Elections in Armenia

[Armanen]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Have any of you guys read Plato's The Republic? And if so, do you think it would be feasible to have a "Philosopher King(s)"?

[Armanen]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

I think there is a chance that it could work but society would have to be radically remade for people to agree to the stoic principles set out by Plato i.e. children being taken away from their parents and raised by others, etc., maybe the best time would be after a major world conflict.

However I do believe the best form of government would have to involve some sort of benevolent dictatorship. Choosing the dictator is the hard part.

[RSNATION]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Anyway, come to think of it, all the great empires, whose ancestry we feed upon upon were dictatorships (and I don't mean only in ancient times). People would rather follow a dictator, than a stooge. That's the psychology of the masses

As long as the dictator does not resemble Saakashvili

[freakyfreaky]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

In theory, philosopher kings lead ideal states, utopias. In practice, they run totalitarian governments.

[freakyfreaky]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Serge's reform platform includes merger of tax and customs divisions, Kocharian's man in tax division squeezed out. http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...2D25EDBD4B.ASP

[Armenian]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Armenia's best loved CIA agent Mr. John "horse face" Hughes (pictured below) has been at it again, this time as a champion of Armenia's disabled. I'm in no way trying to belittle the societal ills that plaque Armenia today, nor am I insensitive towards those who are physically or mentally handicapped. The problem I have is with these agents exploiting our nation's internal problems for their political gains. Incidentally, have any of you seen some sort of an agency from China, or Russia, or Iran, or Venezuela operating in the United States with the sole purpose of addressing/combating the many-many societal ills that exists within this country?

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Teach Your Children Well: A sorry case of a sorry system of corruption

I have a friend whose daughter was born with a hearing/speech handicap. Sorry if the word “handicap” offends you. But in Armenia, any such disability is indeed that. Here, being afflicted means being estranged at best, mocked at worst, and in only the rarest of circumstances, accepted. Despite having a deficiency, the girl has applied herself to education in a society where “normal” children usually don’t mingle – either in the classroom or the playground – with “other” children. She has, in fact, excelled. So much so that she has qualified herself for study among “normal” students at a state university. Examiners from the Ministry of Education were astounded at her ability to speak. “One in a million,” they said. She wants to study psychology, and apply her academic training to help others who are hard of hearing or endure other challenges that most often cause them to be excluded from this society. The need for such specialists is great and the fact that she would choose the work commendable. In “normal” countries, she would likely find websites full of grants or scholarships at the ready to support bright young adults such as her. But in this handicapped country . . .

The entrance committee at one of Armenia’s state universities is demanding that the child’s parents pay them a $2,000 bribe to assure that the girl gets in. Of course they don’t call it a bribe. To them, it is a “magharitch” – an honored Armenian tradition in which the bearer of good news is given a gift by those to whom the news is delivered. Here’s the news of this magharitch: Armenians have no right to hate the Turks for what they did in 1915-18 if, in 2008, such unacceptable shadow policy is allowed to continue – perpetuated by Armenians themselves – as a genocide of conscience against its future generations. The Ministry of Education has said that – as a “special needs” case – the girl can attend the university for free, if she makes at least a ‘4’ (out of 5) on her entry exams. But what the university entry committee has said is that unless the parents pay them $2,000, the girl will not be admitted, even if she scores 5.

My friend, the girl’s mother, works as a nanny. With her humble means, she has put away money for her daughter’s studies. Her son is now serving in the Army in Karabakh. (And, by the way: She was told that if she’d pay $1,000 to certain officers, the boy would be stationed somewhere closer to home.) The mother is in the inevitable position of having to weigh the cost of morality against the cost of her child’s future. Simply: The cost of the girl’s future is a $2,000 bribe. If it isn’t paid to the examination board, she doesn’t get to attend university. Had she not been granted an exemption by the Ministry of Education, the cost would be $900 per year. The board says that the parents should be grateful to pay the $2,000 as a “magharitch”; rather than having to pay $3,600 over the next four years. What a choice, for a family that has been told – by a state ministry – that their daughter can get a free education if her grades are good. Which they are.

My friend asked the entrance committee if she could pay them $1,000 now and $1,000 later. “This is not a bazaar,” they told her, saying that the full payment was due on examination. Told her, too, that 28 students were applying for entry to the same department as her daughter and that only 10 would be chosen. The message is as clear as “first come, first served”: Those who pay bribes get in. Others don’t. So my friend has pawned her xxxelry to collect enough money to bribe her handicapped daughter’s way into university so that the child can study to help others while her brother defends this “great nation” in Karabakh. Indeed, not a bazaar. But a bizarre system and one that hardly inspires hope.

Source: http://www.armenianow.com/?action=vi...D=1203&lng=eng

[crusader1492]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

That guy is ugly inside and out. The government should consider him a persona-non-grata and kick this duplicitious horse face out for good.

[Armanen]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

That guy is ugly inside and out. The government should consider him a persona-non-grata and kick this duplicitious horse face out for good.

You have to realize that this is the same government that will not issue a visa to Alexandre Varbedian. Why, no one has been able to say. Pisses me off cause the people in power for good or bad give plenty of ammo to clowns such as hughes.

[Lucin]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Just look at the reaction of the people there... it's like they're just tickling him.

It's really surprising for me to see that such anti-Armenian stuff is being spread in Armenia and all over the Net with no one questioning/ objecting his activities and intentions and I can imagine how comfortably he lives in Armenia or goes there easily ... This will never happen in here for instance...

[Armenian]

Re: Presidential elections 2008 in Armenia

Just look at the reaction of the people there... it's like they're just tickling him. It's really surprising for me to see that such anti-Armenian stuff is being spread in Armenia and all over the Net with no one questioning/objecting his activities and intentions and I can imagine how comfortably he lives in Armenia or goes there easily ... This will never happen in here for instance...

It's obvious what John Hughes is. Nonetheless, this person is a loved and respected by Armenians in and out of Armenia. He works closely with the Armenian Assembly of America, which is one of two Armenian political lobbying organizations in the United States (founded by the Hovnanians). Believe it or not, even the ARF in New York City invited him to speak at one of their conferences early this year, where he naturally took the given opportunity to attack the Armenian government without anyone confronting him. Anyway, when confronted with situations like this I sometimes wish we simply handed the house keys to Moscow and stopped trying to pretend that we have a real nation. Armenia's worst enemy is not the Turk, it's Armenians.