Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway
It is not about waking up. It is about seeing things for what they are. People can live their whole lives believing a fantasy and never know it. I always believed Serj did well in international relations given what he had to deal with (was not much). Having said that I have repeatedly expressed my frustrations with him regarding domestic policies. There are much bigger games being played in our region and where we Armenians fit in is yet to be determined/exposed. I admire your interest and I do not question your patriotism but I do think your western perspective blinds you to many facts and your idealism is unfortunately not in the cards we are dealt. When you criticize lets say Serj, do you know what alternatives he had? What ultimatums he was given and by whome? I think looking at him as just simply a corrupt leader just looking out for himself is a much too simplistic a view of reality. I have always been critical of him on the domestic front thus there never was a love of Serj here but he has done well internationally up until the April war. There were way too many questionable things regarding that whole affair that did not add up(many questionable happenings preseeding it as well). I suspected that we gave up those lands in a behind the doors deal as there never was a attempt to retake them. The weapons we received could have been a part of that deal along with other things that we just do not know. I have never supported the oligarchic situation in Armenia and I have been screaming about the depopulation of Armenia longer then anyone here. As I look at the region and our population, it becomes obvious to me that we as a people lost our ability to shape our own destiny a long time ago. There is a international order and it wants us gone from that region. The genocide was no accident, its continued denial is no accident, today's depopulation of Armenia is no accident...You can blame Serj or anyone else you like but in doing so you are missing the bigger picture.
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Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway
I think you are in denial.Originally posted by Haykakan View Post
Let me get this straight.
Most people who have and had blind faith in Serge Sargisyan in my estimation are patriotic Armenians.
Except they are deluded on two counts.
Patriotism is all about loving and serving you Hayrenik. Never its President.
Second point, it wouldn't d have taken a semi intelligent person more than a year or two to realise that Serge Sargisyan is not a patriotic person.
If under his rule things had gone wrong one would have said he did his best but it was above him therefore he failed.
Time to let somebody have a go.
However he and his family members were and are involved heavily in TALAN of the country, from day one it appears.
No patriot let alone a patriotic President robs his country.
He has more or less offered all territory except NKAO to the Azeri.
The said road falls within that offer by default.
TIME TO WAKE UP.
PS. No doubt he was guaranteed he could stay in power in exchange for his loyalty to .....
.Last edited by londontsi; 11-26-2016, 11:43 AM.Leave a comment:
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Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway
Is this road part of the offer Serjig is making to the baboons?Originally posted by Federate View Post
Vardenis-Martakert highway is almost ready. 110 km out of 130 is ready for use.
By default it is.
They better do a good job before handing it over.
Then we can boast we are the best road builders in the WORLD !!!
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Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway
Vardenis-Martakert highway is almost ready. 110 km out of 130 is ready for use.Leave a comment:
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Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway
Armenian-Abkhaz Relations off the Rails?
OPED
The issue of Armenia has become more active in the occupied territory of Abkhazia as the Armenian population in Sokhumi is blamed for controlling the local economy.
“There is only one step from controlling the economy to controlling the whole government” – this is what they think there. Further, the ethnic Armenians are also accused of political conspiracies.
Abkhazians believe that it is exactly they who lobby the issue of renewal of the railway connection with Tbilisi which they think undermines the Abkhazian state. Abkhazians also have a number of other accusations towards ethnic Armenians, though these two are the main.
The relations between Abkhazians and Armenians became tense after the unofficial data of the 2011 general census suggested that the Armenian population equaled that of the Abkhazians and after which it soon turned into a demand for equal political rights.
Namely, the Armenian population demanded the same number of mandates as the ethnic Abkhazians in the so-called Parliament. This demand didn’t get further than the coastal Coffeekhanas at the time.
However, after the government changed in Tbilisi and the issue of the railway renewal appeared on the political agenda, the issue of quotas for ethnic Armenians acquired a much more important political meaning. Despite the position of the Kremlin, Abkhazians do not agree to renew the railway with Tbilisi.
Therefore, the so-called legislative perspectives of settling on this issue equals zero.
The fact that the political stirring up of ethnic Armenians is directly linked with the issue of the railway is confirmed by Aidamir Khishba, one of the leaders of the Abkhazian movement Aidgilara.In his interview with kavkazplus.com, Khishba accused Armenian MPs of lobbying the renewal of the railway.
“Armenian MPs in the Abkhazian Parliament are getting more and more actively involved in regional politics and are lobbying the renewal of the railway connection between Armenia and Russia via Georgia. Because the Abkhazian political forces oppose this, some uncertain projects like ‘The Abkhaz Railway Consortium’ are born, according to which the entire railway should be subordinated to businessmen from Moscow.”
The goals of the Kremlin and the de facto government did not match in this railway issue, which became apparent earlier when then-ruler of Abkhazia Alexandre Ankvab claimed he was categorically against it.
That said, despite the fact that, in answer to this rejection, he suffered the Tangerine Revolution from the Kremlin, it turned out that no greater enthusiasm is shown by Ankvab’s successor and the Kremlin’s favorite - Raul Khajinba. In Sokhumi they the latter will also end up with a revolution from the Kremlin.
The internet publications in the occupied territory are already announcing the collecting of signatures for a referendum on early presidential elections. According to the Abkhazian legislation, the referendum will be held if the initiating group are able to collect at least ten thousand signatures within two months.
And this is exactly where the votes of the ethnic Armenian population can become decisive in the issue of renewal of the railway project. However, Tbilisi is also not demonstrating complete support for the Kremlin in this issue. It seems that the Kremlin is trying to play the Armenian card not only in Sokhumi but in Tbilisi as well. In this regard, the three videos shared earlier this year on social networks are noteworthy.
The first was connected with folklore - the Georgian dance Daisi was presented as part of Armenian folklore, the issue of copyright infringement regarding the song Kvavilebis Kvekana (Country of Flowers) followed and the third was about the game played in Sokhumi by the famous Armenian football club from Yerevan – Ararati.
Taking into consideration the impulsive and explosive nature of Georgians, the above-mentioned could only give rise to negative emotions, which also raises a rhetorical question: Whose interests are behind these facts and what purpose do they serve?
Not much political analysis is needed to see that the positions of Sokhumi and Tbilisi coincide in the issue of the railway renewal. This is an additional positive fact on the way of renewing relations with Sokhumi, just like the National Hepatitis C Program, which brought half of Sokhumi’s population to Tbilisi.
Lately the visa liberalization followed which can give an opportunity to Abkhazs to escape from the political isolation.
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Re: North-South Highway/Iran-Armenia Railway
Georgian Silence as Russia-Abkhazia Railway is Restored
Parallel to the devaluation of the national currency, the government has a new headache. Russia started restoring the railway near the occupation line in the occupied Abkhazia. According to the deputy defense minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Bulgakov, railway works are underway on 33 kilometers of track from Sokhumi up to the Enguri River. According toBulgakov’s information, 9 kilometers are already completed. After this statement of Bulgakov, the entire Georgian political elite is searching for answers to the following questions: why is the Kremlin emptying an already empty pocket and, most importantly, why was the Georgian government hiding this information for almost a month?
The Kremlin’s interest in restoring the railway infrastructure in the South Caucasus is not new. Back in 2013, at the dawn of the Georgian Dream government, the then Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili told a Radio Liberty journalist in Yerevan that it would be possible to restore the railway: “It is possible to restore the railway but of the hindering factors the main are big problems between Russia and Georgia and the problem of territorial integrity. This problem will probably not be solved very quickly but the railway issue can be solved sooner if there is will from all sides,” Ivanishvili said. President Putin responded to this statement of Ivanishvili and expressed readiness to support the restoration of the Sokhumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan railway route. “We believe that with other partners it is possible to think and in case of common agreement implement projects such as transit railway transportation to the directions of Sokhumi and Tbilisi and then to Yerevan and to Russia. Implementation of such a project will create conditions for the development of cooperation among all interested parties in the region,” he said. President Putin made the decision after signing the cooperation document with the de-facto president of occupied Abkhazia Raul Khajimba. The issue of the railway on the agenda of the Georgian Dream did not end there. When the government presented the list of sites for privatization, the Minister of Economy said with regret that the Georgian Railway was not on the list. “It would be good to put 25% of the Georgian Railway for privatization. It would largely increase the income from privatization. However, at the same time we should treat the issue carefully and approach possible owners of the railway shares selectively,” Giorgi Kvirikashvili said without specifying the names of possible owners.
Concerns of analysts followed these statements about the railway on why the government was hiding its restoration for almost one month. Of the many versions of possible reasons covered by the media, the main opinion was that Russia has either already convinced the Georgian government to open the Abkhazian railway or hopes to convince them in the near future. It is noteworthy that statements on the possible opening of the railway in Abkhazia on the Russian side were made by the deputy Foreign Minister Gregory Karasin during negotiations for the purposes of discussion but the Georgian side was not amenable. A recent topic at the Karasin-Abashidze negotiations was activation of the Georgia-Russia agreement signed in 2011, which considered putting Swiss customs officers on the Georgia-Russia border (at thePsou River). It is not ruled out that Russia will attempt to link the restoration of the railway in Abkhazia with this agreement. Interestingly, in the polemics in the press, the government reacted with enthusiasm, starting with the Defense Minister and finishing with the Probation Minister, everyone tried to guess what Russia had in mind but no minister managed to give answers to the main question – why was the government hiding the railway restoration?
The most interesting aspect in this railway saga is that information has spread already that Azerbaijan has already transferred money to the Swiss company Stadler Rail Group to buy 30 passenger carriages of international standards. These carriages will move on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which according to vesti.az, should be launched at the beginning of next year, i.e. in a few months, after the Russian railway troops finish railway works in the occupied Abkhazia in December. Therefore, it is easy to guess why the Kremlin is trying to restore the railway and what alternative it is offering to Tbilisi.
Zaza Jgharkava
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