Turkish Forum

Tag: Barack Obama

  • Senate Majority Leader Calls on Clinton

    Senate Majority Leader Calls on Clinton

    to Meet with Armenian-American Leaders

    By Asbarez Staff on Nov 2nd, 2009

    In Letter to ANCA-Nevada, Senator Reid Reports that he has Shared Community Concerns over Protocols with Secretary Clinton

    WASHINGTON–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has formally shared the reservations of the Silver State’s Armenian community regarding the dangers of the recently signed Turkey-Armenia Protocols with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

    In a October 30, 2009 letter to ANCA-Nevada activist Razmig Libarian, the Senate leader reported that he had recently written to Secretary Clinton to pass along the concerns of his state’s citizens of Armenian heritage, and to encourage her to meet directly with the national leadership of the Armenian American community regarding the state of Turkey-Armenia relations.

    In his letter to Secretary Clinton, dated October 20, 2009, Senator Reid wrote: “I am sure you are aware that this agreement has raised concerns in the Armenian community inside the United States. I have received many letters from Nevadans who do not support the creation of an international commission to examine the historical record on the genocide and who believe that the agreements are unfair to Armenia. (I have included a sample letter below). Given the serious nature of the community’s concerns, I felt it was important to raise them directly with you. The commission is particularly sensitive to the Armenian-American community since the Armenian genocide has never been recognized by Turkey.”

    Despite the high profile of Armenia-Turkey ties in the Obama-Biden Administration’s foreign policy agenda, neither President Obama nor Secretary Clinton has met with the Armenian American community leadership.

    The full text of both letters is provided below.

    October 30, 2009
    Dear Mr. Libarian:

    Thank you for contacting me about your concerns regarding relations between Armenia and Turkey. I appreciate hearing from you.

    I have always, and will continue to, recognize the terrible atrocities that took place in 1915 as genocide. As I said to those gathered for the Armenian American Cultural Society of Las Vegas’ annual commemoration on April 19, 2009, I believe that the United States should acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

    On September 1, 2009, Armenia and Turkey signed protocols that expressed a desire to establish diplomatic relations between the two nations and open the border to trade. Final agreement is pending the ratification of the protocols by each country’s Parliament. As you note, these protocols also called for the formation of a commission to study the Armenian genocide.

    I certainly appreciate the concerns that you raise in your letter and believe that it is important that the specifics issues you raise about the historical commission are taken into consideration. I recently wrote to Secretary Clinton to let her know about the concerns I have heard from my constituents on this issue, and included a sample copy of letters I have received. I also asked her to meet with the Armenian-American community to discuss these issues. The full text of my letter to Hilary Clinton is below.

    Thank you once again for contacting me, and I hope you will continue to keep in touch. My best wishes to you.

    Sincerely,

    HARRY REID
    United States Senator
    Nevada

    TEXT OF SENATOR REID’S LETTER TO SECRETARY CLINTON

    October 20, 2009

    The Honorable Hillary Clinton
    Secretary of State
    Department of State
    22001 C Street, NW
    Room 7226
    Washington, D.C. 20520

    Dear Secretary Clinton:

    I am writing about the recent agreement to establish normal diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia. I know you have personally been involved in the negotiation of this agreement and
    appreciate your attention on the issues I am raising today.

    I am sure you are aware that this agreement has raised concerns in the Armenian community inside the United States. I have received many letters from Nevadans who do not support the creation of an international commission to examine the historical record on the genocide and who believe that the agreements are unfair to Armenia. (I have included a sample letter below). Given the serious nature of the community’s concerns, I felt it was important to raise them directly with you. The commission is particularly sensitive to the Armenian-American community since the Armenian genocide has never been recognized by Turkey.

    I would also respectfully suggest that you meet directly with Armenian-American groups so they have an opportunity to share their views with you. Thank you again for your consideration of this request and your interest in this important national security issue.

    Sincerely,

    HARRY REID
    United States Senator

  • Apigian-Kessel: Armenians and Greeks Band to Support Rep. Gary Peters

    Apigian-Kessel: Armenians and Greeks Band to Support Rep. Gary Peters


    By Betty Apigian-Kessel on October 30, 2009

    Congressman Gary Peters (D) of Michigan‘s 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives was the guest of honor at a highly successful fundraiser dinner on Sept. 28 at Ginopolis’s Restaurant in Farmington Hills, Mich. The event was jointly sponsored by the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Michigan and members of the area’s substantial Greek American community. It was an opportunity to get to know Peters, who will be making another run for Congress next year.

    Peters, 50, a life-long Oakland County resident, has accrued an admirable record of accomplishment since earning his B.A. in political science from Michigan’s Alma College (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa), his MBA from the University of Detroit, and a law degree from Wayne State University.

    The married father of three children has been a political science professor and a highly successful financial adviser, has served in the Michigan Senate, appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm as Michigan Lottery commissioner, and adding to his illustrious list of accomplishments is the fact that he served in the United States Navy from 1993 to 2000, and 2001-05 as lieutenant commander.

    That evening, Peters’ introduction was by his mentor Paul Jingozian, a noted area financial investment adviser, presently serving as branch manager of Morgan Stanley in Birmingham. Jingozian brought the audience up to date on how he first met Peters: “In 1980, I had a mandate to go out and hire the brightest students for Merrill Lynch, and academically Gary was at the top of the list. I hired him immediately. He started out in the Rochester office working from the basement. He was studying law at the same time and beginning to gain an interest in politics. “ According to Jongozian, clients loved the hard working, customer-oriented Peters who had a passion for helping people, and he soon rose to the position of manager.

    Jongozian’s mentoring included introducing Peters to the Armenian community by way of the annual golf outing sponsored by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU).

    According to Jingozian, Peters told him, “I’m not about making a lot of money,” and soon parlayed his interest in politics into a successful run for the Michigan Senate and eventually the U.S. Congress.

    Peters grabbed the headlines in a hard-fought race in 2008 when he defeated long-time Republican Congressman Joe Knollenberg for the 9th District Congressional seat in wealthy Oakland County northwest of Detroit, which began shifting from a predominately Republican stronghold to a Democratic one.

    ANC chairman Ned Apigian also took part in the evening’s introductions by presenting Peters with best-selling author Peter Balakian’s book The Burning Tigris, “making the Armenian case known to the world.”

    Apigian was good naturedly chided by Greek community leader and attorney Ted Andris, who rose to add levity to the evening, much to the amusement of the guests, by declaring the strong presence of Greeks as well as Armenians, although they “did not come bearing gifts.”

    Author Bob Koolakian also presented Peters with his book, Struggle for Justice.

    An item of great importance was the announcement that Peters had joined the Armenian and Greek Caucus. Attorney Basil Simon rose to commend Peters for his support of Greek interests concerning the illegal Turkish occupation of Cyprus. Much work remains in getting the U.S. to acknowledge the grievances of the Greek and Armenian American communities against the present Turkish government.

    There is strength in numbers and Assyrians should not be left out of inclusion in these grievances, as they too were part of the genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks.

    Peters was introduced to the guests as they arrived and immediately impressed them with his friendliness. Everyone wanted to get to know this new congressman and what his views were on the many pressing problems facing this great land which gave our immigrant generation refuge.

    He answered questions intelligently, unfalteringly. He is a convincing speaker. “We have huge challenges ahead of us. Please discuss any issues you want,” he said. “As a member of the Financial Services Committee, we are working on Wall Street regulations. It was unfathomable about what happened in the auto industry, job losses, and our economy in Michigan. We have to get the economy going here.”

    Peters is a member of the Science and Technology Committee. “We have incredible engineering brain power here. We have more engineers in southeast Michigan than any other part of the country. I introduced a bill for Advance Vehicle Technology Plan with over 315 votes supporting the bill. We are in a race with the Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese right now,” he said.

    The congressman answered questions about Social Security, Obama’s healthcare plan with public option, and what is fact, what is reality. He commented that we have under-invested in science and engineering especially with regard to young women, and that was a major concern he wanted to work to reverse.

    Twelve thousand dollars was raised to fund Peters’ run for re-election next year, an indication that he has garnered strong support from his constituents. There was an overall feeling that a mutually beneficial working relationship between Peters and the Greek and Armenian communities has been established. We wish him well.

    One burning question remains. What if Peters runs for president in the future? He seems to have the qualities we want in a leader. Will he then honor the memory of our Armenian ancestors, who helped make America the great nation it is, by unequivocally stating that a genocide was committed against the Armenian nation? Then he will truly be deserved to be called a man of his word.

  • Akcam Lectures on the Armenian Genocide at La Salle University

    Akcam Lectures on the Armenian Genocide at La Salle University

    By Asbarez Staff on Nov 3rd, 2009 and filed under Community, News.

    PHILADELPHIA—Before a standing-room only audience at La Salle University, Dr. Taner Akcam, the first scholar of Turkish origin to publish on the heretofore-taboo topic of the Armenian Genocide, explained the historical background and causes of the genocide.

    Speaking at the university’s Diplomat-in-Residence program (DRP), Akcam discussed how concerns about Armenian independence and the intervention of foreign powers on behalf of the Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire led the Young Turks to plan and proceed with the elimination of Armenians and other Ottoman Christians. He also explained that Turkey’s denial of the genocide is the result of the role played in it by the founders of the Turkish republic.

    Dr. Cornelia Tsakiridou, director of La Salle’s DRP program and an associate professor of philosophy at the university, explained that “the idea of bringing Dr. Akcam here was to expose students to the historical arguments of the case and do so by inviting a prominent historian who has specialized on this subject.”

    “Professor Akcam brings to the study of the destruction of Turkey’s Armenian minority his expertise as a historian, a number of highly praised books, but also his Turkish background—a combination that has made him unpopular in Turkey, where the use of the term ‘genocide’ to describe the destruction is subject to prosecution for insulting Turkish identity,” said Tsakiridou.

    The program was planned with Vince Kling of La Salle’s foreign language department, who is teaching a course on memoirs and using Peter Balakian’s autobiography Black Dog of Fate, the story of an American of Armenian descent who comes to terms with the genocide that affected his family.

    Akcam is an associate professor of history at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Since 1990, he has focused his research on Turkish nationalism and the Armenian Genocide, with 11 books and numerous articles to his credit, starting with his first book, Turk Ulusal Kimligi ve Ermeni Sorunu (The Armenian Question and Turkish National Identity), published in 1992. Three years later, at the International Genocide Conference in Yerevan, Armenia, Akcam’s presentation on Turkish nationalism and the Armenian Genocide marked the first public acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide by a Turkish scholar.

    Akcam’s life and work have been featured in four critically acclaimed documentary films. In 2007, the Armenian Bar Association honored him with the Hrant Dink Freedom Award, calling him “a champion of historical truth about the Armenian Genocide.” He has also been honored by the Harvard University Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations and the Massachusetts State Legislature. He serves on the editorial board of “Genocide Studies & Prevention,” the official journal of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS).

    ———- Forwarded message ———-
    From: Ozer Aksoy
    Date: Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:54 PM
    Subject:  Akcam lecture (see inside)
    To:


    ———- Forwarded message ———-
    From: Metin Mangir
    Date: Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:37 PM
    Subject:  Akcam lecture (see inside)
    To: [email protected]

    Actually this article clearly details how the people responsible was
    tried and sentenced by the Ottoman government, which supposedly ordered
    the annihilation of Ottoman Armenians. If indeed Ottoman government had
    such an intention, why would it try these people.  We can use it to our
    advantage.

    At the end of the article it makes an unsubstantiated declaration
    without giving any names so that they can accuse Ataturk and  Turkish
    Republic :
    /”Most of the officials found guilty during the trials, however, became
    associates of Kemal Ataturk, who set up a rebel government in Ankara and
    expelled the allies from Anatolia. After the establishment of the
    Republic of Turkey in 1923, these criminals were given important
    positions in the Turkish military and state.”

    Metin
    /
    Javid Huseynov wrote:
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    > *Asbarez Post
    > *     Tuesday November 03, 2009
    >
    >
    >
    >   Forward this email to a Friend
    > <http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?m=1102083584005&a=1102805029147&ea=arzu300%40yahoo.com>
    >      <https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001GfcdKfB8aovLbFENedWMuxD0XQcuKFGQRNI-A1kom_1OjP-0x9djU7YVy7BEGnZbSLnq2sG5PL8dDfMwrXaLzZHH3a3FOZE0HmdQPj3fqq0%3D>
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  • Aznavour Demands Western Armenian Lands

    Aznavour Demands Western Armenian Lands


    By Asbarez Staff on Nov 3rd, 2009

    YEREVAN (Yerkir)—Western Armenian lands must be returned to Armenia, said Armenia’s Ambasador to Switzerland, famous singer Charles Aznavour in an interview with Italy’s RIA3 television channel.
    “When I was born, in 1924, [they] promised Armenia the return of lands. I am 85 years old and I cannot wait much longer,” said Aznavour.
    “In 1924, Stalin promised Armenia the return of Erzeroum, Erzngan, Sebastia, Kharpert, Dikranagert, Bitlis, Van, Moush… The ‘Wilsonian Armenia’ also included regions of Trabizon, Erzeroum, Van and Bitlis,” said Aznavour while welcoming the prospects for establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey.
    “It would be pleasant to see open borders in the last part of my life,” added Aznavour.
  • Internal Documents Reveal..

    Internal Documents Reveal..

    UK Officials Misled Parliament on Armenian Genocide
    SASSUN-2
    A prominent legal expert, Mr. Geoffrey Robertson, exposed this week the false and inaccurate statements on the Armenian Genocide made by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The international jurist revealed that for many years the FCO (Foreign Ministry) had misled the British Parliament on the facts of the Armenian Genocide in order to curry favor with the Turkish government.
    The 40-page meticulously-researched report, commissioned by the Armenian Centre of London, is based on hitherto secret documents obtained from the Foreign Office through the Freedom of Information Act. Mr. Robertson, the author of a report titled, “Was there an Armenian Genocide?” served as first President of the UN War Crimes Court in Sierra Leone.
    Mr. Robertson had to make repeated requests over several months to the British government in order to obtain internal documents that the Foreign Office was legally obligated to release. According to the FCO, some of the documents were not released at all, while those eventually made public were partially blacked out, in order not to damage Britain’s relations with Turkey.
    In his report, Mr. Robertson explains that the Armenian Centre had asked him “to consider the attitude of the British government in refusing to accept that the massacres of Armenians in 1915-16 amounted to genocide, and whether its reasons for taking this position are valid and sustainable in international law.”
    Regrettably, today’s British officials have forgotten their government’s declaration, issued jointly with France and Russia on May 28, 1915, warning that “in view of the crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization,” the three great powers would hold responsible “all members of the Ottoman government” who are implicated in the Armenian massacres.
    The recently obtained internal documents reveal the Foreign Office’s misleading, false and sinister intent. In a 1999 memorandum, addressed to Minister of State for Europe Joyce Quin and others, the FCO stated that it is not the British government’s obligation to decide what constitutes genocide: “Investigating, analyzing and interpreting history is a matter for historians.” In contrast, Attorney Robertson points out the government’s “basic error” in relying “on historians to decide a legal issue.” He explains that “deciding what amounts to genocide is a matter for judgment according to international law, and not al all is a matter for historians. Historians establish facts: lawyers must judge whether those facts amount to a breach of international law.”
    In the same memorandum, the Foreign Office states that there is no documentary evidence proving that the mass killings of Armenians were a result of deliberate state policy. Mr. Robertson calls this statement “another canard — that appears routinely and repeatedly” in internal FCO communications — “the notion that there must be some written document that records a government or leadership decision to exterminate the Armenian people.” Mr. Robertson points out that “no such document, of course, exists in relation to the Nazi Holocaust.”
    Clearly, the Foreign Office is more concerned about the domestic and overseas ramifications of acknowledging the Armenian Genocide than the crime of genocide itself. Mr. Robertson points out: “the memorandum goes on rather cynically to consider the clout of the campaign to recognise the genocide and notes that ‘the campaign does not appear at this stage to have enough support or direction to seriously embarrass HMG [Her Majesty’s Government].’”
    The Foreign Office also places a higher premium on appeasing Turkey than on the moral issues arising from the attempted extermination of an entire nation. “HMG is open to criticism in terms of the ethical dimension,” the FCO readily admits. “But given the importance of our relations (political, strategic and commercial) with Turkey, and that recognising the genocide would provide no practical benefit to the UK or the few survivors of the killings still alive today, nor would it help a rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey, the current line is the only feasible option.” Mr. Robertson sarcastically, yet sadly, remarks: “This particular genocide could not be recognised — not because it had not taken place, but because it was politically and commercially inconvenient to do so.”
    Another false argument advanced by the Foreign Office in several memoranda is the contention that the UN Genocide Convention of 1948 has no retroactive effect and therefore, does not apply to the Armenian Genocide. Mr. Robertson, a top expert in the field of international law, quickly quashes this “bad point,” because “the rule against retroactivity applies to criminal charges, made against individuals, of offences which were not against the law at the time they were allegedly committed. Nobody is suggesting that criminal charges should be brought now against long dead individuals — the question is whether the massacre of the Armenians is correctly described as ‘genocide,’ according to the definition adopted by the UN Convention in 1948.”
    British Minister of State for Europe, Joyce Quin, was so incensed by her government’s extremism in “genocide denial,” and its allegation that there was no evidence of a Turkish intent to commit genocide that, in an April 13, 1999 memorandum to the Foreign Office, she pointed out that the issue of intent had never been examined by government officials.
    Mr. Robertson’s report then relates the diplomatic scandal involving Thorda Abott-Watt, the British Ambassador to Armenia, who shamelessly questioned the veracity of the Armenian Genocide during a 2004 interview in Yerevan. She stated that the evidence regarding the Armenian Genocide “was not sufficiently unequivocal” to be categorized as genocide under the UN Genocide Convention. In response to several columns I wrote at that time, thousands of readers worldwide inundated the British Foreign Office and the Armenian Foreign Ministry with letters of complaint. The Armenian government finally delivered a “Note verbale” (protest note) to the British government. Mr. Robertson uncovered an internal FCO memorandum written during that controversy, suggesting that the British government maintain its denialist policy, since Turkey “devotes major diplomatic resources to heading off any possible recognition. Turkey would react very strongly indeed to any suggestion of recognition by the UK.”
    In his examination of the hundreds of pages of recently released documents, Mr. Robertson came across “only one obscure and dismissive reference” by the Foreign Office to the “one credible international inquiry” that classified the Armenian mass killings as Genocide. This unique study was carried out in 1985 by the British Special Rapporteur, Benjamin Whitaker, at the request of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. To his chagrin, Mr. Robertson found out that the Foreign Office had issued a memorandum advising government ministers to dismiss the UN 1985 report by stating that “since then, we are not aware of it being mentioned in any UN document or forum.”
    Even after several European countries had recognized the Armenian Genocide, the Foreign Office continued to stubbornly cling to its denialist policy by advising Minister of State for Europe, Geoff Hoon, that “Turkey is neuralgic and defensive about the charge of genocide despite the fact that the events occurred at the time of the Ottoman Empire as opposed to modern day Turkey. There were many Turks who lost their lives in the war and there may also be an element of concern over compensation claims should they accept the charge of genocide. This defensiveness has meant that Turkey has historically stifled debate at home and devoted considerable diplomatic effort to dissuading any further recognition.”
    Finally, in October 2007, when the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, the Foreign Office wrote an alarming memorandum, expressing concern that “the Armenian diaspora worldwide lobbying machine” would now “go into overdrive!”
    Mr. Robertson, based on his examination of the released internal documents written over a 10-year period, concludes that the advice given by the British Foreign Office to government ministers “reflects neither the law of genocide nor the demonstrable facts of the massacres in 1915-16, and has been calculated to mislead parliament into believing that there has been an assessment of evidence and an exercise of judgment on that evidence.”
    Mr. Robertson further establishes that the “parliament has been routinely misinformed, by ministers who have recited FCO briefs without questioning their accuracy. HMG’s [Her Majesty’s Government] real and only policy has been to evade truthful answers to questions about the Armenian genocide, because the truth would discomfort the Turkish government!”
    In view of revelations of such misconduct and misrepresentation, the British Parliament should hold formal hearings and investigate the conduct of all officials who provided false and misleading information to Parliament members for well over a decade. Those found to be either negligent in carrying out their duties or complicit in providing outright falsehoods, should have charges filed against them or dismissed from their governmental posts.
    In addition, Mr. Robertson, a pre-eminent international jurist, should be asked to file legal action against the Turkish government in British courts, and more importantly, in the European Court of Human Rights.
    This extremely valuable report should be translated into several major languages and disseminated worldwide.
  • How to win the Nobel Peace Prize

    How to win the Nobel Peace Prize

    The Answer to the Burning Question du jour: Why was President Obama Gifted the Nobel Peace Prize?

    Zahir Ebrahim

    obama_war_criminalIn complete realization of the ‘change’ mantra:

    “We are gonna spread happiness,

    we are gonna spread freeeeedom,

    Obama’s gonna change it,

    Obama’s gonna leeeeead em,

    we’re gonna change it,

    and re-arrange it,

    we are gonna change the world!” ( The Obama Kids Song )

    President Barack Obama has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The President is delighted and “Says He’s ‘Surprised’ and ‘Humbled’” according to the New York Times.

    When I first penned “How to Win the Nobel Peace Prize” in great anguish in April 2003, in Chapter 2 of Prisoners of the Cave as the “shock and awe” of Iraq was under way, I hadn’t the full prescience of all the future players at the time for I grossly omitted the new name. My apologies to the harbingers of ‘change’. Their mantra, and the $2 billion spent creating it, has obviously been very effective. After the “peace maker” moniker, anointment as the “Messiah” really can’t be that far behind. This Machiavellian fabrication of a ‘savior’ was already examined in Mr. Obama – The Post Modern Coup in November 2008.

    It is astonishing to me how simplistic the most lauded dissent-chiefs and most profound intellectuals are in the West. Even when they critique absurdities and war-mongering as per their good conscience, they tread remarkably gently. Look at historian Howard Zinn’s comment in the UK Guardian. He is once again simplistic in his vocal dissent piece – just as he has been all along on 911 – by deliberately not seeing the Orwellian propaganda agenda behind the Peace Prize:

      “I was dismayed when I heard Barack Obama was given the Nobel peace prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on two wars would be given a peace prize. Until I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel peace prizes. The Nobel committee is famous for its superficial estimates, won over by rhetoric and by empty gestures, and ignoring blatant violations of world peace.” (emphasis added)

    No, No, NO! Never ‘superficial estimates’ and never ’empty gestures’. Rather, laying the seeds of masterful propaganda towards Orwellian social engineering.

    Thus, Professor Zinn’s concluding prescription: “The Nobel peace committee should retire, and turn over its huge funds to some international peace organization which is not awed by stardom and rhetoric, and which has some understanding of history”, which, since he diagnosed the disease incorrectly, is a cure, I am sure, to the problem that he has posited in his own mind, but one that has no forensic bearing to the modernity plaguing mankind. Indeed, this “modernity” is itself “as old as mankind”. So while Howard Zinn does conscionably lament the bizarre awarding of peace prizes to murderous trigger pullers, he very carefully does not mention the prime-movers whom they work for:

      “Oh yes, the committee saw fit to give a peace prize to Henry Kissinger, because he signed the final peace agreement ending the war in Vietnam, of which he had been one of the architects. Kissinger, who obsequiously went along with Nixon’s expansion of the war, with the bombing of peasant villages in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Kissinger, who matches the definition of a war criminal very accurately, is given a peace prize!”

    Ever since hectoring hegemons have existed, ever since oligarchs have existed wielding power from behind the scenes through their ‘errand boys’, ever since they discovered social engineering, and especially ever since Edward Bernays discovered and employed Public Relations which coincided approximately with the time that Nobel peace prizes started to be awarded, these accolades from the high and mighty serve the oligarchic agendas as needed.

    Since Professor Howard Zinn, as a profound historian who would like us to learn from history, is berating the Nobel Peace Committee on their lacking “some understanding of history”, watch the BBC documentary Century of Self to observe how Edward Bernays himself fabricated President Woodrow Wilson’s aura as the European ‘savior’ right after the “he kept us out of the war” devil had taken America to World War I at the behest of his handlers Bernard Baruch and Col. Edward Mandell House, both of whom represented the international bankers. House even penned the rationale for having ‘errand boys’ and controlling them in a fictional narrative based upon his own role during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. Who is channeling President Obama’s energies such that despite all his election promises to the contrary, he is very predictably maintaining the same overarching policy axioms as his predecessor from his day one in office?

    These prizes are anything but “empty gestures”. It is both a payoff to tickle the ego of the ‘errand boy’, and a propaganda seed. In the expert hands of the Mighty Wurlitzer, such a gift can convince the masses of the most ridiculous absurdities, like the War on Terror already has. The proof of these statements of fact is both empirical, and historical. Watch Barack Obama crafted into a fine new global ‘savior’ at the expense of the ‘untermenschen’. That’s why the United States President, ceremoniously presiding over the most militarized superpower in the world which has just devastated two civilizations to smithereens, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while he rapidly accelerates his war prosecution to bring “peace” in a one-world government.

    Here is the excerpt from Chapter 2 of Prisoners of the Cave.

    How to win the Nobel Peace Prize

    President Jimmy Carter, known as the conscionable president, refused to bomb Tehran despite recommendations from his wife and advisors, as noted by a speaker recently, builds homes for Habitat for Humanity with his own bare hands, and is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. His own National Security Advisor (ZB) took credit for handing the Soviets their Vietnam in Afghanistan, leading to the destruction of an entire civilization and loss of multiple of its generations to multiple civil wars and poverty, eventually leading to 911 – if one is to believe the facile version of 911 put forth by the American Government. Whether or not Bin Laden was involved in 911, the facts of history attest to the machinations of the United States of America in the exercise of its military and economic power since the end of World War II as forcefully articulated by George Kennan in 1948:

      “… We should cease to talk about vague and – for the Far East – unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts.”*8

    ZB’s own confessions to this end are highly instructive. The 1998 ZB interview to “Le Nouvel Observateur”, translated from the original French by author and historian Bill Blum, is reproduced below. The translator notes that: “*There are at least two editions of this magazine; with the perhaps sole exception of the Library of Congress, the version sent to the United States is shorter than the French version, and the Brzezinski interview was not included in the shorter version.”

      Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs [“From the Shadows”], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?

      Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.

      Question: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?

      Brzezinski: It isn’t quite that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.

      Question: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn’t believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don’t regret anything today?

      Brzezinski: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

      Question: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

      Brzezinski: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

      Question: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.

      Brzezinski: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.*9

    Frighteningly amoral execution of George Kennan’s policy articulation from 1948 of “going to have to deal in straight power concepts”. Wouldn’t you say that all American Presidents have been doing exactly that?

    I had also personally witnessed on television, President Carter in 1978 toasting to the health of the King of Persia, Raza Shah, with approximately the following words: ~“To your majesty, to the love that your people have for you.” This to a tyrant responsible for brutally suppressing his own people with American supplied weapons, and while Carter is toasting his host inside the Palace, outside the streets are filled with people protesting their king. When the revolution proceeds a few month later, instead of a mea culpa, a reign of vilification, long war, and sanctions is imposed on the people of Iran. And for what crime? For wanting their freedom from American-CIA imposed tyranny at the hands of one of their own elite? The Iran Hostage Crisis, covered on ABC Nightline daily, which I would occasionally catch while eating dinner in the late night cafeteria at MIT, as I recall was quite devoid of any significant history or accurate analysis of the past 26 years leading up to the crisis. I subsequently saw a shredded memo painstakingly put together and freely available in the streets of most countries in the region about some of the imperial work being done by the American staff in the US embassy in Teheran, whom the hostage takers were calling CIA spies. The taking of these hostages, many of them civilians, was probably the biggest blunder the Iranians made after their revolution, and were paid for in spades by America with the war imposed on them through Iraq. If Jimmy Carter had deserved any Peace Prize, it would have been to avert the crisis with Tehran and successfully bring back the hostages, made amends with Iran for its people finally exercising their will and set the stage for friendship between the two countries, leaving a legacy of peace and prosperity for the region and appreciated the world over. He did not do that.

    What is the prize for?

    You might say Camp David and Egypt-Israel peace accord over a desert that was militarily occupied in a war? When his own people call Anwar Sadaat a traitor for making his private and separate peace with Israel and breaking up the Arab stance on Palestine which is what Israel wanted all along; and he is also a despised dictator of his own people hated and killed by them for his oppressive policies only to be replaced by another brutish dictator who is also continually kept in power by being the second largest US aid recipient in the world after Israel – is that a peace at the barrel of a gun or an enduring peace with justice?

    Brokering a “peace accord” that was only a new manifestation of an old “divide and conquer” plan that the peoples at least on one side of it did not want, and which only allowed Israel a freer hand to continue suppressing the Palestinians and incrementally continue to swallow up their lands without interference from its Arab neighbors, instead of one in which all could have lived in justice and peace with full rights of return for those displaced, is an imperial farce forced upon a beleaguered peoples. And the impact of precisely this “peace accord” for which Carter got the “peace” prize are visible to all and sundry in Palestine – an amazing case study in faits accomplis that become “irreversible” – a modern day genocidal resettlement of another’s land right before the very eyes of the silently bespectating world!

    What about Menachem Begin? He certainly also had all the qualifications for the Nobel Peace Prize, having blown up the King David Hotel in 1948 as part of the terrorist Stern-Irgun gangs and was once the most wanted criminal in Britain.*9A

    Let’s see who might be in line next? Ariel Sharon and George Bush Jr. and Sr., as well as Bin Laden and Zbigniew Brzezinski, because after all, they did defeat the Soviet Union and bring an end to the four decade long Cold War. They all appear to have the right pedigree of “blood-experience” for the Nobel Peace Prize!

    So pardon me if I am not tripping all over myself congratulating the “peace prize” winners!

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    By Zahir Ebrahim Link: http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-win-nobel-peace-prize.html | PDF | Read the rest of chapter 2 in full context here | Print | Announcement = Project Humanbeingsfirst Ebook 2009

    Source:  www.thepeoplesvoice.org, October 12th, 2009