re: radson

With: “The question remains why does the US have preferential commitments with Turkey” I think you have answered your own question. United States government policy is full of policies that supports regimes who disavow the possibility of human rights, and actually flaunt their position. From what happened in Indonesia, to all of the insanity in South America, facilitated by then President Ronald Reagan, who stated that communists and/or Khadfi were going to come and get us, there has been a plethora of nonsense to justify every stupid military intervention everywhere. In the case of Turkey, with its strategic importance geographically to the former Soviet Union and the Middle East, the United States government is more than willing to bend over backwards to accommodate the local political needs of the regime in power, just as long as US strategic interests are being addressed. What is there not to love?

What the hell has amercia/obama have to do with ‘mentioning’ G word? The USA has quite readily put the G word into practice now for several decades so why would the kettle call the pot black.
By the way, how many have to be slaughtered for it to constitute genocide? Our cia along bears responsibility enough by itself alone to earn the U.S.A. its on varsity letter G jacket. And a lot of evil people in the U.S.A. proudly wear that jacket.

To Thebeerdoctor

Turkey has been a convenient member of Nato for quite some time,especially during the cold war.During the Second World War the Turk’s were entertained by the German High Command

prior to operation Citadel ,by the distinguished General Manstein .The Turkish dislike for Sovietization is still evident today ,but in a slightly different form.The US has it’s own ethnic racist injustices

to consider in the US proper.Somehow oil keeps reappearing in the picture ,I say this with regards to the Kurds.Finally the Nuremburg Trials were applicable to the vanquished or losers ,and not

towards the victors.The question remains why does the US have preferential commitments with Turkey.

New Mexico federal FOIA lawsuit 97 CV 266 contains a properly filed and logged by clerk of court genocide criminal complaint affidavit against Brzezinski for

“In July 1980, Zbigniew Brzezinski LINK of the United States met Jordan’s King Hussein in Amman to discuss detailed plans for Saddam Hussein to sponsor a coup in Iran against Khomeini. ...”

http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/shorthistory/shorthistory.htm

New chief judge Martha Vazquez, instead of properly processing criminal complaint affidavit, threatens filer with prison.

http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/vazquez/vazquez.htm#strange266

Sandia Federal Credit Union CEO Christopher Jillson steals $22,036.00 from retirement-protected savings accounts of criminal complaint affidavit signers Arthur R Morales and William H Payne using bogus [not file stamped by clerk of court] court order.

We are in process of filing fraud loss claim with NCUA to get out money back.

http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/ncualove/ncualove.htm#director

It is not a question of an American President getting the ball rolling. It is a question of a NATO member country, supplied with United States weapons being held accountable for their ethnic-racist policies, not only against the Armenians historically, but against the Kurds most recently. Refusing to admit their participation in this ghastly butchering, by using war as an alibi, could have easily been the excuse of the Germans during World War II, and their use of concentration camps. As I recall, there was something called the Nuremberg decision that claimed that this was no defense.

To Thebeerdoctor

I am aware of Hitler’s menacing quote and I am also aware of the Boer War ,which was also mentioned during the Nazi reign.But why must it be an American President

that gets the ball rolling ,will the other Nations follow suite as a herd of sheep.

re: radson

I think the reason Robert Fisk deems it important is that the pogram in Turkey was the 20th century’s first holocaust. So serious is this, you might recall the uproar in France when they passed a law saying that public denial of that holocaust is a crime, the way the atrocities of World War 2 are deemed by England and Germany. Another historical significant aspect of this is that Adolph Hitler, when speaking of any objections to his plan to cleanse Europe of Jewry said: “Who remembers the Armenians?”

What genocide?!  The Armenian rebellion against the Turkish state was no different than the rebellion of the Confederate States against the United States.  Just as Lincoln order his military to crush the south so did Turkey order their troops to crush the Armenians rebels.  Remember the sacking and burning of Atlanta remains as one of the most egregious military action ever taken.  But you’ll never read that in any US school text book!

I just saw a sort of itinerary for more foreign travel by obama. I can see the need to be at the g20 summit, sort of, but there are about 22 days left of the first 100 days of his presidency and he finds it more to his liking to be out of the country. Sure, he has phone access but I rather take the notion he needs to stay at home working on our problems by activating changes he spoke of during his campaign and the scarier thing is, he has left geithner, summers and et. al. here to continue their ‘work’. Fix things in our back yard, then visiting the world can come later.
From the article:
“America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about…” the real reasons this country is crashing and real solutions to prevent or lessen the disaster.

As I unsuccessfully posted this link before it was posted here, I’ve been following whether BHO used the big G word while in Turkey and discovered this,
from Helene Cooper, The New York Times:
“When he was a senator, Obama said he supported that view, but during a news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul before the Parliament speech he did not use the word genocide and said Turkey and Armenia had made progress in talks.
    During the Parliament speech, he spoke eloquently of the Armenia issue, saying “history unresolved can be a heavy weight.”
“Our country still struggles with the legacy of our past treatment of Native Americans,” he said.”
There was bit of irony in the paper this morning. On top of the a6 page was the headline: OBAMA: US, ISLAM NEVER AT WAR
while just below was: US PLANNING MORE ATTACKS USING DRONES

The ‘‘G’’ word seems to have become a sort of obsession with Mr. Fisk .There is no denying that the Turkish Govt. at the time did perpetrate a Genocide against the

Armenian population,the ‘‘G’’ has been sufficiently documented.Although the other atrocities that have befallen other Nations seem to be placed in the ‘‘attic’’ so to speak

for whatever ignoble reasons ,and I am sure that Mr. Fisk is well aware of them,nevertheless he must be maintaining his stance for a reason.ITW you are right for mentioning

the other ‘‘G’s’’ that have been committed throughout history ,but you did not mention several of the other terrible crimes against Humanity,which by the way are conveniently

forgotten by many Politicians the world over . Namely the Ukrainian ‘‘G’’ of the 1930’s ,the infamous Terror and Gulag committed by Stalin against the Russian citizens,the mass

murder of Polish ,Belarus and people of the Baltic States. I guess we could run through the alphabet with comparisons.One of the prominent reasons for this form of amnesia is

probably associated with the Farce that the Victors called the Nuremburg Trials ,which did not help with regards to the suppression of Tyranny,it only laid out a new set of

rules.At the end of Mr. Fisk’s article he did touch somewhat on the geopolitical aspect ,however lightly.President Obama and his Administration may be working on an agreement

between Baku, Yerevan and Ankara to get the Caspian oil flowing ,since Georgia didn’t quite work out ,and at the same time perhaps the Armenians and Turkey could work things

out amongst themselves.Turkey is a member of Nato and the US is the dominate member ,yet when Turkey is felt to be misrepresented they threaten military installation closures

and to renege on business deals.That in turn leads to quarreling between Europe and Turkey ,which makes me wonder if the Turks and the US have their own exclusive agreements.

The gigantic problem attached to the G-word is that reference to it must be made in essentially every country once it has been made in one country lest one will be accused of rank hypocrisy.

Perhaps the most nettlesome dilemma for Mr. Obama may occur during a visit to Indonesia, a country where he lived for a while and where at least one million, perhaps as many as two million Chinese were slaughtered a few years after the country became independent. If I remember correctly, Indonesia’s president at the time was one Suharto.

If Pres. Obama mentioned the Armenian Genocide, it wasn’t in the news coverage, therefore, it would appear that he was quiet.

Of course he won’t-just as he won’t admit that Israel has nukes.
  Obama prattles honorable rhetoric but he never says anything of consequence. He has futher to fall than Bush however, because so many hopes were pinned on him and he is turning out to be just a servant of the same “base” as Bush was.
People expected Bush to be an ignorant punk, but folks hoped Obama would be more than an empty suit.

I simply don’t understand why the Turks cannot accept that the PREVIOUS regime that was overthrown by Attaturk committed genocide against Armenians—94 years ago before almost all of them were born.

If the Germans can recognize what the Nazis did, and the Italians can recognize what the Fascisti did and the Spanish can recognize what the Philangists did, the South Africans can recognize what Apartheid did, and the United States can recognize what Manifest Destiny did and the Cambodians can recognize what the Khmer Rouge did, why is it so hard to recognize what the Turkish monarchy did in WWI?

BTW, what’s happening to the alphabet?

There’s an A-word (also the N-word), a B-word, C-word, F-word, G-word, H-word, L-word, P-word, S-word, T-word, V-word and that’s all I can think of ... but there aren’t many letters left! (D,E,I,J, K, M,O,Q,R,U,W,X,Y, and Z)

I was just thinking of my political mentor. Who was Armenian first, Marxist second (not the way of an anti-nationalist Marxist, but certainly understandable for any Marxist humanist); and with a doctoral degree in international relations. I was just thinking of his parents who arrived direct from Armenia to Los Angeles, complete with memories plenty fresh enough.

I read Fisk’s account of “g-word” in his, “The Great War For Civilization,” when that was first published. My mentor would have appreciated Fisk’s account then as much as his remarks just now, and then been yet more critical.

Fisk has never hesitated to name the deed done: GENOCIDE of Armenians by Turks. No ifs, no buts, no bullshit excuses. That Turks continue in denial is a disgrace. (Imagine Germans denying the Holocaust to this day. Germans would be roundly condemned—rightly. And yes, Marshall, Americans continue in their own denial of genocide done. Rather of two genocides done, not counting lately.)

Perhaps even more disgraceful was Obama’s avoidance of the “g-word” as he courted low-life government that rules Turkey, long-time American military base from where—according to so-called “revisionist” history—Kennedy agreed to withdraw nukes, whereupon the Cuban Missile Crisis was concluded when Khrushchev then agreed to “back down.” The same government that continues to murder Kurds at pretty much any and every opportunity.

Not really surprisingly, Obama is turning out but one more political hack in charge of assortment of other hacks—from West Wing staff to Cabinet, Geithner and Clinton most particularly. Or worse? “Worse” because those who regard themselves as more enlightened than ever to have voted for huckster, Bush, voted for huckster, Obama. Obama spoke the “g-word” during his campaign to become President, but now refuses to speak the same. Though giving questionable credit where due, he never lied as to his intentions to boost troop level in Afghanistan, and go to war on Pakistan if necessary. On these idiocies he’s made good on his campaign promises.

“Diplomatic” is one thing, bullshit—referred to by bullshit media as “diplomatic”—a whole other thing. (Certainly bullshit when the man absurdly attempts to claim that “solution” to Palestine-Israel conflict would not make a serious difference. Thereby insinuating that indeed-vicious militancy is merely product of a whole bunch of demented minds got together to do the mean and nasty. Just for the thrill of doing so? By that kind of “reasoning” does Obama lay claim to unreason that prevails at beltways around the globe. Bullshit is mainly for public consumption, all too obviously.)

But this applies back on the worn-down-and-out range as well. If the President of the most overwhelming complex in the pitifully inhuman history of humankind can’t even speak truth to other bullshitters—whether other nationalist governments, or more-local bankers, health-insurance executives, other executives at other kinds of joints, and hosts of investor-class-shareholder types, all of whom jointly own various joints—then what the hell good is he?

What the hell did he, and does he continue to, mean by the c-word of which he talked so much before, but by now doesn’t sound as though he recalls ever having suggested?

And we committed genocide on the native peoples in our country.  Has our government ever admitted it?  Is the Turkish government still doing to Armenians what we do to our Native Americans?  Stupid campaign promise.

President Obama committed a stupid gaffe by strongly advocating Turkey’s admission as a full member to the EU which is strongly opposed by the people of most if not all EU countries.

In order to understand why his remarks were dumb, imagine that the Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende, in whose country same-sex marriage is legal, had admonished the US to make such marriages legal in all of our country prior to his visit to Washington.

Our reaction would have been “Sir, mind your own business” which is exactly what the French President told Mr. Obama with regards to Turkey and the EU.