The Azeri President finally did what was long expected - he shifted the burden of settling the Karabakh conflict on the OSCE Minsk Group countries, calling the Prime Minister of Turkey to become their ally, or rather their sponsor. Generally speaking, nothing else was expected from the meeting Erdogan-Obama; unfortunately, the USA still needs Turkey until the final withdrawal of troops in Iraq and the possible military solution of the Iranian nuclear issue. Here Obama is clearly not being original and follows the track already beaten by the Bush family.

The whole week in Armenia passed under the impressions of the meeting between Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Athens, the discussions on the prospects of the Karabakh conflict settlement and ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols. The political forces of Armenia also expressed their views, often critical, on the results of the 12th congress of the Republican Party.

Over the past 10 months, Armenia fixed a 17.5% economic downfall compared to the same period of last year. According to the official data of RA National Statistic Service, GDP in January-February comprised AMD 2466,3 billion. This is a very promising rate which leads local and foreign experts to the assumption that 2009 economic downfall will make up 15%.

A couple of years ago I had a chance of an interview with Robert Sahakyants and one could not assume at that time that he would leave the world so soon. We all knew he was ill, but no one suspected how serious the illness was. He was one of those without whom, in his opinion, everything would sink in sweet syrup. All that you'll read further are his direct words, as we thought no one could speak of Robert Sahakyants and the world surrounding him better than he himself. For some reason he always spoke Russian, although he knew his native language perfectly well. Call it freak of a genius if you like, but now that he is gone words, however beautiful they might be, are needless.