The Armenian Government notes in its pension reforms policy document  that preserving the status quo in the pension system will not only  result in a crisis, but also hamper the social-economic development of  the country...

By working out various development projects, signing different  international conventions, adopting new laws and norms we secure the  rules of the game called "public life." These are the rules that will  materialize the vision of the future which we choose as our goal of  development. It seems that now far fewer people dispute that Europe is  our final destination, and at least it is accepted as such in the  context of high-rank declarations...

"And  what are the advantages of being a European? Why do we really want to  become European? I'd say it's simply a fixation." "I can never imagine  Armenians as Europeans. We're not Asians, either. We're of some  different kind." "We have become European without having the chance to  choose. We were not even asked whether we want to or not." "What is  Europe? The society should learn about Europe, otherwise it will be  perceived as a bundle of perversities." "Europe won't allow us to eat  our national KHASH , since it does not comply with European standards."...

The new expansion of the European Union gave impetus to the EU ambition  to become a powerful political and economic agent throughout the world,  with a new stimulus. However, inclusion of any new member, especially  Eastern, tends to entail new challenges within both internal and  external relations. This was reflected in the de facto failure of the  latest attempt to formalize the EU institutional fundamentals...

The geopolitical situation has forced a number of realities on regional  cooperation in the South Caucasus. The Iraq conflict has been one of  the key aspects in the regional crisis, due to Turkey's strategic  importance and its close relationship with the "other" Turkic state,  namely Azerbaijan. There is, however, growing anti-Americanism among  the Turkish population, in part the result of anger over the Iraqi  situation and growing concern about the Kurdish "problem"...