Could the fastest way to Washington's heart lead through its stomach? After a recent cool-down in US-Azerbaijani ties, US Chargé d’Affaires in Azerbaijan Donald Lu announced on May 14 that the US plans to buy food supplies -- along with building materials and other non-military equipment -- for its Afghanistan campaign from Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani news services reported.
"We believe that Azerbaijan has quality products for sale . . . " an upbeat Lu told participants at a US-Azerbaijan security seminar in Baku. "Quality" searches for other products are apparently planned for Georgia and Armenia as well.
The scale of the American purchases in Azerbaijan will depend on the quality of the products, commented one US foreign policy advisor.
With the start of the summer travel season, an Armenian-American writing for The Armenian Reporter under the pen name Dro Tsarian has provided ten unusual tips for Armenian Diaspora members who want to explore their roots, yet promote a few rules of conduct within Armenia at the same time.
Among the recommended no-nos: don't let anyone cut in front of you in line, don't pay bribes, don't give money to beggars, don't "be fooled by sob stories," don't purchase real estate at "anywhere near" its listed price, and . . . don't wear black.
“If each visitor from Diaspora does his or her small part to set the right example and to also demand the same from locals, Armenia will improve a lot quicker,” advises Tsarian.
As many as 300,000 Armenians could leave for the greener pastures of Russia, Europe and the United States, if quality of life within Armenia does not improve quickly, the UNDP report concluded. Armenian men who work abroad and send home their earnings -- a significant part of the Armenian economy – might well choose to import their families, if the government does not manage to create more jobs, stability and democracy, the report said.
Armenians first started leaving their homeland en masse during the topsy-turvy years of the Soviet Union's breakup.
Moscow and Tbilisi may not be on speaking terms, but showbiz knows no borders. When Russia celebrated Victory Day on May 9, once more there was a Georgian singing a song written by a Georgian about a war victory presided over by a Georgian.
Moscow applauded; Tbilisi was appalled.
Keta Topuria, the lead singer of the popular Russian pop-band A-Studio, donned a Russian marine’s outfit, a beret with a hammer and sickle pin, walked to Red Square and sang an iconic Soviet war song, written by Georgian-born bard Bulat Okudzhava.
Topuria’s performance sparked a firestorm in Tbilisi. An upcoming concert in her native Georgia was immediately cancelled. “You do not dance and caper before the enemy,” bristled Georgian Culture Minister Nikoloz Rurua.
Georgian singers stood up for Topuria, saying that the concert was about defeating Nazi Germany and had nothing to do with the 2008 Georgia-Russia war. Post-war performances in Russia by other Georgian singers, such as international opera star Paata Burchuladze and veteran romantic ballad-singer Nani Bregvadze, have also raised patriotic eyebrows in Tbilisi.
Looks like the young Azerbaijani soccer club Gabala is in safe hands now. Premier UK soccer player and sports manager Tony Adams is coming to town to coach the team for between five to 10 years. Adams has vowed to bring the small-town club to the highest international standards. Mark my words, the former Arsenal defender said, we “are definitely creating history” here!
If local media is to be trusted, Baku may need to pony up an annual bill to the tune of 1.5 million pounds, or about $2.2 million. Tony insists the actual bill is lower, but even so, what’s a couple of million between true soccer fans?
A Brazilian soap opera would look tame by comparison. In the latest installment of Georgia's ongoing clash between Orthodox Christian fundamentalists and cultural liberals, Malkhaz Gulashvili, the founder of the ultra-radical People's Orthodox Movement, has hightailed it to separatist South Ossetia after a TV station fistfight which he claimed was the work of a pro-government think tank.
Liberals counter that Gulashvili's People's Orthodox Movement disrupted the broadcasts at Kavkasia television station, which had the indiscretion to discuss the smutty, anti-Church novel Saidumlo Siroba/Holy Crap in a May 7 talk show that included Gulashvili, publisher of The Georgian Times.
Police arrested seven young activists for the brouhaha, but Gulashvili, allegedly skirting both Russian and South Ossetian border guards, fled through the mountains with his son to Tskhinvali, a flight he claimed was prompted by an attempt by Tbilisi assailants to rape the young man.
Confused yet? But wait, there's more. Brandishing the charge of "fascism," some liberals have accused Gulashvili of being a Russian spy on a mission to destabilize Georgia in the run-up to the country's May 30 local elections.
Tune in next week when, undoubtedly, in one format or another, the drama will continue.
While Turkey and Russia plow along with natural gas pipelines north and south of the Black Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania have decided that the shortest and fastest distance between two points is a straight line.
Baku, Tbilisi and Bucharest on May 12 set up a company that will build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on either side of the Black Sea to get Eastern Europe the Russia-free natural gas it reportedly craves.
LNG naysayers point to the project's technical difficulties and to its lack of financing plans to argue that the trio's expectations may be getting the best of them.
Compared with the tangled Nabucco pipeline drama, however, the LNG project partners have little in the way of outstanding political issues. The project's key to success may lie in the old Russian maxim "The fewer people, the more oxygen." ("Меньше народу, больше кислороду.")
As Georgia rushes to embrace Western ways, a cultural taboo on sex before marriage for women is one tradition that is still holding strong. And even while acknowledging the macho tenets that shape it, the taboo is one tradition that many Georgian women from all walks of life say they do not want to buck.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took part this weekend in the cherry-picking history game that both Russians and Georgians like to play. Laying a stone at the new "We Were Together in the Fight against Fascism" memorial, Putin took his audience down memory lane to a time when Georgians and Russians had a common enemy.
“We are ready to engage in dialogue with every constructive political force in Georgia,” declared Putin after ragging on Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for allegedly trying to erase positive Georgians' positive recollections of Russia. Saakashvili, falling into the "non-constructive" category, was not invited to Moscow for the 65th anniversary of the Nazi defeat.
Two of the “constructive” politicians on hand in Moscow were ex-Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze and ex-Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli. The two, neither of whom boast poll ratings to rank in the A-league of Georgian politicians, told domestic audiences that Putin wants peace.
The establishment of direct contacts between Georgians and Abkhaz and South Ossetians could prove the test for any peaceful feelings. Noghaideli last week called for discussion to focus on "the return of people, nations," rather than "the return of territories," while Burjanadze today told the BBC that she hopes that "Russia will not hinder" such contacts.
Tbilisi mayoral candidate Zviad Dzidziguri has a gun and is not afraid to use it. The Conservative Party leader says he pulled out his gun and fired several shots into the air on May 6 to defend himself from poster-bearing supporters of his rival, Mayor Gigi Ugulava of the ruling United National Movement.
Conservative Party loyalists and government supporters blame each other for starting the brawl. The Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation. “If such provocations repeat themselves, I will do the same,” Dzidziguri declared.
Mayor Ugulava described the incident as an attack on the United National Movement and called on all political groups competing for Georgia's key municipal office to exercise restraint during the campaign season.
But after a May 6 smash-up between protesters and police, popular fears persist that the campaign may descend into bare-knuckle confrontation.
What room, if any, will be given to ideas may be determined this weekend during televised candidate debates on Georgian Public Broadcasting co-financed by USAID. Aside from Ugulava and Dzidziguri, the debates will feature Alliance for Georgia leader Irakli Alasania, ex-energy boss Giorgi Chanturia for the Christian-Democratic Movement, and beer magnate Gogi Topadze of the Industrialists Party.
