Several days before President Putin's miraculous resurrection from the dead (during which he triumphantly ordered massive military drills from the Arctic to Armenia) France’s Agence France-Presse reported that President Putin will indeed be traveling to Yerevan to commemorate the grand centennial of the Armenian Genocide -
Thank you, Russia. Thank you, President Putin.
Although 1995 is known for being the year the Russian Duma first officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, we must always remember that it was the Soviet Union that commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 1965 by beginning the construction of the now world famous monument dedicated to the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. Let's also recall that April 24 was a major albeit unofficial holiday for Soviet Armenia. And as noted above, the Russian Duma officially recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1995 and since then, all high ranking Russian officials and dignitaries that visit Armenia pay official visits to the genocide memorial complex to honor the 1.5 million Armenian victims. Moreover, the historical veracity of the Armenian Genocide is always acknowledged in state funded Russian news agencies, television programs and publications. In short: Recognition of the Armenian Genocide by official Moscow has never been a problem for Armenians.
Which actually brings up an important question: If, as we are always told, international relations is solely based on selfish "interests", why then is Moscow going out of its way to recognize the Armenian Genocide?
Think of it this way: Armenia is almost totally dependent on Russia for survival and Russians know that Armenia has no real alternatives in the south Caucasus to Russia. Moscow has Armenia's dependence with or without genocide recognition. Therefore, is it in Moscow's political or economic interests to disregard the expressed wishes of nearly one hundred million Turks and Azeris and openly take sides with Armenians by recognizing a historic event that took place one hundred years ago? No, it is not. If Russian officials were simply being guided by selfish "interests" vis-à-vis Armenia, Moscow would not have recognized the Armenian Genocide in ways it has. After all, don't Anglo-American-Jewish officials always point to political considerations (i.e. the West's close ties to Ankara) as the primary reason why they are incapable of recognizing the Armenian Genocide? Well, what about Russian ties with Turks?
Let's take a brief look at this matter from a Russian perspective:
Bilateral trade between Russia and Turkey/Azerbaijan is very lucrative, running to the tune of tens-of-billions of dollars annually. Russia has been for many years trying to lure Turkey away from NATO. Russia has been for many years doing its best to draw Azerbaijan into its political orbit. Russia recognizes Turkey's strategic importance as a bridge connecting Europe and the Middle East. Russia recognizes Turkey's strategic control over the Bosporus Strait. Russia has in recent years developed a very lucrative arms supply deal with Baku. Russia just recently signed a major multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline project with Turkey. Russia recognizes the importance of Baku as a strategic energy hub. Millions of Russians spend their vacations on Turkish beeches. Russians know that there are over one hundred million Turks/Turanians bordering Russia. Russians realize that are millions of pacified Turkic peoples living right within their homeland.
Do Russians, like Westerners, have reasons to pander to Turks?
Similar to what Western powers do when it comes to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Russia has every excuse one can imagine for pandering to Turks and Azeris at the cost of Armenian interests. At the very least, Moscow has the excuses it needs for telling Armenians - "look, we will help you in any way we can but we can't officially recognize the Armenian Genocide because we simply have a lot of important interests in Turkey and Azerbaijan." Unlike what Western powers do, however, Russian officials have somehow always managed to put aside their political and financial considerations with the Turkic world and have had the integrity to officially recognize the genocide committed against Armenians by Turks even though not doing so could prove more beneficial to Russia.
Is this not the definition of what a true friend should be? Is this not what a genuine ally is supposed to do?
I need to remind the reader here that Moscow's pro-Armenian stance regarding this matter has been solely a Russian initiative because there is a virtual absence of Armenian lobbying efforts in Moscow. In other words, there is no ANC in Russia. Russians recognize the Armenian Genocide because Russians WANT to recognize the Armenian Genocide. So, despite what Western-financed propagandists and their brain-dead followers want Armenians to believe, could it be possible that Russia is actually a true friend and a genuine ally?
As noted above, despite the absence of Armenian activists in the Kremlin, not only does the Russian Duma officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide, every high ranking official from the Russian Federation - including Putin, Medvedev, Ivanov, Lavrov and Chilingarov - has visited the Armenian Genocide memorial, and always on a state level. And it's not only Russian politicians. The Russian Patriarch has also been to the genocide memorial. Even CSTO troops have been taken to the genocide memorial. The last time President Putin was in Armenia in 2013 he once again made time to appear at the genocide memorial -
And in the following picture we see how "Westernized" assholes in Yerevan (London resident Babken Der Grigoryan pictured below left) greeted the man's arrival earlier in the day -
Although Armenians are generally speaking too politically ignorant or too emotionally disturbed to realize it, Russians have actually been going out of their way to stand with us Armenians even though by doing so they may be hurting their national interests. Think about it: Other than keeping a small bunch of troublesome Armenians temporarily happy, what are Russian officials gaining by their official recognition of the Armenian Genocide? Seriously, think about this. It's not like Armenia's dependence on Russia or its allegiance to Moscow is at stake. In other words, nothing of political significance would change within the political landscape in Armenia if Russians did not recognize the Armenian Genocide. Other than hurting Armenian feelings, nothing of real political value would change in the political landscape in Armenia if Russian officials did not join us on April 24. Once more: If politics is merely about interests and financial profit, why hasn't Moscow made a deal with Turkey at Armenia's expense? It's not like Ankara has not been signalling its willingness to make a deal with the Bear -
So then, why is Moscow refraining closer cooperation with Ankara, abstaining from billions of dollars in possible military contracts with Turkey to stand firmly beside Armenians? With a major power like Turkey willing to deepen its ties with Russia, why is Moscow pandering to Armenians instead? As I said: It's not like Armenia is going anywhere.
In my opinion, Russians are putting aside their economic and political interests with Turks and Azeris to show Turks and Azeris - as well as Armenians and the rest of the world - that Russia's alliance and friendship with Armenia transcends political and/or economic calculations. Moscow wants the world to know that Russian-Armenian alliance goes beyond mere interests and that it sees Armenia as an integral part of Russian and not Western civilization. The Russian Federation therefore sees Armenia as a natural partner that needs to be nurtured and protected, unlike Washingtonian officials that see a dollar value on everything on earth and would even sell their mothers to the highest bidder? Simply put: Moscow has been going out of its way to stand with Armenians because Russia sees Armenia as part of its world.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out recently that Strelkov, the rebel leader in Novorossia, actually made a public statement in which he said that the "Russian world" should include Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and possibly Central Asia -
Russia provides invaluable military protection against Turkey, thereby allowing Armenia's small military to concentrate its limited resources on a more manageable enemy, Azerbaijan. Russian officials, both civilian and military, regularly warn Baku against trying to solve the unresolved dispute in Artsakh militarily. Russia provides Armenia modern weaponry at domestic prices and oftentimes for free, to help Armenia keep up with oil rich Baku's massive arms expenditures... Russia looks the other way when Yerevan transfers large quantities of Russian supplied arms to Artsakh... Russia trains Armenian military specialists for free... Russian security and intelligence officials closely collaborate with their Armenian counterparts... Russian arms developers, scientists and academicians closely collaborate with their Armenian counterparts... Russia supplies Armenia with very affordable gas and oil... Russia provides Armenia's atomic power plant its nuclear fuel and assists in its maintenance... Russia has invested billions of dollars in Armenia's economy and infrastructure... Russia is by-far Armenia's largest trading partner... Russia has given Armenian producers and businessmen open access to its vast domestic market... Russia provides work opportunities to hundreds-of-thousands of Armenians annually, who's remittances to Armenia represents a significant portion of the country's GDP... Russia uses its UN veto power to block actions against Armenia... Russia has tolerated Armenia's flirtations with Western powers... Finally, Russia officially - and proactively - recognizes the Armenian Genocide.
What else do we want from these people?!?!?!
It seems to me the only thing Russia has not yet begun doing for Armenia - at least to my knowledge - is giving every single Armenian alive a week long, all expenses paid vacation in Disneyland.
But, I can hear it now: "What about Russian arms sales to Baku?!"
I have lost count how many times I have reflected on this matter, but I guess one more time won't hurt: Foremost, let's recognize the fact that Baku has the petrodollars to purchase whatever it wants. If Russia does not sell it the weaponry it is seeking, there are a number of nations that are more than willing to do so. Western powers, Turkey and Israel have in fact been selling Baku billions-of-dollars in arms and training the Azerbaijani special forces and sharpshooters responsible for killing Armenian border guards. Russian arms sales to Baku is not directed against Armenia. Military specialists and political analysts agree that Russian arms sales to Baku and Yerevan are designed to maintain the balance of power between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most of Baku's arms purchases from Russia are defensive weapons meant to be used for its air and sea defenses. While Russia sells weaponry to Azerbaijan at market prices, it gives weaponry to Armenia essentially for free. We also need to recognize that Russia has normal relations with Azerbaijan. Moscow is also trying hard to lure Azerbaijan into its orbit and by selling it the weaponry that Baku wants, Moscow realizes it gains leverage over Baku - which is good for Armenia. Russia will therefore do its best to maintain good relations with Baku while making sure Armenia is protected from Baku. Moreover, even though Armenia is allied to Russia, Kremlin officials know very well that Armenians can be easily bought by Western money and that Armenia and Armenian society in general is rife with Western operatives. A quick look at Armenian society these days is enough to show one that Russians cannot trust Armenians, even if there was a thing called “trust” in politics. Therefore, Russia will protect its only strategic ally in the south Caucasus but it will also make sure to also have some leverage over Yerevan by arming Baku, just in case. Russia is thus managing the situation on the ground between Yerevan and Baku by making sure that the current status quo, that which only benefits the Armenian side, is maintained.
Nevertheless, the hysteria created by Western propagandists recently over this matter forced President Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Nalbandyan to make public statements critical of Moscow. The Armenian president knows very well that Russian arms sales to Baku are not directed against Armenia. The Armenian president knows very well that Russia has enabled Armenia to keep up with a big spending Baku. The Armenian president knows very well that Russia has been solely responsible for stopping Azerbaijan and Turkey from solving the dispute in Artsakh militarily. Knowing all this, why then did the Armenian president feel compelled to criticize Moscow? The answer: Because of Yerevan's "complimentary politics". Yerevan's desire to expose itself to Western powers is continuing to give Western propagandists meddling opportunities. Consequently, we continue seeing Western propagandists creating a self-serving, virtual reality in which Armenian officials are forced to respond. And since Armenian officials want to impress Western officials with their complimentary politics, they are responding by publicly complaining about Moscow. This is another case where Western propagandists have forced Yerevan's hand essentially because Yerevan is allowing Western powers to remain in the game. What did Armenia gain - in real political terms - by the Armenian president's public criticism of Moscow? The answer is: Other than encouraging Armenia's Russophobes and furthering Western interests in Armenia, nothing. What official Yerevan needs to be doing instead of criticizing Moscow is lobbying Russian officials. In politics, lobbying works, criticism does not. If there is a problem in a relationship between friends, you do your best to directly engage your partner in an attempt to solve the problem - instead of jumping on to your enemy's lap and complaining about your partner. Even Armenia's chobans-in-Armani-suits recognize this universal wisdom -
Once more: Russian arms sales to Baku is not directed against Armenia. Russia is the only nation on earth that is profoundly concerned about militarily protecting Armenia and it has been doing so brilliantly for the past twenty years. Despite the negative perception created about Russia among Armenians, Russian policy towards Armenia has actually been surprisingly positive and constructive, whereas the West's policy towards Armenia has always been hostile. Those who create the perception that Russia is hostile towards Armenia are in fact the hostile ones towards Armenia.
Let's take a quick look at American hostility, direct and indirect, towards Armenia:
Despite the million-plus Armenians living in the US, Washington has refused to recognize the Armenian Genocide; No high ranking US officials have ever visited the Armenian Genocide memorial complex on a state level; Washington has not made any effort to make Ankara lift its economic blockade of Armenia; Washington allows Turkish aggression against Syria and Iraq; Washington gives Turks access to American nuclear weapons; Through its destructive policies, Washington has harmed the Armenian communities of Ukraine, Syria and Iraq; Washington regularly meddles in the internal affairs of Armenia; Political activists connected to Washington have attempted revolutions in Armenia; There has been a disinformation campaign against Armenia by American financed news agencies and journalists; Washington trains and equips Azeri snipers and special forces; Washington is hostile towards Russia, Armenia's largest trade partner, investor and arms supplier; Washington is hostile towards Iran, Armenia's most reliable neighbor and trade partner; Washington encourages Salafist/Wahhabi Islamic fundamentalism in the Caucasus; Washington is against Armenia joining the EEU; Washington is against the military protection Armenia receives from Russia; Washington has not signed a free trade agreement with Armenia; Washington's presence in Tbilisi has had a very negative impact on Georgian-Armenian relations; Washington's policies in the region have hindered the implementation of major regional infrastructure modernization project; Washington has never given any Armenian president a state level reception; No US president has ever visited Armenia, even during the 1990s when Russia was on its knees and Armenia was up for grabs.
Simply Put: Washington is in the Caucasus region to curb Russian and Iranian influence and exploit Central Asian energy. Armenia's friends are their enemies. Their friends are Armenia's enemies. It's that simple. Only Russia has a vested interest in Armenia. Only Russia has been enabling Armenia to survive the turbulent south Caucasus. Only Russia stands to lose the most if Armenia is lost. The modern version of the "Great Game" being played by Western powers in the south Caucasus today is the ONLY reason why Armenia has been hurting since its independence. All in all, the West's presence in the Caucasus region has been very destructive for Armenia. But... according to the sheeple, Russia is the hostile country and all the US wants is freedom and democracy. We are living in a world turned upside-down.
Armenia's pragmatic nationalists look at Russia and see a historic opportunity the kind of which Armenia has not had in well over one thousand years. Armenia's pragmatic nationalists look at Russia and see a massive economic opportunity. Armenia's pragmatic nationalists look at Russia, a neighboring ally who is a superpower and see a means to safeguard Armenia's borders from regional predators. Armenia's pragmatic nationalists understand that the keys to Armenia's long term health and well-being lies in the highest offices of the Kremlin. Sadly, however, Armenia today does not have an overabundance of pragmatic nationalists. What Armenia does have an overabundance of are Western mercenaries, Russophobes, smut-peddlers, nationalist nutjobs, whiners and complainers.
Due to the Russophobia being relentlessly propagated by Western propagandists throughout Armenian society, it has become fashionable among Armenians these days (even among normally pro-Russian Armenians) to claim that Russia mistreats Armenia or that Moscow always imposes its will on Yerevan. Moreover, Armenians generally speaking are under the impression that Armenians officials are subservient to Moscow always doing the bidding of Russian officials. These are all false perceptions created by Western propagandists. The reality is that Russian officials have actually been treating Armenia with white gloves. But, as we all know, from the sheeple's perspective, perception is reality, and Western propagandists are the masters of creating perception.
The greatest and the most powerful leader of our times will join Armenians on April 24 to commemorate the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. President Putin's decision to spend this most important day for Armenians with Armenians is particularly appreciated in light of the fact that the Russian Federation currently faces one of the greatest challenges in its history and Kremlin officials have their hands full. I am grateful that a superpower like the Russian Federation officially recognizes the historic tragedy that befell Armenians one hundred years. And I am deeply grateful that President Putin will make time from his very busy schedule to stand with us Armenians as a symbolic yet powerful gesture that Armenia is not alone in the tumultuous south Caucasus.Putin to Commemorate Armenian Genocide Centennial in Yerevan: http://armenianweekly.com/2015/03/12/putin-centennial-yerevan/
Thank you, Russia. Thank you, President Putin.
Although 1995 is known for being the year the Russian Duma first officially recognized the Armenian Genocide, we must always remember that it was the Soviet Union that commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 1965 by beginning the construction of the now world famous monument dedicated to the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. Let's also recall that April 24 was a major albeit unofficial holiday for Soviet Armenia. And as noted above, the Russian Duma officially recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1995 and since then, all high ranking Russian officials and dignitaries that visit Armenia pay official visits to the genocide memorial complex to honor the 1.5 million Armenian victims. Moreover, the historical veracity of the Armenian Genocide is always acknowledged in state funded Russian news agencies, television programs and publications. In short: Recognition of the Armenian Genocide by official Moscow has never been a problem for Armenians.
Which actually brings up an important question: If, as we are always told, international relations is solely based on selfish "interests", why then is Moscow going out of its way to recognize the Armenian Genocide?
Think of it this way: Armenia is almost totally dependent on Russia for survival and Russians know that Armenia has no real alternatives in the south Caucasus to Russia. Moscow has Armenia's dependence with or without genocide recognition. Therefore, is it in Moscow's political or economic interests to disregard the expressed wishes of nearly one hundred million Turks and Azeris and openly take sides with Armenians by recognizing a historic event that took place one hundred years ago? No, it is not. If Russian officials were simply being guided by selfish "interests" vis-à-vis Armenia, Moscow would not have recognized the Armenian Genocide in ways it has. After all, don't Anglo-American-Jewish officials always point to political considerations (i.e. the West's close ties to Ankara) as the primary reason why they are incapable of recognizing the Armenian Genocide? Well, what about Russian ties with Turks?
Let's take a brief look at this matter from a Russian perspective:
Bilateral trade between Russia and Turkey/Azerbaijan is very lucrative, running to the tune of tens-of-billions of dollars annually. Russia has been for many years trying to lure Turkey away from NATO. Russia has been for many years doing its best to draw Azerbaijan into its political orbit. Russia recognizes Turkey's strategic importance as a bridge connecting Europe and the Middle East. Russia recognizes Turkey's strategic control over the Bosporus Strait. Russia has in recent years developed a very lucrative arms supply deal with Baku. Russia just recently signed a major multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline project with Turkey. Russia recognizes the importance of Baku as a strategic energy hub. Millions of Russians spend their vacations on Turkish beeches. Russians know that there are over one hundred million Turks/Turanians bordering Russia. Russians realize that are millions of pacified Turkic peoples living right within their homeland.
Do Russians, like Westerners, have reasons to pander to Turks?
Similar to what Western powers do when it comes to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Russia has every excuse one can imagine for pandering to Turks and Azeris at the cost of Armenian interests. At the very least, Moscow has the excuses it needs for telling Armenians - "look, we will help you in any way we can but we can't officially recognize the Armenian Genocide because we simply have a lot of important interests in Turkey and Azerbaijan." Unlike what Western powers do, however, Russian officials have somehow always managed to put aside their political and financial considerations with the Turkic world and have had the integrity to officially recognize the genocide committed against Armenians by Turks even though not doing so could prove more beneficial to Russia.
Is this not the definition of what a true friend should be? Is this not what a genuine ally is supposed to do?
I need to remind the reader here that Moscow's pro-Armenian stance regarding this matter has been solely a Russian initiative because there is a virtual absence of Armenian lobbying efforts in Moscow. In other words, there is no ANC in Russia. Russians recognize the Armenian Genocide because Russians WANT to recognize the Armenian Genocide. So, despite what Western-financed propagandists and their brain-dead followers want Armenians to believe, could it be possible that Russia is actually a true friend and a genuine ally?
As noted above, despite the absence of Armenian activists in the Kremlin, not only does the Russian Duma officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide, every high ranking official from the Russian Federation - including Putin, Medvedev, Ivanov, Lavrov and Chilingarov - has visited the Armenian Genocide memorial, and always on a state level. And it's not only Russian politicians. The Russian Patriarch has also been to the genocide memorial. Even CSTO troops have been taken to the genocide memorial. The last time President Putin was in Armenia in 2013 he once again made time to appear at the genocide memorial -
And in the following picture we see how "Westernized" assholes in Yerevan (London resident Babken Der Grigoryan pictured below left) greeted the man's arrival earlier in the day -
Although Armenians are generally speaking too politically ignorant or too emotionally disturbed to realize it, Russians have actually been going out of their way to stand with us Armenians even though by doing so they may be hurting their national interests. Think about it: Other than keeping a small bunch of troublesome Armenians temporarily happy, what are Russian officials gaining by their official recognition of the Armenian Genocide? Seriously, think about this. It's not like Armenia's dependence on Russia or its allegiance to Moscow is at stake. In other words, nothing of political significance would change within the political landscape in Armenia if Russians did not recognize the Armenian Genocide. Other than hurting Armenian feelings, nothing of real political value would change in the political landscape in Armenia if Russian officials did not join us on April 24. Once more: If politics is merely about interests and financial profit, why hasn't Moscow made a deal with Turkey at Armenia's expense? It's not like Ankara has not been signalling its willingness to make a deal with the Bear -
Turkey Leveraging Major Arms Purchase Against Genocide Recognition: http://asbarez.com/132940/turkey-leveraging-major-arms-purchase-against-genocide-recognition/
In my opinion, Russians are putting aside their economic and political interests with Turks and Azeris to show Turks and Azeris - as well as Armenians and the rest of the world - that Russia's alliance and friendship with Armenia transcends political and/or economic calculations. Moscow wants the world to know that Russian-Armenian alliance goes beyond mere interests and that it sees Armenia as an integral part of Russian and not Western civilization. The Russian Federation therefore sees Armenia as a natural partner that needs to be nurtured and protected, unlike Washingtonian officials that see a dollar value on everything on earth and would even sell their mothers to the highest bidder? Simply put: Moscow has been going out of its way to stand with Armenians because Russia sees Armenia as part of its world.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out recently that Strelkov, the rebel leader in Novorossia, actually made a public statement in which he said that the "Russian world" should include Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and possibly Central Asia -
Did Strelkov deliberately leave out Azerbaijan from the Russian world? I don't know and I don't even care. What's important is that Armenia continues to be looked at by Russian officials as an immensely valuable geostrategic asset. Let's take another look at what the Russian factor means for Armenia and what the Russian Bear has been doing for Armenia during the past twenty years:'Liberal' Putin could be toppled 'like the tsar', warns Russian ultra-nationalist: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/liberal-putin-could-be-toppled-like-tsar-warns-russian-ultra-nationalist-1493046
Russia provides invaluable military protection against Turkey, thereby allowing Armenia's small military to concentrate its limited resources on a more manageable enemy, Azerbaijan. Russian officials, both civilian and military, regularly warn Baku against trying to solve the unresolved dispute in Artsakh militarily. Russia provides Armenia modern weaponry at domestic prices and oftentimes for free, to help Armenia keep up with oil rich Baku's massive arms expenditures... Russia looks the other way when Yerevan transfers large quantities of Russian supplied arms to Artsakh... Russia trains Armenian military specialists for free... Russian security and intelligence officials closely collaborate with their Armenian counterparts... Russian arms developers, scientists and academicians closely collaborate with their Armenian counterparts... Russia supplies Armenia with very affordable gas and oil... Russia provides Armenia's atomic power plant its nuclear fuel and assists in its maintenance... Russia has invested billions of dollars in Armenia's economy and infrastructure... Russia is by-far Armenia's largest trading partner... Russia has given Armenian producers and businessmen open access to its vast domestic market... Russia provides work opportunities to hundreds-of-thousands of Armenians annually, who's remittances to Armenia represents a significant portion of the country's GDP... Russia uses its UN veto power to block actions against Armenia... Russia has tolerated Armenia's flirtations with Western powers... Finally, Russia officially - and proactively - recognizes the Armenian Genocide.
What else do we want from these people?!?!?!
It seems to me the only thing Russia has not yet begun doing for Armenia - at least to my knowledge - is giving every single Armenian alive a week long, all expenses paid vacation in Disneyland.
But, I can hear it now: "What about Russian arms sales to Baku?!"
I have lost count how many times I have reflected on this matter, but I guess one more time won't hurt: Foremost, let's recognize the fact that Baku has the petrodollars to purchase whatever it wants. If Russia does not sell it the weaponry it is seeking, there are a number of nations that are more than willing to do so. Western powers, Turkey and Israel have in fact been selling Baku billions-of-dollars in arms and training the Azerbaijani special forces and sharpshooters responsible for killing Armenian border guards. Russian arms sales to Baku is not directed against Armenia. Military specialists and political analysts agree that Russian arms sales to Baku and Yerevan are designed to maintain the balance of power between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most of Baku's arms purchases from Russia are defensive weapons meant to be used for its air and sea defenses. While Russia sells weaponry to Azerbaijan at market prices, it gives weaponry to Armenia essentially for free. We also need to recognize that Russia has normal relations with Azerbaijan. Moscow is also trying hard to lure Azerbaijan into its orbit and by selling it the weaponry that Baku wants, Moscow realizes it gains leverage over Baku - which is good for Armenia. Russia will therefore do its best to maintain good relations with Baku while making sure Armenia is protected from Baku. Moreover, even though Armenia is allied to Russia, Kremlin officials know very well that Armenians can be easily bought by Western money and that Armenia and Armenian society in general is rife with Western operatives. A quick look at Armenian society these days is enough to show one that Russians cannot trust Armenians, even if there was a thing called “trust” in politics. Therefore, Russia will protect its only strategic ally in the south Caucasus but it will also make sure to also have some leverage over Yerevan by arming Baku, just in case. Russia is thus managing the situation on the ground between Yerevan and Baku by making sure that the current status quo, that which only benefits the Armenian side, is maintained.
Nevertheless, the hysteria created by Western propagandists recently over this matter forced President Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Nalbandyan to make public statements critical of Moscow. The Armenian president knows very well that Russian arms sales to Baku are not directed against Armenia. The Armenian president knows very well that Russia has enabled Armenia to keep up with a big spending Baku. The Armenian president knows very well that Russia has been solely responsible for stopping Azerbaijan and Turkey from solving the dispute in Artsakh militarily. Knowing all this, why then did the Armenian president feel compelled to criticize Moscow? The answer: Because of Yerevan's "complimentary politics". Yerevan's desire to expose itself to Western powers is continuing to give Western propagandists meddling opportunities. Consequently, we continue seeing Western propagandists creating a self-serving, virtual reality in which Armenian officials are forced to respond. And since Armenian officials want to impress Western officials with their complimentary politics, they are responding by publicly complaining about Moscow. This is another case where Western propagandists have forced Yerevan's hand essentially because Yerevan is allowing Western powers to remain in the game. What did Armenia gain - in real political terms - by the Armenian president's public criticism of Moscow? The answer is: Other than encouraging Armenia's Russophobes and furthering Western interests in Armenia, nothing. What official Yerevan needs to be doing instead of criticizing Moscow is lobbying Russian officials. In politics, lobbying works, criticism does not. If there is a problem in a relationship between friends, you do your best to directly engage your partner in an attempt to solve the problem - instead of jumping on to your enemy's lap and complaining about your partner. Even Armenia's chobans-in-Armani-suits recognize this universal wisdom -
ArmeniaNow: Armenian ruling party’s ‘pro-Russian wing’ hints at risks of “spoiled” relations with Moscow: https://armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/61740
Let's take a quick look at American hostility, direct and indirect, towards Armenia:
Despite the million-plus Armenians living in the US, Washington has refused to recognize the Armenian Genocide; No high ranking US officials have ever visited the Armenian Genocide memorial complex on a state level; Washington has not made any effort to make Ankara lift its economic blockade of Armenia; Washington allows Turkish aggression against Syria and Iraq; Washington gives Turks access to American nuclear weapons; Through its destructive policies, Washington has harmed the Armenian communities of Ukraine, Syria and Iraq; Washington regularly meddles in the internal affairs of Armenia; Political activists connected to Washington have attempted revolutions in Armenia; There has been a disinformation campaign against Armenia by American financed news agencies and journalists; Washington trains and equips Azeri snipers and special forces; Washington is hostile towards Russia, Armenia's largest trade partner, investor and arms supplier; Washington is hostile towards Iran, Armenia's most reliable neighbor and trade partner; Washington encourages Salafist/Wahhabi Islamic fundamentalism in the Caucasus; Washington is against Armenia joining the EEU; Washington is against the military protection Armenia receives from Russia; Washington has not signed a free trade agreement with Armenia; Washington's presence in Tbilisi has had a very negative impact on Georgian-Armenian relations; Washington's policies in the region have hindered the implementation of major regional infrastructure modernization project; Washington has never given any Armenian president a state level reception; No US president has ever visited Armenia, even during the 1990s when Russia was on its knees and Armenia was up for grabs.
Simply Put: Washington is in the Caucasus region to curb Russian and Iranian influence and exploit Central Asian energy. Armenia's friends are their enemies. Their friends are Armenia's enemies. It's that simple. Only Russia has a vested interest in Armenia. Only Russia has been enabling Armenia to survive the turbulent south Caucasus. Only Russia stands to lose the most if Armenia is lost. The modern version of the "Great Game" being played by Western powers in the south Caucasus today is the ONLY reason why Armenia has been hurting since its independence. All in all, the West's presence in the Caucasus region has been very destructive for Armenia. But... according to the sheeple, Russia is the hostile country and all the US wants is freedom and democracy. We are living in a world turned upside-down.
Armenia's pragmatic nationalists look at Russia and see a historic opportunity the kind of which Armenia has not had in well over one thousand years. Armenia's pragmatic nationalists look at Russia and see a massive economic opportunity. Armenia's pragmatic nationalists look at Russia, a neighboring ally who is a superpower and see a means to safeguard Armenia's borders from regional predators. Armenia's pragmatic nationalists understand that the keys to Armenia's long term health and well-being lies in the highest offices of the Kremlin. Sadly, however, Armenia today does not have an overabundance of pragmatic nationalists. What Armenia does have an overabundance of are Western mercenaries, Russophobes, smut-peddlers, nationalist nutjobs, whiners and complainers.
Due to the Russophobia being relentlessly propagated by Western propagandists throughout Armenian society, it has become fashionable among Armenians these days (even among normally pro-Russian Armenians) to claim that Russia mistreats Armenia or that Moscow always imposes its will on Yerevan. Moreover, Armenians generally speaking are under the impression that Armenians officials are subservient to Moscow always doing the bidding of Russian officials. These are all false perceptions created by Western propagandists. The reality is that Russian officials have actually been treating Armenia with white gloves. But, as we all know, from the sheeple's perspective, perception is reality, and Western propagandists are the masters of creating perception.
Compared to what the Russian factor in the south Caucasus means for Armenia and compared to what Russia does for Armenia, despite how hard I try, I fail to see how Russia mistreats Armenia and how Yerevan is being subservient to Moscow.
Let's recall that Yerevan has maintained close ties with the political West. At a time when Russia is fighting a proxy war against NATO in Ukraine and Syria, Armenia, a Russian ally and a member of EEU and CSTO, has been regularly participating in NATO military exercises, some of which are aimed against Russia. Armenia purchases war supplies from NATO members. Armenia regularly hosts US and European military and civilian officials. Armenia hosts one of the largest US embassies in the world. Western operatives in Armenia have had a free hand to do as they please during the past twenty-five years. And an increasing numbers of Armenians are making a comfortable living these days by propagating Russophobia. And with regards to Armenia's membership in the CSTO and EEU: Armenia is a member of those Russian-led organizations not because of Russian pressure but because of absolute necessity. In other words, for it to survive in the south Caucasus, Armenia has no choice but to be part of the Russian orbit. I therefore don't look at Armenia's membership in the CSTO and the EEU as a result of Russian pressure. Armenia has no choice.
Therefore, I ask: Is the notion that Russia mistreats Armenia and Armenians officials always do the bidding of Russians a false perception created by Western-financed propagandists inside Armenia society as well as the by-product of our people's political illiteracy? Absolutely!
With that said, it should also be said that whatever flaws that exist between Russia and Armenia today is primarily the result of Yerevan’s complimentary politics (i.e. Yerevan flirting with Russia’s enemies) and the lack of sustained and organized Armenian lobbying efforts in Moscow. Our people's Western fetishes, Russophobia and political illiteracy is therefore hindering the proper development of Russian-Armenian alliance. While Armenia's military is its tactical advantage, Armenia's ties to Kremlin officials must be made it strategic advantage. This requires political foresight and activism. Armenians need to embark on a serious lobbying campaign in Moscow and Yerevan must limit it's dangerous exposure to Western powers. Armenian activists, Armenian officials and Armenians businessmen need to be a constant presence behind the walls of the Kremlin. Armenians need to become part of the political culture in Moscow for Moscow is where the key to Armenia's future successes are found. Yet, there continues to be virtual absence of Armenian lobbying efforts in Russia.
While Turks and Azeris are all over Moscow lobbing their causes, our idiots are no where to be seen in Moscow because they are too busy kissing the asses of war criminals in Washington for a few dollars or in foolish hopes that Uncle Sam will utter the "G" word. Well, one does not have to be psychic to foretell that Uncle Sam will once again spit on the Armenian community's face on April 24. Armenians, particularly American-Armenians, deserve every insult by Western officials because even a jackass by now would have learned something form its past failures. Armenians need lobbying in Moscow, not in Washington.
Although Armenians admire Jews for their political foresight and agility, when the time comes for Armenians to act like Jews they instead act like Arabs.
Our people's political illiteracy, which has brought Armenia to this point in our history, must be in our blood. A typical case in point: While Armenians and Russians will be commemorating the centennial of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, Western funded scumbags calling themselves "Founding Parliament" will be exploiting the historic opportunity to attempt what? A revolution in the country!
As always in our history, the Armenian fortress is being dismantled stone-by-stone from the inside by Armenians themselves. When it comes to geopolitical matters pertaining to Armenia, I, a Diasporan Armenian, am therefore more inclined to trust Russians than Armenians. I therefore thank God for the existence of Mother Russia for without her we wouldn't have an Armenia.
It would be wise for Armenians to put aside their Qaj Nazarian empty bravado - as well as Western fetishes - and realize that Armenia lives today not because of the "almighty Armenian" and not because of the big talking Diaspora but because of the Russian factor in Armenia. Had it not been for Russia, Armenia would have suffered the fate of Cyprus, Serbia, Georgia or Ukraine or worst a very long time ago. Had it not been for the Russian coming down to the south Caucasus some two hundred years ago - and staying - we Armenians would still be living in eastern Turkey and northern Iran not much unlike backward Kurds and Yezdis. Anyone that does not see this is either an imbecile or an agent of the West. Our Russophobes therefore are either dangerous imbeciles that need to be flogged in public or Western mercenaries that need to be put up in front of a firing squad. Anyway, it is no surprise that as Russia's state representatives prepare to commemorate our solemn centennial with us Armenians, some Western pigs - and their piglets - will be running to stand with Turks -
And as some Westerners are whoring themselves to Turks, some Westerners will be whoring themselves to Azeris -
Be that as it may, naive Armenians are once again thinking that due to recent tensions between Ankara and Western powers, Washington may be inclined to say the "G" word this year. Naive Armenians are foolishly thinking that Anglo-American-Jews will be turning against the Turkish state because of some problems between them in recent years. Naive Armenians should realize that the West's problem is not with Turkey per se but with Recep Erdogan. Western powers may turn against Turkey's belligerent Prime Minister but they will never turn against Turkey. In other words, the tensions we sometimes see between the West and Ankara is an internal matter, a technical matter that will be sorted out between them. Under no circumstances, however, will the Anglo-American-Jewish political order abandon Turkey simply because Turkey represented a far too great geostrategic asset for them. The Anglo-American-Jewish world needs a friendly Turkey as a buffer against Russia, pan-Arab nationalism and growth of Iranian influence in the Middle East.
Naive Armenians must understand that the Turco-Western-Judeo alliance is just too big to fail.
Let's recall that Yerevan has maintained close ties with the political West. At a time when Russia is fighting a proxy war against NATO in Ukraine and Syria, Armenia, a Russian ally and a member of EEU and CSTO, has been regularly participating in NATO military exercises, some of which are aimed against Russia. Armenia purchases war supplies from NATO members. Armenia regularly hosts US and European military and civilian officials. Armenia hosts one of the largest US embassies in the world. Western operatives in Armenia have had a free hand to do as they please during the past twenty-five years. And an increasing numbers of Armenians are making a comfortable living these days by propagating Russophobia. And with regards to Armenia's membership in the CSTO and EEU: Armenia is a member of those Russian-led organizations not because of Russian pressure but because of absolute necessity. In other words, for it to survive in the south Caucasus, Armenia has no choice but to be part of the Russian orbit. I therefore don't look at Armenia's membership in the CSTO and the EEU as a result of Russian pressure. Armenia has no choice.
Therefore, I ask: Is the notion that Russia mistreats Armenia and Armenians officials always do the bidding of Russians a false perception created by Western-financed propagandists inside Armenia society as well as the by-product of our people's political illiteracy? Absolutely!
With that said, it should also be said that whatever flaws that exist between Russia and Armenia today is primarily the result of Yerevan’s complimentary politics (i.e. Yerevan flirting with Russia’s enemies) and the lack of sustained and organized Armenian lobbying efforts in Moscow. Our people's Western fetishes, Russophobia and political illiteracy is therefore hindering the proper development of Russian-Armenian alliance. While Armenia's military is its tactical advantage, Armenia's ties to Kremlin officials must be made it strategic advantage. This requires political foresight and activism. Armenians need to embark on a serious lobbying campaign in Moscow and Yerevan must limit it's dangerous exposure to Western powers. Armenian activists, Armenian officials and Armenians businessmen need to be a constant presence behind the walls of the Kremlin. Armenians need to become part of the political culture in Moscow for Moscow is where the key to Armenia's future successes are found. Yet, there continues to be virtual absence of Armenian lobbying efforts in Russia.
While Turks and Azeris are all over Moscow lobbing their causes, our idiots are no where to be seen in Moscow because they are too busy kissing the asses of war criminals in Washington for a few dollars or in foolish hopes that Uncle Sam will utter the "G" word. Well, one does not have to be psychic to foretell that Uncle Sam will once again spit on the Armenian community's face on April 24. Armenians, particularly American-Armenians, deserve every insult by Western officials because even a jackass by now would have learned something form its past failures. Armenians need lobbying in Moscow, not in Washington.
Although Armenians admire Jews for their political foresight and agility, when the time comes for Armenians to act like Jews they instead act like Arabs.
Our people's political illiteracy, which has brought Armenia to this point in our history, must be in our blood. A typical case in point: While Armenians and Russians will be commemorating the centennial of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, Western funded scumbags calling themselves "Founding Parliament" will be exploiting the historic opportunity to attempt what? A revolution in the country!
As always in our history, the Armenian fortress is being dismantled stone-by-stone from the inside by Armenians themselves. When it comes to geopolitical matters pertaining to Armenia, I, a Diasporan Armenian, am therefore more inclined to trust Russians than Armenians. I therefore thank God for the existence of Mother Russia for without her we wouldn't have an Armenia.
It would be wise for Armenians to put aside their Qaj Nazarian empty bravado - as well as Western fetishes - and realize that Armenia lives today not because of the "almighty Armenian" and not because of the big talking Diaspora but because of the Russian factor in Armenia. Had it not been for Russia, Armenia would have suffered the fate of Cyprus, Serbia, Georgia or Ukraine or worst a very long time ago. Had it not been for the Russian coming down to the south Caucasus some two hundred years ago - and staying - we Armenians would still be living in eastern Turkey and northern Iran not much unlike backward Kurds and Yezdis. Anyone that does not see this is either an imbecile or an agent of the West. Our Russophobes therefore are either dangerous imbeciles that need to be flogged in public or Western mercenaries that need to be put up in front of a firing squad. Anyway, it is no surprise that as Russia's state representatives prepare to commemorate our solemn centennial with us Armenians, some Western pigs - and their piglets - will be running to stand with Turks -
Prince Charles and Prince Harry to attend Gallipoli service for Anzac Day: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/mar/07/prince-charles-and-prince-harry-to-attend-gallipoli-service-for-anzac-day
And as noted above, as Westerners keep whoring themselves to Turks and Azeris, some Armenians will be whoring themselves to Western powers by trying to start a revolution in Armenia on April 24. Nevertheless, come April 24, we Armenians will be once more dropping our pants and bending-over in front of Uncle Sam with great hope and anticipation. Come April 24, Uncle Sam will once again spit on Armenian faces -Is Armenia America’s Ally Or Iran’s?: http://dailycaller.com/2015/03/12/is...ally-or-irans/
Obama Administration insults memory of Armenian Holocaust: http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/19/obama-administration-insults-memory-of-armenian-holocaust/
Naive Armenians must understand that the Turco-Western-Judeo alliance is just too big to fail.
Therefore, when it comes to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide blaming any single American president, administration or political party is misleading. The problem is not Bush, Clinton or Obama - or Democrat or Republican - the problem is the very nature of geopolitics the geostrategic pursuits of the American empire. Washington's anti-Armenian stance is not recent. US hostility towards Armenia actually goes back to the Soviet period. Back then, it was ARF nutjobs that were used against Soviet Armenia. Today, it's a much wider array of nutjobs (e.g. Dashnaks, socialists, liberals, feminists, environmentalists, homosexuals, etc) being used against Armenia. Nevertheless, imagine the Armenian fury if for example Moscow was working against our genocide recognition efforts. It seems that Washington is the only political entity on earth today we Armenians enthusiastically and persistently make excuses for. When it come to Washington, or Jews for that matter, we Armenians understand, we Armenians can wait, we Armenians are hopeful, we Armenians are grateful... We Armenians are pathetic!
Speaking of the West and France
The Anglo-American-Jewish global order is not new. The foundations of the modern political West was first placed in 1815 with Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat at Waterloo and then again in 1865, when Washington succeeded in keeping the young nation united under one flag. The West began taking discernible shape by the late 19th century when the political and financial elite in Britain and the US began joining hands. And being that wealthy Zionist Jews were firmly entrenched in both societies, the merger of British and American power included within it a very obvious Jewish factor. Hence, the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance. This global political order has been gradually evolving/developing ever since. The outcome of both world wars in the 20th century and the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union placed the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance on top of the world.
European nations like France and Germany collaborate with Anglo-American-Jews for various reasons. Germany, for instance, is still occupied by them, so Berlin has no choice but to tow the Western line. For its part, Paris has been closely cooperating with the political West for a number of economic and security reasons for nearly one hundred years. Moreover, large numbers of prominent Jews are also firmly embedded within the upper echelons of French society.
Since Armenians have a love affair with all things French, allow me to just say this: Despite the fact that Paris has officially recognized the Armenian Genocide - France CANNOT be trusted. Although all of our Russophobes always blame Russians for the Bolshevik handover of historic Armenian lands to Turks, for reasons that I have not yet been able to fully explain, the same never say anything about how the French made a secret deal with Ataturk in 1920, disarmed Armenian soldiers under French command in Cilicia and turned-over the territory to Turks literally in the middle of the night -
The Anglo-American-Jewish global order is not new. The foundations of the modern political West was first placed in 1815 with Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat at Waterloo and then again in 1865, when Washington succeeded in keeping the young nation united under one flag. The West began taking discernible shape by the late 19th century when the political and financial elite in Britain and the US began joining hands. And being that wealthy Zionist Jews were firmly entrenched in both societies, the merger of British and American power included within it a very obvious Jewish factor. Hence, the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance. This global political order has been gradually evolving/developing ever since. The outcome of both world wars in the 20th century and the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union placed the Anglo-American-Jewish alliance on top of the world.
European nations like France and Germany collaborate with Anglo-American-Jews for various reasons. Germany, for instance, is still occupied by them, so Berlin has no choice but to tow the Western line. For its part, Paris has been closely cooperating with the political West for a number of economic and security reasons for nearly one hundred years. Moreover, large numbers of prominent Jews are also firmly embedded within the upper echelons of French society.
Since Armenians have a love affair with all things French, allow me to just say this: Despite the fact that Paris has officially recognized the Armenian Genocide - France CANNOT be trusted. Although all of our Russophobes always blame Russians for the Bolshevik handover of historic Armenian lands to Turks, for reasons that I have not yet been able to fully explain, the same never say anything about how the French made a secret deal with Ataturk in 1920, disarmed Armenian soldiers under French command in Cilicia and turned-over the territory to Turks literally in the middle of the night -
"During the spring of 1920, the French occupation forces began to disarm the Armenian volunteers, and by September 27, 1920, the dissolution of the Armenian Legion was completed. Some Legionnaires stayed behind to do what they could to help the local Armenians, who were now at the mercy of the Turks; others returned to their homes to try to rebuild their lives. The retreat of France from Cilicia was officially completed by the Ankara Accord of October 20, 1921, when France recognized Nationalist Turkey and agreed to withdraw all its forces from Turkish territory No adequate provisions were made to safeguard the Armenian population from persecution and massacre.. This betrayal by France, which had stood for the Armenians as a symbol of freedom, democracy, and justice, was a bitter blow. The Armenian population of Cilicia was finally and brutally eradicated. Any hope by the Armenians for a return to their homeland in Western Armenia was now destroyed, while revolution and civil war in Russia ended all possibility of an independent Armenian state in Eastern Armenia. Even as the Armenian Legion was being disbanded in Cilicia, the two-year-aid independent Republic of Armenia was being overrun by the forces of Soviet Communism (November 29, 1920). Bitter, disillusioned, and disappointed, the Legionnaires gradually resumed their daily lives".French officials deliberately and treacherously abandoned their faithful Armenian allies and allowed the final phase of the genocide of Armenians to take place in the region. My ancestors were survivors of this final genocide made possible by the wonderful French. But we don't need to go back a hundred years to see examples of French betrayal, aggression and brutality. We saw the real face of France in the genocidal role it played in Algeria in the 1960s. We saw its criminal nature in Libya in 2011. We have seen Paris' crimes against Syria. We are currently seeing Paris' hostile behavior towards Armenia's most important ally, Russia. If France has been giving Armenia lip service in recent years by way of genocide recognition, it’s because it has been tasked to do so by NATO (i.e. Anglo-American-Jews). Most Armenians do not know that during the collapse of the Soviet Union some twenty-five years ago, major European nations were essentially given big brother status over former Soviet republics. As such: Germany got Georgia. Britain got Azerbaijan. France got Armenia. Vualá.
Dr. Barbara Merguerian
France is tasked with paying lip service to Armenia in order to keep Yerevan tied to the Western world. France does not have any meaningful political designs for the south Caucasus nor does it have a long reach, militarily and politically speaking. Paris is simply following a Western script. Paris therefore is not to be taken seriously - especially today, since it has become the Western global war effort's willing partner. It would be idiotic of Armenians expect anything more than worthless symbolic gestures from Paris. At the end of the day, when Turks decide to do to Armenia what they did to Cyprus (right under the noses of the Americans, British and the French) or do what they periodically do to Syria and Iraq, it's not the French or the British or the Americans that will come to Armenia's rescue – it's the RUSSIAN BEAR.
Think of it this way: The only nation on earth that will be most negatively impacted by Armenia's demise is Russia. No other nation stands to lose more from Armenia's destruction than Russia. This geostrategic calculus alone makes Russia the most reliable partner and ally to the Armenian nation. Think of it in another way: If Russia went out of its way to save Bashar Assad's government from Western and Turkish-backed human flesh eating monsters in 2013, imagine what it would do to protect Armenia. If Russia was prepared to start a world war to protect Armenia from a Turkish invasion in 1993 - at a time when Russia was on its knees - imagine what it would do today.
Needless to say, for Armenia, Russia is a vital lifeline without which it cannot live. From a Russian geostrategic perspective: Armenia is one of the strategic gateways to Russia, therefore crucially important to preserve. From a Western perspective: Armenia is simply a nuance getting in the way of their desires to exploit Central Asian energy and curb Russian and Iranian influence in the south Caucasus. In other words, and I hate to break this news to Armenians, Western officials are not too concerned about fighting "corruption" or spreading "democracy" in Armenia. The West's problem is not corruption in Armenia but Russia in Armenia.
For those among us who are not deaf, dumb or blind, the symbiotic relationship that exists between Armenia and Russia today is a historic opportunity for our little, impoverished, landlocked and embattled homeland in the south Caucasus. In fact, the Russian Bear's alliance is an opportunity the likes of which an Armenian state has not had in well over one thousand years. Sadly, due to Yerevan's "complimentary politics" and the constant anti-Russian hysteria being disseminated inside Armenian society by Western activists and Western funded news media outlets, we Armenians are failing to recognize and thus exploit this historic opportunity.
For those among us who are not deaf, dumb or blind, the symbiotic relationship that exists between Armenia and Russia today is a historic opportunity for our little, impoverished, landlocked and embattled homeland in the south Caucasus. In fact, the Russian Bear's alliance is an opportunity the likes of which an Armenian state has not had in well over one thousand years. Sadly, due to Yerevan's "complimentary politics" and the constant anti-Russian hysteria being disseminated inside Armenian society by Western activists and Western funded news media outlets, we Armenians are failing to recognize and thus exploit this historic opportunity.
Bad omen for Armenia
The new year started off with a series of major assaults against the Armenian state: A rapid escalation of violence along Armenia's border with Azerbaijan has brought the nation to a near war-like situation; a Russian soldier inexplicably murdered an entire family of seven in the Armenian city of Gyumri causing serious tensions between Moscow and Yerevan; an extremist group known as Founding Parliament (formerly known as Pre-Parliament) has increased the intensity of its effort to incite a revolution inside Armenia and has more recently attempted to embroil Artsakh in its agenda as well; Armenia's ruling political party had an unexpected but a serious falling out with the nation's second most powerful political party; and Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland and was just recently in Armenia to give out what essentially mounted to poison laced cookies. Is a Maidan being planned for Armenia this year? I personally think so, and I am not the only one. Former Ronald Reagan official also thinks so -
Փոլ Քրեյգ Ռոբերթս. Նրանք փորձելու են ոչնչացնել ավանդական բարոյականությունը: http://hanun.am/?p=678
Пол Крейг Робертс. Армении грозит опасность: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMysv6HCOyg&list=PLjsU_nUEJwGbfmxdH-tVDnl23BI1ln4BT#t=28
U.S. expert: Washington sent Nuland to Armenia to organize coup there: http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/189652
It is very troubling that an uprising is being planned for the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Once again we are seeing here the convergence of interests between Turks, Westerners and Armenia's political opposition. Too
many potentially explosive incidents are taking place almost
simultaneously. This is therefore a multi-pronged assault against
the Armenian state. There are dark forces trying to sabotage Armenia's
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)
membership by attempting to drive a wedge between Yerevan and Moscow.
There are dark forces trying to drive a wedge between Armenia
and Artsakh. There are dark forces trying to incite a Ukraine-like
uprising in Armenia. There are dark forces trying to divert Armenian
attention from the
commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. They successfully set fires to Syria and Ukraine. Predictably, it's Armenia's turn.
A Ukraine-style uprising is definitely in the works for Armenia. But, will it succeed? I personally do not think so. That proverbial train left the station many years ago. Although we Armenians have more than our share of easily manipulated idiots who are more than willing to destroy their homeland in their blind pursuit of Western fairytales, Western-sponsored color revolutions have not been able to find fertile ground in Armenia. The average Armenian on the street instinctually understands the paramount importance of Armenia's alliance with Russia. Despite Yerevan's flirtations with the West, the country's powerful "Karabakh clan" remains staunchly pro-Russian. Moreover, Armenia's Russian-backed security services are very capable and perform their tasks very efficiently. Armenia is bound to have sociopolitical unrest, periodic strife and perhaps a tainted genocide centennial if Founding Parliament radicals are not reigned in. But the possibility of a successful revolution in Armenia is virtually nil.
But try, they will.
As ludicrous and/or outrageous as it may sound, Founding Parliament extremists are promising to raise a civilian militia and topple the ruling "regime" beginning this April 24th.
Who are these people? Why are they doing this?
There is a good American formula that can be applied to explain Founding Parliament and their activities: If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it's most probably a duck.
The only way to make sense of their irrational and destructive behavior is to simply assume these extremist nutjobs are getting their marching orders from abroad, most probably from Washington. Their irrationality and destructive behavior is thus essentially the by-product of Western funding. There are a number of private and government Western grants to help willing activists get involved in a number of sociopolitical endeavors in a number of targeted nations around the world, and Armenia is no exception. As the existence of the massive US embassy on the outskirts of Yerevan attests, Armenia is in fact one of the major targets of the Anglo-American-Jewish political order. Armenia's Western-led political opposition (e.g. The entire leadership of Founding Parliament, Raffi Hovanissian and his Heritage party and Vartan Oskanian and his Civilitas, Richard Giragosian, Paruyr Hayrikian and Alik Arzumanyan) is financed by Western sources be it private or government. Because of their ties to the political West, we see Founding Parliament extremists trying to do in Armenia what was and is currently being done in places such as Venezuela, Serbia, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Ukraine. Typical of Western-led activists, they are exploiting the country's growing pains and official Yerevan's incompetence in an attempt to sow political unrest in the country. After a few failed attempts to capture the public's attention, Founding Parliament extremists finally managed to make headlines on January, 31 when they took their traveling circus to Artsakh.
Despite their "nationalistic" rhetoric and lofty speeches about "democracy" and the "rule of law" Founding Parliament extremists are Western-financed troublemakers tasked with sabotaging the genocide centennial and putting pressure on Yerevan for joining the Russian-led EEU. Simply put: They are our version of the Western-backed extremists in Ukraine that destroyed their country with their unbridled hate, political illiteracy and Russophobia.
I am not an apologist for President Sargsyan's failed political policies but the situation in Armenia is not nearly as bad as what the Western-led political opposition wants Armenians to believe. What I mean by that is this: Most nations on earth have "oligarchs" (i.e. monopolists) that are actually much worst than the ones that exist in Armenia. Corruption of all kinds exist in worst forms in most other nations, even in Western nations. And Armenia's population-drain is the result of four fundamental factors: The 24/7 doom and gloom hysteria propagated by Armenia's Western-led political opposition; typical Armenian տարամոլութիւն; the terrible economic situation in the south Caucasus which began as a result of the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union and more recently the global recession; and the fact that Armenia is a tiny, poor, remote, landlocked and blockaded nation stuck in the middle of predatory animals and in a virtual state of war. Even if every a single one of Armenia's "oligarchs" turned into pretty little angels overnight, Armenia would still continue suffering from terrible socioeconomic problems.
Regarding Armenia's so-called oligarchs: Had it not been for them - and for the lack of "democracy" in the country - Armenia would have been sold to the highest bidder on the international market a very long time ago. There are individuals in the US, Britain, Turkey and Israel than can essentially purchase all of Armenia with a single financial transaction. Had it not been for our wealthy chobans-in-Armani-suits, Armenia would have been turned into a playground for wealthy Turks and Anglo-American-Jews.
What remains crystal clear to me is that President Sargsyan's administration is by-far the lesser of all the evils in the country. I say this because those waiting on the political sidelines in Yerevan to take advantage of any serious political unrest are those who serve Western and Turkish interests. If God forbid the Western agenda for Armenia proves successful, Armenia will cease to exist. Therefore, anyone in the Diaspora that supports Armenia's Western-led political opposition is doing Armenia a great disservice. Armenians need to wake up from their American dreams and put aside their silly EUrotic fetishes and recognize that what Armenia needs is a sociopolitical evolution and not a Western-sponsored revolution, and what the south Caucasus desperately needs is Pax Russica. At the end of the day, Armenia is too small and too vulnerable to make the kind of mistakes made by Serbians, Georgians, Ukrainians, Libyans and Syrians.
A Ukraine-style uprising is definitely in the works for Armenia. But, will it succeed? I personally do not think so. That proverbial train left the station many years ago. Although we Armenians have more than our share of easily manipulated idiots who are more than willing to destroy their homeland in their blind pursuit of Western fairytales, Western-sponsored color revolutions have not been able to find fertile ground in Armenia. The average Armenian on the street instinctually understands the paramount importance of Armenia's alliance with Russia. Despite Yerevan's flirtations with the West, the country's powerful "Karabakh clan" remains staunchly pro-Russian. Moreover, Armenia's Russian-backed security services are very capable and perform their tasks very efficiently. Armenia is bound to have sociopolitical unrest, periodic strife and perhaps a tainted genocide centennial if Founding Parliament radicals are not reigned in. But the possibility of a successful revolution in Armenia is virtually nil.
But try, they will.
As ludicrous and/or outrageous as it may sound, Founding Parliament extremists are promising to raise a civilian militia and topple the ruling "regime" beginning this April 24th.
Who are these people? Why are they doing this?
There is a good American formula that can be applied to explain Founding Parliament and their activities: If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it's most probably a duck.
The only way to make sense of their irrational and destructive behavior is to simply assume these extremist nutjobs are getting their marching orders from abroad, most probably from Washington. Their irrationality and destructive behavior is thus essentially the by-product of Western funding. There are a number of private and government Western grants to help willing activists get involved in a number of sociopolitical endeavors in a number of targeted nations around the world, and Armenia is no exception. As the existence of the massive US embassy on the outskirts of Yerevan attests, Armenia is in fact one of the major targets of the Anglo-American-Jewish political order. Armenia's Western-led political opposition (e.g. The entire leadership of Founding Parliament, Raffi Hovanissian and his Heritage party and Vartan Oskanian and his Civilitas, Richard Giragosian, Paruyr Hayrikian and Alik Arzumanyan) is financed by Western sources be it private or government. Because of their ties to the political West, we see Founding Parliament extremists trying to do in Armenia what was and is currently being done in places such as Venezuela, Serbia, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Ukraine. Typical of Western-led activists, they are exploiting the country's growing pains and official Yerevan's incompetence in an attempt to sow political unrest in the country. After a few failed attempts to capture the public's attention, Founding Parliament extremists finally managed to make headlines on January, 31 when they took their traveling circus to Artsakh.
Despite their "nationalistic" rhetoric and lofty speeches about "democracy" and the "rule of law" Founding Parliament extremists are Western-financed troublemakers tasked with sabotaging the genocide centennial and putting pressure on Yerevan for joining the Russian-led EEU. Simply put: They are our version of the Western-backed extremists in Ukraine that destroyed their country with their unbridled hate, political illiteracy and Russophobia.
I am not an apologist for President Sargsyan's failed political policies but the situation in Armenia is not nearly as bad as what the Western-led political opposition wants Armenians to believe. What I mean by that is this: Most nations on earth have "oligarchs" (i.e. monopolists) that are actually much worst than the ones that exist in Armenia. Corruption of all kinds exist in worst forms in most other nations, even in Western nations. And Armenia's population-drain is the result of four fundamental factors: The 24/7 doom and gloom hysteria propagated by Armenia's Western-led political opposition; typical Armenian տարամոլութիւն; the terrible economic situation in the south Caucasus which began as a result of the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union and more recently the global recession; and the fact that Armenia is a tiny, poor, remote, landlocked and blockaded nation stuck in the middle of predatory animals and in a virtual state of war. Even if every a single one of Armenia's "oligarchs" turned into pretty little angels overnight, Armenia would still continue suffering from terrible socioeconomic problems.
Regarding Armenia's so-called oligarchs: Had it not been for them - and for the lack of "democracy" in the country - Armenia would have been sold to the highest bidder on the international market a very long time ago. There are individuals in the US, Britain, Turkey and Israel than can essentially purchase all of Armenia with a single financial transaction. Had it not been for our wealthy chobans-in-Armani-suits, Armenia would have been turned into a playground for wealthy Turks and Anglo-American-Jews.
What remains crystal clear to me is that President Sargsyan's administration is by-far the lesser of all the evils in the country. I say this because those waiting on the political sidelines in Yerevan to take advantage of any serious political unrest are those who serve Western and Turkish interests. If God forbid the Western agenda for Armenia proves successful, Armenia will cease to exist. Therefore, anyone in the Diaspora that supports Armenia's Western-led political opposition is doing Armenia a great disservice. Armenians need to wake up from their American dreams and put aside their silly EUrotic fetishes and recognize that what Armenia needs is a sociopolitical evolution and not a Western-sponsored revolution, and what the south Caucasus desperately needs is Pax Russica. At the end of the day, Armenia is too small and too vulnerable to make the kind of mistakes made by Serbians, Georgians, Ukrainians, Libyans and Syrians.
After
seeing what we have been seeing in places such as Venezuela, Serbia,
Greece, Ukraine, Libya, Egypt, Syria and Iraq in recent years, I still
find it rather amazing that there are significant numbers of Armenians
today that have somehow convinced themselves that Armenia
needs a revolution - right away in fact - and that Armenia can do without Russian protection
because the "civilized world" (i.e. the political West) will provide for and protect
Armenia in times of need. Haven't these idiots learned anything from
our history? Haven't these idiots learned anything
from recent world events? Haven't these idiots seen the "civilized world" destroy
nations and kill millions around the world? Haven't these idiots realized that
for centuries Western powers have been in bed with Turks? I
suggest we don't repeat the mistakes
of our forefathers. We have already lost so much because of our political illiteracy. I think one genocide is enough. There
is a time and place
for
everything. Armenia is surrounded by predators in the south Caucasus.
The Caucasus region is one bad event away from turning back into being a Turkic/Islamic cesspool. This is
therefore not the time and the south Caucasus is not the place for
a revolution or for Russophobia. This is the time to do all we can do to strengthen
Armenia's
ties with the Russian Federation. This is the time to begin
strengthening Armenia economically by looking north, south and east.
This is the time to rally around the Armenian state
regardless of the "corruption" in Yerevan.
Nevertheless, the troubling realization that there are voices in Armenian society demanding a "regime change" and the expulsion of the Russian military from Armenia (at a time when that region of the world is on the verge of a major calamity) reveals just how suicidal, how treasonous, how politically ignorant and how self-destructive many Armenians can be.
Sensing an opportunity Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland (the wife of neocon zealot Robert Kagan) was in Armenia recently to essentially give out poison laced cookies to gullible Armenians, similar to what she did in Kiev a little over a year ago just before that country fell into utter ruin. The cookie in Armenia's case, however, was her unofficial visit to the memorial complex of a genocide that she and her government refuses to officially recognize. There were other toxic cookies as well. Similar to what her evilness Hillary Clinton did during her visits to Armenia on 2010 and 2012, it was also quite expected that Nuland would also meet with some of Uncle Sam's obedient servants in the country. Nuland's imperial delegation also seems to have conveyed the message to official Yerevan that the American empire is pleased with it. According to various reports put out recently, Washington seems particularly pleased with the progress of "democracy", "freedom of press", "civil society" and "economic reform" in Armenia -
US Hails Progress in Armenian Democracy: http://asbarez.com/131696/u-s-hails-%E2%80%98progress%E2%80%99-in-armenian-democracy/Armenia ranked 78th in 2015 World Press Freedom Index: http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/02/12/armenia-ranked-78th-in-2015-world-press-freedom-index/Armenia Must Seek Further Press Freedom: http://asbarez.com/127481/armenia-%E2%80%98must-seek-further-press-freedom%E2%80%99/
All
in all, this is a very bad omen for an Armenia that is already reeling
from a series of internal and external assaults against it this year. That
Washington is pleased with Armenia is something that should actually be extremely worrying for Armenians. In an age where Western powers have
weaponized everything imaginable, Armenians need to worry about the
progress of "democracy"
(i.e. providing the ignorant and easily manipulated masses a say in
government); Armenians need to worry about the strengthening of "civil
society" (i.e. tolerating dangerous subversive organizations funded by
Western entities); Armenians need to worry about "reforming the economy"
(i.e. keeping the financial system of Armenia subordinate to the US
Dollar); and Armenians need to worry about "press freedoms" (i.e.
allowing Western funded propaganda outlets posing as news agencies and
Western funded "independent" journalists the freedom to sow Russophobia
and foment sociopolitical unrest in Armenia).
It
is truly troubling that democracy, civil society, human rights, freedom
of the press and even humanitarian aid have become highly refined tools
of manipulation and subversion by Western powers in recent years.
This is essentially because the hand that gives is always above the
hand that receives. As long as nations look to the West for guidance or
assistance, the West will look to manipulate and exploit. The Armenian pursuit of
Western fairytales and Yerevan's burning desire for Western financial
aid is therefore what's keeping Armenia politically vulnerable to
Western machinations. Armenia's flirtations with the West is also why
Washington seems pleased with Armenia.
In other words, Washington's desire to remain in the political game in
Armenia is the reason for its current soft approach towards Yerevan
-
NATO Official: Armenia’s Membership in EEU, CSTO ‘No Obstacle’ for NATO Relations: http://asbarez.com/130788/armenia%E2%80%99s-membership-in-eeu-csto-%E2%80%98no-obstacle%E2%80%99-for-nato-relations/EU Official: Armenia ‘An Integral Part of Europe’: http://asbarez.com/130144/armenia-%E2%80%98an-integral-part-of-europe%E2%80%99-eu-parliament-
Being
that Armenia is now officially a member of the Russian-led Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU), Washington will do its best to exploit its assets
throughout Armenian society to keep channels of communication and
collaboration open with Yerevan. This was predicted. The south Caucasus
remains strategically very important for the West essentially because it
is the gateway to energy rich Central Asia. Yerevan's alliance with
Moscow, the only one of its kind in the south Caucasus, has thus made
Armenia a pivotal player because Washington knows that Moscow can
essentially lose all of the south Caucasus if Yerevan is somehow made to
change course and seek an alliance with the West. Armenia is therefore a strategic prize not only for Moscow but also for the West, albeit it for two fundamentally different reasons.
Many
Armenians realize that the West's ultimate geostrategic desire for the
south Caucasus is to curb Russian and Iranian influence. Many Armenians
realize that the West looks at the south Caucasus as a strategic
corridor for the exploitation of Central Asian energy. Many Armenians realize that the West looks at Armenia as a strategic prize. Many Armenians are therefore making the mistake of thinking that Armenia can benefit from cooperating with Western powers. What many Armenians are failing to realize is that the West's agenda for the Caucasus runs the serious risk of creating a very dangerous political vacuum. If
Russia (and/or Iran) suffers a defeat at the hands of Western powers,
the only players that are already in the Caucasus region and ready to
fill the vacuum are Western oil interests, Wahhabi Islamists and Turks.
From an Armenian, Russian and Iranian perspective, this is the
fundamental danger of the game Western powers are playing the Caucasus.
Purely from an Armenian perspective, this is why the Western agenda for
the region poses a threat that is existential in nature. This is the reason why Moscow, Yerevan and Tehran have formed an alliance of sorts in recent years. Simply put: Armenia's
cooperation with Western powers cannot come at the expense of Russian
interests in the south Caucasus because it is the Russian factor in
the region that's keeping Armenia alive. As I have said on
many previous occasions: The Caucasus region has the natural tendency to
revert back into being a Turkic/Islamic cesspool, and all that is
required is one bad incident to make it happen.
I reiterate: For
Russia, Armenia is a crucially important, natural ally in a highly
volatile strategic region where anti-Russian sentiments run high. For
the West, Armenia is a geopolitical prize to be won and essentially
taken out of the political equation of the region. Russia is in the
south Caucasus to protect its vulnerable southern borders from Turks,
Wahhabi Islamists and Western interests. The West is in the south
Caucasus to use Turks and Wahhabi Islamists to contain Russia and open
an unhindered path for Western oil corporations. Armenia's friends,
Russia and Iran, are the West's enemies. The West's friends, Turks and
Wahhabi Islamists, are Armenia's enemies. The only country on earth that
would be very adversely impacted if Armenia ceased to exist is Russia.
Armenia's independence from Russia will only result in Armenia's
dependence on Turkey. Therefore, no Russia in Armenia = no Armenia in the south Caucasus.
Anyone
that cannot see what I am saying here simply does not understand
geopolitics, does not know the Caucasus and has learned nothing about
the region's history.
Ultimately,
Washington will remain in the game in the Caucasus as long as Yerevan,
Tbilisi and Baku continue to seek doing business with Western powers.
Washington's destructive tug-of-war in the region will only end when
Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan are firmly and securely placed within
the Russian orbit and a new period of Pax Russica begins. We still seem to be a long way from Pax Russica.
By having Victoria Nuland meeting rights groups and political activists
in Yerevan, Washington is signaling to Yerevan that it expects such
entities to be tolerated by Armenian authorities. It goes without saying
that our chobans-in-Armani-suits will happily give in to Washington's
expectations just to look as if they are not too beholden to Moscow. Ultimately, our willingness to give into Western demands
lies at the root of the sociopolitical problem in Yerevan because doing so provides Western powers
a portal through with they will meddle, manipulate and exploit.
Let's
stop fooling ourselves about Armenian capabilities or Armenian intelligence, we
Armenians are awfully unprepared to safely sit at negotiation tables
with masters of deceit and manipulation. Armenia is too weak and
Armenians are too inexperienced to safely flirt with powers that have
been cultivating their statecraft for centuries.
The
finely crafted ability to meddle in a country's internal affairs is one
of the ways with which Western powers always manage to stay in the game
in targeted nations. At the end of the day, Washington's compliments
about Armenia, as well as the Neocon war criminal's unwanted visit to
the genocide memorial complex needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Essentially
given the green light to operate by Armenian officials, US officials
and CIA agents stationed in one of the largest US embassies in the world
will continue working behind-the-scenes to foment sociopolitical unrest
in the country. In
fact, a headquarter meant to foment such unrest in "ex-Soviet
countries" was just opened in Prague. In this context, "ex-Soviet
countries" essentially means nations that are either allied to Russia (i.e. Armenia) or
have the potential to be allied to Russia (i.e. Georgia). When it comes to inciting
revolutions, the following center
will be
one of the seats of operation -
Czechs open center for civil society activists from ex-Soviet countries: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/czechs-open-center-civil-society-activists-ex-soviet-145849840.html
It
is through such networks (and their enthusiastic activists from around
the world) that Western powers can organize flash mob protests virtually
at will: President Putin is visiting Armenia? No problem. Quickly get
out a few thousand Armenian freaks in Yerevan to protest. President Orban is holding trade talks with Moscow? No problem. Quickly get out a few thousand Hungarian freaks to protest.
President Zemen does not want to go along with sanctions against
Russia? No problem. Quickly get out a few thousand Czech freaks to protest.
It's all meant to put pressure on a particular government and create a
particular perception because for the sheeple - perception is reality!
Like Marxists before them, they have an uncanny ability to appeal to the
lowest or lowliest in social strata.
From Dictatorship to Democracy: Ideal Illusions
Regardless of how beneficial or even necessary they may seem at first glance, any movement that has any form of Western-backing or is spearheaded by Western-led or inspired activists need to be categorically rejected. I say this because imperial interests in Washington have co-opted and weaponized sociopolitical issues and are currently exploiting them towards self-serving political gains. Accepting help, in any form, from the political West comes with dangerous strings attached, conditions that developing nations such as Armenia or the Ukraine cannot meet. I ask you to refer to a book by James Peck regarding this very important topic for our era -
From Dictatorship to Democracy: Ideal Illusions
Regardless of how beneficial or even necessary they may seem at first glance, any movement that has any form of Western-backing or is spearheaded by Western-led or inspired activists need to be categorically rejected. I say this because imperial interests in Washington have co-opted and weaponized sociopolitical issues and are currently exploiting them towards self-serving political gains. Accepting help, in any form, from the political West comes with dangerous strings attached, conditions that developing nations such as Armenia or the Ukraine cannot meet. I ask you to refer to a book by James Peck regarding this very important topic for our era -
Ideal Illusions: How
the U.S.
Government Co-opted Human Rights
"Devastating and deeply disturbing, this book lays bare any lingering illusions that human rights concerns seriously influence U.S. policy."—Andrew J. Bacevich, author of Washington Rules
The United States has long been hailed as a powerful force for global human rights. Now, drawing on thousands of documents from the CIA, the National Security Council, the Pentagon, and development agencies, James Peck shows in blunt detail how Washington has shaped human rights into a potent ideological weapon for purposes having little to do with rights—and everything to do with furthering America's global reach. Using the words of Washington's leaders when they are speaking among themselves, Peck tracks the rise of human rights from its dismissal in the cold war years as "fuzzy minded" to its calculated adoption, after the Vietnam War, as a rationale for American foreign engagement. He considers such milestones as the fight for Soviet dissidents, Tiananmen Square, and today's war on terror, exposing in the process how the human rights movement has too often failed to challenge Washington's strategies. A gripping and elegant work of analysis, Ideal Illusions argues that the movement must break free from Washington if it is to develop a truly uncompromising critique of power in all its forms.
Yes, many
of the world's Hollywood-struck sheeple these days are indeed suffering from ideal illusions.
These sheeple are the cannon-fodder Washington
exploits against developing nations that not in their pockets or under their boots. Now, to place the enlightening book featured above into a better, more complete perspective,
juxtaposed its message to the following book titled "From
Dictatorship to Democracy". Unlike the previous book's author, the
following book was written by an American with a Western/Globalist political
agenda. Unlike the previous book's intent, this work by Gene Sharp is essentially a step-by-step blueprint for revolution and its primary
target (i.e. those it is
trying to bait) are the freaks of society and the disgruntled masses -
From Dictatorship to
Democracy
From Dictatorship to Democracy was a pamphlet, printed and distributed by Dr Gene Sharp and based on his study, over a period of forty years, on non-violent methods of demonstration. Now in its fourth edition, it was originally handed out by the Albert Einstein Institution, and although never actively promoted, to date it has been translated into thirty-one languages. This astonishing book travelled as a photocopied pamphlet from Burma to Indonesia, Serbia and most recently Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, with dissent in China also reported. Surreptitiously handed out among youth uprisings the world over - how the 'how-to' guide came about and its role in the recent Arab uprisings is an extraordinary tale. Once read you'll find yourself urging others to read it and indeed want to gift it.
When
Western financed civic society organizations gather
their diverse operatives to form networks and workshops and make global
connections during their annual meetings and conventions, these are the types of
publications they disseminate and this is the kind of inspiration at
work
behind their activism. We must for once recognize that virtually every
single societal matter found around the world today - be it Islamic militancy or gay rights or
planned parenthood or nature protection -
is ultimately being financed, controlled and/or exploited by Western interests. As the first book by James Peck courageously suggests: Sociopolitical movements of the world
today must first break free of Western
control if they are to be safely embraced by developing societies.
As the second book by Gene Sharp reveals: Many of the democracy
uprising we are seeing in various parts of the world get their funding
and inspiration from Western sources. More perspective on this topic -
Does the US engineering revolutions?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpXbA6yZY-8
Documents Leaked by WikiLeaks Show an Organization Training Opposition Around the World: http://revolution-news.com/documents-leaked-wikileaks-show-organization-trains-opposition-around-world/
How to Start a Revolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO1t4Fif2c0
Revolution Engineering: US know-how and 'colourful' technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0xlOeZ8Dr8&feature=plcp
South of the Border: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vBlV5TUI64
The Weight of Chains | Težina lanaca (2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waEYQ46gH08
NGOs, an extension of US foreign policy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-raqX4KKY1Q
Money Talks Through NGOs: http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-money-talks-through-ngos-1001010886
Washington on the War Path: Civil Society as Battering-Ram: http://rt.com/politics/washington-war-russia-putin-023/
US NGO uncovered in Ukraine protest: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/01/07/us-ngo-uncovered-in-ukraine-protests/#sthash.mJPpqq63.dpufU.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&emc=eta1&George Soros and his open society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncdisau7rBs
Top 5 Revolutions Backed by George Soros: http://gulagbound.com/12652/top-5-revolutions-backed-by-george-soros/
Occupy Hong Kong, Gene Sharp, and nonviolent revolution: http://unspokenpolitics.net/2014/10/01/occupy-hong-kong-gene-sharp-and-nonviolent-revolution/
US Sponsored “Color Revolution” in Russia?: http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-sponsored-color-revolution-in-russia-in-st-petersburg/5398132
Czechs open center for civil society activists from ex-Soviet countries: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/czechs-open-center-civil-society-activists-ex-soviet-145849840.html
In
1969, British historian and aesthetician Sir Kenneth Clark stated: "It
is lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a
civilization. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just
as effectively as by bombs."
In 2004, a
Dutch paper called "The Effects of Strategic News on Political
Cynicism" claimed that the way a news media presents the news can cause
political cynicism.
They
have the sponsors and the expertise (organizations like
National Endowment for Democracy, Amnesty International, Civil Society
Institute, Human Rights Watch, Helsinki Committee, well connected men like Jon Huntsman, Gene Sharp and George Soros)
and they have the tools (USAID, IMF, a vast army of NGOs, limitless
funding, reputable news agencies, humanitarian aid agencies and legions
of activists worldwide) to penetrate and then to manipulate
political discourse in any given society. They have the tools to rally
the peasantry, sow political unrest and put pressure on targeted governments.
They first destroy the individual's spirit and the nation's core values
through an information war and agencies tasked with Social Engineering
(e.g. promotion of multiculturalism, interracialism, atheism, abortion
rights, planned parenthood, homosexuality, feminism, minority rights,
immigration, etc). Afterwards, they are able to easily destroy the body
either through economic/financial
blackmail or through war.
Softening your competitors and make them susceptible to sociological degradation and political collapse is what Western meddling, propaganda and psy-ops is all about. This is what Armenia's smut-peddlers (Western financed whores and mercenaries in the "political opposition" and "independent news media") are tasked with.
Armenia's
Western funded smut-peddlers are tasked with taking the nation's
national growing pains (e.g. corruption, crime, depopulation, political
mismanagement, etc) and exploiting it towards political gain. Most of their news reports and activism are therefore designed to sow
discord, outrage and hopelessness among Armenians. This is the primary reason behind their relentless doom and gloom campaign against Armenia in recent years. It's all meant to degrade the Armenian spirit and turn the Armenian peasantry against its leadership. And it's all because Armenia has chosen a Russian path in life.
In other words, had Armenian officials been in bed with Western powers,
they could do not wrong in Western eyes. [I think a brief look at
Mexico and Saudi Arabia is ample proof of Western duplicity and hypocrisy] But the
trouble here is that had Armenian officials been in bed with Western
powers, Armenia would cease to exist as a nation-state in the south
Caucasus. Therefore, keep all
this in mind next time you read news articles produced by
Western-funded Armenian news
outlets or when observing the actions of Armenia's Western-led
political opposition groups such as Founding Parliament, Civilitas and
Heritage political party.
Therefore, be mindful: Terms like "press freedom", "freedom of speech", "free and fair elections", "human rights", "civil society", "open society", "liberal democracy" and "democratic progress" are essentially code words for allowing Western assets in Armenia a free hand to meddle in the internal affairs of the country and sow social and political discord. I'd also like to reminded the reader that this is not a recent phenomenon. Washington has been perfecting its ability to sow sociopolitical unrest in targeted nations around the world since the 1950s. The author of a recently published book on the infamous Dulles brothers had the following to say in a recent interview -
Therefore, be mindful: Terms like "press freedom", "freedom of speech", "free and fair elections", "human rights", "civil society", "open society", "liberal democracy" and "democratic progress" are essentially code words for allowing Western assets in Armenia a free hand to meddle in the internal affairs of the country and sow social and political discord. I'd also like to reminded the reader that this is not a recent phenomenon. Washington has been perfecting its ability to sow sociopolitical unrest in targeted nations around the world since the 1950s. The author of a recently published book on the infamous Dulles brothers had the following to say in a recent interview -
"[The Dulles brothers] were able to succeed [at regime change] in Iran and Guatemala because those were democratic societies, they were open societies. They had free press; there were all kinds of independent organizations; there were professional groups; there were labor unions; there were student groups; there were religious organizations. When you have an open society, it's very easy for covert operatives to penetrate that society and corrupt it."
Stephen Kinzer in NPR Radio Interview: http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/fa/2013/10/20131016_fa_01.mp3?dl=1
This
is the moral of the story: The freer a society is, the more vulnerable
it is to manipulation and exploitation by higher powers. Dwell on this notion for a while and apply it to the current situation in Armenia.
We have seen nations like Serbia, Georgia, Libya, Iraq, Syria and
Ukraine suffer devastating losses due to Western meddling. Not wanting
to follow suit, nations like Russia, China, Egypt, Iran and Venezuela are
feeling forced to tighten their control over society to stop Western meddling. It is truly unfortunate that freedoms have to be curtailed to stop imperial exploitation of the masses. It is truly tragic that human progress is being stunted due to Western machinations around the world.
But this is where we are today and this has to be acknowledged. Today
we have a convergence of interests between Neo-Bolshevik (civil society
groups funded by leftist entities in the Western world) and traditional Western imperialists
(wealthy Westerners funding political opposition groups in targeted
countries). The aforementioned two sides of the political spectrum in
the West have joined
hands and are seeking to topple governments not yet under
Anglo-American-Jewish rule. The
Western political order has become a source of evil around the world
and even influential Americans such as Paul Craig Roberts, Ron Paul and
Pat Buchanan are beginning to recognize it.
Paul Craig Roberts: Cracks In Washington’s Empire: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/03/17/cracks-washingtons-empire-paul-craig-roberts/
Paul Craig Roberts: DC the Enemy to World Peace: http://americanfreepress.net/?p=23302
Ron Paul: Reckless Congress Declares War on Russia: https://www.facebook.com/ronpaul/posts/10153556444671686
Pat Buchanan: U.S.-Russia Clash in Ukraine?: http://buchanan.org/blog/u-s-russia-clash-in-ukraine-15550
Being politically ignorant during the Cold War was somehow excusable for there seemed something more ominous on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Today, after what we have seen during the past twenty-five years, after what we
have seen Western powers and their "well meaning" activists do in
places such as Venezuela, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Libya, Iran, Egypt,
Syria and Iraq, there are no excuses for political ignorance anymore.
They
have the money. They have the tools. They have the expertise. They have
the experience. They have the following. They have the aura. They control the global
control board. When
they are given the political platform to propagate their agenda and the freedom to operate in a targeted country, they
waste no time in sowing their seeds
of sociopolitical unrest.
Yerevan
is vulnerable to this kind of foreign manipulation precisely because
Armenians are politically naive and materialistic and because Armenia
has more than ample political freedoms. In fact, politically, Armenia is much freer than the US.
When was the last time the US had political parties and political
activists as diverse or as violent or as competitive as the ones that exist in
Armenia? Never! Political diversity is not an advantage, it's a serious impediment to nation building. Had political diversity been a healthy thing for developing nations, Western powers would not be pushing it upon them.
Moreover, the Western world has been powerful because of its entrenched
elite, not because of its fictitious political freedoms or liberalism.
In fact, liberalism (i.e. values of Neo-Bolshevik entities pushing
Globalism around
the world) is not how the western world attained its wealth and power,
but it is the reason why western civilization is currently in decline.
And this is one of the reasons why I have been heralding the rise of
Russia as the savior of traditional western/European civilization,
conservative values, apostolic Christianity and the independent
nation-state.
What the south Caucasus desperately needs today is Pax Russica.
Armenia's rightful place, its natural place is within the Russian world.
Armenia needs to curb its exposure to Westerns entities such as the IMF,
USAID and NATO. Official Yerevan needs to tighten its control of
the country's Western funded news agencies, NGOs
and activists.
Yerevan needs to place individuals and organizations that
maintain ties with Western entities under constant surveillance. Having
an open society and a free press is a serious liability for an small and embattled country like
Armenia because Western powers are using political activism,
humanitarian aid, financial
assistance, independent journalism
and the dissemination information as
weapons-of-mass-destruction. We have seen enough examples of this in recent
years. Simply put: Armenia is too small. Armenians are too few. We Armenians simply
cannot
afford to make the kind of mistakes made by Serbians, Georgians and Ukrainians.
Arevordi
March, 2015
***
Source: http://armenianweekly.com/2015/03/12/putin-centennial-yerevan/
Source: http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/31/putin-will-attend-armenian-genocide-centennial-commemorations-in-yerevan/
Meanwhile, Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian met with the Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergey Naryshkin, who is on a working visit to Armenia. The two parties reportedly discussed a broad range of issues related to the Armenian-Russian strategic partnership and bilateral relations. The sides emphasized that inter-parliamentary relations play an important role in the strengthening of partnership between Russia and Armenia.
Source: http://asbarez.com/133459/russian-armenian-lawmakers-call-for-worldwide-recognition-of-armenian-genocide/
Source: http://www.arminfo.info/index.cfm?objectid=A4A053C0-D3A6-11E4-993B0EB7C0D21663
Source: http://azertag.az/en/xeber/842060
Recently, I was invited to address an important conference of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Scholars from Russia and from around the world, Russian government officials and the Russian people seek an answer as to why Washington destroyed during the past year the friendly relations between America and Russia that President Ronald Reagan and President Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded in establishing. All of Russia is distressed that Washington alone has destroyed the trust between the two major nuclear powers that had been created during the Reagan-Gorbachev era, trust that had removed the threat of nuclear Armageddon.
Meanwhile, NATO Supreme Commander US Air Force General Philip Breedlove fashions himself to be a Dr. Strangelove incarnate, making repeated bogus claims and lies of Russian army presence inside Eastern Ukraine in a vain yet persistent attempt to foment war. Having such a deluded and deceitful warmonger in charge of the NATO nuclear arsenal poses a calamitous threat to the entire world. Yet his commander-in-chief Obama has chosen not to relieve him of command. Instead German leaders have openly criticized Breedlove and the European Union wants to replace NATO with its own continental army. This very public geopolitical conflict over such widely differing Western approaches toward Ukraine seriously undermine American Empire’s global influence and power, again underscoring simultaneous developments around the world that indicate consistent across the boards US foreign policy failures and from the broader context, a rapid US decline as the sole global hegemonic superpower. Putin advisor Sergei Glazyev nailed it when he said:
While Washington works assiduously to undermine the Minsk agreement that German chancellor Merkel and French president Hollande achieved in order to halt the military conflict in Ukraine, Washington has sent Victoria Nuland to Armenia to organize a “color revolution” or coup there, has sent Richard Miles as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan to do the same there, and has sent Pamela Spratlen as ambassador to Uzbekistan to purchase that government’s allegiance away from Russia. The result would be to break up the Collective Security Treaty Organization and present Russia and China with destabilization where they can least afford it, Paul Craig Roberts says in a piece titled “Russia Under Attack” published on his website.
Thus, Russia faces the renewal of conflict in Ukraine simultaneously with three more Ukraine-type situations along its Asian border. And this is only the beginning of the pressure that Washington is mounting on Russia, he says.
On March 18 the Secretary General of NATO denounced the peace settlement between Russia and Georgia that ended Georgia’s military assault on South Ossetia. The NATO Secretary General said that NATO rejects the settlement because it “hampers ongoing efforts by the international community to strengthen security and stability in the region.” Look closely at this statement. It defines the “international community” as Washington’s NATO puppet states, and it defines strengthening security and stability as removing buffers between Russia and Georgia so that Washington can position military bases in Georgia directly on Russia’s border, Roberts says.
In Poland and the Baltic states, he adds, Washington and NATO lies about a pending Russian invasion are being used to justify provocative war games on Russia’s borders and to build up US forces in NATO military bases on Russia’s borders.
“We have crazed U.S. generals on national television calling for “killing Russians.” The EU leadership has agreed to launch a propaganda war against Russia, broadcasting Washington’s lies inside Russia in an effort to undermine the Russian people’s support of their government. All of this is being done in order to coerce Russia into handing over Crimea and its Black Sea naval base to Washington and accepting vassalage under Washington’s suzerainty,” Roberts says.
If Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Assad, and the Taliban would not fold to Washington’s threats, why do the fools in Washington think Putin, who holds in his hands the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, will fold? European governments, apparently, are incapable of any thought. Washington has set London and the capitals of every European country, as well as every American city, for destruction by Russian nuclear weapons. The stupid Europeans rush to destroy themselves in service to their Washington master, Roberts claims.
Human intelligence, according to him, has gone missing if after 14 years of US military aggression against eight countries the world does not understand that Washington is lost in arrogance and hubris and imagines itself the ruler of the universe who will tolerate no dissent from its will.
We know that the American, British, and European media are whores well paid to lie for their master. We know that the NATO commander and secretary general, if not the member countries, are lusting for war. We know that the American Dr. Strangeloves in the Pentagon and armaments industry cannot wait to test their ABMs and new weapons systems in which they always place excessive confidence. We know that the prime minister of Britain is a total cipher. But are the chancellor of Germany and the president of France ready for the destruction of their countries and of Europe? If the EU is of such value, why is the very existence of its populations put at risk in order to bow down and accept leadership from an insane Washington whose megalomania will destroy life on earth?” Roberts concludes.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.
Putin to Commemorate Armenian Genocide Centennial in Yerevan
The
Kremlin has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend
the Armenian Genocide Centennial commemorations in Yerevan in April.
“Yes, he will fly to Yerevan,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
France’s Agence France-Presse (AFP). Peskov added that Putin discussed
his plans to visit Yerevan with his Armenian counterpart President Serge
Sarkisian via telephone on March 12. According to Sarkisian’s press
service, theydiscussed key aspects of the strategic partnership between
Armenia and Russia, and exchanged views on further integration
processes; the Treaty on Armenia’s Accession to the Eurasian Economic
Union was put into force on Jan. 2. Putin and Sarkisian specifically
discussed the peaceful use of nuclear energy and oil and gas sectors.
They also coordinated their upcoming meetings to ensure joint
participation in events marking both the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide and the 70th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory
over the Nazi forces. The State Duma, the lower house of the Federal
Assembly of the Russian Federation, recognized the Armenian Genocide on
April 14, 1995, and accepted April 24 as a Day of Remembrance for the
victims of the genocide.
Source: http://armenianweekly.com/2015/03/12/putin-centennial-yerevan/
Putin will attend Armenian Genocide centennial commemorations in Yerevan
Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Armenian Genocide
commemoration events in Yerevan, Speaker of the Russian State Duma
Sergey Naryshkin said at a meeting with Armenian Parliament Speaker
Galust Sahakyan. A number of Russian lawmakers are also expected to
attend the events. Naryshkin said the State Duma will adopt a document in the near
futureto express the position of the Russian side on these historic
events. Sergey Nayshkin also attached importance to the conduct of events in
Armenia dedicated to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and
emphasized the role of the Armenian people in that great victory. Galust Sahakyan voiced hope that the visit would boost the
inter-state relations between the two countries and promote the further
strengthening of inter-parliamentary cooperation. He noted that the
allied relationship and strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia
is based on the centuries-old friendship of the two brotherly peoples,
strong cultural and spiritual ties. The Armenian Parliament Speaker highlighted Russia’s constructive
role in the strengthening of regional security, particularly in the
settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Source: http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/31/putin-will-attend-armenian-genocide-centennial-commemorations-in-yerevan/
Russian, Armenian Lawmakers Call for Worldwide Recognition of Armenian Genocide
On Monday, the Armenian National Assembly’s Committee on Foreign
Relations and the Russian State Duma’s Committee on CIS Affairs and
Eurasian Integration adopted a joint statement condemning the Armenian
Genocide while at the same time marking the 70th anniversary of the
Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.
The joint statement, adopted on Monday following a meeting of the two
parliamentary committees, highlights the importance of the 70th
anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, as it is called
in Russia, and the contribution of the Armenian and Russian peoples to
the victory over fascism. The statement also reaffirmed the sides’
stance on the Armenian Genocide and called on the legislative bodies of
all countries to condemn and recognize the Genocide that took place in
the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923.
The parliamentary committees also included a point about enhancing
the economic integration of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), so far
consisting of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Armenia.
Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, who chairs the State Duma Committee
on CIS Affairs and Eurasian Integration, remarked on Monday that the
Armenian Genocide “needs a political solution,” opposing Ankara’s
insistence that a historical debate is in order. “Our stance on the
Armenian Genocide is known also to the countries that do not recognize
that crime against humanity, including to Washington,” the Russian
parliamentarian said.
Slutsky brushed off complaints from Armenian lawmakers that the joint
statement does not go far enough and is unclear in its demands.
“We should realize that sometimes it is useful to yield in small
issues to win in the bigger ones,” Slutsky said. The Russian lawmaker
repeated his belief in the need to condemn and recognize the Armenian
Genocide, which, Slutsky said, he has voiced during foreign visits,
irrespective of the stance of the country hosting him. “I voiced my
stance on the Armenian cause even during my meeting with Aliyev,” the
Russian parliamentarian said.
Slutsky said Yerevan should use its strategic relations with Moscow to soften the anti-Armenian rhetoric from Baku and Ankara. The Russian lawmaker also informed journalists in Yerevan that the
presidents of Armenia and Russia, Serzh Sarkisian and Vladimir Putin,
will meet on April 24 in Yerevan to discuss the Artsakh conflict, ahead
of ceremonies commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide.
“The Karabakh conflict is a sensitive and delicate matter. The
negotiations are held within the OSCE Minsk Group format, Slutsky said.
“There is another format of trilateral negotiations between the
presidents,” Slutsky said recalling the August 2014 meeting between the
Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Russian presidents in Sochi wherein,
according to Slutsky, the settlement was discussed rather
comprehensively.
Slutsky hopes for “symbolic steps” in the Karabakh peace process
within the coming months. He stressed the need for an immediate
settlement of the conflict given the recent upsurge in tensions at the
frontline.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian met with the Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergey Naryshkin, who is on a working visit to Armenia. The two parties reportedly discussed a broad range of issues related to the Armenian-Russian strategic partnership and bilateral relations. The sides emphasized that inter-parliamentary relations play an important role in the strengthening of partnership between Russia and Armenia.
Sarkisian and Naryshkin also discussed the development of
Armenian-Russian trade and economic relations, especially in the context
of new EEU integration processes. The sides asserted that by acceding
to the Eurasian Economic Union, Russia and Armenia have enhanced their
mutually beneficial partnership and must take advantage of the Union for
the welfare of both nations.
Naryshkin was later hosted at the Armenian-Russian (Slavonic)
University, where a forum devoted to the 70th anniversary of the victory
in the Great Patriotic War was being hosted. Speaking at the forum, the Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly
Galust Sahakyan noted that the year marking the 70th anniversary of the
victory is also the year marking the centenary of the Armenian Genocide,
stressing that there was a direct relationship between the Armenian
Genocide of the early 20th century and atrocities of World War II.
Prior to the opening of the forum, Galust Sahakyan and Sergey
Naryshkin participated in a tree-planting ceremony held as a sign of
friendship between the two nations in a newly added pathway in the
courtyard of the Slavonic University.
Armenia is Russia’s strategic ally and Russia cannot ignore the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan
Volynkin said in an interview with Sputnik-Armenia. He said the centenary of the first genocide of the 20th century will
bring many visitors to Armenia, including heads of states and high level
government officials, including Russian parliament and Senate members
as well as president Vladimir Putin, “whose visit to Armenia will raise
the level of the event,” Volynkin said. Asked whether Putin’s visit to Armenia to remember the victims of the
Genocide may affect Russian-Turkish relations, Volynkin said Russia has
common interests with Turkey, which are “of pragmatic nature.” “Our relations with Turkey are pragmatic, and Russian participation
in the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
should not affect our relations with Turkey,” said Volynkin.
Chilingarov: Armenians worldwide rally up to mark centenary of Armenian Genocide
Armenians worldwide have rallied up to mark the centenary of Armenian Genocide, but there is still room for a closer cooperation, legendary polar explorer and Hero of the Soviet Union and Russia Arthur Cghilingarov, who is also a statesman and political activist, said in Sputnik-Armenia radio's live broadcast. He also pointed out that the Church plays a special part in it and help gathering Armenians. «Although there are Armenian communities in almost all the cities of Russia, it is hard to guide them,» Chilingaryan was quoted by Novosti-Armneia as saying in the live broadcast. Armenian Genocide was the first genocide committed in XX century. Turkey rejects the accusation of massacres and the killing of one and a half million Armenians during World War I. The fact of the Armenian genocide is recognized by many countries, particularly by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, most of the U.S. states, as well as by the parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium, Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Common House of Canada, the Seym of Poland and lower house of Italian parliament.
Seyran Ohanyan: Russia assists Armenia globally
To refuse from military cooperation with Russia means not to think of
Armenia's future, Seyran Ohanyan, Defense Minister of Armenia, told
reporters, Thursday. "Russia is our strategic partner and it means much. Russia assists
us globally," the minister explained. As for the escalation of
tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone, the minister said Azerbaijan
tries to settle its political and economic problems and distract the
world community's attention from the centennial of the Armenian Genocide
in Ottoman Turkey. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has recently expressed
his concern over Russia selling arms to Azerbaijan. He spotlighted
that "the soldier on the border realizes that they try to destroy him
with Russian weapons."
Source: http://www.arminfo.info/index.cfm?objectid=A4A053C0-D3A6-11E4-993B0EB7C0D21663
Exhibit of Armenian Artifacts a Century after Rescue by Russians
On my way back from the Centennial events in Yerevan last week, I
stopped in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to attend the inauguration of an
unprecedented exhibit of Armenian artifacts rescued by Russian
ethnographers from Western Armenia during the genocide. Here is the incredible background story of that unique exhibit. In
1916, during the Russian military campaign which temporarily liberated
Western Armenia from Ottoman Turkey, Saint Petersburg’s Russian Museum
of Ethnography sought Czar Nicholas II’s permission to dispatch a
scholarly expedition to the Van area to collect Armenian artifacts from
imminent loss. The Czar gave immediate consent in his handwriting:
“Approve. Need to hurry.”
A small team of ethnographers led by Alexander Miller arrived in Van
on June 10, 1916, after a lengthy and perilous journey. During their
two-week stay, they managed to purchase from local inhabitants a total
of 513 objects: 396 Armenian, 110 Assyrian, five Kurdish, and two
Turkish. The artifacts included traditional Armenian costumes, jewelry,
and carpets from the city of Van, the towns of Alur, Bitlis, Moks, Mush,
Shatakh, and neighboring villages. During their visit, the scholars
took 60 photographs of natural landscapes, historical monuments,
buildings, and some residents. All of these materials were hauled back
to Saint Petersburg under the protection of the Russian military.
Surprisingly, these painstakingly-collected cultural objects remained
in the Russian museum’s basement for 100 years and were never
displayed! No one seemed to remember their existence, until two years
ago, when Armenia’s Consul General Vardan Hakopyan in Saint Petersburg
learned about these artifacts and informed the authorities in Armenia,
local community leaders, and the Armenian Jewelry Association.
After extensive joint efforts between the Armenian Jewelers
Foundation and the Russian Museum of Ethnography, the items that were
kept in storage for a century were finally put on display in Saint
Petersburg last week. The Jewelers Foundation and the Russian Museum
published an impressive catalog titled, “Treasures of Western Armenia,”
which showcased the artifacts collected from the region of Van in 1916,
before its recapture and genocidal destruction by Ottoman Turkish
forces.
The exhibit was officially opened on April 27, 2015, at the Russian
Museum of Ethnography. It was attended by Vigen Sargsyan, the Armenian
President’s Chief of Staff, Olga Kazanskaya, Vice Governor of Saint
Petersburg, Vladimir Grusman, Director of Russian Museum of Ethnography,
Pierre Akkelian, Chairman of Armenian Jewelers Foundation, Gagik
Gevorkyan, President of Armenian Jewelry Association, and Karen
Mkrtchyan, the Armenian community leader of Saint Petersburg. Not surprisingly, after it became known that the Museum of
Ethnography had in its possession valuable artifacts from the Van
region, the Consulate of Turkey in Saint Petersburg contacted the Museum
claiming that these items are the property of the Turkish Republic and
sought their return. The Museum’s leadership rejected the Turkish
request as the objects were purchased from their owners in 1916.
It is ironic that Turkish diplomats had the audacity to request these
Armenian artifacts, after having killed their owners, burned their
homes, and stolen their possessions! One would hope that the Turkish
government would be foolish enough to go ahead and file a lawsuit
against the Russian Museum, trying to claim these items. Such a lawsuit
would further publicize Turkish responsibility for the Armenian
Genocide, the looting of Armenian cultural objects, and occupation of
their ancestral homeland!
One hundred years later, another expedition should be dispatched to
Turkish museums and libraries to locate and recover all Armenian
artifacts, manuscripts and other valuable items plundered during the
genocide. Lawsuits should be filed against all Turkish institutions
holding such Armenian materials. If local Turkish courts reject the
demand, Armenians should then appeal to the European Court of Human
Rights in order to recover these long lost and precious fragments of
Armenian cultural heritage. Such a legal effort would be yet another
means of seeking restitution for the massive genocide-era losses
suffered by Armenians a century ago!
The Russian Museum’s remarkable exhibit should go on tour to Armenian
communities around the world: Athens, Beirut, Berlin, Boston, Buenos
Aires, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Paris, Tehran,
Toronto, San Francisco, San Paulo, Sydney, Yerevan and many other
cities. Let the world see a small sampling of the vast quantities of
valuable cultural artifacts that the Armenian nation lost during the
genocide in addition to the 1.5 million human souls.
The Armenian Genocide will remain in all archives around the world: Deputy Head of Russian State Archives
The
Russian version of the book “The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman
Empire: Testimonies of Survivors: Collection of Documents” was presented
during an event held at the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in the
Russian Federation on March 19. As the Department of Press, Information
and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Armenia reports to “Armenpress”, among the participants of the event
were Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the Russian Federation
Oleg Yesayan, members of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation
I. Chernishenko and Zh. Ivanova, Deputies of the Russian State Duma I.
Fakhritdinov and O. Arshbay, Deputy Head of the 4thDepartment for the
CIS at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation A.
Gromiko, member of the Public Council of the Russian Federation, leaders
of Russia’s public and scientific circles and Armenian community
organizations of Moscow, public and political figures, as well as
diplomats and journalists. The Russian version of the book was published
with the support of VAN NGO.
In his welcome speech, Ambassador Yesayan, on behalf of the embassy and the All-Russian Committee on Coordination of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, expressed gratitude to the gathered for participating in the event and supporting the efforts of the Committee. The Armenian Ambassador also attached importance to the significance of the publication of the Russian version and noted that it would help raise awareness of the Russian society about the Armenian Genocide.
Author of the book, Director of the National Archives of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan mentioned that the Russian version of the book was an addition to the Armenian, English and Turkish versions of the book, which is of pivotal significance for presenting the irrefutable facts about the Armenian Genocide to the international community.
In her speech at the event, Deputy Head of the State Archive of the Russian Federation Larisa Rogovaya mentioned that the Armenian Genocide is one of the tragedies in history that the international community will always remember the Armenian Genocide and that it will remain in archives around the world.
Member of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation and the Armenian-Russian inter-parliamentary cooperation committee Igor Chernishenko emphasized that the international community is focused on two epochal events this year, that is, the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide and the 70thanniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. According to him, these two major events bring the Armenians and Russians together in the fight for the restoration of historical justice and against crimes against humanity.
The speakers cited irrefutable facts about the Ottoman Empire’s anti-Armenian policy and the Armenian Genocide and attached importance to the modernity of the Russian version of the collection of documents in the fight against the policy of denial, frequent misinformation, as well as reprinting and distortion of history.
In his welcome speech, Ambassador Yesayan, on behalf of the embassy and the All-Russian Committee on Coordination of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, expressed gratitude to the gathered for participating in the event and supporting the efforts of the Committee. The Armenian Ambassador also attached importance to the significance of the publication of the Russian version and noted that it would help raise awareness of the Russian society about the Armenian Genocide.
Author of the book, Director of the National Archives of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan mentioned that the Russian version of the book was an addition to the Armenian, English and Turkish versions of the book, which is of pivotal significance for presenting the irrefutable facts about the Armenian Genocide to the international community.
In her speech at the event, Deputy Head of the State Archive of the Russian Federation Larisa Rogovaya mentioned that the Armenian Genocide is one of the tragedies in history that the international community will always remember the Armenian Genocide and that it will remain in archives around the world.
Member of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation and the Armenian-Russian inter-parliamentary cooperation committee Igor Chernishenko emphasized that the international community is focused on two epochal events this year, that is, the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide and the 70thanniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. According to him, these two major events bring the Armenians and Russians together in the fight for the restoration of historical justice and against crimes against humanity.
The speakers cited irrefutable facts about the Ottoman Empire’s anti-Armenian policy and the Armenian Genocide and attached importance to the modernity of the Russian version of the collection of documents in the fight against the policy of denial, frequent misinformation, as well as reprinting and distortion of history.
Russian Translation of Book of Armenian Genocide Testimonies Presented in Moscow
The Russian version of the book “The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman
Empire: Testimonies of Survivors: Collection of Documents” was presented
during an event held at the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in the
Russian Federation on March 19. In his welcome speech, Armenia’s Ambassador to Russia Oleg Yesayan,
on behalf of the embassy and the All-Russian Committee on Coordination
of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide,
expressed gratitude to the gathered for participating in the event and
supporting the efforts of the Committee. The Armenian Ambassador also
attached importance to the significance of the publication of the
Russian version and noted that it would help raise awareness of the
Russian society about the Armenian Genocide. Author of the book, Director of the National Archives of Armenia,
Amatuni Virabyan mentioned that the Russian version of the book was an
addition to the Armenian, English and Turkish versions of the book,
which is of pivotal significance for presenting the irrefutable facts
about the Armenian Genocide to the international community. In her speech at the event, Deputy Head of the State Archive of the
Russian Federation Larisa Rogovaya mentioned that the Armenian Genocide
is one of the tragedies in history that the international community will
always remember and that it will remain in archives around the world. Member of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation and the
Armenian-Russian inter-parliamentary cooperation committee Igor
Chernishenko emphasized that the international community is focused on
two epochal events this year: the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide
and the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II.
According to him, these two major events bring the Armenians and
Russians together in the fight for the restoration of historical justice
and against crimes against humanity. The speakers cited irrefutable facts about the Ottoman Empire’s
anti-Armenian policy and the Armenian Genocide and attached importance
to the modernity of the Russian version of the collection of documents
in the fight against the policy of denial, frequent misinformation, as
well as revision and distortion of history.
Source: http://asbarez.com/133247/russian-translation-of-book-of-armenian-genocide-testimonies-presented-in-moscow/
Source: http://arka.am/en/news/society
Source: http://arka.am/en/news/politics/russian_influence_in_the_south_caucasus_exists_due_to_relations_with_armenia_analyst/
Vladimir Spivakov arrives in Yerevan for three concerts on the Armenian genocide centenary
World famous conductor Vladimir Spivakov arrived on Sunday night in Yerevan to perform three concerts on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, Novosti-Armenia reports. Asked about his position on the genocide he said it was re-affirmed by his arrival. “The position is clear. The world has not recognized the genocide yet – it is their problems. Yet, not the entire world failed to acknowledge it. The Pope has just recognized, which is a very serious story with far reaching effects. Russia has recognized since long ago,” the maestro said. The National Philharmonic of Russia led by Spivakov will hold concerts in Armenia on April 14, 15 and 16 to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian genocide. The concerts will take place at the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Yerevan. The concert program includes Mozart Piano Concert N12 and Requiem (April 14), Verdi, Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti and Puccini (April 15) and Chaplin “Big City Lights” multimedia project (April 16). In commenting the diversity of his three concert programs, Spivakov said he did not like repeating himself. The conductor said he has trips to France, Austria and the USA planned next. He said the invitations he got cover the period till 2017. “But now I am planning ahead a month only,” the maestro said.
World
famous conductor Vladimir Spivakov arrived on Sunday night in Yerevan
to perform three concerts on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide in Ottoman Turkey, Novosti-Armenia reports.
Asked about his position on the genocide he said it was re-affirmed by his arrival.
“The position is clear. The world has not recognized the genocide
yet – it is their problems. Yet, not the entire world failed to
acknowledge it. The Pope has just recognized, which is a very serious
story with far reaching effects. Russia has recognized since long ago,”
the maestro said.
The National Philharmonic of Russia led by Spivakov will hold
concerts in Armenia on April 14, 15 and 16 to commemorate the centenary
of the Armenian genocide. The concerts will take place at the National
Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Yerevan. The concert program
includes Mozart Piano Concert N12 and Requiem (April 14), Verdi, Mozart,
Bellini, Donizetti and Puccini (April 15) and Chaplin “Big City Lights”
multimedia project (April 16).
In commenting the diversity of his three concert programs, Spivakov said he did not like repeating himself.
The conductor said he has trips to France, Austria and the USA
planned next. He said the invitations he got cover the period till
2017.
“But now I am planning ahead a month only,” the maestro said.
- See more at:
http://arka.am/en/news/society/vladimir_spivakov_arrives_in_yerevan_for_three_concerts_on_the_armenian_genocide_centenary/#sthash.oMwWv2pW.dpufSource: http://arka.am/en/news/society
Russian influence in the South Caucasus exists due to relations with Armenia – analyst
The influence Russia has in the South Caucasus comes from its relations with Armenia, Director of Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan said on Sputnik Armenia radio channel, as cited by Novosti-Armenia. “Armenia is a key South Caucasus country for Russia and cannot be replaced by anything else. Importance of Russia to us is, of course, even greater. But Russia cannot substitute Armenia with Georgia, or Azerbaijan, or South Ossetia, Iran or Turkey. Russia uses its influence in the region due to the current format of its relationship with Armenia, and Putin has confirmed it,” Iskandaryan said. “I mean the strategic, political and other influence. Withdrawing from Armenia Russian will lose not only Armenia, but at least the South Caucasus and maybe even the entire southern direction,” the political analyst said.
Source: http://arka.am/en/news/politics/russian_influence_in_the_south_caucasus_exists_due_to_relations_with_armenia_analyst/
Close collaboration with Russian Federation a key component of Armenia’s security, president
Addressing
an international media forum in the Armenian capital entitled 'At the
Foot of Mount Ararat,’ dedicated to the centenary of the Armenian
Genocide, President Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia’s foreign policy has
always been based on the principle of complementarity of different
systems and accommodation of the interests of great powers involved in
the region. He said joining the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) ,
the Republic of Armenia has simultaneously enhanced its cooperation
with NATO, by contributing to the strengthening of international peace
and security through its participation in the peace-keeping missions.
Our country has developed and continues to develop allied strategic
partnership with Russia.
‘The Armenian-Russian allied inter-State relations are anchored in
the close historical ties that existed between the two nations. The
close collaboration with the Russian Federation (RF) is a key component
of our security, economic development and stability. The RF is Armenia’s
largest trade partner: in 2014, our trade accounted for more than 1.4
billion dollars, there are 1.3 thousand enterprises with Russian capital
in Armenia and the amount of Russian investments in our economy have
exceeded three billion dollars.
I am confident that for very many persons sitting in the hall these
numbers seem small and ridiculous, but believe me that for a small
state and a small economy such as Armenia these numbers are extremely
important. We cooperate with Russia in different sectors – energy,
infrastructure, industry etc. According to non-official data, there are
around 2 million Armenians living in the RF. We also continue to deepen
our collaboration with the RF within the framework of international
organizations – the Eurasian Economic Union, CIS and CSTO. We attach
great importance to the Russia’s efforts aimed at a peaceful settlement
of the NK conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Our
foreign policy is also aimed at reinforcement of our friendly
partnership with the US and of the special relationship with France.
Since independence, Armenian-American relations have continued to
develop dynamically. Currently our bilateral agenda includes various
sectors – political, economic, human, security and other dimensions – in
which we have been making further progress year to year. I must express
my content with the fact that owing to mutual
efforts our partnership has now reached its highest level in the history
of Armenian-American relations. The reciprocal visits at various levels
conducted in the recent years bear testimony to this.
We
highly appreciate long-standing US support for the RA’s economic
development, multi-sectoral reforms, consolidation of democracy and
civil society, which pursue the objective to strengthen our statehood.
We also place great value on the US role in the maintenance of
security and stability in the region, especially on its active
involvement in the peaceful settlement of the NK problem. Armenia is
very keen on continuing interstate relations based on
shared values and the age-old friendship between the Armenian and French
peoples. We value the achievements embellishing our interstate
relations during the last two decades, which involve regular promotion
of political, economic, cultural, scientific and educational
cooperation, and effective implementation of the assistance programs.
The consistent and concerted efforts in the relations between
Armenia and France have resulted in a crucial haven, special relations
we enjoy. France’s role is invaluable both in the condemnation and
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide at the highest level,
and in the peaceful resolution of the NK conflict within the framework
of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. Of course, deepening and broadening of our traditionally friendly
partnerships with neighboring countries, particularly, with the Islamic
Republic of Iran and Georgia are top priorities for our country. We highly appreciate our mutually beneficial and multifaceted
cooperation with Iran, which is rooted in historical and cultural
similarities, reciprocal economic interests and in common approaches to a
number of regional issues.
The multifaceted relationship between Armenia and Iran is
maintained at the high level. This is testified by our active and
high-level political contacts, and agreements reached therein pertaining
to the effective implementation of joint political, economic and
humanitarian projects. We are closely following the negotiations between the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the P5+1 over Iran’s nuclear program. We wish the
issue to be resolved as soon as possible, and the settlement to be
acceptable to all the parties. We are hopeful that the agreements that
have already been achieved will result in a comprehensive settlement of
this issue.
I
must express my content with the fact that in recent years the
high-level contacts between Armenia and Georgia have tangibly
intensified. Our active interstate dialogue rooted in the traditional,
historical and good-neighborly friendship and mutual understanding
between our peoples establishes serious prerequisites to outline new
dimensions in our partnership. As a result, we are building effective
mechanisms to swiftly address any issue on our current bilateral agenda.
We have always attached great importance to Georgia’s role not only
in the development of our bilateral relations, but also in
strengthening and maintaining security in the South Caucasus. The level
of our political cooperation has provided favorable
conditions for promotion of bilateral economic cooperation. In this
regard, we have made considerable progress in the development of a
relevant legal framework.
From January of 2015 onwards we have been a full-fledged member of
the Eurasian Economic Union. Since independence active involvement in
regional integration processes has been and continues to be a priority
for the Armenian foreign policy. In the 21st century regional
integration unions play a major role in helping small states follow
ongoing trends in the global economy and fully integrate into it. In
this regard taking into account the present structure of our country’s
economy, the geography of export and our economic ties with EEU member
states, the accession to the EEU opens up new prospects for our country
to develop. Free movement of goods, capital, services and labor give our
businessmen substantial opportunities to penetrate new markets and
reinforce their positions there. All this will naturally stimulate
employment opportunities in Armenia, increase of foreign direct
investments and development of our economy.
Being a full-fledged member of the European family and civilization
and building our development on the European principles and values, we
continue to make vigorous efforts to enhance our relations both with
individual European countries, and with the EU and our Western partners.
The cooperation between Armenia and EU has been marked by major
achievements, which is a result of our concerted efforts, political will
and mutual commitment. Throughout these years, the large-scale reforms
in Armenia have been at the forefront of our dialogue. To raise the
effectiveness of those reforms, we have transformed the executive
structure, establishing the Ministry of International Economic
Integration and Reforms, which will coordinate those processes.
We intend to maintain these achievements and, moreover, to deepen
and buttress them with further initiatives. This is proved by the
Armenia-EU Joint Statement adopted in Vilnius in November of 2013, in
which the parties reaffirmed their mutual commitment to further
enhancing and strengthening multi-sectoral cooperation. We are taking
active steps both towards development of a new legal framework for our
relations with the EU and pushing forward our agenda with NATO.
Meanwhile, I have to note that under conditions of the boisterous
pace at which globalization has proceeded in the 21st century, when the
world is moving towards formation of a single common area, when it seems
that the economic borders between the states are losing their
importance, it is meaningless to speak about conflicting integration
models. In this respect, as I have said on numerous occasions before by
joining the EEU, Armenia could serve as a connecting link between the
business communities of EEU states and Western countries.
Our country’s foreign policy agenda has been expanding with every
passing day through embracing new partners. Our relations with the
countries of the Latin American and Asian countries have intensified,
and we continue to maintain traditionally good relations with the Arab
world. Among the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, we have kept on
promoting close cooperation with China, Japan and with a host of other
states. In a few days, I am going to pay a State Visit to China, which I
am sure will give a new impetus to the development of our bilateral
relations in various fields.
Of course, our foreign policy and security cannot remain unaffected
by events unfolding in neighboring regions and, in general, in the
international arena. By this I refer to the alarming developments in
Ukraine and the Middle East. Today, the so called Islamic State based in
the territories of Syria and Iraq poses a real threat to both regional
and international security. In the Middle East, the cradle of ancient
civilizations, those very civilizations risk being destroyed. Armenian
communities in Syria and Iraq are also affected by that situation. The
Armenian Genocide survivors, who had found shelter in Syria and Iraq,
now have to face the mentioned challenges. Armenia has already accepted
more than ten thousand refugees from Syria.
Armenia condemns the crimes and atrocities committed by the Islamic
State, the Al Nusra Front and by other terrorist groups, and calls on
the international community to take decisive steps against this
newly-emerged calamity. In this context, Armenia expresses its full
support to the complete implementation of the relevant resolutions of
the UN Security Council
Source: http://arka.am/en/news/politics
Source: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150402/1020356569.html#ixzz3XVbv3Efe
Armenian Defense Minister Lauds Military Cooperation With Russia
Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan on Thursday praised his South Caucasian country's military cooperation with Russia, in a comment to Sputnik. "Russian-Armenian military cooperation is at a very high level. We are strategic partners… There is no other country that we have the same level of cooperation with as Russia," Ohanyan said. He added the two planned joint military operations and had a united military force. "We cooperate on military training and exchange experience," Ohanyan told Sputnik on the sidelines of the 4th international security conference in Moscow. Russia and Armenia have a history of military cooperation that goes back to Soviet times. Russia has a military base in Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city. The countries host elements of an integrated air defense network that comprises units in six countries – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
Over 1,000 Russian Soldiers Begin Tactical Training in Armenia
More than 1,000 Russian military personnel have begun tactical exercises
at the Alagyaz Training Complex in Armenia, the Russian Defense
Ministry’s Southern Military District’s press service said Tuesday. “More than 1,000 military servicemen and around 300 pieces
of hardware, including tanks and self-propelled artillery units, are
involved in the exercises,” the press service said. Earlier this month, Russian MiG-29 (Fulcrum) jet fighter pilots carried out military exercises from a Russian base in Armenia. In March, more than 2,000 Russian military personnel from air defense
units have begun exercises in the country’s south, as well as at
Russian military bases in Armenia, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia. The Russian Defense Ministry has announced plans to conduct at least 4,000 military exercises this year.
Russian MiG-29 Fighter Pilots Begin Military Drills in Armenia
Russian MiG-29 (Fulcrum) jet fighter pilots have begun military exercises from a Russian base in Armenia, the Russian Defense Ministry’s Southern Military District’s press service said Thursday. “More than 100 Air Force pilots and service personnel are participating [in the military exercises] with more than 30 pieces of specialized military and aviation hardware,” the press service said. During the three-day exercises, the fighter pilots will cover ground forces from the air and destroy “enemy” bombers, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles. Earlier this week, Eastern Military District announced that over ten aircraft including helicopters simulated attacks by an "enemy" near the Chinese border. According to the district press service, S-300 missiles, jet fighters and support aircraft will carry out live-fire exercises in April in southern Siberia. The Russian Defense Ministry announced plans to conduct at least 4,000 military exercises throughout the country in 2015.
Source: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150402/1020356569.html#ixzz3XVbv3Efe
45 bordering communities in Tavush to benefit from Russia-funded development project
Over the next 5 years 45 bordering communities of Tavush region, with
an overall population of 62,000, will have the opportunity to develop
their own community plans, prioritizing activities – such as
infrastructure and income generating activities – for financing within
the framework of “Integrated Support to Rural Development: Building
Resilient Communities” project, financed by the Government of the
Russian Federation and implemented by the UNDP in Armenia, in close
partnership with the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and
Emergency Situations. The project budget is over USD 5 million.
Today, Bradley Busetto, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident
Representative in Armenia, Armen Yeritsyan, Minister of Territorial
Administration and Emergency Situations, and Ivan Volynkin, Ambassador
of the Russian Federation to Armenia, signed the relevant documents to
launch the project. Representatives of government agencies responsible
for rural and community development, as well as international
organizations, diplomatic corps and media attended the event.
“UNDP, as a global development organization, tries to reach remote
communities in Armenia with the support needed not to provide short term
emergency aid, but sustained development support. Our added value has
several facets – neutrality, impartiality, flexibility, as well as
innovation, which makes UNDP special as a development partner for
Armenia. For more than two decades UNDP has worked closely with the
government and other development partners to make Armenia a better place
to live and work. In this context, I would like to express my gratitude
to the Governments of Russian Federation and Armenia for the excellent
collaboration and for this important partnership to support vulnerable
communities. By working together, we can make a difference to peoples
lives,” said Bradley Busetto, UN RC/UNDP RR in his welcoming remarks.
“Russia consistently builds up its efforts in providing support to
its foreign partners in achieving sustainable development. Priority
recipients of the Russian international development assistance are CIS
countries and its partners in Eurasian integration. The importance of
this UNDP programme is its focus on complex development of the
vulnerable bordering communities in Tavush region and the positive
experience of its realization could be transferred to other communities
of the country. It should be noted that UNDP is a reliable partner of
the Russian Federation which has an excellent reputation and huge
experience accumulated within years of work globally,” said Ivan
Volynkin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation.
“We have 915 communities in Armenia and they have unique problems and
challenges. In order to make the country’s territorial administration
more efficient, it is necessary to engage in each community and village,
especially in bordering regions. Bordering communities are always in
the focus of the Government of Armenia, which carries out various
measures aimed at their support and development. We are confident that
this project will be an invaluable investment to mitigate the burden
felt in bordering communities,” noted Armen Yeritsyan, Minister of
Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations.
Since 2001, UNDP in Armenia has provided support to over 150
communities in Armenia, including rehabilitation of rural
infrastructures and providing income generation, while building
institutional capacities through jointly developed local community plans
Russia Will Grant 130 Million Rubles to Armenia
An agreement on providing a technical assistance to Armenia in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union membership will be signed between the governments of the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation. By that Russia will allocate a free aid of 47 million US dollars and 130 million Russian rubles to Armenia. The draft agreement is included in the agenda of the Armenian government’s session of March 26. Armenia has applied to the Russian Federation with the request to provide grant funds for the implementation of events in six directions (customs administration, technical regulations, sanitary, phytosanitary and veterinary measures, statistics, industry, building a common information space and integrated information system), defined by the roadmap of the Customs Union and the United Economic Space. The detailed budget of the necessary works, goods, services and trainings for the corresponding works was also presented to Russian side.
Baku: Statements by Russian MP can be seen as interference in internal affairs of Azerbaijan
Second secretary of the
Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Konul Suleymanli commented on
statements of the member of the Russian Parliament (State Duma) Leonid
Slutsky made by him during the press conference in Armenia.
“We would like to remind Leonid Slutsky that monuments to Nazi generals Garegin Nzhdeh and Drastamat Kanayan (‘Dro’) are being worshiped in Yerevan and one of the central streets of this city was named after Nzhdeh. Moreover, “nzhdeheism” compiles the foundation of the official ideology of the Armenian ruling party,” Suleymanli said, adding that «Leonid Slutsky, as the people's deputy, had to express his concern over the "glorification" of fascist generals by the official Yerevan and holding events in honor of them in Moscow on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the victory over fascism.”
Suleymanli further said that Slutsky should also know that a monument to another Armenian "national hero", terrorist killer Monte Melkonian, one of the founders of the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA, has also been unveiled in Yerevan.
“As a result of the policy of ethnic cleansing based on radical ideology, Armenia has evolved into the only mono-ethnic state in the world. Azerbaijanis were subjected to ethnic cleansing in their historical lands (now Armenia). Other nations living in Armenia have also become victims of the ethnic cleansing policy. There were more than 28 Russian villages in Armenia before the collapse of the Soviet Union, now there is not one.
Leonid Slutsky speaks about the "arms race" in the region. I would like to refresh the memory of Leonid Slutsky, reminding him that although up to 50 percent of the population of Armenia lives in extreme poverty and external debt of this country exceeds its GDP, Armenia is the most armed country in the world by the ratio of GDP per capita.
Armament of Armenia through donations and external borrowing bolsters occupation of Azerbaijani territories and encourages aggression against Azerbaijan,” Suleymanli emphasized.
The Azerbaijani diplomat further said that “such a statements by Leonid Slutsky can harm partnership between Azerbaijan and Russia.”
‘His remarks contradict the spirit of the Azerbaijani-Russian relations, and can be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, " Suleymanli said.
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“We would like to remind Leonid Slutsky that monuments to Nazi generals Garegin Nzhdeh and Drastamat Kanayan (‘Dro’) are being worshiped in Yerevan and one of the central streets of this city was named after Nzhdeh. Moreover, “nzhdeheism” compiles the foundation of the official ideology of the Armenian ruling party,” Suleymanli said, adding that «Leonid Slutsky, as the people's deputy, had to express his concern over the "glorification" of fascist generals by the official Yerevan and holding events in honor of them in Moscow on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the victory over fascism.”
Suleymanli further said that Slutsky should also know that a monument to another Armenian "national hero", terrorist killer Monte Melkonian, one of the founders of the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA, has also been unveiled in Yerevan.
“As a result of the policy of ethnic cleansing based on radical ideology, Armenia has evolved into the only mono-ethnic state in the world. Azerbaijanis were subjected to ethnic cleansing in their historical lands (now Armenia). Other nations living in Armenia have also become victims of the ethnic cleansing policy. There were more than 28 Russian villages in Armenia before the collapse of the Soviet Union, now there is not one.
Leonid Slutsky speaks about the "arms race" in the region. I would like to refresh the memory of Leonid Slutsky, reminding him that although up to 50 percent of the population of Armenia lives in extreme poverty and external debt of this country exceeds its GDP, Armenia is the most armed country in the world by the ratio of GDP per capita.
Armament of Armenia through donations and external borrowing bolsters occupation of Azerbaijani territories and encourages aggression against Azerbaijan,” Suleymanli emphasized.
The Azerbaijani diplomat further said that “such a statements by Leonid Slutsky can harm partnership between Azerbaijan and Russia.”
‘His remarks contradict the spirit of the Azerbaijani-Russian relations, and can be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, " Suleymanli said.
© Content from this site must be hyperlinked when used.
FEEDBACK
Other news in this section
31.03.2015 [19:53]
Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade awarded with UNITWIN honorary diploma
31.03.2015 [14:36]
USAN calls on USA to stop financial aid to Armenia
30.03.2015 [17:34]
Date of 5th News Agencies World Congress defined VIDEO
30.03.2015 [17:14]
Pakistan Senate`s Defense Committee issues statement supporting Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
1 / 1
POLITICS
USAN calls on USA to stop financial aid to Armenia
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31.03.2015 [11:50]
OSCE to hold next monitoring on troops’ contact line VIDEO
31.03.2015 [11:20]
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http://azertag.az/en/xeber/842060
Second
secretary of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Konul
Suleymanli commented on statements of the member of the Russian
Parliament (State Duma) Leonid Slutsky made by him during the press
conference in Armenia. “We would like to remind Leonid Slutsky that
monuments to Nazi generals Garegin Nzhdeh and Drastamat Kanayan (‘Dro’)
are being worshiped in Yerevan and one of the central streets of this
city was named after Nzhdeh.
Moreover, “nzhdeheism” compiles the
foundation of the official ideology of the Armenian ruling party,”
Suleymanli said, adding that «Leonid Slutsky, as the people's deputy,
had to express his concern over the "glorification" of fascist generals
by the official Yerevan and holding events in honor of them in Moscow on
the eve of the 70th anniversary of the victory over fascism.” Suleymanli further said that Slutsky should also know that a monument to
another Armenian "national hero", terrorist killer Monte Melkonian, one
of the founders of the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA, has also
been unveiled in Yerevan. “As a result of the policy of ethnic
cleansing based on radical ideology, Armenia has evolved into the only
mono-ethnic state in the world.
Azerbaijanis were subjected to ethnic
cleansing in their historical lands (now Armenia). Other nations living
in Armenia have also become victims of the ethnic cleansing policy.
There were more than 28 Russian villages in Armenia before the collapse
of the Soviet Union, now there is not one. Leonid Slutsky speaks about
the "arms race" in the region. I would like to refresh the memory of
Leonid Slutsky, reminding him that although up to 50 percent of the
population of Armenia lives in extreme poverty and external debt of this
country exceeds its GDP, Armenia is the most armed country in the world
by the ratio of GDP per capita.
Armament of Armenia through donations
and external borrowing bolsters occupation of Azerbaijani territories
and encourages aggression against Azerbaijan,” Suleymanli emphasized.
The Azerbaijani diplomat further said that “such a statements by Leonid
Slutsky can harm partnership between Azerbaijan and Russia.” ‘His
remarks contradict the spirit of the Azerbaijani-Russian relations, and
can be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, "
Suleymanli said.
Source: http://azertag.az/en/xeber/842060
D.C. the Enemy to World Peace
On February 25 and 26, Paul Craig Roberts addressed the 70th Anniversary of the Yalta Conference, hosted by the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Moscow. The following is his speech, which was given over the course of the two-day event.
By Paul Craig Roberts —
By Paul Craig Roberts —
Recently, I was invited to address an important conference of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Scholars from Russia and from around the world, Russian government officials and the Russian people seek an answer as to why Washington destroyed during the past year the friendly relations between America and Russia that President Ronald Reagan and President Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded in establishing. All of Russia is distressed that Washington alone has destroyed the trust between the two major nuclear powers that had been created during the Reagan-Gorbachev era, trust that had removed the threat of nuclear Armageddon.
Russians at every level are astonished at the virulent propaganda and lies constantly issuing from Washington and the Western media. Washington’s gratuitous demonization of Russian President Vladimir Putin has rallied the Russian people behind him. Putin has the highest approval rating ever achieved by any leader in my lifetime. Washington’s reckless and irresponsible destruction of the trust achieved by Reagan and Gorbachev has resurrected the possibility of nuclear war from the grave in which Reagan and Gorbachev buried it. Again, as during the Cold War the specter of nuclear Armageddon stalks the Earth.
Why did Washington revive the threat of world annihilation? Why is this threat to all of humanity supported by the majority of Congress, by the entirety of the presstitute media and by academics and think-tank inhabitants in the U.S.? It was my task to answer this question for the conference.
Why did Washington revive the threat of world annihilation? Why is this threat to all of humanity supported by the majority of Congress, by the entirety of the presstitute media and by academics and think-tank inhabitants in the U.S.? It was my task to answer this question for the conference.
‘American Exceptionalism’ Dangerous
What I propose to you is that the current difficulties in the international order are unrelated to Yalta and its consequences, but have their origin in the rise of the neoconservative ideology in the post-Soviet era and its influence on Washington’s foreign policy. The collapse of the Soviet Union removed the only constraint on Washington’s power to act unilaterally abroad. At that time China’s rise was estimated to require a half-century. Suddenly the United States found itself to be the uni-power, the “world’s only superpower.” Neoconservatives proclaimed “the end of history.”
By the “end of history” neoconservatives mean that the competition between socio-economic-political systems is at an end. History has chosen “American democratic-capitalism.” It is Washington’s responsibility to exercise the hegemony over the world given to Washington by history and to bring the world in line with history’s choice of American democratic-capitalism. In other words, Marx has been proven wrong. The future does not belong to the proletariat but to Washington.
American Exceptionalism
The neoconservative ideology raises the United States to the unique status of being “the exceptional country,” and the American people acquire exalted status as “the indispensable people.”
If a country is “the exceptional country,” it means that all other countries are unexceptional. If a people are “indispensable,” it means other peoples are dispensable. We have seen this attitude at work in Washington’s 14 years of wars of aggression in the Middle East. These wars have left countries destroyed and millions of people dead, maimed and displaced. Yet Washington continues to speak of its commitment to protect smaller countries from the aggression of larger countries. The explanation for this hypocrisy is that Washington does not regard Washington’s aggression as aggression, but as history’s purpose.
We have also seen this attitude at work in Washington’s disdain for Russia’s national interests and in Washington’s propagandistic response to Russian diplomacy. The neoconservative doctrine of U.S. world supremacy is most clearly and concisely stated by Paul Wolfowitz, a leading neoconservative who has held many high positions: deputy assistant secretary of defense, director of policy planning at the U.S. Department of State, assistant secretary of state, ambassador to Indonesia, undersecretary of defense for policy, deputy secretary of defense and president of the World Bank.
In 1992, Wolfowitz stated the neoconservative doctrine of American world supremacy:
What I propose to you is that the current difficulties in the international order are unrelated to Yalta and its consequences, but have their origin in the rise of the neoconservative ideology in the post-Soviet era and its influence on Washington’s foreign policy. The collapse of the Soviet Union removed the only constraint on Washington’s power to act unilaterally abroad. At that time China’s rise was estimated to require a half-century. Suddenly the United States found itself to be the uni-power, the “world’s only superpower.” Neoconservatives proclaimed “the end of history.”
By the “end of history” neoconservatives mean that the competition between socio-economic-political systems is at an end. History has chosen “American democratic-capitalism.” It is Washington’s responsibility to exercise the hegemony over the world given to Washington by history and to bring the world in line with history’s choice of American democratic-capitalism. In other words, Marx has been proven wrong. The future does not belong to the proletariat but to Washington.
American Exceptionalism
The neoconservative ideology raises the United States to the unique status of being “the exceptional country,” and the American people acquire exalted status as “the indispensable people.”
If a country is “the exceptional country,” it means that all other countries are unexceptional. If a people are “indispensable,” it means other peoples are dispensable. We have seen this attitude at work in Washington’s 14 years of wars of aggression in the Middle East. These wars have left countries destroyed and millions of people dead, maimed and displaced. Yet Washington continues to speak of its commitment to protect smaller countries from the aggression of larger countries. The explanation for this hypocrisy is that Washington does not regard Washington’s aggression as aggression, but as history’s purpose.
We have also seen this attitude at work in Washington’s disdain for Russia’s national interests and in Washington’s propagandistic response to Russian diplomacy. The neoconservative doctrine of U.S. world supremacy is most clearly and concisely stated by Paul Wolfowitz, a leading neoconservative who has held many high positions: deputy assistant secretary of defense, director of policy planning at the U.S. Department of State, assistant secretary of state, ambassador to Indonesia, undersecretary of defense for policy, deputy secretary of defense and president of the World Bank.
In 1992, Wolfowitz stated the neoconservative doctrine of American world supremacy:
“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.”
For clarification, a “hostile power” is a country with an independent policy (Russia, China, Iran and formerly Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi, Assad). This bold statement struck the traditional American foreign policy establishment as a declaration of American imperialism. The document was rewritten in order to soften and disguise the blatant assertion of supremacy without changing the intent. These documents are available online, and you can examine them at your convenience.
Neocon Foreign Policy Dominance
Softening the language allowed the neoconservatives to rise to foreign policy dominance. The neoconservatives are responsible for the Clinton regime’s attacks on Yugoslavia and Serbia. Neoconservatives, especially Wolfowitz, are responsible for the George W. Bush regime’s invasion of Iraq. The neoconservatives are responsible for the overthrow and murder of Qaddafi in Libya, the assault on Syria, the propaganda against Iran, the drone attacks on Pakistan and Yemen, the color revolutions in former Soviet Republics, the attempted “Green Revolution” in Iran, the coup in Ukraine and the demonization of Putin.
A number of thoughtful Americans suspect that the neoconservatives are responsible for 9-11, as that event gave the neoconservatives the “new Pearl Harbor” that their position papers said was necessary in order to launch their wars for hegemony in the Middle East. 9-11 led directly and instantly to the invasion of Afghanistan, where Washington has been fighting since 2001. Neoconservatives controlled all the important government positions necessary for a “false-flag” attack.
Neoconservative Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who is married to another neoconservative, Robert Kagan, implemented and oversaw Washington’s coup in Ukraine and chose the new government. The neoconservatives are highly organized and networked, well-financed, supported by the print and TV media and backed by the U.S. military-security complex and the Israeli lobby. There is no countervailing power to their influence on U.S. foreign power.
The neoconservative doctrine goes beyond the Zbigniew Brzezinski doctrine, which dissented from detente and provocatively supported dissidents inside the Soviet empire. Despite its provocative character, the Brzezinski doctrine remained a doctrine of power politics and containment. It is not a doctrine of U.S. world hegemony.
While the neoconservatives were preoccupied for a decade with their wars in the Middle East, creating a U.S. Africa Command, organizing color revolutions, exiting disarmament treaties, surrounding Russia with military bases and “pivoting to Asia” to surround China with new air and naval bases, Putin led Russia back to economic and military competence and successfully asserted an independent Russian foreign policy.
When Russian diplomacy blocked Washington’s planned invasion of Syria and Washington’s planned bombing of Iran, the neoconservatives realized that they had failed the “first objective” of the Wolfowitz doctrine and had allowed “the reemergence of a new rival . . . on the territory of the former Soviet Union” with the power to block unilateral action by Washington.
Attack on Russia Begins
The attack on Russia began. Washington spent $5 billion over a decade creating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ukraine and cultivating Ukrainian politicians. The NGOs were called into the streets. Extreme nationalists were used to introduce violence, and the elected democratic government was overthrown. The intercepted conversation between Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador in Kiev, in which the two Washington operatives chose the members of the new Ukrainian government, is well known.
If the information that has recently come tome from Armenia and Kyrgyzstan is correct, Washington has financed NGOs and is cultivating politicians in Armenia and the former Soviet Central Asian Republics. If the information is correct, Russia can expect more color revolutions or coups in other former territories of the Soviet Union. Perhaps China faces a similar threat in Uyghurstan. The conflict in Ukraine is often called a “civil war.” This is incorrect. A civil war is when two sides fight for the control of the government. The breakaway republics in eastern and southern Ukraine are fighting a war of secession.
Washington would have been happy to use its coup in Ukraine to evict Russia from its Black Sea naval base, as this would have been a strategic military achievement. However, Washington is pleased that the “Ukraine crisis” that Washington orchestrated has resulted in the demonization of Putin, thus permitting economic sanctions that have disrupted Russia’s economic and political relations with Europe. The sanctions have kept Europe in Washington’s orbit.
No Interest in Peace
Washington has no interest in resolving the Ukrainian situation. The situation can be resolved diplomatically only if Europe can achieve sufficient sovereignty over its foreign policy to act in Europe’s interest instead of Washington’s interest. The neoconservative doctrine of U.S. world hegemony is a threat to the sovereignty of every country. The doctrine requires subservience to Washington’s leadership and to Washington’s purposes. Independent governments are targeted for destabilization. The Obama regime overthrew the reformist government in Honduras and currently is at work destabilizing Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina, and most likely also Armenia and the former Central Asian Soviet Republics.
It would be a strategic error to dismiss the neoconservative ideology as unrealistic. The doctrine is unrealistic, but it is also the guiding force of U.S. foreign policy and can produce a world war.
In their conflict with Washington’s hegemony, Russia and China are disadvantaged. The success of American propaganda during the Cold War, the large differences between living standards in the U.S. and those in communist lands, overt communist political oppression, at times brutal, and the Soviet collapse created in the minds of many people nonexistent virtues for the United States. As English is the world language and the Western media is cooperative, Washington is able to control explanations regardless of the facts. The ability of Washington to be the aggressor and to blame the victim encourages Washington’s march to more aggression.
9-11 and the U.S. Police State
Just as 9-11 served to launch Washington’s wars for hegemony in the Middle East, 9-11 served to create the American police state. The Constitution and the civil liberties it protects quickly fell to the accumulation of power in the executive branch that a state of war permitted. New laws, some clearly pre-prepared such as the Patriot Act, executive orders, presidential directives and Department of Justice memos created an executive authority unaccountable to the Constitution and to domestic and international law. Suddenly Americans could be detained indefinitely without cause presented to a court. Habeas corpus, a constitutional protection which prohibits any such detention, has been set aside.
Suddenly people could be tortured into confessions in violation of the right against self-incrimination and in violation of domestic and international laws against torture. Suddenly Americans’ and Washington’s closest allies could be spied on indiscriminately without the need of warrants demonstrating cause. The Obama regime added to the Bush regime’s transgressions the assertion of the right of the executive branch to assassinate U.S. citizens without due process of law. The police state was organized under a massive new Department of Homeland Security. Almost immediately whistleblower protections, freedom of the press and speech and protest rights were attacked and reduced.
It was not long before Homeland Security declared that the department’s focus has shifted from Muslim terrorists to “domestic extremists,” an undefined category. Anyone can be swept into this category. Homes of war protesters were raided and grand juries were convened to investigate the protesters. Americans of Arab descent who donated to charities—even charities on the State Department’s approved list—that aided Palestinian children were arrested and sentenced to prison for “providing material support to terrorism.”
All of this and more, including police brutality, has had a chilling effect on protests against the wars and the loss of civil liberty. The rising protests from the American population and from soldiers themselves that eventually forced Washington to end the Vietnam War have been prevented in the 21st century by the erosion of rights, intimidation, loss of mobility (no-fly list), job dismissal and other heavy-handed actions inconsistent with a government accountable to law and to the people.
In an important sense, the U.S. has emerged from the “war on terror” as an executive branch dictatorship unconstrained by the media and barely, if at all, constrained by Congress and the federal courts. The lawlessness of the executive branch has spread into governments of Washington’s vassal states and into the Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, all of which violate their charters and operate outside their legal powers.
Jobs offshoring destroyed the American industrial and manufacturing unions. Their demise and the current attack on the public employee unions has left the Democratic Party financially dependent on the same organized private interest groups as the Republicans. Both parties now report to the same interest groups. Wall Street, the military-security complex, the Israeli lobby, agribusiness and the extractive industries (oil, mining, timber) control the government regardless of the party in power. These powerful interests all have a stake in American hegemony. The message is that the constellation of forces precludes internal political change.
America’s Achilles Heel
Hegemony’s Achilles heel is the U.S. economy. The fairy tale of American economic recovery supports America’s image as the safe haven, an image that keeps the dollar’s value up, the stock market up and interest rates down. However, there is no economic information that supports this fairy tale. Real median household income has not grown for years and is below the levels of the early 1970s. There has been no growth in real retail sales for six years. The labor force is shrinking. The labor force participation rate has declined since 2007, as has the civilian-employment-to-population ratio. The 5.7% reported unemployment rate is achieved by not counting discouraged workers as part of the work force. A discouraged worker is a person who can’t find a job and gives up looking.
A second official unemployment rate, which counts short-term (less than one year) discouraged workers and is seldom reported, stands at 11.2%. The U.S. government stopped including long-term discouraged workers (discouraged for more than one year) in 1994. If the long-term discouraged are counted, the current unemployment rate in the U.S. stands at 23.2%.
The offshoring of American manufacturing and professional service jobs such as software engineering and information technology has devastated the middle class. The middle class has not found jobs with incomes comparable to those moved abroad. The labor cost savings from offshoring the jobs to Asia has boosted corporate profits, the performance bonuses of executives and capital gains of shareholders. Thus all income and wealth gains are concentrated in a few hands at the top of the income distribution. The number of billionaires grows as destitution reaches from the lower economic class into the middle class. American university graduates unable to find jobs return to their childhood rooms in their parents’ homes and work as waitresses and bartenders in part-time jobs that will not support them.
None of the problems that created the 2008 recession, and that were created by the 2008 recession, have been addressed. Instead, policymakers have used an expansion of debt and money to paper over the problems. Money and debt have grown much more than U.S. GDP, which raises questions about the value of the U.S. dollar and the credit worthiness of the U.S. government. This raises the question: Why was the credit rating of Russia, a country with an extremely low ratio of debt-to-GDP, downgraded and not that of the U.S.? The answer is that the downgrading of Russian credit worthiness was a political act directed against Russia on behalf of U.S. hegemony.
How Long Can This House of Cards Stand?
How long can fairy tales and political acts keep the U.S. house of cards standing? A rigged stock market. A rigged interest rate. A rigged dollar exchange value, a rigged and suppressed gold price. The current Western financial system rests on world support for the U.S. dollar and nothing more. The problem with neoliberal economics, which pervades all countries, even Russia and China, is that neoliberal economics is a tool of American economic imperialism, as is globalism. As long as countries targeted by Washington for destabilization support and cling to the American doctrines that enable the destabilization, the targets are defenseless.
If Russia, China and the BRICS bank were willing to finance Greece, Italy and Spain, perhaps those countries could be separated from the EU and NATO. The unraveling of Washington’s empire would begin. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President Ronald Reagan and was associate editor and columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He has been a professor of economics in six universities, and is the author of numerous books and scholarly contributions. He has testified before Congress on 30 occasions.
For clarification, a “hostile power” is a country with an independent policy (Russia, China, Iran and formerly Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi, Assad). This bold statement struck the traditional American foreign policy establishment as a declaration of American imperialism. The document was rewritten in order to soften and disguise the blatant assertion of supremacy without changing the intent. These documents are available online, and you can examine them at your convenience.
Neocon Foreign Policy Dominance
Softening the language allowed the neoconservatives to rise to foreign policy dominance. The neoconservatives are responsible for the Clinton regime’s attacks on Yugoslavia and Serbia. Neoconservatives, especially Wolfowitz, are responsible for the George W. Bush regime’s invasion of Iraq. The neoconservatives are responsible for the overthrow and murder of Qaddafi in Libya, the assault on Syria, the propaganda against Iran, the drone attacks on Pakistan and Yemen, the color revolutions in former Soviet Republics, the attempted “Green Revolution” in Iran, the coup in Ukraine and the demonization of Putin.
A number of thoughtful Americans suspect that the neoconservatives are responsible for 9-11, as that event gave the neoconservatives the “new Pearl Harbor” that their position papers said was necessary in order to launch their wars for hegemony in the Middle East. 9-11 led directly and instantly to the invasion of Afghanistan, where Washington has been fighting since 2001. Neoconservatives controlled all the important government positions necessary for a “false-flag” attack.
Neoconservative Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who is married to another neoconservative, Robert Kagan, implemented and oversaw Washington’s coup in Ukraine and chose the new government. The neoconservatives are highly organized and networked, well-financed, supported by the print and TV media and backed by the U.S. military-security complex and the Israeli lobby. There is no countervailing power to their influence on U.S. foreign power.
The neoconservative doctrine goes beyond the Zbigniew Brzezinski doctrine, which dissented from detente and provocatively supported dissidents inside the Soviet empire. Despite its provocative character, the Brzezinski doctrine remained a doctrine of power politics and containment. It is not a doctrine of U.S. world hegemony.
While the neoconservatives were preoccupied for a decade with their wars in the Middle East, creating a U.S. Africa Command, organizing color revolutions, exiting disarmament treaties, surrounding Russia with military bases and “pivoting to Asia” to surround China with new air and naval bases, Putin led Russia back to economic and military competence and successfully asserted an independent Russian foreign policy.
When Russian diplomacy blocked Washington’s planned invasion of Syria and Washington’s planned bombing of Iran, the neoconservatives realized that they had failed the “first objective” of the Wolfowitz doctrine and had allowed “the reemergence of a new rival . . . on the territory of the former Soviet Union” with the power to block unilateral action by Washington.
Attack on Russia Begins
The attack on Russia began. Washington spent $5 billion over a decade creating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ukraine and cultivating Ukrainian politicians. The NGOs were called into the streets. Extreme nationalists were used to introduce violence, and the elected democratic government was overthrown. The intercepted conversation between Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador in Kiev, in which the two Washington operatives chose the members of the new Ukrainian government, is well known.
If the information that has recently come tome from Armenia and Kyrgyzstan is correct, Washington has financed NGOs and is cultivating politicians in Armenia and the former Soviet Central Asian Republics. If the information is correct, Russia can expect more color revolutions or coups in other former territories of the Soviet Union. Perhaps China faces a similar threat in Uyghurstan. The conflict in Ukraine is often called a “civil war.” This is incorrect. A civil war is when two sides fight for the control of the government. The breakaway republics in eastern and southern Ukraine are fighting a war of secession.
Washington would have been happy to use its coup in Ukraine to evict Russia from its Black Sea naval base, as this would have been a strategic military achievement. However, Washington is pleased that the “Ukraine crisis” that Washington orchestrated has resulted in the demonization of Putin, thus permitting economic sanctions that have disrupted Russia’s economic and political relations with Europe. The sanctions have kept Europe in Washington’s orbit.
No Interest in Peace
Washington has no interest in resolving the Ukrainian situation. The situation can be resolved diplomatically only if Europe can achieve sufficient sovereignty over its foreign policy to act in Europe’s interest instead of Washington’s interest. The neoconservative doctrine of U.S. world hegemony is a threat to the sovereignty of every country. The doctrine requires subservience to Washington’s leadership and to Washington’s purposes. Independent governments are targeted for destabilization. The Obama regime overthrew the reformist government in Honduras and currently is at work destabilizing Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina, and most likely also Armenia and the former Central Asian Soviet Republics.
It would be a strategic error to dismiss the neoconservative ideology as unrealistic. The doctrine is unrealistic, but it is also the guiding force of U.S. foreign policy and can produce a world war.
In their conflict with Washington’s hegemony, Russia and China are disadvantaged. The success of American propaganda during the Cold War, the large differences between living standards in the U.S. and those in communist lands, overt communist political oppression, at times brutal, and the Soviet collapse created in the minds of many people nonexistent virtues for the United States. As English is the world language and the Western media is cooperative, Washington is able to control explanations regardless of the facts. The ability of Washington to be the aggressor and to blame the victim encourages Washington’s march to more aggression.
9-11 and the U.S. Police State
Just as 9-11 served to launch Washington’s wars for hegemony in the Middle East, 9-11 served to create the American police state. The Constitution and the civil liberties it protects quickly fell to the accumulation of power in the executive branch that a state of war permitted. New laws, some clearly pre-prepared such as the Patriot Act, executive orders, presidential directives and Department of Justice memos created an executive authority unaccountable to the Constitution and to domestic and international law. Suddenly Americans could be detained indefinitely without cause presented to a court. Habeas corpus, a constitutional protection which prohibits any such detention, has been set aside.
Suddenly people could be tortured into confessions in violation of the right against self-incrimination and in violation of domestic and international laws against torture. Suddenly Americans’ and Washington’s closest allies could be spied on indiscriminately without the need of warrants demonstrating cause. The Obama regime added to the Bush regime’s transgressions the assertion of the right of the executive branch to assassinate U.S. citizens without due process of law. The police state was organized under a massive new Department of Homeland Security. Almost immediately whistleblower protections, freedom of the press and speech and protest rights were attacked and reduced.
It was not long before Homeland Security declared that the department’s focus has shifted from Muslim terrorists to “domestic extremists,” an undefined category. Anyone can be swept into this category. Homes of war protesters were raided and grand juries were convened to investigate the protesters. Americans of Arab descent who donated to charities—even charities on the State Department’s approved list—that aided Palestinian children were arrested and sentenced to prison for “providing material support to terrorism.”
All of this and more, including police brutality, has had a chilling effect on protests against the wars and the loss of civil liberty. The rising protests from the American population and from soldiers themselves that eventually forced Washington to end the Vietnam War have been prevented in the 21st century by the erosion of rights, intimidation, loss of mobility (no-fly list), job dismissal and other heavy-handed actions inconsistent with a government accountable to law and to the people.
In an important sense, the U.S. has emerged from the “war on terror” as an executive branch dictatorship unconstrained by the media and barely, if at all, constrained by Congress and the federal courts. The lawlessness of the executive branch has spread into governments of Washington’s vassal states and into the Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, all of which violate their charters and operate outside their legal powers.
Jobs offshoring destroyed the American industrial and manufacturing unions. Their demise and the current attack on the public employee unions has left the Democratic Party financially dependent on the same organized private interest groups as the Republicans. Both parties now report to the same interest groups. Wall Street, the military-security complex, the Israeli lobby, agribusiness and the extractive industries (oil, mining, timber) control the government regardless of the party in power. These powerful interests all have a stake in American hegemony. The message is that the constellation of forces precludes internal political change.
America’s Achilles Heel
Hegemony’s Achilles heel is the U.S. economy. The fairy tale of American economic recovery supports America’s image as the safe haven, an image that keeps the dollar’s value up, the stock market up and interest rates down. However, there is no economic information that supports this fairy tale. Real median household income has not grown for years and is below the levels of the early 1970s. There has been no growth in real retail sales for six years. The labor force is shrinking. The labor force participation rate has declined since 2007, as has the civilian-employment-to-population ratio. The 5.7% reported unemployment rate is achieved by not counting discouraged workers as part of the work force. A discouraged worker is a person who can’t find a job and gives up looking.
A second official unemployment rate, which counts short-term (less than one year) discouraged workers and is seldom reported, stands at 11.2%. The U.S. government stopped including long-term discouraged workers (discouraged for more than one year) in 1994. If the long-term discouraged are counted, the current unemployment rate in the U.S. stands at 23.2%.
The offshoring of American manufacturing and professional service jobs such as software engineering and information technology has devastated the middle class. The middle class has not found jobs with incomes comparable to those moved abroad. The labor cost savings from offshoring the jobs to Asia has boosted corporate profits, the performance bonuses of executives and capital gains of shareholders. Thus all income and wealth gains are concentrated in a few hands at the top of the income distribution. The number of billionaires grows as destitution reaches from the lower economic class into the middle class. American university graduates unable to find jobs return to their childhood rooms in their parents’ homes and work as waitresses and bartenders in part-time jobs that will not support them.
None of the problems that created the 2008 recession, and that were created by the 2008 recession, have been addressed. Instead, policymakers have used an expansion of debt and money to paper over the problems. Money and debt have grown much more than U.S. GDP, which raises questions about the value of the U.S. dollar and the credit worthiness of the U.S. government. This raises the question: Why was the credit rating of Russia, a country with an extremely low ratio of debt-to-GDP, downgraded and not that of the U.S.? The answer is that the downgrading of Russian credit worthiness was a political act directed against Russia on behalf of U.S. hegemony.
How Long Can This House of Cards Stand?
How long can fairy tales and political acts keep the U.S. house of cards standing? A rigged stock market. A rigged interest rate. A rigged dollar exchange value, a rigged and suppressed gold price. The current Western financial system rests on world support for the U.S. dollar and nothing more. The problem with neoliberal economics, which pervades all countries, even Russia and China, is that neoliberal economics is a tool of American economic imperialism, as is globalism. As long as countries targeted by Washington for destabilization support and cling to the American doctrines that enable the destabilization, the targets are defenseless.
If Russia, China and the BRICS bank were willing to finance Greece, Italy and Spain, perhaps those countries could be separated from the EU and NATO. The unraveling of Washington’s empire would begin. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President Ronald Reagan and was associate editor and columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He has been a professor of economics in six universities, and is the author of numerous books and scholarly contributions. He has testified before Congress on 30 occasions.
Global Shift in the Balance of Power Is Moving from West to East
A major recent event last
week largely went unnoticed by both MSM and independent news sources
alike. The British are apparently jumping ship away from the US
dollar/petrodollar in an overt effort to align itself more closely with
the BRICS alliance as it seeks a new standard international currency.
For several years Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa (BRICS)
have been preparing the world for its transition from USD standard
international currency to its own alternative-in-the-making. America’s
so called mother country England has seen the writing on the wall and
knows the global balance of power is rapidly tilting in favor of where
the sun always rises in the emerging East.
The European central banking cabal from the City of London, a
separate and private political and financial entity apart from the rest
of both London and England, sent British royalty Prince William to China
to quietly sign a deal to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
This surprising new development is a clear indication that the royal
Bank of England is placing its financial bet and future on China and the
East as its rock solid anchor. Much of the world has been looking to
move away from and abandon the longtime global financial stronghold of
the US Federal Reserve, its World Bank and US dollar standard. A US official feebly chastised UK in the Financial Times:
We
are wary about a trend toward constant accommodation of China, which is
not the best way to engage a rising power. More consternation arose
when Germany, France and Italy have
additionally made overtures in the same direction. This worldwide trend
spells utter defeat for Obama and his disastrous foreign policy. After
Washington’s been exerting strong-armed pressure on Australia as its key
allied partner supporting its failing Asian pivot designed to check
China’s growing regional and global dominance in the Pacific Asian
market, Australia is now also looking to follow suit accepting and
embracing China’s lead. According to international investor and entrepreneur Simon Black, the US is experiencing major economic blowback after two plus decades of aggression as the only global superpower:
… After
years of endless wars, spying, debt, money printing, bailouts, and
insane regulations, the rest of the world has had enough. And they’re
looking for an alternative. Enter the China led BRICS alliance and its New Development Bank and
now China’s other investment bank entry AIIB. Simon takes liberty in
his interpretation of Britain and Europe’s bold rebellion after decades relegated to being a mere puppet of the US Empire:
Look,
you have $18.1 trillion in official debt, you have $42 trillion
in unfunded liabilities, and you’re kind of a dick. I’m dumping you.
Perhaps some Americans may feel a bit betrayed and unsettled by our
longtime strongest global allies one by one seemingly abandoning the US
dollar and American Empire in its reckoning time of need. If these
geopolitical and economic trends are examined beyond their face value
though, the changes occurring now may reflect much more significant,
deeper changes than a mere alteration of standard international currency
(as impactful as that will likely be for the US). These deep rooted
fundamental changes have everything to do with the major global shift
now taking place where the West’s ruling power elite itself is losing to the emerging global power rising in the East.
The latest act of bold economic defiance breaking rank with US Empire
interests mirrors last month’s bucking trend that Europe exercised when
putting the skids on the US campaign for sending heavy armaments to
Ukraine and pushing for war against Russia. The fact is Europe and
especially Germany depend on natural gas from Russia and the US imposed sanctions on Russia hurt Europe even
more than Russia. That along with wanting to avoid war in their own
backyard has nations like Germany and France softening their hardline,
US pushed anti-Russian posturing.
Several weeks ago German and French leaders attended meetings in
Mink, Belarus to negotiate a peaceful way out of the escalating violence
in Eastern Ukraine between the government forces in Kiev and the ethnic
Russian separatists seeking autonomy in the Donetsk and Lugansk region.
In the same way Netanyahu attempted to fan the war flames against Iran,
the same day Germany and France were gathering in Minsk to meet with
Putin and Ukraine leaders, Secretary of State Kerry showed up in Kiev mouthing
the same worn out lie of “Russian aggression” in a transparent feeble
attempt to sabotage the Minsk talks. Again, the tie-in is the Israeli-US
crime cabal constantly at work every chance they get peddling and
promoting more global violence, death and war.
For over a year now Washington’s war drums have been beating louder
for NATO to join forces with Ukraine, pressuring Europe to submit as it
always has in going along with its permanent war agenda, all the while falsely demonizing Russia’s President Putin with outrageous propaganda lies and
nonstop false flags not unlike the WMD lies against Hussein in 2002-3
Iraq. But in a rare gesture of independence, unwilling to start a war so
close to home against nuclear powered Russia that Europe relies heavily
as a critical source for its natural gas consumption, the powers of
Europe are seeking a non-violent resolution to its regional conflict
that carries the devastating potential of triggering World War III.
Meanwhile, NATO Supreme Commander US Air Force General Philip Breedlove fashions himself to be a Dr. Strangelove incarnate, making repeated bogus claims and lies of Russian army presence inside Eastern Ukraine in a vain yet persistent attempt to foment war. Having such a deluded and deceitful warmonger in charge of the NATO nuclear arsenal poses a calamitous threat to the entire world. Yet his commander-in-chief Obama has chosen not to relieve him of command. Instead German leaders have openly criticized Breedlove and the European Union wants to replace NATO with its own continental army. This very public geopolitical conflict over such widely differing Western approaches toward Ukraine seriously undermine American Empire’s global influence and power, again underscoring simultaneous developments around the world that indicate consistent across the boards US foreign policy failures and from the broader context, a rapid US decline as the sole global hegemonic superpower. Putin advisor Sergei Glazyev nailed it when he said:
The war has been provoked to destroy the Russian World, to draw
Europe into it, and to surround Russia with hostile countries.
Unleashing this world war, America is trying to deal with its own
internal problems.
Current economic turmoil reverberating in Japan is
in large part due to the notorious corruption of the Abe government
that may soon have additional problems to contend with once accusations
over a fraudulent past elections get fully exposed. Abe has been a
subservient tool used by the same international crime syndicate
controlled by subversive Israeli-American forces. As such, Japan will
also be moving away from the USD/West geopolitics and very likely
pivoting toward China and a Pacific alliance that excludes the US Empire
finding itself increasingly isolated on the outs.
Though incumbent Prime Minister
Netanyahu is the apparent winner in today’s Israeli election, the despot
had to claw and fight for his political life to survive another day.
Recent revelations that he’s been a Russian spy surfaced right after his
disgraceful debacle in front of the Israeli captured US congressional
audience on Capitol Hill two weeks ago and then came the despicable treasonous display of 47 Republican senators threatening
letter to Iran. Bibi’s days of hate, war and paranoia are numbered as
the ugly truth about his evildoing will continue to unfold that will
soon bring him down. Showing his true evil colors right to the end, the
day before the election Netanyahu once again reminded the world that an autonomous Palestinian state will never come to pass while on his watch.
Within the last couple weeks other mysterious events suggesting some
cataclysmic, behind-the-scenes development included the apparent disappearance of Vladimir Putin for
11 consecutive days, fueling speculation from an internal political
coup to possible sickness and/or death to witnessing the birth of his
child at the bedside of his girlfriend in Switzerland. Because so many
monumental breaking stories and developments seem to abound every week,
Putin’s normally high profile lifestyle would naturally generate even
higher profile speculation over his abrupt, extended disappearance. Of
course it begs the question asking if it’s merely coincidental with
these other earth-shaking events or very much related.
For years the CIA and US Empire have been hard at work in nations
from Eastern Europe through the Caucasus to Central Asia all the way to
China courting the favor of corrupt dictators and supporting coups
promoting anti-Russo-Sino US puppet governments along the entire
corridor bordering Russia and China. Despite such Obama’s plan after the
2008 Russian-Georgia conflict was to a reset relations with Russia. But
with last year’s US-induced Ukrainian coup and Russia’s annexation by
consensual vote of Crimea that “reset” plan went out the window. In 2011
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the economic alliance of the Eurasian Union.
Meanwhile, recognizing the strategic importance of the land bridge
between Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Putin has made inroads strengthening ties with the three South Caucasus nations.
Putin enticed Armenia to also join the Eurasian Union and has mediated
hostilities between Armenia and oil rich Azerbaijan while seeking to
repair and realign with Georgia that previously leaned toward the West.
US Empire has largely failed to gain a foothold in this part of the
world.
Other key geopolitical developments that have been ongoing for some time center in such remote places as western China’s mineral and oil-rich Xinjiang Province.
With the powerful US Navy patrolling and to a great extent controlling
Pacific waters in conjunction with Obama’s flop of an Asian Pacific
pivot, the geopolitics chessboard strategy to hem the two adversarial
giants in with hostile neighbors has generally backfired. Furthermore,
the US was not prepared for Russia and China to suddenly renew an
ultra-close economic, political and military bond that would effectively
counter US Empire’s hegemonic aggression. They promptly signed a $400 billion oil-gas pipeline deal that
will span a landlocked pathway, thereby foiling the US plan to seal off
the China’s energy access via the Pacific. Hence, Moslem populated
Xinjiang Province that is the proposed pipeline passage route has become
a highly contentious target where the West and CIA in particular have
been funding and supporting a separatist movement and acts of terrorism
as a disruptive interdiction tactic. Overall this covert strategy has
failed.
The Western cabal controlled crime syndicate led
by the likes of kingpin Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
financed and supported by the likes of multibillionaire Sheldon Adelson
and the Saudi royal family along with congressional henchman and ISIS
friend Senator John McCain and the rest of his treasonous Republicans,
the rogue US intelligence agency the CIA and NATO’s General Breedlove
are all bent on plunging the US Empire-NATO forces into World War III on
multiple warfronts at every global hotspot – Ukraine, Syria, Iran, the
Caucasus all the way eastward to China’s Xinjiang Province and northward
to the oil-rich Arctic against the forces of the two most powerful
nations of the East – Russia and China. As a desperate last ditch
attempt to retain its many centuries of Rothschild-Rockefeller power and
dominance, these evil-minded, megalomaniacal psychopaths know that
their hitherto unchallenged global control and strength that have
bankrupted and nearly destroyed the planet is fast slipping away. So
they seem all the more erratically resolute in seeking revenge by taking
the entire earth down with them.
The truth about the horror and destruction these Western oligarchs
have conspired and caused worldwide for centuries cannot even be
fathomed. They have ensured a permanent state of war (in the US alone 93% of its 239 years)
right up to the present Bush crime family-neocon fabrication of the
“war on terror,” then under Obama this last year alone wrongly plunging
America into another dangerous cold war with Putin’s Russia, and dozens
of tragic false flag events like 9/11 designed to demonize Moslems into becoming the instantaneous post-Communist designated enemy of the twenty-first century with the US-Saudi-Israeli creation of al Qaeda/ISIS.
These dark malevolent forces of evil that have propagated so much
misery and suffering on humanity for so long are finally at last being
exposed like never before.
The Western oligarch agenda to inflict a globalized system of absolute totalitarian fascist police state NWO control on
every nation and people on earth trapped in hopeless debtor bondage may
just be running into a brick Eastern wall as clear losers in the
ongoing economic/currency war. Despite the constant jabbing of Putin and
his Russian bear in vain attempts to manipulate him to react with
military force in eastern Ukraine and despite the failed overt assault
in the form of US Empire’s Asian pivot designed to close in and isolate
China from the rest of Pacific Asia, ironically it’s the United States
that finds itself increasingly alone as the longtime global village
bully that’s finally met its match about to get its comeuppance. The
smarter, economically stronger forces emerging from the East are winning
the power war potentially without even firing a single shot against
Western oppressors. Hopefully peace will prevail and the international
crime syndicate that has long controlled the West will be deposed of as
the murderous traitors to both peace and humankind.
As a necessary qualifier, actual real life tends toward shades of
gray far more than black and white. Undoubtedly elements of corruption
and evil lurk behind all the most powerful nations in both the West and
the East. But the forces of China and Russia appear to be seeking a far
more rational, humane and even peaceful resolution to the
West-instigated West vs. East geopolitical military showdown sinisterly
orchestrated by the international crime cabal’s global agenda of
polarization, militarization, privatization and unsustainable,
insurmountable debt-driven feudalism based on pure theft, deception,
exploitation, impoverishment and pervasive planetary destruction.
Seeking to avoid the inevitable
bloodbath that would result from world war and possible nuclear
annihilation of all life forms on earth, the East appears to be seeking
to avert such global disaster by ensuring that this ongoing war is won
by successfully transitioning to an international currency backed once
again by the gold standard. The Western central banking cabal consisting
of the Bank of England and other European central banks, America’s
Federal Reserve Board, its World Bank and International Monetary Fund
along with the Israeli-US government crime cabal all stand to ultimately
be stripped of their absolute power that have the entire world drowning
in debt, crushing destabilization and impoverished despair. But now a
light at the end of the tunnel at least is shining a little brighter.
Joachim Hagopian is
a West Point graduate and former US Army officer. He has written a
manuscript based on his unique military experience entitled “Don’t Let The Bastards Getcha Down.” It
examines and focuses on US international relations, leadership and
national security issues. After the military, Joachim earned a master’s
degree in Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the
mental health field for more than a quarter century. He now concentrates
on his writing and has a blog site at http://empireexposed. blogspot. com/.
Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/global-shift-in-the-balance-of-power-is-moving-from-west-to-east/5437388
'Liberal' Putin could be toppled 'like the tsar', warns Russian ultra-nationalist
Russian
ultra-nationalist Igor Strelkov has said President Vladimir Putin could
be toppled "like the last tsar" if he does not fully support pro-Russia
separatists in eastern Ukraine. According to the Sunday Times,
the former commander of the pro-Russia rebels in the disputed region
speculated about Putin's removal from power when he addressed supporters
last week. Although Putin is seen as a hardliner in the West, Strelkov believes
the Russian premier is too liberal, and has failed to act decisively
enough in the region due to his decision not to annex Donetsk and
Luhansk.
"Ukraine was, is and remains a part of Russia," he said according to
the newspaper. He warned that Putin could "end up like [former Serbian
leader Slobodan] Milošević who was toppled by both patriots and liberals
over his policy of being neither with one group nor the other."
This sentiment was also expressed in a controversial interview with German paper Der Speigel published
18 March, in which Strelkov spoke of his longing for the re-emergence
of a Russian empire led by a totalitarian leader. Speaking with a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II –
who was murdered with his family by the Bolsheviks – propped on his
desk, Strelkov speculated that the "Russian world" should include
Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and possibly Central Asia.
"The real separatists," he told the newspaper, "are the ones in Kiev, because they want to split Ukraine off from Moscow."
Strelkov, whose real name is Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin, first came to
prominence in April 2014, when he led a group of pro-Moscow separatists
into the east Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, sparking the large-scale
uprising against the government in Kiev. It later emerged that he had served with the FSB,
the Russian intelligence agency that replaced the KGB, for 18 years.
When he retired in 2013, he was part of the Directorate for Combating
International Terrorism. Strelkov is also a veteran of both the Soviet
and Russian armies, and was charged with terrorism offences by the
Ukrainian authorities during the current conflict.
In November last year, Strelkov said he took responsibility for triggering war in eastern Ukraine. He has also established the Novorossiya movement, which supports
rebels in the Crimea. The group's name, meaning "New Russia", is a
historical term for southern and eastern Ukraine used by the Russian
Empire. The European Union added the group to its sanctions list in February this year.
Russian military drills range from Arctic to Armenia
The
Russian Defence Ministry said Tuesday that
large-scale military exercises have been extended until Saturday and
that troops in places as far-flung as Armenia and the Arctic were
participating. The ministry said in a statement that parts of the Baltic
Fleet and
air force formations in western Russia joined the exercise, which
began Monday in the Arctic region. On Tuesday, practically all vessels
of Russia‘s Northern Fleet left
the Arctic harbour of Severomorsk to train for an enemy airstrike,
the Interfax news agency quoted a defence ministry spokesman as
saying. In Armenia, some 300 Russian soldiers took part in a survival
exercise in mountainous territory, Interfax reported. Russia has a
permanent military base in the South Caucasus country. The Defence
Ministry said that the drills were part of its battle
preparedness plan for this year. Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly
Antonov said that Russia voluntarily informed the Organization for
Security and Co-operation (OSCE) about the drills. He said that the
number of participating servicemen was below the
ceiling of 8,700 agreed with the European security watchdog in 2011.
However, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday that up
to 38,000 military personnel were affected by the drills. The exercises
come at a time of tensions between Russia and the West
over the conflict in Ukraine. NATO is holding maneuvers in the Black
Sea and increasing its military presence in the Baltic States.
U.S. expert: Washington sent Nuland to Armenia to organize coup there
While Washington works assiduously to undermine the Minsk agreement that German chancellor Merkel and French president Hollande achieved in order to halt the military conflict in Ukraine, Washington has sent Victoria Nuland to Armenia to organize a “color revolution” or coup there, has sent Richard Miles as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan to do the same there, and has sent Pamela Spratlen as ambassador to Uzbekistan to purchase that government’s allegiance away from Russia. The result would be to break up the Collective Security Treaty Organization and present Russia and China with destabilization where they can least afford it, Paul Craig Roberts says in a piece titled “Russia Under Attack” published on his website.
Thus, Russia faces the renewal of conflict in Ukraine simultaneously with three more Ukraine-type situations along its Asian border. And this is only the beginning of the pressure that Washington is mounting on Russia, he says.
On March 18 the Secretary General of NATO denounced the peace settlement between Russia and Georgia that ended Georgia’s military assault on South Ossetia. The NATO Secretary General said that NATO rejects the settlement because it “hampers ongoing efforts by the international community to strengthen security and stability in the region.” Look closely at this statement. It defines the “international community” as Washington’s NATO puppet states, and it defines strengthening security and stability as removing buffers between Russia and Georgia so that Washington can position military bases in Georgia directly on Russia’s border, Roberts says.
In Poland and the Baltic states, he adds, Washington and NATO lies about a pending Russian invasion are being used to justify provocative war games on Russia’s borders and to build up US forces in NATO military bases on Russia’s borders.
“We have crazed U.S. generals on national television calling for “killing Russians.” The EU leadership has agreed to launch a propaganda war against Russia, broadcasting Washington’s lies inside Russia in an effort to undermine the Russian people’s support of their government. All of this is being done in order to coerce Russia into handing over Crimea and its Black Sea naval base to Washington and accepting vassalage under Washington’s suzerainty,” Roberts says.
If Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Assad, and the Taliban would not fold to Washington’s threats, why do the fools in Washington think Putin, who holds in his hands the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, will fold? European governments, apparently, are incapable of any thought. Washington has set London and the capitals of every European country, as well as every American city, for destruction by Russian nuclear weapons. The stupid Europeans rush to destroy themselves in service to their Washington master, Roberts claims.
Human intelligence, according to him, has gone missing if after 14 years of US military aggression against eight countries the world does not understand that Washington is lost in arrogance and hubris and imagines itself the ruler of the universe who will tolerate no dissent from its will.
We know that the American, British, and European media are whores well paid to lie for their master. We know that the NATO commander and secretary general, if not the member countries, are lusting for war. We know that the American Dr. Strangeloves in the Pentagon and armaments industry cannot wait to test their ABMs and new weapons systems in which they always place excessive confidence. We know that the prime minister of Britain is a total cipher. But are the chancellor of Germany and the president of France ready for the destruction of their countries and of Europe? If the EU is of such value, why is the very existence of its populations put at risk in order to bow down and accept leadership from an insane Washington whose megalomania will destroy life on earth?” Roberts concludes.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.
Victoria Nuland’s “Secret” Coup d’etat in Georgia
Former Georgian president Mikheil
Saakashvili has been saying for six months that he will be back in six
months! No elections are due to be held and he can’t run for president
again. Now, unfortunately, we might know what he meant. On February 17 Victoria Nuland, a US
Assistant Secretary of State, visited Tbilisi. She is best known for
being an outspoken supporter of the coup d’etat in Kiev a year ago,
which led to the violent overthrow of then-president Viktor Yanukovich
and the ongoing fighting over this now nearly failed state. She appeared
in Tbilisi at the same time Saakashvili officially became an “advisor”
to Ukraine’s new incumbent, Petro Poroshenko.
Nuland’s notoriety as a field-tested
battleaxe precedes her. Both she and her husband, Robert Kagan, are
products of the Bush-Cheney neo-con regime and are closely linked with
its “1984” mindset of conducting continuous war, which was the basis of
the defence strategy outlined by the Cheney Defense Department in the
waning days of the Bush Administration, the now-notorious “Project for a New American Century”.
Nuland and Kagan both subscribe to the
old doctrine of “manifest destiny” which this document was based on.
According to this, America must remain the undisputed leader of the
world, because that is the reason for America’s existence. As a diplomat
she has been employed to serve America’s interests, but, like many
official US representatives, she has taken the view that the US interest
is the only one, there is no such thing as a general or even broader
interest, as her famous “Fuck the EU” remark last year testifies.
In late February Germany’s Der Spiegel
described her as “America’s Riot Diplomat”— a sobriquet which can mean
both that Nuland acts disruptively, and that she creates actual riots
(as on the Maidan in Ukraine). Its “Politics” column stated that Nuland
poses a threat to America’s allies (including Georgia and Azerbaijan,
the countries she has just visited), and that while her current remit is
to solve the crisis of Ukraine and its relations with Russia, “In the
crisis, Nuland herself has become the problem.”
So why was such a person visiting
Georgia and Azerbaijan at the same time former US favourite Saakashvili
was taking up a new appointment in Ukraine to prevent him being
extradited to face criminal charges in Georgia? As always, there is no
coincidence about these things occurring at the same time.
Too many connections
Victoria Nuland is well aware of both
Georgian and Ukrainian history, and knows the players or “patsies” now
engaged in them. Indeed, she was in Kiev during the Orange Revolution
when she was US Ambassador to NATO, banging the drum for regime change.
Georgia had already had a similar US-inspired regime change, led by
Saakashvili. Now another violent regime change has occurred, but has not
gone to plan, Saakashvili is being brought in to advise these new
“patsies”.
Nuland’s position on Ukraine is clear.
Der Spiegel described a closed-door meeting she held at the Munich
Security Conference a week before, involving “perhaps two dozen U.S.
diplomats and Senators.” She told them to “fight against the Europeans”
on the issue of arming Ukraine to fight Russia, referred to the meeting
between the leaders of Germany, France and Russia as“Merkel’s Moscow
junk,” and “Moscow bullshit,” and welcomed a Senator calling German
Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen the “Defeatism Minister.”
Nuland doesn’t want an agreement between
the warring parties in Ukraine, or to prevent further loss of life. The
more Ukraine is in crisis, the more the US, or rather she as its
representative, can do what it likes in the name of “regulating” that
crisis. That, apparently, includes rehabilitating Saakashvili by making
him an “adviser”, and therefore a statesman, rather than the wanted
criminal he is in the country he was president of.
It is hardly surprising therefore that
this open support for a man forced out of Georgia for his many crimes
aroused considerable disquiet in Tbilisi during her visit. When pressed
about the alleged crimes of the former president she would only answer
that Ukraine was in need of expertise and was seeking advice from those
who have a proven track record in such situations. It was exactly that
track record which got him kicked out of Tbilisi, so such a statement
cannot be considered friendly.
The U.S. Department of State claimed her
visit was dedicated to discussing “cooperation and regional issues” and
“Georgia’s path toward European integration and Georgia’s efforts to
defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty.” In English, this
means ensuring that Georgia cooperates with the US on Ukraine by
threatening it with being barred from entering the EU and losing
Abkhazia and South Ossetia forever if it doesn’t. Open support for
Saakashvili is all part of the same threat.
Devil in the detail
After visiting Tbilisi Nuland travelled
to Baku, to “strengthen bilateral relations in trade and investment,
energy diversification, security and counter-terrorism and democracy and
civil society, and advancing a just and lasting settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.” Note the similarity of language. The US will
help Azerbaijan, and ignore its own misdemeanours, if it supports it
over Ukraine. If not, it will sign Karabakh over to Armenia, without
consulting Azerbaijan.
It was reported that Nuland held
meetings with the NGOs allowed to operate in both countries. The vast
majority of these are funded by the Soros Foundation and the National
Endowment for Democracy, NED, which have long been CIA fronts for
toppling regimes which fail to toe-the American-foreign-policy-line. See
where they operate, and where the funds go, and an undeniable picture
emerges.
While this was going on Saakashvili was
holding meetings with his supporters via a big screen link at his
Presidential Library in Tbilisi, the only such institution in Georgia. A
number of youth orientated NGOs regularly attend these meetings,
including the Innovations and Development Foundation, The Movement for
Independence and European Integration, Free Zone and the newly created
Azat Zone (a Georgian-Azerbaijani venture) and the League of Young
Diplomats,. These are all standard bearers for keystone Saakashvili
policies.
Unfortunately, there are a number of
governments around the world who would wish to benefit from
Saakashvili’s experience of running criminal networks which robbed,
terrorised, tortured and murdered Georgians for so long. However
Saakashvili and several prominent members of his regime are being
protected by the latest US project, and walking into jobs in its
government, despite not being Ukrainian or elected.
It is also interesting that the US is
saying that the present Georgian government is deviating from the
country’s Pro-Western course by trying to prosecute the Saakashvili
gang. This is exactly what the protestors in Ukraine were alleged to be
complaining about, when they were doing nothing of the sort. The
implication is that Saakashvili, rather than the new government,
represents the aspirations of the people. So what, are we left to imply,
should be done by a caring global policeman?
Too many rumours
All the ducks are in a row for another
attempt at “pro-Western” regime change by “popular uprising”, like the
failed Orange Revolution and the faltering Chocolate War. All
Saakashvili’s many attempts to hold demonstrations in his favour since
he left office have shown the Georgian people do not want him. But if
the present Georgian government will not do what America wants in
Ukraine, that is what it is going to get.
Indeed, there have been persistent
rumours in Georgia over the last few weeks that some regime change may
be in the works. These have been openly reported in the Georgian media,
as if trying to prepare the public for what others say is good for them.
Another of the usual telltale signs, the sudden increase in the number
of overseas military advisors entering the country, has been observed by
sources at the Tbilisi airport.
The former Georgian government people
now in Ukraine have strong connections with the National Endowment for
Democracy and Soros Foundation-funded NGOs. These are the people Nuland
met and briefed in Georgia and Azerbaijan. She could have met other
people, like the electors or independent media, but she was interested
in these individuals and their network. As the State Department
unwittingly acknowledged, she wasn’t there to hear but to tell.
Jeffrey Silverman, Veterans Today Bureau
Chief in Tbilisi, recently said the following in an interview in a
Georgian language newspaper, Georgian and the World: “A representative of a foreign
intelligence service, who also represents a NATO country, at least I
suspect so, suggested that Vakhtang Maisaia, one of Saakashvili’s former
political prisoners and a high profile human rights defender, should
disappear for a while, as he had information that he was on some sort of
hit list, and was among those to be killed as part of a plot to
overthrow the current government.
“Based on ‘strong rumors’ going around
which, based on previous experience, are very credible, some diehard
members of the former ruling United National Movement and high ranking
members of the current government have been plotting together to stage a
coup d’etat. There will be some “nice ceremonies and private parties”
for a selection of participants, and as my contact sees it, Vakhtang
Maisaia will be one of the guests to be terminated.“My source added, ‘I am sorry for being
so enigmatic, but this is something scalding and it’s easy to get burnt
with it. I wish you the best of luck and I kindly ask you not to mention
the topic via email anymore. If you find documents but need
clarifications, download software called Jitsi from a clean computer and
let’s have a chat through it.
“The world has gone nuts, there is an
investigation going on within Georgia. I am sure you know what I am
talking about, but plz do not add anything via email – it is encrypted,
but not bulletproof. If you find the right door to knock on in Tbilisi, I
think you will get all the evidence you need. Whether that information
can be published or not depends on the politicians in power and how
fearless is the Georgian press,” he concluded.This is what the Guardian democracy does
when its friends elect their own government. Time will tell whether
that government caves in, or whether a popular uprising by 20 Georgians
and 50 diplomats installs one which will.
Azerbaijan Should Be Very Afraid of Victoria Nuland
The US’ Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, visited Baku on 16 February as part of her trip to the Caucasus, which also saw her paying stops in Georgia and Armenia. While Azerbaijan has had positive relations with the US since independence, they’ve lately been complicated by Washington’s ‘pro-democracy’ rhetoric and subversive actions in the country. Nuland’s visit, despite her warm words of friendship, must be look at with maximum suspicion, since it’s not known what larger ulterior motives she represents on behalf of the US government.
A Bad Omen
Nuland is most infamously known for her “F**k the EU!” comment that was uncovered during a secretly recorded conversation with the American Ambassador in Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. The two were conspiring to build a new Ukrainian government even before democratically elected (but unpopular and corrupt) president Viktor Yanukovich was overthrown by the US-supported EuroMaidan coup. Nuland played a direct role in events, not only behind the scenes, but also on the streets, since she proudly handed out cookies and other foodstuffs to the ‘protesters’ that would violently seize power just over two months later. Her role in the Ukrainian events forever marks her as an agent for US-supported regime change in the former Soviet sphere, and her visit anywhere in that space should be seen as the bad omen that it is.
Like Husband, Like Wife
Normally an individual’s personal life doesn’t have any bearing on their professional one, but in the case of Nuland, it’s the opposite because her husband is the leading neo-conservative thinker Robert Kagan. He and his ilk are known for their expertise in exploiting foreign geography to maximize US power, regardless of the regional cost. Also, he previously referred to Azerbaijan in 2006 as a “dictatorship” and said the US will “pay the price” for dealing with it when responding to a user-submitted Q&A session with the Financial Times:
“During the Cold War, both Europeans and Americans had to compromise with dictators around the world in order to weaken the Soviet Union and communism. What would be, in your view Mr Kagan, the new sort of compromises that the US government is willing to make to defeat terrorism?
Like Husband, Like Wife
Normally an individual’s personal life doesn’t have any bearing on their professional one, but in the case of Nuland, it’s the opposite because her husband is the leading neo-conservative thinker Robert Kagan. He and his ilk are known for their expertise in exploiting foreign geography to maximize US power, regardless of the regional cost. Also, he previously referred to Azerbaijan in 2006 as a “dictatorship” and said the US will “pay the price” for dealing with it when responding to a user-submitted Q&A session with the Financial Times:
“During the Cold War, both Europeans and Americans had to compromise with dictators around the world in order to weaken the Soviet Union and communism. What would be, in your view Mr Kagan, the new sort of compromises that the US government is willing to make to defeat terrorism?
Corneliu, Bucharest
Robert Kagan: Clearly we are making such kinds of compromises all over the place in the war on terrorism, although I must say I doubt they are proving very useful. We are turning a mostly blind eye to the Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt, despite much rhetoric to the contrary, as well in Saudi Arabia. We have been forgiving of the dictatorships in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Nor have we been very critical of the Putin dictatorship in Russia, no matter how many people he assassinates. This is all largely in the service of the war on terror. During the Cold War I actually believed that we wrong to support so many dictators, for it often did not help but hurt in the struggle against communism, in addition to being a violation of the principles we were struggling to defend. I am equally unpersuaded today that our support for these dictatorships will help us fight terrorism, and once again we pay the price of moral and ideological inconsistency.”
Given the ideological context in which Nuland likely sees eye-to-eye on with her husband, plus her experience in instigating the Color Revolution in Ukraine, it is not likely that she came to Baku with positive intentions, or even with a positive image of the country in her mind. This is all the more so due to the recent scandal over Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Given the ideological context in which Nuland likely sees eye-to-eye on with her husband, plus her experience in instigating the Color Revolution in Ukraine, it is not likely that she came to Baku with positive intentions, or even with a positive image of the country in her mind. This is all the more so due to the recent scandal over Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Foreign Agent, Domestic Punishment
The US-government-sponsored information agency was closed down at the end of December under accusations that it was operating as a foreign agent. While the US has harshly chided the Azeri government for this, at the end of the day, it remains the country’s sovereign decision and right to handle suspected foreign agents as it sees fit. Azerbaijan’s law is similar to Russia’s, in that entities receiving foreign funds must register as foreign agents, and interestingly enough, both of these laws parallel the US’ own 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The US-government-sponsored information agency was closed down at the end of December under accusations that it was operating as a foreign agent. While the US has harshly chided the Azeri government for this, at the end of the day, it remains the country’s sovereign decision and right to handle suspected foreign agents as it sees fit. Azerbaijan’s law is similar to Russia’s, in that entities receiving foreign funds must register as foreign agents, and interestingly enough, both of these laws parallel the US’ own 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
So why does the US feel that it reserves the sole right to register foreign agents and entities, and if need be, identify and punish those that are acting in the country illegally, but Azerbaijan is deprived of this exercise of sovereignty? The reason is rather simple, actually – it’s the US that is the most likely to use these foreign agents to destabilize and potentially overthrow governments (as in Ukraine most recently), whereas Azeri agents in America, should they even exist, are nothing more than an administrative nuisance incapable of inflicting any real harm on the authorities. This double standard is at the core of the US’ relations with all countries in the world, not just Azerbaijan, but it’s a telling example of the power and leverage Washington attempts to hold over Baku, which is seen most visibly by the blistering criticism leveled on the government after Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s closing in compliance with the law.
Duplicitous Games
Even more concerning for Azerbaijan isn’t the seditious game that the US and Nuland might be playing within the country, but the geopolitical one that they might be playing next door with Armenia. Although Washington says that it values Baku as a strategic and pragmatic partner, one needs to wonder to extent a prosperous, neutral Azerbaijan is more important to the US than a destabilized one that could be used as a weapon against Russia. To put everything into context, take a look at the threat that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued towards Russia and the Eurasian Union back in December 2012:
“There is a move to re-Sovietise the region, It’s not going to be called that. It’s going to be called a customs union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that, but let’s make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it.”
One year later, Ukraine, which could have been of immense value to the US and its geostrategy as a neutral, stable state, was in the middle of the US-supported EuroMaidan Color Revolution, showing that Washington will go to great and dramatic lengths to sacrifice its pragmatic interests for the sake of destabilizing Russia. So the question is, could the US also do the same in the Caucasus in order to simultaneously destabilize Russia from the southern flank while it’s distracted in dealing with Ukraine?
In Armenia Against Azerbaijan, The US Always Wins
Duplicitous Games
Even more concerning for Azerbaijan isn’t the seditious game that the US and Nuland might be playing within the country, but the geopolitical one that they might be playing next door with Armenia. Although Washington says that it values Baku as a strategic and pragmatic partner, one needs to wonder to extent a prosperous, neutral Azerbaijan is more important to the US than a destabilized one that could be used as a weapon against Russia. To put everything into context, take a look at the threat that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued towards Russia and the Eurasian Union back in December 2012:
“There is a move to re-Sovietise the region, It’s not going to be called that. It’s going to be called a customs union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that, but let’s make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it.”
One year later, Ukraine, which could have been of immense value to the US and its geostrategy as a neutral, stable state, was in the middle of the US-supported EuroMaidan Color Revolution, showing that Washington will go to great and dramatic lengths to sacrifice its pragmatic interests for the sake of destabilizing Russia. So the question is, could the US also do the same in the Caucasus in order to simultaneously destabilize Russia from the southern flank while it’s distracted in dealing with Ukraine?
In Armenia Against Azerbaijan, The US Always Wins
Armenia is arguably the weakest member of the Eurasian Union, and is thus the most prime for any external destabilization attempt. As the world has seen, the US will even go as far as instigating a war on Russia’s borders (the Ukrainian Civil War) just to hamper its regional integration efforts in the west. Could it also try to instigate a new war in Nagorno-Karabakh, too, in order to facilitate this goal in the south? Azerbaijan doesn’t know what matters Nuland discussed with Armenia behind closed doors, nor what convincing promises or irresistible threats she may have given Yerevan. The authorities can no longer be assured that Azerbaijan’s enormous energy reserves guarantee it a safe place in the US’ regional vision, especially considering the caustic language the US has used since the closing of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. If America is successful in instigating a continuation war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, neither of the two states would emerge as the strategic victor, since it’s the US that would ultimately triumph because it would have succeeded in destabilizing Russia at the entire Caucasus’ expense.
Walking A Tightrope
Given the fact that Azerbaijan can no longer trust the US to not conspire against its internal or external affairs, it is necessary for the country to tweak its foreign policy in order to best safeguard its interests. This means that although Baku cannot outright reject Washington or forget the two-decades-long history of fruitful cooperation with it (nor should it), it must pragmatically reorient its policies to adapt to multipolarity. By this, it is meant that Azerbaijan should look to diversify its partners and foreign policy dealings, namely, in the direction of Russia and Iran, the two neighborly countries that would support its leadership against any US-inspired plot against it. Although there are certainly challenges existing in bilateral relations with Iran, this doesn’t mean that they can’t be overcome in the interests of preserving Azerbaijan’s prosperity and protecting the country’s overall population from any unwanted trans-Atlantic tinkering that could endanger it.
Despite the fact that the US is most definitely interested in seeing Azeri energy power the EU, it is not yet known whether this objective of EU energy diversification is more important than the one of Russian destabilization. Under such circumstances, Azerbaijan must carefully walk a tightrope between the West (US/EU) on one hand, and the East (Russia/Iran) on the other, and if it is successful in delicately balancing between both worlds, then it can pivotally reap the resultant benefits thereof and propel its global prominence.
Andrew Korybko is the political analyst and journalist for Sputnik who currently lives and studies in Moscow, English version exclusively for ORIENTAL REVIEW.
Walking A Tightrope
Given the fact that Azerbaijan can no longer trust the US to not conspire against its internal or external affairs, it is necessary for the country to tweak its foreign policy in order to best safeguard its interests. This means that although Baku cannot outright reject Washington or forget the two-decades-long history of fruitful cooperation with it (nor should it), it must pragmatically reorient its policies to adapt to multipolarity. By this, it is meant that Azerbaijan should look to diversify its partners and foreign policy dealings, namely, in the direction of Russia and Iran, the two neighborly countries that would support its leadership against any US-inspired plot against it. Although there are certainly challenges existing in bilateral relations with Iran, this doesn’t mean that they can’t be overcome in the interests of preserving Azerbaijan’s prosperity and protecting the country’s overall population from any unwanted trans-Atlantic tinkering that could endanger it.
Despite the fact that the US is most definitely interested in seeing Azeri energy power the EU, it is not yet known whether this objective of EU energy diversification is more important than the one of Russian destabilization. Under such circumstances, Azerbaijan must carefully walk a tightrope between the West (US/EU) on one hand, and the East (Russia/Iran) on the other, and if it is successful in delicately balancing between both worlds, then it can pivotally reap the resultant benefits thereof and propel its global prominence.
Andrew Korybko is the political analyst and journalist for Sputnik who currently lives and studies in Moscow, English version exclusively for ORIENTAL REVIEW.
Concern In Baku Over Russia-Georgia-Armenia Military Transit
Recent reports that Russian military vehicles were appearing in
Georgia have raised complaints in neighboring Azerbaijan that Tbilisi is
“betraying” Baku by allowing the Russian military to ship military
supplies into Armenia via its territory or airspace.
The story of the Russian vehicles in Georgia
is almost certainly a tempest in a teapot – after footage surfaced of
Russian-made ZIL 131 military trucks on Georgian streets, various
theories quickly emerged. Georgia's opposition claimed the trucks were
evidence that the current government was in cahoots with Moscow, while
some suggested they may be on the way to Armenia, where Russia both has
its own large military base and provides substantial military aid to the
armed forces there. But it didn't take long for another, more banal
explanation to come out: the vehicles were decommissioned in Russia and
are being sold on the commercial market.
There's no indication that the Russian trucks were in fact destined
for Armenia, but the question of how Russia supplies its base in
Armenia, as well as delivers military aid there, has long been a secretive and contentious one.
Armenia is separated from Russia by Azerbaijan and Turkey, which are
hostile to Armenia, and Georgia, which is hostile to Russia. Georgia
nevertheless did allow overflights of Russian military shipments to
Armenia until 2011, when it publicly annulled
the agreement with Russia allowing for that transit. The status of that
transit is now unclear, though there have been various unconfirmed
reports that it was reinstated even while former president Mikheil
Saakashvili was in power.
Azerbaijani analyst Mubariz Ahmedoglu, in a Baku press conference March 5, accused
Georgia of “betraying” Azerbaijan by allowing the transit. “Chronic
problems in the Azerbaijan-Georgia relationship have shown themselves
cumulatively. Georgia never expresses real support for Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity. The only support is rhetorical,” Ahmedoglu said.
He argued further that Georgia's government is going along with a
Russian plan to annex Armenia via the Georgian occupied territories.
“Georgian officials can resort to sophistry to claim that the transit
of military hardware via Georgia to Armenia does not pose a threat for
Azerbaijan and Georgia. However, the incumbent Georgian leadership
created the biggest threat for itself. This is both a military and
geopolitical threat,” Ahmedoglu said.
It's not clear to what extent Ahmedoglu's views represent those in
the government, but the fact that in Azerbaijan's increasingly
repressive environment he held a press conference covered by
pro-government media suggests it has official sanction.
Source: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/72531
Source: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=43490&cHash=7bf56406812e1cc67ea3df6a2fd1a234#.VRWvnY79mXZ
Paul Goble: Is Moscow Putting the Talysh in Play Against Azerbaijan?
More than in most parts of the world, the former Soviet space is a
place where battles about the present and the future are waged over the
past. Most famously, Russians and Ukrainians disagree profoundly whether
Kievan Rus marked the beginning of Russian statehood, as Moscow would
have it, or was at the beginnings of a separate and distinct Ukrainian
nation. But across the region, there are many such battles going on, and
one of the most potentially fateful involves the question: “Did
Talyshistan belong to the Azerbaijani Republic” in the past? And thus,
should it belong to the Republic of Azerbaijan now?
What might have seemed like a petty issue, one that originated on the
pages of Facebook and reflected some intramural Azerbaijani academic
politics, has been raised to a new level by an article posted on the
website of IAREX. The Russian news agency IAREX was founded by Modest
Kolerov and is known for its Russian nationalist and even imperialist
leanings. That article, by Talysh leader Fakhraddin Aboszoda, is
entitled: “Scandal in Azerbaijan: Did Talyshistan Belong to the
Azerbaijan Republic?” He answers that question in the negative and says
that “every Talysh must be certain that in the not too distant future
Talyshistan will become an independent state!” (IAREX, January 28).
Aboszoda—or Abbasov as his name is sometimes given—was involved with
the self-proclaimed Talysh-Mugan Autonomous Republic in 1992 (located in
the southeastern corner of Azerbaijan). He has worked closely with the
Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation on behalf of the Talysh,
who speak an Iranian dialect, follow Shiism, and number approximately
100,000 in Azerbaijan and about 400,000 in neighboring Iran. In earlier
articles, the Talysh leader has pushed the idea that Azerbaijan is “a
pseudo-empire” that must be decolonized. His assertion has been taken up
by others, including researchers at the Kremlin-connected think tank,
the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISI) (IAREX, December 24, 2012; for more on RISI, see EDM, January 27).
Aboszoda’s current article was ostensibly prompted by a dispute about
the existence, or non-existence, of a Talysh khanate in Persia in the
early 19th century when, as a result of a treaty between St.
Petersburg and Teheran, control over what had been northwestern Persia
was transferred to the Russian Empire. Azerbaijani textbooks routinely
list all the khanates that the Persians gave up—all except one, the
Talysh. This has prompted first an objection by Jamil Hasanli, a
historian who is also a leader of the opposition National Council, and
then a rejoinder by Yakub Mahmudov, the head of the Baku Institute of
History and a member of the country’s parliament.
Hasanli objected to the absence of any reference to the Talysh
khanate in the textbooks his grandson was using. In most countries,
Aboszoda says, such a complaint would pass unnoticed. But not in
Azerbaijan—where any such objection becomes a challenge to the state. As
a result, the authorities brought Mahmudov into the game. The
regime-friendly historian dutifully said there was no reason to complain
because, in fact, the Talysh khanate was one of many transferred by the
Persian-Russian treaty. Furthermore, at the time, this khanate was led
by Turks, not Talysh, and therefore it is entirely proper to subsume it
under Azerbaijan and to teach Azerbaijani young people that version of
history.
Soon, other pro-regime historians entered the fray, insisting that
Talysh is “a geographic territory” and no more. And any reference to a
Talysh “khanate,” they argued, must be written in quotation marks, to
dispel the notion of its independent existence or that its rulers were
ethnically Talysh rather than Turks—or more precisely “Azerbaijani
Turks”—regardless of what the vastly more complicated historical record
suggests (IAREX, January 28).
Aboszoda reviews that record and comes up with a list of reasons why
people should know that a Talysh khanate existed and that its leaders
were Talysh. His arguments would be of interest only to historians if it
were not for his conclusion: Talyshistan was never part of Azerbaijan,
as even Baku historians acknowledge by refusing to include it in the
list of khanates transferred from Persia to Russia in the 19th
century. And as a result, he declares, “Talyshistan did not have and
does not have any relationship to the artificially created in 1918, and
again in 1991, state under the strange [sic] title ‘the Azerbaijan
Republic,’ because under the word ‘Azerbaijan’ has always been
understood the northwestern territories of Iran” (IAREX, January 28).
Why is a Russian nationalist site pushing this idea now? At least
three possible reasons exist, and each of them should be a matter of
concern to anyone worried about stability in the South Caucasus. First,
Russia may be nervous that Iran is itself stepping up activities among
the Talysh, and Moscow wants to counter that trend. Second, the Russian
government may feel that backing an anti-Baku movement now will improve
its standing in Armenia given the continuing tensions over the murder in
Gyumri (see EDM, January 16, 30). And third, the Kremlin may want to
send a signal to Baku that Moscow has resources within Azerbaijan that
it is quite prepared to put in play, if Azerbaijan does not go along
with Russia’s wishes.
Source: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=43490&cHash=7bf56406812e1cc67ea3df6a2fd1a234#.VRWvnY79mXZ
Amount of Russian arms sold to Azerbaijan provides balance of weapons in region – analyst
Russia
is supplying weapons to Azerbaijan to an amount required for keeping
the balance as compared to arms sales to Armenia, director of the
Caucasus Institute political analyst Alexander Iskandaryan said on
Sputnik-Armenia in commenting Armenian president’s statement during the
international “At the Foot of Ararat” media forum, as cited by
Novosti-Armenia. Speaking at the forum on Wednesday Armenia’s president
Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia is concerned over the Russian arms sales to
Azerbaijan. The Armenian leader also said military and defense
cooperation plays an important role in the allied partnership with
Russia. “Russia has its interests in the region, and it does not want to
lose Armenia for political reasons. But it does not lose Azerbaijan
either. It gets involved and is selling weapons. The South Caucasus is
one of the most militarized regions in the world,” the analyst said. In
general, Russia is selling arms to everyone in post-Soviet area,
Iskandaryan said. The expert also said Azerbaijan has bought quite an
amount of weapons from Ukraine and Israel. But, in broad terms, weapons
come from Russia that is the main arms manufacturer and supplier in the
area, Iskandaryan said.
Source: http://arka.am/en/news/politics
Economist: A Russian ally rues its dependence upon Moscow
How long might the so-called “frozen conflict” that is developing in
eastern Ukraine last? A look at Armenia may give some idea. Its conflict
with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh
first broke out in 1988, and is still going strong. Armenia’s borders
with Azerbaijan and Turkey are closed to this day, leaving it isolated
and economically stagnant. On March 19th three more Armenian soldiers
were killed in a skirmish.
The increasing threat of escalation leads Armenia to depend upon
Russia for protection, but Armenians are growing increasingly frustrated
with the relationship. They are particularly unhappy with Russian arms
sales to Azerbaijan, which account for 85% of that country’s
acquisitions over the past five years, according to a new report.
Armenia officially joined the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a
Moscow-led customs union, at the beginning of this year. But the
decision to join the EEU was taken under duress, as Russia threatened to
reconsider its alliance if Armenia signed an association agreement with
the European Union.
The EEU does the Armenian economy few favours, according to Richard
Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Centre, a Yerevan-based
think tank. The absence of shared borders with the other three
members—Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan—makes trade difficult. Membership
requires Armenia to introduce high tariffs, which undermine
competitiveness and deter foreign investors. That, combined with the
poor protection of intellectual-property rights, could threaten some of
the economy’s bright spots, such as the IT sector, which contributed 5%
of GDP in 2013.
Russia’s economic woes in the wake of falling oil prices and
international sanctions have caused further damage. Remittances from
abroad accounted for 21% of Armenia’s GDP in 2013. They fell by 7.7% in
2014, and are forecast to fall a further 30% this year. Russia has sent
thousands of Armenians home, allegedly for violating migration rules,
and more could be coming. Exports were down by 22% in January compared
with a year earlier, and the Central Bank expects meager growth in 2015.
Popular frustration with Russia came to a head in January, after a
Russian soldier murdered six members of an Armenian family in the city
of Gyumri. The soldier was quickly spirited away to be tried in Russia.
Thousands of Armenians took to the streets, protesting both Russian
arrogance and their own government’s subservience. A heavy-handed police
response only made matters worse.
Armenia cannot afford to turn its back on Russia, but the government
is trying to draft a new association agreement with the European Union
that would be consistent with its membership of the EEU. The EU is still
interested in better commercial ties, as is America. In January,
ContourGlobal, an American power company, made a significant investment
in Armenia’s energy sector.
But although sharp resentment of Russia's influence may have grown,
it is not weakening the government’s hold on power. On March 5th the
government scored a victory when opposition leader Gagik Tsarukian, one
of the country’s richest men, stepped down as head of the Prosperous
Armenia party that he had founded. Mr Tsarukian had opposed attempts by
Serzh Sargsyan, the president, to reform the constitution to move the
country from a presidential to a parliamentary system. The opposition
leader claimed the move would strengthen the ruling party, and tried to
persuade Russia that Mr Sargsyan was no longer a reliable partner. The
government responded by expelling him from the National Security Council
and launching investigations into his business interests.
The ruling party’s use of state resources to pursue a political
vendetta exemplifies the weaknesses of Armenian politics, Mr Giragosian
says. With the opposition even more demoralized, Armenia is now close to
being a one-party state. Moscow’s refusal to back Mr Tsarukian suggests
that the government has Russian support. For now, the government in
Yerevan, like the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, is likely to remain
frozen.
Source: http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21646947-russian-ally-rues-its-dependence-upon-moscow-stuck-each-other
Turkey’s closed border with Armenia is a final remnant of the Iron Curtain. It may also be the first building block of a new cold war border taking shape across former Soviet satellites. Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in Yerevan in April to mark the 100th anniversary of Armenian massacres during World War I, his spokesman said Monday. He will also be asserting Russia’s dominant position in a country that was wooed by the West yet chose to join the Eurasian Economic Union, the Kremlin’s rival to the European Union.
Armenia’s decision in January was a victory for Putin after losing sway in Georgia, which signed an association agreement with the EU in 2013, and war-torn Ukraine. Yet the deal runs the risk of further isolation for Armenia under Russia’s protectorship, according to Alev Kilic, head of the Ankara-based Center for Eurasian Studies.
“While Ukraine turned its face toward the West at the risk of civil war, Armenia without any power was forced to bow to Putin,” Kilic said. The closed borders with Turkey and nearby Azerbaijan mean that without Russian support, “life in Armenia would come to a standstill.”
As part of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia has entered into a free trade zone with other members while agreeing to a common customs regime that’s seen its duties to rise in line with Russia’s. With the Russian economy struggling amid low oil prices and sanctions, the expected stimulus from joining the Eurasian Economic Union has not materialized. Armenia’s foreign trade declined 28 percent in February, according to the state statistics service. Remittances sent home from Armenians working in Russia have declined more than 10 percent on a year earlier to about $1.5 billion.
Turkish Border
The Turkish-Armenian border was a former front line between NATO and the Soviet Union. Putin’s determination to keep Western influence out of what he considers Russia’s backyard in the Caucasus was a factor in tensions that led to war with Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008. Apart from a brief period after the Soviet collapse, Turkey has kept its Armenian border closed since April 3, 1993, as a gesture of support for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The dispute has left Armenians with access to the outside world only through Iran to the south and Georgia in the north. Russia is the country’s largest single trading partner, with total trade of 1.27 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in 2013, according to a European Commission report, although the EU as a whole is its largest market.
Russian Business
A 2013 energy deal handed the Armenian government’s 20 percent stake in ArmRusGazProm, the country’s main gas supplier, to Russia’s Gazprom, which already owned the remaining 80 percent, in return for a reduction in prices. Two of the three mobile phone companies serving Armenia are Russian-owned, Gazprom controls the country’s gas pipelines, Russian Railways its rail tracks, and Inter Rao UES owns 100 percent of Armenia’s electrical grid.
While joining the economic bloc reflects Armenia’s dependency on Russia, it may dim prospects of resolving the country’s longstanding disputes with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Chances of opening Turkey’s border with Armenia are “worse than they were in 2010,” when a brief thaw between the countries led to discussions about re-establishing diplomatic ties, according to Tom de Waal, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
Turkey’s imports from Armenia fell to $1.5 million in 2014 from $2.6 million in 2010, according to Turkey’s state statistics institute. Turkey exported no goods to Armenia last year, it said. An air link between the countries is operating.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-31/putin-seizes-on-armenia-dispute-to-buttress-iron-curtain-remains
Blomberg: Putin Seizes on Armenia Dispute to Buttress Iron Curtain
Armenia’s decision in January was a victory for Putin after losing sway in Georgia, which signed an association agreement with the EU in 2013, and war-torn Ukraine. Yet the deal runs the risk of further isolation for Armenia under Russia’s protectorship, according to Alev Kilic, head of the Ankara-based Center for Eurasian Studies.
“While Ukraine turned its face toward the West at the risk of civil war, Armenia without any power was forced to bow to Putin,” Kilic said. The closed borders with Turkey and nearby Azerbaijan mean that without Russian support, “life in Armenia would come to a standstill.”
As part of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia has entered into a free trade zone with other members while agreeing to a common customs regime that’s seen its duties to rise in line with Russia’s. With the Russian economy struggling amid low oil prices and sanctions, the expected stimulus from joining the Eurasian Economic Union has not materialized. Armenia’s foreign trade declined 28 percent in February, according to the state statistics service. Remittances sent home from Armenians working in Russia have declined more than 10 percent on a year earlier to about $1.5 billion.
Turkish Border
The Turkish-Armenian border was a former front line between NATO and the Soviet Union. Putin’s determination to keep Western influence out of what he considers Russia’s backyard in the Caucasus was a factor in tensions that led to war with Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008. Apart from a brief period after the Soviet collapse, Turkey has kept its Armenian border closed since April 3, 1993, as a gesture of support for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The dispute has left Armenians with access to the outside world only through Iran to the south and Georgia in the north. Russia is the country’s largest single trading partner, with total trade of 1.27 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in 2013, according to a European Commission report, although the EU as a whole is its largest market.
Russian Business
A 2013 energy deal handed the Armenian government’s 20 percent stake in ArmRusGazProm, the country’s main gas supplier, to Russia’s Gazprom, which already owned the remaining 80 percent, in return for a reduction in prices. Two of the three mobile phone companies serving Armenia are Russian-owned, Gazprom controls the country’s gas pipelines, Russian Railways its rail tracks, and Inter Rao UES owns 100 percent of Armenia’s electrical grid.
While joining the economic bloc reflects Armenia’s dependency on Russia, it may dim prospects of resolving the country’s longstanding disputes with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Chances of opening Turkey’s border with Armenia are “worse than they were in 2010,” when a brief thaw between the countries led to discussions about re-establishing diplomatic ties, according to Tom de Waal, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
Turkey’s imports from Armenia fell to $1.5 million in 2014 from $2.6 million in 2010, according to Turkey’s state statistics institute. Turkey exported no goods to Armenia last year, it said. An air link between the countries is operating.
Genocide Dispute
Tensions between the countries date back to the breakup of the Ottoman empire during World War I, when the Turkish authorities’ decision to expel Armenians from their homes led to mass killings. Armenia says 1.5 million died in actions that amounted to genocide, a charge Turkey rejects. The unresolved conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh led Azerbaijan to broker a $10 billion deal with Turkey and Georgia for the Trans Caucasus Anatolian gas pipeline to Europe - even though a much shorter route would cross Armenia. Turkey is also building a new highway and rail-link to Azerbaijan that bypass the country.
“We have no hostility toward anyone, but it is our duty to defend the rights of our brothers and ask the price of their blood and suffering,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said March 17 in Kars, in reference to Azerbaijan, with which Turkey shares linguistic and cultural affinities. Armenia took over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave made up of mostly ethnic Armenians, from Azerbaijan in a war after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. About 30,000 people died and 1.2 million were displaced before Russia brokered a cease-fire in 1994. Armenia has a mutual defense pact with Russia that ensures the presence of a 4,000-strong Russian military base in Gyumri until 2044.
Putin’s Choice
Relations between Turkey and Armenia hit a new low as the centenary of the Armenian massacres approaches this April. Erdogan turned down an invitation from Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to attend commemorations in Yerevan and moved a ceremony marking the 1915 Gallipoli battle to the same day. Putin was invited to both events but chose to travel to Armenia.
“It serves Russia’s interests to see Armenia’s border closed,” Tevan Poghosyan, a member of the opposition Heritage party in the Armenian parliament, said by phone. Armenia’s entry into the Eurasian Union was linked to the standoff between Russia and the West because “Russia wants to show that the EU’s Eastern Partnership program failed,” he said.
Tensions between the countries date back to the breakup of the Ottoman empire during World War I, when the Turkish authorities’ decision to expel Armenians from their homes led to mass killings. Armenia says 1.5 million died in actions that amounted to genocide, a charge Turkey rejects. The unresolved conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh led Azerbaijan to broker a $10 billion deal with Turkey and Georgia for the Trans Caucasus Anatolian gas pipeline to Europe - even though a much shorter route would cross Armenia. Turkey is also building a new highway and rail-link to Azerbaijan that bypass the country.
“We have no hostility toward anyone, but it is our duty to defend the rights of our brothers and ask the price of their blood and suffering,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said March 17 in Kars, in reference to Azerbaijan, with which Turkey shares linguistic and cultural affinities. Armenia took over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave made up of mostly ethnic Armenians, from Azerbaijan in a war after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. About 30,000 people died and 1.2 million were displaced before Russia brokered a cease-fire in 1994. Armenia has a mutual defense pact with Russia that ensures the presence of a 4,000-strong Russian military base in Gyumri until 2044.
Putin’s Choice
Relations between Turkey and Armenia hit a new low as the centenary of the Armenian massacres approaches this April. Erdogan turned down an invitation from Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to attend commemorations in Yerevan and moved a ceremony marking the 1915 Gallipoli battle to the same day. Putin was invited to both events but chose to travel to Armenia.
“It serves Russia’s interests to see Armenia’s border closed,” Tevan Poghosyan, a member of the opposition Heritage party in the Armenian parliament, said by phone. Armenia’s entry into the Eurasian Union was linked to the standoff between Russia and the West because “Russia wants to show that the EU’s Eastern Partnership program failed,” he said.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-31/putin-seizes-on-armenia-dispute-to-buttress-iron-curtain-remains
Eurasianet: With Friends Like Russia, Who Needs Enemies
Armenia
considers Russia to be its strategic ally. But it appears that
such feelings of loyalty are not mutual: officials in Yerevan are far
from thrilled to find out that Russia is by far the largest arms
supplier to Azerbaijan, Armenia’s neighbor and sworn enemy. Russia’s
double-dealing prompted Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to grouse
at a March 18 media forum in Yerevan. “Armenian soldiers at the front
know that they [Azerbaijani troops] are trying to kill them using
Russian weapons,” Sargsyan said, referring to the ongoing struggle
between the two countries over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Although a
ceasefire has been in effect for more than two decades, skirmishes
between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are almost a daily occurrence.
Flush with cash from energy exports, and eager to reverse territorial loses at the hands of Armenian forces during the 1988-1994 hot phase of the Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan has been on an arms procurement binge in recent years. Russia seems only too happy to serve as Azerbaijan’s chief purveyor of the machinery of death. Azerbaijan obtains 85 percent of its weaponry from Russia, according to a recent report.
Russian arms sales to Baku have long been a source of concern for Yerevan, which, lacking the same kind of lucrative revenue streams that its foes possess, has trouble keeping pace in the arms race with Azerbaijan. At the same time, Armenia’s Russia-reliant economy means that President Sargsyan must choose his words carefully when he chides the Kremlin. Before delivering his March 18 criticism of Russian arms sales, Sargsyan emphasized that no other country has been given “even 1 percent of the support” that Armenia has received from Russia since the Soviet collapse in 1991.
Russia maintains a military base in Armenia, a geopolitical fact that limits the chances that Baku would use all its Russian-bought military hardware to renew the Karabakh war and try to forcibly reclaim its lost territory. It is believed that Russia used its considerable economic and political influence in 2014 to pressure Armenia into joining the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union, while rejecting an association agreement with the European Union.
Armenian officials now seem wary of the pitfalls of near-total reliance on Moscow. Thus, they are probing possibilities for establishing some sort of political and economic relationship with the EU. Brussels seems keen to lend Armenia a helping hand and dispatched Expansion Commissioner Johannes to Hahn to Yerevan for talks. The visiting commissioner said that Brussels looks forward to formulating a new agenda with Yerevan that is compatible with “Armenia’s other obligations.”
Flush with cash from energy exports, and eager to reverse territorial loses at the hands of Armenian forces during the 1988-1994 hot phase of the Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan has been on an arms procurement binge in recent years. Russia seems only too happy to serve as Azerbaijan’s chief purveyor of the machinery of death. Azerbaijan obtains 85 percent of its weaponry from Russia, according to a recent report.
Russian arms sales to Baku have long been a source of concern for Yerevan, which, lacking the same kind of lucrative revenue streams that its foes possess, has trouble keeping pace in the arms race with Azerbaijan. At the same time, Armenia’s Russia-reliant economy means that President Sargsyan must choose his words carefully when he chides the Kremlin. Before delivering his March 18 criticism of Russian arms sales, Sargsyan emphasized that no other country has been given “even 1 percent of the support” that Armenia has received from Russia since the Soviet collapse in 1991.
Russia maintains a military base in Armenia, a geopolitical fact that limits the chances that Baku would use all its Russian-bought military hardware to renew the Karabakh war and try to forcibly reclaim its lost territory. It is believed that Russia used its considerable economic and political influence in 2014 to pressure Armenia into joining the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union, while rejecting an association agreement with the European Union.
Armenian officials now seem wary of the pitfalls of near-total reliance on Moscow. Thus, they are probing possibilities for establishing some sort of political and economic relationship with the EU. Brussels seems keen to lend Armenia a helping hand and dispatched Expansion Commissioner Johannes to Hahn to Yerevan for talks. The visiting commissioner said that Brussels looks forward to formulating a new agenda with Yerevan that is compatible with “Armenia’s other obligations.”
Source: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/72616
Պուտին. Ցեղասպանությունն ընկալվում է, որպես սեփական վիշտ և աղետ
Միջազգային հանրությունը պետք է ամեն ինչ անի, որպեսզի ցեղասպանության նման չարագործությունները երբեք չկրկնվեն: Նման կարծիք է արտահայտել Ռուսաստանի նախագահ Վլադիմիր Պուտինը: «1915թ-ի ապրիլի 24-ը ողբերգական թիվ է, որը կապված է մարդկության պատմության ամենաահավոր և դրամատիկական իրադարձության` հայոց ցեղասպնության հետ»,- նշվում է Կրեմլի պաշտոնական կայքում: Պուտինը նման ուղերձով է դիմել «Աշխարհն առանց ցեղասպանության» հուշ-երեկոյի մասնակիցներին: «Հարյուր տարի անց մենք գլուխ ենք խոնարհում այս ողբերգության բոլոր զոհերի հիշատակի առաջ, որը մեր երկրում միշտ ընդունում են որպես սեփական վիշտ և աղետ: Ռուսաստանի տեսակետը միշտ եղել է և մնում է օբյեկտիվ և հետևողական. ազգային հողի վրա մասսայական կոտորածը չի կաորղ արդարացվել:Միջազգային հասարակությունը կոչված է անելու ամեն ինչ, որպեսզի նման չարագործությունները երբեք ու երբեք չկրկնվեն»,- ընգծել է Պուտինը: Հայերի և տարածաշրջանի ժողովուրդների նոր սերունդները պետք է ապրեն խաղաղության և համաձայնության մեջ, չառերեսվելով այն սարսափներին, որին հանգեցնում է կրոնական թշնամությունը, ագրեսիվ ազգայնականությունը և քսենոֆոբիան: «Ցանկանում են եղբայրական Հայաստանին, Ռուսաստանում բնակվող բոլոր հայերին ամենայն բարիք, խաղաղությունը և բարգավաճում»,- նշված է Պուտինի ելույթի մեջ:
Աղբյուր: http://times.am/?p=123039&l=am
Госдума России примет заявление с осуждением Геноцида армян, приуроченное к 100-й годовщине трагедии
Госдума России в апреле
собирается принять заявление с осуждением Геноцида армян в Османской
империи, приуроченное к 100-й годовщине трагедии. Как передает РИА
Новости, об этом сообщил в Ереване глава комитета Госдумы РФ по делам
СНГ, евразийской интеграции и связям с соотечественниками Леонид
Слуцкий.
«Ранее Госдума уже принимала жесткое заявление, осуждающее Геноцид армян в 1915 году; там же содержался призыв к странам мира признать 24 апреля днем памяти жертв геноцида. Аналогичное заявление будет принято в середине апреля Госдумой и в этом году», – сказал Слуцкий на третьем совместном заседании профильных комитетов парламентов Армении и России, которое проходит сегодня в Ереване. Дискуссия идет по разным проблемам, и в числе их отдельная сессия на тему «В преддверии 100-й годовщины Геноцида армян: сотрудничество по этому вопросу на парламентских площадках». Согласно информации, Слуцкий также сообщил, что Госдума и Совет Федерации в конце апреля направят представительную делегацию в Армению на мероприятия, посвященные траурной дате.
«Сегодня нам особенно важно поддержать армянский народ во время этой траурной даты», – подчеркнул российский парламентарий.
Известно, что факт Геноцида армян в Османской империи 1915г. (Armenian Genocide) признан многими государствами. Первым это в 1965 году сделал Уругвай, примеру которого последовали Россия (1995г.), Франция (2001г.), Италия (2000г.), Германия (2005г.), Голландия (2004г.), Бельгия (1998г.), Польша (2005г.), Литва (2005г.), Словакия (2004г.), Швеция (2010г.), Швейцария (2003г.), Греция (1996г.), Кипр (1982г.), Ливан (1997г.), Канада (1996г.), Венесуэла (2005г.), Аргентина (1993г.), Чили (2007г.), Ватикан (2000г.). Геноцид армян признали также Европейский парламент и Всемирный совет церквей. Официально признали и осудили Геноцид армян, а также объявили 24 апреля Днем памяти жертв Геноцида армянского народа 42 из 50 штатов США. Парламентами нескольких европейских стран приняты законы предусматривающие уголовную ответственность за отрицание Геноцида армян. Однако Турция по-прежнему отрицает массовое убийство армянского населения Османской империи во время Первой мировой войны (в канун Первой мировой войны в Османской империи жило два миллиона армян, около 1,5 млн. армян было уничтожено за период с 1915 до 1923 года, оставшиеся полмиллиона армян были рассеяны по всему миру).
«Ранее Госдума уже принимала жесткое заявление, осуждающее Геноцид армян в 1915 году; там же содержался призыв к странам мира признать 24 апреля днем памяти жертв геноцида. Аналогичное заявление будет принято в середине апреля Госдумой и в этом году», – сказал Слуцкий на третьем совместном заседании профильных комитетов парламентов Армении и России, которое проходит сегодня в Ереване. Дискуссия идет по разным проблемам, и в числе их отдельная сессия на тему «В преддверии 100-й годовщины Геноцида армян: сотрудничество по этому вопросу на парламентских площадках». Согласно информации, Слуцкий также сообщил, что Госдума и Совет Федерации в конце апреля направят представительную делегацию в Армению на мероприятия, посвященные траурной дате.
«Сегодня нам особенно важно поддержать армянский народ во время этой траурной даты», – подчеркнул российский парламентарий.
Известно, что факт Геноцида армян в Османской империи 1915г. (Armenian Genocide) признан многими государствами. Первым это в 1965 году сделал Уругвай, примеру которого последовали Россия (1995г.), Франция (2001г.), Италия (2000г.), Германия (2005г.), Голландия (2004г.), Бельгия (1998г.), Польша (2005г.), Литва (2005г.), Словакия (2004г.), Швеция (2010г.), Швейцария (2003г.), Греция (1996г.), Кипр (1982г.), Ливан (1997г.), Канада (1996г.), Венесуэла (2005г.), Аргентина (1993г.), Чили (2007г.), Ватикан (2000г.). Геноцид армян признали также Европейский парламент и Всемирный совет церквей. Официально признали и осудили Геноцид армян, а также объявили 24 апреля Днем памяти жертв Геноцида армянского народа 42 из 50 штатов США. Парламентами нескольких европейских стран приняты законы предусматривающие уголовную ответственность за отрицание Геноцида армян. Однако Турция по-прежнему отрицает массовое убийство армянского населения Османской империи во время Первой мировой войны (в канун Первой мировой войны в Османской империи жило два миллиона армян, около 1,5 млн. армян было уничтожено за период с 1915 до 1923 года, оставшиеся полмиллиона армян были рассеяны по всему миру).
