Category: Authors

Neither Obama Nor Romney Deserve Armenian-Americans’ Votes

During my recent trip to Armenia, journalists repeatedly asked which US presidential candidate I supported in the November 6 elections. My answer was clear and unequivocal: I supported neither Pres. Obama nor Governor Romney. Upon my return to the US, I was pleased to learn that the Armenian National Committee of America had made the same decision by not endorsing either candidate.

This was not a difficult decision. Both candidates have been disappointing. The President has not kept his word on many Armenian and non-Armenian issues, while his rival has not shown the slightest interest in the Armenian-American community and its issues.

Here is Pres. Obama’s long list of unkept promises on Armenian issues:

1. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he repeatedly pledged to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, and broke his promise after the election.

2. Furthermore, the Obama administration opposed the adoption of a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide.

3. Pres. Obama significantly reduced the amount of foreign aid to Armenia and Artsakh (Karabagh). Moreover, his administration did not spend the full amount of aid Congress had allocated to Artsakh.

4. He pressured Armenia to sign the infamous “Protocols” with Turkey in 2009.

5. He did not press Turkey to lift its blockade of Armenia.

6. He remained silent in the face of repeated saber-rattling by Azerbaijan’s President against Armenia and Artsakh, and ignored his campaign pledge to support Artsakh’s self-determination.

7. In late December 2010, circumventing the “hold” placed by U.S. Senators, Pres. Obama unilaterally appointed Matt Bryza as Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Bryza’s candidacy had been overwhelmingly opposed by the Armenian-American community.

8. Breaking another promise, Pres. Obama failed to promote trade with Armenia.

9. He and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not respond to repeated requests to meet with Armenian-American community leaders to address their concerns.

Armenian-Americans do not need to beg Pres. Obama to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, since Pres. Ronald Reagan had issued such a statement in his Presidential Proclamation of April 22, 1981. By not acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, Pres. Obama simply undermined his own credibility. Most Armenian-Americans trusted him in 2008. They no longer trust him in 2012! As the popular saying goes, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!”

Those who think that such an assessment is too harsh and too narrowly focused on Armenian issues should be advised that Pres. Obama has not kept 86 other promises on national and international issues, according to politifact.com.

Governor Romney has not fared any better with Armenian-Americans. He has avoided any contacts with the community, making no attempt to seek their support and votes. The concern is that if he shows such callous disregard when he desperately needs every single vote to get elected, he will most definitely not pay any attention to Armenians and their issues after the election!

Clearly, it is unwise for both presidential candidates not to court the support of Armenian-American voters in crucial swing states, at a time when the race is so tight that a handful of votes could mean the difference between victory and defeat. However, it is still not too late for the two candidates to sit down with the leadership of the Armenian-American community and address their concerns. This will not be an easy conversation. As it would be practically impossible to trust Pres. Obama’s new promises, his only credible response would be to take a positive step on an important Armenian issue before Nov. 6! Gov. Romney, on the other hand, has more of an uphill battle. Being a candidate, he can only make promises that would not be taken too seriously at this late hour.

To avoid being fooled again by false promises, the Armenian-American community needs to adopt a new election strategy. Only those candidates who have fulfilled their campaign promises during their first term in office should be supported for reelection. Promises made by new candidates or those with no solid record of accomplishments on Armenian issues should be simply ignored.

Finally, not voting for either presidential candidate does not mean sitting out the elections. One third of the US Senators are up for reelection as well as all 435 House Members. Armenian-American voters should reward candidates supportive of their issues by voting them back into office, and should punish their opponents by voting them out of office! Please consult ANCA’s ratings of all congressional candidates on www.anca.org.

October 23, 2012
Rival Congressmen Agree on Artsakh’s Independence, Aid to Syrian Armenians

In this third and final article on the debate organized by the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region, Congressmen Howard Berman and Brad Sherman answered questions from panelists Harut Sassounian and Ara Khachatourian on the safety of Syrian Armenians, the Safarov scandal, the independence of Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh), and Israel’s arms sales to Azerbaijan.

Cong. Sherman acknowledged that some of the opposition elements in Syria “are extremely hostile to Christians in Syria.” He warned that there would be “consequences for not treating with respect the human rights of the Christian minority.”

When asked what specifically Congress could do to assist Syrian Armenians, Cong. Berman stated: “There are direct USAID relationships, and there are more covert kinds of ways to ensure that the Christian communities in Syria are being sustained and are being helped.”

Cong. Berman expressed his concern about Israel’s sale to Azerbaijan of more than one billion dollars of sophisticated weapons which could be used against Armenia. When he indicated that there was a similar relationship between Armenia and Iran, panelist Harut Sassounian challenged the accuracy of that statement. Cong. Berman withdrew his statement, acknowledging that he was not aware of such “ongoing relationship between Iran and Armenia.”

Cong. Sherman objected to the US sale of weapons to Azerbaijan: “We should not be providing any military aid to Azerbaijan, period, and based on what happened in Hungary and based on how this murderer was treated when he returned to Baku, we should not be conducting NATO exercises knowing that perhaps the next soldier, who is hit with an axe in the head and killed, might very well be an American soldier.”

Cong. Berman: “We want to make sure that Armenia is secure and that the people of Nagorno-Karabagh get to determine their own future. … Azerbaijan, with its resources, ends up getting stuff they don’t financially need, for security threats they don’t really have, because of their economic clout.”

When asked why most of the aid allocated by Congress for Artsakh was being withheld by the State Department, Cong. Sherman stated: “I’ve requested language to be included in the foreign operations appropriations bill to require USAID to actually spend money on humanitarian development for the people of Artsakh, for the people in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh, and I’m pleased to report that the committee has included that language in its report.”

Questioned on the need to recognize Artsakh’s independence, Cong. Sherman stated: “I think Nagorno-Karabagh is an independent state, period. It’s time to put an embassy in Stepanakert. Nagorno-Karabagh is a state because that’s what its people have clearly indicated they want.”

Cong. Berman, on the other hand, was a little more cautious: “The people of Los Angeles don’t get to decide for Nagorno-Karabagh, the people of Nagorno-Karabagh get to decide. Self-determination for the people in Nagorno-Karabagh is the critical issue. I have no doubt that they want independence and that’s where I’d like to see the process headed, but we are in a negotiation process that the government of Armenia and the government of Azerbaijan have agreed to.”

Cong. Sherman retorted: “I agree with Howard [Berman]. It’s for the people of Artsakh to decide whether they’re an independent country. They’ve decided! They are — and its time for Howard to acknowledge that Nagorno-Karabagh is an independent republic.”

Regarding Hungary’s extradition of the Azeri axe murderer to Azerbaijan, Cong. Sherman was certain that this action would “affect our military relationship with Hungary…. Several days ago, I sent a letter to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense saying that Azerbaijan should certainly be suspended from this kind of military cooperation.”

Cong. Berman added that “every single NATO country, and that includes Hungary, has now an obligation to suspend Azerbaijan from participation in partnership for peace activities until this wrong is righted.”

In his closing statement, Cong. Berman promised to continue fighting “for the US recognition of the genocide as we approach the 100th anniversary. It’s not just my commitment as a congressman, but as a Jew whose own people suffered its own genocide. Because the world ignored yours, I will continue to fight for the rights of the Armenian Church and Armenian people who live in Turkey…. I’ll fight for the right of self-determination and well-being of the people of Artsakh which was part of the ancient kingdom of Armenia.”

Cong. Sherman concluded the debate by pledging: “I’m with you seven days a week, and with your help, I’ll be there with you for seven days a week for another 20 years!”

October 16, 2012
IT CAN NOT HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? CHPATER 21 CONCLUSION

IT CAN NOT HAPPEN TO ME. GUESS WHAT? IT WILL!!!

Many the soothsayers and economists are predicting a perfect financial storm, but none, to my knowledge, are writing about the solutions to our dire problems. This book has been a meager attempt to provide an affirmative future for our offspring. This is just a meager start, but remember to keep it simple and pure in thought word and deed. (RD)

CHAPTER 21 PSALMS 50: 22-23

CONCLUSION: ITS’ THE BANKS

It is the Almighty God that creates wealth and takes it away when you abuse it. Just peruse the Old Testament and read about all the wealth King Solomon had. By the time Jesus was born the Jews were dirt poor.

Whether you believe in the Bible or not there are lessons to be learned from mistakes made over 2,500 years ago. Abuse your wealth by greed, piggishness, vanity, insolence, scorn or political corruption in any form and the almighty will eventually dethrone you.

The stock market crash of 1929 and precursor to the Great Depression worldwide can be attributed to one faulty or bogus principle. Easy credit! Anyone could purchase a security by just putting down 10% of the purchase price. This was done in order that major players had someone to complete their trade with. There were all kinds off “stock pools” that were created to con or swipe the unprotected. Today they are called Hedge funds and bankers.

When banks or bankers consider themselves above the law it is time for the legislators to change the rules. 2011-2012 has been rife will all kinds of currency crises. Most all the solutions are about saving the banks. Bankers in turn testify they are trying to save jobs. In reality it is THEIR jobs they are trying to save – not ours.

So everyone onMain Streetstarted buying stocks. As long as the market was going up everyone was happy.

Lurking behind the curtain are arrogant billionaires pulling the strings of their puppet politicians. When bankers control the economy along with a socialist government then eventually everyone looses. There is a saying, when the politicians sleep at night, the economy grows.

Presidents #43 and #44 have blown the recovery. The right choice was to allow bankruptcies to take their normal course. Joseph Schumpeter’s law of Creative Destruction would have created many new jobs and industries.

If #43 had delivered a whopping sum of $250,000 -$300,000 to every adult that paid an income tax the banks would be solvent and awash with cash. The public would have spent the monies where it is treated best creating businesses and jobs.

Now we face a herculean task of revamping the worldwide financial system. Those countries do not have a free economic system and should be avoided, because major decisions are made for political instead of economic reasons.

Every major bank should be downsized. Trust departments and brokerage departments removed from the bank and separate companies formed as stand alone or combined with other former trust departments. Banks will not have any trading departments, but will be able to buy and sell from their own account through a third party- preferably a new brokerage firm/

Banks shall not have any debt or preferred stock. Banks have the Federal Reserve privileges which we as citizens do not enjoy.

Banks will be limited in size with grouping of A, B, and C. A banks will be regional, maybe based upon the Federal Reserve districts. Their salaries will have a maximum cap and will change depending upon the performance of the bank. Department heads and employees will have the same incentive. These banks could trade as a public security providing the Federal Reserve owns 51% .

When these banks are bidding for major national or international projects then they can form syndicates for business. One bank could be the lead or major underwriter with each bank promising so much monies if their bid is successful.

“B” banks should be limited to state business and all be privately held by the federal reserve. They should be able to form syndicates for interstate business but not national.

“C” banks are local banks that will be non public holdings. They will operate in small towns and be allowed to compete for business where a community has only one bank. Communities with a single bank tend to stagnate in economic growth.

The board of Directors of these banks shall not have any loans of any kind. They may have a checking and savings account. They shall be paid a friendly stipend to encourage participation on the board. Any fines , or censures, or losses in the bank will also be deducted from their stipend. They shall not have any margin accounts.

Any member of a bank that commits a fraudulent act shall be fined and punished along with his or her entire family. This should include all assets of the entire family.

October 15, 2012
Diaspora Scholar Advocates Push For ‘Justice’ Over Armenian Genocide

U.S. — Harut Sassounian,

Naira Bulghadarian

Հրապարակված է՝ 08.10.2012

A prominent Armenian American scholar believes the time has come for raising demands for justice instead of seeking reaffirmations of what more than two dozen governments of the world and many historians have recognized as the genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of last century.

Harut Sassounian, a writer, public activist and publisher of the United States-based English-language Armenian weekly, California Courier, late last week attended a Yerevan-hosted pan-Armenian forum of journalists that dealt with issues of the coming centennial of the 1915 Genocide in which some 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or deported from their native land.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) over the weekend Sassounian dwelt on some of the points of his speech that he made in front of nearly 90 colleagues from Armenian communities worldwide who attended the event initiated by Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry.

Sassounian, in particular, said that marking the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide should stand out from all previous commemorations by a changed approach to seeking justice in view of the broad recognition of the Armenian Genocide that already exists in the world.

“I think that in general we already have the recognition of the Genocide. We’ve made a lot of progress in the past few decades and more than 20 countries recognize the Genocide today, as do many international organizations, the European Parliament, the United Nations, hundreds of Holocaust and Genocide specialists and historians, even the United States Government,” the scholar said.

Stressing that Turkey’s admission of guilt for the slaughter of Armenians should, therefore, be treated as only a “secondary matter”, Sassounian urged Armenians to start defending their rights in courts. “Regardless of whether the criminal pleads guilty or not, we should demand justice in court,” Sassounian stressed.

In his speech at the forum the 62-year-old descendant of Genocide survivors who was born in Aleppo, Syria, also addressed the current plight of ethnic Armenians in this war-torn Middle Eastern country.

During Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s meeting with participants of the forum Sassounian raised the issue of rendering aid to Syrian Armenians in a more coordinated manner by dedicating this year’s fundraiser for a pan-Armenian charity to solving the problems of Syrian Armenians.

The head of the Armenian government said there was already such an instruction from the head of state and that it was now a matter of discussion with the All-Armenian Hayastan Fund’s Board of Trustees.

“My proposal was that we be helpful to both those who remain in Syria and those who leave their homes in Syria. We should not be arguing now over issues like whether they should stay or go or over what they should or shouldn’t be doing. It is clear that they are in dire straits and no one is dealing with this [situation],” said Sassounian, adding that whatever has been done by Diaspora-based organizations and the government of Armenia to help ethnic Armenians in Syria is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the struggling community.

Syria is home to an estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians mostly concentrated in Aleppo. Hundreds of them have taken refuge in Armenia since fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian opposition reached the city last July. Meanwhile, concerns have been raised recently in Armenia and among the far-flung Armenian Diaspora that Syrian Armenians’ continued emigration could put at risk the further existence of their traditional Christian community in the predominantly Muslim country.

RFE/RL

content/article/24732684.html

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Restoration of justice instead of recognition Harout Sassounian suggests new wording

16:05 09.10.2012

Harut Sassounian

Alisa Gevorgyan
“Radiolur”

“Restoration of justice instead of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.” Harut Sassounian, publisher of the California Courier, suggests changing the wording and emphasizes ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. According to him, “recognition” is already an old term, the fact of the Armenian genocide is an irrefutable fact for the world. However, Turkey cannot be forced to accept its history. Therefore, the struggle of Armenians should now concentrate on the restoration of justice.

“Armenia is conducting a generally normal foreign policy. We have had neither great achievements, nor serious failures,” Harout Sassounian told reporters today. Assessing the strong and weak sides of the Armenian foreign policy, the publisher said: “In this sphere the state had to start everything over and has been trying to improve the situation, but what we lack in the sphere is courage.”

Harout Sassounian suggests the Armenian authorities to direct the steps against the terrible injustice against the Armenian people in 1915-1923. According to him, Armenia cannot pose territorial claims on Turkey, but the Diaspora can.

Editor of the California Courier suggests a new format to reinforce the Armenia-Diaspora ties and to make the joint actions more effective. He suggests forming a new parliament comprised of Diaspora representatives, which will represent the interest of world-spread Armenians. This body can considerably reinforce the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity, Sassounian says.

Touching upon the Artsakh issue and the situation created as a result of the transfer of Ramil Safarov, the publisher said “the Armenian side is demonstrating a somewhat wrong attitude instead of making use of the situation.”

According to him, Armenia should make it clear to the world that the freedom-loving people cannot live in a country, which honors axe-murderers. However, the most challenging problems Armenians face today, is the physical survival of Syrian Armenians.

2012/10/09/restoration-of-justice-instead-of-recognition/

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U.S.-based publisher urges to demand for justice in Genocide issue

October 9, 2012 – 16:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Publisher of The California Courier Glendale-based weekly assessed Armenia’s foreign policy over the last 45 years, including the Genocide recognition campaign as a steady one, without major failures or achievements.

At news conference in Yerevan, Harut Sassounian expressed a slight dissatisfaction over the government’s course. As he noted, Armenia’s interests could have been better presented in the documents signed, with the country capable of more firmness in its policy line.

According to the publicist, Genocide recognition demand has recently been causing more harm than good. “Armenia’s restricting itself to Genocide recognition demand, rather than calling for return of territories, financial contribution and preservation of cultural heritage, which only makes Turks happy. We must demand for justice,” Sassounian urged.

In conclusion, the publicist suggested creating a 350-member parliament to coordinate Diaspora activities.

eng/news/126657/USbased_publisher_urges_to_demand_for_justice_in_Genocide_issue

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17:20 09/10/2012 » Topic of the day

Harut Sassounian: Armenia’s government has to protest against injustice committed against our nation

Harut Sassounian, the publisher of The California Courier newspaper, addressing the Armenian Genocide at a news conference, said he has a special approach to the issue. According to him, Armenia does not have to proceed with the efforts towards demanding the recognition of the crime.

“We all the time speak about pursuing the international recognition of the Genocide but I don’t think it makes sense. The Armenian Genocide has already become widely acknowledged,” he said, enumerating the countries, including the international organizations which have recognized the tragedy.

“We know that the Genocide has taken place; the world is aware of the fact. We cannot make the Turks recognize it by either force or documents, so let them do whatever they like.

“This is probably a global expression, but Armenia’s government has to pursue its steps, protesting against the injustice committed against our nation,” he said, stressing the need of involving Diaspora’s potential in demanding compensation from the powerful neighbor.

current_topics/2012/10/09/genociderecognition/

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17:40 09/10/2012 » Politics

We need to set up diaspora parliament – Sassounian

Armenia-Diaspora relations are far from perfect, Harut Sassounian, the publisher of The California Courier newspaper, told reporters.

“The Ministry of Diaspora is doing certain things, but there are lots of issues that remain imperfect,” he said, considering Armenia’s failure to seek closer ties to be among the key reasons of such failures.

“The next thing to say is that by saying diaspora we mean a single structure, a unit. But the diaspora is not just one structure; it includes hundreds of communities,” Sassounian said.

According to him, we need to set up a diaspora parliament. “Each Armenian elects a parliament member or a representative from his or her district. There are probably 350 members of parliament, so it is necessary to combine the activities.”

politics/2012/10/09/diasporaparliamet/

October 12, 2012
Offering Cologne

In Turkey, it is an important tradition to offer Cologne during guest visits, on bus trips and in restaurants. Its offering during holiday family gatherings and on funeral days has also become somewhat of a ritual. If you should visit a Turkish house, the first thing that you will be offered is Cologne and candy. This is meant to refresh a guest who is just off a trip and to help eliminate the germs that the outdoor conditions leave on hands. The candy that is offered along with the Cologne, represents the Turkish belief that a sweetened mouth will ensure the start of a sweet conversation.

October 11, 2012
Sassounian’s column of Oct. 11, 2012 (Part II)

Two Congressmen Battle

Over Armenian-American Votes

This is the second part of the debate between two Democratic Congressmen, Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, held at the Ferrahian School’s Avedissian Hall in Encino, California, on Sept. 29. The debate was organized by the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region.

Cong. Sherman: “We need to recognize the Genocide not only for Armenia, not only for America, but the Turkish state will never be a modern state until it comes to grip with its own history.” Criticizing US governments’ reluctance to use the term Armenian Genocide, Cong. Sherman asked: “What kind of superpower cowers before history? What kind of superpower worries about Turkish threats? Dozens of parliaments around this world have recognized the Genocide. It is about time for Congress to have the same level of courage!”

In response to a question on what the two Congressmen would do to encourage America’s allies such as Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Cong. Berman stated that “it is audacious for a country that itself hasn’t recognized the Armenian Genocide, to start telling other countries what they should be doing. So number one: get this [genocide] resolution passed, and push and persuade the Executive Branch to support what the Congress has done, and then you do want to make it into an international consensus. But, we are not effectively going to tell a government that they should do something that we haven’t yet done. …”

Cong. Sherman: “I’m proud that Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, recognizes the Armenian genocide; proud that the Holocaust Museum in Washington does the same. We need to recognize the Armenian genocide at the U.S. government level, but I for one have the chutzpah to urge my Israeli friends to do it even before we do it. And the politics in Israel are a little different. Here, there is still this mirage that somehow Turkey is the critical American ally. In Israel, that same mirage was more or less shattered recently, and so we may indeed find that Israel is able to beat the United States in recognizing the first genocide of the 20^th century. And given the history of Israel and the history of the Jewish people, I think it’s an important thing to do. So I for one don’t believe we should wait to urge Israel to move forward, but we should be inspired to move forward ourselves as quickly as possible.”

Panelist Harut Sassounian: “I would like to clarify something for the record based on the answers that you both gave. Before we give any wiggle room for Israel to wait for us to pronounce judgment on this issue, I think we would do well to remember that in 1975 and in 1984, twice, the House of Representatives, the full House, adopted resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide. So Israel doesn’t have to wait for the US to do it first. We’ve already done it twice, so they can do it once at least, in the meantime.”

Cong. Berman: “For historical reasons Israel should do it, particularly Israel, should do it.”

Cong. Sherman: Israel is going to recognize the Armenian Genocide “because it is the moral and right thing to do and because the historical record is there.”

In response to a question on whether the United States should stop paying rent to the Turkish government for the Airbase in Incirlik, Turkey — located on occupied Armenian territories — and pay that money to the heirs of original Armenian owners, Cong. Sherman stated: “I look forward to developing a foreign policy where we are less dependent upon the use of bases in Turkey, because I’ve seen them try to lobby the Pentagon, to lobby Congress not to recognize the Genocide on the theory that, ‘oh, you need our bases.’ We can and should work with our other southeast Asian NATO allies to have a basing structure that does not require us to be paying rent to the Turkish state. …However, as long as our base is on that land, that becomes an excellent argument for additional aid to the Armenian state because we’re on that territory.”

Cong. Berman: “…One of the arguments made in Congress against the genocide resolution is ‘Oh the Turks will kick us out of Incirlik.’ The Turks have no intention of kicking us out of Incirlik. They want us there; they’re desperate to have us there. This is a smokescreen. This is an argument that people who are fronting for the Turkish position use to scare Congress into thinking there’ll be great dangers to our national security.”

(to be continued)

October 9, 2012