Monday, June 07, 2010

RAW RADIO: Be The Change

 Activist and journalist, Ara Manoogian speaks of vigilance and action. Is it better to be in the know or is ignorance bliss?

CLICK HERE OT LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Friday, June 04, 2010

Armenian Government Sells National Assets to China

Once again, the Armenian Government makes a deal with another country for "loans" for "technical-economic programs" that is aimed to benefit the Armenian people.

In the past we have seen deals in the form of "loans" that have been settled in exchange for government controlled assets of strategic importance. And these were "loans" that for the most part went to the pockets of government officials.

In the case of the "loan" from China in the form of 88 ambulances (probably used), I would guess that these ambulances which are valued according to the deal at $33,272.73 each, will be in no time decommissioned and sold off the the highest bidder (who will be someone in government or persons with connections, for pennies on the dollar) and turned around and sold for a hefty profit. I've seen this happen before with an ambulance which was sent from America as aid and it was sold for $2,000 to some guy in Stepanagert, who gutted it out and installed containers so that he could transport fish in it.

At some point, the loan will be due and to the detriment of country, the Armenian government will cover the "loan" by handing over to China a factory or power plant, just like they have done in the past with Russia.

As always, I hope I am wrong with what I have written above, but know that in time this is exactly what will happen.


CHINA TO PROVIDE LOAN TO ARMENIA

Yerkir
02.06.2010 13:07
Yerevan


Yerevan (Yerkir) - An agreement on technical-economic cooperation was signed today between the governments of Armenia and China. The governments of the two countries also signed a letter and an address on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and a letter and address on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of China.

As the press and information department of the RA Government informed, from the Armenian side the documents were signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Ghazinyan. China's Deputy Minister for Commerce Fu Ziying signed the documents on behalf of the Chinese Government.

According to the agreement the Government of China will provide 20 million Chinese Yuans to the Armenian Government for implementation of technical-economic programs. According to the agreement reached by the letter and the address, the Chinese Government has provided 88 ambulance cars to the Armenian Government.

ARMROSGAZPROM TO BORROW $60 MLN FROM GAZPROM FOR POWER PROJECT

PRIME-TASS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BUSINESS NEWSWIRE
June 1, 2010 Tuesday 3:11 PM EET
RUSSIA

SECTION: OIL AND GAS; POWER AND COAL


Russian-Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom plans to borrow U.S. $60 million from Russia's Gazprom to complete the construction of the fifth power unit of the Razdanskaya TES thermal power plant in Armenia, Gazprom's Deputy CEO Valery Golubev was quoted as saying by ArmRosgazprom Tuesday.

As a result, Gazprom's total contribution in the construction of the unit is expected to amount to $460 million.

The fifth power unit is expected to be launched by the end of 2010.

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom owns 80% of ArmRosgazprom and the Armenian government owns 20%.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Passing On The Torch

It seems that the old boys are just passing the torch to their sons to carry on their work. In Azerbaijan it's the Aliev's and in NKR it seems to be include the Yesayan's.

I know Karen Yesayan and also his father Oleg, who if you ask me are both quite corrupt. Karen's uncle Seroshik is a history teacher and one of the nicest most humble people I know in Martuni.

I would say it is safe to say that with Karen as the Minister of Economic Development, we will probably not see much develop in NKR during his time occupying this very important post.

The only positive thing I would hope will come from his appointment is that he finally opens up the only hotel in Martuni which he privatized and closed for remodeling almost 10 years ago, leaving Martuni without a place for visitors to stay at when visiting Martuni. I'm not even sure why he would have privatized the hotel when he did, as I and another Diaspora Armenian were in the processing of doing the same and we were ready to invest a large sum of money to modernize it.

Anyway, I really hope that the President made the right choice with this appointment, though like I said, this looks to be more like the torch being passed on to another member of the establishment.


Karen Yesayan appointed NKR Minister of Economic Development

http://www.a1plus.am/en/official/2010/06/2/karen-yesayan

On June 2, President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan signed a decree on releasing Benik Babayan from the post of Minister of Economic Development upon his own request.

By another presidential decree, Karen Yesayan was appointed Minister of Economic Development.

The latter is the son of former NKR Prime Minister, Armenian Ambassador to Russia Oleg Yesayan.