Hoagland confirmation pressure... calling on California
I just got my regular ANCA update listing FANTASTIC quotes from Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee hammering Hoagland on the Genocide issue. This is the result of strong grassroots in the US:
"How many people died, and during what period, in the Armenian Genocide? What were the causes of these deaths?"
–Senator Paul Sarbanes
"Do you personally believe that these atrocities meet the definition of a genocide? If not, please specify why not?"
-Senator John Kerry
"I am not sure how we can continue to have Ambassadors to Armenia who can be effective unless they give recognition to the Genocide."
-Senator Norm Coleman
"What instruction would you give to Embassy staff concerning statements about the Armenian Genocide?"
-Senator George Allen
"Not only should we not play word games with a matter as serious as genocide, we should also not play political games with issues of genocide."
- Senator Barbara Boxer
"Has the State Department received any communication - written, electronic, or spoken - from the Turkish government concerning Ambassador Evans?"
- Senator Joe Biden
My personal favorite was Biden's quote... just get straight to the point... are you being bribed? :)
CALLING ON CALIFORNIANS!!!!
Of course, Bush is still pushing the nomination through, so we need to keep fighting. My sources say that the major push we need to make is to have more Californians calling Senator Boxer's office asking for her to put a block on Hoagland. To find out how, visit www.anca.org.
The bottom line is this. US needs good relations with Armenia, and conflict in the region is making our position more valuable to the US. What possible good can an Ambassador who denies history possibly do representing the US in Armenia? Believe me, after all this, Armenians will not work with this Ambassador. We have the Senate fighting our battle as a result of Armenian Americans raising their voices, but we need to keep pushing until the State Department and Bush Administration have no option but to either say it was genocide, or they are taking orders from Ankara.
"How many people died, and during what period, in the Armenian Genocide? What were the causes of these deaths?"
–Senator Paul Sarbanes
"Do you personally believe that these atrocities meet the definition of a genocide? If not, please specify why not?"
-Senator John Kerry
"I am not sure how we can continue to have Ambassadors to Armenia who can be effective unless they give recognition to the Genocide."
-Senator Norm Coleman
"What instruction would you give to Embassy staff concerning statements about the Armenian Genocide?"
-Senator George Allen
"Not only should we not play word games with a matter as serious as genocide, we should also not play political games with issues of genocide."
- Senator Barbara Boxer
"Has the State Department received any communication - written, electronic, or spoken - from the Turkish government concerning Ambassador Evans?"
- Senator Joe Biden
My personal favorite was Biden's quote... just get straight to the point... are you being bribed? :)
CALLING ON CALIFORNIANS!!!!
Of course, Bush is still pushing the nomination through, so we need to keep fighting. My sources say that the major push we need to make is to have more Californians calling Senator Boxer's office asking for her to put a block on Hoagland. To find out how, visit www.anca.org.
The bottom line is this. US needs good relations with Armenia, and conflict in the region is making our position more valuable to the US. What possible good can an Ambassador who denies history possibly do representing the US in Armenia? Believe me, after all this, Armenians will not work with this Ambassador. We have the Senate fighting our battle as a result of Armenian Americans raising their voices, but we need to keep pushing until the State Department and Bush Administration have no option but to either say it was genocide, or they are taking orders from Ankara.
posted by Arsineh at 11:17 AM
12 Comments:
Associated Press is reporting that Turkey is moving forward on its push into Northern Iraq. Has the region gone mad? I feel that the Bush administration has finally initiated two of its evil-willing allies, Turkey and Israel, to do its neo-con dirty-work agenda first in the Arab world and second in Euro-Asia, as the US is in a dire quagmire in post Saddam Iraq.
This US administration seems to have no other option but to take orders from Turkey and Israel, as it has gradually lost all credibility with the Arab public. Hopefully these evil military deeds will finally wake up the voting US public. Who am I kidding?
I'm starting to understand, what type of evil fascist pseudo-democratic government has the United Stated become, post 9/11. I just hope our Kocharian government has the foresight to prepare contingency planning, as it seems clear that armies are on the move in the region.
FYI, swarm of uniformed Army men in the back elevator of the Marriott. One stated they were on a "humanitarian" type "peace mission." Isn't that nice.
Michael says,
When are we going to understand that we are just pawns on a chess board ready to be sacrificed anytime the BIG PLAYERS of this world decide to dispose of us?
Europeans did it,USSR did it, now USA is doing it as all empires DO.
The only path left is to fend for ourselves the best we can without blindly trusting the DO GOODERS under the guise of any ISMS that they represent.
We survived in the past Empiric periods, we will do so again!
"just pawns on a chess board", so true my friend, so true...words of wisdom.
Funny to recall the credo: "Follow the Money, Follow the Power"
This principle has been true throughout Armenian history, but is too easily forgotten.
Most Armenian people and political analysts miss the big picture of pro-US global interests in the region because they are too busy chasing irrelevant information. Our people's focus on money and power keep us relevant in the eyes of the first world powers. We seem so accurate and worldly accepted and yet we are so pointedly ill effective or even blind at exposing the daily injustice and half-truths this greed driven and corrupt atmosphere produces. It has a potential destroying us. I just hope our current Armenian leaders don’t sell us out.
Done. Thank you.
To call ourselves pawns on a chessboard is so simplistic and pessimistic at that. Armenia holds more power than we realize, but we do need to know how to play our cards right. If we were mere pawns with no say in our fate, we would have been long gone centuries ago. We are still here because we are not pawns. Let's not toss in our cards so quickly please.
Arsineh, I respect your comments but I do feel we have much more work to do as a world community before we can rid ourselves of this proverbial "pawn on chessboard" analogy. So far, our economic gains as well as our social and political ones are marginal, compared to the raw potential. There is also much corruption to rid in all areas of the current Armenian government, and this corruption is what keeps the nation lethargic. This corruption is there for a reason, but that's a different topic all-together.
What about gov. subsidizing? Subsidizing was a well-versed process during Armenia’s Soviet times. The current Armenian government is unable to structure a legitimate (corrupt-free) subsidize program for a few key exporting business sectors that are producing jobs and economic growth. Not enough media or political attention is given to that one important subject. I follow Armenia’s social and economic developments religiously and I am so disappointed to see how our elected officials in this current government divert tax revenue and capital amongst unrelated and often single channeled sectors. Somehow, money gets funneled to private parties and so the subsidized capital, that was suppose to aid and direct to various healthy or tax revenue producing sectors of the economy, get miss-managed to others. No one dares to question why? Why do we do that, why do we tolerate that behavior? Please don’t label that as being “simplistic and pessimistic”. I hope we can discuss this topic of government subsidizing even further during this year’s Armenian Diaspora conference. So far these conferences have been structured like large social get-togethers. I just hope that democracy is not on the decline in our Armenia.
Ah, let me rephrase. I am speaking in the ideal sense. Given the situation... our location, religion, position, etc., I believe that ideally we should have much more power and leverage than given credit. However, reality tells a different story. It's up to Kocharian to play the cards right, and in general if Armenians were a bit more strategic and prepared... and optimistic, we wouldn't be in as dangerous a situation as I believe we will be because I too am a realist and agree that our corruption, greed and ignorance may ruin our chances of coming out of this without dirty hands. However, I believe we do have the right pieces to play. Then again, maybe we have the influence to gear our future afterall. You never know how things will play out. I really truly believed at one point that Bush had NO hope of winning the election. I also believed naively that Bush/Isreal would be smarter than to blow up every Middle Eastern Country on the map. Goes to show how predictions can be WAAAYYYYYYYYY off.
Michael says,
Arsineh, I am sorry to have given you the impression that by being "pawns on a chess board" I implied simplicity or pessimism!
I merely stated that, we should rely more on our capabilities and have faith in, eventually successful governance of our country.
Future generations of Armenians need proper exemples from our leaders if we want our pieces of pie in this world.
This will take the passing of a few generations of soviet influenced adults that are set in their ways.
Armenians have always lived with the hope that the future is going to be better. This hope and our will to work hard have been the keys of our survival in the past!
If we survived the Mongols and the Ottomans we certainly will survive the bribe takers of today.
Keep up the good work.
Respectfully
I second the "keep up the good work" comment. It is really hard landing a good paying job in Armenia. Wages are much lower than Iran or Turkey, and Government retirement programs are non-existent. Hopefully you can invest in your own business, buy a few income properties and secure your financial independence. One thing is for sure; Armenia has a growing economy with a healthy immigration flow from Iran. Iranian-Armenian citizens are investing in Armenia, and a lot of them are calling Yerevan their second home.
Then we are in complete agreement. Well said. Thank you.
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