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where does Armenia stand on the Global Innovation Index 2024 by A WIPO?
Armenia rose by 9 positions from last year.
(1) Switzerland 67.5 pts
(37) Turkey 39
(57) Georgia 30.4
(63) Armenia 29.0
(64) Iran 28.9
(87) Botswana 23.1
(89) Sri Lanka 22.6
(94) Lebanon 21.5
(95) Azerbaijan 21.3
(133) Angola 10.2
… Armenia’s weakest and strongest areas of innovation
Weakest: Human capital and research (89th place), mostly dragged down by a small Expenditure On Education as % of GDP and a small Gross Expenditure on R&D and not enough graduates in science.
Strongest: Creative outputs (46th place), which is boosted by Creative Goods Exports as % of Trade (16th in the world), and Trademarks by Origin/bn PPP$ GDP (7th in the world)
… Georgia’s weakest and strongest areas of innovation
Weakest: Creative outputs (77th place)
Strongest: Institutions (32nd place)
… Azerbaijan’s weakest and strongest areas of innovation
Weakest: Market sophistication (114th)
Strongest: Institutions (51st)
daily reminder that the construction of the crucial Kajaran-Agarak section of the North-South interstate highway featuring bridges and tunnels is underway: VIDEO
Armenian Bar Association files Global Magnitsky Sanctions complaint in the U.S. against Erdogan-linked military contractor that hired militants from Syria who were promised $100 for each Armenian head during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh invasion
The complaint against SADAT International Defense Consultancy alleges human rights abuses:
SADAT recruited mercenaries who are linked to terrorist groups and deployed them to conflict zones such as Nagorno-Karabakh, Libya and Syria
these fighters were involved in rights violations during Azerbaijan’s 2020 offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh.
The report also accuses SADAT of recruiting minors and coordinating with Turkish military and intelligence agencies, implying potential state involvement.
SADAT, Turkey’s first domestic military consultancy firm, was established in 2012 by an ex-aide of Erdogan.
Two of the Syrian militants recruited by SADAT were captured alive by ethnic Armenian soldiers during the 2020 war in Karabakh. One of the captured mercenaries confirmed that they were promised an additional "$100 for each dead Armenian" on top of a $2,000 salary.
lettuce defeats Armenia’s justice minister Minasyan in an epic battle
The imaginary lettuce we purchased from Komitasi shooka on September 27 was able to outlive Minasyan as the Justice Minister. Regular readers of Transcaucasian Telegraph recall that 27 members of Pashinyan’s ruling party signed a petition to fire the minister for:
• problematic appointments of "ex-regime-linked figures" in ministry
• slow progress in reforms
• not being a member of the inner party and "not sharing the same core values"
One of the MPs said the existence of the petition was never meant to be publicized and that it was supposed to be an "internal matter".
MINASYAN (about resignation petition): Today I decided to join the petition against my tenure. I submitted my resignation to the Prime Minister. I am very grateful and will always fondly remember all the other MPs who welcomed and supported me, all the colleagues of the government who became my friends and, of course, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who gave me the greatest opportunity.
MINASYAN (about "slow reforms"): People have always expected quick and immediate restoration of justice from justice ministers, but that is not a minister’s function, it is reserved for law enforcement and the courts. We are policymakers and institutional system improvers. Much has already been done in both directions. The results will be visible soon, but already under the next ministers. //
✝️ Dec/26/2022 – Oct/1/2024 ✝️
According to "internal sources" who could be wrong, the next justice minister will likely be QP MP Arpi Davoyan, who is nominated by Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan and supported by other ranking members of the party. Davoyan previously worked at Pashinyan’s 2017-era Yelk faction and later served as Pashinyan’s assistant. The party will hold an official vote to approve a new minister next Tuesday.
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court sides with a man who lost his house to a bank
Armen took out a $1,500 loan from the VTB bank in 2014 to buy cattle. He was unable to repay it in time so the bank sued him to take his house, but they failed to properly notify Armen about the lawsuit; he resides in Russia and his wife is sick.
In 2022 the court sided with VTB and seized his house. The judiciary’s Enforcement Agency sold the ֏13M house in an auction for only ֏2M. The winner was the judge’s aunt. Immediately after buying the building at a discount, she proceeded to resell it (doesn’t mention the price).
Armen and his family were kicked out and had their furniture dragged out of the premises. Armen’s elderly mother died during the stressful period.
Armen sued the judiciary’s Enforcement Agency for violating his rights. During the legal process, his neighbor allowed him to move in so he wouldn’t be homeless.
A year later the Lower Court sided with Armen and invalidated the seizure and the auction of his house. The Enforcement Agency has filed an appeal. This is a developing story.
women release lanterns on Yerevan’s Swan Lake to mark the launch of the domestic violence awareness month: VIDEO
96-year-old grandma Silva catwalks on the red carpet during a modeling show in Yerevan exclusively featuring seniors: VIDEO
The participants presented dresses made by them. This was Silva tati’s first show.
Georgia’s ruling party continues to successfully generate negative headlines
• Georgia’s Ministry of Education has withheld full accreditation from Ilia State University (ISU), with critics attributing the move to the university’s staff and students’ opposition to the controversial foreign agent law. source,
• For the first time in 25 years, Transparency International’s Georgia office will not be able to observe October parliamentary elections in Georgia because they have been "illegally" classified as an entity ‘with a declared electoral goal’.
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If Georgia does not return to the European path, it will be a tragedy for neighboring Armenia as well: President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili
She believes Georgia must serve as a bridge for Armenia to the EU.
prominent critic of Azerbaijani president Aliyev is assassinated in France while in exile
Human rights activist Vidadi Isgandarli was stabbed by a group of men. The incident happened in his office in Mulhouse, France.
Overall human rights situation in Azerbaijan remains dire: PACE rapporteur Lise Christoffersen
The overall human rights situation in Azerbaijan remains dire. Local human rights groups have reported that at least 303 individuals were imprisoned on political grounds. In addition, we face the unsolved situation around the Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives who are still detained in Azerbaijan, as mentioned in our Resolution 2483 of 2023, in addition to the fear of ethnic and cultural cleansing after Azerbaijan took control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
It should also be noted that since the end of January 2024, the authorities refused to hold high-level talks in Baku with the CPT, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture, and inhumane or degrading treatment or punishments. Last June, they also refused to accept it as opiolysis. Moreover, none of the CPT’s key long-standing recommendations regarding allegations of torture and ill-treatment have been implemented.
Armenian peacekeepers in Lebanon are serving in a region not affected by the ongoing attacks by Israel: defense ministry
UN in 2022: Of the 193 UN Member States, Armenia is currently the 79th largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peace operations, with 32 peacekeepers, including three women, serving in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
no Armenians injured in Israel after the Tuesday missile attack by Iran and a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv: local diaspora
police retraining bill receives preliminary approval in parliament
As you already know, the government wants to merge two police schools into one and introduce mandatory annual retraining courses for cops. In the future, the new police academy will move to the Academic City.
military-industrial complex reform bill receives a preliminary approval in parliament
Full details of the planned reforms in September 27 report. The bill aims to cut down on bureaucracy, expedite approvals, finance the production of prototype weapons with the help of state funds, help companies with importing and storing components for production, allocate more resources, and grant the Military-Industrial Committee more powers to help the companies.
Armenia’s military academy sent an envoy to Greece
The Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy leadership visited an academy in Greece to learn about their programs, the organizational processes, the equipment they use, etc.
Armenia skips yet another CSTO military bloc event
Multiple times a year, the Russian-led military bloc holds cringe-named military exercises. The latest one, called "Indestructible Brotherhood 2024"is being held in Kazakhstan, which Armenia decided to boycott due to the bloc’s anti-Armenia stance.
prime ministers of the EAEU economic bloc gathered in Yerevan on Tuesday and discussed the exact same topics they discuss every year over and over again without results
We need bloc-wide digitization, we need a common energy market, we need to expand freedom of movement, we need this crap and that crap, said Пrime Minister Pashinyan in a generic speech and didn’t forget to take a subtle shot at Russia again for attempting to force Armenia to give Azerbaijan a Russian-controlled corridor.
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Russian regions ban migrants from driving taxis, so they launch an underground network of call centers on social media
Thousands of "groups" and "bots" to provide taxi services have popped up on Russian social media sites in recent months.
It exploded after official taxi prices saw a 26% YoY increase in July. The underground services can offer 2x cheaper prices.
Why did the prices increase? There is a shortage of drivers after tens of Russian provinces began banning migrants from providing taxi services. Russia has been banning a lot of things lately.
It’s a frosty Moscow morning. You wake up from the monotone sound of a boodzilnik at 6 am. Your servant wife has already prepared you a breakfast and ironed your brown suit. It’s your best suit, it’s your only suit, and you need it more than ever today because the KomParty has summoned you to discuss the lagging production of nails in the Nizhnevartovsk factory. You haven’t heard noises coming from neighbors yet. "Ehh, I must be the first again," you complain to yourself before taking the stairs from the 8th floor. You know too well that being the first to use the elevator on a cold morning is too risky because of rusting cables. The KomParty needs you. "I must stay alive," you mumble as you exit the building’s front door and look for frozen water and black snow underneath your feet. As you cross the road towards the bus stop, a man no older than 45 takes a few steps towards you and suddenly begins to lift the left half of his raincoat. You stop abruptly and your eyes lock into each other. "Ahh, another speculator," you comfort yourself internally as the man begins to brandish his contraband. It’s nothing you haven’t already tried: VPN APKs, TOR addresses, the latest edition of Transcaucasian Telegraph, and a couple of Telegram links to underground taxi services run by Uzbek rebels.
Transcaucasian Telegraph brings you news and stories from Armenia and neighborhood: Oct/1/2024
byu/ar_david_hh inarmenia
Posted by ar_david_hh
1 Comment
I think the shameful EAEU summit held in Yerevan should be mentioned too. Disgusting, Russia’s PM who was asking Iran to let Russia and Azerbaijan take Syunik, is in our capital, enjoying a VIP welcome. Belarus’s PM, the country that openly stated about their involvement in the 2020 war, and one that Pashinyan supposedly won’t talk to, is also in our capital.
Some of our ministers made some cuck level comments about missing their Russian counterparts.
For these disgusting clowns our streets are closed, so they can travel in safety and comfort. Let that sink in, two of the largest weapons dealers to Azerbaijan have their PMs enjoying our city, and making plans to expand the record breaking trade even more.