Letters to the Editor
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Why now?
Turkey could close Incirlik Air Base, through which 70 percent of air cargo for U.S. troops in Iraq passes, and refuse to cooperate with Washington on the war.
Maybe that's the point. It would be one way, maybe the only way, to get Bush to ratchet down the war in Iraq. Without the aid and cooperation of Turkey, the war becomes much more difficult, if not impossible.
It's a twofer.
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Talking Turkey
Do you really think the neocons embrace morality in their foreign policy, Mr. Kamiya? Their so-called idealism was founded on lofty democratic rhetoric shotgun-married to bare knuckles, ruthless realpoliticking -- pretty words wrapped around ugly deeds, and idealistic only in that they expected it to work.
"If America really has a strong interest in its national security and the security of the region, it should stop following a national security concept that accepts human rights abusers," Akcam said. "It doesn't work, it makes things worse in the region. And it supports perpetrators who have committed crimes in the past and are committing crimes today."
The above basically shows the way out, even as it requires a massive change of our foreign policy, which has invariably been about propping up dictatorships against the popular will of the populaces of countries around the world. The NYT just had a piece today about the US glossing over human rights abuses in Egypt, for example.
In practice, our policy doesn't hinge on human rights abuses -- we don't really care; only North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela earn our ire, even though most of our staunchest allies have far worse human records that we ignore -- the above four were pro-capitalist (and pro-US), we'd love them, would lavish arms and attention on them, regardless of what they did to their people.
Our entangling alliances and imperial posturing have cost us our credibility -- the Armenian genocide vote wouldn't undo those things, but what's the alternative? By giving arms and aid to Turkey's repressive government, we tacitly support the regime -- any change in that position would likely have them pouncing on the Kurds, anyway, regardless of this vote on the Armenian genocide. And then what do we do?
Once the policy of engagement (e.g., bribes and military aid) is in place, the only alternative you have is to keep funneling aid and arms to the repressive regimes, for fear that you'll lose market share and influence if you get out (say, China decides to lend arms and aid, if we get out of the empire business). That's how empires bleed themselves out.
Referencing that NYT article, I saw that we're giving ~$310 million to Egypt for infrastructure repair, despite their human rights abuses. I'm looking at New Orleans and thinking "Hello?" But all New Orleans is is an American city; no influence-mongering to be gained there, eh? Here's the piece on Egypt...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/world/africa/16cairo.html?
ex=1350273600&en=50cd9484e34f4736&ei=5124&partner=
permalink&exprod=permalink
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A proposal for the Turkish parliament
Re-establishing moral credibility in the world, and more importantly in the Middle East, is important work for the United States. I fail to see how this resolution does that. A Congress that has remained nearly silent on very real, contemporary issues that weigh on people's minds abroad, such as prisoner abuse, torture, rendition, imperialist doctrines of pre-emptive war, now will begin to re-assert American ethics by condemning a century old genocide? Correcting the country's course might be easier if we eliminate or at least DEBATE issues more salient to the way in which our republic is perceived abroad.
So very well then. If this is how nations restore moral culpability, perhaps the Turkish government ought to pass its own resolutions condemning the United States' official policies of genocide and ethnic cleansing directed at Native Americans. It sickens me to see the ways in which America has elevated hypocrisy to the highest form of political art.
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Can he alienate himself any more from this planet??
As an American of Armenian heritage, I am ENRAGED that President Full of Bullshit is pulling this crap out of his stupid ass. He is the most offensive sonofabitch and he just keeps getting worse and worse. He's absolutely insane and has no stroke of conscience and is clearly a sociopath. He thinks that the Armenian genocide didn't even happen? He thinks it was overstated, or blown out of proportion? Does he think that by not recognizing this horrible history means it never happened? Lemme guess - the next thing he's gonna say is that the war in Iraq never happened. He is certifiable and needs to be locked away for life for war crimes and abuse of power. He is the modern day Hitler of this country and should be put out of his (and our) misery.
How the hell is this prick getting away with this shit?
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Exporting Taffy
Morally, there is an unavoidable question: if the international community, and for those who honestly consider the United States a part of that community, does not speak against genocide what function is it serving?
That the silence has continued in this country for so long is another example of the control of the military, and the militarists. I looked at one of their blogs yesterday. An article questioned the veracity of the cold war, as if the US didn't do enough in those years, and sure enough, there were the usual "bomb 'em" replies with the suggestion that the US could have "liberated" the USSR had we done so. This is a clear indicator the US has entered an Imperial Neo-Colonial age for which there is little to no recognition.
They have basically had near total control over the US since World War II. They have used the balk of our wealth to maintain a military economy. They have at least one political party in their pocket, and the other just barely able to stay out of their reach if a strong leader is elected.
If the Turks want to join the twenty-first century, this is their biggest opportunity. Will it be their excuse to invade the Kurds, and break their military alliance with the US--or will some diplomacy come into play? Will a heretofore silent dissent in Turkey come forward--and will Turkey's true colors be seen in a ruthless supression of human rights? Will the US find itself on the same side of a table with the EU once again?
Is Turkey a country that has really made up it's mind it wants to be secular and just--or has it all been a charade to import more oil and export more taffy? For once, the Dems have taken an initiative--and now we will see who gets it.