AUGUST 2021: AANSI TEAM IN ARTSAKH

LOS ANGELES, USA (Aug. 20, 2021) — Last week, in an unprecedented way, the USA Arme- nian Life Journalistic Team succeeded in reaching the capital city Stepanakert of Republic of Artsakh / Nagorno Karabakh. The American journalistic delegation consists of USA Armenian Life Magazine, armenianlife. com Managing Editor and USA Armenian Life TV Host Appo Jabarian, U.S. Army Major General (Ret.) and journalist Mark MacCarley, U.S. Army Col. (Ret.), Wellesley University Foreign and De- fense Policy professor and journalist Robert Cassi- dy, Hollywood cinematographer and photojournal- ist Aaron MacCarley. Artsakh Republic Commander-in-Chief/Presi- dent Mr. Arayik Harutyunyan and his Chief Advi- sor/Ambassador with Special Assignments Gener- al Rudi Hyusnunts received Mr. Jabarian, General MacCarley and Col. Cassidy. The meeting was both educational, insightful and inspiring. The American journalists – Jabarian, Gen. MacCarley and Col. Cassidy discussed with Pres. Harutyunyan, a host of the most pressing issues impacting daily life in Artsakh-Republic. Chief among the issues was the national secu- rity of the Artsakh Republic. Pres. Harutyunyan did not hesitate to sound the alarm on existential threats being faced by the Armenian republic. Since the end of the Artsakh/Nagorno Kara- bakh 44-day war in the Fall of 2020, this was the first American team of journalists that was able to visit the embattled and blockaded Armenian autonomous republic struggling to establish its independence and sovereignty. Since last February, at least ten foreign journalists have been denied entry by the Russian peacekeeping troops controlling access to Nagorno-Karabakh from Ar- menia via the so-called Lachin corridor. The corridor is located in the Azerbaijan-occupied Berdzor region of Art- sakh Republic. One of the foreign journalists who have been denied entry Vincent Prado, a reporter for the Enquête Exclusive current affairs program on the French TV channel M6, has had his requests to visit the territory refused several times by the Russians without any explanation. Similar unexplained refusals have been received by Neil Hauer, a Canadian freelancer for the Guardian and CNN, and Mark Stratton, a British journalist who de- scribed his frustration in an interview for the BBC. The photographer Kiran Ridley received permission to visit the enclave but was turned back at the Russian checkpoint on 4 April, recently reported Reporters Without Borders (rsf. org). Before trekking to Artsakh Republic, on the first day of arrival in Armenia, Gen. MacCarley, Col. Cassidy, Mr. A. MacCarley and Mr. Jabarian made a pilgrimage visit to the 1915-1923 Turkish-executed Armenian Genocide Monument and Memorial Complex in Tsitsernakaberd,

JULY 2022: AANSI TEAM ON FRONTLINE IN SYUNIK; AT NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY (NDRU)

The 2nd AANSI educational and journalistic mission returned last month after a major engagement and extended discussions at the highest levels with Republic of Armenia Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. The mission team members also interviewed military personnel who are actively defending the Armenia’s territorial integrity. They personally went forward to the multiple conflict zones and inspected the present forward lines of contact between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces to see for themselves the continued threat to Armenia and Artsakh. There is no real cease fire. There are continued daily armed confrontations initiated by Azerbaijani forces to probe Armenian defenses. AANSI’s educational mission continues in December 2022 when it commits several recently retired senior US military officers to seminar with Armenian battalion and brigade commanders and educate them on military topics of critical importance: Mission Command, NATO Military Doctrine, Logistics, and effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on regional and global security in the Caucasus. Because not one penny of US government or Republic of Armenia funds is used to support this first-of-a-kind US-ARMENIA joint security cooperation action, we need your help. AANSI does not work for either the US or the Armenian government. It is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt educational organization. All funding for these past educational and journalistic missions and for the upcoming commitment of US retired military personnel to Armenia comes from individuals like you – U.s. citizens supporting AANSI’s mission in fostering a stronger military, economic and political alliance between the United States and the Republic of Armenia.

FEBRUARY 2023: AANSI TEAM AT NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY (NDRU) AND IN SYUNIK