To all appearances, the struggle for regional power has sharply livened up in the region, conditionally called the Great Middle East. Pretenders on the position are Turkey and Iran, both supported by Russia, though after the «gas war» Moscow's rating of a reliable partner has somewhat lowered. Most likely, Tehran and Ankara will play their game without assistance, taking into consideration the position of the new US Administration.

Since January 1, 2009 the position of the Managing Director of the Yerevan Brandy Company has been taken by Mr. Ara Grigoryan, who had been the Managing Director of Pernod Ricard Ukraine and Pernod Ricard Minsk since January 2001.
Mr. Grigoryan will combine the position of YBC Managing Director with the position of the Pernod Ricard Minsk Managing Director.

The year of 2008 was also a time of reformatting the South Caucasus Region. After the «five-day» war of Georgia against South Ossetia it became clear that new division lines were to be outlined in the region. No doubt unwilling to do it himself, President of Georgia made a «regal» present to RF that had long been waiting for an opportunity to gain revenge against the USA for the too profound an interference it had in the solution of Caucasus problems. The result was a much more chaotic bedlam in which even the most «skillful» states were unable to "catch a fish".