Baku insists that the time is up for Armenia to return to Azerbaijan bits of occupied land bordering disputed Nagorno Karabakh.
“Armenia has requested two weeks with regard to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but several months have gone by and there has been no reaction,” said Azerbaijani presidential spokesman Novruz Mamedov on May 5. Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said the same the day before, adding that the key mediators -- the US, France, Russia -- have proposed a timeline for the Armenian withdrawal from Lachin and Kelbacar, territory sandwiched between Armenia and Karabakh.
Yerevan has responded angrily, but did not outright deny discussions about the timeline for a potential pullout. “Some destructive people in Azerbaijan . . . are left with no other options than to offer endless lies, sable-rattling and muscle flexing,” said Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Tigran Balaian.
Oh, the horror! A green, biomorphic mountain of a building may arise in the good city of Yerevan if nobody stops Forrest Fulton Architecture.
The 915,000-square-foot creature is a competition proposal from the Birmingham, Alabama-based firm. Called Lace Hill, the project’s design is meant to pay tribute to Mount Ararat, the Armenian cultural symbol which sits just across the closed border in Turkey.
"Native plants" cover its hill, which breathes through apertures "recalling traditional Armenian lace needlework," and exudes water from some of them. Its bowels contain bars, restaurants, hotels . . . you name it.
Yerevan city planners have not officially expressed interest in the project, but the idea of having on home soil an Ararat-look-alike could prove alluring.
Radical Islam is already a household term, but how about some radical Christianity for a change? In Georgia every now and then, radical Christians and radical liberals come to blows -- both literally and figuratively.
The demonstration was topped off by the presentation of a new book that mocks the Georgian Orthodox Church. The title of the book, "Saidumlo Siroba," is a profane send-up of the Georgian term for the Last Supper. (It translates literally as "Secret Hogwash," but is closer to "Holy Crap.")
Needless to say, the book got a mixed review in heavily Orthodox Christian Georgia. The Organization of Orthodox Christian Parents, self-styled defenders of Georgian Orthodox traditions known for once chasing away witches and demons from a Tbilisi Halloween party, descended upon the gathering.
The Georgian Orthodox Church has not endorsed the violence, but Georgia’s loosely organized liberals say that in this case silence denotes consent.
The view from Baku is no less merry. Civil society activists and reporters chastise the government for what they describe as attempts to intimidate independent media.
Azerbaijani-US ties may not be in full bloom right now, but nevertheless Baku has decided that the work of the governor of California deserves a little appreciation. The Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles has presented Arnold Schwarzenegger with a handmade Azerbaijani carpet that features the onetime Terminator's portrait, Trend news agency reported on May 4.
The gift dovetails with Azerbaijan’s efforts to take its rivalry with Armenia to the Golden State, home to one of the world's largest Armenian Diasporas and the perceived headquarters of the Armenian lobby in the US.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili hopes that voters in Tbilisi’s May 30 mayoral election will not let a pair of pouty lips sway them from voting for the ever-bustling, ever-loyal Mayor Gigi Ugulava.
After giving a televised endorsement for Ugulava on April 26, Saakashvili warned voters not to fall into the honey trap that is Irakli Alasania, the handsome, full-lipped, 36-year-old leader of the moderate opposition bloc Alliance for Georgia and Ugulava’s main rival.
“We can vote for candidates [other than Ugulava], who pout their pretty lips and say ‘Look, I am so pretty,’” the comparatively thin-lipped Saakashvili told Rustavi-2 TV. But if pouty lips matter, the president went on saying, Tbilisi residents might as well elect as mayor Nanka Kalatozishvili, the popular hostess of the Georgian game show equivalent of Fox News' The Moment of Truth.
Even though his lips are a popular topic of discussion, Alasania hasn't sought to capitalize on the one natural advantage he seems to have over his competitors. Rather, he roughly emulates Obama’s presidential election slogans with the think-positive motto “We Will Bring Change.”
Ugulava knows a thing or two about appearances, too. His low-carb weight-loss scheme has long been popular in Tbilisi under the name of the Ugulava Diet.
After tanking by more than 18.2 percent in 2009, the Armenian economy could definitely use some Chinese cash. Hundreds of millions of dollars in life support from international donors have not yet made up for that amputated economic growth.
On the sidelines of the World Expo, where China flaunted its booming economy, Sargsayn signed a cooperation memo with Chinese telecommunication technology giant Huawei Technologies. Sargsyan tried to gauge the interest of Huawei and its rival Zhong Xing Equipment in several projects in Armenia.
International development groups have urged Armenia to diversify its sources of income after revenues from foreign remittances and its once booming construction sector dried up amidst the global financial crisis.
Officials in Georgia hope that obtaining trademark protection for khachapuri, the cheese-filled Georgian pastry that has a lip-smacking fan base throughout the former Soviet Union, can help open new markets in the United States and Western Europe for Georgian cuisine and food products.
The six African ostriches at a farm south of Tbilisi may not know it, but they are, in fact, a long-necked part of Georgia’s colorful political history.
In the latest of a series of public attacks from formerly close allies of President Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's former United Nations envoy Irakli Alasania has now declared himself in opposition to the Georgian leader, and called for early elections.
