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YOU GET SURPRISED, WE'LL REMEMBER
Lragir.am
08 Sept 06
Roger Robinson, chief executive of the Yerevan office of the World Bank
was one of the heroes of the evening TV program of Armenia on September
6. He participated in an account of the indices of the economic state
in Armenia in 2005. Robinson expressed surprise about the economy of
Armenia. It was "kind surprise" though: what a good economy it is, that
displays such wonderful tendencies of development in these conditions.
I remembered the famous joke about surprise. Two men decide to steal
one of the oxen of a peasant ploughing his field. One of them stands at
the top of the hill and cries, "I'm surprised, I'm so surprised". When
the peasant working in the field turns around, the other friend steals
one of the oxen of the peasant. Meanwhile the poor peasant asks why he
is surprised. "I am surprised how you plough the field with one ox,"
says the man on the hill. The ingenuous peasant turns to his plough,
sees only one ox and says, "I'm also surprised".
It is difficult to say whether Robinson was like one of these
ingenious men who cries about his surprise, and the government of
Armenia is the other, who uses the opportunity and takes away the
"ox of the peasant". However, the viewers watching Robinson that
evening surely feel like this peasant and tell themselves, "I'm also
surprised". And there is reason to be surprised. It is surprising
what Robinson has to do in Armenia if the state of the economy is so
good. It is surprising that with a two-digit annual economic growth
for over 6 years the foreign debt of Armenia does not decrease or
remains the same but continues growing.
It is surprising that with a two-digit economic growth the government
of Armenia begs the Diaspora to help develop rural settlements
situated near the border. It is surprising that foreign functionaries
in Armenia, who are paid from and live on foreign budgets, are
tenaciously trying to persuade the Armenian public that life in
Armenia is not as bad as it may seem, moreover, real life is not what
the Armenians imagine.
Maybe it is not surprising. Maybe Robinson knows why it is so,
therefore he is not surprised at such things. However, it would be
better if he told what he knows to the Armenian viewers, otherwise
the viewers are surprised like that ingenuous peasant. Or at least the
public would be surprised at what Robinson is surprised. Or if he would
not tell, he could at least bring several million dollars from the
World Bank for the government of Armenia to work out an Anti-Surprise
Policy, which would enable maintaining that until 2020 the level of
surprise in Armenia will be lower than the natural level. In that case
the Armenian people would remember Roger Robinson forever, and he would
continue to be surprised, this time on the Armenians who remember him,
not the economy. However it depends on how they will remember.
JAMES HAKOBYAN
Lragir.am
08 Sept 06
Roger Robinson, chief executive of the Yerevan office of the World Bank
was one of the heroes of the evening TV program of Armenia on September
6. He participated in an account of the indices of the economic state
in Armenia in 2005. Robinson expressed surprise about the economy of
Armenia. It was "kind surprise" though: what a good economy it is, that
displays such wonderful tendencies of development in these conditions.
I remembered the famous joke about surprise. Two men decide to steal
one of the oxen of a peasant ploughing his field. One of them stands at
the top of the hill and cries, "I'm surprised, I'm so surprised". When
the peasant working in the field turns around, the other friend steals
one of the oxen of the peasant. Meanwhile the poor peasant asks why he
is surprised. "I am surprised how you plough the field with one ox,"
says the man on the hill. The ingenuous peasant turns to his plough,
sees only one ox and says, "I'm also surprised".
It is difficult to say whether Robinson was like one of these
ingenious men who cries about his surprise, and the government of
Armenia is the other, who uses the opportunity and takes away the
"ox of the peasant". However, the viewers watching Robinson that
evening surely feel like this peasant and tell themselves, "I'm also
surprised". And there is reason to be surprised. It is surprising
what Robinson has to do in Armenia if the state of the economy is so
good. It is surprising that with a two-digit annual economic growth
for over 6 years the foreign debt of Armenia does not decrease or
remains the same but continues growing.
It is surprising that with a two-digit economic growth the government
of Armenia begs the Diaspora to help develop rural settlements
situated near the border. It is surprising that foreign functionaries
in Armenia, who are paid from and live on foreign budgets, are
tenaciously trying to persuade the Armenian public that life in
Armenia is not as bad as it may seem, moreover, real life is not what
the Armenians imagine.
Maybe it is not surprising. Maybe Robinson knows why it is so,
therefore he is not surprised at such things. However, it would be
better if he told what he knows to the Armenian viewers, otherwise
the viewers are surprised like that ingenuous peasant. Or at least the
public would be surprised at what Robinson is surprised. Or if he would
not tell, he could at least bring several million dollars from the
World Bank for the government of Armenia to work out an Anti-Surprise
Policy, which would enable maintaining that until 2020 the level of
surprise in Armenia will be lower than the natural level. In that case
the Armenian people would remember Roger Robinson forever, and he would
continue to be surprised, this time on the Armenians who remember him,
not the economy. However it depends on how they will remember.
JAMES HAKOBYAN