The issue of affirming Richard Hoagland for the post of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia is currently in the hands of the U.S. State Secretariat. “ArmenPress” states that according to Armenian National Committee press correspondent Elizabeth Chuldjyan, now there is nothing left to do but wait and see what decision the Bush administration will make. Based on U.S. legislation, the president may affirm the nomination and circumvent the affirmation of the Senate. “However, we hope that that won’t be the case. After all, nobody wants to see an ambassador who can’t be influential and work efficiently while representing U.S. interests in Armenia. Of course, the U.S. State Secretariat is also worried over this,” said Chuldjyan. George Bush had re-nominated Richard Hoagland days before that and Senator Bob Menendez had frozen the nomination for the second time.
