Armenia and the information war

[Tigranakert]

Re: Armenia and the information war

I took a video of Euronews and changed the name and the discription of it a little bit.
It is really funny how fast the western "free" media start to support Lemon's actions.
What do you think, should I change the text in the discription of the video ?

Good job Herman, I think it is good. When was this video posted on Euronews?

A witness to yesterday's protest made a good report, responding to biased anti-Armenian US funded political "media" ArmeniaNow;

I dont agree with your article title, simply because it doesnt correspond to the reality on the scene. Allow me to tell of what I have seen. Around 5:45pm, almost an hour into the rally near Madenataran, I and four of my friends we approached the area and it was quit visible that not a big number of people were attending. Good strategy from the organizers to ask their supporters to stand in two-three per person groups ten meters from each other to try to look that the numbers are bigger. We walked back to Opera and we asked the guarding policemen if we can have a coffee at one of the cafes inside the liberty square premises. They allow us directly. From there on, what I witness was simply a show. The police knew that they are going to allow demonstrators in and it was visible with their non panicking mood and they waited patiently until protesters gathered and then allowed them in. There was no sign of violance, arguments or any other. Visible change of strategy by government to allow not more then 10,000 opposition rally participants to access the square. An hour before they stationed non riot police around the square. I dont understand of what opposition is talking about police backing down or "liberating"... a clear wrong propaganda. And poor Raffi, he had only two dozen of people around him inside... and to ArmeniaNow, as press and media outlet, you should get your facts right. If not readers will not believe of what you are writing in the future.

responding to this article;

http://armenianow.com/news/28340/opposition_rally_liberty_square_entrance

Sevag Padoyan.

[Mos]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Don't ask me. There was also another Iranian, who preferred to call himself an Azeri (I doubt he was Iranian, as through Iran Azeri spies reach Armenia). He had married an Armenian women, and probably had more women back in Iran. I was watching them with disgust every day (because they were our neighbors). Eventually, he left the Armenian women (girl) some time ago, ofcourse. He probably just needed sex while he was in Yerevan.

The trucks entering Armenia via Iran are sometimes filled with camera's which shoot films at strategic locations, this was also once revealed by the Armenian police.

That's truly disgusting - that person should have been shot. And that women is an idiot and a disgrace.

[Mos]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Good job Herman, I think it is good. When was this video posted on Euronews?

A witness to yesterday's protest made a good report, responding to biased anti-Armenian US funded political "media" ArmeniaNow;

I dont agree with your article title, simply because it doesnt correspond to the reality on the scene. Allow me to tell of what I have seen. Around 5:45pm, almost an hour into the rally near Madenataran, I and four of my friends we approached the area and it was quit visible that not a big number of people were attending. Good strategy from the organizers to ask their supporters to stand in two-three per person groups ten meters from each other to try to look that the numbers are bigger. We walked back to Opera and we asked the guarding policemen if we can have a coffee at one of the cafes inside the liberty square premises. They allow us directly. From there on, what I witness was simply a show. The police knew that they are going to allow demonstrators in and it was visible with their non panicking mood and they waited patiently until protesters gathered and then allowed them in. There was no sign of violance, arguments or any other. Visible change of strategy by government to allow not more then 10,000 opposition rally participants to access the square. An hour before they stationed non riot police around the square. I dont understand of what opposition is talking about police backing down or "liberating"... a clear wrong propaganda. And poor Raffi, he had only two dozen of people around him inside... and to ArmeniaNow, as press and media outlet, you should get your facts right. If not readers will not believe of what you are writing in the future.

responding to this article;

http://armenianow.com/news/28340/opposition_rally_liberty_square_entrance

Sevag Padoyan.

Well to be fair, I remember when there were anti-Saakashvili protests in Georgia they were widely reported on by Euronews.

When it comes to the actual protest itself today - we must also remember that in Yerevan you had some high ranking OSCE officials and one could argue allowing the protesters into Opera Square and freeing the 2 jailed opposition people was more a concession to the OSCE officials to show an improved situation than to the opposition

[Mos]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Talking about information war:

The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.
A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.
The project has been likened by web experts to China's attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet. Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives.
The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as "sock puppets" – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same.
The Centcom contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers should be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".

[Mos]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Report on Minority schools in Georgia

Georgia: Ethnic Minorities Confront Education Hurdles
March 18, 2011 - 3:53pm, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Georgia Children Education Language Policy
President Mikheil Saakashvili has described Georgia as the cultural crossroads of the Caucasus, a place where various ethnicities can easily mix. But a look at attempts at language integration for the country’s minority ethnic Azeri and Armenian populations suggests that sizable obstacles must be overcome if the government is to make Saakashvili’s depiction a reality.

Based on data from Georgia’s last census, ethnic Azeri and Armenian residents together made up just over 12 percent (284,148 ethnic Azeris and 249,175 ethnic Armenians) of the country’s 2002 population of 4.37 million. Georgian-language instruction is a must in all of the country’s 40 minority-language public schools, but limited exposure to spoken Georgian in some areas -- especially the Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions, which have large ethnic Azeri and Armenian populations respectively -- means that minority students do not always have a functional knowledge of the national language.

Russian, a language sometimes used to teach in ethnic Armenian schools in the predominantly ethnic Armenian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, is no substitute. Most employment in Georgia’s private sector is dependent on the ability to speak Georgian (and, increasingly, English as well); all government jobs also require that ability.

To improve knowledge of Georgian among ethnic minority groups, the government has set up a program to “promote [the] popularization” of Georgian as a state language, and to provide fallbacks, ranging from translated textbooks to minority-language university entrance exams, to guarantee that minority students can continue with their education.

Ministry of Education officials did not respond to EurasiaNet.org’s requests to comment on the program, however. The program’s page on the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement website contains no information in either Georgian or English.

Some teachers, though, have formed their own evaluations. One professor of education at Ilia Chavchavadze University in Tbilisi argues that instruction in any subject in minority languages in Georgia is deficient. Meanwhile, ongoing updates in teaching techniques and materials have largely bypassed non-Georgian-speaking schools, claimed Simon Janashia.

“Georgian(-speaking) teachers receive trainings in teaching methodology, receive new textbooks and teaching materials,” said Janashia. “But such resources have not been fully extended to non-Georgian-speaking teachers and, therefore, their teaching skills fall behind.”

Georgian-language textbooks in math, history and other subjects have been translated into minority languages, but the translations have not entirely rectified matters, some ethnic Armenians and Azeris complain.

“I don’t know who translated these books, but the language there often makes no sense,” commented Naira Avetisian, a math teacher in the predominantly ethnic Armenian town of Akhalkalaki. “I think they were translated from English to Georgian, and then from Georgian to Armenian, and bits of common sense were lost at every stage of translation.”

More than linguistics can make for confusion, though. The content of some history and geography textbooks, translated from Georgian into Armenian or Azeri, often contradicts the information in Armenian-language and Azeri-language history and geography textbooks that Yerevan and Baku, until recently, sent to Georgia’s Armenian-language and Azeri-language schools.

Those ethnic Azeris and Armenians who want to improve their children’s knowledge of Georgian can face further obstacles. Classroom segregation, allegedly based on language knowledge, is still common in public schools. Ethnic Georgian and non-Georgian students are often placed in different classes because of their differing levels of Georgian language skills – a practice that would appear to contradict the spirit of the Ministry of Education’s Georgian Language program, which emphasizes “civil integration.” Ministry officials did not respond to EurasiaNet.org’s requests for comment.

“I want my daughter to study in class with Georgian children to pick up Georgian, but the teachers says she will be falling behind the rest of the class,” said Alina Mamedova, who works in a store in Marneuli, a predominantly ethnic Azeri district not far from the border with Azerbaijan.

A December 2010 story by online news magazine Netgazeti.ge that examined this practice in one suburban Tbilisi school found that the parents of ethnic Georgian students often request the segregation. [Editor’s Note: Netgazeti.ge receives funding from the Open Society Assistance Foundation Georgia, part of the Soros Foundations network. EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of the new York-based Open Society Foundations].

While problems persist in K-12 public schools, the government prefers to tout its success in reducing the linguistic divide in Georgia’s universities. To make Georgia’s universities more accessible to students who are not native Georgian speakers, the government in 2006 set up general skills tests in Armenian and Azeri, and established entrance quotas for both minorities. In what seems to be a largely symbolic offer, ethnic Abkhaz and South Ossetians can also take the general university exam in their own languages. Russian, however, is no longer offered as an option.

Successful minority applicants spend the first year of university in a preparatory course that offers Georgian language instruction. They then proceed to the general four-year undergraduate study program. The program appears to have “simplified access to higher education for ethnic minorities,” commented European Center for Minority Issues Diversity Programs Coordinator Salome Mekhuzla.

Education ministry officials were not available to comment on the success of the so-called “1 + 4” program.

For members of Georgian ethnic minority groups, such as the Marneuli store clerk Mamedova, the opportunity for that language help is the main thing; the key to expanding choices for the future. “Our children must be taught Georgian, Russian and Azeri,” along with English, she commented. “Once they know it all, they can decide themselves whether they want to work in Tbilisi, Baku or Moscow.”

Editor's note: Giorgi Lomsadze is a freelance reporter based in Tbilis

[Persopolis]

Re: Armenia and the information war

MISINFORMATION? A CAUSE TO BE CAREFUL OF CAPTURED SOLDIERS THAT ASSIST THE ENEMY? OR BOTH?

Armenian Defense Ministry said that Azerbaijani serviceman held in prison in Armenia Roman Huseynov does not want to return to homeland, press secretary of Armenia’s Defense Ministry David Karapetyan said, APA reports citing Novosti Armenia.

Karapetyan noted that if Huseynov wanted to return to Azerbaijan, Armenia would be ready to hand over him.

Junior Sergeant of Azerbaijani Army Roman Huseynov was captured on August 27 last year by the Armenian armed forces.

Sergeant Anar Hajiyev captured by Armenians was handed over to Azerbaijan and civilian Artur Badalyan held in Azerbaijan was handed over to Armenia.

At present, there are 8 Armenian captives and hostages in Azerbaijan.

Recently, Grant Markosyan, Rafik Tevosyan and Vartan Sarkisyan who passed into the Azerbaijani side voluntarily in February, 2009 have been sent to the third country of his own volition and by the mediation of the UN representation in Azerbaijan. It is not reported that which country they have been sent.

3 more Armenian servicemen captured in Azerbaijan have already expressed their wish to be sent to the third country.

Other 5 Armenian civilians are from a family who passed into the Azerbaijani side voluntarily.


/APA/

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/82923.html

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Better late than never....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NSS to strengthen information security in Armenia, NKR
March 21, 2011 - 15:00 AMT 11:00 GMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The RA National Security Service was offered to increase the number of governmental websites of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh to be officially protected. A relevant decision was taken during a meeting of the coordinating intergovernmental committee on information security concept chaired by National Security Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan.

It’s noteworthy that the National Security Service managed to prevent hacker attacks on Armenian governmental websites in 2010.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/it_telecom/news/64752/

[londontsi]

Re: Armenia and the information war

PanARMENIAN.Net - ............... chaired by National Security Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan.

I am intrigued by this fellow.

Didn’t he once support Armenia joining NATO?

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

I am intrigued by this fellow.

Didn’t he once support Armenia joining NATO?

Perhaps in the past. Arthur Baghdasaryan has been in Serge Sargsyan's bag since the end of the 2008 elections. His policies is SS's policies.

[Mos]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Interesting piece:

Bryza voices message of U.S. to Azerbaijan: aircrafts will fly to Karabakh
March 21, 2011 - 20:50 AMT 16:50 GMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The statement of U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza on unacceptability of force application by Azerbaijan against civilian planes flying to Nagorno Karabakh was surprising.

It was Bryza’s response to the statement of Arif Mammadov, director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation Administration, who said that Azerbaijan will shoot down civilian planes flying to Karabakh after reopening of Stepanakert airport.

The U.S., which turns a blind eye on bellicose statements of Azerbaijan, permanent ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan resulting in Armenian soldiers’ death, active arming of the Azerbaijani armed forces, this time unequivocally hinted that Baku is free in its actions but within strictly defined boundaries.

Washington cannot but understand that even an attempt to shoot down an aircraft flying to Karabakh will immediately turn into a war, what was clearly stated by Stepanakert.

“Any slight attempt Azerbaijan might take will be fraught with unpredictable repercussions for Azerbaijan itself,” head of the Central Information Department at the Office of the Artsakh President David Babayan said.

Moreover, Bryza voiced a message of the U.S. to Azerbaijan that airplanes will fly to Karabakh. “We urge the sides to work together to resolve all issues of commercial aviation safety prior to the planned opening of a new airport in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Bryza said in an interview with RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service. The airport in Stepanakert is scheduled to be put into operation in May 2011.

Taking into consideration the tense situation in Arab countries and the military operation of allied forces in Libya, the U.S. does not need another hot spot, the more so as Russia and due to fair reasons, possibly, Iran will not stand aside, what may turn into a global catastrophe.

Due to this very reason Washington decided to shorten Azerbaijan’s leash, which is too long sometimes.