"Haykakan Zhamanak" suggests President Serzh Sarkisian has found himself 'between a rock and a hard place' on his latest trip to Georgia. "Serzh Sarkisian should be very careful during his two-day official visit to Georgia, because Georgia has extremely tense relations with Armenia's strategic ally, Russia. A single move or expression not to Russia's liking may provoke problems with Moscow in terms of natural gas and arms supplies, a possible warming of Russian-Azerbaijani relations and anti-Armenian manifestations in Russia. On the other hand, any step or statement seen as pro-Russian may trigger 'Georgian' problems for Armenia. After all, Georgia is one of Armenia's two gateways [to the rest of the world]."
"Yerkir" writes that the swelling ranks of pro-government Armenian parties bode ill for the nation in terms of its ability to end the prevailing atmosphere of impunity. "Political parties in Armenia should realize that by admitting new members en masse they increase not only their popularity but also their burden of responsibility. Because willy-nilly political parties become responsible for the behavior of every member, even those member who behave like thugs… As a result we get a majority that is concerned not so much with respecting the rights of others as with avoiding responsibility through party affiliations."
"Zhamanak" suggests that by offering cooperation to the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian causes ex-president Robert Kocharian, the BHK's perceived godfather, and current President Serzh Sarkisian to become 'natural allies'.
"If the BHK quits the governing coalition and joins the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), Kocharian will have to join the opposition alliance or side with Sarkisian, as without the BHK factor Sarkisian will quickly deprive Kocharian of his entire remaining influence. The HAK, of course, cannot accept Kocharian, as in that case its logic will fall apart and its marginalization will become a reality. Therefore, Ter-Petrosian's political analysis theoretically makes Kocharian and Sarkisian natural allies, of course under Sarkisian's command, allies in jointly opposing the BHK's move towards the HAK," writes the periodical.
The "Aravot" editor ridicules the assumption made by HAK leader Ter-Petrosian at last week's opposition rally that the main evil in the country is not its oligarchs, but the government system that is 'corrupt from top to bottom'. He writes, ironically: "Oligarchs only dream about a moment when they can finally stop hiding their revenues and start paying taxes properly, give up their monopolies and let other entrepreneurs work in liberal conditions. The only thing they now have to do is to openly challenge the kleptocracy."
(Tigran Avetisian)