Photo for December 19, 2006.

atar, originally uploaded by nazarian.

The stacked blocks on the left hand side are atar (dried cow dung).



This is not far from Aparan, Armenia, where there are not many forests, and firewood is even more scarce than in the rest of Armenia. Atar has traditionally been used as a heating material in this region. The dung is spread under the sun, and is dried up while the sun rays kill any potential parasites. Once the atar is dry, it's collected and stacked for the winter.



In the winter atar is burnt in stoves. It doesn't smell bad.

Kocharian visits the border. (older blog that was deleted)

Kocharian_visits_the_border, originally uploaded by nazarian.

So I came across an article about the Armenian President's visit to the army barracks of the border forces.

In the picture he has the same facial expression and mannerism that I remember seeing some 15 years ago. In 1990, when we were still part of the Soviet Union, the conflict in Karabagh was heating up. The Azeris were a much more powerful force than us and had firearms at their disposal. The Soviet army was on their side as well. Well, you don't want to face the barbaric Azeris and the Russians with sticks and stones that we had at the time. Right until 1993 the Azeris were a couple of steps ahead of the Armenians in terms of armaments. When we stated getting our hands on some automatic weapons, they were already using heavy arms and armored transport. By 1994, most of the arms the Armenian forces used were captured from the Azeris.

So the solution in 1990 was to manufacture our own weaponry, and a few people in our town started making some rifles. These were bolt-action rifles but were better than anything used before. Plus, they used the 7.62 mm cartridge from AK-47.

When a couple of prototypes were made, Kocharian came over to have a look and see whether they could be used by the self-defense groups in Karabagh. At the time he was the coordinator of the yerkrapah (self-defense) forces in Karabagh.

He looked exactly as he looks in this picture while he was inspecting the rifle. My guess is that he likes guns (probably a little more than the majority of men in the world).

BTW, the use of these rifles were extremely limited as they became obsolete very quickly and AK rifles were inherited from the Soviet Army.

UPDATE: The Armenia Blog has an update on the rifle in question. It's a Serbian made Zastava M93.

Entrepreneurial mentality taking hold in the art scene in Armenia.

There was a small item today in the 'Haykakan Zhamanak'. It was describing the working conditions in the Paronian Comedy Theater in Yerevan. The theater is losing audience because their productions are not any better than the rest of the theaters, yet the theater building is hot during summers, and cold during the winters. The audience prefer to go to the theaters that have air conditioning or central heating instead as it is not worth sacrificing their comforts.



Well, entrepreneurship has triumphed. In another small article it tells the story of Paronian Theater being on a tour in Gyumri and Vanadzor where they have been successful. It is nice to see the art scene having managers who will take ownership of the problems and start looking for solutions instead of giving up and expecting to get subsidies from the government.

Photo for December 13, 2006.

ThePathToTheBridge, originally uploaded by nazarian.

The path to the bridge.

An interesting tidbit about the Azeri soldier apprehended by the Karabagh border guards.

While browsing zerkalo.az, a (usually anti-Armenian hate filled) newspaper based in Azerbaijan, I came across an interesting tidbit about the Azeri soldier apprehended by the Karabagh border guards. A wekk or so ago the Armenian news sources reported that an Azeri soldier was captured after he crossed the border and entered Karabagh.



Well, it turns out the soldier, Vusal Garajayev, is from a poor family. His mom tells Zerkalo that her son suffers from bronchial asthma. She says that their family did not have enough money to treat his illness. As far as I know, kids who have health problems like that are not sent to combat duty. My guess is that when she says 'treat his illness' she really means 'pay bribe to get him free' of army duty or a cushy position like a cook.



An earlier version of the article had a mention of earlier incidents like this when the Azeri soldiers were captured and then returned to Azerbaijan. It turns out that these soldiers were convicted of treason and sentenced to 12-13 years in prison. There was a 'military analyst' who claimed that the border is mined both on the Azeri and the Armenian sides, and crossing it is a dangerous endeavor. So the explanation given that this Garajayev fella crossed because of heavy fog seemed unlikely to this analyst. What he implied was that this was either a premeditated act of 'treason', or some botched reconnaissance mission. The truth may be that he simply escaped the bullies.

The Economist ranks Armenia at 110 in its '2006 Economist Intelligence Unit democracy index'

In an article titled 'A pause in democracy’s march', The Economist has ranked Armenia at 110 in its democracy index for 2006.



When I was looking for the Armenian rating, I scrolled to the bottom and came across Azerbaijan. I hesitated for a moment - should I scroll further down or go up? Azerbaijan was rated at 129. Then I scrolled up and found Armenia among the 'hybrid' regimes flanked by Haiti and Kyrgyzstan. Armenia is below Gambia and Haiti but is ahead of Kyrgyzstan and Iraq. See the pdf file here.



There is not much to say about this ranking except to be happy that Armenia is not among the authoritarian regimes. It would be if it ranked 113.



Maybe next year...

Lookalikes.

Russian Nuclear Chief Sergei Kiriyenko










US Secretary of State Condy Rice

The exam time is upon us.

We are about to enter the crappiest time period for students - the two week period filled with projects due and the final exams. I've been busting my chops on a managerial economics project and preparing for a cost accounting exam next Wednesday. Then I have to prepare for the exam for the managerial economics class. I used to think that I liked economics but have changed my mind after this semester. Regressions and decision trees make sense but I still find that there is too much math involved. Yes, the production capacity for a plant is non-linear but I do not want to sit down and calculate where the marginal benefit is equal marginal cost.



Hopefully I'll be able to retain some of this knowledge.

The noose is tightening around Armenia.

Well, it's final!



The Kars - Tbilisi - Baku railroad is going to be built. The construction starts in spring 2007. This is despite the pretending by the Armenian government to stop any progress of the negotiations, and the promises gained by the US government not to participate in the funding of the project. The estimated cost of the new railroad is $480 million which is a small amount - even Armenia would be able to raise enough funds. The excitement of the Foreign Minister Oskanian over the US promises was ill founded.



Well, while the Armenian nation is busy spending its resources on the recognition of the 1915 Genocide, the Azeris and the Turks have been busy achieving practical results in isolating Armenia further. The isolation of Armenia is a stated strategic goal of Azerbaijan. Once this railroad is built, all that remains to make Armenia a geopolitical ghetto is to build a pipeline and a railroad from Iran to Georgia via Turkey or Azerbaijan.

Photo for December 5, 2006.

LonelyBench, originally uploaded by nazarian.

I tried sitting on this bench and I felt like a little child. It's just too high. My feet could not reach the ground.