On Monday, approximately 60 police officers attempted to storm the Simon Vratsian Center in Yerevan, the headquarters of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of Armenia.

According to a statement from the Council, police officers “provoked and attacked party leaders who blocked their illegal entry into the building.”

The statement continued, “Using brute force—behavior typical of street hooligans or a pack of animals—dozens of officers detained ordinary citizens, including Ashot Simonyan, Chair of the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia and a Member of Parliament, employing overt physical violence.”

The ARF Supreme Council of Armenia characterized these actions as orchestrated by a criminal group aiming to undermine Armenia’s Constitutional order. “Nikol Pashinyan, the ringleader and head of this criminal group, is determined to pursue his anti-patriotic agenda. To advance his illegal actions against citizens and political parties, he has turned state institutions into tools of criminal activity,” the statement asserted.

The statement urged local and international organizations promoting democracy and human rights, as well as diplomatic representatives, to assess the actions of this group that has undermined the constitutional order and usurped the government.

“We are confident these crimes will not go unpunished. We demand that the Prosecutor General’s Office and investigative bodies immediately initiate criminal proceedings against the police officers involved in these crimes, as well as against Nikol Pashinyan, who authorized these illegal actions and guarantees their impunity. Otherwise, the Prosecutor General’s Office and investigative bodies will also face severe consequences as accomplices to these crimes,” the statement continued.

The ARF reaffirmed its stance that such methods will not stop them and declared that their campaign against the criminal regime destroying Armenia’s statehood will persist. “In the name of Armenia and the defense of the Armenian people’s rights, we call on Armenians to unite in support of this sacred movement,” the statement concluded.

By Harut Sassounian,

Even since Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, with his thousands of followers, started marching towards Yerevan, many wondered what would happen on May 9 once they reached the Republic Square, where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s offices are located.

After arriving in Yerevan, Bagrat Srpazan gave one hour to Pashinyan to resign. When the hour was over and he did not resign, Srpazan announced that there would be acts of civil disobedience throughout the country beginning the next day. He urged his followers to act peacefully and not to commit any acts of violence.

Pashinyan was hoping that the number of protesters would dwindle over time and the movement would fizzle out. The regime did everything in its power to vilify and defame Srpazan and the protesters. Government propagandists announced that there were merely around 20,000 protesters in the Republic Square on May 9, whereas most observers estimated the crowd to be several times larger. After misleading the Armenian public for six years with thousands of lies, Pashinyan continued his deceptive practices by claiming without any evidence that the protesters are Kremlin’s agents who were paid money to participate in these protests. Government leaders ridiculed not only Srpazan, but also the Armenian Church, an institution that has shepherded the nation ever since 301 AD, particularly during the absence of an Armenian state.

To the disappointment of Prime Minister’s diminishing number of supporters, as his rating has gone down from 80% six years ago to 8% now, Srpazan held a second rally in the Republic Square with tens of thousands of followers in attendance. Despite the brutal actions of Pashinyan’s police which viciously attacked the peaceful protesters, the movement grew stronger rather than fizzling out. During the past week, Srpazan held separate meetings with groups of lawyers, doctors, retired military officers, artists, and dozens of opposition leaders.

Srpazan proved the falsehood of Pashinyan followers’ repeated mantra that no one else can replace the Prime Minister. Srpazan succeeded for the first time to unite the various opposition groups under his leadership. Large segments of the public, livid at Pashinyan’s defeatist concessions to Azerbaijan, responded enthusiastically to Srpazan’s peaceful, but urgent message for change.

Finally, Srpazan’s long-awaited big rally took place on May 26 during which several important announcements were made. The crowd was told that Srpazan would temporarily replace Pashinyan after which a coalition government will be formed, followed by parliamentary elections which will choose a new Prime Minister. Even though the Constitution requires that the Prime Minister be exclusively a citizen of Armenia for the preceding four years, Srpazan’s followers believe that his dual citizenship of Armenia and Canada would not prevent him from temporarily acting as Prime Minister. Srpazan made the commitment that he will be guided exclusively by legal requirements. Ironically, Pashinyan’s regime, which has violated just about every existing law, is demanding that the protesters comply with the laws of the country.

During the May 26 rally, Srpazan also announced that after consulting with other high-ranking clergymen and Catholicos Karekin II, it was decided that he will freeze his 30-year-long spiritual service in order not to combine political activities with his religious position.

Srpazan is attempting to topple Pashinyan the same way the latter toppled Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. Pashinyan and his followers violated dozens of laws to come to power, blocking the streets, the Parliament building, the courthouse, and smashing the locked doors of the Armenian radio station. However, Pashinyan thinks that he is the only one who can get away with breaking the law. Amazingly, he even boastfully proclaimed: “is there a judge in Armenia who cannot do what the Prime Minister says?” If anyone else does what he did, his barbaric police are ordered, as he himself announced during the Parliamentary campaign in 2021 while holding a hammer in his hand, to smash the heads of his Armenian opponents, even though he falsely claims to be a democrat. Ironically, Pashinyan never uses such vile language against the real enemies of Armenia — Azerbaijan and Turkey — whose leaders make the most offensive comments about Armenia.

At the end of the mass rally in the Republic Square on May 26, Srpazan marched with his followers to the Prime Minister’s mansion and demanded that he meet with him and tell him to resign. However, it turned out that Pashinyan was not at home, visiting the flooded areas of Northern Armenia.

Srpazan then led the large crowd back to the Republic Square where the rally had started several hours earlier. He urged his followers to engage in acts of civil disobedience throughout the country to pressure Pashinyan to resign.

This is Armenia’s last chance to save the country from Pashinyan, a defeated and incompetent leader, who is willing to follow Aliyev’s and Azerbaijan’s orders, and make illegal and endless one-sided concessions, until the total loss of Armenia, after the loss of Artsakh!

By Harut Sassounian,

In a lengthy article published in the Irpmedia.irpi.eu in Italian on March 27, 2024, titled, “How Vatican helped legitimize the Aliyev autocracy in Azerbaijan,” Simone Zoppellaro exposes Vatican’s pro-Azerbaijan tilt due to financial donations, despite Armenia being a Christian nation, while Azerbaijan is Islamic.

On Feb. 22, 2020, the autocratic leader of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, the country’s Vice President, paid a state visit to the Vatican. They were received officially by Pope Francis, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. Mrs. Aliyeva was at the Vatican to receive the highest honor awarded to a lay person by the Holy See: “The Grand Cross.” The award is proposed by the Diocesan Bishops “as a sign of appreciation and gratitude for services to the Church or to society reserved for Heads of State, ministers, ambassadors, and royalty.” However, the driving force behind Vatican’s interest in Azerbaijan is the financial support provided by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

Ironically, despite Azerbaijan’s intolerance of minorities, dissidents and other religions, the Holy See expressed its appreciation to “Azerbaijan’s openness and peaceful attitude towards different faiths.”

Fearing the loss of Azerbaijan’s donations, the Vatican has been reluctant to allow any criticism of Baku, particularly by its own clergy. “Father Georges-Henri Russyen was expelled from the Pontifical Oriental Institute because he was critical of those who did not want to use the formula ‘Armenian genocide.’”

Given the expectations of benefiting from Azerbaijan’s “Caviar Diplomacy,” the Vatican has not been willing to say anything more substantial than emphasizing “the importance of intercultural and inter-religious dialog in favor of peaceful coexistence among different religious and ethnic groups,” meaning Armenians and Azeris. The Pope prayed for the inhabitants of Karabakh, hoping “that the talks between the parties, with the support of the international community, will foster a lasting agreement that will end the humanitarian crisis,” Even during the 2020 War, “the Church was unable of going beyond generic appeals for moderation ‘to all the parties involved and to the international community’ to ‘lay down their weapons.’”

On October 24, 2023, Prime Minister Nikol Pahinyan received from the Apostolic Nuncio José Avelino Bettencourt the same award given three years earlier to Aliyeva, Azerbaijan’s Vice President. However, there was a major difference. While Aliyeva received her award directly from the Pope, Pashinyan was honored by an Apostolic Nuncio. There were also other differences which “helped consolidate the power of the Aliyev family, despite human rights violations in Artsakh.”

“Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, honorary president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture and chairman of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, is the highest Vatican official who has made the most efforts to open a dialog with Azerbaijan.” He was awarded the Order of Friendship in 2013 by the Azerbaijani authorities — a high honor offered for a “special contribution to the development of friendly, economic and cultural relations between Azerbaijan and a foreign state.”

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti is considered “the protagonist of the privileged channel” established between the Vatican and Baku. “Highly educated and polyglot, ambitious and lover of power, Cardinal Gugerotti has known the Aliyev family since 2002, when Pres. Heydar Aliyev, in power since 1969, was still alive.”

“In the early 2000s, Gugerotti met with the Azerbaijani authorities as Nuncio for the Southern Caucasus, a position he assumed in 2001. Before then this nunciature for the Holy See included only Georgia and Armenia. Those were the years in which Russia guaranteed a ceasefire in the region, after Armenia had defeated Azerbaijan in the first conflict. The ethnic hatred that is still fuel for the conflict was beginning to settle, but Nuncio Gugerotti called Azerbaijan a ‘country [that] is a symbol of peaceful coexistence between people of different religions.’”

“Ten years after he began his mission as Apostolic Nuncio in 2011, Gugerotti signed the historic agreement which, for the first time, regulated relations between Baku and the Catholic Church. At the time of ratification, recalls a 2019 book produced by the Foundation for the Promotion of Moral Values from Baku entitled ‘Christianity in Azerbaijan,’ Gugerotti expressed gratitude to the (Azeri) government for creating the conditions that made possible [the agreement], emphasizing that our country always remained committed to the principles of tolerance, and noting that the agreement was the first document of its kind, because the Vatican had never signed such an agreement with any state before.”

According to Gugerotti, “Azerbaijan has once again demonstrated its tolerance. Now the whole world is witnessing it. I am sure that this document will receive a positive response in the international world and will be remembered as a great historical event. The reaction of the press from day one proves us right. On behalf of the Holy Throne and the Crown, I extend my deep thanks for all this to President Ilham Aliyev and the Government of Azerbaijan.”

Since 2009, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, headed by Mehriban Aliyeva, has funded various activities in the Vatican: restoration projects, exhibitions and concerts. Other projects funded by Azerbaijan included: the Roman catacombs, the Vatican Museums, the Vatican Apostolic Library, and Catholic churches in France and Azerbaijan. These donations amount to one million euros.

In 2013, Gugerotti received the Movses Khorenatsi Medal — the highest Armenian honor — from the then president Serzh Sargsyan for his important contribution to Armenian studies, but also the effort aimed at strengthening relations between Yerevan and the Holy See.

The author of the article concluded that the close relationship between the Vatican and Azerbaijan has had the effect, perhaps unintended, of strengthening the hegemonic role of the Azeri autocracy… which may contribute to a diplomatic normalization that would put in the background, or erase, crimes and aggressions committed by the Azeri autocracy.

“The police say that they did not detain me. What was it, if not to bring him into custody? Deputy Artur Khachatryan

Today, the police took Artur Khachatryan, deputy of the National Assembly “Hazdan” faction, to the Hrazdan police station from the Yerevan-Hrazdan highway. The deputy participated in the protest when the citizens blocked the highway.

In a conversation with “Hetki”, Artur Khachatryan said that he was already released. According to Khachatryan, taking him to the Police Department was not legal, as he is a member of parliament.

“They took him to Hrazdan police department using force. We went up to the third floor, then they escorted us down from the third floor, we went out, and after waiting for about an hour, we met with the head of the department. The police say at the police station that they did not detain me, but how will they explain that by using force, they entered the car against my will and brought me to the police station? What was it, if not to bring it into custody?” Khachatryan asks.

The deputy says that they will give a legal process to what happened in order to understand the grounds for bringing him into custody. Artur Khachatryan was released without any explanation.

According to him, a clash started after he spoke with someone in civilian clothes at the end of the action, who, according to the deputy, was a representative of law enforcement bodies and, according to his information, was the police chief of Kotayk region. After a tense conversation, a stampede started at the initiative of the given person, after which the MP was taken to the Police Department. “I said, ‘How do you propose that the citizens express their complaint?’, he said, ‘don’t ask me that question,’ and I said, ‘bring the person who has the answer to that question,'” says Artur Khachatryan.

Artur Khachatryan is currently at the Hrazdan police station because, according to him, two citizens’ cars were taken into custody on the charge that there is an enforcement proceeding. “Now we are trying to get the copies of those documents, that these cars are under the proceedings of the State Security Agency,” he said.

It should be noted that 17 people were arrested and transferred to different police departments today, April 26, during protests held in different parts of the Republic. The citizens were detained on suspicion of Article 182 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (Failure to comply with a legal request of the Police). “Hetkin” was informed about this by the Department of Public Communication and Information of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It should be noted that citizens continue to hold protests in various parts of the Republic, in particular, the Armenia-Georgia interstate highway is closed in the Noyemberyan section, the highway remains closed in the Kirantsi section as well. Today, a protest action was also held in a number of Yerevan streets, Yerevan-Echmiadzin, Yerevan-Hrazdan highways.

Let’s remind that on April 19, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that on the same day, the eighth meeting of the Committee on the Demarcation of the State Border and Border Security between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan and the State Committee on the Demarcation of the State Border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia was held: Under the chairmanship of RA Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafaev.

According to that report, at the initial stage of the demarcation process, the parties have preliminarily agreed on separate sections of the border, directly Baghanis (RA) – Baghanis Ayrum (AR), Voskepar (AR) – Ashagh Askipara (AR), Kirants (AR) – Kheirumli (AR) and Berkaber. (RA) – between the settlements of Kyzyl Hajil (AR) in order to conform to the legally justified inter-republic border that existed at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After this announcement, protests started in Tavush marz and then in different parts of the Republic. Citizens’ concern is that after these areas come under the control of Azerbaijan, the border will pass near the village of Kirants and the main road.

Kevin Vandenboss,

In a significant escalation of its retaliatory measures against “unfriendly” states amid heightened geopolitical tensions, Russia has seized assets of the agricultural holdings company AgroTerra Group. The move, announced on April 8, 2024, has sent shockwaves through the agricultural sector and raised concerns over food security and international trade relations.

President Vladimir Putin’s decree places Dutch-registered firms AgroTerra Investments B.V. and AgroTerra Holdings B.V. under the “temporary management” of Rosimushchestvo, Russia’s federal property management agency. This action follows a series of similar asset seizures targeting Western companies, including multinational brewer Carlsberg and dairy giant Danone, which have sought to divest their Russian operations in response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

AgroTerra, founded in 2008, is a major player in the agricultural industry, specializing in the production and supply of commodities such as soybeans, wheat and sugar beet. The company is recognized as one of the top 20 largest owners of agricultural land in Russia, with a cultivated area of approximately 265,000 hectares (654,829 acres).

The decree’s impact on AgroTerra’s operations remains uncertain. A spokesperson for the company stated, “As of now, the Company has not yet received any further details regarding the decree on the transfer of shares within the authorized capital of the AgroTerra Group to the temporary management of Rosimushchestvo.” Despite the lack of clarity, the company has assured that it is continuing its operations as usual, with a primary focus on the ongoing sowing campaign.

This seizure is part of a broader trend of Russia targeting foreign-owned assets in retaliation for sanctions and other measures taken against Russian companies abroad. In April 2023, Putin signed an executive order allowing Russia to take over real estate, securities, property rights and other assets from foreign companies with ties to “unfriendly countries.”

The implications of these actions extend beyond the affected companies and their shareholders. They pose a threat to the global agricultural supply chain, potentially disrupting food production and exports. Furthermore, the move could exacerbate tensions between Russia and Western countries, further complicating efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and stabilize international relations.

Garegin Vardanyan

Whether some people like it or not, we have to admit that in the last three decades, Armenians have created the most monstrous police force in the world. During this so-called “independent” period, a part of the people in the country, with a population of about 3.5 million, emigrated, and the rest were condemned to a hellish life. The economy built during the Soviet regime, left as a legacy from those years, was almost wholly destroyed; factories and enterprises were looted, machine tools and equipment were destroyed, and everything was wasted, and today, the warring country is left almost defenseless against the age-old enemy. The condition of the army is the most deplorable. Many of the participants of the war, especially the more famous officers, are arrested and imprisoned, and their services are treated with contempt and ridicule. But the condition of ordinary soldiers is much more difficult. In the front line, the trenches are in the spirit of the 80s of the last century, the dugouts are mostly underground and dilapidated or literally in the open air. And here, the country’s police is flourishing day by day.

In terms of political science, the country has become an open, deep, heavy police state. The real owner of the country is the self-satisfied policeman who loyally serves the authorities. My senior friend from Yerevan tells. “It was in 1992-93. the soviet had just collapsed, it was half-starved: there was no gas or electricity, there were no traffic lights and no policemen on the streets. Those who bought a few liters of gasoline drove a car, gave way to each other at the intersections, and we lived in harmony and peace like that. When the authorities got comfortable in their seats, Vano, the police chief at that time, said to the policemen: why are you sitting idly in your seats, go out into the street, turn on the traffic lights, fine the drivers, judge, intimidate, if you have to go to jail, but bring money. It started from that day, and as it went on, the Armenian policeman became more and more “insolent”, “disgusted”, became fat, became an unpunished beast and began to persecute Armenians, citizens, ravage and empty the country.

The fact that during rallies and marches they chant “the police is ours” is a lie and fabrication. The Armenian policeman has always belonged to the authorities of the day. They have always served the country’s presidents and rulers. The police were and are the main support of the former presidents and the current main Armenian patriot. The nail in the current system is the policeman.

My friend Ara Harutyunyan, an American-based scientist and political scientist, tells. “The city where I live officially has a population of 240 thousand and 477 policemen. One policeman for every 500 inhabitants, and that’s in the case of people living in the city being heavily armed. In 25 years, I have not come across a single fight, argument or trouble, even though there are a lot of murders. Today’s Armenia has about 30,000 policemen for 2 million. In other words, one policeman for 60 people, 8 times more armed than the American one. The area of our city is about 1.5 times larger than Yerevan (well, the houses are one-story). During peak hours, there is a flow of 3 rows of cars on each side of the streets (probably they are working in the city from the neighboring regions), in that sense it is not much different from Washington… With the money generated from the taxes of actual Armenian citizens, Nikol supports your friend or neighbor’s militia 8 times more than the norm and the average. 5 times more pay.” And here, the neighboring Georgia stood up by disarming its own police officer. With the first steps, Saakashvili did just that: he deprived the policeman of his leverage. But yes, “ours is different”.

Garegin Vardanyan

By Harut Sassounian,

The highly anticipated meeting between high-ranking European and US officials and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took place in Brussels last Friday. Armenians excitedly hyped up the meeting long before it was held.

Some Armenians speculated vainly that Armenia would soon join the European Union, while others went as far as predicting Armenia would become a NATO member.

While Armenians are a wonderful people, they have had a major shortcoming during their entire history which is the lack of skill in diplomacy.

Even though Armenians suffered from invasions, occupation, massacres, and even genocide, they never understood that no foreign power would ever come to their rescue. They kept hoping that some country would save them, as if anyone had an obligation to do so. If Armenians never bothered to defend their own land, why would an outsider do such a thing? How can foreigners be more concerned about Armenia’s security and well-being than Armenians themselves?

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Armenians kept on believing for thousands of years the fairy tale that someone would come to their rescue. More recently, most Armenians believed that should they find themselves in real danger, Russia would save them. Naturally, this is the continuation of a long-standing wishful-thinking. Despite Armenian expectations, when Russia did not protect Artsakh in 2020 from Azerbaijan’s invasion, it was obvious that Russia had no obligation to defend Artsakh since it was not part of the Republic of Armenia. After all, the military alliance called the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was between Russia, four other ex-Soviet countries, and the Republic of Armenia, not Artsakh. But when Azerbaijan occupied portions of Armenia in 2021 and 2022, many more Armenians began to wake up to the fact that the CSTO would not lift a finger to defend Armenia’s territory.

One would have thought that once Armenians finally realized this fact, they would at long last conclude that no one would defend Armenia. Regrettably, that’s not what happened. They continued their eternal search for saviors. Due to the growing antipathy toward Russia, many Armenians started believing that the West (Europe and the United States) or Iran would now come to their rescue. After a while, when they see that neither Europe nor the US nor Iran are going to save them, they will then fantasize that India and China would defend them. Thus, they would go from country to country looking for a new protector. But Armenians continue to believe that others are obligated to defend them. Every country in the world protects its own national interests, except it seems Armenia. If Armenia had a competent leader, he would have taken emergency steps to arm the country to the teeth to defend itself. There are those who say that Armenia would never be able to protect itself from its more powerful enemies, no matter how much it arms itself. While this is true, the solution is not to leave the borders of Armenia unprotected so anyone can walk in. Armenia’s enemies must realize that if they dare to cross its borders, they would pay a heavy price. They should know that Armenia is not a public park that they can freely go in as they please.

Turning to the Brussels meeting of last Friday, naturally joining the European Union or NATO never came up. Armenia did receive pledges for a few hundred million dollars over the next four years, and a smaller amount from the United States economic aid. Naturally, this is a good thing. Who can argue against receiving a grant, assuming that the money will be wisely spent and not go to the pockets of pro-government contractors?

Money was allocated to Armenia for economic development and various other infrastructures, such as energy. That is also good. We then heard a lot of propaganda about Armenia being a democratic state. This was simply a lip service to keep Prime Minister Pashinyan happy. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken kept harping on promoting democracy in Armenia even though the US government pays no attention to such meaningless principles, except when it suits its own political and military interests. Otherwise, the United States would have imposed sanctions on Azerbaijan and Turkey long ago, due to their multiple violations of the democratic rights of their own population as well as those of Artsakh Armenians.

Armenia does not need political propaganda from the West. Given the continuous attacks by Azerbaijan on Armenia, even while the Brussels conference was taking place, what Armenia needs the most right now are weapons to defend itself from its deadly enemies, Azerbaijan and Turkey. If and when we lose our homeland, it would be meaningless to have improved structures or democratic rule. With neither the East nor West providing a security blanket for Armenia, Pres. Aliyev is reassured that he can do as he pleases with Armenia with no one lifting a finger to protect it, except for handing a fistful of dollars and a lot of useless praise.

“I want to take it back to the 1840s, to the real roots of hegemony, which is Great Britain. There was never a hegemon with such ambition and a curious view of the world. But Britain wanted to run the world in the 19th century and taught America everything it knew. Recently, I read a fascinating book by a historian named J.H.

Gleason, published by Harvard University Press in 1950. It’s a fascinating book called ‘The Genesis of Russophobia in Great Britain.’ The question is, where did England’s hate of Russia come from? Because it’s actually a little surprising. Britain has HATED Russia since the 1840s and launched the Crimean War that was a war of choice in modern Parliament—a war of choice by Palmerston in the 1850s—because it hated Russia. So, this author tries to understand where this hate came from, because it was the same kind of iterative hate that we have now.

And by the way, we hated the Soviet Union because it was Communist, but we hated Russia afterwards when it wasn’t communist. It doesn’t matter. So, it’s a deeper phenomenon, and he tries to trace where this hatred came from. The fascinating point is, Russia and Britain were on the same side in the Napoleonic Wars from 1812 to 1815, from the Battle of Moscow in Russia to Napoleon’s defeat in Waterloo. They were on the same side, and in fact, for many years, the relations weren’t great, but they were kind of normal. So, this historian reads every snippet of the newspapers, what’s written, of the speeches, to try to understand where the hatred arose.

The key point is there was no reason for it. There was nothing that Russia did. Russia didn’t behave in some perfidious way. It wasn’t Russian evil; it wasn’t that the tsar was somehow off the rails. There wasn’t anything except a self-fulfilling lather built up over time because Russia was a big power and therefore an affront to British hegemony. This is the same reason why the US hates China: not for anything China actually does but because it’s big. It’s the same reason, until today, that the United States and Britain hate Russia—because it’s big.

So, the author concludes that the hate arose around 1840 because it wasn’t instantaneous, and there was no single triggering event. The British got it into their crazy heads that Russia was going to invade India through Central Asia and Afghanistan—one of the most bizarre, phony, wrongheaded ideas imaginable—but they took it quite literally. And they told themselves this: ‘We’re the imperialists. How dare Russia presume to invade India?’ when it had no intention of doing so. So, my point is, it’s possible to have hate to the point of war and now to the point of nuclear annihilation for no fundamental reason. Talk to each other.”

Last week, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during a meeting with a CP party activist, compared his activity to the path taken by Christ, and in his message of the Holy Resurrection, he hinted at his “impeccable” course. (From here, by the way, it can be assumed that the members of the CP board perform the actions of the 12 apostles). Comparing any political or statesman with a spiritual leader (not to mention God) is, to put it mildly, inappropriate from the beginning. Those figures, even with the best intentions, are forced to be pragmatic and cynical, to say one thing today and the opposite tomorrow. Especially when it comes to such a head of state, during whose “reign” thousands of compatriots were killed, tens of thousands were deprived of their homes, and the enemy occupied a part of the state. A leader whose power is based on hatred and hostility towards the “formers”. Making one’s self like God cannot be a subject of political discussion, of course. But psychologists, I think, have something to do here. We are talking about the so-called “God complex”. which was first described at the beginning of the 20th century by the Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler, and then studied in detail, especially within the framework of the psychoanalytic school.

You can read Armenian version this address: https://www.aravot.am/2024/04/02/1409574/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter