RafiwithoneF

Many of the issues #Armenia faces today are downstream from one key problem. What is it & how do we solve it?👇

Hrant Mikaelian on Armenia's disputed June 7 election: fraud allegations, threats against opposition, and Pashinyan's crackdown. Why did Putin withhold congratulations? Hovik and Asbed dig in. youtube.com/watch?v=7vndB3… #ArmeniaElections #NikolPashinyan #Polling

Brussels, Berlin, Washington directly coordinated Armenia's 2026 election through intelligence agencies and a technical working group. French intel suppressed critics. Meta censored opposition voices. The whole world wasn't watching-it was intervening. #Armenia #Geopolitics ▶️…

Prosperous Armenia missed 4% by 0.004%. With 17,000 invalid ballots vs 4,000 in 2021, recounts aren't optional. This tiny gap could reshape parliament and coalition math. #Armenia2026 #Elections youtu.be/pQIoY5dmicc

The opposition secured roughly 550,000 votes. Without the extensive use of administrative resources by Nikol's junta, Opposition would have won the election with ease. Once again, this reinforces a long-standing reality in Armenia: whoever runs the elections wins the election.

Reality check: Pashinyan failed to win a majority of the vote. Fell short of the two-thirds needed to change the Constitution. Lost 7 seats compared to last election. All while enjoying the advantages of state power, public sector control, and arresting basically everyone.

Pray for a miracle

When two elephants fight, the grass suffers. When they fight inside your house, your concern is not which elephant wins, but whether your house survives. Don't make your house a fighting ground for elephants.

Armenia heads into elections under a cloud of arrests, intimidation, and state pressure. Dr. Philippe Raffi Kalfayan joins us from an international observation mission to share IODA's findings. Watch: youtu.be/L9vKGO5Ezr4 #ArmeniaElections #IODA

Damning report from IODA alleges a worsening climate of political repression in Armenia ahead of the June 7 elections, including arrests of government critics, selective prosecutions, voter intimidation, and abuse of administrative resources. Worth reading! armeniaobservatory.org/NewsArticle?id…

🗳️ Armenia votes in one week. But can the election be free and fair? Arthur Khachatryan joins us to discuss election integrity, opposition unity, Hayastan Dashinq’s platform, TRIPP, the economy, and more. 🔗 Full episode: youtu.be/uQn81n-zHcw #ArmeniaElections

Armenia Elections 2026: - Samvel Karapetyan, head of the largest opposition force in the polls, is imprisoned or under restrictive measures. - Nikol publicly threatens Robert Kocharyan and Gagik Tsarukyan , leaders of the #2 and #3 forces in many polls, with physical violence and prosecution. - Tevanyan, a senior opposition figure, is arrested on treason charges weeks before the election. - Bagrat & Mikael Srpazans, Kandaz, and other opposition figures face arrests, detention, or house arrest tied to political activity and rallies. - Pro-government rallies packed with school staff and students? No consequences. - Recordings alleging voter intimidation by ruling party figures? No consequences. - Foreign leaders and governments openly signal support, while everyone else is warned not to “interfere.” People can decide for themselves whether this looks like a level playing field.

🇦🇲🇦🇿 Pashinyan's MP: Armenia needs to stop being a monoethnic country. "We need to organize immigration, even if it doesn't fit with the so called national ideas. Tens of thousands of people need to immigrate here. It won't happen without that. We also need to change this monoethnic mindset in our heads. Because there's no other way to survive in this region."

In Azerbaijan, a generation is already being shaped for whom the idea of incorporating #Armenia into #Azerbaijan is presented as something “normal” and acceptable. What is especially telling is that such statements are no longer voiced only by politicians, propagandists or pro-government experts, but also by young people, including young women. This is not a coincidence, nor is it merely the personal opinion of one individual. It is the result of a long-standing and deliberate policy by the #Azerbaijani authorities, who have systematically promoted territorial claims against #Armenia. For years, this rhetoric has been embedded in education, the media, state propaganda and public discourse. As a result, the younger generation is being taught to perceive claims against the territory of a neighboring sovereign state not as aggression or extremism, but as alleged “historical justice.” In reality, this is a dangerous policy that does not bring the region closer to peace. On the contrary, it raises a new generation in an atmosphere of hatred, revanchism and territorial ambitions.

Armenia 2026: the geopolitical fault lines are clear. Parties differ sharply on Artsakh return, Russia, Iran, TRIPP, U.S. alignment, and EU integration. Here’s a side-by-side heatmap of the main contenders. #Armenia #Artsakh #SouthCaucasus #TRIPP #Russia #Iran #EU

Remember these two? Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan. Right as their podcast was rapidly growing in popularity and pulling in massive viewership, masked officers raided their homes at dawn, confiscated their equipment, arrested them on “hooliganism” charges over “insults directed at Nikol and his team”. Then a court order effectively banned them from speaking publicly or continuing their broadcasts during the proceedings.

WISDOM AND A WARNING. Career U.S. diplomat Edward Djerejian, who has served as U.S. Ambassador throughout the Middle East and in 8 U.S. administrations, shared some eye-opening insights regarding #Yerevan's assertive shift towards the West. Ambassador Djerejian stressed, “I can’t see it’s in #Armenia’s interest to pivot in any serious way to any one power.… We’re going into a more multi-polar, multi-lateral world.… I can’t see Armenia pivoting into a pro-western, anti-Russian matrix; THAT WOULD BRING HARM TO ARMENIA.… You cannot depend on one major external power to come to your aid, and that goes for all interests, all powers involved.” He made clear: “Whatever strategic assessment or reassessment is being made in Yerevan, I think it would be a MAJOR, MAJOR MISTAKE AND MISCALCULATION that Armenia be identified with either one pole or the other.” Ambassador Djerejian made these statements in 2024 — on Armenian media. Two years on, Yerevan still refuses to heed his counsel. You can watch the entire video here: youtu.be/dVL1W3inFgU?si…

🇦🇲🇦🇿🇹🇷 Pashinyan lays the groundwork for the settlement of 300,000 Azerbaijanis in Armenia. "It is a fact that only now does the Republic of Armenia have a population that is 90 percent Armenian. There has never previously been a time when 90 percent of the population was Armenian. There has not been an Armenian state on the territory of present-day Armenia for 1,000 years. States existed here, but they were not Armenian states."

Catholicos Aram I’s Delegation Sings “Cilicia” At The Vatican With Pope Leo XIV In Saint Peter’s Square 🇦🇲🇻🇦 ➖➖➖ Catholicos Aram I's Armenian delegation sang "Cilicia" (Կիլիկիա) on stage at the Wednesday General Audience in Saint Peter's Square on May 20, 2026, during the Catholicos's multi-day visit to the Vatican. The performance came toward the end of the General Audience, where Catholicos Aram I had joined Pope Leo XIV on stage two days after the two Church leaders met and prayed together at the Vatican Apostolic Palace. The delegation of archbishops, bishops and clergy sang the song before the crowd gathered in the square. Speaking at the start of the audience, Pope Leo XIV welcomed Catholicos Aram I and his delegation, calling the fraternal visit an important occasion to strengthen the bonds of unity between the two Churches as they draw closer to full communion, and prayed that the Holy Spirit would bless the Catholicos's pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. He urged everyone present to pray for peace in Lebanon and the Middle East, which he said are once again torn apart by violence and war. The Pope thanked Aram I for his constant personal commitment to ecumenism, particularly through the theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and closed by invoking the intercession of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, Saint Gregory of Narek, Saint Nerses the Gracious and the Virgin Mother of God. "Cilicia" is a 19th-century song expressing longing for Cilicia, the historic Armenian homeland on the Mediterranean coast from which the Catholicosate takes its name. The Great House of Cilicia, displaced during the genocide and its aftermath, has been headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon, since 1930. The delegation sang it steps from the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. The Catholicos's delegation in Rome consists of Archbishop Gomidas Ohanian, Archbishop Kegham Khatcherian, Archbishop Nareg Alemezian, Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Archbishop Papken Tcharian, Archbishop Shahe Panossian, Archbishop Magar Ashkarian, Archbishop Mesrob Sarkissian, Bishop Sahag Yemishian, Bishop Dajad Ashekian, Very Rev. Fr. Hovagim Panjarjian and Very Rev. Fr. Sarkis Aprahamian. The General Audience appearance was part of a broader Vatican visit during which Catholicos Aram I met privately with Pope Leo XIV, raised the right of return to occupied Artsakh and the release of Armenian leaders detained in Baku, delivered a public lecture on the future of Middle Eastern Christianity, and met with senior offices of the Roman Curia.