The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Federate]

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

It's the spirit of giving. Russians will give MiG jets and now Germany will give Leopard tanks to Lebanon. I wonder if they are Leopard-2 but I doubt it.
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Germany to grant Lebanon 50 Leopard tanks


Beirut - A German military delegation was to visit Beirut next month to complete the discussions with President Michel Suleiman to grant Lebanon military assistance, a Lebanese news agency reported Wednesday. Al Markaziyeh news agency, citing an informed Lebanese source, said the German delegation would discuss with their Lebanese counterparts German military assistance to the Lebanese Army aimed at enhancing the latter's military capabilities.

The source said that Germany had decided to grant Lebanon 50 Leopard tanks and other equipment to enhance monitoring the borders with Syria.

On December 18, Russia also announced that it will give Lebanon 10 MiG fighter jets in a deal to boost defence cooperation.

The Russian MiG29 Fulcrum fighters would be provided free to Lebanon under an agreement on military-technical assistance, Lebanese military sources said.

The United States has given 410 million dollars in military aid to the Lebanese army since 2006 but this has been limited to light weapons and vehicles.

Western countries believe that strengthening the Lebanese army is a key element to enhance political stability in Lebanon.

The Lebanese army has not been well re-armed since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war and during Syria's dominance of Lebanon's politics, which ended in 2005.

The failure of re-arming the Lebanese army is partly what allowed the Shiite movement Hezbollah to grow into such a strong power during the 1980s and 1990s. Hezbollah has advanced weaponry provided by Iran and Syria.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/247673,germany-to-grant-lebanon-50-leopard-tanks.html

[Armenian]

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

Gazprom eyes Iran's oil, gas fields

Gazprom is interested in developing Iran's oil and gas deposits, the Russian energy giant said on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller had a meeting with Iran's Petroleum Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari, to discuss in particular cooperation between Gazprom and Iranian oil and gas companies. "Prospecting, development and operation of Iranian oil and gas deposits was cited among the main lines of cooperation. The parties reiterated their interest in strengthening mutually beneficial long-term partnerships in the energy sphere," the Russian company said in a statement. Gazprom has been involved in a project to develop and operate South Pars (reportedly the world's largest gas field with reserves of 14 trillion cubic meters) since 1997. On July 13, 2008, Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of mutual understanding.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/business/20081224/119159376.html

Russia may cut off Ukraine's gas

Russian gas giant Gazprom has renewed its threat to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on 1 January, saying a contract dispute has reached a "critical" stage. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine faced Russian "sanctions and demands" if it did not pay off its gas debt "to the last rouble". Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov stressed that the dispute would not disrupt gas deliveries to Europe. Ukraine owes $1.67bn (£1.1bn) for gas and $450m in fines, Gazprom says. Gazprom denied that any agreement had been reached with Kiev on postponing the repayment, contradicting an announcement by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. On Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned that the era of cheap gas was coming to an end. Earlier, Gazprom said it had warned European customers about possible disruption linked to the Ukraine dispute. The EU gets 42% of its gas imports from Russia, mostly via pipelines across Ukraine. A similar row in 2006 led to gas shortages in several EU countries.

'Pay up'

"If a contract for 2009 is not signed [with Ukraine] then we are not going to deliver gas without a contract," Mr Kupriyanov told reporters in Kiev. "When there is no contract we cannot realise deliveries. The situation is not simple. It is even critical." But Gazprom, he added, would "deliver the full volume of gas destined for transit and... fulfil all [its] obligations towards European consumers". Speaking to Russian TV channels in Moscow, President Medvedev said the non-payment situation could not be allowed to continue. "They should pay the money to the last rouble if they don't want their economy eventually running up against sanctions and demands from the Russian Federation," he said. "It is impossible to go on like this. Let them pay the money."

Economic woes

Ukraine's President Yushchenko said earlier on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached with Gazprom to reschedule repayment. "A portion of the debt will be restructured" over several months, he said, adding that Kiev might return some gas held in storage to Gazprom as reimbursement. "The question has not been solved as was announced in Kiev," Gazprom's Sergei Kupriyanov said in response, in televised comments. Analysts say Kiev will struggle to find the money to pay for the gas. Shaken by the global financial crisis, Ukraine is relying on a $16.4bn emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund to see it through a halving of exports and a sharp devaluation of the national currency. On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin told a meeting of major gas-exporting countries in Moscow that because of extraction costs, "the era... of cheap gas... [was] coming to an end". The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) meeting in Moscow agreed a charter and plans for a permanent base. Some observers say the GECF may develop into an Opec-style producers' cartel.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7799321.stm

[Pazooki]

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

Wow all this news is exciting.

So much exciting stuff on 1 page.

[Armenian]

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

Armenian Defense Reforms ‘Nearly Complete’

President Serzh Sarkisian announced on Thursday the impending completion of defense reforms that are meant to bring the Armenian military into greater conformity with Western standards and practices. The reforms were launched in 2005 as Armenia stepped up its cooperation with NATO under an “individual partnership action plan,” or IPAP. They envisaged, among other things, greater civilian control over the military and a so-called “civilianization” of the Armenian Defense Ministry. The ministry’s organizational structure has until now mirrored that of the formerly Soviet and now Russian armed forces, with army officers holding just about every ministerial position and facing little civilian oversight. The Armenian government pushed through parliament recently a law that allows the Defense Ministry to hire civilian personnel. In what appears to be a follow-up measure, the government approved on Thursday the new statutes and structures of the ministry and the Armenian army’s General Staff. Sarkisian personally chaired the cabinet session to underline the significance of the changes. He said Armenia is “nearing the completion of the reforms in the defense sphere” which will “further reinforce the defense capability of our state.” “A few more days, and we will finally have the [new] structures of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff,” Sarkisian told ministers. “Their functions will be completely delineated, and our Defense Ministry will operate in new conditions.” As part of the reforms, the government adopted last year Armenia’s national security strategy and military doctrine. Both documents state that Armenia will increasingly cooperate with the armed forces of the United States and other NATO member states in reforming its military and contributing to international security. More specifically, they commit Yerevan to expanding its involvement in Western-led peace-keeping operations abroad. The Armenian military has already deployed troops in Kosovo and Iraq and is considering joining the NATO-led multinational force in Afghanistan. The doctrine at the same time makes clear that “strategic partnership” with Russia will remain the bedrock of Armenia’s defense policy. It says the two countries will continue to maintain close military ties both on a bilateral basis and within the framework of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Source: http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...B22B2BF6FE.ASP

[Armenian]

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

Russian-Armenian Ties ‘Unaffected By Economic Crisis’

Armenia’s economic ties with Russia have so far been largely unaffected by the global economic crisis, a Russian official said on Thursday, reporting a nearly 20 percent increase in bilateral trade registered in the first ten months of this year. According to government statistics cited by Aleksandr Zaytsev, Russia’s trade representative to Armenia, the volume of that trade totaled about $860 million during this period. Armenian and Russian officials repeatedly said earlier that it will pass the $1 billion mark in 2008. Russia thus remains Armenia’s number one trading partner, accounting for almost 20 percent of its external trade turnover in January-October 2008. Zaytsev also announced that Russian investments in the Armenian economy nearly doubled to $570 million in January-September 2008.

The bulk of those investments were apparently channeled into Armenia’s energy and telecommunication sectors dominated by large Russian companies. “The financial and economic crisis has not seriously affected [Russian-Armenian commercial ties,]” Zaytsev told a news conference in Yerevan. “It will certainly somehow affect them later on.” Russia has seen its stock markets collapse since the outbreak of the crisis in September and the resulting sharp drop in international prices of oil, a key Russian export. The downturn’s impact on the Armenian economy has been far milder so far. Still, economists fear that the economy will be hit hard by a possible reduction in large-scale cash remittances sent home by hundreds of thousands of Armenians working abroad. Russia is the main source of those remittances.

Economic issues were reportedly high on the agenda of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s October visit to Yerevan. “Our current economic relations are impressive but tend to lag behind our political relations,” Medvedev’s Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarkisian said after the talks, calling for the launch “large-scale joint projects.” Sarkisian said he and Medvedev discussed potential Russian involvement in two such projects: the planned construction of a new Armenian nuclear plant and a railway linking Armenia to neighboring Iran. Armenia’s rail network, recently renamed the South Caucasus Railway (SCR), is managed by Russia’s state- run rail company, RZD. The Armenian authorities have signaled their discontent with SCR’s Russian management of late. A series of reports in the Armenian press accused the Russians of failing to honor their investment commitments. They also alleged that the SCR’s chief executive, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, has misappropriated company funds.

Zaytsev categorically denied the allegations. He said RZD has invested $108 million in Armenia since taking over its rail network’s management in January. Under the terms of its management contract with the Armenian government, RZD is to invest $230 million in the network during the first five years of operations and another $240 million in the following years. Zaytsev also criticized Armenia’s State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) for fining the SCR 500,000 drams ($1,600) on Wednesday for its failure to provide the regulatory body with a detailed explanation of its tariff policy. The SPCEC demanded the information last month in connection with its ongoing inquiry into the legality of a recent sharp increase in the cost of cargo shipments and other services provided by the railway. The anti-trust inquiry was demanded by one of Armenia’s largest fuel importers owned by government-connected businessmen.

Source: http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...8E59671F67.ASP

[Armenian]

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

Amid gloom, Russian reserves post record rise

Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves rose by a record $15.4 billion in the latest week thanks to a stronger euro and a rise in commercial banks' foreign currency deposits. The reserves, the world's third largest, rose to $450.8 billion on December 19 from $435.4 billion in the previous week, central bank data showed, even though the central bank spent an estimated $7 billion to support the rouble.

The reserves have shrunk by a quarter from early August peaks, dented by the central bank's defense of the rouble. Some of the money is also being used to help Russian companies to refinance their foreign debt. The rouble has come under pressure as Russia's key export earner, crude oil, falls in price. Russia has run seven small devaluations of the rouble since oil prices began to slide. The currency is now nearly 16 percent below August's historic peaks. Oil, Russia's main export, has lost 76 percent since July peak. The euro, which accounts for about 45 percent of Russia's gold and forex reserves, strengthened by about 4 percent against the dollar during the week between December 12 and December 19. A stronger euro boosts the dollar value of reserves. First Deputy Chairman of the central bank Alexei Ulyukayev said the reserves rose also due to an increase in foreign currency deposits in the central bank.

Many Russian banks took long positions in foreign currencies in anticipation of the rouble's devaluation, contributing to overall capital flight and prompting a backlash from President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Russian authorities told commercial banks not to increase their foreign currency positions or risk losing their access to the central bank's liquidity through collateral-free auctions. Instead, the central bank gave banks a possibility to park their foreign currency in interest-free accounts with the central bank. Ulyukayev said "several billion" were currently held in these accounts. Commercial banks' accounts in the central bank are matched by corresponding foreign currency positions in the central bank's assets, which count as part of the international reserves.

Russia will also tap its $132.6 billion Reserve Fund, which serves as a safety cushion for the budget and is set to stay at around 10 percent of Russia's GDP, to plug holes in the next year's budget. The Kremlin's aide on economy Arkady Dvorkovich told Vesti 24 news channel on Thursday Russia will run a deficit of 3-4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009 if global economic growth resumes in the second half of the year. Dvorkovich said that in case the global economy will be contracting throughout 2009, the deficit will not exceed 5 percent of GDP. Russia expects the economy to grow by 2.4 percent in 2009 if the average price of oil stays at $50 per barrel.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...122500327.html

[Muhaha]

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

The secret to a peaceful Eurasia in a post democratic, post capitalistic world is the revival of a new Byzantium headed by Moscow. As the Soviet Union fell apart some twenty years ago policy makers in the West feared the potential union of Christian Orthodox states into one political entity. This fear of theirs never materialized, although the potential has always been there. Why Orthodoxy? Besides its ethical/cultural/spiritual advantages in guiding the populace in a tumultuous post Soviet world, the revival of Orthodoxy can also provide a cultural/political commonality amongst regional nations that share an Orthodox heritage. We must realize that every nation, without exception, needs a political ideology to grow and prosper. Just within the last century, we saw Capitalism fail, we saw Democracy fail, we saw Theocracy fail, we saw Communism fail and, although endued with great potential, we saw how National Socialism was forced to fail. In the absence of major political movements today and with the onset of a post democratic western world, Christian Orthodoxy, perhaps in union with a new form of National Socialism, can play a major role in unifying a large segment of Eurasia's population under one ideological, political, military, economic and spiritual banner. I long to see a union of nations from Serbia to Armenia, from Belarus to the eastern reaches of Russia - under Christian Orthodox and National Socialist rule.

Armenian

1. How have Capitalism and Democracy failed?

2. Why would anyone actually advocate National Socialism?

3. Why should Armenia submit itself to anything headed by Moscow? Just because you don't like the West, it's no excuse to treat Russia like it's anything better.

[KarotheGreat]

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

3. Why should Armenia submit itself to anything headed by Moscow? Just because you don't like the West, it's no excuse to treat Russia like it's anything better.

Why shouldn't it, Yerevan and Moscow are very close partners. We are there only ally in the region and their only stronghold in the region.
And the west is allies to our enemies so why the xxxx should we trust them. Some Armenians forget their friends fast and want to find new ones. But why have some forgotten who supported us in the war, it was Russia and Russia alone. Where was the west then, it was supporting our enemies.

[Muhaha]

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

Why shouldn't it, Yerevan and Moscow are very close partners. We are there only ally in the region and their only stronghold in the region.
And the west is allies to our enemies so why the xxxx should we trust them. Some Armenians forget their friends fast and want to find new ones. But why have some forgotten who supported us in the war, it was Russia and Russia alone. Where was the west then, it was supporting our enemies.

1. I never said Yerevan shouldn't ally with Moscow. I said it shouldn't submit itself to it's control. There's a difference between being someones ally and being someone's lapdog. You remember what happened the last time Armenian's were under the control of others?

2. I'm getting tired of people who think Russia should be thanked or praised for helping Armenia in the war. It's the fault of the Russians Nakhchivan and Artsakh got into the hands of Azerbaijan to begin with. Helping Armenia is the bare minimum it had to do.

3. Russia isn't a friend, all Russia is doing is looking out for itself and that's not a definition of a friend. Armenia can't even use it's own Gas pipeline without permission from them. It's purposefully putting Armenia in a housecat position to limit the kind of potential it might have for becoming an actual society.

[KarotheGreat]

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

1. I never said Yerevan shouldn't ally with Moscow. I said it shouldn't submit itself to it's control. There's a difference between being someones ally and being someone's lapdog. You remember what happened the last time Armenian's were under the control of others?

2. I'm getting tired of people who think Russia should be thanked or praised for helping Armenia in the war. It's the fault of the Russians Nakhchivan and Artsakh got into the hands of Azerbaijan to begin with. Helping Armenia is the bare minimum it had to do.

3. Russia isn't a friend, all Russia is doing is looking out for itself and that's not a definition of a friend. Armenia can't even use it's own Gas pipeline without permission from them. It's purposefully putting Armenia in a housecat position to limit the kind of potential it might have for becoming an actual society.

Where did I say we should lapdogs, the one thing I want is a free and strong Armenia and we can't to that with the help of the West.

How was it the Russians, the Russian empire was gone there was nothing Russian about the Soviet Union. They had a couple of Russian leaders but is the Georgian Stalin who give away those territories. How was it the fault of the Russian I don't see that. And you shouldn't forget that Russia also lost territory. Crimea, Kiev all of that to the Ukrainians. So I don't see how it's the fault of the Russians it's the fault of the SU, no one else. And it's also our fault too, we were part of the SU too. And now we have an opportunity to correct the faults of the past.

And all Armenia is doing is looking after itself, that's what nations do. Armenia is working with Nato, is sending soldiers to Kosovo, Iraq and maybe will send to Afghanistan. And that's not in the interest of Russia but Armenia will do that, and they haven't acknowledged the independence of South-Ossetia and Abkhazia because it isn't in their best interest. Do you see that nations are never friends but will do what is for the best for them. That people have the naive thought that countries will do something that is against their own interest to help an other nation.