This will demonstrate my poor knowledge of Armenia’s constitution, but I will still ask the question (which is not rhetoric).

Can Levon Ter-Petrosian run for presidency if he has already been elected twice? 

The Armenian Constitution  – which limits presidency to two terms with four five years each – was adopted after Ter-Petrosian got elected the first time.  He resigned after getting elected the second time.  Does this mean he can run again? Did the recent constitutional reforms address/change the question? 

UPDATE: Please see the comment section for discussion.

The Republic of Georgia has declared a state of emergency, reports International Herald Tribune, “after riot police officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to clear thousands of demonstrators from the streets.”

For 15 days, says the order, Georgians cannot assemble in the capital of Tbilisi. In other words, any demonstration in this former Soviet city will be illegal in the next two weeks.

The irony of the Georgian leadership’s new anti-democratic actions is the fact that the current president was democratically elected after a peaceful – or roseful? – revolution.  Until today, he was also considered the most democratic leader in the Caucasus.

Obviously, an entire dissertation can be written about this sudden political transformation.  But the main question that comes to my mind is whether democracy takes longer to establish than some people think and whether whatever escalates fast also ends fast.

In the context of Armenia’s recent political developments – where you have a former president campaigning for another presidential election – I wonder how and how fast things change in the Caucasus. 

It seems there is a long way for people in the former Soviet Union to go before establishing sustainable democracies. And my regrets go to the people of Azerbaijan, in this case, where the government is becoming more and more authoritarian every single day – much worse than Georgia, or even Armenia, could perhaps ever get.

After having Azeri student Nakhichevan protest about the Harvard exhibit on the destruction of Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan, the U.S. Ambassador, according to an Azerbaijani newspaper (the most credible source in the world), said, “Nakchivan is the territory of Azerbaijan and we will say it all over the world.”

I don’t know where the uninformed nationalists got the idea that cultural protection has to do nothing but territorial claims, but I guess I can make a wild guess why Harvard became “Hayward” in the most credible Azerbaijani newspaper. “Hay” means “Armenian” in Armenian so since there is an exhibit about Armenian monuments (that never existed in the first place) in Harvard it must be Armenianward, whatever “ward” means for Azeri nationalists.

Report from the greatest newspaper in all of tolerant kingdom of Azerbaijan:

Visiting Historical Monuments, I Understood that Nakchivan is Azerbaijan’s Heart: US Ambassador
07.11.07 22:17

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend E.Mammadov / Visiting historical monuments of Nakchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan, I understood that Nakchivan is the heart of Azerbaijan, said the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Anne E. Derse, who is on visit to Nakchivan, on 7 November.According to her, the visits of the US representatives to Nakchivan will actively take place. “Nakchivan is the territory of Azerbaijan and we will say it all over the world,” Derse said.On 1 November an exhibition ‘Armenian monuments in Nakchivan’ took place at Hayward University. The Press Secretary of Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry, Khazar Ibrahim, said that such events adversely affect the negotiations process. National Academy of Sciences of Nakchivan officially stated that there are not Armenian monuments amongst the historical and cultural monuments in Nakchivan.

Visiting historical monuments, huh, Mrs. Ambassador? What about visiting a military camp where an ancient cemetery of thousands of dead existed less than two years ago? Oh, that would be too political.

In the last two days I have posted some funny information on Borat – the fictional character from Kazakhstan.

Today in class we were talking about Borat’s new book when I overheard a student asking another student, “Was it in Guantanamobay?” The response was, “No, in Iraq.”

I asked the students what was going on and the  gentleman who had said “No, in Iraq” told me that while he was serving in Iraq they had an Iraqi to dress up in the “swimming suit” of Borat.  When I asked him where they got the suit from he said that the soldiers made it.

After noticing that I didn’t find the incident so funny the soldier added that the Iraqi man had put on the Borat costume voluntarily.  After I asked him other questions – trying to verify whether the Iraqi was a prisoner – he started denying what he had just told me and the rest in our group and joked that he’d kill us if we told the story.

No matter how funny it may sound anyone in Borat’s swimming suit, it is obvious that no Iraqi – for that matter almost no one – would volunteer to wear Borat’s suit (see photo)  so that American soldiers could have fun.

I am not positive that this abuse requires prosecution and investigation but I find it pretty ironic that American soldiers made an Iraqi dress up (or dress down) like Borat – the character who says George W. Bush should drink the blood of every Iraqi woman and child.

It seems everyone loves Borat yet we need to be serious in abuses such as this.

In an interview to Reuters, Borat says he would like “Barak Obamas to be Premier” of the United States.  He says it would be dangerous for a woman to be a president given the experience of the 2003 Astana Zoo Massacre.

Q: Who do you favor for President in the United States?

A: “I cannot believe that it possible a woman can become Premier of US and A – in Kazakhstan, we say that to give a woman power, is like to give a monkey a gun – very dangerous. We do not give monkeys guns any more in Kazakhstan ever since the Astana Zoo massacre of 2003 when Torkin the orang-utan shoot 17 schoolchildrens. I personal would like the basketball player, Barak Obamas to be Premier.”

The Azeri Press Agency reports:

UFO sighted in Nakhchivan

[ 18 Oct 2007 12:51  ]

A UFO has been sighted in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. APA’s Nakhchivan bureau reports that UFO was observed in Nehrem village of Babek region in the evening on October 15.

The village residents say that the object was clearly seen for several minutes. Some filmed the UFO.
The village residents say that such objects were observed several times before, but unlike the others this time it was nearer. /APA/

According to the same news agency, “A high-level Azerbaijani delegation will leave for the US. We [Azerbaijan] should not stop our propaganda a moment.” 

The latter doesn’t concern the UFO but instead lectures by scholars about the destruction of Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan – that, according to Azerbaijan, are lies because Armenians have never lived in Nakhichevan!

But since “Armenian plagiarism…and theft [is] in all fields of human life,” in the words of another Azerbaijani newspaper, the Azerbaijani delegation might as well bring up the issue of UFOs unless it is too late.

Are Armenian UFOs planting ancient graves in Nakhichevan to prove that Armenians once lived there? Who knows!

Our reader Borat Sagdiyev (sounds a Kazakhstani name) has sent an e-mail through his sexretary Ani asking me to post it here.  Apparently, he has written a book and would like Blogian readers to read it. 

Jagshemash my Blogian.net bestfriends – it Borat here. It give me great pleasuring myself to announce publication of Kazakhstan’s first ever book. A touristic guidings to both glorious nation of Kazakhstan and minor nation of US and A, it contain many interesting facts on my country – for examples, learn all about Kazakh Museum of Intolerance in Almaty and look on pictures of glorious new statue of Melvin Gibsons in Astana. It 673 feet tall and have a staircase inside so that childrens can climb up and throw potatoes on jewtown from his anoos. Book also contain many useful information on US and A – for examples, entrance code to Liza Minelli’s gate and best places for photograph pretty ladies without their knowledge. Book also contains many photograph of my wifes and childrens – totally nude, and have releasings November 2nd in UK and on 6th November in US and A. You can either make purchase of it with pubis or gypsy tears, or if you are strong, you can visit bookstore and TAKE it. I hope you like. Chendobreh.

PSs – if you lives in California, US and A, I am appear in persons for do a book signings at Borders, 1360 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024 at 7pm on Wednesdays 7th of Novembers [this is the same day as the Feast of Shurik, so if you come youI are permitted to make sexytime in your sister – High 5!].

Sounds like a fascinating book. Now you know the gift I want for Christmas.

The “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian mafia, arrested today, doesn’t look a mafia head people usually picture in their heads at all.   He more looks like confused Columbus (imaginary) arrested by American Indian Movement security guards before starting the Native genocides.

Sibel Edmonds, the Turkish-American lady who has worked for the F.B.I. and alleges that the Armenian Genocide resolution was pulled off the House Floor in 2000 due to bribery by the Speaker at the time, is now saying she is ready to tell the entire story – that includes names of prominent Congress members – about government corruption that she wasn’t allowed to talk about for several years due to “national security.” She said to BradBlog.com that if any of the mainstream TVs aired her entire talk without any editing she’d be willing to tell it all.

Read BradBlog.com for further info.

But will any of the corporate mainstream networks take her up on the offer? It’d certainly be an explosive exclusive.

“I don’t think any of the mainstream media are going to have the guts to do it,” she dared them.

So whaddaya say 60 Minutes? We’ve given you scoops before that you ended up turning down — and likely later regretted. Will you be smart enough to take this one?

“You put me on air live, or unedited. If I’m given the time, I will give the American people the exact reason of what I’ve been gagged from saying because of the States Secrets Privilege, and why it is that I’m the most gagged person in the history of the United States.”

“My feeling is that none of them have the guts to do that,” she dared them, before charging, “they are all manipulated.”

Any Armenians in the mainstream media who would dare to interview Sibel Edmunds?

I didn’t know there are people in the world whose values permit to commit genocide.  At least, we now know of one people whose values don’t permit such an act.  

The quote of the week comes from U.S. visiting Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan who again denied the Armenian Genocide by saying Turkish “values do not permit our people to commit genocide.”

Oh, and by the way, Turkey is ready to examine whether there was genocide or not. 

From Agence France Press:

Turkish PM welcomes shelving of US ‘genocide’ bill

43 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday welcomed a decision by US lawmakers to shelve debate on a bill labeling Ottoman Empire massacres of Armenians during World War I as “genocide.”

Speaking after talks here with President George W. Bush, Erdogan said the House of Representatives resolution on “the so-called Armenia genocide … has the potential to deeply damage our strategic cooperation.”

Fierce pressure from Turkey and the White House appears to have paid off for now, with the resolution’s Democratic authors agreeing late last month to delay a full House of Representatives vote after the bill was upheld by the foreign affairs committee.

“We view this with cautious optimism,” Erdogan said at the National Press Club, thanking the Bush administration and House members who had spoken out against the resolution for fear of its damage to ties with Turkey.

“We are ready to settle accounts with our history, but our documents indicate that no such genocide took place. In fact our values do not permit our people to commit genocide,” the Turkish leader said.

“Those who claim it, must prove it,” he said, renewing his offer to the Armenian government to set up a joint historical commission to examine the claims of genocide dating from the dying years of the Ottoman Empire.