Armenian analysts say Georgia’s recent move to block a transit route for Armenia-bound Russian military supplies did not come as a surprise. But officials in Yerevan still aren’t commenting on how Russia and Armenia will get around the transit corridor’s closure.
The decision to drop Armenia from the US-financed Millennium Challenge development program has renewed debate about the status of democratic reform in Armenia. The opposition, predictably, blames the government for the decision; the government is keeping quiet, but some ruling party representatives scoff that the decision is unjust.
In a move suggestive of a game of dare with Azerbaijan, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on March 31 declared that he will be the first passenger to board a planned flight from Yerevan to Stepanakert, capital of breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh.
A Russian government program that pays Russian-speakers to migrate to Russia is upsetting many Armenians who believe it is contributing to a demographic problem in Armenia.
Shouting “A free, independent Armenia!” and “Now, now!” thousands of protesters streamed into Yerevan’s Freedom Square on March 17, holding the first opposition rally on the site since a 2008 confrontation when security forces left at least 10 people dead.
Armenian opposition supporters with a taste for boxing might see it as a clinch, or an attempt at a Philly shell. Some political analysts in Armenia, meanwhile, believe the arrest of opposition activist and former European boxing champion Samson Khachatrian shortly before a planned March 17 rally is a signal that the government is preparing for a fight.
The plot is thickening in the case of a European Union-based documentary crew that was barred from filming in Armenia. Authorities in Yerevan believe the documentary’s executive producer is on “friendly terms with Azerbaijani officials,” and wants to create a program on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from a pro-Baku viewpoint. The producer, Andrius Brokas, is vehemently denying the allegation.
Armenian environmental activists warn that humans may not be the only ones to suffer from an expected gas price hike this year. Armenia’s estimated 340,000 hectares of woodland could suffer as well, as Armenians scramble to find wood to heat their homes.
They may not recognize each other’s borders, but, for all the official enmity between them, Armenians and Turks have always had one thing in common -- trade. But now, with a looming 100-percent increase in cargo prices charged by Armenian freight haulers, even that tie may soon be broken, Armenian traders say.
