Guests of Groong Podcast

Ruben Melikyan

Ruben Melikyan was formerly Artsakh’s Human Rights Ombudsman, and prior to that he was rector of the Justice Academy of Armenia. In 2019, Melikyan co-founded and currently leads the “Path of Law” NGO. Իրավական ուղի in Armenian.

Ruben Muradyan

Ruben Muradyan is a Yerevan-based cybersecurity analyst. He’s an independent researcher, and a frequent speaker on cybersecurity topics on ArmSec, BarCamp.

Scott Horton

Scott Horton is an American radio host, author, and prominent voice in the libertarian antiwar movement. He is the editorial director of the Libertarian Institute and Antiwar.com, as well as the host of The Scott Horton Show, where he has conducted thousands of interviews with experts on foreign policy, war, and civil liberties. He also hosts Antiwar Radio on 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles.

Horton has authored several highly regarded books critiquing U.S. military interventionism, including Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan, Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism, and most recently, Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine. Through his writing and broadcasting, Horton has become a leading critic of American foreign policy, advocating for non-interventionism and diplomatic solutions over perpetual warfare.

Sergei Melkonian

Dr. Sergei Melkonian is currently a Research Fellow at APRI Armenia, a Yerevan-based think tank. He served as assistant to President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, on foreign policy (Middle East and post-Soviet space). Sergei is also a guest lecturer at Yerevan State University and the Russian-Armenian University.

Serop Azarian (Տ. Սերոբ Քահանայ)

Fr. Serop Azarian has served in the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Church between 1999-2007, the Western Diocese of the United States between 2007-2010, and the Canadian Diocese 2011-2014. Born in Kuwait, he immigrated to the United States of America in 1987, and served in the US Army as a guardsman and is a Veteran. He pursued his university education in Montclair University, Alliance University and Nazarene Bible College with a Bachelors degree in Divinity and Biblical Studies. Fr. Serop works as a court interpreter in Clark County, Nevada while remaining active as a priest educator.

Setrag Balian

Setrag Balian is a Jerusalemite Armenian activist and co-founder of the Save The ArQ movement.

Sopo Japaridze

Sopo Japaridze is the chair of Solidarity Network, an independent care workers union in Georgia. She has been a labor organizer for over a decade. She researches and studies labor and social relations and writes for various publications. She is cofounder of the Reimagining Soviet Georgia podcast.

Stanislav Krapivnik

Stanislav Krapivnik is a former US Army officer, supply chain exec and military-political expert, now based in Russia. He was born in Lugansk during the Soviet times, migrated to the US as a child, served in the US army, did not like what it was doing in former Yugoslavia, quit, and returned to Russia. Mr. Krapivnik is an independent contractor and consults and appears in the international media in his areas of expertise in military matters, NATO, America, history, economics and supply chains.

Suren Sargsyan

Suren Sargsyan is the founder and President at the Armenian Center for American Studies, a research center based in Yerevan.