Zerkalo newspaper’s Murad
Huseynov, Agos’s Nuran Agan, Israel Peace Journalism Center’s Prof.
Dr. Dov Sinar, Rustem Batum, Sevgul Uludag and Cyprus East
Mediterranean University’s Tony Angastiniotis.

Local, independent media and civic journalism in Turkey

One of the important events on November 5 is the "Civic, Local and
Alternative Media in Turkey" forum which will bring together
academics and local journalists.

Moderated by journalist Ragip Duran, the forum will start with Dr.
Sevda Alankus’s question "Do the local media and civic media give
opportunities for a pluralism and independence?"

While Dr. Incilay Cangoz discussed local and independent media in the
context of "civic journalism" Coskun Efendioglu from the Milas Onder
newspaper will raise questions on how the media could be local and
independent.

Manavgat Venus Radio’s Dogan Sonmez will look at the issue
approaching journalists as the "human capitals of independence" while
Diyarbakir Gun TV’s Cemal Dogan will share his experiences on news
reporting and broadcasting in a mother-tongue. Mehmet Can Toprak from
the Mersin Radio Ses and Izmir Demokrat Radio’s Nadiye Gurbuz will
explain "local radio broadcasting in metropolitan cities".

The goals

The International Independent Media Forum which is open to everyone
has set the following goals:

· Bring together activists, specialists, workers and analysts from
across the globe, who strives for "another media".

· Share experiences in bringing out independent media and analyze
significant practices.

· Help develop more open, democratic, transparent and accessible
media environments.

· Provide and contribute in cooperation among global, regional and
local alternative media networks.

· Encourage individuals and institutions to support independent media
initiatives

· Increase the quality and quantity of independent media practices in
Turkey (AO/EO/II/YE)

–Boundary_(ID_c3Mj72uWHYQVDs7z9lZZ IA)–

AUTOMOBILE MARKET IS ONE OF MOST QUICKLY GROWING IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 2 2006

According to the data of the National Statistical Service of Armenia,
a retail turnover of goods of Armenia has increased by 16,1% within 9
months, 2006, as compared with the similar period, 2005, and made to
1,052 trl drams. The automobile trade has grown most of all (by 34,2%)
and made up 48,646 bln drams. The scope of specialized automobile
trade includes the cost of sale of spare parts and component parts,
as well as technical inspection and repair of cars.

The volume of services rendered has increased by 22,1% to 338,881
bln drams within the reporting period. The retail trade has raised
by 10,9% to 536,274 bln drams.

To be noted, 85,5% or 458,369 bln drams of the total volume of
retail trade fell to the share of Yerevan. At that, the volume of
retail trade in the capital has exceeded the average indicator per
country 2,5 times. 1104.2 thsd people live in Yerevan, while 3220.0
thsd people – in the Republic in whole.

GEORGIA, RUSSIA, THE UNITED STATES
by Nikolai Zlobin
Director of Russian Programs at the World Security Institute (Washington)

Source: Izvestia, November 1, 2006, p. 6
Translated by Elena Leonova
Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part A (Russia)
November 1, 2006 Wednesday

Russia’s American-style treatment of Georgia; The crackdown on
Georgians seems to be an example of the Kremlin practising techniques
and methods for using a new array of tools in Russia’s foreign policy
arsenal. America has taught the current Russian leadership how to
operate in the international arena from a position of open cynicism.

One of Armenia’s leading politicians recently explained to me that
neither America nor Russia should delude themselves about their
influence on Armenia’s internal evolution, since its priorities
are largely determined by the attitudes and demands of the Armenian
diaspora worldwide. According to this politician, the diaspora will
never permit Armenia to be turned into a totalitarian state, since
money sent to Armenia from the diaspora (equivalent to Azerbaijan’s
entire energy export revenues) is the deciding factor in ensuring
the Armenian economy’s survival. Naturally, the money coming into
Armenia from abroad is accompanied by political messages which the
Armenian government cannot ignore if it wants to remain in power.

Apparently, Moscow has decided to take a similar approach to Georgia
– in reverse. A sweeping Russian-style crackdown on the Georgian
diaspora in Russia; luckily, this diaspora does indeed include
some crime bosses, illegal immigrants, and business owners whose
activities have nothing to do with morality and enlightenment. This
was supposed to result in Mikhail Saakashvili losing the support of
the Georgian community in Russia, and demonstrating to the rest of
the world, including Washington, that he’s completely incapable of
defending the interests of Georgian citizens. Naturally, this would
only provide further confirmation that Saakashvili’s regime is against
the Georgian people’s interests and Saakashvili himself is deficient
in personal ethics.

The crackdown on Georgians seems to be an example of the Kremlin
practising techniques and methods for using a new array of tools in
Russia’s foreign policy arsenal. As well as the power to cut off oil
and gas supplies, Moscow now has another way of putting pressure
on unsatisfactory regimes in the CIS: by using their diasporas in
Russia. It’s no secret that this form of leverage wasn’t invented
in Moscow; Washington has often used it in the past, and continues
to do so. America has taught the current Russian leadership how to
operate in the international arena from a position of open cynicism,
without indulging in melancholy reflections about morality and ethics,
using nothing but the vague term "realism in politics" as a cover.

The fact that the crackdown has only targeted Georgians shows that
the Kremlin has mastered another element from the arsenals of the US
elite: the ability to openly use double or triple standards in its
policies. This multi-standard approach in Putin’s foreign policy –
described as "multilateral," or even "flexible," by some embarrassed
Kremlin officials – actually does Vladimir Putin credit. Under his
influence, the Kremlin’s managers are gradually coming to realize
that any country aspiring to be a serious international player in
the world today must take a sophisticated (morally uninhibited, so
to speak) approach to foreign policy, in order to defend itself more
effectively while also separating other countries or bringing them
together. The more levels of standards foreign policy includes, the
more successful it will be. For a long time, Moscow didn’t understand
this. Now it’s Tbilisi that doesn’t understand it.

The irony is that Saakashvili has run up against exactly what the
White House taught the Kremlin in the process of supporting Georgia:
if anyone offends you, just beat them over the head with no hesitation
or regrets – rather than "clacking your beak to no purpose," to
borrow the elegant expression used recently by Putin, who is said
to have a personal dislike for Saakashvili. Russia has adopted a
purely American style of behavior towards Georgia; meanwhile, the
Russia-Georgia relationship has taken on an even closer resemblance
to the decades-old relationship between the United States and small,
impoverished Cuba, which continually accuses Washington of having
aggressive intentions and uses any pretext to escalate tension and
point the finger at its large northern neighbor’s imperial ambitions.

However, it’s not all that simple. Russia certainly had a good
chance of not only emerging victorious from the current conflict with
Georgia, but also reinforcing its image as a country that thinks and
acts strategically and is capable of participating effectively in
solving important international problems. Some experts in Washington
even suspected Russia of provoking Georgia into this escalation,
in order to get the chance to demonstrate its own wise and tolerant
statesmanship. But then, as the world watched, Moscow got into a
dither over trivialities and lost the game – regardless of the actual
outcome of the conflict as such.

In order to operate like the Americans do, Russia either needs to
be equally strong or to use a much smarter and more sophisticated
approach. Gun control opponents in the US have a slogan: "Guns don’t
kill people – people kill people." The same applies to politics. The
fact that Moscow wants to crack down on Georgians in Russia, and is
capable of doing so, doesn’t mean that it necessarily should do so.

Specific political methods are chosen by people, and these people
presumably calculate the potential effects. Actually, that’s what
they and their advisers are paid to do, with the money coming
from tax-payers. And that accounts for the widespread notion that a
government’s actions ought to benefit a country and its people. But in
this case, our country has shown itself to be extremly inhospitable
and the people have been taught another lesson in xenophobia and
intolerance.

But Moscow’s political recklessness is only partly to blame. The
primary cause concerns the fact that Saakashvili’s Dream Team has
turned into the region’s Nightmare Team. The Georgian president
continues to substantially – and groundlessly – exaggerate the
political support he has in the United States.

Two years ago, that support was almost absolute. Back then, Georgia
became the favorite country of ordinary Americans and President
George W. Bush. These days, however, that affection persists only
in the White House and the offices of a few senators, influential
as they may be. Bush has only two years left, and he won’t have time
for Georgia. The US political establishment is already showing signs
of skepticism and disillusionment, or even irritation, with regard
to the Saakashvili regime. America does indeed need Georgia – but
only as a democratic, stable, predictable country. In the event of a
serious conflict in Asia, Georgia could become an American airfield
or hospital, a workshop for repairing military hardware, a recreation
and redeployment base for the US Armed Forces, and so on. But will it?

The opinion in Washington is that the Georgian government’s major
mistake isn’t really its intention to reclaim the breakaway provinces
by means of armed force; rather, it’s Georgia’s demonstrative
reluctance or inability to work out a civilized relationship with
Russia. America won’t do that for Tbilisi. In the event of a military
conflict with Moscow, not a single American soldier would ever
be sent in to defend Georgia. NATO already has plenty of problems,
including problems with Russia, even without the addition of Georgia,
which is frantically trying to join NATO. As a result, Washington
is increasingly coming to doubt whether Saakashvili can deliver the
kind of Georgia that the United States needs. Consequently, unless
the situation in Georgia changes, Washington will have to choose
between withdrawing from Georgia, parting company with Saakashvili,
or a full-scale quarrel with Russia. It’s no exaggeration to say that
no one is seriously considering the last option.