The statement by the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, that it is possible to replace wheat with rice in the diet of the country’s citizens remains in the center of public attention for the second week. And this is understandable. Grigoryan, in fact, invaded the sacred, allowed the possibility of refusing bread, the main character of any table.
And if we specifically mention the role of pita bread, then Grigoryan’s proposal seems like a challenge to the country’s cultural heritage (ten years ago, Armenian pita bread was included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage).
In general, Grigoryan’s idea of ”transplanting” people from wheat to rice rightly caused a wave of public indignation. At the same time, his words coincided with the statement of the US Undersecretary of State for Europe and Eurasia. James O’Brien that “two or three cold winters” await the residents of Armenia, which causes additional resonance. But perhaps it is not the idea itself that deserves special attention, but its logic, says the columnist for The Voice of Armenia. Ara Meliksetyan.
Of course, the Prime Minister’s closest collaborator Nikol Pashinian It was no coincidence that this great thought occurred to me. The fact is that earlier the head of the Security Council took part in an online conference on food security in Ukraine, which caused confusion in Moscow.
Thus, the representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova fixed:
“If people are interested in food security issues, they should assume that food security exists in their own country. Perhaps then it would be better to contact Russia by video conference to discuss its food security?
Basically, Zakharova reminded Grigoryan that Armenia depends on Russia for its food security and, in response, proposed the thesis of replacing wheat with rice.
Let’s face it, Armenia’s food dependence on the Russian Federation goes beyond the supply of wheat alone. With the same success, Grigoryan can suggest switching from Russian vegetable oil to machine oil, or from beef to protein-rich insects. You may even go hungry. It’s just not entirely clear why. To reduce Moscow’s influence in Yerevan? Well, let’s say.
But then it is not entirely clear that Armenia is part of the EAEU, within the framework of which Moscow’s economic influence in Yerevan allowed Armenia, for example, Last year it ranked fourth in the world in terms of economic growth.
Even now, the Armenian economy lives mainly thanks to integration within the EAEU and the development of economic cooperation between Armenia and Russia.
And it would be more logical if Grigoryan proposed not a transition from wheat to rice, but a transition from Russian to domestic wheat. Here you can see a real desire to free Armenia’s food security from external influence.
But according to the logic of the Secretary of the Security Council, it is necessary to replace one external influence with another, even greater one. Why even bigger? The answer is simple. The fact is that wheat is produced in Armenia in certain quantities, of course, far from sufficient, but rice is not produced at all.
And, in fact, people are invited to move from semi-importation of strategic food products, from partial dependence for food security on external actors, to full import and absolute dependence.
The idea that it would be better for the government to increase the level of food self-sufficiency does not even occur to the Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Armenia.
What Grigoryan said seemed like a bad joke to many. But let’s not forget that in every joke there is a pinch of humor. Let’s not forget that this government usually makes very cruel jokes.
Therefore, it is not a fact that tomorrow bread will not be served on Armenian tables as a delicacy. But not only bread, the author of the publication sadly predicts.
But what about this food and other issues?, thinks the author of the Telegram channel “Comrade General”.
PASHINYAN SUGGESTS THAT ARMENIANS CONSIDER WALLET AS HOMELAND
If anyone in Armenia draws conclusions from the events in Georgia, it is Nikol Pashinyan. He is in a hurry to fill routine management processes with a new ideology, and realizes that clichés like “peace treaty”, “European election”, etc. They will not work on their own: you have to explain to people what kind of happiness “apaga ka” will bring to a citizen. (electoral motto of the ruling party “Contrato Civil”: “there is a future”).
Nikol decided to practice with inexpensive cats. He began hesitantly. When presenting the draft state budget for 2025 to the deputies, he suddenly spoke again about his “real Armenia” and stated that the budget figures are subordinated to five certain concepts. Namely:
Armenia is my home, my town, my family;
Get rich and get rich;
The future of Armenia depends on one person, and that is you;
The Homeland is a country, if you love the Homeland, strengthen the homeland;
Here is the Homeland, here is the bread, here is life.
This is, of course, pre-election preparation. So far everything seems like a drunken toast, but Pashinyan is not standing still and has already developed the key thesis about enrichment. Speaks:
“We must solve the following task: to create an opportunity for more and more people working in the Republic of Armenia, engaged in some type of activity, to get rich. They did not live carelessly, but became rich. For the past six and a half years, we have all wandered between historical and real Armenia. We spend most of our time and energy on this. Maybe later than we would like, but this wandering is over.”
As you can see, it kills two birds with one stone:
• It is justified that so far only his family and a handful of his associates have become rich (the “old-timers” and Artsakh are again to blame).
• It is entirely reasonable to generate political speculation around the hopes for a better life that always and everywhere accompany economic growth.
Here are the outlines of a new national idea, which Pashinyan calls “the real Armenia” and its neighbors call the “Georgian dream.”
But that’s where the similarities end. It is purely technological and consists of understanding that slogans must reach the stomach or pocket.
Pashinyan’s concepts completely lack a key element why Georgia abandoned European integration. It is called national pride in common parlance and sovereignty in political lexicon. And this is precisely what does not allow commercializing the Homeland, memory, history, ancestors for the sake of personal enrichment.
