Armenia and the information war

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Supreme efforts of Azeri community leader in Emirates to disgrace Armenians

In a pretty weird interview with Day.AZ Azeri website, Mr. Samir Iman, the Head of Azerbaijani Diaspora organization in United Arab Emirates (UAE), spent more than half of his time talking about the Armenian community (instead of talking about his own community), providing details on the number of Armenians in UAE, where they meet and what they do, where they originally came from and level of their knowledge of Arabic language, etc.

Following this introduction Mr. Iman expressed his opinion “despite the relatively large number of Armenians, they cannot do anything openly or stage any propaganda … we can say that the Armenian Diaspora in the UAE is dead and is hardly felt here”.

He declared that Armenians “took advantage” of Turkish President Abdullah Gul's visit to Yerevan last year and published an article in Gulf News (popular Dubai daily), stating that “with the support of Turkey Azerbaijan has imposed a blockade on Karabakh and wanted to occupy it”. Due to his supreme efforts the same newspaper, he emphasized, published a new article in which the Azeri positions were emphasized.

Mr. Iman concluded his interview stating that he has been busy within last two years distributing in the UAE and in other Gulf countries an anti-Armenian book and another book glorifying Azeri ex-leader Heydar Aliyev.

Azad-Hye Middle East Armenian Website has tried to locate the above two articles in the newspaper’s online archives, but was unable to find anything of the kind.

First of all the Armenian presence in the UAE goes back to the fifties of the last century. Six of the ten big companies in the early years in Abu Dhabi (in the 1960s) were managed by Armenians. The first licenses in the industrial area in the Emirate of Sharjah were issued to Armenian-owned companies. This is aside from numerous Armenians who served as managers of trading companies, banks, chief engineers, chief accountants, financial advisors as well as in other economic disciplines throughout the Emirates.

The status of the Armenians in the UAE has improved even more during the last decades. There is a permanent Armenian Church with community center in Sharjah and another one to be built in Abu Dhabi soon. Hundreds of Armenian children continue to attend weekly lessons in Armenian language and civilization. Many organizations function. According to Azad-Hye the total number of Armenian events during 2008 was about 92, excluding the regular church ceremonies. The Armenian annual ball is one of the most known social events in Dubai.

In 2008, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of organized community life, the Council of the Armenian Community in the Northern Emirates (Dubai, Sharjah, etc) has published a well documented book, in which details were given about the presence of the Armenians in the country and the progress of the community until recent times.

For over twenty years the Abu Dhabi Cultural Association has been arranging different mega cultural activities at least twice a year. These include famous Armenian orchestras from Armenia, quartets and small musical groups from Armenia, Europe and several Arab countries where Armenians live, as well as exhibitions of works of Armenian painters and sculptors.

Since 2000 the Armenian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has been arranging yearly Armenian cultural weeks with the participation of specially invited individuals and groups from Armenia.

Azad-Hye website has covered thousands of topics since its establishment in 2003, with more than 60 000 monthly visitors. It has contributors in several countries and an online Armenian radio station.

It is obvious that Mr. Iman wants to please his single-sided readers and score well with his government, but his attempts and analytical exercises are so naive that at a certain point they can embarrass or, to be more precise, mislead the Azeris. A quick reading of the above basic facts reveals how shallow the pool of information Mr. Iman commands.

http://news.am/en/news/2782.html

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Do you remember a while back azeris made claims that Armenia blocked a website about khojaly from being accessed from Armenia? Well apparently Armenia didnt block it, azeris blocked access from the Armenian ip.

Another Azeri Lie About Khojalu Events

From: Mihran Kalaydjian <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:12:13 +0500 (AMST)
ANOTHER AZERI LIE ABOUT KHOJALU EVENTS

Panorama.am
17:56 18/08/2009

Even though Azerbaijani "propaganda production" is hardly digested
by its own "consumers", Azeri "specialists" continue making funny
tricks to justify their existence, generally, and try hard to serve
ruling Alievs' clan particularly.

There is no need to be surprised as we are speaking about a state
which foreign ministry finds it possible to make official messages
referred to information available in "Wikipedia", and the military
officers of that state are active followers of Chapayev's, having no
idea that in case military activities are started, taking into account
the modern communication technologies, the first coffins will be sent
to Baku faster that they could imagine.

Khojalu events are ranked on top of the Azeri myths to make its own
people and the international society fool.

With staged shots and falsified "arguments", by the confession of
Azeri former president, having mission to own the power, Khojalu
massacre conducted by democratic forces of Azerbaijan are the most
famous brands of Azeri agitation, which is periodically served to
the international society as "evidence of Armenians' violence."

Several massacres against Armenian people, including in Baku, Sumgayit,
Kirovabat, Agdam, Maraga, which were organized by the representatives
of Azeri state, the fables of Khojalu are no more interesting for
any one; the ruling Azeri clan chaired by Leyla Aliev has taken the
initiative for the next lie to make the representatives of different
nations inhabited in Azerbaijan fool.

In this case we mean that Azeri used to say that Armenians have
"blocked" Azerbaijani campaign site telling about the liberation of
Khojalu by Nagorno-Karabakh defence army. After making some tests
by the participation of the international organizations it has been
found out that the information is pure lie.

The results of the tests http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb_z9t5SDCA are
accurately recorded, showed that enterance from Armenian IP addresses
into that site is blocked by the Azeri owners of that site. Later
that information has been confirmed by the hosting company serving
that web site.

To conclude, Azeri hysteric campaign has been failed clashing with
the reality.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg280172.html

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

PWNED! Great find ninetoyadome ,

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Let's hope for a disqualification folks. It should also investigate the busing in/funding of voters from Latvia and other Eastern European countries.
----------------------------------------------------------------
EBU investigates facts of interrogation of Azerbaijanis voted for Armenia in Eurovision
19.08.2009 21:32 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Last week the Azeri press disseminated information that the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan interrogated 43 citizens voted in favor of the Armenian singers Inga and Anush Arshakyan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. In this regard, the European Broadcasting Union EBU started their own investigation of these cases.

As Diana Mnatsakanyan , adviser to Executive Director of Armenia's Public TV told a PanARMEINIAN.Net reporter, in order to know the phone numbers of voters, there must be an official document issued with the permission of EMU and the Digame company, responsible for counting the votes. Permission to declassify the numbers of citizens participated in voting may be given in case of criminal proceedings against these people.

”Action of the Azerbaijani Government are ridiculous. 1065 mobile text messages from Armenia were sent in favor of Azeri singer's song and no one went as far as to call KGB,” Diana Mnatsakanyan said.

Diana Mantsakanyan yesterday sent a letter to European Broadcasting Union with a request to inform whether the Azeri side has provided any official document to request declassification of phone numbers of Azerbaijani citizens, voted in favor of Armenia.

In her letter, Diana Mnatsakanian also asked the EMU representatives, to say whether this situation means that Armenia will never get votes from Azerbaijan due to intervention of Azerbaijani state agencies in the song contest and whether the voting has turned to be unfair?

The adviser to the executive Director of the Armenia's Public TV received a reply from European Broadcasting Union, saying that the executive head of the Eurovision contest Svantes Stokcelius is engaged in investigating the incident, and they cannot comment until its completion.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=35445

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

ARMENIA: WAVE OF HACKER ATTACKS BLAMED ON AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY
Marianna Grigoryan 8/19/09

A surge in hacker attacks on several Armenian government and private websites has prompted Armenian information technology experts to demand that Armenia’s Internet security become a matter of state security.

Since the beginning of August, an estimated 100 attacks have been leveled at servers hosting websites for the government, the Armenian State Tax Service, the Diaspora Ministry and the webmail for the Ministry of Economy. The attacks have reportedly intensified in the past ten days. Websites for the Russian-owned VTB Bank, the Armenian Football Federation and the mayor of Gyumri, a town in northwestern Armenia near the Turkish border, have also been targeted.

Among other acts, hackers posted on the sites swear words in English, the flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey, a map that shows the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbiajan, and photos of victims from the 1988-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

A photo of Azerbaijani Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who axed to death an Armenian army officer during North Atlantic Treaty Organization training exercises in 2004, was placed on the home pages of the State Tax Service and the Diaspora Ministry.

"Attacks always occur, but this time they are unprecedented and persistent," said information security consultant Samvel Martirosian."The number of successful attacks is already alarming. It’s clear that if the situation goes on like this, the whole of Armenia might very soon become very vulnerable."

Information security experts blame Azerbaijani and Turkish hackers for the attacks -- a reflection of Armenia’s ongoing sour relations with both countries.

In general, they say, attacks on Armenian government sites tend to pick up pace around dates related to the 1988-1994 war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, the April 24 commemoration of the 1915 mass slaughter of ethnic Armenians in Turkey, or various political developments.

August, when most of Armenia is on vacation, is the considered the "hottest" time for hacker attacks since websites are less tightly monitored then, experts say. Last August, hackers took over the websites for the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and the General Prosecutor’s Office, according to Ruben Muradian, chief security officer at Yerevan’s Smart Tech company, which specializes in IT security for banks.

One political analyst argues that the issue is a sign of flagging Azerbaijani interest in talks with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

"This is a confrontational attitude, a method of state propaganda demonstrating that Azerbaijan is not ready for peace," asserted Suren Surenyants, who is also a senior member of the opposition Republican Party.

No attempt has been made to contact the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan, with which Armenia has no diplomatic relations, about the attacks.

A representative of the National Security Service, however, maintains that efforts have already been taken to defend government servers from such attacks.

In late April 2009, the National Security Service set up a hub server that has allegedly prevented "more than 10,000" hacker attacks in the period, according to Artsvin Baghramian, director of the National Security Service’s press center assures.

Baghramian termed the uproar over the August attacks just a "fuss."

"This is not an issue to be solved in a year," Baghramyan said. "We have worked and found the weak spots for the attacked websites. Now we are trying to increase the defenses and enlarge the hub [server]."

Nonetheless, IT specialists worry about what the attacks say about Armenia’s level of Internet security.

"It’s not even important what they place [on the websites] . . . this stuff will be deleted. Maybe someone will lose their job, maybe not," commented SmartTech’s Muradian. "What is important is our attitude to security. Even one hijacked website is a big problem in terms of information security. "

Expert Martirosian notes that cheap, poor-quality websites make the level of IT security in Armenia extremely low. Owners do not perform continuous site maintenance , and do not update security systems as attack methods change.

President Sargsyan’s website -- "under constant control" -- is one notable exception to this trend, he added.

"Security is continuous work . . ." commented Muradian. "Websites will be hijacked until we start treating security as a process."

Editor's Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance journalist based in Yerevan.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav081909a.shtml

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Merciless killing of Azerbaijani in Armenian captivity confirmed

[ 20 Aug 2009 13:55 ]
Baku. Hafiz Heydarov – APA. The merciless killing of Azerbaijani captured by Armenians was confirmed. State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons made a statement about it, APA reports.

While analyzing the materials collected in the State Commission about the people captured as a result of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan, it became known that Atakishiyev Farhad Rahman, 39, was killed mercilessly in captivity. The investigations found out that Armenians treated Atakishiyev mercilessly, because he guided our soldiers as the resident of Kerkijahan settlement. Armenian servicemen considered that this factor caused great losses when they attacked Kerkijahan in December, 1991, they tortured Atakishiyev and wanted to make him say “Karabakh belongs to Armenians”. But Farhad Atakishiyev was not afraid of tortures and death and said “Karabakh belongs and will belong to Azerbaijan”, that’s why he was killed mercilessly. 72 deadly injuries were found on his body during the forensic medical examination. The materials gathered about Atakishiyev Farhad were presented to Azerbaijani President and under the order issued by the President on July 28, 2009, he was awarded “Azerbaijani flag” order (postmortem).

http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=106438

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Azeris are far from being bibliophiles


Azeris are no more interested in books. Aliaga Jafarov, “Akademkniga” store manager told 1news.az that the purchase interest of readers reduced compared to last years. Overall, the bookselling decreased for 30-35%.

“I have no clue what are the reasons for this, hopefully this situation is urgent only for our store. My colleagues have recently complained about the same problem and tried to find the way out,” Jafarov said.

About 70% of all books published in Azerbaijan are sold in “Akademkniga” store, excluding literature from Dubai, Russia and Iran.

“I work in this field for 30 years and cannot explain the decline of reading interest particularly, and in books on the whole, especially among young people,” the manager concluded.

http://news.am/en/news/2835.html

[Pedro Xaramillo]

Re: Armenia and the information war

ARMENIA: WAVE OF HACKER ATTACKS BLAMED ON AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY
Marianna Grigoryan 8/19/09

A surge in hacker attacks on several Armenian government and private websites has prompted Armenian information technology experts to demand that Armenia’s Internet security become a matter of state security.

Since the beginning of August, an estimated 100 attacks have been leveled at servers hosting websites for the government, the Armenian State Tax Service, the Diaspora Ministry and the webmail for the Ministry of Economy. The attacks have reportedly intensified in the past ten days. Websites for the Russian-owned VTB Bank, the Armenian Football Federation and the mayor of Gyumri, a town in northwestern Armenia near the Turkish border, have also been targeted.

Among other acts, hackers posted on the sites swear words in English, the flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey, a map that shows the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbiajan, and photos of victims from the 1988-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

A photo of Azerbaijani Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who axed to death an Armenian army officer during North Atlantic Treaty Organization training exercises in 2004, was placed on the home pages of the State Tax Service and the Diaspora Ministry.

"Attacks always occur, but this time they are unprecedented and persistent," said information security consultant Samvel Martirosian."The number of successful attacks is already alarming. It’s clear that if the situation goes on like this, the whole of Armenia might very soon become very vulnerable."

Information security experts blame Azerbaijani and Turkish hackers for the attacks -- a reflection of Armenia’s ongoing sour relations with both countries.

In general, they say, attacks on Armenian government sites tend to pick up pace around dates related to the 1988-1994 war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, the April 24 commemoration of the 1915 mass slaughter of ethnic Armenians in Turkey, or various political developments.

August, when most of Armenia is on vacation, is the considered the "hottest" time for hacker attacks since websites are less tightly monitored then, experts say. Last August, hackers took over the websites for the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and the General Prosecutor’s Office, according to Ruben Muradian, chief security officer at Yerevan’s Smart Tech company, which specializes in IT security for banks.

One political analyst argues that the issue is a sign of flagging Azerbaijani interest in talks with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

"This is a confrontational attitude, a method of state propaganda demonstrating that Azerbaijan is not ready for peace," asserted Suren Surenyants, who is also a senior member of the opposition Republican Party.

No attempt has been made to contact the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan, with which Armenia has no diplomatic relations, about the attacks.

A representative of the National Security Service, however, maintains that efforts have already been taken to defend government servers from such attacks.

In late April 2009, the National Security Service set up a hub server that has allegedly prevented "more than 10,000" hacker attacks in the period, according to Artsvin Baghramian, director of the National Security Service’s press center assures.

Baghramian termed the uproar over the August attacks just a "fuss."

"This is not an issue to be solved in a year," Baghramyan said. "We have worked and found the weak spots for the attacked websites. Now we are trying to increase the defenses and enlarge the hub [server]."

Nonetheless, IT specialists worry about what the attacks say about Armenia’s level of Internet security.

"It’s not even important what they place [on the websites] . . . this stuff will be deleted. Maybe someone will lose their job, maybe not," commented SmartTech’s Muradian. "What is important is our attitude to security. Even one hijacked website is a big problem in terms of information security. "

Expert Martirosian notes that cheap, poor-quality websites make the level of IT security in Armenia extremely low. Owners do not perform continuous site maintenance , and do not update security systems as attack methods change.

President Sargsyan’s website -- "under constant control" -- is one notable exception to this trend, he added.

"Security is continuous work . . ." commented Muradian. "Websites will be hijacked until we start treating security as a process."

Editor's Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance journalist based in Yerevan.

http://www.eurasianet.org/department...v081909a.shtml

Any idea what system the Armenian Government is using, anything below AES is useless for a government institution, in addition the message digest system must be high or Azeris will get it

Armenia should seriously check out for a encryption/security experts, because ont he net no data is safe unless it has the top level encryption, even sites like Ebay have easy protection if you know what you are doing

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Azeri drivers buy permits



The majority of Azeri drivers buy their licenses, that leads to a high rate of traffic accidents in Baku, Mazahir Rustamov, the Head of Public Organization on traffic legal issues stated, Trend Life reports.

“More than 90% of Baku drivers by hook or by crook in one of the stages of getting the permit deal with the problem by paying,” Rustamov said.

The number of these drivers increases and as a result driving by rules in Baku is impossible: “Untrained drivers auto as they can, driving to the public danger.”

Rustamov considers that in other countries drivers learn traffic regulations prior to buying a car. The situation in Azerbaijan is over the left: “They buy a car first, then acquire a license.”

http://news.am/en/news/2868.html

--------------------------------------------------------
Georgian citizens supply weapons for Islamists


The Philippine police arrested a Panamanian ship transporting five boxes of Gagil rifles produced in Israel. The walla.co.il. portal reports that the crew was formed of Georgian citizens.

According to the accompanying documents, the dry-cargo ship, which entered the port of Mariveles for uncertain reasons, left a Turkish port for the Philippine port of Batangas.

The authorities believe the Israeli weapons were intended for the Islamist insurgents in the Philippines. The Government has been warring against them for over ten years.

http://news.am/en/news/2878.html

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Azeris are poorer than they seem to be
15:46 / 08/22/2009


Azerbaijani Government stated the poverty rate in Azerbaijan is 13.2%, declining only by 2.6%, which apparently does not correspond to reality.

According to the experts, discrepancy is caused by minimum subsistence consumer basket miscalculation. Under the Azerbaijani Economic Research Center data, minimum subsistence basket totals 119 manat, which for 41% exceeds consumer basket adopted by Azerbaijani Government in 2008 (84 manat).

In particular, minimal basket for social unsecured people is 131 manat and 83 qapik, for pensioners — 100 manat and 63 qapik; for children — 124 manat and 54 qapik.

http://news.am/en/news/2939.html