The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Lucin]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The million or so Russian-Armenians have done much-much better than all our other diaspora communities combined...

I agree...

Did you hear about the following in Armenia? I am deeply impressed.


Russian Armenians Heed Presidential Appeal for Investment

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$290 million pledged since Tuesday

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YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--Less than a week after President Serzh Sarkisian made his appeal to Armenians around the world to invest in their homeland, Russian Armenian businessmen have pledged almost $300 million in social and economic investments to the Republic of Armenia.

The pledges, totaling $290 million, came in response to the President's speech at the "Baze" All Armenian Youth Jamboree. During the jamboree, Sarkisian had issued a call to action for Armenians to become more active in the development of the republic.

"[Armenians] must be more active and initiating in the efforts directed towards building, improving and flourishing the homeland," he said.

In separate letters responding to President Sarkisian's appeal, Samvel Karapeatian, Sergey Hambardzumian, and Gagik Zakarian pledged to invest in various sectors of Armenia's society and economy.

"With great attention and excitement I heard your address to our compatriots at the "Baze" youth gathering," Karapetian's letter said. "Armenia is our homeland and despite the geographic distance a part of our soul and heart is always in the homeland and lives with the pain and concerns of our country, our brothers and sisters, lives with our soil and water."

Karapetian on Wednesday promised to allocate $250 million for various social and business projects in Armenia and invest another $50 million for the "implementation of symbolic projects that will support Armenian statehood and serve its future generations."

Meanwhile, Hambardzumian, who is the founder and chairman of the board of directors of the "Mon Ar" company, pledged on Thursday to donate $10 million to the development and expansion of the Matenadaran Manuscript complex.

"Irrespective of anyone's financial capabilities our only wealth is our homeland and our only pride--our roots, and we all will be rich when we see our country flourishing," Hambardzumian said.

Zakarian, whose letter of commitment to Sarkisian came Friday, pledged to invest $30 million in Armenia's mining, insurance and real estate industries. Zakarian is the chairman of Russia's "Yuniastrum" bank.

"With this letter I want to convince you in our readiness to contribute and participate in the development of our homeland," Zakarian said.

The pledges to invest almost $300 million in the Armenian Republic come as $236.5 million in US Millennium Challenge Corporation funding has been partially frozen by Washington in what appears to be a politically motivated delay aimed at pressuring the Armenian government.


Source: http://armenie.prikpagina.nl/read.ph...&i=2026&t=2008

[HayotzAmrotz]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The pledges to invest almost $300 million in the Armenian Republic come as $236.5 million in US Millennium Challenge Corporation funding has been partially frozen by Washington in what appears to be a politically motivated delay aimed at pressuring the Armenian government.

The only thing Washington pressures best is the Jooish xxxxx up its own ass.

All Armenians should be proud of our Russian-Armenian Diaspora!

[North Pole]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia needs bombers in Cuba due to NATO expansion - ex-commander

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080721/114527149.html

Too bad Cuba is far from Washington DC - US NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) might shoot'em down.

There is nothing to bomb in sunny Florida you know....

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North American Aerospace Defense Command

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAD

[zeytuntsi]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5884283.html

July 12, 2008, 11:16PM
Russia cracking down on brutal hate crimes
The attacks on foreigners may have decreased, but manner is more lethal

By TOM LASSETER
Mcclatchy-tribune


MOSCOW — Artur Ryno had a knife and was looking to kill foreigners. He slipped into the space between two buildings near downtown Moscow and walked toward a janitor who was standing alone in the night air in April 2007. By the time the frenzy of hacks and thrusts was over, Khairullo Sadykov, a Tajik, lay crumpled on the ground with dozens of stab wounds.

About three hours later, Ryno encountered Karin Abramyan, an Armenian businessman, and pulled out his knife. Abramyan's body later was found with knife wounds to the head, stomach and chest.

Human rights groups say that Ryno, who was 17 when he was arrested, is just one of an untold number of thugs who've hunted migrant laborers and immigrants on the streets of Russia.

In the first six months of this year, 69 people were killed in ethnic and racially motivated attacks across Russia, just below the 74 recorded for all of last year, according to the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights. Another organization that tracks the killings, the Sova Center, counts 59 killed for the first half of 2008, well above 2007, when it counted 83 murders for the whole year.

Because Russian security forces don't release comprehensive statistics on the attacks, there's no standardized method of tracking the violence, which usually targets darker-skinned migrants from former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus region. Human rights groups rely in large part on reports from the field and news accounts.

Dangerous subways

The murders have centered on the nation's capital, where ultranationalist groups are growing more vicious, many people say. The groups post videos on the Internet showing random attacks: Packs of young Russians ambush non-Slavic-looking men, kicking and punching them until they fall to the ground, cowering but still alive.

Subway stops and the areas near them often are chosen because they offer a quick escape, said Vladilen Bokov, the head of the Moscow city department on inter-ethnic relations. "You can flee easily. They make it a kind of entertainment ... as a sort of fun," Bokov said.

In some cases, the teenagers and men carrying out the beatings have been affiliated with ultranationalist groups that sponsor "fitness clubs" or youth meetings that often offer training in hand-to-hand combat and include members with swastika tattoos. It's a culture that scorns "chyorni," the Russian word for black, which many Russians use in various forms to refer to all people with darker skin. While there's no proof of a connection with the violence, the groups virulently oppose the influx of migrants to Russia.

After years of relatively little action, the Russian government is taking the problem more seriously, cooperating with migrant-advocacy groups and prosecuting street gangs that hunt foreigners, said Gavkhar Dzhurayeva, the head of the Migration and Law Center, a Moscow-based migrant-worker rights and legal aid organization.

As a result, Dzhurayeva said, the number of attacks has dropped as the gangs go underground, but the manner in which people are attacked "has become more demonstrative. It has become more cruel."

After his arrest, Ryno confessed to participating in 26 or 27 attacks on non-Russians during an eight-month rampage from 2006 to 2007 that killed 20 people, according to his attorney, Yuri Yefimenkov.

Attackers charged

Russian officials later charged Ryno and another teenager — who allegedly was with him during the Sadykov and Abramyan killings — with leading a group of seven other youths accused of 20 murders and 12 attempted murders. While Russian authorities wouldn't allow McClatchy to interview the teens, who await indictment, Ryno's attorney described details of the killings based on court records and his conversations with Ryno.

Leaders of two ultranationalist groups predicted that the violence will worsen.

Fighting the future

"I don't fight any specific person, but I fight the possibility that Russia could be a Muslim country in 20 years," said Dmitry Dyomushkin, the head of the Slavic Union, one of the ultranationalist groups. "You know, there are a lot of clashes now, and one big conflict might be enough to spread the fighting across Russia."

Dyomushkin denies any connection with violence, but he said that Ryno and others from his group attended Slavic Union meetings.

Dyomushkin's group and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, known by its Russian initials DPNI, sponsor or provide trainers to "fitness clubs" that teach young Russians close-quarters combat skills and, in some cases, basic lessons in handling explosives, ostensibly to ready them for service in the military. Neither group would allow McClatchy to visit the clubs.

"We try to teach them the basics of staying secure, but we cannot guarantee that a small number of them won't use the skills we teach them to commit crimes," said Alexander Belov, the leader of the DPNI. "It's the same as accusing a knife manufacturer of something when someone uses their knife to kill someone instead of cutting meat."

[zeytuntsi]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=26613

ARMENIAN CEMETERY IN ROSTOV-ON-DON DESECRATED

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.07.2008 13:56 GMT+04:00

Unknown stole marble flowerpots from graves at the Armenian cemetery
in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Investigation is underway but the criminals are likely to remain
unpunished, reports Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia.

Two weeks earlier, the Satanists drew their symbolics on the walls
of Surb Karapet Armenian Church. Father Tadeos said he numerously
requested the city administration to provide guards but without result.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia: will use military means if U.S. deploys shield

Russia said on Tuesday it would use military means if the United States deployed a missile defense shield close to its borders, a threat analysts said was aimed at stoking European opposition to the shield. Russia's Foreign Ministry said Moscow would be forced to use "military-technical methods" if a U.S. deal on building part of the shield in the Czech Republic was ratified by parliament. "If the real deployment of an American strategic missile defense shield begins close to our borders, then we will be forced to react not with diplomatic methods, but with military-technical methods," the Foreign Ministry said. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its www.mid.ru website that the U.S. missile shield would undermine global security and Moscow's strategic deterrent. It said Moscow's proposals to Washington on the shield had been ignored. Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said Moscow was using typical Cold War rhetoric to discourage the Czech parliament from ratifying the shield agreement, signed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Czech foreign minister. "That is why it is very unspecific but sounds threatening," he said. "It is psychological pressure, the same sort that was used in the 1980s by the Soviet Union, when the United States deployed cruise missiles in Europe, in an attempt to boost the anti-missile, anti-U.S. protests." Russia's United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the Foreign Ministry statement did not mean military action but a change of "strategic posture". "If you are talking about military action, this of course is not the case," Churkin said in New York. Former President Vladimir Putin, who is now prime minister, said in 2007 that Russia could aim missiles at European countries if the U.S. missile shield, which Moscow considers a threat to national security, goes ahead. Russian generals have threatened to deploy tactical missiles in neighboring Belarus and to resume production of short and medium-range nuclear missiles in response to Washington's missile defense plans.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsM...72345420080708

Russia cuts oil to Czechs

Russian oil supplies to the Czech Republic have been cut by almost half after Prague agreed to host part of America's controversial missile defence shield. Czech officials have sought an explanation from Moscow about the reduction in supply, fearing that it could be retaliation for the radar base deal. Tomas Bartovsky, a spokesman for the Czech Trade Ministry, said Russia had ruled out "political reasons" for the reduction and had blamed negotiations between suppliers for the problem.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/...ectid=10521773

Gorbachev alarmed by growing militarization of U.S. policy

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev voiced alarm over the United States' increasing tendency to seek military solutions to political problems, in an appeal to presidential candidates published on Tuesday. "I am deeply concerned over increasingly visible signs of the militarization of politics and thinking in the modern world... even though the military route again and again leads to a dead-end," Gorbachev wrote in an article printed in the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta. The presidential campaign will have to address the main policy issues facing the U.S. - the country's role in the world, its aim to lead in international affairs, counter-terrorism, and nuclear non-proliferation, all of which are inextricably linked to the Iraq war, he said. The U.S. administration under George W. Bush has shown a tendency to "seek to address these problems primarily through threats and pressure. Will the candidates develop an alternative approach to these most crucial problems? This is now the main question." Gorbachev said current talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament, which Washington started after several years of belligerent rhetoric, is an example of an alternative, more effective policy. He also stressed the dispute with Iran over its controversial nuclear program cannot not be resolved by threats. Gorbachev hailed Republican candidate John McCain and Democratic hopeful Barak Obama for backing appeals to abolish nuclear weapons. In 1985, Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan reached a historic agreement on eliminating medium- and shorter-range missiles, which was followed by an agreement on a 50% reduction in strategic offensive weapons. Thousands of nuclear warheads were subsequently destroyed. Gorbachev criticized the vast level of borrowing by the U.S. government to prop up the economy, and linked the country's economic downturn to excessive military spending, which he said has caused a budget deficit "larger than at the height of the Cold War." He stressed that neither of the candidates for the November election has yet raised the alarm over growing military spending in America. "The subject of military spending has literally been shrouded in a curtain of silence. This taboo must be lifted," he said. U.S. military spending was reported to hit $547 billion in 2007, and accounted for 45% of the world total. The U.S. accounts for 50% of the world's output of arms and military equipment, Gorbachev said. "It runs over 700 military bases across the world and plans to build more as if the Cold War were not a thing of the past, and the country were surrounded by enemies." The next U.S. leader, Gorbachev said, will have to decide whether America will be an empire or a democracy, and to choose between global hegemony and international cooperation.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080708/113507773.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Two 'extremely' significant developments coming out from Russia. The geopolitical implications of Moscow reestablishing strategic bases in Cuba and settling some of its land disputes with China cannot be overstated.

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China, Russia sign border agreement

Russia, China settle long-running territorial dispute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f9h_3CwXJI

China and Russia Monday signed an agreement to delineate their border around two islands, paving the way for the return of 174 sq km of territory to China. The move also marked "the end of demarcation work of the 4,300-km Sino-Russian boundary", Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said during a joint press conference after signing the document with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The boundary between the two is the longest in the world. "Sino-Russian border negotiations have gone through more than 40 years It (the end) is a hard-won result," Yang said. The areas to be returned - the Yinlong Island (Tarabarov Island) and half of the Heixiazi Island (Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island) - are territories the former Soviet Union occupied during a 1929 border skirmish. They are located at the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Wusulijiang rivers that serve as a natural border between the two countries. Following years of negotiations, the two sides signed an agreement for the return of the areas in October 2004 when Vladimir Putin, then Russian President visited Beijing. After that, the two neighbors spent three years of negotiations on delineation. "Both sides have compromised in consideration of long-term interests," Lavrov said. The demarcation has been strictly conducted according to international law, he said. The two nations will complete their own procedures for approval of the agreement as soon as possible, the Foreign Ministry said. Earlier this month, a senior Russian security official said Russia would in August relinquish control of the islands. Some media, however, predicted that this would happen later as the Olympics would draw much attention of the Chinese government. Now the two sides have created "all the legal conditions needed" to make the Sino-Russian border a link of stability and cooperation, Lavrov said. People from all circles will soon feel the benefits brought by the agreement, he said. The cooperative attitude reflected by both sides in the demarcation work proves that "any bilateral problem between the two, even extremely complex ones, can be settled based on equality, mutual respect and interests", Lavrov said. The two ministers also discussed details of "meetings of top leaders of the two countries" in the remaining part of this year, Lavrov said. He said the next one will be Russian Premier Putin's visit to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics next month. Lavrov also held talks with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao Monday and will leave Beijing this afternoon.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...nt_6865847.htm

Russia To Station Bombers In Cuba

In response to the U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe, it was reported that Russia has ideas of either permanently basing bombers in Cuba, or use the island as a refueling stop. The start of bomber flights would once again reawaken military cooperation by the former Cold War allies Moscow and Havana. According to media reports, Russia's aviation command is also reported to have said that discussions along this line are taking place. Currently Russian military transport aircraft fly regularly to Cuba carrying out orders for private companies. Russian bombers, the supersonic Tu-160 and the older Tu-95 would manage to fly to Cuba, but a political decision would be needed to approve these flights. Russia views the deployment of the U.S. missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic as a threat. The presence of Russian bombers in Cuba could also spark off an international conflict.

Source: http://www.rttnews.com/Content/Polit...e=B1&Id=660214

[Armanen]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The presence of Russian bombers in Cuba could also spark off an international conflict.

Funny how the presence of americans all around Russia is not "sparking off an international conflict" yet one or two Russian suggestions that they may have bases in Cuba or Venezuela is enough to have the the fu*ks in the west crying foul!

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9641

[North Pole]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia To Station Bombers In Cuba

In response to the U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe, it was reported that Russia has ideas of either permanently basing bombers in Cuba, or use the island as a refueling stop.

Source: http://www.rttnews.com/Content/Polit...e=B1&Id=660214

And some American generals are freaking out already.....
The Yanks are weird.

U.S. general warns against Russian bombers in Cuba



Gen. Norton Schwartz

Tue Jul 22, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Air Force officer warned on Tuesday that Russia would be crossing "a red line" if it were to use Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers.

Gen. Norton Schwartz, whose nomination to become the Air Force's top military officer is being considered by the Senate, was asked at his confirmation hearing how he would advise U.S. policymakers if Russia were to proceed with such a plan.

Russia's Izvestia newspaper this week quoted a "highly placed source" as saying Russia could land Tu-160 supersonic bombers nicknamed "White Swans" in Cuba as a response to a planned U.S. missile defense shield in Europe, which Moscow opposes.

"I certainly would offer best military advice that we should engage the Russians not to pursue that approach," Schwartz told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"And if they did, I think we should stand strong and indicate that that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America."
Russian Defense Ministry officials have tried to pour cold water on the report, saying the newspaper story was written under a false name and quoted a source at an organization that did not exist.
The suggestion of Russian nuclear weapons in Cuba is reminiscent of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that followed the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the Caribbean island.

The two-week crisis appeared to draw the Cold War to the verge of World War III, as President John F. Kennedy responded to the threat by authorizing a naval blockade of Cuba.

In the end, the Soviets agreed to dismantle the missile sites in exchange for a U.S. non-invasion pledge and a secret deal to remove American missiles from Turkey.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2229801920080722?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Iran to get new Russian air defences by '09 -Israel

Iran is set to receive an advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft system by year-end that could help fend off any preemptive strikes against its nuclear facilities, senior Israeli defence sources said on Wednesday. First delivery of the S-300 missile batteries was expected as soon as early September, one source said, though it could take six to 12 months for them to be deployed and operable -- a possible reprieve for Israeli and American military planners. Iran, which already has TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia, announced last December that an unspecified number of S-300s were on order. But Moscow denied there was any such deal. Washington has led a diplomatic drive to deny Iran access to nuclear technologies with bomb-making potential, while hinting that force could be a last resort. Israel, whose warplanes have been training for long-range missions, has made similar threats.

But the allies appear to differ on when Iran, which denies seeking atomic arms, might get the S-300. The most sophisticated version of the system can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes 120 km (75 miles) away. "Based on what I know, it's highly unlikely that those air defence missiles would be in Iranian hands any time soon," U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said in a July 9 briefing when asked about the S-300 -- also known in the West as the SA-20. An Israeli defence official said Iran's contract with Russia required that the S-300s be delivered by the end of 2008. A second source said first units would arrive in early September. The official agreed with the assessments of independent experts that the S-300 would compound the challenges that Iran -- whose nuclear sites are numerous, distant, and fortified -- would already pose for any future air strike campaign by Israel.

TIME TO LEARN

Israel does not have strategic "stealth" bombers like the United States, though the Israeli air force is believed to have developed its own radar-evading and jamming technologies. "There's no doubt that the S-300s would make an air attack more difficult," said the official, who declined to be named. "But there's an answer for every counter-measure, and as far as we're concerned, the sooner the Iranians get the new system, the more time we will have to inspect the deployments and tactical doctrines. There's a learning curve." Israel, which is assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, carried out a large-scale air force drill over the Mediterranean last month which was widely seen as a "dress rehearsal" for a possible raid on Iran. Some analysts also described it as a bid to pressure the West to step up sanctions.

The exercise involved overflying parts of Greece, which is among a handful of countries to have bought and deployed S-300s. But Greek media quoted Athens officials as saying that the system's radars were "turned off" during the Israeli presence. According to the Israeli official, it would take a year for Iran to deploy the S-300s and man them with trained operators. Robert Hewson, editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons, said: "The minimum work-up time to be comfortable with the system is six months, but more time is preferable." Hewson said the Iranian S-300 deal was being conducted via Belarus to afford discretion for Russia, which is already under Western scrutiny for helping Iran build a major atomic reactor. "Belarus is the proxy route whenever Russia wants to deny it is doing the sale. But nothing happens along that route without Moscow saying so," he said.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/lates.../idUSL21512727