The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

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

Armenian president accuses opposition of coup attempt

Armenia's incumbent president described on Saturday opposition protests against the results of Tuesday's polls in the country, which elected Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan its new leader, as a coup attempt. European and CIS observers described the February 19 polls, where Sarkisyan received 52.86% of the vote, as complying with international democratic standards. However, supporters of Sarkisyan's nearest rival, Armenia's first president Levon-Ter-Petrosyan, who garnered 21.5%, have refused to recognize the elections as valid. The opposition has been rallying in central Yerevan since Wednesday, calling for new elections.

"Our action will be resolute and sharp, aimed at maintaining stability and constitutional order in the country," President Robert Kocharyan said, adding that the country's stability could never be "a bargaining issue."

The outgoing president held three separate meetings on Saturday with chiefs of the country's police, Army and security service. He complained that the events in Armenia were aimed at creating tensions and regretted the absence in the country of "an important element of democracy," a culture to admit failure. Senior police officers assured the president that the police had enough capacity to neutralize provocations and maintain law and order in the republic. Earlier on Saturday, Kocharyan decreed to dismiss Gagik Dzhangiryan, deputy prosecutor general, who expressed his support to Ter-Petrosyan at an opposition rally on Friday. Meanwhile, the European Union and Washington have issued statements to congratulate Armenia on "competitive" presidential polls.

"We congratulate the people of Armenia on the active and competitive presidential election of February 19 and note the preliminary assessment of the OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Parliamentary Assembly that the election was 'mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections,'" State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said on Friday. However, Washington pointed to certain problems with electoral procedures and urged the Armenian government "investigate all allegations of irregularities, and implement steps to improve future elections." The EU Presidency welcomed "the genuine efforts that were made to address the shortcomings in previous elections" and called Armenia's elections "an important test for democracy." The EU also expressed concerns about the electoral process and pushed for further improvements "to address the remaining challenges."

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080223/99937795.html

RUSSIAN POLITICIAN VIACHESLAV NIKONOV

Panorama.am. Mr. Nikonov you’ve done various political analysis on Armenian inner political developments. What do you think is there are only two major poles between Serzj Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan and that the main struggle is between them?

Nikonov. The survey results which I’ve seen show that Levon Ter-Petrosyan is not even the second one, but the third probably. That why I can not say that he is a major candidate. I think that the elections should have only one part and Serzh Sargsyan will win.

Panorama.am. How do you evaluate Armenian-Russian relationship? Nikonov. I evaluate the development of our relations positively in any sphere. There is an integral mark on increase of economic connections and it presents the entire image. For the last years this mark is 68% which is the highest mark in 2007 (I am talking about trade relations). So there is a positive dynamic.

Source: http://www.panorama.am/en/interviews/2008/02/09/ikonov/

KOCHARYAN MET WITH PUTIN AND SAHAKASHVILI

On 23 February the President of RA Robert Kocharyan participated at the CIS country members’ non formal summit in Moscow. According to the press and public relations department of the president’s administration, president Kocharyan had a meeting with the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin expressed his thankfulness to the president of the Armenian Republic and particularly mentioned that “due to his support and efforts Armenian-Russian relations were strengthened in economical and in political aspects in the past recent years”. Robert Kocharyan also thanked for the warmest wishings and said “To evaluate the past years, we can accept that our relations were strengthened in all aspects. Those years were really effective for Armenia and for Russia as well.” Robert Kocharyan met with the president of Georgia Mikhail Sahakashvili. Armenian and Georgian presidents discussed several economic items and made some arrangements that those issues should be discussed in detailed. It is planned that Lado Gurgenidze, the Prime Minister of Georgia should visit Armenia for improving those economic problems.

Source: http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2008/02/23/moscow/

[Armenian]

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

Russia Is Behind Serbian Extremists, Holbrooke Said

Riots near the U.S. embassy in Belgrade is the result of Russia’s support of Serbian extremists, said Richard Holbrooke, top foreign advisor in the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and once the negotiator in the Balkans. "The fact that [declaring independence has] not happened as peacefully as people had hoped is the direct result of the incitement to violence by extremist elements in Belgrade, implicitly and privately supported by the Russians,” Richard Holbrooke told CNN in live air. Holbrooke, chief architect of the Dayton peace accords for former Yugoslavia, is notorious for his anti-Russian rhetoric. Far back past April, when the Ahtisaari plan was under discussion, Holbrooke said: “Kosovo will become independent. It's inevitable. But the Russians are encouraging the hard-liners in Belgrade by opposing the Ahtisaari plan and that is very unhelpful. And if the Ahtisaari plan is not approved by the UN Security Council when it comes up for decision next month, there will be violence in Kosovo, and that will be the consequence of Russian actions, and they should be held fully accountable for that if it happens.”

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-12111/Holbrooke_Serbia/

[Armenian]

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

I love Zhirinovsky

There are many things we Armenians can learn from Russians. The following treatment of the 'opposition' is merely one of them.

Televised debate ends in a scuffle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvw_pEzmA08

[Armenian]

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

Russia pledges support to Serbia



Serbs pay tribute to Soviet liberators: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PZmB_qw99Y

The man tipped to become the next Russian president has vowed his country will "stick to" its support for Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence. Deputy PM Dmitry Medvedev was in Belgrade for talks with Serb President Boris Tadic and PM Vojislav Kostunica. Although its focus is mainly economic, the visit is seen as a sign of support for Serbia's view on Kosovo, the BBC's Bethany Bell in Belgrade says. Kosovo's declaration of independence sparked protests in Serbia last week. "We proceed from the assumption that Serbia is a united country, whose jurisdiction covers the whole of its territory, and we shall stick to this principled stand," Mr Medvedev said during his meeting with Mr Kostunica, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported. Mr Medvedev's comments, and the timing of his visit, will be seen as evidence that Russia's foreign policy is unlikely to change once serving President Vladimir Putin steps down. Mr Putin's term in office has seen a marked deterioration in relations with the West, most recently over the issues of Kosovo and Nato's ambitions in former eastern bloc states like Poland and the Czech Republic.

'Flagrant cynicism'

Mr Medvedev is the favourite to take over from Mr Putin after next Sunday's presidential election in Russia. According to Itar-Tass, he said Kosovo's declaration of independence was "absolutely at variance with international law". He said he and Mr Kostunica had "made a deal to coordinate together our efforts in order to get out of this complicated situation". A deal between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Serbian state enterprise Serbiagas on a planned gas pipeline in Serbia was signed during the visit, Russian news agency Interfax reported. Our correspondent says Russia has emerged as Serbia's strongest ally in the country's opposition to Kosovo's independence. On Sunday the Russian foreign ministry accused the United States of "flagrant cynicism" in recognising Kosovo's declaration of independence a week ago. The statement followed a comment by US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who accused Russia of aggravating tensions over the Kosovo issue. The US and most European countries have supported Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Border posts row

Also on Monday, Belgrade government ministers arrived in Kosovo, where they were scheduled to visit Serbian communities to press their message that Belgrade still regards Kosovo as its own. Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic is leading the delegation. There had been suggestions that Mr Samardzic might be denied entry until he apologised for comments seemingly condoning violence. Mr Samardzic described the burning down of two border posts on 19 February by crowds of Kosovan Serbs as "legitimate" acts. Two days later, Western embassies were attacked in Belgrade, acts Mr Samardzic blamed on the US for accepting Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February. "The US is the major culprit for all troubles since 17 February," Mr Samardzic told the state news agency Tanjug. "The root of violence is the violation of international law."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7262134.stm

Russia, Serbia sign $1.5B pipeline deal

Russia signed a gas pipeline deal with Serbia Monday that underscored Moscow's traditional ties with Belgrade, even as tensions with the U.S. and other nations rise. The plan clears the way for the construction of the South Stream pipeline through Serbia en route to Western Europe. Details on the agreement -- expected to be worth as much as $1.5 billion -- were expected to be released Monday. The agreement is the centerpiece of a visit to Serbia by Dmitry Medvedev, Putin's chosen successor and the man expected to easily win Russia's presidential election March 2. Medvedev said the pipeline deal, along with others, 'form the foundation of energy stability for all of Europe in the future.'

Though Medvedev's visit has focused mostly on economic issues, talks with President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica also covered turmoil following Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia. Serbs consider Kosovo the heart of their ancient homeland and the cradle of their Serbian Orthodox faith, and reject its independence as illegal. Moscow has emerged as Belgrade's primary ally in the Kosovo crisis. The United States and some European Union nations quickly recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence last week but Moscow sided with Serbia and said it will block Kosovo from joining the United Nations or other international organizations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Kosovo's declaration represented 'a terrifying precedent,' and warned the West that the decision would 'come back to knock them on the head.' Diplomatic officials in Belgrade said Medvedev's statements will be watched closely for indications of Russia's foreign policy after Putin steps down in May. Meanwhile, the pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party planned to protest in front of the Russian Embassy over recent comments on Moscow state television criticizing Serbia's slain reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. Liberal Party leaders said they would try to deliver a letter to Medvedev demanding that he denounce the anti-Djindjic comments. Associated Press Writer Jim Heintz contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/...fx4691429.html

[Azad]

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

Russia, Serbia sign $1.5B pipeline deal

Interesting link.

http://hannah.smith-family.com/archive/000959.html

This might be the beginning of the "second" cold war.

[Armenian]

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

Excellent Azad, how did you find this? I have been looking for something like this for a long time. This report is perfect. If accurate, the presence and nature of this military base pulls all the pieces of the region's geopolitical puzzle together. It makes perfect sense. Juxtapose this situation to the recent advances of Russia's Gazprom into the region and you'll feel the sense of urgency within Washington DC regarding Kosovo's independence. This is indeed a part of the great game. This report definitely deserves a closer look.

Armenian

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Camp Bondsteel and America's plans to control Caspian oil

By Paul Stuart, 29 April 2002

Camp Bondsteel, the biggest 'from scratch' foreign US military base since the Vietnam War is near completion in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. It is located close to vital oil pipelines and energy corridors presently under construction, such as the US sponsored Trans-Balkan oil pipeline. As a result defence contractors, in particular Halliburton Oil subsidiary Brown & Root Services, are making a fortune. In June 1999, in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Yugoslavia, US forces seized 1,000 acres of farmland in southeast Kosovo at Uresevic, near the Macedonian border, and began the construction of a camp. Camp Bondsteel is known as the 'grand dame' in a network of US bases running both sides of the border between Kosovo and Macedonia. In less than three years it has been transformed from an encampment of tents to a self sufficient, high tech base-camp housing nearly 7,000 troops?three quarters of all the US troops stationed in Kosovo.

There are 25 kilometres of roads and over 300 buildings at Camp Bondsteel, surrounded by 14 kilometres of earth and concrete barriers, 84 kilometres of concertina wire and 11 watch towers. It is so big that it has downtown, midtown and uptown districts, retail outlets, 24-hour sports halls, a chapel, library and the best-equipped hospital anywhere in Europe. At present there are 55 Black Hawk and Apache helicopters based at Bondsteel and although it has no aircraft landing strip the location was chosen for its capacity to expand. There are suggestions that it could replace the US airforce base at Aviano in Italy. According to Colonel Robert L. McClure, writing in the engineers professional Bulletin, "Engineer planning for operations in Kosovo began months before the first bomb was dropped. At the outset, planners wanted to use the lessons learned in Bosnia and convinced decision makers to reach base-camp 'end state' as quickly as possible." Initially US military engineers took control of 320 kilometres of roads and 75 bridges in the surrounding area for military use and laid out a base camp template involving soldiers living quarters, helicopter flight paths, ammunition holding areas and so on.

McClure explains how the Engineer Brigade were instructed "to merge construction assets and integrate them with the contractor, Brown & Root Services Corporation," to build not one but two base camps [the other is Camp Monteith] for a total of 7,000 troops. According to McClure, "At the height of the effort, about 1,000 former US military personnel, hired by Brown & Root, along with more than 7,000 Albanian local nationals, joined the 1,700 military engineers." From early July and into October [1999], construction at both camps continued 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Brown & Root Services provides all the support services to Camp Bondsteel. This includes 600,000 gallons of water per-day, enough electricity to supply a city of 25,000 and a supply centre with 14,000 product lines. It washes 1,200 bags of laundry, supplies 18,000 meals per day and operates 95 percent of the rail and airfield facilities. It also provides the camps firefighting service. Brown & Root are now the largest employers in Kosovo, with more than 5,000 local Kosovan Albanians and another 15,000 on its books.

Staff at Camp Bondsteel rarely venture outside the compound and their activities are secretive. Whilst other KFOR patrols are small and mobile with soldiers wearing soft caps and instructed to integrate with the local population, US military personnel leave Bondsteel in either helicopters or as part of infrequent but large heavily armed convoys. In unnamed interviews US troops complain that hostility to their presence is growing as local inhabitants compare the investment in Camp Bondsteel with the continuing decline in their own living standards. Those visiting Camp Bondsteel describe it as a journey through 100 years in time. The area surrounding the camp is extremely poor with an unemployment rate of 80 percent. Then Bondsteel appears on the horizon with its mass of communication satellites, antennae and menacing attack helicopters circling above. Brown & Root pay Kosova workers between $1 and $3 per hour. The local manager said wages were so low because, "We can't inflate the wages because we don't want to over inflate the local economy."

The escalating US presence at Bondsteel was accompanied by increased activity by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Since its appearance most Serbs, Roma and Albanians opposed to the KLA have been murdered or driven out. Those remaining dare not leave their houses to buy food at the local stores and the need for military escorts stretch from children's swimming pools to tractors taken away for repair. According to observers the KLA continue to act with virtual impunity in the US sector despite the high tech military intelligence facilities at Bondsteel. When US troops arrive at Camp Bondsteel, they are more likely to be met by a Brown & Root employee directing them to their accommodation and equipment areas. According to G. Cahlink in Government Executive Magazine (February 2002), Army peace keepers joke that they're missing a patch on their camouflage fatigues. We need one that says Sponsored by Brown & Root, says a staff sergeant, who, like more than nearly 10,000 soldiers in the region, has come to rely on Brown and Root Services, a Houston based contractor, for everything from breakfast to spare parts for armoured Humvees. The contract to service Camp Bondsteel is the latest in a string of military contracts awarded to Brown & Root Services. Its fortunes have grown as US militarism has escalated. The company is part of the Halliburton Corporation, the largest supplier of products and services to the oil industry.

In 1992 xxxx Cheney, as Secretary of Defence in the senior Bush administration, awarded the company a contract providing support for the US army's global operations. Cheney left politics and joined Halliburton as CEO between 1995 and 2000. He is now US vice president in the junior Bush administration. In 1992 Brown & Root built and maintained US army bases in Somalia earning $62 million. In 1994 Brown & Root built bases and support systems for 18,000 troops in Haiti doubling its earnings to $133 million. The company received a five-year support contract in 1999 worth $180 million per-year to build military facilities in Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia. It was Camp Bondsteel, however, that was dubbed "the mother of all contracts" by the Washington based Contract Services Association of America. "There, We do everything that does not require us to carry a gun," said Brown & Roots director David Capouya. The aim of outsourcing military support and services to private contractors has been to free up more soldiers for combat duties. A US Department of Defence (DoD) review in 2001 insisted that the use of contractors would escalate: "Only those functions that must be done at DoD should be kept at DoD."

In sectors controlled by other Western powers, KFOR soldiers who are living in bombed out apartment blocks and old factories joke, "What are the two things that can be seen from space, One is the Great Wall of China, the other is Camp Bondsteel." More seriously a senior British military officer told the Washington Post, "It is an obvious sign that the Americans are making a major commitment to the Balkan region and plan to stay." One analyst described the US as having taken advantage of favourable circumstances to create a base that would be large enough to accommodate future military plans. Camp Bondsteel has become a key venue for important policy speeches by leading officials of the Bush administration. On June 5, 2001 US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld explained to troops at Camp Bondsteel what role they played in the new administration's economic strategy. He declared, "How much should we spend on the armed services"... "My view is we don't spend on you, we invest in you. The men and women in the armed services are not a drain on our economic strength. Indeed you safeguard it. You're not a burden on our economy, you are the critical foundation for growth."

One month later, President George W. Bush made his first trip abroad to see US troops at the camp. He traveled directly from the Rome G8 summit, where tensions with European governments had come to the fore. In a speech described as a "retrenching" of the US in Europe, he insisted that US troops were in Kosovo to stay, had gone in together and would leave together. In a break from normal procedure, in front of cheering troops, Bush signed into law a Congress-approved increase in military spending of $1.9 billion. Since then Camp Bondsteel has continued to grow, as it spearheads the first phase in a realignment of US military bases in Europe and eastward. The Bondsteel template is now being applied in Afghanistan and the new bases in the former Soviet Republics. According to leaked comments to the press, European politicians now believe that the US used the bombing of Yugoslavia specifically in order to establish Camp Bondsteel. Before the start of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Washington Post insisted, "With the Middle-East increasingly fragile, we will need bases and fly over rights in the Balkans to protect Caspian Sea oil."

The scale of US oil corporations investment in the exploitation of Caspian oil fields and the US government demand for the economy to be less dependent on imported oil, particularly from the Middle-East, demands a long term solution to the transportation of oil to European and US markets. The US Trade & Development Agency (TDA) has financed initial feasibility studies, with large grants, and more recently advanced technical studies for the New York based AMBO (Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria Oil) Trans-Balkan pipeline. Announcing a grant for an advanced technical study in 1999 for the AMBO oil pipeline through Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, TDA director J. Joseph Grandmaison declared, "The competition is fierce to tap energy resources in the Caspian region....Over the last year [1999], TDA has been actively promoting the development of multiple pipelines to connect these vast resources with Western markets. This grant represents a significant step forward for this policy and for US business interests in the Caspian region."

The $1.3 billion trans-Balkan AMBO pipeline is one of the most important of these multiple pipelines. It will pump oil from the tankers that bring it across the Black Sea to the Bulgarian oil terminus at Burgas, through Macedonia to the Albanian Adriatic port of Vlore. From there it will be pumped on to huge 300,000 ton tankers and sent on to Europe and the US, bypassing the Bosphorus Straits, the congested and only route out of the Black Sea where tankers are restricted to 150,000 tons. The initial feasibility study for AMBO was conducted in 1995 by none other than Brown & Root, as was an updated feasibility study in 1999. In another twist, the former director of Oil & Gas Development for Europe and Africa for Brown & Root Energy Services, Ted Ferguson, was appointed as the new president of AMBO [1997] after the death of former president and founder of AMBO, Macedonian born Mr Vuko Tashkovikj. According to a recent Reuters article, Ferguson declared that Exxon-Mobil and Chevron, two of the worlds largest oil corporations, are preparing to finance the AMBO project. The building of AMBO risks antagonising Turkey, the US's main ally in the region. According to the Reagan Information Interchange, "While the United States is making an advantageous economic decision, it is overlooking its crucial strategic relationship with Turkey."

The US is also antagonising its European allies and Russia with Camp Bondsteel and other smaller military bases run alongside the proposed AMBO pipeline route. It has been built near the mouth of the Presevo valley and energy Corridor 8, which the European Union has sponsored since 1994 and regards as a strategic route east-west for global trade. In April 1999, British General Michael Jackson, the commander in Macedonia during the NATO bombing of Serbia, explained to the Italian paper Sole 24 Ore "Today, the circumstances which we have created here have changed. Today, it is absolutely necessary to guarantee the stability of Macedonia and its entry into NATO. But we will certainly remain here a long time so that we can also guarantee the security of the energy corridors which traverse this country." The newspaper added, "It is clear that Jackson is referring to the 8th corridor, the East-West axis which ought to be combined to the pipeline bringing energy resources from Central Asia to terminals in the Black Sea and in the Adriatic, connecting Europe with Central Asia. That explains why the great and medium sized powers, and first of all Russia, don't want to be excluded from the settling of scores that will take place over the next few months in the Balkans."

Source: http://hannah.smith-family.com/archive/000959.html

[Azad]

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

Excellent Azad, how did you find this? I have been looking for something like this for a long time.

Call it luck I was looking for visuals of "Kosovo" in "Yahoo images" ... here it was on the second page. I knew of the US presence in the region, except I didn't realize the extend of the entrenchment in the region.

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

you can even see it in google earth

[aray]

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

you can even see it in google earth

Here it is

[Armanen]

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

The Bondsteel template is now being applied in Afghanistan and the new bases in the former Soviet Republics.

Well it looks as if the 2nd part of that will not come to fruition, especially since Kyrgyzstan has more than hinted that the americans based in biskek will soon have to leave.

[Armenian]

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

Bravo to Armenia's foreign ministry department. Although recognizing Kosovo's independence would have been understandable given the sensitive political situation revolving around Nagorno Karabagh, the following statement from Yerevan can be fully appreciated. This development may also be an early indicator of what was expected to happen with Serzh Sargsyan as president - a clear political departure from the West.

Armenian

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Armenia not going to recognize Kosovo independence

Armenia has no intention to recognize independence of Kosovo yet, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said in Yerevan today. The issue is under discussion and the decision will be announced when the time comes, according to him. “Granting independence to Kosovo, the international community violated the legal norms but forgot Karabakh. Unlike Kosovo, no one granted independence to Nagorno Karabakh. It was the republic’s achievement. This is the major difference between the conflicts,” he said. On February 17, 3008, Kosovo’s parliament announced independence, which has already been recognized by the U.S. and some European states.

Source: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=25057