Հոդվածներ

When it became known in the spring of this year that Washington was reserving an additional budget of $150, 000 for the development of American cooperation with Armenia, few people considered this step worthy of attention.

This money was allocated in addition to the 640 thousand dollars of the grant for the development of culture and democracy in Armenia, allocated in February 2021.

On October 20, 2021, the head of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia, Rustam Baghdasyan, met with the Ambassador of the United States of America to Armenia, Lin Tracy. The event is completely ordinary. That's just they were discussing a topic that does not concern the American ambassador in any way.

Baghdasyan presented to the US Plenipotentiary Representative a promising program for the reform of customs and tax administration in the republic. They talked about the importance of modernizing customs checkpoints, improving the collection of customs duties and fees, the desire to transfer customs procedures to an electronic format, as well as the problem of personnel training. The Armenian side complained about the difficulty of finding staff and the need to raise the standards of their selection when hiring.

The American Ambassador expressed understanding and stressed the readiness of the American side to continue to support Yerevan in implementing reforms of mutual interest.

What mutual interest can the American ambassador to Armenia have in talking about customs, if the US share in its foreign trade is only 2.69% and ranks as high as tenth in the ranking of the largest trading partners? Russia has 25%, Switzerland - 18.5%, China - 11.5%. Why, even Armenia has more trade with Iran – 3.36%.

However, we are not rushing to conclusions. The growth of tax collection in Armenia worries the US State Department a little less than nothing. But the export of American democracy to Armenia is a completely different matter.

The United States directly finances democratic programs to develop resistance among the citizens of Armenia to negative information influence from the outside.

What is hidden under the peaceful term "protection" and "monitoring"? It is enough to see how in America itself and its social networks working in other countries, anyone who, for example, doubts the integrity of voting in the last presidential election is harshly poisoned.

Or who objects to the thesis that Russia's Gazprom is solely to blame for the wild rise in energy prices in Europe.

Everywhere and always, the concept of independence is closely related to independence. Especially if it concerns the internal affairs of any state. First of all, any policy is the art of the possible. Therefore, it is often necessary to cover your own steps in the press, somehow tell foreign representatives about them. But it is to tell, that is, to inform.