The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

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

Russia-Armenia trade growing fast - PM



MOSCOW, September 25 (ITAR-TASS) – Russian-Armenian relations are on rise, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov told Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan at their meeting in Moscow on Tuesday. Sarkisyan said the bilateral relations are “developing normally”. An increase in trade was above 70 percent in the first half-year, which is a “good confirmation of these words”. Sarkisyan said a plan of long-term economic cooperation had been approved at a recent meeting of the intergovernmental commission. “If it is approved by the Russian prime minister, a billion-sized trade turnover can be reached in a foreseeable future,” he said.

Source: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2....1840&PageNum=0

Russia to double investment in Armenia

Russian acting Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov held international talks for the first time at this post on Tuesday. He met with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan at the Russian House of Government. The Armenian premier was accompanied by “a representative delegation with a great number of concrete questions, which we will solve, and I am sure, we will solve them,” Zubkov emphasized. These questions are the construction of a joint oil refinery, a huge stock of construction materials and goods, which Armenia possesses. “The enormous market, which will be in Sochi, uranium reserves, which should be developed, produced and processed open up possibilities for a steep rise of the trade,” he believes. “A good boost in trade relations is possible,” Zubkov said with confidence. Russia’s investment in Armenia is estimated at $800m, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov told a press conference after negotiations with his Armenian counterpart Serge Sarkisian today. According to Zubkov, both parties entertain hopes of doubling that amount in near future by implementing joint projects in various sectors, including energy.

Source: http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=35852

[Armenian]

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

The current crisis in the Myanmar Republic is yet another conflict that has evolved as a result of a clash between the East and the West. It is obvious that the anti-government protesters in Myanmar are being manipulated by Western powers - via NGOs - and the ruling elite there is being manipulated by China. Just several days ago a CNN news report regarding the situation there stated that the protesters were receiving support from some Scandinavian countries as well as an American group that helped organize the revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia. It would not surprise me one bit if the American entity was none other than the anti-Russian lunatic Soros. Nonetheless, it is well known that that China wields great power in strategically important nation of Myanmar, thereby making Myanmar a pivotal nation within the geopolitical formulations of the region. And with China and Russia getting closer to Indonesia, a major strategic nation in the region, the entire region of Southeast Asia may very well fall into Russian/Chinese control within the near future. And this will prove to be a direct challenge to US presence in that strategically vital corner of the world. Since there is not much the West can do militarily and/or economically against Chinese and Russian interests in the region, we may see a full-scale media propaganda blitz flooding the airways with heart rendering stories about the much oppressed "pro-democracy" population in the region. And the sad part here is that the special interests in the West that have been championing these pro-democracy protesters are the same ones that are hoping for the protesters to get attacked by government forces at some point.

Armenian

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China, Russia Block Bid for UN to Condemn Myanmar



Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China and Russia blocked U.S. and European efforts in the United Nations Security Council to condemn Myanmar's military-run government for its crackdown on protesters. "We would have hoped for a very strong statement condemning what has happened, but the Security Council is made up of many members,'' U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters after the council held an emergency meeting on Myanmar. ``The U.S. position is to condemn what has happened.'' Instead, Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert of France, president of the Security Council this month, summarized the closed meeting by saying members of the panel "expressed concern'' about the situation and urged "restraint'' from the military government. It would have taken the agreement of all 15 member nations of the body for a formal statement.

Envoys from China and Russia, which have economic interests in Myanmar and are among the few countries with influence over the government, said they didn't think the situation was a threat to international or regional peace and security. That's the threshold for greater Security Council involvement. China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution in June that would have pressed the Myanmar government to free political prisoners and move toward democracy. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending his envoy for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, back to the country and asked the military rulers there to "exercise utmost restraint toward the peaceful demonstrations.'' Gambari briefed the Security Council before heading to the region without specific clearance by Myanmar's government to enter the country.

Show of Defiance

The protests are the biggest show of defiance against the junta since a pro-democracy uprising 19 years ago. That revolt was crushed when the army killed 1,000 protesters on Aug. 8, 1988, and an estimated 3,000 others in the weeks afterward, according to the U.S. State Department. A 30-year-old man was shot dead today when security forces opened fire on a crowd, the Associated Press reported, citing the government. President George W. Bush announced new sanctions against the military regime during a speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday. He urged all member states to use diplomatic and economic pressure to bring about democratic change there. "The regime has reacted brutally to people who were simply protesting peacefully,'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in New York after meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon. She said Gambari should be given a visa immediately to visit Myanmar, formerly Burma, and be permitted to confer with opposition leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi.

Rice Seeks `Reconciliation'

We really do call on the regime to cease all violence and to lay a framework, lay a foundation for a peaceful discussion so that there can be reconciliation and a return to a more free and democratic life for the people of Burma,'' Rice added. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on French companies, including Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, to freeze investment in Myanmar. Sarkozy, speaking in a television interview, described the political situation there as "extremely worrying.'' Myanmar and China have agreed on a project to build a pipeline to bring oil to southern China. Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya called the developments ``a bit complicated'' and said sanctions wouldn't be helpful.

Gas Reserves

Myanmar, bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Laos, is slightly smaller than Texas and has a population of 47 million. It gained independence from the U.K. in 1948 and experienced persistent political and ethnic conflict until the military seized power and abolished the constitution. The junta rejected the results of parliamentary elections in May 1990, won by Suu Kyi's League for Democracy, and suspended parliament. Suu Kyi, 62, has spent almost 12 years in detention since the election, and was last placed under house arrest at her home in Yangon in 2003. International sanctions have stifled economic growth in the nation, which had proven natural gas reserves of 17.7 trillion cubic feet at the end of 2005, or 0.3 percent the world's total, according to BP Plc, and resources including teak, zinc, copper and precious stones. Protests intensified last month after the regime doubled the cost of some fuels, making public transport unaffordable for many residents, Human Rights Watch said.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...l7o&refer=asia

[Armenian]

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

An interesting turn of events in Tbilisi...

Armenian

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Georgia in turmoil after opposition leader's arrest



TBILISI (AFP) — Thousands of people demonstrated in Georgia on Friday against the arrest of a former minister, in the most serious challenge yet to the authority of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili. Irakli Okruashvili, a former defence minister, was arrested on corruption charges on Thursday shortly after alleging that Saakashvili had ordered the killing of high-profile figures. The allegations were dismissed by officials as "baseless and untrue." Thousands rallied on Friday in the capital Tbilisi to denounce the arrest. Organisers said up to 10,000 people had come out, although an AFP reporter on the scene and local news agencies put the number closer to 5,000. Organisers vowed after demonstrators dispersed to continue protests in the coming days. Saakashvili has touted his government's democratic record as he pushes for Georgia's entry into NATO and the European Union.

But Okruashvili, who also supports integration with the West, appeared determined to counter Saakashvili's clean-cut image. In a note read out to the crowd by lawmaker Koka Guntsadze, a political ally, Okruashvili said: "Be united. Fight to protect your rights. Fight by all legal means to escape from this tyrant." The ex-minister's supporters accused the president of trying to silence a potential rival. Okruashvili heads the Movement for United Georgia party. The arrest took place against the backdrop of rising tensions between Georgia and Russia, as well as violence in two separatist regions. Giorgi Khaindrava, a former senior minister who was fired last year, said the arrest showed Georgia was in a political crisis. "A criminal organisation led by Saakashvili is in power," he said. "The only solution would be the resignation of the president, the dismissal of parliament and early elections."

But Giga Bokeria, a senior official in the ruling National Movement party, defended Okruashvili's arrest, saying "neither former officials nor acting ones... are above the law." Okruashvili was charged with extortion, money laundering, abuse of power and negligence during his time as minister. Video footage released by prosecutors on Friday showed Dmitry Kitoshvili, a former presidential spokesman recently charged with extortion, confessing that he and Okruashvili had forced a local businessman to sell them 10 million dollars (seven million euros) worth of shares in a local telecommunications company for a knock-down 250,000 dollars (176,000 euros). Saakashvili fired Okruashvili last year after the minister made hawkish statements on the return of two Russia-backed separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, to Georgian control. Okruashvili re-emerged this week with an announcement he was forming an opposition party and that the president had ordered him to kill prominent public figures including a top businessman. He produced no evidence to support his allegations. Saakashvili, who was in New York for the UN General Assembly, has not responded to the accusations.

Okruashvili had been in Saakashvili's inner circle since before the mass protests of the 2003 Rose Revolution propelled Saakashvili to power. He also served as prosecutor general and interior minister. Georgia is to hold presidential and parliamentary elections next year and analysts said Okruashvili has the credibility and power base to pose a threat to Saakashvili in the polls. Saakashvili has cultivated close ties with Western countries, in particular the United States, which has provided substantial economic and military aid to the small mountainous state on Russia's southern border. Georgia's pro-Western aspirations have infuriated Moscow, which has cut travel links with Georgia and imposed a ban on key Georgian exports.

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...cxeM35bnRargiA

Saakashvili Ally Threatens Force Over Georgian Protests

September 28, 2007 -- A key ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has warned antigovernment protesters to refrain from violence at an rally under way in the capital, Tbilisi Giga Bokeria, a leading parliamentarian, said the government will meet force with force if the gathering turns violent. RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports that several thousand people have already gathered for the demonstration in support of former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, who was arrested on September 27 on charges of money laundering and corruption. Members of Georgia's opposition said Okruashvili's arrest was politically motivated. Okruashvili on September 25 accused Saakashvili of ordering murders of his political opponents.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle...79353050B.html

[skhara]

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

An interesting turn of events in Tbilisi...

From my understand, this opponent, doesn't have a different external policy ideas. Its just that Georgians are upset with Sakashvilli domestically.

[Armenian]

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

With the aircraft incident several weeks ago in Georgia and the recent killing of two Russian officers in Abkhazia, there has been a clear escalation in tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow as of late. With the US forces and funds trapped in the quagmire of the Persian Gulf and the Georgian population's growing dissatisfaction with the government in Tbilisi, Moscow may very well take advantage of the opportune political situation by attempting to destabilize and overthrow the puppet government in Tbilisi. Nonetheless, Saakashvili's irrational policies in the region have been driving Tbilisi towards eventual suicide. If he thinks that the Western world is going to come to his rescue he is sadly mistaken.

Armenian

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Georgia kills two Russian officers in disputed clash



UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Georgia and Russia clashed at the United Nations on Wednesday over an incident in which Georgian security forces killed two Russian officers training insurgents in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told the U.N. General Assembly that one of those killed in the September 20 "law enforcement operation" was a Russian army lieutenant-colonel. Pointing an accusing finger at Moscow, he said: "One has to wonder -- what was a vice-colonel of the Russian military doing in the Georgian forests, organizing and leading a group of armed insurgents on a mission of terror?"

Russian U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin told reporters Georgian troops had made an unprovoked attack on an "anti-terrorist training" exercise in a camp in the Kodori gorge and finished off two Russian instructors with knives and shots to the head. "They have done everything to aggravate tensions," Churkin said. The Kodori gorge, a gateway to the Black Sea province of Abkhazia, has enjoyed de facto independence since 1993. Relations between Moscow and the former Soviet republic have been tense ever since Saakashvili came to power in a U.S.-backed "Rose Revolution" in early 2004. Russia cut transport and trade ties with Georgia last year after Tbilisi arrested four Russian military officers accused of spying and paraded them on television. In August, Georgia accused Moscow of dropping a missile on its territory. The Russian airforce has denied it violated Georgian air space. "This reckless and dangerous pattern of behavior must not continue," Saakashvili said in his U.N. speech.

MORTAR FIRE

Whatever the explanation for the latest Abkhazia incident, he said, Georgia regretted any loss of life and would do everything possible to "avoid violence and further hostility and confrontation." Abkhazia is not the only region where Russian-backed separatists are holding out against the central government. Heavy mortar fire erupted in the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Wednesday, but the Georgians and separatists disagreed over whose troops were responsible. Mamuka Kurashvili, the commander of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion in Ossetia told Reuters by telephone that separatists had opened fire from the regional capital, Tskhinvali, and hit government-controlled villages nearby. The separatists said Georgian forces opened fire on Tskhinvali and they had to respond.

A separatist Web site, coninf.org, said one woman was wounded, but Russian media quoted Ossetian officials as saying that between two and four people were wounded. The Web site said Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity had sent heavy amour to the area. Ossetia broke away from Georgia soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. A joint Georgian-Russian peacekeeping force polices the shaky truce in the region, where bouts of violence are not unusual. In a sign of how sensitive any violent flare-up is in the region, Abkhazia's leader Sergei Bagapsh held an urgent telephone conversation with Kokoity and told his troops to move closer to the border with Georgia proper.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/world...73313920070926

Georgian leader accuses Russian military of 'subversion'

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Russia's military was spearheading subversive activity in the Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia. In a speech at the UN's New York headquarters, Saakashvili referred to an incident in Abkhazia last week in which Georgian security forces killed what he said was a Russian army officer leading a group of rebels. "One has to wonder. What was a lieutenant colonel of the Russian military doing in the Georgian forests, organising and leading a group of armed insurgents on a mission of subversion and violence?" Saakashvili demanded. Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin denied that the man Saakashvili referred to was a Russian soldier, insisting he was a Russian instructor "with a military past" and that he was one of two such instructors killed at an Abkhaz anti-terrorism camp. The incident was the latest in a series of disputes between Tbilisi and Moscow. The problem of Abkhazia and another separatist region, South Ossetia, has long been a bone of contention between ex-Soviet Georgia and its vast northern neighbour.

Abkhazia, a sliver of land between the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains, broke away from Georgia after fierce fighting in 1992-93. As in South Ossetia, the separatist administration is backed by Russia. In his speech, Saakashvili made a series of other accusations against Russian authorities, including "actively -- and illegally -- building a new military base" in South Ossetia. Earlier Georgian officials said the two men killed on September 20 were Abkhaz fighters. They said Georgian forces had opened fired on a group of special forces who had crossed into a Georgian-controlled area of Abkhazia. Saakashvili has vowed to bring Abkhazia and South Ossetia back under Georgian control through diplomatic means and he said on Wednesday that this would happen "sooner rather than later."

Last month, Georgian authorities accused Russia of dropping a missile, which did not explode, near the capital Tbilisi. Russia's air force denied any involvement and accused Georgia of deliberate provocation. In a separate incident last month, Georgian authorities also said they had opened fire and probably downed a military plane coming from Abkhazia that had violated its airspace. Georgia has meanwhile been redoubling efforts to join the NATO military alliance, boosting defence spending to around a quarter of the total government budget and preparing its radar systems for alignment with NATO. Moscow has been infuriated by Georgia's preparations to join the Western-led alliance, seeing the ex-Soviet republic's bid as part of US encroachment into Russia's backyard.

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...tgyrX4zFhSgvog

[Armenian]

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

Russia keeps watchful eye on Crimea



Ahead of key elections in Ukraine Al Jazeera reports from the region of Crimea, scene of what some say was the world's first "modern" conflict, and now an election battleground as politicians argue over Ukraine's relationship with Russia. If it was in a different place on the map, Sevastopol might be known more widely as a tourist attraction. If it was on a different place on the map, you might not see quite so many memorials to the war dead here, they are everywhere. Imperial Russia fought the British and French to a standstill on these shores in the Crimean war. A century later, Sevastopol became known for its proud resistance to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Hundreds of thousands have died around here in the last two centuries and everyone, it seems, wants to own Sevastopol.

Harbouring ambitions

You can see the reason for the current tension as you pass through the harbour. Until ten years ago, the ships in its port were all part of the same Soviet fleet. Now they are divided under Ukrainian and Russian flags, and their respective commanders must be wondering for how much longer they are likely to remain friends. If you accept that the current political crisis in Ukraine is an ideological one, either to maintain historical ties with Russia, or to form new ones with the West, then here is where you can see it being played out most dramatically. It is one thing for Ukrainian and Russian ships to coexist peacefully enough for the moment. It is quite another, surely, for a future Nato fleet to sit in the same harbour as a Russian one. Particularly given the current view of Nato in Moscow.

Vocal support

There is lots about Crimea that is Russian through and through. The language for one thing, the ways in which people look and behave. No surprise then that the Party of Regions, which carries half of the vote here, wants a referendum on keeping Russian as an official language, and keeping Ukraine out of Nato. Vadim Kolesnichenko, from the party's Sevastopol branch, said: "It's not the matter of language, it's a matter of human rights. Everyone has a right to speak their own language and has a right to defend his culture and communicate with his friends and relatives using their native language." If that sounds diplomatic, the blunter version is espoused by the communists, still worth tens of thousands of votes, who accuse Nato of causing disaster wherever it goes, and fear catastrophe if it got its claws into Crimea. "Are you ready to die for Nato?" reads one poster, "Not here". "We don't want the Yugoslavian scenario to repeat here or [like in] Afghanistan or the Caucasus," Vasily Parkhomenko, of the Ukrainian Communist party, says. "So we consider the presence of the Russian fleet a guarantor of peace here in the south of Ukraine. "We know where Nato appears, the blood and suffering appear as well."

Better bet

Even if one day the Russian fleet was forced out by the pro-European, pro-Nato supporters of the Orange revolution in 2004 there is much else that would be far harder to shift, a Russian installation cut under a mountain, for one thing. No-one here has any idea what it is for, and staying around it is not a very good idea. Still, some are prepared to suggest Nato might be a better option for Crimea, as well as Ukraine in general. "When Ukraine is in Nato relations with Russia will become more straightforward than they are now," Sergei Kluik, a military analyst, says. "There wont be as many arguments with decision making."

Bloody battle

This time every year they hold a commemoration for the many thousands of Russians who died in one particularly bloody battle of the Crimean war. It was particularly special this year, as they found the remains of fourteen Russian soldiers and gave them the full send off. This weekend the voters of Crimea will join the rest of the country at the polls, and a decisive vote one way or the other could lay the ground for strategic alliances which could have consequences far beyond the horizon. It is a point worth bearing in mind, since it is young men that tend to pay the price when the great powers use foreign pieces of land for their great games.

Source: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...B5351CFA0A.htm

[Lernakan]

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

Cracking the Myths: The Economy

Mark Ames continues to crack the myths about Russia. This time he will try to find the true answers to these questions:

What percentage of Russians lives on just a penny a day?

Is there a middle class in Russia?

And are Russians involved in the world’s “consumerism” fever?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=laYsrwFtoOw

[Lernakan]

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

ARMENIA-RUSSIA
Armen Tsatouryan

Hayots Ashkharh, Armenia
Sept 28 2007



Mutual Cooperation Continues

Serge Sargsyan's official visit to Moscow evidenced the irrevocability
and the succession of the process of strengthening the strategic
partnership and extending the trade-economic relations between the
Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation.

The main peculiarity of the visit was that the Governments in both
countries have changed, such change having taken place in Armenia a few
months ago and in Russia - quite recently. And in half a years' time,
i.e. at the beginning of 2008, there will be presidential elections
in both Armenia and Russia. In the meantime, the governments of
both countries are viewed as the legal successors of the authorities
in power.

The qualitative changes in the mutual cooperation have predetermined
the necessity of continuing and extending the alliance between Armenia
and Russia.

Being the only military and political ally of Russia in our region,
Armenia has also become a serious economic partner. As evidenced by
the last 6 months' 70 per cent growth of bilateral good circulation
and the significantly increased volume of the investment of the
Russian capital in Armenia as well as the economic component of the
Armenian-Russian cooperation is steadily approaching the high level
characteristic of political cooperation.

And the maintenance and further acceleration of such high paces
naturally demand ensuring relevant political guarantees in terms of
maintaining the positive potential of bilateral cooperation.

As shown by Prime Minister Serge Sargysan's official visit to the
Russian Federation and the meeting with his counterpart as well as with
other officials of that country, the Governments of Armenia and Russia
are determined in maintaining the achievements of their predecessors.

The Armenian Prime Minister arrived in Moscow not only with the
purpose of summing up the accomplishments with his counterpart,
but also submitting a package aimed at deepening the bilateral
cooperation and advancing bold proposals. They concerned the complex
and comprehensive problems of nuclear energy and, in that connection
- the issues of exploiting the uranium mines of Armenia, building an
oil refinery in the neighborhood of the border with Iran, operating
the production capacities acquired in Armenia by the Russian side
and increasing the communication potentials of export.

Russian Prime Minister Victor Zubkov had a particularly enthusiastic
attitude to the proposal of involving Armenia's construction potentials
in the preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. This will enable our
country to operate new capacities for the production of construction
materials.

The parties are convinced that the implementation of all the programs
may, in the near future, increase Russia's direct investment, which
has already assumed large volumes and contribute to the progress of the
main industries in Armenia. Through operating large capacities in the
sphere of nuclear energy and oil industry, Armenia will supplement
the fuel-energy complex necessary for the further development of
its economy and get chances to export energy in large volumes to
the neighboring countries. In conditions of the existence of such a
complex, no economic blockade can impede our country's development,
because Armenia will not only have gas in sufficient quantities,
but also electric energy and oil.

We believe Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan's first official visit
to Russia was unprecedented both in terms of the number of the
meetings held and their contents as well as the abundance of the
issues discussed and the agreements achieved. It showed that the new
Government of Armenia and Russia and their leaders, who shoulder the
responsibility of extending mutual cooperation, will not only maintain
but also extend the rich traditions of the cooperation between the
Armenian and Russian peoples.

[Armenian]

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

Cracking the Myths: The Economy http://youtube.com/watch?v=laYsrwFtoOw

Voghjuyn enker Lernakan, the video presentation you posted was very well produced - as well as an American production could be. And such political perspective in America is long overdue. I specially liked their comparison of the Russian situation with that of Georgia's. Unfortunately, such rhetoric will never be made mainstream in America for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, the ignorance of the typical American is - breathtaking. And when you couple that ignorance with supreme international powers that America enjoys today what you get is - frightening.

I'm very glad that Russia has finally reawaken from its ten year decline and is acting like a real superpower today. Nonetheless, it still has a long way to go. And I'm even happier that the Armenian Republic today is indirectly enjoying the fruits of Russian success. All across the Armenian Republic Armenian-Russian joint business ventures are taking root. There are several major Russian banks operating in Armenia today. There are several major Russian business operations working in Yerevan. And just last week Vivacell (owned by Lebanese-Armenians) was purchased by Russians for something like 430 million USD. In short: I see Russia investing a lot of diplomatic, military and financial effort for keeping Armenia within Moscow's orbit. In a volatile region like the Caucasus we (a tiny landlocked impoverished nation that is often times a thorn in the eyes of western powers) need to side with a major superpower. And thank God there is a superpower there right next to us that sees us Armenians as a vital factor in their national interests. I'm also hoping that the recent rumors about the establishment of a second Russian military base in Armenia is true as well.

A coupe of weeks ago an Armenian-American idiot in Yerevan told me that due to "the overwhelming Russian troop presence in Armenia" official Yerevan does not have real national independence.

I said to him - At most there are several thousand Russian troops in Armenia. You are joking, right?

He said - Nope, I'm serious.

So, I asked - Armenia does not have "real independence" like what nation?

He said - "Real independence" like western nations.

I looked at him and said - Aye debil, what about the hundreds of thousands of American troops and tens of thousands of American military hardware and ballistic missiles based in western Europe? Besides, I said. You are comparing the Caucasus to western Europe? How foolish of you.

He was like

I said: Even major nations like Germany, Britain, Japan, Egypt, South Korea and various Persian Gulf states host overwhelming numbers of American troops. Even TURKEY hosts American troops. Have you ever thought about that?

He was like

I said: As fas as I'm concerned, seeing the geopolitical climate of the world today especially that of the Caucasus region, I would not care if the entire armed forces of the Russian Federation were transfered into the Caucasus.

He was like

Anyway, I just got back. Even with all its sociopolitical problems the Armenian Republic is definitely heading in the right direction. Obviously, we still have a long-long way to go before we clean up all the mess.

A mess that took a thousand years to create will not be cleaned up in a few years.

I'm also glad that the current power brokers in Yerevan will be in power after the next elections. Good or bad, they are the only viable ones we have on our political horizon today. At the very least: they are keeping our borders secure; they are establishing better relations with Moscow and Tehran; they are investing in the development of Yerevan. Observing the political climate in the country I see the people slowly shedding their Bolshevik era derived complexes. And, for the first time, I also noticed a lot of anti-American sentiments in the country. More and more people seem to be realizing that their future is closely tied with that of Russia's and Iran's. However, that hurtful aspects of western consumerism and ethics are also quite prevalent in the country. I guess in a free "globalized" society this is only inevitable.

I'm only hoping that it will be temporary.

[Armenian]

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

Vladimir Putin hopes to become prime minister



President Vladimir Putin has hinted that he hopes to become Russian prime minister, fuelling speculation that he plans to retain power after he steps down as president early next year. Speaking at a congress of the main pro-Kremlin force, United Russia, Mr Putin said that it was "quite realistic" that he could head a future government. "I gratefully accept your proposal to head the United Russia list," he told delegates. "Heading the government is a realistic idea, but it is too early to think about this now."

The announcement stunned political observers in Moscow and came after years of speculation about what the Russian leader, who enjoys extraordinarily high domestic popularity ratings, would do after his second presidential term ends next year. Mr Putin added that for him to become prime minister the United Russia party would not only have to win, but there would also have to be a president elected who is an "orderly, capable and effective person."

Mr Putin is barred from seeking a third straight term as president but has suggested he would seek to keep a hand on Russia's reins. Such a move would indicate a change in the current structure of Russian politics and diminish the power of the president. Mr Putin's agreement to head his party's electoral list sent an ecstatic cheer though the crowd at the congress, which contains many top officials and dominates the parliament and politics nationwide. The ex-KGB spy would not necessarily take a seat in parliament if elected. Prominent politicians and other figures often are given the top spots in electoral lists to attract votes, but stay out of parliament after elections. The announcement was made on the same day that chess champion-turned-politician Garry Kasparov made a "symbolic" bid for the presidency.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wrussia201.xml

And in related news, this from Washington DC

White House calls for fair elections in Russia

The White House on Monday urged the Russian government to conduct upcoming elections in a "free, fair and democratic" manner, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he could be a future prime minister. "This is ultimately a matter for the people of Russia to decide," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters when asked for reaction to Putin's remarks. "We will be paying very close attention to the upcoming elections in Russia."

Putin's comments fitted a scenario rumored for some time in Moscow -- that the popular president could continue to wield power from the prime minister's chair after he leaves office next year, installing a loyal but weaker figure as president. Perino said administration officials had only just seen reports of what Putin had said earlier on Monday. "We urge them to conduct (upcoming elections) in a manner that is free, fair and democratic," she said, but declined any further comment. President George W. Bush and other senior U.S. officials have criticized Putin in recent years for what they say is backsliding on democratic reforms in Russia.

Source: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3675490