A 9-year-old Tajik girl was stabbed to death by seven Russian teenagers and the murderers were given 18 months to five years of imprisonment. If you don’t know what a Tajik is, don’t worry at this point for not knowing geography.

The point is that a hate crime was committed in Russia against a 9-year-old child and the murderers almost went unpunished!

ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Friends of a student from Senegal who was shot dead early 07 April cry during a rally in his commemoration in Saint Petersburg, 08 April 2006. A Senegalese student was shot dead 07 April in Saint Petersburg by a racist killer armed with a swastika-decorated gun, authorities said, in the latest incident of violence aimed at foreigners and non-whites in Russia. The student, recently graduated from a technical college specialising in telecommunications, was murdered outside the Apollo nightclub in central Saint Petersburg, where he and other students had been holding an annual faculty party, deputy city prosecutor Andrei Lavrenko told NTV television. AFP PHOTO/ INTERPRESS/ ALEXANDER DROZDOV

Russia is becoming the worst racist country on the Earth where a “non-Russian” (blacks, Armenians, Georgians, Asians – whatever is not blue eyed and blond) is killed in a hate crime too often. Many attacks by Russian skinheads (Neo-Nazis) take place in the Underground Subway (Metro), where, ironically, police have huge representation.

A Mongolian friend of mine told me today that her parents might let her visit Moscow since their friends have a private bodyguard in that Russian capital! Otherwise her visit to such a racist country would be out of question.

I have myself been to Moscow’s Metro (subway) in 2002 and 2003, and every second I was expecting a group of skinheads to stab me. It was more difficult when I was traveling with my Mom (I was 15 and 16 at the time), since I didn’t know what I would do if the Neo-Nazis attacked us. I feared since I have black hair and brown eyes.

Amnesty International is finally speaking out. A 4 May 2006 press release is criticizing Russian administration ignorance to the problem.

Also, find out why a girl "didn’t remove her hat" the entire summer at Oneworld Multimedia.

There have been two important political developments in the Middle East and the Caucasus that are ignored due to the tragic airplane crash that killed 113 people.

The first one is a Russian military base’s withdrawal from Javakhk (Jakakheti), an Armenian-populated region of the country of Georgia. The local Armenians are troubled and worried about the removal, since, as RadioFree Europe informs, the “base provides many ethnic Armenians with jobs and the community sees the presence of Russian troops as a guarantee of its security.”

The withdrawal started on 3 May 2006 accompanied by a group of Armenian demonstrators. Unfortunately, nobody doubts that the withdrawal is going to cause a lot of problems. Several months ago a local Turkish group threatened Armenians with genocide and “advised” them to leave their ancestral homes.

Speaking of Turkish threats, the officials of the Republic of Turkey are warning France not to adopt a law that would make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime, Voice of America reports. The Turks have threatened with “irreparable damage” if the law is adopted. Most likely, according to this blogger, France will make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime. Not because that they love Armenians or that are sorry for what happens to them, I think, but because they want to reduce Turkish immigration to France.

If France were being “fair,” it would denounce its destructive role in the ethnic cleansings of Cilician Armenians right after the Genocide of 1915.

The complete list of the victims

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Relatives of those who died when an Armenian plane crashed into the Black Sea arrive at Sochi's Adler airport, 03 May 2006. An Armenian jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia's coast, killing all 113 people on board and leaving relatives with a heart-wrenching wait as workers continued to pull bodies from the sea. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

A relative of a passenger who was on board a crashed Armavia Airbus A320 passenger aircraft reacts at the airport in Yeravan May 3, 2006. The Armenian airliner crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian coast in heavy rain on May 3, and all 113 passengers and crew on board were killed, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. (Mkhitar Khachatrian/Reuters)

Relatives of passengers of a crashed Armavia Airbus A320 airliner check the passengers list at the airport in Sochi May 3, 2006. All 113 passengers and crew on board the Armenian airliner were killed on Wednesday when the plane crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian coast in heavy rain and disintegrated, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Rescue workers carry in the Sochi port docks, the life raft of the Armavia airline Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian resort 03 May as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: A policeman passes between the tail of the Armavia Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006 and some belongings of the dead passengers at the dock of the port in Sochi. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia early today as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. AFP PHOTO/Denis SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: A Sochi port worker carries plane debris next to the tail of the Armavia Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia early 03 May as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: A Sochi port crane lifts the tail of the Armavia Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia early 03 May as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

I just called Armenia’s International Airport and talked to a friend, who works there, about the situation.

It is 10:41 a.m. 3 May 2006 in Armenia, and most office employees have just arrived to the Airport.

The office of Armavia, the company whose airplane just crushed and killed 113 people, is located 200 meters away from the Airport. My source says that the gates of Armavia’s building are closed and the members of the victims have surrounded it. Voices of cries and anger are heard everywhere at the Airport.

I asked why Armavia was closed. “Because the families of the victims [are so angry that they] would kill Armavia officials.”

Zvartnots (Armenia) International Airport on an early spring morning with Mount Ararat in the background (April 2006)

Several Armenian authorities (I am not sure if my source was referring to the Mafia) have been on the plane. I was not told the names of those individuals over the phone, but Armavia will most likely get into a lot of trouble and face a possible shutdown.

The Armenian TV stations, I was told, are not reporting that the plane was crushed due to the weather. The families and friends of the victims are not inclined to believe to that version, and the Armenian Public TV has said that the cause of the crush is being investigated.

The crush has happened in the territory of Russia, a country where racist crimes against Armenians and other minorities are too threatening in the last weeks.

Also everybody knows in Armenia that Armavia’s planes are old [and not safe?]. This could be THE reason…

There have been no delays in other flights because of the crash.

I just visited www.news.google.com and the first headline was "Armenian jet crashes near Sochi."
100 people have been killed, including five children.
Most likely not a terrorist takeover nor a Turkish bomb.

BBC 3 May 2006
Armenian jet crashes near Sochi

The plane was en route from Yerevan to Sochi
A passenger airplane flying from Armenia's capital, Yerevan, to the city of Sochi in southern Russia has crashed over the Black Sea, officials say.

The Airbus A-320 plane from Armenia's Armavia airline was carrying about 100 people, when it disappeared from radar screens about 0215 (2215GMT Tuesday).

Debris has been seen in the sea, about 6km (four miles) from the coast, says Russia's Emergencies Ministry.

Bad weather conditions are making the search for survivors difficult.

Life jackets have been found in the accident area, although no people have been found, said deputy head of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, Viktor Beltsov.

Among those on board were eight crew and five children, he said.

Sochi is a popular Russian seaside resort, near the border with Georgia.

A reliable source just informed that the Library of Congress does not use the word “genocide” in cataloging sources about the Armenian holocaust. Why? The U.S. Department of State does not authorize so!

I will post documentation once I receive it from the source.

If you are a fan of www.yerevannights.com and you still don’t know who the hell 51B are, blogian is the only place to find it about at.

It is now morning in the United States and 9:30pm 1 May 2006 in Armenia. I just visited Yerevannights.com, the online Armenian radio, and found out that 51B is Top Ten artist (second place!) with its “Haverj Khishenq” (We Shall Remember Forever) song. The list includes Tata Simonyan (first place), Arsen Safarian (fourth place), Forsh (eight place) and Charles Aznavour (last place).

So who the hell 51B is and why is this "band" only available at YerevanNights?

Here is the secret of the century: 51B is the 2003 (number B) class of 51 Secondary School in Yerevan, Armenia. The song was the official song of the graduation show (verjin zangi handes) of class B. Lyrics are written by my sister, Arpi, and myself. The idea was my sister’s, and the organizational efforts were largely mine. I am also one of the “main” singers in the song, the rest are my classmates Anahit, David, Haik, Satenik. We recorded it in May of 2003 at Russkoe Radio (Russian Radio), if my memory is not betraying me.

The song was meant to be a private one, but since I volunteered for Yerevan Nights at the beginning of its establishment, I shared the song with the Radio, and now it is Top Ten!

In short, 51B is blogian and friends.

Via iArarat. The famous Time magazine has published the names of 100 individuals “whose power, talent or moral example is transforming our world.” The list includes great and evil people with all of them with a common characteristic of being one of the most influential individuals in our days. One of those great people (he is under the list of people "who do the right thing"), according to Time, is the “Teller of the Awful Truth:” Orhan Pamuk.

It is not only eggs from Turkish nationalists that followed Orhan Pamuk’s reference to the Armenian genocide: he is now considered one of the 100 influential people of the world by Time magazine. If you remember, last year Time distributed a Turkish propagandist DVD denying the Armenian genocide. Though the magazine apologized for the offense, it did not take an affirmative action. A reason for nominating Pamuk could be the fact of “feeling guilty” for genocide denial (CEM TURKEL/AFP/Getty Images).

Pamuk’s awful truth was a simple sentence that stated over a million Armenians were killed in Turkey. The simple reference to the Armenian genocide, nevertheless, was close to cost this famous Turkish novelist’s life.

Truth did not take Pamuk’s life away, but rather made him one of the most 100 influential people on the planet Earth.

The truth shall set you free; the truth shall make you famous.

…Pamuk, already the most famous author in contemporary Turkey (Snow; The Black Book), became a global cause celebre early last year after he pointedly criticized his country's all-too-willful historical blind spots: the genocide of Armenians in 1915 by the Turkish military and a similar suppression of the country's Kurdish minority…

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/…1187233,00.html

Madeleine Albright was the keynote speaker of the 88th International Convention of Phi Theta Kappa in Seattle last week. I expected her to be a better public speaker: her speech was monotone and the style was more of a press release than an address.

Albright speaking at the 88th International Convention of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society in Seattle. 21 April 2006. One of the few things about Bush’s foreign policy that the former U.S. Secretary of State likes is the Millennium Challenge Compact, a major recipient of which is Armenia. Photo by me

Her statements, however, were well-judged and very bright. A particular anecdote she told us is still in my mind. When Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein called Madeleine Albright, the U.S. Secretary of State at the time, a “snake,” the latter wore a snake pin while meeting the Iraqi ambassador.

Calling the Iraqi invasion “a war of choices,” Ms. Albright was confronted with the question whether there was anything in Bush’s foreign policy that she endorsed.

Asked if there was something that she did wrong while she was the U.S. Secretary of State, Albright said, “Rwanda.” She said she was directed to vote “no” on sending U.N. troops to Rwanda while thousands of Tutsis were being butchered. Photo by me

Among three things that the first female (and immigrant) U.S. Secretary of State approves of Bush’s foreign policy is the Millennium Challenge Compact that supports developing countries to end rural poverty by providing large amount of grants.

As I have mentioned before, Armenia is one of the major recipients of the Millennium Challenge Compact.