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Democrats Backing Down on Armenian Genocide: Why?

Whatever one thinks of non-binding Resolutions- and I believe Libertarians view them as a complete waste of time and resources- one shouldn’t help but be fascinated by the current political maneuvering amongst the White House, Congressional Democrats, and the Armenian and Turkish lobbies.    The Resolution had appeared to be sailing towards sure passage when the announcement came that many Democrats have flip flopped and thrown their support in with Turkey. 

Question: Are the Democrats caving under pressure from the Bush Administration or for some other reason?

 

 

 

5 Comments

• vineyardsaker says:

  October 17, 2007 at 10:01 am

  Look at it this way: who owns the Democrats? AIPAC of course. And AIPAC does not want any Armenian genocide resolution:

  Back in October 23, 2000, the Turkish newspaper Sabah published an article that sounded too bizarre to be taken seriously at the time, but in the light of recent revelations, it now merits a second look. Sabah reported that in order to persuade Speaker Hastert to block the Armenian Genocide resolution, “the Chairman of AIPAC [The American Israel Public Affairs Committee] met with Hastert and explained to him ‘all the concerns in plain English.’” The AIPAC Chairman then reportedly pressured Hastert by telling him: “You may well gain a few more Armenian votes, but have you stopped to consider how many Jewish votes you will lose by this?” (source: http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Speaker_Hastert_Should_Come_Clean_By_Disclosing_All_Contributions).

  AIPAC does not want this because that kind of resolution would create tensions between the USA and Turkey, both of which are close allies of Israel. Second, AIPAC caters mainly to racist Jews who believe that everything and anything Jewish is unique and somehow more important than the more pedestrian Gentile stuff, hence the Armenian Genocide does not get a special name (Holocaust, Shoah) or an official figure (6′000′000). In fact, the official Israeli position is:

  Israel has declared that there was no change in its policy over the so-called Armenian genocide, reaffirming that it still sticks to what was expressed in 1995 that the topic should be discussed among historians, not politicians. (source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/english/200005/04/eng20000504_40179.html).

  One can just imagine the pious outrage if such an approach was extended to the “Holocaust”!

  As Israel Shahak once observed, the Zionist’s motto could have been “think locally, act globally” - there is not facet of US foreign policy which they do not feel the need to control, Armenian genocide issues included.
• Mace Price says:

  October 17, 2007 at 11:41 am

  …Courageous and very well said VS…My compliments…and, for what it’s worth, my backing…Yet in view of this same Domestic Tyranny encroaching even now, it also makes me wonder how much longer we can get away with telling the truth.
• vineyardsaker says:

  October 17, 2007 at 11:59 am

  @Mace Price: this really does not take too much courage from me at all. I have already lost my original career to speaking out (on a totally different & non-related issue). Now I can say anything I want on my blog and here - as long as Scott does not get fed up with my weird ideas

  Also - not being Jewish makes it easier for me. Its the anti-Neocon Jews who *really* get it in terms of insults, wrecked careers and lives. They are the real heroes!
• Mace Price says:

  October 17, 2007 at 1:04 pm

  …Semper veritas parit odium…But past that Mon Ami I get the distinct idea that we’re pissing into a very strong wind as a “pre-emptive’ attack on Iranian Nuclear Facilities is, by my estimation, less than12 months away…Briefly stated: The neo-Cons now figure if they have gotten away with transforming 9-11 into a legal and thus accepted rationale for a Middle East Military Occupation. This along with effective influence cum control over all three operations of the State, as well as the added capacities to synthesize Public Opinion; or more accurately Public Sentiment—Then they intend to up the ante, and go for broke.
• vineyardsaker says:

  October 17, 2007 at 1:26 pm

  Oh I still get plenty of odium, but there is not courage in anything I do today because I couldn’t care less about what people think of me and my ideas, I am already too old for that I suppose and, besides, it’s not like I am running for office anyway

© 2007 Stress.