Banana Republic: The Armenian authorities to ban Radio Liberty local broadcasts

The only mass media outlet currently in Armenia that is not controlled by the Armenian government is the Radio Liberty. Since the Kocharian/Serj Sargsian duo tightened their grip on Armenia after the October 27 parliament massacre in 1999, they have relentlessly pursued and closed down any independent media outlet that has had more than a marginal audience. A1Plus TV station is a prime example of that (today they only operate a news website).

Now the administration has turned their sights at Radio Liberty. As you may know, Radio Liberty is a radio network funded by the US government and its task is to disseminate news in different languages. Its primary target markets were the countries behind the iron curtain during the Cold War. In the old times their broadcasts were jammed by the Soviets. One would think that after the USSR break-up it would seize to target these countries. But it didn't and for a good reason. Most of the former USSR republics were either autocratic regimes, or slowly turned into autocratic regimes in the 90-s. Only the Baltic states are free countries with Georgia and Ukraine being somewhat free. The rest of them are not places that one would want to live in with Uzbekistan being the worst.

I am surprised at the audacity of the Armenian government. Not even Russia has tried to ban RFE/RL from their country. I don't know if they are going to get away with it. The number one reason I think they can't get away with it is that they depend a lot on the handouts from the American government; if you are a beggar, you don't have much of a leverage on your beneficiary. They may think that this way they will blackmail the US and get some more money but it sure will backfire on them. They will eventually pay for this one way or another.

Here are a few links related to this story.
ArmeniaNow article
RFE/RL article

iPod vending machines.

I saw vending machines selling iPods and iPod accessories at the airport today. It's either new or I haven't paid attention to these things. Needless to say, these machines do not take cash; a 30 gig iPod was selling for $250 plus tax.

I wonder how successful this venture is going to be. I can't see myself using them but I am not in their target market. I didn't see if you could buy songs from iTunes as well. An empty or preloaded iPod is virtually useless so this cannot really be an emergency or impulse purchase. I am curious about the the thinking behind it.

Autocratic efficiencies.

The Chinese government is considering to reduce the 20% tax on the interest earned on savings accounts. They want to make this financial tool more attractive for the population. The money has been fleeing to the stock market which has had 130% increase in 2006 and 50% so far this year. When there is a lot of money chasing a few stocks in the market, it leads to inflated prices and general instability. That's when you start seeing irrational exuberance style outlook for the future earnings.

In the US the economists complain about the negative savings rate by the households (the overall savings rate is positive because of increased corporate profits during the last few years which offsets the drop in consumer savings). But when you look at the big picture, you see that people are not stupid or greedy; it just doesn't make sense to save money. For example, let's say you saved $100 for a year at 1.5% APY. In a year, you will have earned $1.50 interest. Because of inflation (assuming 3% annual rate), your $101.50 is now worth about $98.54 worth of dollars last year. So by keeping the money for a year, you have actually lost $1.46. But wait, there is more! You have to pay ordinary income tax on that $1.50. Assuming a 20% tax rate, your $1.50 now becomes $1.20 which makes the purchasing power of your money worth $98.25 - so in a year you lose $1.75 of purchasing power.

Removing the tax on savings accounts would not help much but it would be a way to rehabilitate the negative savings rate. But you need autocratic style of governance to take action like that. It's far more profitable for our politicians to squabble about the immigration issues and fear mongering than to actually try to resolve issues.

The Armenian government wants to develope the regions as well.

A few years ago I was talking to one of my friends in Yerevan and we started discussing the socio-economic situation in the regions. Anyone who has been in Armenia will have noticed the wealth concentrated in Yerevan, and the miserable situation in the rest of the country. His suggestion was to distribute the different ministries around the towns in the country. His logic was that the biggest driver of wealth in Armenia was the corruption in these administrative offices, so if you want to funnel money into the regions, the best way is to relocate these offices in the regions.

Such a solution seemed bizarre at the time because my thought was that the government should be trimmed down and the rules and regulations relaxed in order to eradicate corruption. But he knows the system and knew that fixing the Kafkaesque bureaucracy in Armenia is not going to happen. You solve problems with what you have and not what you wish you had (to quote Donald Rumsfeld).

Long story short, looks like the government has come to implement a program that's a mirror image of my friend's recommendation. They plan to move certain administrative functions to the regions - bank headquarters to Dilijan, some of the government agencies to Gyumri, etc.

Here is the RFERL coverage.

Խոսելով տարածքների համաչափ զարգացման մասին, վարչապետն առաջարկեց սկսել հենց Շիրակի մարզից, Գյումրիից` այնտեղ տեղափոխելով ենթակառուցվածքների մի մասը: Երեկ Սերժ Սարգսյանը առաջարկել էր բանկերի հիմնական գրասենյակները տեղափոխել Դիլիջան` Երեւանում թողնելով մասնաճյուղերը:

Read the text before you sign that dotted line.

In a new showcase for intolerance, a professor at the Yerevan State University has been expelled. While politically motivated dismissals are not anything new, even for the international organizations in Armenia, this one incident is really appalling. A number of students signed the request to have him dismissed. When questioned about what their complaints were, the signors said that they did not read the letter, signed it because of peer pressure, or the worst excuse of all, the professor was going to be dismissed whether they signed it or not.

Read the entire ArmeniaNow story for the details. You will gain a good insight into the youth who are going to be the future of the country. Sad...

Is there anything good going on in Armenia?

I realized that the content of my blog is the exact opposite of what one might see on Cilicia.com blogs - while cilicia.com shows the care-free lives of the repatriates in the Yerevan cafe scene, this blog focuses on the shortcomings of the Armenian system and often labels the country as a banana republic.

The question is whether my blog is too biased. I dislike authoritarian systems and corrupt governance but I am sure that there are positive events in Armenia. I just do not come across to them. Are there any resources that report such events?

Check this out!

glumbert.com - High Power Job

Social Security cards in Armenia.

Looks like according to Aravot there are about 200,000 citizens of Armenia who have not applied for the social security cards (SSC) and social security numbers (SSN) in Armenia. And it turns out that in order to get credit, they need their SSC. The constitutional court has ruled that the government cannot enforce the part 2 of article 11 (Հոդված 11. Սոցիալական քարտի եւ սոցիալական քարտի համարի կիրառումը - Article 11: SSC and SSN usage). Part 2 talks about tax, mandatory social security and other mandatory payments ( հարկեր, տուրքեր, պարտադիր սոցիալական ապահովագրության վճարներ, ինչպես նաեւ պարտադիր այլ վճարներ վճարելու ժամանակ.).

Well, the Aravot journalist is condemning the banks that require a SSC in order to issue credit, and claims what they do is illegal and unconstitutional.

Please!

The journalist should have read the law first, then the constitutional court decision before writing the article. And the Aravot editor should have done a little research before printing the article.

Where do you see in part 2, the unconstitutional portion of the law, which talks about credit issued by private banks? It talks about government related transactions. The private entities can ask for the SSC and SSN - they are issuing credit and not giving money away.

This is precisely the kind of articles that discredit the press in Armenia. A five minute research would have prevented the spread of illiteracy. How can these newspapers claim any credibility if they print garbage?

Մանկության մոլորակ - portal for kids.

Just came across the "Մանկության մոլորակ" / "Planet of childhood" web site. It's an amazing place. If you are intersted in Armenian fables, fairy tales and stories, there is a nice selectionj of those in Armenian, English and Russian. There are also audio books available for download.

The audio books are in Armenian. The texts are multilingual. Besides the Armenian authors they have Western authors as well.

Here is a nice Tumanian tale, the Stupid Person.

Nearly US$ 500k worth of items stolen from a home.

There was a reported burglary today in the town. Burglars stole nearly $500k worth of goods from a home - coin and stamp collection, etc. Luckily, the owner was not home at the time and was not hurt.

Here is a good advice - never keep valuables in your home. Keep jewelry and stuff that are not for everyday use in a bank safe deposit box. That way there will be less temptation for someone to break into your house, your stuff will not be stolen, and there will be less chance of you getting hurt if nobody thinks that you keep valuables at home.

The future of Armenia in a flat world.

If you follow the economic developments in the world, you might have noticed the flattening of the world. Distances, both geographic and cultural, do not hinder economic cooperation much. Economic interests of the countries are so intertwined that political disagreements are not allowed to shake the peace. A few years ago, when Pakistan and India almost went to war, it was the threat of GE, Microsoft and HP pulling their operations out of these countries that made them forget about war and instead opt for making money. The same goes for the USA-China relations. The populist windbags in the US may make a lot of noise but they will not go beyond that because everybody is making money. Most people agree that making money is better than killing people.

So where does Armenia fit in this picture? I am still unsure of Armenia's role and contribution to the global economy. It's a tiny market. Yerevan is a small city of 1 million people; there are dime a dozen of such cities around the world. Add to that the middle class is a small segment of the population that can afford a lifestyle of a Western citizen, and you see why a foreign corporation may not be interested to have an official presence in Armenia let alone have manufacturing operations.

My solution for this problem is to decide what the core competencies of Armenia as a nation are. It needs to become a cluster of operations it is good at.

Any low value added products are out of question. The export routes are unstable, costly and risky. So whatever is to be exported has to be high value added with low shipping costs. Intellectual property fits this bill perfectly.

- R & D cluster: once upon a time there was a strong scientific community in Armenia. It has been decimated since the independence and now is nothing more than club of elderly brown nosers involved in political games. There is some research going on but nobody hears about it. There need to be reforms in the field and a program to identify what the Armenian scientists are good at and promote these to the appropriate multinationals in the world.

- IT cluster: there have been some successful launches of IT projects in Armenia. But it's been limited in scope. I can see two reasons for this; the universities do not produce the right kind of knowledge, and language barrier. We still have professors from the Soviet times with their outdated knowledge. These folk are out of touch with the modern reality. A good way to breathe some fresh air into this situation is to invite industry experts who would volunteer a couple of weeks of their time to teach in universities. There should be a lot more emphasis on English. That's the language of IT and it's not going to change any time soon.

- Dried fruit cluster: Dried fruits are easier to transport, and there is a long tradition of drying fruits in Armenia. There is some work that's been done so far with dehydration facilities. I don't know what the export markets for these are. Dried fruits are a major component of Turkish exports so there could be some push back from them.

These are the three core competency areas for this post. I can think of a couple of more clusters (pharma R&D and final product manufacturing, banking) but that's for another post.

Feel free to comment with your ideas. Let's hammer out some knowledge - it may be useful for the future development of Armenia as a global entity.

Russia and democracy.

There was an article about Gary Kasparov on BBC. The readers of this blog probably know that he is trying to create a civil society in Russia by forming an opposition to Vladimir Putin's administration. But the main obstacle I see for his movement is the sentiment captured in the picture above. People want Putin to stay on.

I am fortunate not to live in Russia so I can't say if I would side with Mr. Kasparov or with Ms. Murkulova. As someone living in the US I side with Mr. Kasparov. Having opposing political forces is an important aspect of having a democracy, and the winner should be decided by the people; if Mr. Putin is genuinely popular he should not have feared Mr. Kasparov and should not have cracked the heads of the opposition demonstrators a few months back.

I am partial for the virtually limitless time someone can be at the helm of a country. The British system is a good example of that - as long as the parliament allows, one person can remain the prime minister. I can see the good sides of it such as executing long term plans. But the two term limit of the American system is good as well as the president is renewed at an interval of eight years maximum ensuring new blood at the top. Unless it's something like the Bush Jr. administration with the cold war dinosaurs like the VP and a few of the secretaries.

The laws of the land have to be respected. The constitution in Russia bars more than 2 terms for the same person as a president so let's see who becomes the next president. I hope it is going to be someone with less authoritarian mindset. After all, in the long run authoritarian rule brings more harm to a society than good.

Newly minted Armenian lawmakers.

I just came across the picture of a few Armenian lawmakers for the new National Assembly on zloyan's blog.

That's right. Although they look like late 19-th century shopkeepers in a Turkish bazaar, they are new Armenian parlamentarians.

Banana republic: the US government deports a US citizen

CNN has a news item on a mentally ill man who was deported to Mexico despite being a US citizen. Looks like all you need to be kicked out of the country is Latino heritage.

CNN.com Story Highlights
• Mom searching hospitals, shelters and jails here looking for her 29-year-old son
• ACLU: Guzman's birth certificate shows he was born in Los Angeles County
• Guzman's relatives sued Department of Homeland Security and L.A. County Sheriff
• ICE: " ... no reason to believe that (we) improperly removed Pedro Guzman"

The Turkish government is now after Hrant Dink's son.

First they tried to imprison Hrant Dink under article 301. Then they killed him.

Now they are prosecuting his son, Arat Dink, under article 301 as well. He is the current editor of the 'Agos' weekly. A coworker, Sargis Serobian, is accused of insulting Turkishness as well. They both face 3 years in prison. Here is the Radio Liberty article.

It is clear that the only Armenians the Turkish state tolerates are the ones who are kept under control and are silent. If any of them tries to speak up, they get hounded by the article 301, and may be physically destroyed as well. The main target seems to be 'Agos'; they want to close it down but they don't want to do it directly as that will affect their image in the West. Closing papers would be a big faux pas. So instead they are trying to break the will of the people who will stand behind 'Agos'. Once they are dealt with, the paper will close by itself.

Depressing anniversary.

15 years ago today the Shahumian region of Nagorno-Karabagh Republic, together with the village of Getashen, was invaded by the Azerbaijan Army and the Armenian civilian population was forcibly removed. Quite of few of them were murdered and the lucky ones were able to escape to the areas controlled by the Karabagh self-defense volunteer guards. It was a shocking event and these territories were never returned back. Needless to say, the refugees were never able to return to their homes either.

A couple of months after the loss of Shahumian I was in a hospital, and there was an elderly lady from Shahumian region as well. She was telling the story of them being removed from their homes. She had recently redecorated her home and had placed new curtains on the windows. Every now and then she would mention these new beautiful curtains that she had just installed.

I was a young man at the time and just couldn't understand why she would tell anyone passing nearby about these new curtains. She had lost her home, her land, all earthly possessions and she was focused on the loss of the curtains.

I think now I understand her.

Banana Republic

A town in Louisiana has passed an ordnance banning saggy pants, BBC reports. If one is caught with them, there is a USD 500 fine.

While I don't like these low hanging pants, making them illegal is something that banana republics would do. I would advise the town council to stop wasting the taxpayer money. These are the kind of things that make the South, and the US globally, a laughing stock.

President Bush gets his watch stolen.

This is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. President Bush gets his watch stolen in the Fushe Kruja village in Albania. Watch the following video and pay attention to his left arm between 52 and 1:03 interval. At the 52-nd second he goes to greet the people and he has his watch. At 1:03 second he doesn't have his watch. That's some swift work and Bush still hasn't realized what happened.

UPDATE: President Bush has denied that his watch was stolen. There is an ABC footage from a different angle that shows him take the watch off and put in his pocket.

What's wrong with this picture?

The Chinese ambassador is handing his credentials to Foreign Minister Oskanian. Notice that he is handing it with both hands but Oskanian is taking it with one hand. That's a big no-no to the Chinese.

Reported traffic accidents increase in Armenia.

A few months ago the Armenian traffic police stopped using the old technique of parking on a roadside and stopping the drivers for their 1000 dram bribes. They switched to mobile patrols like the rest of the civilized world.

A week or so ago there was an article in Haykakan Jamanak saying that since the adoption of the new procedures, the traffic accidents have increased. The tone questioned the efficiency of the new process.

let me tell you one thing - there are two ways to make a problem go away. One way is to fix the problem. The other way is to turn ignore it. If your goal is to report good numbers, the easiest route is to ignore the problems. When the cops had their roadside spots, they pretty much ignored anything that happened out of direct line of sight. So if there was an accident a couple of blocks away, they did not know about it.

The mobile police car is usually closer to the reality. if something happens, they may pop up out of nowhere and register the accident. Hence the increased number of such instances. The reporter should have made this clearer to the readers.

Dumb America.

What is wrong with this picture?

A kid got his hand stuck in the automatic door of the minivan. The mother takes a picture of the crying kid.

... She turned around to see her 3-year-old's hand trapped up to the palm in the rear of the sliding door, four fingers crushed with no way to pull them out.
Then she did something most mothers couldn't: she took a picture with her cell phone. "I wanted to be able to show the dealership, show Honda, what was going on."
Hoopes says this wasn't the first time the safety device failed to protect her son. She said Honda wasn't listening.
"The second time I was just furious," she commented. "I never would've thought in a million years that his hand would've gotten caught in the door. They showed me all of the sensors."...

Maybe she should have moved the seat farther away from the closing door after the first time. Or maybe her kid has a hard time learning that one should not stick hands in doors. Whatever the case, she will expect a big payout from Honda thatnks to this picture. What's worth more - the kid in pain or the prospect of a large sum of money. It looks like she chose the latter.

More of the story here.

Armenians in Turkey.

A few days ago there was a news report that the Turkish government wants to renovate the ancestral home of the late Armenian prime minister Andranik Margaryan in the town of Moush. There was a mention of the current demographics of the town - the majority are Kurds, and there are around 3,000 Armenians living there, too. I did not know that there were Armenians in Turkey besides the small community in Constantinopolis, and a village near the Syrian border.

Their situation must be tough as we saw last year when Hrant Dink was murdered in Istanbul for being an Armenian.

Today Jilda at Cilicia.com has posted an entry about the Armenians in Turkey.

IN Turkey of course, they are daily torn between their identity to live in, and the threaten represented by this very same identity; between a natural love for the land they live on since long and the risk this very same land is to them, regardless to the legitimacy of their presence there… etc To shorten the list : permanent fight on the wire (or blade) of the razor - another French expression.

It does confirm that they are between a rock and a hard place. She also touches upon the issue of them being constantly criticized by the rest of the diasporans. The frequency of scathing attacks on Mesrob Mutafian is disturbing. Before Hrant Dink was became a hero after his murder, he was frequently criticized as well. I've always found such criticism unfair and immoral. But it is easy to sit somewhere in the West and justify your existence by attacking the most vulnerable of the Armenian communities in the world.

Things are getting a little uncomfortable.

Pat Buchanan has a blog entry this week about the deteriorating relations between Russia and the US. He squarely puts the blame on George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In the minds of the American geo-political analysts, Russia has always remained the main global opponent, and defeating Russia is the ultimate dream. StratFor periodically devotes articles to the analysis of what the US wants to do. Even though not explicitly mentioned, the War on Terror, Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, etc., were just tactical steps into containing Russia. A couple of years ago they even patted themselves on the back for finishing the job in Iraq and were ready for the next step, Iran. Since then the mounting pressure from the US public seems to have convinced them otherwise.

I am not going to recite what Buchanan says but you can read it all here.

WOW!

Check this out. It's the tracking information of a book that I bought a couple of days ago. UPS never seizes to surprise me. It took two days for the package to be out for delivery after being shipped in Bangkok, Thailand. But sometimes it takes them more than a week to deliver a package from the neighboring state of Ohio!