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A Respite, Some Good News
asbarez
Saturday, March 10th, 2012
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
The last few weeks have not looked kindly on Armenians for the most
part- court rulings, Azeri-oil-funded propaganda misrepresenting what
happened in Khojaluh two decades ago, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's idiotic and embarrassing comments about the Genocide, etc.
So, it is good that as of late night Super Tuesday (the day ten states
held their primary election in this U.S. presidential election year),
we are rid of the current title holder of `biggest Turkish whore in
the U.S. House of Representatives' - Jean Schmidt (if only because
former Speaker Dennis Hastert [of Illinois] and Dick Gephardt [of
Missouri] are no longer in office). Just imagine what it takes to
successfully `primary' (a member of the same party running against an
incumbent) a legislator! How bad a representative, at least in the
eyes of her constituents, not her Turkish masters, must she be, that
she got knocked off! She used to have Tea Party support, but managed
to turn even that group of often unrealistic citizens off through her
shenanigans. I heard through the grapevine that she kept doing foolish
things during the primary campaign. Plus, her unethical behavior
- taking Turkish money through indirect avenues - and the scrutiny it
got, had to hurt her - thanks to David Krikorian and the ANCA for their
efforts on that front.
The Congressional good news goes on. It's not just Schmidt we're rid
of. There are others who have opposed the Genocide resolution or other
important Armenian initiatives in Congress that are entering the
dustbin of Congressional has-beens. Dan Burton of Illinois is retiring
(he saw he couldn't win this time and took the `honorable', less
embarrassing, exit). Ron Paul of Texas, is also retiring while running
as a quixotic Republican presidential candidate. Dan Boren of Arizona,
co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan caucus, is retiring. Wally
Herger, a former supporter of the Genocide resolution who then
withdrew and kept his distance is doing the same. Connie Mack of
Florida is another one. Finally, and this is mixed good-bad news, Jeff
Flake, of Arizona, is not running for the House of Representatives,
instead opting to run for the Senate seat. This gives us a chance to
support his strongest opponent and make sure Flake's kept out of
power, period.
Moving to the other end of the building, Senators Feinstein and Brown
introduced the legislation calling on the Secretary of State to press
Turkey to return confiscated (polite for `stolen') church properties
to their rightful owners. You'll recall an identical measure passed
the House Foreign Affairs Committee last summer. This is not only good
news in and of itself, but because it represents the newest phase of
our struggle. We have, at long last, started to demand reparations,
not just recognition, on a practical level.
Crossing the `pond' to France, there's also the good news that
President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to reintroduce the bill
criminalizing genocide denial that was recently rejected by France's
(in this case conflict-of-interest-ridden) Constitutional Council.
Even better news is that Sarkozy's main opponent in the French
presidential election, Francois Hollande, is on board to do the same.
It seems timing-wise, it's not possible to get the legislation in
before the election takes place. So we'll have to wait and see whether
the winner delivers on his promise.
Finally, there's a twisted bit of good news. Don't blame yourself if
it didn't register when you read the headlines about the anti-Armenian
rallies held in Turkey calling us bastards and threatening to invade
Yerevan, followed by various Turkish government leaders' comments on
this matter. The hidden good news is Prime Minister Erdogan's
reference to the demonstrators as `raving racists'. Of course, this is
a very clever political ploy, so let's not let him get away with it.
He's `distancing' himself from clearly reprehensible utterances. But,
it was his government that allowed the explicitly anti-Armenian
actions to go off across the country. This way, he both slakes and
stokes average Turks' hatred of Armenians, while simultaneously
painting himself as oh-so-enlightened, humanist, and `European'!
Be heartened by the good news, and use that energy to battle the bad
and affirmatively push forward the Armenian agenda on all fronts!
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
asbarez
Saturday, March 10th, 2012
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
The last few weeks have not looked kindly on Armenians for the most
part- court rulings, Azeri-oil-funded propaganda misrepresenting what
happened in Khojaluh two decades ago, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's idiotic and embarrassing comments about the Genocide, etc.
So, it is good that as of late night Super Tuesday (the day ten states
held their primary election in this U.S. presidential election year),
we are rid of the current title holder of `biggest Turkish whore in
the U.S. House of Representatives' - Jean Schmidt (if only because
former Speaker Dennis Hastert [of Illinois] and Dick Gephardt [of
Missouri] are no longer in office). Just imagine what it takes to
successfully `primary' (a member of the same party running against an
incumbent) a legislator! How bad a representative, at least in the
eyes of her constituents, not her Turkish masters, must she be, that
she got knocked off! She used to have Tea Party support, but managed
to turn even that group of often unrealistic citizens off through her
shenanigans. I heard through the grapevine that she kept doing foolish
things during the primary campaign. Plus, her unethical behavior
- taking Turkish money through indirect avenues - and the scrutiny it
got, had to hurt her - thanks to David Krikorian and the ANCA for their
efforts on that front.
The Congressional good news goes on. It's not just Schmidt we're rid
of. There are others who have opposed the Genocide resolution or other
important Armenian initiatives in Congress that are entering the
dustbin of Congressional has-beens. Dan Burton of Illinois is retiring
(he saw he couldn't win this time and took the `honorable', less
embarrassing, exit). Ron Paul of Texas, is also retiring while running
as a quixotic Republican presidential candidate. Dan Boren of Arizona,
co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan caucus, is retiring. Wally
Herger, a former supporter of the Genocide resolution who then
withdrew and kept his distance is doing the same. Connie Mack of
Florida is another one. Finally, and this is mixed good-bad news, Jeff
Flake, of Arizona, is not running for the House of Representatives,
instead opting to run for the Senate seat. This gives us a chance to
support his strongest opponent and make sure Flake's kept out of
power, period.
Moving to the other end of the building, Senators Feinstein and Brown
introduced the legislation calling on the Secretary of State to press
Turkey to return confiscated (polite for `stolen') church properties
to their rightful owners. You'll recall an identical measure passed
the House Foreign Affairs Committee last summer. This is not only good
news in and of itself, but because it represents the newest phase of
our struggle. We have, at long last, started to demand reparations,
not just recognition, on a practical level.
Crossing the `pond' to France, there's also the good news that
President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to reintroduce the bill
criminalizing genocide denial that was recently rejected by France's
(in this case conflict-of-interest-ridden) Constitutional Council.
Even better news is that Sarkozy's main opponent in the French
presidential election, Francois Hollande, is on board to do the same.
It seems timing-wise, it's not possible to get the legislation in
before the election takes place. So we'll have to wait and see whether
the winner delivers on his promise.
Finally, there's a twisted bit of good news. Don't blame yourself if
it didn't register when you read the headlines about the anti-Armenian
rallies held in Turkey calling us bastards and threatening to invade
Yerevan, followed by various Turkish government leaders' comments on
this matter. The hidden good news is Prime Minister Erdogan's
reference to the demonstrators as `raving racists'. Of course, this is
a very clever political ploy, so let's not let him get away with it.
He's `distancing' himself from clearly reprehensible utterances. But,
it was his government that allowed the explicitly anti-Armenian
actions to go off across the country. This way, he both slakes and
stokes average Turks' hatred of Armenians, while simultaneously
painting himself as oh-so-enlightened, humanist, and `European'!
Be heartened by the good news, and use that energy to battle the bad
and affirmatively push forward the Armenian agenda on all fronts!
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress