A politically astute relative watched as one of the lesser known television stations showed a courtroom scene in which former foreign minister Alexander Arzumanyan defended his participation in last year’s March 1 events, Arzumanyan declaring, “I am proud of what I did,” to the cheers of those gathered in the courtroom.

“It’s hard to say who was guilty, the government and police or those like Arzumanyan who organized the demonstrations,” he said. “Or if both were guilty. But one thing is for sure. Even if government forces, Kocharian and others, are responsible for the murders and chaos on March 1, Arzumanyan and his people have no right to say they are ‘working for the people of Armenia.’ They see the Karabaghtsi rulers in charge of everything, getting richer by the day, and they don’t like that. They want to be back in power so they can continue what they were doing before.

“And they’re working together, at least somewhat, the Karabaghtsi rulers and Arzumanyan, Ter Petrosyan. They’re putting on a show of ‘democracy’ for Europe, the Venice Commission, and others. And they both know where to stop in their accusations. If one side goes too far, the other can always say, ‘We know what you stole, and if you don’t watch your step, we’ll reveal everything.’ Picture this: if someone honest came to power, and revealed how Ter Petrosyan and his people were selling factories for $1,000 to their friends, what would happen. In the current picture, both the Karabaghtsis and Levon’s people are guilty of this sort of crime, so they only go so far in their accusations, so their deep secrets stay just that, secrets.

“I’m not sure why the Armenian people, say 80%, have a slave mentality, and always follow this or that criminal. They think that it’s better for a thief who’s stolen millions to be in power, figuring that person will get so rich he’ll eventually think about the people…that if someone new comes to power, he’ll start from scratch, and steal even more than the others. They don’t believe someone honest can come to power, so they follow this or that criminal, thinking this is the way things have to be. But in the meantime, the nation suffers. And one of these days, the nation won’t be able to recover, not with open borders, World Bank money, or anything else.”