Saving the World American Style

I am always so baffled at Americans and their blindness to reality in terms of their ideas on how they will save the less fortunate in the world.

In a November 20th article that ran in the Glendale News Press titled “Giving help, a box at a time”, I was saddened to see that Americans of Armenian decent feel the need to help with providing gifts to less fortunate children of the world, in the case of this story, the children of Iraq.

A 17-year-old student from Clark Magnet High School in La Crescenta, CA, Jenny Lee, was quoted as saying, “"We have so much here. The least you could do is buy something for just $1 or $2. Just donating will make us happy and make them happy."

So Jenny, a member of her school's student government, set out to help her school gather dozens of boxes of toys, school supplies, shoes and clothes to donate to the women and children of Iraq. The boxes were handed over to Passions & Dreams Funding, an organization accepting donations that will be sorted out and shipped to Iraq.

The founder of Passions & Dreams is an ethnic Armenian Silva Mirzoian, who I’m sure started her band-aid organization with good intentions, but the question I have to ask is if America should be the nation to administer band-aids to those who they have injured in the first place?

Getting back to Jenny’s stating that America has so much, I would think that the question of why America has so much and Iraq, China and Armenia has so little should be asked?

According to the CIA world factbook, America is a country that imports almost twice as much as it exports. It’s GDP per capita is $37k, compared to China’s $5k, Armenia's $3,500 and oil rich Iraq’s $1,500.

America labor force by occupation is: farming, forestry, and fishing 2.4%, manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts 24.1%, managerial, professional, and technical 31%, sales and office 28.9%, other services 13.6%

America’s GDP composition by sector is lead by service at 72.5%. This just does not add up and you have to ask the question if America’s economy is based on service and they are importing $713.24 billion more than they export, where is all the wealth coming from to explain Jenny’s statement of America having so much?

For those that need a clue on where to start to look for answers, consider this. The American government is a constitution-based federal republic with strong democratic tradition. It is not a democracy. It has international aid programs that stipulate foreign governments to implement a democratic system (something that America itself does not have), the same democratic system that John Adams, one of Americas founding fathers stated, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

Jenny if it really did effect you to watch a video of Iraqi girls playing with rocks instead of dolls and you really want to help, you can help out by learning to live with a little bit less and send the message to your leaders that it is wrong to invade countries (by military force and with aid programs that were designed to have the same effect) in the name of American interests, since such invasions deplete countries of their much needed resources for a promising future, leaving behind only rocks for little girls to play with.

Though I don’t agree with the allegations in this article, I’m am printing it to document on what steps the some people will go to cover up what I’ve personally witnessed to be true and that is the worst kind of corruption in our educational system.

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
19 November 2004

Youth Wings Deepen Armenian Coalition Friction

By Nane Atshemian

Leaders of the youth league of the Republican Party (HHK) publicly castigated their counterparts from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) on Friday, in a further sign of mounting tensions between two key members of Armenia’s ruling coalition.

The young Republicans, who control student councils at virtually all state-run universities, rejected Dashnaktsutyun allegations of large-scale corruption in the Armenian system of higher education.

Leaders of Dashnaktsutyun’s Nikol Aghbalian student organization said on Tuesday that an opinion poll which they conducted among over 1,000 students found a widespread perception of corrupt practices affecting their studies. The State Medical University was rated as the most corrupt, with 72 percent of respondents there saying that their professors routinely take bribes to give high marks during admission and other exams.

Nikol Aghbalian said they have also found that virtually no professors and lecturers at the 11 universities have been fired for bribery in recent years.

The accusations prompted an angry rebuttal from representatives of the student councils that are mostly affiliated with the HHK and have close ties with university rectors. Speaking at a news conference, they dismissed the poll conducted by the Dashnak students as fraudulent.

Armen Ashotian, the leader of the HHK’s youth wing and an aide to the Medical University rector, claimed that the corruption allegations are politically motivated. He also charged that Dashnaktsutyun has links with private medical schools and wants to discredit his university to benefit them. “We as well as some sections of the public are well aware of that,” he said.

Robert Makarian, who heads the student council at the State Agricultural Academy, said Nikol Aghbalian leaders have never raised their grievances with the councils. “Dashnaktsutyun’s student union is absolutely unaware of how students live and what their problems are,” he said.

The accusations come amid increasingly tense relations between the Republicans led by Prime Minister Andranik Markarian and their junior coalition partners. Dashnaktsutyun and the third coalition party, Orinats Yerkir, have been pushing for a major change in Armenia’s electoral system that would increase the number of parliament seats contested under the proportional system.

The HHK, on the other hand, has a vested in maintaining the 56 of the 131 seats distributed in individual constituencies. Its uncompromising stance has led Dashnaktsutyun to threaten to pull out of the coalition.

The news conference by the Republican student leaders also featured verbal attacks on Education Minister Sergo Yeritsian, a senior member of Orinats Yerkir. “Our education minister is dealing with anything except student problems,” said Makarian.

I don’t know how the allegations of Iran developing a nuclear weapon is being covered in the United States, but on CNN International, it seems to be big news. The source of these very serious allegations is coming from National Council for Resistance in Iran, which the news reports having been reliable in the past with exposing Iran’s nuclear development programs. They added that there is no hiding the fact that they intend to hurt the present government, which means that they may not be all that reliable.

What concerns me the most is that U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday that the U.S. has intelligence that Iran is working to adapt missiles to deliver a nuclear weapon, further evidence that the Islamic republic is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb. Didn’t the U.S. have intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? We know where that got them and how reliable that intelligence was.

Though the report does not straight out accuse Iran, it plants a seed of doubt in the minds of the viewer. This seems to fall in line with what we saw months before America attacked Iraq (both times). I get the feeling that America is back to manipulating the general public to gain popular support so they could carry out their invasion of Iran with little protest and most will feel that it is justified.

There was also coverage of some statement made by Russia about a mobile nuclear weapon that CNN has presented as only being a threat to the United States, because anti-ballistic defense systems the US has, can’t prevent the missiles from hitting their target. I wonder what this is about.

I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but when America’s economy is in a frail condition, America goes to war. Could Afghanistan and Iraq have not been enough for this last round of an economic boost? I know that Iran has been on the US wish list of countries to re-invade and control since the US backed Shah was dethroned.

I can say one thing and that is that the U.S. will do everything it has to in order to gain control of Iran and if this war does break out, Armenia is going to suffer big time. I also think that Russia and China will side with Iran, which means that this will be a much bigger war than Iraq and the losses on all sides will be very heavy.

43 PERCENT OF STUDENTS READY TO JOIN ANTI-CORRUPTION INITIATIVE AGAINST UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS: Nikol Aghbalian student organization and the Armenian Youth Forum unveiled today the findings of a survey they conducted between January and September this year among students of 11 state-run universities to disclose the students' perception of university corruption. Another goal pursued by the survey organizers was to learn one of the main reasons behind university corruption and what the students thought about fighting against it.

Some 18 percent of respondents said the corruption resulted from very low salaries of their professors, 17 percent said bribes are paid by male students who want to dodge their compulsory military service and 16 percent said corruption flourishes because corrupted professors enjoy university managers protection.

Twenty-two percent of students believe the majority of bribes is paid during entrance and post-graduate examinations. Yet another 20 percent believe that university corruption can be fought against given the support of university managers, state officials and students themselves.

Forty-three percent said they were ready to join any anti-corruption initiative, while 32 percent believe that any such initiative is doomed to failure.

Between 2000-2004 only five professors were dismissed on charges of corruption.

TIMES ONLINE

November 13, 2004

Abandoned Armenia faces extinction
BY JEREMY PAGE

One in three has left the impoverished state of Armenia since it gained independence and the young are leading the rush

SVETLANA SIMONYAN wants her children to come home.

Her daughter, Narine, was the first to leave Armenia, moving to Russia with her husband in 1998. Artur, her eldest son, headed for Volgograd in 2000. His brother, Armen, followed in 2002 — the last of the Simonyan children to join a decade-long exodus that has made Armenia one of the world’s fastest disappearing nations.

“They couldn’t find work. They just couldn’t afford to live here,” said Mrs Simonyan, wholives with her disabled husband in the village of Sasunik, a former state grape farm an hour’s drive from Yerevan.

She does not blame her children. They were just three of an estimated one million people — a third of the population — who have left Armenia since it gained independence from the crumbling Soviet Union.

But she, like many Armenians, worries that the relentless outflow threatens the existence of the state that her people struggled for so long to create.

“If there are no systemic changes in Armenia, we could face a catastrophe,” says Vardan Gevorgyan, a sociologist. “We will not disappear as an ethnic or cultural group in the world, but we will cease to be an effective republic.”

Already more Armenians, four million, live outside the country than inside after successive waves of emigration going back centuries. They send back more than $1 billion a year — nearly double the Government’s entire budget.

The extent of the demographic crisis, however, depends on which statistics you believe. And that depends on your politics. This year, the results of a 2001 census recorded a population of 3.2 million. “I’d like to take those numbers at face value,” says Vartan Oksanyan, the Foreign Minister. “Emigration numbers have dwindled. The economy is doing better. There are more jobs.”

But opposition politicians and many sociologists put the real population as low as 2 million. They say that the discrepancy is due to the number of emigrants still registered as Armenian citizens because they are living illegally abroad.

The village of Sasunik is a perfect example. Hajkaz Gulanyan, head of the local government, says that its official population is 3,300, but in reality it is just 2,400. Over the past five years a quarter have left — some to Germany and the Netherlands but most to Russia, which Armenians can enter without visas.

“It may sound a little harsh, but it seems we are a nation of emigrants,” he says over coffee in his dilapidated headquarters. “Personally, I don’t think you should live just where you can find work and food to eat. You should stay in your homeland.”

The exodus is especially painful for Armenians because of their long history of suffering.

In the past century alone, between 500,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Turks and up to 200,000 Armenians died in the Soviet Army in the Second World War. Tens of thousands more were killed in the war with Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. Also, an earthquake in 1988 claimed more than 25,000 lives.

Most of today’s émigrés are young, male and educated, the ones the country needs to survive. The result is a vicious demographic cycle — fewer marriages, a lower birth rate and an ageing population which exacerbate the poverty that drives people away. Roughly 56 per cent of the population are female, compared with 51 per cent in 1979. Half the population lives on pensions and government handouts.

“Our most important resources are our human resources, and today we are losing them,” says Hranush Kharatyan, the Government’s adviser on demography. “If nothing changes, we expect a disaster in the next 40 to 50 years.”

She says that the only solution is to eradicate government corruption. “Young people must be free to develop businesses, to become government officials and to know that if there is a trial, it will be fair,” she says. Only then will emigrants start to return for good.

There are examples of successful “repatriates”, such as the Foreign Minister who left America in 1992 with a master’s degree in international law and diplomacy. “There was an inner force within me to return to Armenia, to be here in historic times. I wanted to be present at its creation,” he says. Two years later, his wife and two children joined him. “We’re here to stay,” he says.

But for the moment, that is the luxury of successful émigrés. Back in Sasunik, Mrs Simonyan has a visitor. Hamlet, her husband’s nephew, has taken a holiday from his job in Moscow to see his wife and children, who stayed behind.

He would like to come back, he says. It is tough living in Moscow, where Caucasians are often abused by police. But it is still better than Sasunik, where people scrape by on $500 a year from growing grapes. He can earn four times that in Moscow. “What can I do?” says Hamlet as he plays with his children in a house with no electricity, no gas, and running water for only an hour a day. “It’s Armenians’ destiny to live outside their homeland.”

ARMENIAN BEAUTY ANUSH GRIGORIAN 19, CROWNED QUEEN OF TOURISM 2004 IN CHINA
(www.armenianow.com )The Goris teenager (who was runner up for Miss Armenia 2003) was chosen over more than 30 other beauties in the competition that is part of a tourism expo held for the past 11 years.

Since independence, Armenian girls have entered dozens of pageants, but this is the first time one has come home with the top prize.

“All this was so unexpected to me,” said excited Anush upon her return to Armenia. “I took part in the contest very unexpectedly being late for 10 days, and my victory, just like my participation was a surprise.”

For winning, Miss Tourism 2004 receives $10,000 and a cup made of China porcelain. Second place went to a girl from Singapore, third to Estonia and fourth, to Russia.
Anush says she was proud to be Armenia’s ambassador in China.

“My victory made many learn about Armenia, that it was the first to adopt Christianity and is attractive for visiting,” she says. “Besides we were representing our values. I was the face of Armenia, but even the name of our country was unknown to many, and everybody was asking me where Armenia is.”

Contestants were judged on appearance, ability to communicate (Anush speaks four languages), and other merits.

The beauty queen, a student at Brusov State Linguistics University, says pageants are just a hobby for her, and that upon her graduation she’ll pursue her major interest, journalism.

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
11 November 2004

Iraqi Armenians Link Explosion Near Armenian Church in Baghdad to Armenia's Intention to Send troops to Iraq

By Anna Saghabalian

Representatives of Armenian community in Iraq believe that the suspected car bomb explosion near the Armenian Church St Grigor the Illuminator in Baghdad could be connected with Armenia's plan to send non-combat troops to Iraq.

Armenia is planning to dispatch a small unit of Armenian non-combat troops (50 military doctors, sappers and truck drivers) to Iraq. But the parliament has still to approve the decision.

Iraqi Armenian community leaders urged the Armenian government not to send any troops to Iraq, warning that the attacks against 25 thousand strong Iraqi-Armenians are almost imminent.

The director of Armenian school in Baghdad Tsovinar Ishkhanian told RFERL on Thursday that children were just leaving the school building when the explosion took place. The school has about 200 pupils.

Fortunately there were no casualties, Iskhanian said. The Armenian school in Baghdad will be closed in coming weeks, until security situation in the area improves, Iskhanian told RFE/RL.

Tsovinar Ishkhanian added that recently the Christian Churches in Iraq have become a target of frequent attack by insurgents. The Armenian community leaders believes that the attacks against the Armenian Church is linked to Armenia's intention to send troops to Iraq. She warned that if Armenian troops arrive in Iraq the attacks on Iraqi Armenians will intensify.

Fish Farm Blues…

Yesterday I got a call from by driver telling me that someone from the Hadrut government had come to the lake to take measurements and informed my guard that the city mayor of Hadrut, Vano, is taking over our lake.

I went down to the Martuni mayor to see if he could help me to make sense of this matter.

The facts that I had in hand was that almost 3 years ago, I presented a written request to the Martuni regional minister for the rental of the lake, from a directive from the Prime Minister, who told me that if I want to do fish farming, there is no need to build a lake, we already have a lake that he will give me.

My request was processed and due to the lack of a working law on the rental of water, I was eventually given a verbal directive/agreement from the regional minister to go and work the lake and as soon as the law was in place, all the necessary formal legal documents would be drawn up. He did this after talking to the regional minister of Hadrut, as to the status of the lake.

At that time, one issue came up, which was the Hadrut mayor, Vano had also wanted the lake, but after the Martuni mayor spoke with him, he withdrew any desire for the lake since the Martuni mayor is my friend.

So for the last 2+ years, I have been regularly checking in with the people at the regional ministers office to see if the conditions have been put in place so they could formalize the lake, the last time was at the beginning of October. At that time I was told that the new boundaries of the regions have been drawn up and unfortunately, the boarder between Hadrut and Martuni go right down the center of the lake. They said that it looks like we will have to sign two agreement or get the Prime Minister himself to draw up one agreement, which will be with him and not the regions. They told me they will explore the options and get back to me.

Before I was able to get back to them as I had planned by the middle of this month, I got the news of the Hadrut mayor, Vano, who had told my guard in 2 days he would be sending a new guard.

My consulting with the Martuni mayor ended with us calling the Martuni regional minister, who told me to come meet with him at 3pm. In the mean time, I had tried to call Vano, but his cell phone was unreachable.

I met with the regional minister, who first started out to tell me that it is too bad about Vano renting the lake, but I should have moved faster to get the papers drawn up and it is my fault that this has happened. I was a bit shocked to hear this and asked the regional minister as to what I should have done since his office didn’t know how to move forward and complete a job that we started over 2 years ago?

He called the regional minister of Hadrut to see what had transpired and was given an answer that they had decided to give the lake to Vano. The Martuni regional minister asked him as to how he was able to give a lake since half of it belonged to Martuni and he (the Martuni regional minister) had not given his approval? He said a few more words and hung up the phone.

He told me that Vano is a very difficult man to deal with and it looks like it would be best that I go speak with the Prime Minister about this matter, as it seems the regional minister of Hadrut’s decision is final.

I called the Prime Minister’s office to make an appointment, to be told that I would have to call back in a week to see when I could meet with him.

Due to the 2 day notice that Vano gave my guard, I once again tried to call Vano to find out if in fact everything I am being told is legal and final.

After a few tries, I was successful in contacting Vano. At first he seemed very defensive, so I assured him that if everything he did was legal, then he has nothing to worry about. He said that he had asked the regional minister of Hadrut if anyone has a request to rent the lake and he was told no. He wrote a request in May of 2004 and was now given approval and effectively is now in control of the lake.

I told him that I had a request from a couple years back with the Martuni regional ministers office, which was received prior to his request, so I can’t understand how the lake could be his? I added that I have until now spent thousands of dollars to maintain the lake with the understanding that it would be given to me when the laws were in place.

He said that the lake is not part of the Martuni region and the regional minister does not know what he is talking about. He told me the boarder is over a kilometer away from the lake and the whole lake is in Hadrut. He is sorry for the misunderstanding, but it is too late, the lake is his.

I told him that I was waiting for a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss this matter, as I have done everything by the book and on directives from the government, who should have known better and this whole thing is a slap in the face to me and people like me that come here not knowing all the ins and outs and follow the directions of the people in government who should know. I added that I would call him if I learned anything new.

I went back to see the regional minister with the new information I obtained from Vano and said that for the sake of time, I should try not to meet with the Prime Minister, but meet with his aid, who I had spoken to who instructed me to call back next week.

The regional minister called the aid, told him the reason for my wanting to meet. The aid said that he didn’t understand, the law for rental of water had not yet been adopted and is expected to be adopted on the 16th or 23rd, so there is no way anyone could rent the lake.

So it seems that good old Vano and the people in the Hadrut government are playing games and have in effect created documents that are not legal in order to take my lake away from me.

I tried to call Vano all day today to ask him to wait on sending his guard to my lake, which today I found out he is planning to put Nelson, the fisherman who I use to use that stole fish from me in April 2003 who I pressed charges against, which resulted in him compensating me 12,000 dram. I also want to meet with Vano face to face, see the documents that he claims to have (get copies of them too) and then try to see if he is willing to continue his offer of not wanting the lake, being that I’m the mayor of Martuni’s friend and future Nephew-in-law.

One of the greatest leaders of the 20th century and personification of the Palestinian cause has died.

The world will morn the loss of President Yasser Arafat a man who believed in peace and was recognized as such in 1994, when he was awarded a Nobel Peace prize.

I learned of his death while waiting my turn to visit with the Martuni regional minister. Waiting with me was the head doctor of our military hospital, who asked me if I heard about Arafat’s passing away? I said no, but I am saddened by the news. He asked me why would I be sad, he was a terrorist. I told the good doctor that is only a matter of opinion, as some of the greatest Armenians in modern history were deemed terrorists by many, but are hero’s to us. I added that if Arafat was a terrorist, he was one with humanitarian intentions.

Abu Ammar, you were a great man, who did great work for your people. Though I am not Palestinian, I have a great deal of respect for you and will remember your example for many years to come. May to soil of your motherland lay lightly on you as you rest in peace and may your example live on forever in people who desire freedom and peace.

To the Palestinian people, I send to you my condolences for the loss of your great leader.

I’ve done a little bit of restructuring at my beauty salon and other business ventures. My general manager/accountant, who was the originator for the idea of opening the salon seemed to be the source of conflicts in my life, with her overly eager and unwelcomed need to be helpful in areas where she had no business being involved in. In short, I was having to work more in the area of damage control with issues of business and personal matters than I should because of her.

I had warned her in the summer that she was under no circumstance to be involved in matters of my personal life, this after she repeated something I had told her in confidence, from which started a string of rumors. Then at the end of summer, we had a repeat performance, to which I decided that her behavior was not going to change, so it was time to reduce my liabilities and fire her.

Fortunately for her, when she violated my trust the last time, I was in Yerevan and could not fire her on the spot, which gave me time to reconsidered the option of firing her and out of kindness to make it possible for her to be a more desirable person to be hired elsewhere, I took a business like approach and in the name of good business, I eliminated her job, justifying it as a budget cut. Her last day was Friday, this after giving her a months notice of the elimination of her job, to give her a chance to find another job, which she was unable to.

I have now found an accountant who I will be talking to tomorrow, who use to work at the tax office, but quit her job to care for her daughter, who was born with Down Syndrome. I will only need her to work a few days a month, to keep our books and make sure our taxes and pension fund contributions are paid up, the rest (making payments and purchases), my driver will do.

As for the rest of the work at the salon, my friend who I am leasing the salon building from, his mother Era (who is like a second mother to me), will be working with me to manage.

Though until now and from the first day we opened the salon, we have only had a profit of about $50 a month, from the last couple days of being present at the salon, business has picked up quite a bit. Though I don’t suspect my former accountant/general manager of any wrong doing (other than maybe not doing), it seems that what people have been telling me of my employees not reporting all the work they do, could be true.

From the register they keep of the income at the salon, which is just a book that sometimes reflects each individual transaction and other times just a total income of the day, it does not seem to reflect accurately everything. I know of one transaction that took place a few days ago for 2,500 drams ($5) by my driver’s wife, which didn’t seem to make it in the books. From what I understand and from what I’ve seen over the last few months, my accountant/general manager when she was present, sat in her office playing computer games or watched television and didn’t pay much attention to who was coming and going to the salon and keeping good control of the income.

I guess in time and with more control of the comings and goings of the salon with the daily presents of Era, we will see if there is an increase in profits or not. One thing I have already done is print up a receipt book so every transaction is recorded properly.

Another thing Era and I are discussing to increase business is to hire another hairdresser (she would also act as a safety net for use if the present one quit or if we had to fire her). The woman that is interested in joining us has a beauty salon near the bazaar. One of her reasons for wanting to join us is that not only are we looking for a second person, but because she will soon have to relocate her business which is one of those temporary tin booths. It will be more profitable for her to join us and of course for us it will be beneficial, as she is the popular hairdresser of the older folks in Martuni.

Anyway, tomorrow is the first day of business with our new manager Era, who my employees don’t know about yet, so I have to be present to hand over control to her and introduce the change to those she will be managing.