Thanks for your letter, *******.

Hopefully, I'll write soon in detail on some of your questions. But I have
been criticising this government and predicting such an outcome for
all recent years. And, by the way, where was LTP all this time and why
didn't he raise his voice against any injustice during long 10 years?!

You may find attached just one of my pieces, where all the major causes of
the current crisis are clearly identified and deplored. I've been warning
about the imminent breakup of the seeming stability again and again in my
books, articles and interviews published in Armenian, Russian and English
for the last decade. Moreover, they've been read by some of the
highest representatives of the current establishment. I had a couple
of chances to even personally discuss with some of them the criticality of
the situation. They did not agree that the situation is as bad as I depict
it and were disturbed and irritated. All of my efforts to bring them
back to reality have just resulted not only in my further isolation from the
centers of decision-making, but also their attempts to silence and
marginalize me. Though they've not succeeded in the latter, I'm extremely
frustrated that all my work was almost in vain. On February 19 Armenia
has entered into a completely new and unfavorable phase: the day "X" I was
talking in my "Strategic Gaps" has already arrived.

However, LTP and his team did not come "to right the wrong", but just to
exacerbate the things to the edge. I'm a first-hand eyewitness of the
events. The major clashes happened just 100 meters from my home and I've
been hearing and watching everything from the beginning to the end. That
day L. Ter-Petrosyan and his team brought Armenia to the very brink of
DISASTER. No one can prove to me that it was the police who instigated the
clashes. It was not just a coup attempt, it was a cold-blooded attempt by
LTP & Co. to instigate a civil war!! LTP and his team are an immediate and
overwhelming national security threat!! Please look on the bigger picture,
look on the world powers waging Cold War IN ARMENIA, look on the map
again and follow the news about the Azerbaijan's movements and all the
preparations to start a war. What if Aliyev starts it now? What would we
have -- a divided Armenia, a divided Diaspora! Who has pushed the things so
far? Of, course, the government has to be blamed for all the corruption
and its woeful methods and low level of governance. But LTP has clearly and
cold-bloodedly targeted the national unity of the Armenians! He clearly and
cold-bloodedly played on the hayastantzi-gharabaghtzi artificial divide! He
and his team clearly and cold-bloodedly instigated the mob to fire and throw
grenades on the Armenian soldiers.

My street was under occupation of "the revolutionaries" for about 7 hours.
They were shouting at us: "come down, join us -- this is an uprising!" (My
daughter was frightened a lot. She still does not sleep well.) They were
calling the Armenian soldiers to join them and fire on the other Armenian
soldiers. Now who can tell me about the facts better?! Do you understand
what was at stake?! And what if just one batallion, or even a
platoon joined this uprising?? We would have ended up in a real bloody
civil war with the hundreds killed and mutilated and perhaps Artsakh and
Syunik overrun by the enemy! What was LTP's sick brain thinking at that
time?? I do not need neither to watch the Armenian TV for official version,
nor to read and listen about the ridiculous false versions now being
circulated in the web by the LTP supporters.

Please remember that Armenia is your only Homeland, irrespective of the
government. Please do not alienate neither yourselves, nor the
diasporans from the homeland. Do not alienate yourselves from the other
Armenians. After reading my article, my dear friend from Canada has labeled
me "a traitor of the nation"! Doesn't this remind you good old 1937? Just
one result of the LTP's comeback into the big politics with his neobolshevist
ideas "who is not with us, is against us"! But we are a small endangered
nation with an endangered HOMELAND!

The situation is extremely difficult and there is no easy way out of it.
The solution that is most often being offered -- the resignation of Serj
Sargsyan and the new elections is not a solution. We simply cannot afford
months and years of additional turmoil.

More on all of this later...

I also attach my own original Armenian version of the latest article on
"International investigation" offered by LTP. AZG made a translation of its
own from the Russian version, which was published earlier.

Regards,
Armen

As hard as it may be for Levon Ter-Petrossyan's (LTP) supporters to admit this fact, not everybody supports LTP and his unacceptable policies for Armenia. In fact, by his own participation in the presidential election LTP pushed away many of the voters who are discontent with the incompetent rule of the current administration and were ready to vote for a uniting opposition candidate. However, a large swath of rational voters who are not suffering from amnesia could not bear to vote for LTP and his adopted policies. In return, LTP resorted to divisive politics (a term in vogue in US) and a smear campaign against those who reject him. He exploited and deepened the already alarming (and unjustified) dislike of the people of Karabakhi origin by the Yerevan residents, as if there is a difference between Armenians in Karabakh, Yerevan, Gyumri or the Diaspora. Yerevan is the capital of all Armenians of the world. As a result, diasporan Armenians in Los Angeles call local Armenian TV stations during talk shows and use expressions like "Gharabaghtsi Turqer". Those people need to be thrown across the contact line in Artsakh, to the Azeri side, so they can appreciate the full meaning of the word Turk. This is unacceptable! Yet LTP went on to insult the majority of the voters and the Armenian nation, those who do not agree with him and do not stand by him, by calling them "azgi takanq". Sadly so, no one from LTP's supporters spoke out against it. Does it mean that the likes of ***** ********* [one of the persons involved in the correspondence, V.K.] agree with that comment?

Vazgen Sargsyan did not agree with LTP policies, is he considered "azgi takanq"?

How about Monte Melkonyan, who personally participated in the liberation of Qelbajar, a region which LTP worked hard (fortunately unsuccessfully) to return to the enemy? On the wall of his room in Martuni Monte had a map of all the territories surrounding former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), which, as he had concluded, needed to be liberated in order to achieve a lasting geostrategic balance in Artsakh. LTP was strongly opposing any further liberation and currently intends to return them unconditionally. Does this disagreement between Monte and LTP over Qelbajar and other liberated territories make commander Avo "azgi takanq"? No and no. Just because someone disagrees with your viewpoint, he does not automatically become "a propagandistic tool".

I, for one, cannot support a man who declares the unconditional return of liberated Armenian lands, nor can I support a presidential candidate who does not have a vision for NKR's independence (LTP declared that NKR cannot achieve independence like Kosovo did). This alone is enough for me to oppose him, but i don't think this makes me a nation's scum. On the other hand, cop killers in all countries are considered scums of society and should be treated accordingly. Protesting peacefully in the Opera square is one thing, shooting at the policemen and beating them to death is another. The latter requires prosecution by the full force of the law as it is an assault against the state, our state, the state of all Armenians.

A lot has been said against LTP policies. Equally as much has been said to criticize the unacceptable and corrupt practices of the current administration. Now the time has come to restrain ourselves and rein in our emotions, because this domestic bickering is threatening to weaken Armenia in its struggle against external enemies and destroy our statehood. It's time to sober up.

panzerpenguin

armenian

Turks riot, destroy Armenian and Kurdish businesses in Brussels

English-language digest of local sources...follow the links from this page if you can read Flemish.

"Tonight (Wednesday evening) heavy rioting erupted in Turkish quarters of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Buses and trams were attacked. Several cars were torched and shops destroyed. Police forces were unable to restore law and order in the boroughs of Sint-Joost-ten-Node and Schaarbeek where since last Sunday the animosity among Turks is running high. Turkish flags are omnipresent. In some streets the Turkish crescent and star adorns almost every house.

The Turks' anger was provoked by rising tension with Kurds along the Iraqi-Turkish border and by the debate in the American Congress about the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in 1915. On Sunday night Turkish youths in Sint-Joost destroyed the pub of Peter Petrossian, an ethnic Armenian who had to flee for his life [previous article linked from this one says Mr Petrossian claims that 'the police was present at the scene but did not interfere while his establishment was being demolished']. Apparently, some Turks think that by attacking the Armenians in Brussels they can convince the world that the Turks never committed a genocide of the Armenians. [such a great line, neatly encapsulates the madness of the Turkish ultra-nationalists]

Tonight the youths attacked Kurdish shops. They also set fire to several cars.

Belgium's Muslim population consists mainly of Moroccans and Turks. In the past rioting Muslim youths were mostly Moroccans. The Turkish community is controlled by the Turkish embassy. The latter used to restrain the Turkish population so as not to upset the Belgian authorities and thwart Turkey’s chances of EU admission. This policy seems to have changed recently. In Antwerp, too, Turkish youths demonstrated tonight."

IRAQ: BISHOP NEGOTIATES FOR KIDNAPPED PRIESTS

Compass Direct News, CA
http://compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=lead&lang=en&length=long&idelement=5072
Oct 15 2007

Islamists threaten Christians in Mosul. Father Pius Affas and Father
Mazen Ishoa

ISTANBUL, October 15 (Compass Direct News) - An Iraqi bishop said
today that he is negotiating for the release of two Christian clergymen
kidnapped in Mosul this weekend.

Syrian Catholic Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa said that he had
spoken by telephone with the priests' captors at 4 p.m. local time.

"Until now, we do not have any sign of the liberation of the two
priests," Casmoussa said. "We continue to pray and hope."

A source close to the archbishop said that the kidnappers had demanded
an enormous ransom, widely reported as $1 million. Casmoussa denied
media reports today that Father Pius Affas, 68, and Father Mazen Ishoa,
newly ordained and in his 30s, had been released.

Unknown men abducted the Syrian Catholic priests in Mosul's Hay
al-Thawra neighborhood on Saturday afternoon (October 13). The
clergymen had gone to the area following the death of an elderly
parishioner. ( Read more... )

2 IRAQI WOMEN KILLED IN SHOOTING BY SECURITY CONVOY

Joao Silva for The New York Times

New York Times
Oct 10 2007

An Iraqi boy peered Tuesday inside a car that was towed to a Baghdad
police station after two women inside were killed.

Sign In to E-Mail or Save This Print Single Page Reprints Share
Del.icio.usDiggFacebookNewsvinePermalink

By ANDREW E. KRAMER and JAMES GLANZ Published: October 10, 2007
BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 - Two women died here on Tuesday when their white
Oldsmobile was riddled by automatic gunfire from guards for a private
security company, just weeks after a shooting by another company
strained relations between the United States and Iraq.

An Armenian priest viewed the damaged Oldsmobile Tuesday near a police
station in Baghdad.

The guards involved in the Tuesday shooting were working for an
Australian-run security company. But the people they were assigned
to protect work under the same United States government agency whose
security guards sprayed bullets across a crowded Baghdad square on
Sept. 16, an episode that caused an uproar among Iraqi officials and
is still being investigated by the United States. ( Read more... )

By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 15 minutes ago

MOSCOW - Two deep-diving Russian mini-submarines descended more than 2 1/2 miles under North Pole ice to stake a flag on the ocean floor Thursday, part of a quest to bolster Russian claims to much of the Arctic's oil-and-mineral wealth.
ADVERTISEMENT

...

"It was so good down there," expedition leader Artur Chilingarov, 68, a famed polar scientist said after coming back. "If someone else goes down there in 100 or 1,000 years, he will see our Russian flag."

The voyage has some scientific goals, including studies of the climate, geology and biology of the polar region. But its chief aim appeared to be to advancing Russia's political and economic influence by strengthening its legal claims to the Arctic...

malekon

The ‘apology’ quoting America’s Ambassador to Armenia John Evans for saying he shouldn’t have referred to the Armenian genocide as such, turns out, was a fabrication by the State Department.

How [NOT] To: Armenian Genocide Protest

One day out of the entire year motivates Armenians to get off their butts and do something for their people: April 24th. On the 24th of every April, Armenians the world over - but especially in the Los Angeles area - take to the streets to protest the Turkish embassy for recognition of the Genocide. The younger generation especially goes out to protest.

If you're planning on doing the same, I have some tips for you:

1. April 24th is not a happy day. In fact, it marks the tortures and deaths of over 1,500,000 of our ancestors. Understand this thoroughly. ( Continue... )

kevork

A message to Mr Hrant Dink mourners: Kurdish people are eager for reconciliation and peaceful respect between ethnicities.