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YEGPARIAN: 10 REASONS WHY OBAMA SHOULD NOT TRAVEL TO ARMENIA ON APRIL 24
By Garen Yegparian on April 2, 2015 in Garen Yegparian
http://armenianweekly.com/2015/04/02/yegparian-obama/
I must give credit to fellow columnist, Harut Sassounian, for inspiring
this piece with his "10 Reasons Why Obama Should Travel to Armenia on
April 24â~@³ that appeared last week. He took a positive approach. My
disgust with the Obama Administration's extensively anti-Armenian,
pro-Turkish, and pro-Azerbaijani policies has resulted in the cynicism,
sarcasm, and snark that mark this piece. I ask readers' indulgence and
tolerance in this respect. Maybe reverse psychology will work on this
president who came into office inspiring such great hope, but beyond
passage of "Obamacare" has been an utter disappointment, not because
of bad policy (in most cases) but because of a lack of backbone.
Here are my 10 reasons for Air Force One to stay away from Yerevan's
Zvartnots Airport:
1) If Obama goes and pays proper respect to Armenians, genocide
victims, and the Americans who raised millions of dollars to save the
lives of Armenian orphans, he would have to accord appropriate and
proper respect to the Orphan Rug woven by young genocide survivors
and delivered as a gift of gratitude to President Calvin Coolidge. We
wouldn't want him flip-flopping on policy, would we? 2) By visiting
Armenia on this Centennial occasion, Obama might actually have to
resort to using the rigor of his legal training as a constitutional
scholar and use his brain to affirm what numerous other U.S. officials
and bodies have done in the past, recognize the genocide for what
it legally is. Given how much faster presidents age while in office,
we certainly wouldn't want to stress him any more, would we?
3) Since Obama has ruined his reputation among Armenians extensively,
regaining that trust will be extremely difficult. Instead, he might end
up catching a shoe with his face while visiting Armenia, home of the
oldest known shoe. We wouldn't want Armenia's reputation sullied thus,
nor Obama's by having him become like George "Dubya" Bush, would we?
4) If Obama visited Armenia to mark the Centennial and in so doing
helped put Armenia-Turkey relations on a rational, justice-based path
to the future, he would damage the huge "reconciliation" industry
that the U.S. has. We wouldn't want him (or Armenians) to become known
as an impediment to an improved economy at this time of a still-weak
recovery, would we?
5) On such a visit, should Obama urge Turkey to lift its blockade
(which under international law is an act of war) of Armenia while
viewing the majesty of Mt. Ararat, he would further damage his
friendship with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We know
"it's lonely at the top" so we wouldn't want Obama to lose what few
"friends" he has left, would we?
6) If, in light of Azerbaijan's ever-more-frequent border attacks,
Obama stressed Washington's strong support for a peaceful resolution
to the Karabagh conflict, he would ruin his reputation as a (subtle)
war-monger--think Syria, drones, and kill orders. We wouldn't want
to tarnish his name in this arena, would we?
7) If Obama were to use such a visit as a counter-balance to Armenia's
joining the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, he would once again be
demonstrating good sense, and contradicting current, very disruptive
American encirclement/agitation policies in Russia's "near-abroad"
(i.e., Russia's perceived sphere of influence)--think Ukraine and
Azerbaijan. We wouldn't want an American president to be perceived
as inconsistent, would we?
8) Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Yerevan's invitation
to attend Genocide Centennial commemorations, so he and Obama might
meet there, since the latter is not planning on going to Moscow for
the World War II Victory Day celebrations. Of course, this absence
is meant to serve as sign of disapproval over Russia's activities in
Ukraine. But, just by meeting with Putin, Obama would be giving in a
bit, which could be seen as an admission of error on Ukrainian policy.
We wouldn't want an American president to be perceived as anything
but infallible, would we?
9) A visit to Yerevan on such an important occasion would be a
goodwill gesture (or sop) to the Armenian community in the U.S. But,
again this would be at odds with Obama's fairly consistent dissing
of this very community. We wouldn't want inconsistency in President
Obama's domestic policies any more than in foreign policy, would we?
10) Obama would be the first U.S. president to visit the Republic
of Armenia. He is already the first African-American president. We
wouldn't want him to be greedy and grab too many firsts, would we?
Please consider these profound "problems" that would result from Obama
accepting the invitation to properly honor the Armenian Genocide's
victims and actually honor his pre-election pledge, and let him know
what you think.
By Garen Yegparian on April 2, 2015 in Garen Yegparian
http://armenianweekly.com/2015/04/02/yegparian-obama/
I must give credit to fellow columnist, Harut Sassounian, for inspiring
this piece with his "10 Reasons Why Obama Should Travel to Armenia on
April 24â~@³ that appeared last week. He took a positive approach. My
disgust with the Obama Administration's extensively anti-Armenian,
pro-Turkish, and pro-Azerbaijani policies has resulted in the cynicism,
sarcasm, and snark that mark this piece. I ask readers' indulgence and
tolerance in this respect. Maybe reverse psychology will work on this
president who came into office inspiring such great hope, but beyond
passage of "Obamacare" has been an utter disappointment, not because
of bad policy (in most cases) but because of a lack of backbone.
Here are my 10 reasons for Air Force One to stay away from Yerevan's
Zvartnots Airport:
1) If Obama goes and pays proper respect to Armenians, genocide
victims, and the Americans who raised millions of dollars to save the
lives of Armenian orphans, he would have to accord appropriate and
proper respect to the Orphan Rug woven by young genocide survivors
and delivered as a gift of gratitude to President Calvin Coolidge. We
wouldn't want him flip-flopping on policy, would we? 2) By visiting
Armenia on this Centennial occasion, Obama might actually have to
resort to using the rigor of his legal training as a constitutional
scholar and use his brain to affirm what numerous other U.S. officials
and bodies have done in the past, recognize the genocide for what
it legally is. Given how much faster presidents age while in office,
we certainly wouldn't want to stress him any more, would we?
3) Since Obama has ruined his reputation among Armenians extensively,
regaining that trust will be extremely difficult. Instead, he might end
up catching a shoe with his face while visiting Armenia, home of the
oldest known shoe. We wouldn't want Armenia's reputation sullied thus,
nor Obama's by having him become like George "Dubya" Bush, would we?
4) If Obama visited Armenia to mark the Centennial and in so doing
helped put Armenia-Turkey relations on a rational, justice-based path
to the future, he would damage the huge "reconciliation" industry
that the U.S. has. We wouldn't want him (or Armenians) to become known
as an impediment to an improved economy at this time of a still-weak
recovery, would we?
5) On such a visit, should Obama urge Turkey to lift its blockade
(which under international law is an act of war) of Armenia while
viewing the majesty of Mt. Ararat, he would further damage his
friendship with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We know
"it's lonely at the top" so we wouldn't want Obama to lose what few
"friends" he has left, would we?
6) If, in light of Azerbaijan's ever-more-frequent border attacks,
Obama stressed Washington's strong support for a peaceful resolution
to the Karabagh conflict, he would ruin his reputation as a (subtle)
war-monger--think Syria, drones, and kill orders. We wouldn't want
to tarnish his name in this arena, would we?
7) If Obama were to use such a visit as a counter-balance to Armenia's
joining the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, he would once again be
demonstrating good sense, and contradicting current, very disruptive
American encirclement/agitation policies in Russia's "near-abroad"
(i.e., Russia's perceived sphere of influence)--think Ukraine and
Azerbaijan. We wouldn't want an American president to be perceived
as inconsistent, would we?
8) Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Yerevan's invitation
to attend Genocide Centennial commemorations, so he and Obama might
meet there, since the latter is not planning on going to Moscow for
the World War II Victory Day celebrations. Of course, this absence
is meant to serve as sign of disapproval over Russia's activities in
Ukraine. But, just by meeting with Putin, Obama would be giving in a
bit, which could be seen as an admission of error on Ukrainian policy.
We wouldn't want an American president to be perceived as anything
but infallible, would we?
9) A visit to Yerevan on such an important occasion would be a
goodwill gesture (or sop) to the Armenian community in the U.S. But,
again this would be at odds with Obama's fairly consistent dissing
of this very community. We wouldn't want inconsistency in President
Obama's domestic policies any more than in foreign policy, would we?
10) Obama would be the first U.S. president to visit the Republic
of Armenia. He is already the first African-American president. We
wouldn't want him to be greedy and grab too many firsts, would we?
Please consider these profound "problems" that would result from Obama
accepting the invitation to properly honor the Armenian Genocide's
victims and actually honor his pre-election pledge, and let him know
what you think.