Armenia: Beefing Up the Troops without the Beef

The other day Armenia demonstrated that its army is in tip-top shape and can even attack the oil facilities of much-hated neighbor Azerbaijan, if need be. But one question lingers on . . . where's the beef?

Roast beef has not been on the Armenian soldier’s menu for some time. Reportedly, until last month, the man responsible for military food supplies had been deviously serving frozen buffalo meat, imported from India, instead. Now from his prison cell, Albert Oganjanian, director of a local meat company, is threatening to tell the whole truth about this alleged swindle, possibly implicating some big guns.

Granted, you want to get for dinner what you ordered, but what’s the big fuss over buffalo meat?

At first glance, the Armenian army might have more pressing matters to deal with, such as rampant hazing, arbitrary punishments and a high number of non-combat fatalities, all trends that have drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups both at home and abroad.

And, when it comes down to it, buffalo meat, lower in fats and cholesterol and higher in proteins than beef, actually might be something a doctor would prescribe.

But, arguably, such a scandal is not what any doctor of politics would order for President Serzh Sargsyan, a former defense minister now facing reelection in early 2013.

Late last month, Sargsyan came out swinging about the ministry's supposed tolerance for individuals who allegedly pull fast ones with procurement, ordering Defense Minister Seyran Oganian and Chief of Staff Yuri Khachaturov to keep a watchful eye out.

The beef scandal goes deeper than just one corporate butcher. The army's deputy chief of staff, Arshaluis Paitian, who handled military procurements, was dismissed last month in connection with the tale. The defense ministry is now considering filing charges against a string of officials allegedly connected with the buffalo-beef switcheroo.

In time-honored fashion, however, it is keeping the details to itself. Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsrun Ovanisyan acknowledged the criticism for such an unsavory oversight as serving buffalo in the place of beef, but, hey, he said, Armenia's army food is still way better than what it was in the 1990s.