Category: News

Daily Times, Pakistan
March 21 2004

Economic factors in Pakistan Movement
– Ishtiaq Ahmed

In the final stages of the Partition drama, large sections of the
Muslim community had been successfully mobilised in favour of the
argument that the creation of Pakistan would bring them economic
relief and prosperity

Most serious research on the Pakistan movement shows that neither the
primordialist standpoint, which views the creation of Pakistan simply
as the culmination of a natural process of mutual hostility and
rejection between Hindus and Muslims, nor the instrumentalist
approach, which attributes the establishment of the country to the
skilful manipulation of emotive symbols by the leaders of the Muslim
League in their competition for power with their counterparts in the
Congress Party, is satisfactory.

Rather, the peculiar materialist factors that obtained from the 1920s
onwards played a crucial role in fomenting group competitiveness
which became intense and fierce over time. It is a common observance
that competition among communities for power, resources and jobs
almost invariably leads to an emphasis on differences and cleavages
rather than commonalities. Matters are aggravated in the absence of a
strong state authority, or, much worse, when the state machinery
itself adopts a partisan role. This is exactly what happened in the
last few months before the division of India.

Consequently, the factors contributing to the economic backwardness
of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent are complex in both structural
as well as cultural terms. We notice a dramatic decline in the
fortunes of the Muslim aristocracy during the colonial period; from a
privileged group, they made the transition to a relatively less
developed and depressed one. For example, during the Mughal period,
86 per cent of the imperial services were manned by Muslims – 70 per
cent by the foreign-born and their descendants and 16 per cent by the
much larger group of indigenous converts (Naureen Talha, Economic
Factors in the Making of Pakistan 1921-1947, Karachi: Oxford
University Press, 2000).

However, the Muslims did not use their dominance over state power to
establish a strong productive sector. Even state finances remained
primarily dependent on conquest or revenue from land. It is
interesting to note that the revenue department of the Mughals was
managed mostly by Hindus; Raja Todar Mal’s revenue system lasted
until the time of the British takeover.

A similar situation obtained in the Ottoman Empire. Trade and
commerce were almost entirely in the hands of the Armenian, Greek,
Jews and other non-Muslim millets. The Quranic aversion to usury was
extended to all subsequent developments in banking.

However, it should be noted that the British were not particularly
hostile to Indian Muslims, except for the years immediately after the
1857 Uprising. Most British administrators favoured an even-handed
treatment of the Hindus and Muslims. In fact from the beginning of
the 20th century, colonial policy even favoured some sort of quota
system enabling Muslims to gain greater representation in educational
centres and government employment.

But by and large mainstream Muslims were reluctant to adopt the
modern English-language based education. It was only after Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan and his band of reformers made strong and persistent pleas
for change in attitudes that the Muslim community began establishing
schools and colleges. However, the head-start enjoyed by the Hindus
and Sikhs meant that they dominated the capitalist economy as well as
education and government employment.

But, the situation was not bleak for Muslims in all the state
sectors. In fact in some services Muslims were overly represented.
For example in Punjab and Sindh some 70 per cent of the police force
was Muslim. Also on an overall basis, there was a Muslim
preponderance in the police in many other provinces. In UP, Muslims
constituted 50 per cent of the police force even when they were
barely 13-15 per cent of the total population of that province. In
the army too Muslims were overly represented, especially from the
Punjab and NWFP, from where most recruitment of north-western India
took place.

It is well-known that after the Union Party came to power in Punjab,
Muslim representation in civilian government services increased
sharply. Similarly in Sindh and the North Western Frontier Province
Muslim representation increased from the 1930 onwards although
non-Muslims were still ahead of them.

But in so far as the productive economy is concerned, orthodox Sunnis
as well as Ithna Ashari Shias remained opposed to capitalism-oriented
commerce, trade and industry. It was mainly the sectarian and ethnic
minorities of Ismaili and Bohra Shias as well as Sunni Memons –
converts from Hindu trading castes of the coastal areas of western
India – who adapted to the requirements of the emerging capitalist
economy.

In the Punjab, Chinioti sheikhs, recent converts from various Khatri
and Arora castes, also ventured into modern business. Later Kashmiri
Muslims also took to production because as economic migrants they
were neither owners of land nor agricultural workers. They settled in
the main towns of Punjab and specialised in the shawl trade, while
some of them took to small-scale production of other goods.

It is interesting to note that as regards government jobs and
admission to educational centres, Hindus emphasised merit while
Muslims demanded a share in proportion to their ratio of the total
population of India. However, after the Lahore Resolution of March
23, 1940 the Muslim League did not aim simply at `concessions from
the government or the Hindu majority under the appellation of a
minority but as a nation, distinct and different from the Hindus,
which deserved a country of their own.’ (Naureen Talha, Economic
Factors in the Making of Pakistan 1921-1947)

Several committees and commissions were set up by the Muslim League
to make proposals for economic reconstruction and reform. Muslim
entrepreneurs (mainly from the minor sects and ethnic groups) became
very active in supporting the demand for Pakistan and some of them
shifted their headquarters to Karachi before independence in 1947.

In the final stages of the Partition drama, large sections of the
Muslim community had been successfully mobilised in favour of the
argument that the creation of Pakistan would bring them economic
relief and prosperity as well as an escape from the indignities of
the caste system. That hope has been only partially realised as
economic inequalities continue to be reproduced on a massive scale
within the Muslim community, while caste-type oppression is practised
by `respectable Muslims’ against so-called kammis (artisans)
primarily in the rural areas and untouchability by everyone against
Pakistani Dalits; an anonymous category in public debates.

The author is an associate professor of Political Science at
Stockholm University. He is the author of two books. His email
address is [email protected]

Minneapolis Star Tribune , MN
March 21 2004

Can you spare 12 bucks for the library?
Peg Meier, Star Tribune

Margaret Howes raised the magic question:

“What if everyone in Minneapolis chipped in to support the library?
How much would it take?”

Good question, thought library director Kit Hadley, and reached for
her calculator. She divided the expected $4.5 million in state-budget
cuts by the Minneapolis population of 382,000.

“Twelve dollars,” she announced, rather stunned that the figure was
so low. “About $12 a person.”

A grass-roots movement sprang from Howes’ simple question last
summer. She was at a public meeting when the library board was
seeking comments on its financial struggles. What to do? Close
libraries? Keep all open but cut hours? Slash the staff? Stop buying
books?

Hmmmm. Maybe get lots and lots of people to donate a little money?

The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library took on what became
known as the “$12 Campaign.” The organization made posters and fliers
to distribute in the libraries. It sent out appeals. It invited
patrons to “do their part by making a gift to keep the libraries
strong.”

The Friends were on to something, they soon realized. In the first
month, more than $27,000 came in.

Now, more than 1,600 contributors have joined the movement, donating
$66,000 to support the library system’s operating budget. About a
fourth of the donors send an even $12. The rest send more. (At least
one person sent less. See below.) The Friends, a nonprofit group,
cover all the administrative costs. Contributions helped save the
library’s Homework Helper Program and Summer Reader Program, two
long-standing efforts for kids. By shifting these programs to the $12
Campaign, the library was able to put more of its money into hours
and staffing.

While every $12 is appreciated, Hadley said, library people have been
especially touched by several contributions.

The most important thing

Margaret Howes, 76, the generator of the idea for the $12 Campaign,
grew up during the Depression: “We moved around a lot, but we always
had libraries to go to. My parents took me. I took my two children.
They take their seven children. As far as I’m concerned, libraries
are the most important things for cities to have.”

Howes, a retired office worker at Dayton’s, always has been a big
reader. She loves science fiction and has written a sci-fi novel.
Sci-fi people love to read and aren’t shy, she says, so at every
convention that she attends she hands out the library’s bright-yellow
appeals that say: “Can you help?”

She also passes out fliers at her apartment building, her church,
bookstores, her grocery stores and at Minneapolis Ragstock, where she
buys some of her clothes. Why bother to promote the library?
“Heavens,” she said. “It’s awful to have library hours cut. Libraries
are essential to a civilized society.”

Read to me

On the third Wednesday of each month, Katie McGinley reads to
preschool kids at People Serving People, a family shelter in downtown
Minneapolis. Her volunteer work is part of the Read-to-Me program
sponsored by the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library. She has
three young children of her own to read to, and she enjoys sharing
their favorite stories with other youngsters.

“The library is such an integral part of the community that we wanted
to help somehow,” said McGinley, who’s a stay-at-home mom in
Minneapolis and frequent user of their neighborhood library. She and
her husband, Tim, a mortgage banker, found another way to help the
library. They sent a generous check.

Everybody chips in

“Aaaghhhh,” said 11-year-old Marielle Foster when she saw a sign on a
lamp post last summer saying that some Minneapolis libraries were
likely to be closed. That included the Linden Hills branch, which she
describes as “my personal favorite. It has a nice home-away-from-home
atmosphere.”

“What can I do?” wondered Marielle. She already had been raising
money for UNICEF, so she figured she had some applicable skills.

She and her 4-year-old brother, Lucas, went house-to-house in their
neighborhood to ask for contributions. She hit up her dad for pocket
change. She enforced the family rule that anyone who swears in the
house has to chip in a quarter. She talked her brother Sam, 9, into a
donation. When she turned in her quart Mason jar to the Friends of
the Minneapolis Public Library, it contained $151.45.

“I personally am a fanatic reader,” said Marielle. “It’s nice knowing
I could help.”

A family affair

Mary Oakley sent the library a check for $42. Here’s how she arrived
at the figure:

She and her two daughters, Elsa, 18, and Claire, 16, love to read and
go to various libraries a few times a week. That was worth three $12
contributions. Her architect husband, Steve, visits a library only
every three or four weeks and just recently has begun to enjoy
reading fiction. Mary thought that was worth a $6 donation. And their
son, Martin, 14, “would prefer a pointed stick in the eye to a
library visit,” she wrote in a note with her check. “So I’ll go with
$42 for now.”

Not just acting

Vhannes Koujanian is an Armenian who was born 46 years ago in Beirut,
Lebanon. The Armenian community tried to keep its culture alive there
through music, literature, visual arts and theater. He was acting on
stage by age 7. But there was no such thing as public libraries.

He moved to Paris, then Bloomington, Ind., 24 years ago and to
Minneapolis 12 years ago. He loves libraries and calls them knowledge
banks. “I care about literature — words,” he said, “and one way to
get them is in libraries. Libraries are not only beautiful. They are
essential.”

To pay the bills, Koujanian is a commercial painter. To make his soul
leap, he does theater. So what could he do to help the libraries? He
remembers thinking, “Maybe there are others like me who love theater
and want to keep the libraries open.”

He and Sophie Breer (they were married Saturday) run a little group
called the Northeast Actors Theater Company. They and 27 cast members
volunteered their time and talents to put on six shows of “The
Madwoman of Chaillot” in November at the Edison High School
auditorium. They suggested a contribution of $10 from adults and $5
from seniors.Students were admitted free. Every dollar was donated to
the library. That was $2,700, enough to cover the $12 Campaign for
225 people.

A long way to go

“The $12 Campaign got rolling in late July, after the Library Board
made its decision to keep all libraries open. The power of the $12
Campaign was to put these overwhelming cuts in human perspective and
to give individuals the opportunity to participate in a solution.

“We are still a long way from even adequate library service in
Minneapolis, but every day more people are organizing to support our
libraries. The $12 Campaign is just the beginning of a very broadly
based, city-wide movement to support a library system that fulfills
its mission of linking people to the transforming power of
knowledge.”

— Colin Hamilton, executive director, Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library

To contribute $12 to the operating budget of the Minneapolis Public
Library, see or write to the Friends of
the Minneapolis Public Library at 250 Marquette Av., #400,
Minneapolis MN, 55421. The Friends phone number is 612-630-6174.
Checks should be made out to Friends of the Minneapolis Public
Library.

ArmenPress
March 22 2004

ARMENIA, SIERRA LEONE ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

NEW YORK, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: Permanent Representatives of
Armenia and Sierra Leone to the UN, Armen Martirosian and Joe Robert
Pemagbi signed on March 19 a memorandum on the establishment of
diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Armenian foreign affairs ministry said the two men discussed after
the signing ceremony possibilities for developing bilateral contacts,
singling out education, culture and diamond processing as areas with
such a potential.

Dissident Voice, United States
March 22 2004

Sating the Monster

by Barbara Sumner Burstyn

Part of the year we live in a small farming community in New Zealand,
where each summer the locals get together for a sports day. In a
paddock backed by the impenetrable Kaweka Ranges, kids gallop their
horses round barrels and dog racing consists of a dead possum tied to
the back of Ute, driven at speed across the paddock with farm dogs in
hot pursuit. While the women slap home grown BBQ sausages into white
bread, men discuss the recent floods and our neighbors decide it’s
the perfect time to try to convert us.

`I can’t wait to see Mel Gibson’s, the Passion,’ the home-schooling
wife and mother says two seconds after we’re introduced. Her husband,
a born-again minister with a flock in Napier nods quietly. I ask her
why.

`Because,’ she lowers her voice, `it’s the truth.’

`Really?’ I know my inflection is rising.

`Oh yes, it shows clearly who was responsible for Jesus’ death.’

Usually people either like or dislike a particular film. But this one
is different. For believers in the literal interpretation of the
bible, the movie version of the last hours of Jesus’ life represents
something far more than actors acting and it’s certainly not two
hours of escapism, instead this film represents validation for their
beliefs and nothing short of the word of God.

But aren’t they missing something here? This is not a rent in the
fabric of time, a documentary or even a docudrama. It’s a movie, a
version of historical events, true only in the sense that Oliver
Stone’s Vietnam War film, Platoon, is true.

Speaking in the New Yorker recently, early Christian historian and
author of The Gnostic Gospels and The Origin of Satan, Elaine Pagels
explains when Christians read the Gospels as historical acts, they
will say what Mel Gibson says: that this is the truth, this is our
faith. But the film ignores the spin the gospel writers were
pressured to put on their works.

Putting it into context she explains how the gospel writers were
oppressed Jews trying to sell a new religion. The gospels, she says,
were not intended as history but as preaching, as religious
propaganda to win followers for the teachings of Christ.

Pagels also calls into question Gibson’s portrayal of Pilate as
benign and says it’s a narrative device to make the Jews appear more
malignant. She says the film is full of the preposterous dialectic of
bad Jews and good Romans. And she points out that when the Temple
police arrest Jesus, Mary Magdalene turns to the Romans as if they
were the policemen on the block, benign protectors of the public
order. `But the very idea of a Jewish woman turning to Roman soldiers
for help is ridiculous.’

And while New York Times arts editor Frank Rich describes the film as
Jew baiting, in an interview in Readers Digest, Gibson, a member of a
Catholic extremist group carefully skirted the issue of the Holocaust
by folding it into the general fog and loss of the WWII. Of course
the son is not responsible for his father’s sins, but Gibson has made
no move to distance himself from Gibson senior’s vicious Holocaust
denial.

Certainly in places like Denver, Colorado, the subtle anti-Semitic
message of this film is getting through with The Lovingway United
Pentecostal Church posting a huge marquee reading “Jews Killed the
Lord Jesus.’

But if there is message besides anti-Semitism in this film it is that
violence and brutality are part of human nature. Rich calls the film
a jamboree of bloody beefcake … constructed like a porn movie,
replete with slo-mo climaxes and pounding music for the money shots.’
While writer Christopher Hitchens called it a homoerotic “exercise in
lurid sadomasochism” for those who “like seeing handsome young men
stripped and flayed alive over a long period of time.”

So when a born-again type uses this film to tell you about God’s
love, it might be useful to remember that this love comes with ravens
to peck out your eyes if you blaspheme, extreme torture, blood and
gore and a hoard of baying, big nosed Jews (in contrast to the Jewish
Jesus’ petit white bread one.)

This movie with its utter glorification of the agonies humans can
inflict on each other reveals the bloodlust that lurks in the heart
of man. It is this that fuels our inhumanity to each other and that’s
why this film is such a big hit. And it is this that allows us to
ignore the reality of the pogroms that have decimated Jews for
centuries, fueled the Crusades and the Holocaust, the genocide of
numerous ethnic groups from Armenians and Gypsies to Native
Americans. And it is this bloodlust that allows us to ignore the
10,000 Iraqi’s killed since the invasion of their country, and the
demonizing of present day Muslims.

And who killed Jesus? According to my neighbor we all did. `Not just
the Jews,’ she says and sighs deeply as if she has been divested of a
great weight, this burden of truth. The Passion; a story of love, of
one mans sacrifice? Or an anti-Semitic gore fest to temporarily sate
the monster in each of us?

Barbara Sumner Burstyn is a freelance writer who commutes between
Montreal, Quebec and The Hawkes Bay in New Zealand. She writes a
weekly column for the New Zealand Herald (), and
has contributed to a wide range of media. She can be reached at:
[email protected]. Visit her website to read more of her work:
© 2004 Barbara Sumner Burstyn

Central Asian and Southern Caucasus Freedom of Expression Network
(CASCFEN), Azerbaijan
March 22 2004

The law ”On freedom of information” is democratic only externally

kavkaz.memo.ru – The law “On freedom of information” of the Republic
of Armenia is democratic only externally, actually there are no some
important elements in it necessary for development of democracy. On
March 20 at the session of the round table on the theme “Reforms of
the legislation on mass media of Armenia and its conformity to the
European standards” has declared about this the Minister of Justice
of Armenia David Arutyunyan.

As he said, the law “On freedom of information” is imperfect, as it
has many contradictions, including the name of the document. It is
natural, that the law has caused negative reaction of a society. As
minister has explained, the right of citizens of Armenia on getting
and distribution of the information is fixed in the article 24 of the
Constitution of Armenia. Meanwhile the name of the new law “On
freedom of information” assumes only freedom of reception of the
information, and is spoken nothing about its distribution. “The
discussed question is not deprived political nuances, therefore
arrival to the certain result for us is especially important”, has
noted D.Arutyunyan.

As minister assures, the purpose of the state is maintenance of
original freedom of information. “The law should be finished, that it
would not be only declarative, but also working”, David Arutyunyan
has noted. With this purpose the Ministry of Justice of Armenia has
addressed in the Armenian representations of OSCE and USAID with the
request for granting the help as an expert for studying the
legislation of mass media of Armenia.

D.Arutyunyan does not deny that the legislative field of Armenia is
rather inconsistent. After declaration the independence of the
country in the legislation of Armenia it was totaled by 70 thousand
legal acts semi-centennial and more prescription. After clarification
of a legislative field from 70 thousand remained only 30 legal acts
which demand additional study.

Translated from Russian by CASCFEN.

ArmenPress
March 22 2004

JAPAN PROVIDES ARMENIA WITH ANOTHER AGRICULTURAL GRANT

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: Armenian agriculture minister David
Lokian and a senior official of the Japanese embassy in Moscow,
Masataka Yosidzava, signed today an agreement according to which the
Japanese government will provide Armenia with another, the seven
consecutive grant of 200 million Yens.
Japan has given Armenia already 2.13 billion Yens in the form of
grants since 1997 for agricultural development to buy 70,000 tons of
fertilizers, 53 harvest combines and 226 tractors, which were sold to
farmers at privileged terms.
Lokian said today that part of the grant, which is also made
available for purchase of agricultural machines and fertilizers, will
be used for restoration of Armenian forests and building dams to
protect lands against floods.
Yosidzava said his government has decided to cut aid to emerging
countries, reducing the list from 70 to 14, “but basing on
transparent and effective utilization of previous grants by the
government of Armenia, it has decided to keep Armenia on the list.”

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 22 2004

HEAD OF STATE DUMA INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE BELIEVES IN CLOSE
RESOLUTION OF ADZHARIAN CONFLICT

MOSCOW, March 22, 2004 – RIA Novosti. The conflict around Adzharia
(autonomy within Georgia) is probably close to resolution, Konstantin
Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma international committee, told
journalists on Monday.

“One cannot but feel satisfied with the conflict around Adzharia
returning from the hot stage to a cold one,” Kosachev noted.

At the same time he recalled that the only document regulating the
status of Adzharia as autonomy within Georgia is the Treaty of Kars
of 1921, which remains valid up to this day.

According to Kosachev, the recent statements by some representatives
of Georgia and Turkey that a number of the Treaty’s provisions have
become invalid due to the changed international situation are
“juridically incorrect”.

“The basic documents of the Potsdam Conference, as well as the Vienna
Convention of 1969 “About the Right of International Treaties” have a
reference to this document as a treaty regulating the borders of the
autonomy, and this allows to speak that the Treaty of Kars keeps its
legal force,” the deputy said.

In accordance with the Treaty of Kars signed in 1921 between Turkey,
on the one side, and Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, on the other
with Russia’s participation, Turkey waived its claims to Adzharia,
which was again becoming part of Georgia.

In line with this treaty, Georgia was to ensure autonomy to Adzharia
to the greatest possible extent – cultural, religious and national up
to the granting to it the right of adopting its own laws.

Under this Treaty Georgia also undertook to ensure free transit of
cargoes via Adzharia’s Black Sea port of Batumi.

ArmenPress
March 22 2004

MORE SIGNS OF INCREASED SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN ARMENIA

GYUMRI, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: The northern branch of the National
Survey for Seismic Protection (NSSP), situated in the town of Gyumri,
said there are indications of increased seismic activity in Armenia’s
northern regions.
Since the start of 2004 it has registered around 200 tremors
against last year’s 30 minor tremors. Slight tremors are still being
registered following a January 16 earthquake ranging from 3-4 on the
Richter Scale in the Armenian marzes of Lori, Shirak and Tavush.
These tremors though being of small size, are registered several
times a day. The epicenter is north-west of Spitak, the scene of a
destructive earthquake in 1988 that razed to ground the north of
Armenia killing at least 25,000 people. Another hub of the increased
seismic activity is near the resort town of Jermuk, some 150 km south
of Yerevan. however, experts claim these tremors are only of
discharging nature posing no threat.
In the wake of a powerful earthquake that hit the Iranian city of
Bam killing thousands of people the chairman of the Armenian
Association of Seismologists and Earth Physics, Sergey Balasanian,
warned that the earthquake in Iran would cause a high seismic
activity in the next 12 months in the whole region including Armenia.
“There is a clear indication of a new wave of seismic activity
traveling across the region,” Sergey Balasanian announced, however
his warnings were turned down by NSSP specialists, who cautioned that
such announcements have to be done very careful not to spread a panic
among the population.

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 19 2004

INTERVIEW WITH B. DJOBAVA

Among the guests of the International Chess Tournament held in
Stepanakert was young chess-player from Georgia, grand master Bahadur
Djobava.
– What did you know about Nagorni Karabakh?
– I heard about the territorial and political conflict between
Azerbaijan and Nagorni Karabakh 12 years ago, when I was a child. And
today it is painful that the historically attached neighbour nations
solve their problems in military ways.
– We knew that you would participate in the tournament.
– When I learned about my possible participation in the international
tournament to be held in Stepanakert I was glad because the
competition was going to be serious and besides I had many
acquaintances among the participants and organizers. I hoped that the
tournament would also favour the friendly and cultural relationships
between the chess-players from different countries and would become a
festivity for the lovers of chess. Unfortunately, I could not take
part in the tournament because of the decision of the administration
of the Georgian Federation of Chess. As a chess-player I felt
humiliated; we always thought that we must contribute to the
development of chess in the world. Therefore I accepted the
invitation of the organizer of the tournament Smbat Lpoutian to take
part in the tournament as a guest. On these days the chess school of
Stepanakert was opened. I met with the children, delivered a lecture
for them.
– What is your impression from the tournament?
– I was especially impressed by the meeting with the guest of honour
of the tournament, former champion of the world Boris Spassky. His
presence imparted friendliness to the atmosphere. The tournament was
marked for strong participants and interesting and tense competition.
The hall was always full of audience. I would like such tournaments
to be organized more frequently in all the countries of the world,
especially in Transcaucasia: Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
– Certain Azerbaijani mass media gave a negative reaction in your
address.
– In the web site of FIDE I was blamed that the flag of Georgia was
raised for my participation. I want to assure that the flag of
Georgia was not raised although it should have been as Tigran
Petrossian was born in Tbilisi. I do not want my name to be
circulated in the political and chess intrigues. I only did my duty
of a professional chess-player to make our favourite game more famous
and popular.

ANAHIT DANIELIAN

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 19 2004

EARLY TO BUILD A BABEL TOWER

The opposition of Armenia was too much inspired by the `rose
revolution’ in Georgia and even took `independent’ steps in the form
of addresses deviating from the official position at the PACE
meeting. Paying attention to the words of George Bush after his
meeting with the current president of Georgia, who has carried out
the `rose revolution’, Sahakashvili that they discussed the
possibility of spreading the revolution in other countries, we have
to state that the protests of the Armenian opposition are fertile
ground for this. Apparently the interest of the USA to spread the
rose revolution depends on the disappointment with the foreign
political position of official Yerevan. And although the opposition
tries to find the cause in the non-democratic presidential election
from which a year has passed already, the election in Baku which is
unanimously criticized by all the observers, makes to search for
other reasons. And as it is known to everybody that at all times the
mediation missions were an active mechanism of putting pressure on
the conflict parties, as well as a desire of the states which were
not conflict parties to solve their strategic and geopolitical
problems in the given country or region, we have to confess that we
are in a greater dependence on the countries which did not
participate in the conflict than we would like to be, countries the
number of which is growing and consequently the settlement becoming
more complicated. Naturally, at the beginning of the conflict we
depended on the USSR and its heir Russia whose strategic interests in
the Caucasus coincided with those of Armenia and Nagorni Karabakh, by
the way the final settlement of the Karabakh conflict and especially
its unification with Armenia is out of the circle of their interests
(there will be no other circumstance for putting pressure on
Azerbaijan). The other non-participant interested party, the USA
whose colonial pretensions have no limits, cherishes the desire of
ousting Russia from the region, as this country has still many levers
to put pressure on Armenia as the latter is in an unfavourable
condition, surrounded by hostile countries. And again we appear in
the focus of the collision of the interests of great powers because
of our geopolitical position, and it is very important to pay
attention at last to this factor using it in favour of our country.
In such difficult conditions it is not proper for the government and
the opposition to enter a conflict. We do not even have the right to
dream of a `rose revolution’. It is not accidental that at all times
the words of the great poet remain actual, `Armenian nation, your
only salvation is your united power.’ For if we are united, the
inventors of the American machine of revolutions would have no
support and would have to take into consideration the interests of
the given nation. And finally, how is it possible to keep silent
about the murder of the Armenian army officer during the NATO program
`Partnership for Peace’? The cruelty of the incident unexpected for
Europe should be used by the RA government and the Armenian Diaspora
to show that the line of globalization adopted by America and Europe
is not always adequate in reference to denying national borders, and
the nation which during the 20th century resorted to a genocide and
other cruel revenges does not recognize any rule. For they were not
able to protect the Armenian officer from the Azerbaijani murderer in
a neutral country and especially within the framework of such a
strong military alliance as NATO. So, it is still early to pretend to
the role of builder of the tower of Babel; the consequences will be
all the same.

EMMA BALAYAN