Grigor maybe you dont know these people were in joy after the 1st of March. This is their moral standing.

I still wonder how can you deny all the achievments during Levon’s presidency?
Coming to 96 we still dont know if Vazgen actually won. 3 years ago I heard him saying on TV that he has doubts that he collected enough votes. He attacked a parliament which was not guarded (a sign of democracy).
Coming to Karabakh, as a supporter of Serj maybe you prefer giving Meghri. In 98 Levon resigned to give a chance to his opponents, 10 years passed with nothing positive. Instead we are loosing ground every day.

He answers all of your questions in his speaches. They are just texts, they won’t bite.
http://www.levonforpresident.com/am/38/

To Observer, even though I disagree with Onnik’s views as he usually states them in the most general form, but I understand why he couldn’t stand such comments as the ones above. It doesn’t do much good to your blog, and perhaps you can just not let these guys comment on your blog. Look there is no reason why they had to start fighting about the soap, and as your reader I have no interest in the soap business whatsoever. Maybe you can create a separate section just for them where they can damp their garbage. I also understand that this might not be easy to do.

To make the story short, it seem you are an expert in the using of a soap ( your video demonstrates it).
You can further your knowledge in that area if you youtube for ” HAY ELI – Sapon “.
good luck.

You may call it confirmism; I see it as effective. I still want to know what would have constituted a good result had the coup actually taken place? What would have improved? I do not believe in quick fixes, and I am doubly suspicious of anything led by LTP, who has already has a track record (ie we do not need to hypothesize).

As far as challenging the authorities for greater accountability. I am fully in favor of this. Parliamentary elections are a mere 3 years away. Time for the opposition to cultivate leaders.

and now after all this you are still have enough courage to be so bareface to talk about democracy??!!!!!!!!!!

democracy and democratic values are same and the one for all the world!

and number one condition is to have free elections!!!

NO FREE ELECTIONS, NO DEMOCRACY POSSIBLE!!!!

NO FIGHT FOR FREE ELECTIONS , NO FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY!

Anything else in this circumstances is useless! ANY SUGGESTIONS ANY other ways of establishing democracy ARE BULL SHIT!

NO ONE PRESIDENT NOT ELCTED BY FAIR AND FREE ELECTIONS WILL BE DOING ANYTHING FOR THE PEOPLE!!!!!

democracy and its principles are as simple as evrything else in this life:

president knows he depends on peoples free will, he does everything to imrove life of those people on whos will he depends!

president knows he depends on criminals and oligarchs, and doesn not dependt on people, he does everything to serve the criminals and oligarchs who mad him president, and he screws people, cause he kneows he does not depend on their will!

ISN’t this simple enough to understand?!!!!!

When we talk about changing attitudes and mentality to effect changes that are within our own limited sphere, your experience at the embassy is the perfect example. Why would a powerful western embassy, as you say, tolerate such behaviour on its territory? And why would you and all the others who were there do so? That just perpetuates and compounds the problem.

As for the ‘brain drain’ you mention — yes there has been a terrible brain drain that began 17 years ago during the dark years. However what Grigor says is also true. I personally know at least three young adults who are getting their PhDs at very prestigious universities (in Economics, International Finance and International Relations) in the US for the express purpose of returning to Armenia in order to contribute to the future of their beloved homeland. And I also know people who are seriously considering returning now or in the near future because they feel that things have changed sufficiently that they can actually start to make a productive contribution now.

I just can’t fathom all this constant, hateful, unproductive negativity and criticism and the radicalism of thought and commentary on the part of the so-called ‘democratizers and human rights defenders’. It won’t get us anywhere. Yes, there is a lot that is terribly wrong, but what are YOU personally actually doing to improve matters? Just pick something small you can affect and get on with it. My personal pet peeves and mini-battles are: petty (and usually unnecessary) bribery, pedestrian rights, littering and smoking. I know that these are not earth-shattering major issues, but this is what I can handle now. I may not influence everyone, but I know that I will influence a few and they in turn will influence others. Oh, I should add that I also try to hold myself and others to a high standard — difficult, but possible. And so it begins. As for improvements — I personally know a few people who have managed to run quite successful businesses for many years now without resorting to either giving or receiving bribes. It’s painfully difficult at times, but it’s doable and as a matter of principle they are doing it. On the other hand, I also know other businessmen — ‘lav gerads, khmads dghek’ — who despite their evident success and wealth constantly complain about EVERYTHING, but don’t do a thing to try to improve conditions because they’re too busy getting rich.

I honestly believe we have to pick our battles and work towards incremental improvements. Educating people about civilized and rational debate and the role of the media, as Grigor mentions is crucial. As for ‘democracy and freedom’, Armenia needs to develop its own model that will work within our very unique geo-political, national and cultural reality. As someone said in an earlier post, let’s all start working FOR something rather only AGAINST something. I personally now know more people on the realistic yet also optimistic and hopeful side of the equation than I do destructive, radical nay-sayers. To me that is already clear evidence of improvement.

And just to be clear — none of what I say means that I condone manipulated elections or corruption or blatant human rights violations — I don’t. Nor do I support this or that individual — I don’t. I support Armenia and I will try to work on my personal circle and within the structures and institutions to fix things in a rational manner. That’s just my personal belief of how I can best contribute to positive change and to strengthening this nation for the long-term.