GEORGIA & SOUTH CAUCASUS: November 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

NEWS: RFE/RL Caucasus Report - November 24, 2009 (rferl.org)

A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region.

For more stories on the Caucasus, please visit and bookmark our Caucasus page .

Mediators Note Progress In Munich Karabakh Talks The Munich meeting was the sixth between the two presidents this year, and according to the French co-chairman, Ambassador Bernard Fassier, it was "particularly long, because very constructive, detailed, and in-depth discussions took place between the two presidents on all the basic elements that have yet to be agreed on. Some of these elements were discussed for the first time in such a detailed and deepened manner." More

Election Law Consensus Eludes Georgian Ruling Party, Opposition The interparty working group established in March to draft amendments to Georgia's election law failed at its most recent meetings (on November 12 and 18) to reach a compromise agreement on how the mayor of Tbilisi should be elected. More

Jailed Azerbaijani Bloggers Allowed To Meet Parents Judge Araz Huseinov has allowed the parents of Adnan Hajizada to visit with his parents on November 25, while Emin Milli and his parents will be allowed to meet the following day. More

Fired Armenian Police Chief Charged With Physical Abuse The recently fired police chief of Armenia's second city of Gyumri has been charged with abuse and mistreatment, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Armenian Court Allows Jailed Editor To Run For Parliament An Armenian administrative court has ordered police to issue jailed opposition leader and newspaper editor Nikol Pashinian with papers allowing him to run in an upcoming parliamentary by-election, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Difficulties Reported At Latest Armenia-Azerbaijan Summit International mediators gave a mixed assessment of the Munich talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying there was progress on some issues but a failure to agree on others, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

Russia Buries Outspoken Priest Killed In Church Mourners in Moscow have buried a Russian Orthodox priest shot dead by a masked gunman. Daniil Sysoyev had received death threats for converting Muslims and criticizing Islam. His death is drawing attention to fragile relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and other faiths in a country that has Europe's largest Muslim population. More

'Important Progress' At Karabakh Talks Mediators say "important progress" was made in Munich at talks between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarkisian, over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But the OSCE says "some difficulties" were also identified. More

Imprisoned Azerbaijani Journalist Honored By CPJ Jailed Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev is among the winners of the 2009 International Press Freedom Awards, an annual recognition by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) of journalists working in dangerous or repressive circumstances, RFE/RL's Azerbaijan Service reports. More

Armenia Says No Talks With Turkey Until Protocols OK'd Armenia's Foreign Ministry has declared that Yerevan and Ankara will hold no further major negotiations until their parliaments ratify bilateral agreements on closer relations, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More

'Our Facebook Campaign For Emin And Adnan' The following is a guest post from Ali S. Novruzov, an Azerbaijani who blogs over at "In Mutatione Fortitudo. He describes how the arrest and conviction of the "donkey bloggers" have pushed the country's youth activists into finding creative ways to get their message out using new technologies. More

Transparency Campaigner Warns Corruption Could Slow Recovery In Fragile Countries Transparency International has just released its annual index of corruption in countries across the globe. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 finds that high levels of corruption in some countries could slow international efforts to help them cope with, or recover, from the global economic crisis. We speak with Jana Mittermaier, head of Transparency International's Brussels office, to learn more. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel conducts the interview. More

International PEN Marks Day Of The Imprisoned Writer International PEN -- the worldwide association of writers -- marks the Day of the Imprisoned Writer this time each year. Its aim is to recognize and support writers who resist repression of their basic human right to freedom of expression. While International PEN campaigns on behalf of hundreds of authors all year round, this November 15 the group is highlighting the cases of five authors in five countries, representing five geographical regions. The countries are Cameroon, Iran, China, Russia, and Mexico. RFE/RL correspondent Bruce Pannier spoke to Sara Wyatt, director of the writers in prison committee at International PEN, about the campaign. More

Council Of Europe Head 'Very Concerned' About Azerbaijan A Baku court has sentenced two young Azerbaijani bloggers to two and 2 1/2 years in prison on hooliganism charges, in a case that has brought international attention to declining freedoms in the South Caucasus state. RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service discussed the issue with Thorbjorn Jagland, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe. More

Russian Free-Press Advocate Moves To Georgia The prominent Russian journalist and free-press advocate Oleg Panfilov has moved to Tbilisi. Panfilov, a longtime critic of the Russian authorities, said he had been receiving death threats. He took Georgian citizenship last year. More

'Life Not Hell Anymore' Adam Michnik, the editor in chief of Poland's "Gazeta Wyborcza" and a leading member of the Polish democratic opposition from 1968 to 1989, was in Prague this week to attend a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. He spoke to Irina Lagunina of RFE/RL's Russian Service about Russia, the West, and the post-Soviet letdown felt in the former Eastern bloc countries. More

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

PHOTOGRAPHY: Scheherazade. By Irma Sharikadze

More info see below and at irmastudio.ge

CALL FOR PAPERS: FOR THE WINTER 2010 AND SPRING 2010 ISSUES OF THE CAUCASIAN REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (cria-online.org)

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE WINTER 2010 AND SPRING 2010 ISSUES OF THE CAUCASIAN REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

The Caucasian Review of International Affairs (CRIA) is pleased to invite submissions for its Winter 2010 issue (Vol. 4, No. 1) and Spring 2010 issue (Vol. 4, No. 2) to be published respectively in the beginning of February 2010 and May 2010. Deadlines for submissions are December 15, 2009 for the Winter 2010 issue, and March 15, 2010 for the Spring 2010 issue. Submission guidelines can be viewed at http://cria-online.org/Submit_a_Paper.html .

CRIA is particularly interested in papers on the following topics:

Regional topics:

- Western energy interests in the South Caucasus and Central Asia;
- Prospects of the Nabucco gas pipeline;
- Prospects of the White Stream gas pipeline;
- European Union and the South Caucasus;
- European Union and the conflict resolution in the South Caucasus;
- Prospects of the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict;
- Turkish-Armenian rapprochement;
- Relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey;
- Separatist conflicts in Georgia;
- Georgia and its NATO-membership aspirations;
- Russian policy towards the South Caucasus;
- US policy towards the South Caucasus;
- Prospects of the South Caucasian regional security;
- Regional integration in the South Caucasus;
- Situation in the North Caucasus;
- Ethno-nationalism and violence in the North-Western Caucasus;
- Different faces of Sufi Islam in the present-day North Caucasus;
- Israel in the Caucasus;
- Azerbaijan’s foreign policy;
- Azerbaijan's relations with the Moslem world;
- Islam in Azerbaijan; Islam in the Caucasus;
- Foreign policy of Armenia;
- Iran-Armenia relations;
- Azerbaijani community of Iran;
- Legal status of the Caspian Sea;
- Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan legal dispute over the oil fields in the Caspian Sea;
- Turkey’s new foreign policy;
- Turkey 's accession to the EU;
- Iran-Turkey relations;
- Iran’s nuclear program;
- New Islamic directions in Central Asia: internal and external dimensions;
- Global and regional powers in Central Asia;
- Energy security in Central Asia;
- Ukraine 's foreign policy;
- Moldova’s foreign policy;
- Armenian Diaspora and lobby in the US.

International relations and general topics:

- Theory of International Relations;
- Problems of the Modern International Law;
- US foreign policy;
- Russia’s foreign policy;
- China’s foreign policy;
- EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and the foreign policies of the member-states;

This is a preliminary list. Please feel free to offer alternative topics, including book reviews, to the Editor.

All correspondence and submissions should be e-mailed to:

contact@cria-online.org

CRIA is a Germany-based quarterly peer-reviewed online academic journal published in English. The Review is committed to promote a better understanding of the regional affairs by providing relevant background information and analysis, as far as the Caucasus in general, and the South Caucasus in particular are concerned. CRIA also welcomes lucid, well-documented papers on other countries and regions including especially Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, as well as on all aspects of international affairs, from all political viewpoints. CRIA is indexed/abstracted in Columbia International Affairs Online, Directory of Open Access Journals, ProQuest Research Library, EBSCOhost Research Database, Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, etc. The last issue of the Review can be viewed at http://www.cria-online.org .

Best regards,

Nasimi Aghayev

Editor-in-Chief
Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Eppsteiner Str. 2, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel: +49 69 138 76 684
E-mail: contact@cria-online.org
Web: http://www.cria-online.org
ISSN: 1865-6773

INTERNET: Muzame.ge is 1st Georgian Internet music magazine (geolivemusic.blogspot.com)

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Email: info@muzame.ge

PUBLICATION: Turkey, Russia and the Caucasus: Common and Diverging Interests (chathamhouse.org.uk)

Briefing Paper
Gareth Winrow, November 2009

Download Paper here

Ankara's rapprochement with Moscow has come under question after the August 2008 Russo-Georgian conflict. Turkish officials had believed that they shared common interests in preserving the territorial integrity of states in the Caucasus.
The effectiveness of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party's good-neighbourhood policy is being seriously tested. Turkish policy-makers have called for a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform to be set up.
The August 2008 conflict opened up possibilities for Turkey to normalize its relations with Armenia, although this could be at the expense of Ankara's close ties with Baku if progress is not made towards resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Problems with Azerbaijan over gas pricing, re-export and transit issues may make it more difficult for Turkey to reduce its energy dependence on Russia and could endanger the Nabucco project.
Turkey is striving to be acknowledged as a major regional power. Turkish officials will therefore not look favourably on any relationship with Russia in which they perceive that they are a junior partner.

More about the Chatham House Turkey Project >>

More about Chatham House work on Russia >>

PUBLICATION: Georgia’s Relations with Russia: From 1991 to the Present (chathamhouse.org.uk)

Transcript
Chatham House, October 2009

Download Paper here

This is a transcript and summary of an event held at Chatham House on 13 October 2009.

POLITIK: Türkisch-armenische Annäherung und Aserbaidschans Revanche (derstandard.at)

Wien/Baku/Eriwan - Über die Bande spielen und dem Gegner den Billardstock scheinbar unabsichtlich in die Seite stoßen, gehört zu den Grundfertigkeiten der hohen Diplomatie. Das lässt sich dieser Wochen wieder am Endloskonflikt um die armenische Enklave Berg-Karabach in Aserbaidschan verfolgen. Baku spielt gegen Eriwan, meint aber die Regierung in Ankara; Eriwan spielt auf Ankara, trifft aber nebenbei noch die Führung in Baku.

Der ganze Text >>>

PHOTOGRAPHY: Edward Burtynsky's 'Oil' at the Corcoran, part two

Edward Burtynsky's photographs about our reliance on oil (on view now at the Corcoran) include a kind of trap. The pictures are beautiful. A Burtynsky picture of the landscape near extraction facility outside Fort McMurray, Alberta, looks like a classic Western landscape, complete with big sky, a reflection of a just-right cloudscape and endlessly unfolding hills.

But look closely: That sky isn't reflected in water, it's reflected in a pool of something that isn't nearly as pure. There's an oil refinery in the distance. Other photographs nearby show the gross, toxic process by which oil is freed from bitumen deposits. The beguiling, deceptive beauty in Burtynsky's photographs is effectively a metaphor for our fascination with, our at-almost-any-cost pursuit of, la belle vie. We're hooked.

Once Burtynsky hooks us on his work, he shows us how the black gold has enabled our lifestyle. The Corcoran exhibition starts with Burtynsky's pictures of how we get oil:Pumpjacks in the California desert, extraction from oil sands in Alberta and pictures of refineries. Then it shows us how we've used oil, how oil has helped us transform our landscape: Pictures of bizarre, artificial-lake-surrounding Las Vegas subdivisions, the Sturgis motorcycle rally, a NASCAR race and more. (I think that the NASCAR pictures is the one around which the show spins.) The exhibition ends with a section called 'End of Oil' that chronicles what happens to places and things after they're used up. These pictures include a spent, abandoned oil field in Azerbaijan andshipbreaking photos from Bangladesh. The Azerbaijan pictures complete a rhyme: Abandoned oil fields leave pretty reflected skyscapes too.

There are obviously a hundred other ways oil has impacted us and a hundred more ways in which our pursuit of oil has impacted the planet. Showing all of them would be impossible, so consider Burtynsky's project an introduction to an enormous subject. Burtynsky's inability to document the totality of all-things-oil should not be considered a fault of his project, but a reminder of how thoroughly oil suffuses human life on Earth.

Regardless, there's a particular cleverness to Burtynsky's approach: He has mixed the traditions of landscape art -- scale, beauty and grand vistas -- with the conceptual rigor of the New Topographics, the photographers who found smart ways to show us how humans were impacting the land. Burtynsky's pictures are huge -- four-by-five feet each -- which helps to enable the detail that draws the viewer right up to the surface of the pictures. Photographs by the New Topos were typically much smaller, measurable in inches.

It is a connection that Burtynsky seems eager to encourage. Included in the Corcoran show is this picture, Industrial Parks(2007, at left), featuring a development in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The picture seems like a direct tip-of-the-hat to New Topo artist Lewis Baltz, whose The New Industrial Parks near Irvine, California (1974) is one of the landmarks of 20th-century photography. Burtynsky's intent is to show us not just what we've done, but to use beauty and scale to show us how massively we've done it, how we're at the point of no return. It's depression by seduction.

The last galleries of the show drive home the point: They include pictures of the third-world work-sites and workers who break up the giant oil tankers that ship crude around the globe. The conditions are nothing short of disgusting. They are ultimately lethal. It is possible, even likely, that the people in these pictures are dead. Burtynsky's shipbreaking pictures are an appeal to conscience: Look what oil has enabled, but also consider the human cost of our reliance.

The exhibition's final picture, installed just outside the suite of galleries in which the show is installed, is of oil that appears to have seeped up onto a beach in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The oil is in the shape of a footprint, a kind of literal, poisonous carbon footprint.
Related: In the NYT, Ken Johnson found the beauty of Burtynsky's pictures to be problematic.

source: www.artsjournal.com

AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus

Andere Artikel:Die Matrix der Moderne (taz.de)

Edward Burtynsky Alberta Oil Sands #2, Fort McMurray, Alberta

Corcoran Gallery of Art - Burtynsky: Oi

Prix Pictet - Shortlist 2009 - Edward Burtynsky - SOCAR Oil Fields .

Bilder Edward Burtynsky O

Special Report: Shifting Sands

Edward Burtynsky Oil Exhibit: Examining Our Crude Oil Consumption

Edward Burtynsky photographs the landscape of oil.

Edward Burtynsky's Oil Foreign Policy

Edward Burtynsky's Oil @ The Corcoran Gallery of Art - DCist