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05/19/2006
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM 1) House Subcommittee Maintains Military Aid Parity between Armenia And Azerbaijan 2) Turkey Uses Blackmail to Block Passage of Armenian Genocide Bill 3) Armenian Independence Day Festival to Be Held in Little Armenia 4) Armenian Singer Andre in Eurovision 2006 Final 5) No Agreement Reached Yet on Armenian-Azeri Summit 6) Kocharian Appoints Yesayan Deputy Minister of Education 7) Opposition Newspaper Editor Harshly Beaten in Azerbaijan 8) Sunday's Telethon to Raise Funds for ANC Programs 9) The New York Times Rebukes Turkey over Armenian Genocide Denial 10) Genocide Seminar for High School Students Held in Fresno 11) `From Need to Greed:' New film documents illegal logging and deforestation in Armenia 12) The `Buzz' about Bezzerides: Film about Armenian-Greek screenwriter featured at Southeast European Film Festival 13) The Conflict in Darfur: By Representative Joe Schwartz, MD 14) Critics' Forum: Visual Arts: By Adriana Tchalian 15) Irritants III: By Garen Yegparian 16) SKEPTIK TAKES ON GOLDBERG: By SKEPTIK SINIKIAN 1) House Subcommittee Maintains Military Aid Parity between Armenia And Azerbaijan WASHINGTON, DC--Early reports from Capitol Hill sources indicate that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations approved by voice vote to maintain military assistance parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite the Bush Administration's request to break the parity agreement and provide 40% more in assistance to Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Sources on Capitol Hill reported that the key foreign aid panel also allocated $62 million in US aid for Armenia and $5 million for Karabagh for fiscal year (FY) 2007. The amount represents a $12 million increase over President Bush's FY 2007 budget request, but is lower than last year's appropriation of $75 million. The Subcommittee also rejected efforts by Azerbaijan's lobbyists to weaken Section 907 restrictions on US assistance to Azerbaijan, due to its ongoing blockades of Armenia and Karabagh. Overall, the Subcommittee approved $21.3 billion in foreign aid spending, an increase of $600 million over last year's budget. "We commend the members of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee for contributing to the continued stability of the Caucasus by maintaining parity in military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan and fighting back attempts to further weaken Section 907," stated Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "We also appreciate the efforts of our friends to increase Armenia's assistance above the level proposed by the President and to provide $5 million in aid to Nagorno Karabagh. We look forward to action by the Senate--and later in conference committee--to bring assistance to Armenia to at least last year's figure of $75 million," added Hamparian. Military assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan will include $3.5 million in foreign military finance (FMF) and $790,000 in International Military and Education Training (IMET). Economic assistance to Azerbaijan was set at $29 million, $1 million more than the Administration's budget request. "We want to express our appreciation to Congressman Joe Knollenberg for his advocacy within the Subcommittee, to thank Chairman Jim Kolbe, and Ranking Member Nita Lowey for their leadership, and to share our gratitude for the support of John Sweeney, Steve Rothman, Mark Kirk, and Chaka Fattah, and our other friends on this vitally important panel," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. On March 16 of this year, Representative George Radanovich (R-CA) and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) sent a letter to the leadership of the Subcommittee, cosigned by 48 of their House colleagues, calling for an earmark of at least $75 million for Armenia; maintaining equal levels of military aid for Armenia and Azerbaijan; an additional $5 million in direct aid to Karabagh for FY 2007; and keeping in place the Section 907 restriction on aid to Azerbaijan. The names of the fifty signatories are as follows: Tom Allen (D-ME), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Howard Berman (D-CA), Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), William Delahunt (D-MA), David Dreier (R-CA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Mike Ferguson (R-NJ), Barney Frank (D-MA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Michael Honda (D-CA), Dale Kildee (D-MI), James Langevin (D-RI), Sander Levin (D-MI), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-MA), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), James McGovern (D-MA), John McHugh (R-NY), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Collin Peterson (D-MN), George Radanovich (R-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), H. James Saxton (R-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Joe Schwarz (R-MI), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Rob Simmons (R-CT), Mark Souder (R-IN), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Diane Watson (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). 2) Turkey Uses Blackmail to Block Passage of Armenian Genocide Bill (Combined Sources)--Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau member and Parliament Vice Speaker Vahan Hovhannisian said on Friday that the derailing of the Armenian genocide bill in French Parliament is yet another example of Turkey's blackmailing policies. "Blackmailing has been the main method in Turkey's politics for the past 250 years," Hovhannisian said. "Therefore, it didn't come as a surprise to us." He added that Turkish reaction to Armenian foreign policy is a sign that the policies are working. The French bill would have made it a punishable offense to deny the Armenian genocide. Facing threats of trade sanctions by Turkey, President of the French Parliament, Jean-Louis Debré, blocked passage of the bill and delayed its discussion until October. "I believe that France cannot delay this issue forever," Hovhannisian went on to say. "I think, France, as a progressive European nation, will return to this issue, and we will succeed this time." 3) Armenian Independence Day Festival to Be Held in Little Armenia (HOLLYWOOD)--The Armenian Cultural Foundation, in conjunction with the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Western Region, will host a festival on May 28 to commemorate Armenia's independence. The festival will take place in Little Armenia, on Hollywood Blvd. between the streets of Alexandria and Vermont, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The festival will feature performers such as, Element, Vokee, Sako, Ara Sahagian, Karnig Sarkissian, Nersik Ispirian, Paul Baghdadlian, Gor Mkhitarian, Ara Shahbazian, and many more who will all be accompanied by the Knar Band. In addition to the many singers there will also be various dance groups performing traditional and contemporary Armenian folk dances. Organizers of the festival aim to promote Armenian culture and raise awareness within the greater Los Angeles community. The festival will feature various aspects of the Armenian culture through different vendors, entertainers, performers, writer, traditional Armenian foods, and artifacts. Other Armenian organizations participating in the festival include the Armenian Relief Society, Shant Student Association, Homenetmen (Armenian General Athletic Union and Scouts), and Armenian National Committee of America. "The Armenian Youth Federation celebrates and recognizes the importance of our nation's victories in establishing, after 600 years of oppression, the first independent republic of Armenia on May 28, 1918, which laid the foundation of today's independent republic," said Tro Tchekidjian chairman of the AYF Western Region. 4) Armenian Singer Andre in Eurovision 2006 Final (Combined Sources)--Armenian singer from Karabagh, Andre Hovhanyan, qualified Friday night to participate in the final round of the Eurovision Song Contest being held this weekend in Athens. Andre is representing Armenia for the first time in the contest with a song called "Without you love." Andre was one of 10 participants voted on to Saturday's final round. Russia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Finland, Ukraine, Ireland, Sweden, and Turkey also made the cut after a public text and telephone vote. 5) No Agreement Reached Yet on Armenian-Azeri Summit YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said on Friday that he and his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov did not set a date for the next Armenian-Azeri summit on Karabagh during talks in Strasbourg the previous night. The two men met in the presence of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the sidelines of a regular session of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. "Discussions focused on the proposals and ideas that have been on the table," he said, referring to the Strasbourg talks. "Overall, it was not a bad meeting. However, there are still many issues that have not yet been agreed on." Oskanian said that that Baku and Yerevan have not yet laid the groundwork for the crucial summit between the two countries' presidents. "While not ruling out the possibility of such a meeting at this point, I can't say for certain that it will take place, because a lot depends on the co-chairs' high-level visit to the region," said Oskanian. The co-chairs will begin their visit on May 25 together with more high-ranking diplomats, including US Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried and Russian Deputy Foreign Minster Grigory Karasin. The mediators will discuss with the conflicting parties their new, unpublicized peace proposals put forward after the February meeting of Aliyev and Kocharian, which took place in Rambouillet, France. "The co-chairs see a new momentum after Rambouillet and they believe that by raising the level [of their diplomacy] they can attract more attention and will try during their visit to create a situation that will convince the parties to agree to a meeting of the presidents," said Oskanian. 6) Kocharian Appoints Yesayan Deputy Minister of Education YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--President Robert Kocharian's special Anti-corruption Adviser and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) member Bagrat Yesayan, was relieved of his duties and appointed Deputy Minister of Education on Friday. The promotion follows the withdrawal of Orinats Yerkir from the ruling coalition. Sergo Yeritsian, a former Orinats Yerkir leader who has headed the Armenian Ministry of Science and Education for nearly three years, was replaced on Wednesday by Levon Mkrtchian, also a member of the ARF, one of the two remaining governing parties. Aside from advising Kocharian on anti-corruption matters, Yesayan headed a "monitoring commission" to oversee implementation of the legislative measures aimed at combating corruption. 7) Opposition Newspaper Editor Harshly Beaten in Azerbaijan BAKU (AP)--Bahaddin Khaziyev, editor of the Bizim Yol (Our Way) newspaper, was seized late Thursday in the Azeri capital, Baku, by five men who put a bag over his head and drove him to a lake outside the city, said the head of the opposition Popular Front, Ali Kerimli. "There, Khazhiyev was savagely beaten and, as a result of his injuries, lay on the lakeside until morning," Kerimli said. Khaziyev, also the deputy leader of the Popular Front, recounted that one of his assailants called someone on a cell phone to say: "We did everything you asked," Kerimli said. The opposition leader said the attack had been ordered. "It did not happen by chance, and is part of the war waged in recent years in Azerbaijan against the free press," he said. An official with the presidential administration, Ali Hasanov, condemned the assault and pledged that authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state would fully investigate it and punish those guilty. Last year, opposition magazine editor Elmar Huseinov was shot and killed in the lobby of his Baku apartment building. Western countries have called on President Ilham Aliyev and investigators to do more to solve that killing. Aliyev has been at the helm of his former Soviet nation since 2003, when he came to power in flawed elections, succeeding his father and longtime ruler Heydar Aliyev. 8) Sunday's Telethon to Raise Funds for ANC Programs GLENDALE (Glendale News Press)--The Armenian National Committee of America has done a lot for the Armenian community through its programs, but in order to do more, it needs more money, organization officials said. So it will host a telethon on Sunday to raise money for its general endowment -- the nonprofit and non-political arm of the group that funds educational programs. "The purpose is to raise funds for the endowment, whose purpose is to fund education efforts to encourage civic participation and voter registration," said Zanku Armenian, a board member of the Western Region of the Armenian National Committee based in Glendale. The general endowment funds several programs a year that encourage civic involvement, provide internship programs for university students and encourage voter registration, all within the Armenian-American community, Armenian said. It also helps to fund Armenian Genocide education efforts in schools, he said. "In terms of a grassroots effort, the [Armenian National Committee of America] has done a tremendous job," said Armond Aghakhanian, an executive board member of the Glendale-based Armenian American Chamber of Commerce. "It is very difficult, engaging communities who are new to this country and the voting system, who come from eastern blocs where there was no trust when it came to the government, and a lot of corruption," he said. The organization has had to deal with a lot of barriers, but has been able to lift those barriers, Aghakhanian said. Additional funding will hopefully allow it to continue expanding its programs, he said. The nationally televised telethon, which is being broadcast from Glendale Studios, will tap Armenian American communities not only in Glendale, but in all parts of the country, Armenian said. It is being broadcast in Glendale because of the size of the Armenian American community in the city, but the organization has volunteers from across the country participating to bring the telethon together, Armenian said. This is the first time the Armenian National Committee of America is hosting a telethon to raise money for its endowment fund, he said. "We don't have a benchmark at this point, but every dollar helps," Armenian said. "The larger the amount the better, because we are trying to reach more Armenian Americans in the country... When you take on an endeavor of this magnitude, you hope to get a large amount. The point is, we are hoping in the millions." Many local officials, congressman and prominent members of the Armenian American community have been invited to attend the six-hour marathon. The local and national community will likely come together to make the telethon a success, Aghakhanian sad. "I believe it's going to turn to be very successful," he said. "It's a great cause." The telethon will air in Glendale, La Crescenta, and Burbank on Channel 55 from 3 to 9 PM. 9) The New York Times Rebukes Turkey over Armenian Genocide Denial -- Editorial Decries Turkey's "Self-Destructive Obsession" with Denial of the Genocide NEW YORKIn an editorial published Tuesday, May 15, The New York Times pointed out Turkey's `self-destructive obsession with denying the Armenian genocide,' earning praise from the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of the Eastern United States. Noting Turkey's inflammatory and intimidating response to governments and individuals who speak truthfully about the first genocide of the 20th century, The Times cited three of the many deeply troubling examples. `The Turks pulled out of a NATO exercise this week because the Canadian Prime Minister used the term genocide in reference to the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I. Before that, the Turkish ambassador to France was temporarily recalled to protest a French bill that would make it illegal to deny that the Armenian genocide occurred. And before that, a leading Turkish novelist, Orhan Pamuk, was charged with `insulting Turkish identity' for referring to the genocide,' stated The Times. As Turkey attempts to join the European Union, it is coming under increasing pressure to recognize the Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated. Turkey faces growing difficulty, and now editorial reproach from the paper of record, for its ninety-one year practice of persecuting journalists, government officials, and ordinary citizens who exercise what should be their right to free speech. Publisher Ragip Zarakolu and journalist Hrant Dink, who recently addressed Armenian communities in the US, are only two of many brave individuals who have been prosecuted for informing the Turkish public about the Genocide. `The Armenian National Committee and the Armenian American community are gratified to see that after changing its policy by allowing its reporters to describe the events of 1915 as genocide, the New York Times has come to rebuke Turkey for its sinister and anti-democratic campaign of genocide denial. Decades of hard, thoughtful work to get the Times and the Boston Globe to attune their coverage of the issue with historical scholarship have borne valuable fruit,' said Dikran Kaligian, Chairman of the ANC in the Eastern United States. The Armenian National Committee (ANC) is dedicated to advancing the concerns of Armenian-Americans, the foremost of which is achieving recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In light of the Turkish government's campaign to have US media organizations as well government officials deny the genocide, the ANC strives to oppose revisionist agendas, which either out of racist or other unscrupulous motives, defame a people through attempting to negate the historicity of its mass victimization. A full text of the editorial is provided below: Turkey, Armenia and Denial Turkey's self-destructive obsession with denying the Armenian genocide seems to have no limits. The Turks pulled out of a NATO exercise this week because the Canadian prime minister used the term `genocide' in reference to the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I. Before that, the Turkish ambassador to France was temporarily recalled to protest a French bill that would make it illegal to deny that the Armenian genocide occurred. And before that, a leading Turkish novelist, Orhan Pamuk, was charged with `insulting Turkish identity' for referring to the genocide (the charges were dropped after an international outcry). Turkey's stance is hard to fathom. Each time the Turks lash out, new questions arise about Turkey's claim to a place in the European Union, and the Armenian Diaspora becomes even more adamant in demanding a public reckoning over what happened. Granted, genocide is a difficult crime for any nation to acknowledge. But it is absurd to treat any reference to the issue within Turkey as a crime and to scream `lie!' every time someone mentions genocide. By the same token, we do not see the point of the French law to ban genocide denial. Historical truths must be established through dispassionate research and debate, not legislation, even if some of those who question the evidence do so for insidious motives. But the Turkish government considers even discussion of the issue to be a grave national insult, and reacts to it with hysteria. Five journalists who criticized a court's decision to shut down an Istanbul conference on the massacre of Armenians were arrested for insulting the courts. Charges against four were subsequently dropped, but a fifth remains on trial. The preponderance of serious scholarship outside Turkey accepts that more than a million Armenians perished between 1914 and 1923 in a regime-sponsored campaign. Turkey's continued refusal to countenance even a discussion of the issue stands as a major obstacle to restoring relations with neighboring Armenia and to claiming Turkey's rightful place in Europe and the West. It is time for the Turks to realize that the greater danger to them is denying history. 10) Genocide Seminar for High School Students Held in Fresno FRESNO--One hundred and ten students from junior highs and high schools around Fresno and Clovis participated in a successful Genocide Seminar on Saturday, May 13, at the Armenian Community Center in Fresno. The Seminar speakers Dr. Matthew Ari Jendian and Hasmig Tatiossian addressed the similarities between the mass killings, political ramifications, and social issues surrounding the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides. They also discussed the implications for individual and collective responses to these events. Hygo Ohanessian, chairperson of the Armenian National Committee of Central California, introduced the speakers. The event was organized by the ANC and funded by the Bertha and John Garabedian Foundation. Sato Sanikian, learning director from Selma high school, advised the students on conduct, rules, and regulations to abide by at the seminar. The speakers began the day with an ice-breaker exercise that celebrated the diversity in the room and emphasized that we are all part of the human race, the most similar of all species on the earth. They then discussed the word "genocide," (literally "race murder" from the Greek word "genos" and the Latin "cide") coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1944. The Genocide Convention adopted by the United Nations in 1948, defined genocide as certain "acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnical, racial, or religious group." The great irony, however, of the 20th century and genocide is that the 20th century saw many treaties defining and codifying genocide, yet it was one of the bloodiest centuries in human history. Unfortunately, after almost every case of genocide, denial has been a common response. This denial, Tatiossian said, can grow over time and come to define the identity of the person or people who are denying the events. As Cornell West has said, "Denial of history represents a lack of maturity." The first step towards healing is to acknowledge the wrong we have done. With each case of genocide discussed--Armenian, Cambodian, and Rwandan--the speakers pointed to the lack of intervention of the international community and, specifically, the United States. As Samantha Power notes in her book `A Problem from Hell,' the most common response to the question of "Why does the world and the United States stand so idly by when genocide is occurring" is, "We didn't know" or "We didn't fully appreciate the magnitude of the situation." But these answers are demonstrably not true. However, Power says, the real reason the United States has not done what it could do and should do to stop genocide is that US leaders lacked the will to do something--they believed it was wrong, but they were not prepared to invest the military, financial, diplomatic, and domestic political capital needed. The speakers also gleaned lessons from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., teaching that we all have a human responsibility to prevent injustice when we see it: `Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.' "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.' `There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor political, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.' As Dr. Jendian said, "Knowledge is potential power; it becomes powerful when it is acted upon." Taking action on behalf of others requires empathy--putting yourself in the other person's place and identifying strongly with the circumstances and pain of another human being. One of the greatest lessons from Dr. King that should be passed on to students is that the struggle for justice is not pitted against people; rather, it's against injustice itself. Instead of having students think that they need to do the right thing by fighting against a person--the "enemy"--the student must understand that the real enemy is injustice, not the person committing it. In light of that, Tatiossian shared a quote from King's "Walk for Freedom": "Love must be at the forefront of our movement if it is to be a successful movement. And when we speak of love, we must speak of understanding good will toward all men. We speak of a creative, a redemptive sort of love, so that as we look at the problem, we see that the real tension is not between the Negro citizens and the white citizens of Montgomery, but is a conflict between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, and if there is a victory--and there will be a victory--the victory will not be merely for the Negro citizens and a defeat for the white citizens, but it will be a victory for justice and a defeat of injustice. It will be a victory for goodness in its long struggle with the forces of evil." Dr. Jendian is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of the American Humanics Nonprofit Administration Program at California State University, Fresno. He received his Baccalaureate degree from CSU, Fresno in Sociology with minor degrees in Psychology and Armenian Studies, and his Master's and Doctoral degrees from University of Southern California. Dr. Jendian teaches courses on race and ethnicity, terrorism and genocide, and contemporary social issues at California State University, Fresno. Hasmig Tatiossian is the Southern California Regional Assistant Coordinator of The Genocide Education Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to assist educators in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional materials, providing access to teaching resources and organizing educational workshops (see ). Tatiossian received her Baccalaureate degree from UC Berkeley in International Relations with an Emphasis on Genocide and Human Rights Violations. 11) `From Need to Greed:' New film documents illegal logging and deforestation in Armenia A 20-minute film about illegal logging and deforestation in Armenia, titled `From Need to Greed,' was released this week by Vem Media Arts in Yerevan. The fourth in a series of environmental films, the documentary was funded by Armenia Tree Project, Armenian Forests NGO, and the World Wildlife Fund Caucasus Office. In the opening of the film, Armenian children declare the importance of forests in supporting animals and birds, absorbing carbon dioxide and generating oxygen, absorbing dust from the air, and preventing landslides. `The number of forests in Armenia is very few. We need to protect the existing forests and plant new trees,' states one child. Produced by Manuk Hergnyan of Vem and written by Inga Zarafyan, the documentary explains that forests provide food, shelter, clothing, and fuel for people, but over time humans have started to destroy this vital lifeline. According to historical data, forests covered 20 percent of Armenia at the turn of the 20th century, but by the early 1990s this area was reduced to 11 percent and is now below 10 percent. Massive logging started in 1992 as a result of the energy crisis in the country. Nearly half of the forests in the Vanadzor forest were destroyed, with much of the tree loss occurring on steep slopes and resulting in devastating landslides. Reforestation projects were carried out in the Lake Sevan basin in the 1950s to prevent erosion, but many of those forests were destroyed or damaged during the severe winters of the 1990s. Although the crisis of energy shortages has diminished, tree cutting has continued and taken on new forms, notes the film. Since wood is treated as an inexpensive source of fuel, 70 percent of the logged wood is still used as firewood. The actual volume of logging was estimated in 2003 by World Bank experts to be one million cubic meters, most of which is illegal logging since the annual number of trees subject to felling does not exceed 70,000 thousand cubic meters. Aside from the segments of the population that rely on forests for their survival, much of the tree cutting is widely believed to be done by oligarchs who are illegally exporting wood from Armenia. The State Environmental Inspectorate, however, denies the role of oligarchs in this sector. `I myself haven't come across any oligarch involved in forest consumption,' states one government official from that office. `There are organizations that are implementing forest consumption in due manner, signing a contract with Hayantar (Forestry Department). People have won a certain land area by tender, and have taken the wood out of there, one part as construction timber, the remaining as firewood.' `The situation is different than it was in the early 1990s with the energy crisis,' notes Armenian Forests NGO President Jeffrey Tufenkian. `There is still need-based cutting for people who can't afford fuel other than wood, but it has moved from need to greed. The greed of a few who are taking truckloads of wood out of the forest and keeping local villagers from entering the forest.' One of Hayantar's chief foresters also points out some questionable practices. They include the abuse of logging licenses by using them several times and questionable methods used to gain access to valuable walnut wood that is exported to Europe for use in luxury automobiles. In fact, the film documents the export of oak, walnut, ash, and hornbeam wood to countries including France, Italy, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Iran, and even Turkey. Experts agree that even if logging is halted, the forests in Armenia will not be able to be restored naturally. It would be possible to save them only if there is a national forest recovery program and strict controls in place, but for now, the monitoring conducted by governmental structures is ineffective. `How else can we explain the fact that in 2005, the State Environmental Inspectorate recorded illegal logging of only 9,018 trees with 8,130 cubic meters in volume, or 15-20 times less than in reality?' asks the narrator. According to data from the National Program Against Desertification, 80 percent of Armenia's territory has already undergone desertification. If this continues unchecked, soil humidity will decrease, pastures will shrink, cattle head will drop, and production of fruits and vegetables will go down. `Thus, Armenia will turn to a desertnot to the classical ecosystembut into a desert created by man himself, and it will become an environment not fit for life anymore,' concludes the narrator. Near the end of the film, representatives of Armenian Forests NGO and Armenia Tree Project offer their views on steps that need to be taken to eliminate illegal logging and allow Armenia's forests to regenerate. `First, public awareness needs to be raised, and environmental education is a useful way to arouse public opinion,' states ATP Foundation President Susan Klein. `In addition, reforestation is an important goal for today. We in this generation must preserve this for future generations.' The 20-minute documentary film `From Need to Greed' is being made available for personal and public viewing in DVD format. To acquire a copy of the film in the diaspora with English subtitles, contact Armenia Tree Project via email at info@armeniatree.org. 12) The `Buzz' about Bezzerides: Film about Armenian-Greek screenwriter featured at Southeast European Film Festival This year, the Southeast European Film Festival has chosen as its closing night film `Buzz,' a film about a legendary Hollywood scriptwriter of Armenian-Greek descent. The closing night event, during which the film about Albert Isaac `Buzz' Bezzerides will be screened, will take place at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, May 24 at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. `Buzz' is a memorable, absorbing, and illuminating profile of the legendary Hollywood scriptwriter (and acclaimed novelist) Bezzerides, whose most notable credits include Robert Aldrich's `Kiss Me Deadly' (1955), Jules Dassin's `Thieves' Highway' (1942), and Raoul Walsh's `They Drive By Night' (1940). Bezzerides is known as `The King of Noir'--in fact, François Truffaut, an authority on film noir, considered the Bezzerides-scripted `Juke Girl' (1942) to be America's first real film noir. `Buzz' traces Bezzerides' arrival in the US and pre-Hollywood existence. Born in 1908 in the Black Sea city of Samsun in the Ottoman Empire, Bezzerides fled to the US with his family on the eve of the Genocide. His Armenian mother and Greek father settled in Fresno, California where Bezzerides grew up in the Armenian community. The fruit truckers of Fresno and the community in which he grew up provided him with much of the material for his novels and screenplays. As a screenwriter, Bezzerides had a fascinating career. "Graylisted" during the McCarthy era, he was one of many talents to suffer from the industrial-style practices of Hollywood at the time, where writers were regarded as being at the bottom of the food chain and frequently denied screen credits. Bezzerides himself is now well into his tenth decade, but as evidenced by director Spiro N. Taraviras's loving tribute he has not lost his famous zip and joie de vivre. Interviewed for the film between 1999 and 2002, Bezzerides proves enormously engaging company as he takes an idiosyncratic tour down memory lane. Anecdotes abound, featuring the likes of William Faulkner (with whom Bezzerides had a particularly strong, mutually-beneficial relationship), Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and many more. The film has won several awards including the Greek Film Critics Association Award for Best Film of the Year (2005) and the Greek State Film Award for Best Feature Documentary Film awarded by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs (2005). For more information about the festival or to purchase tickets to see the film, call (800) 838-3006 or visit <;www.seefilm la.org. Screening info: Wednesday, May 24 Fine Arts Theatre, Beverly Hills 8556 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90211 13) The Conflict in Darfur By Representative Joe Schwartz, MD Those with Armenian, Jewish, and Cambodian heritage, among others, understand all too well what happens when good people remain silent and allow atrocities to continue unabated. On April 30, 2006, they were among the thousands who attended a rally in Washington DC for those affected by the strife and unrest in Darfur. Although many at the rally had divergent political and economic views, tragic situations have a unique way of compelling many people to speak with one voice. The Darfur conflict began in February 2003, when rebels launched attacks seeking greater political autonomy. In response, Sudan's Islamic government dispatched troops and pro-government militias known as the Janjaweed to quell the uprising. The militias embarked on a campaign of terror, killing, and raping civilians mostly from ethnic groups. On occasion, the conflict in Darfur has been labeled as a fight between Arabs and black Africans. Yet, the truth is more complicated in that African and Arab identities are often indistinguishable in Sudan. In fact, the true division in Darfur is between ethnic groups, divided between herders and farmers. The dialect of its members and whether they tend to the soil or herd livestock is the true determinant of whether an individual is identified as `African' or `Arab.' Despite any real ability to distinguish between bloodlines, this 3-year-old conflict is responsible for the deaths of at least 200,000 people and for causing more than 2.5 million to flee their homes and seek shelter in refugee camps inside Darfur or to neighboring Chad. In the last month alone, more than 60,000 people have been forced to evacuate. While the United States has been a leader, providing over $1.3 billion a year in humanitarian assistance, we must continue to actively express our disapproval and outrage at those who condone the genocidal actions of the Janjaweed and their associates. For this reason, I supported HR 3127, `The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act,' approved 416-3 on April 5, 2006 in the House of Representatives. HR 3127 directs the President to deny visas for entry into the US of any person responsible for acts of genocide or crimes against humanity in Sudan. This bill authorizes the President to reinforce the deployment and operations of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, and directs the President to instruct our US Ambassador to NATO to lobby for a NATO peacekeeping force in Darfur. In addition, the bill encourages the President to consider pushing for an expansion of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission already in Sudan supporting the north-south peace agreement. Given the authorization provided by HR 3127, I also voted in favor of the 2006 Defense Supplemental bill that specifically included $303 million for the peacekeeping mission in Darfur. This money will be used to sustain and expand the 7,700-member AU mission, supported by US and NATO logistics, surveillance, and airlift. Finally, I signed a letter to the Secretary of State along with 119 other members of Congress urging her to appoint a special envoy to Sudan. As the letter states, I am concerned that there is not a single person whose sole responsibility is to monitor the situation in Darfur and Southern Sudan and answer directly to the Secretary of State. I believe the appointment of a special envoy with a clear mandate, who has the ear of the Secretary of State, will communicate to the Sudanese government and the world community the seriousness of our government's intent to see the suffering in Darfur ended. While the pressure being placed on the government of Sudan and the three rebel factions may yet yield a peaceful result in Darfur, it will not come easily. Mediators from the AU have already had to extend the deadline for agreement on a peace settlement in order to bridge the gap on the issues of reintegration and disarmament, as well as on wealth and power sharing. There is no doubt that there are going to be some extraordinarily difficult challenges, but it is not too late for appropriate and constant pressure to convince the Sudanese government to do the right thing, to cease the mindless and brutal genocide in Darfur, and to bring some order and tranquility back to that part of Africa. To its credit, the administration has dispatched Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick to Abuja, Nigeria, where negotiations are being held to encourage a successful end to the horrific situation in Darfur. Success in this effort is a must. Representative Joe Schwarz is a Congressman representing Michigan's 7th District. 14) Critics' Forum: Visual Arts Joanne Julian: Concerning the Spiritual in Art By Adriana Tchalian The title of my article, `Concerning the Spiritual in Art,' comes from a book written by twentieth-century Modernist Wassily Kandinsky on the subject of art and spirituality (1910). He, along with others such as Piet Mondrian, was strongly influenced by religious and spiritual subjects of his times, and as a result created art that reflected this awareness. Compared to the charismatic, angst-ridden artists of today, these early twentieth-century Modernists were sage and poet in one, creating works that reflected their inner life rather than generating `art for art's sake' or imbuing their work with social or political purpose. In fact, ever since Paleolithic man began sketching crude renderings of animals on the ceilings of the Lascaux caves (France, 13,000 BC), art has become an expression or a reflection of one's creedfor these renderings were not meant for decorative or social purposes but rather as some type of ritualistic magic. Assuming that one agrees that art has a purposewhether cultural, political, or otherwiseand is not merely `art for art's sake,' empty of meaning or purpose, it is clear that the most significant role of art has been the expression of one's religious or spiritual creed. The centrality of the spiritual in art is undeniable, be it in the art of India or the art of the Italian Renaissance, the interior of an ancient cave or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, or to offer a more contemporary example, the open-air ceiling of James Turrell's Roden Crater, an extinct crater that has been excavated to function as an open-air observatory just outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. And although some contemporary western artists do not offer much by way of the spiritual in art, even they are keenly aware of its absence. As art critic and historian Suzi Gablik writes, `the real crisis of Modernism, as many people have claimed, is the pervasive spiritual crisis of Western civilization: the absence of a system of beliefs that justifies allegiance to any entity beyond the self.' Gablik goes on to say that even twentieth-century Abstract Expressionists were closet spiritualists, quietly revering the early Modernists' efforts to distill their spiritual explorations into fine art. Having made this argument about art and spirituality, then, how do we apply it to contemporary Armenian art? Enter the likes of Joanne Julian, a Los Angeles-based Armenian artist who is a virtual unknown in the Armenian diasporan community, yet one whose work is well-recognized amongst mainstream art circles. There is nothing intrinsically Armenian about Julian's graphite and ink drawings. The critic Robert McDonald describes her work as possessing `the discipline and spirit of Taoist painting.' It is this proclivity towards things spiritual that is the driving essence behind her work. Having traveled throughout Asia, Julian has cultivated an extensive Asian visual vocabulary, which is reflected in the simplicity and beauty of her drawingsimmense brushstrokes, reminiscent of Asian calligraphy, are set against the glistening sheen of the graphite, forming an exquisite contrast of color, texture, and shape. In February of this year, Julian, along with William Amundson and Robin Dare, participated in an exhibitionDrawn to Scaleat the Spokane Falls Community College Art Gallery in Washington. The exhibit was co-curated by Louise Lewis, gallery director and professor of art history at California State University, Northridge. According to Lewis, `The juxtaposition of a delicately drawn silver braid entwined within a vibrant circle of crimson or gold suggests an unusually exuberant Zen exercise, ironically made more intimate by the all-enveloping scale. In Horizontal Braid, the intricately drawn tress stretches within the bottom portion of nearly 3' high gold and circle, provocatively inviting the viewer to contemplate the secrets within the circle.' The presence of someone of Julian's talent in both the Armenian diasporan and American contexts suggests that the yearning for the spiritual is alive and well, even among the most avant-garde artists in our communities. In an earlier article, I had posed the question of whether or not there was an Asian aesthetic in Armenian visual art. It appears as if Joanne Julian's work more than answers that call, while transcending the limits of even that description in the process. Adriana Tchalian holds a Masters degree in Art History and has managed several art galleries in Los Angeles. You can reach her or any of the other contributors to Critics' Forum at comments@criticsforum.org. This and all other articles published in this series are available online at To sign up for a weekly electronic version of new articles, go to Critics' Forum is a group created to discuss issues relating to Armenian art and culture in the diaspora. 15) Irritants III By Garen Yegparian OK, this week, let's just have some fun. It's been a year and a half since I went on a whining spree and there are weighty issues coming next week. As I quoted before, Jean Paul Sartre said, `Hell is other people,' and boy was/is he right! You go to the grocery market, and they've got `cluster tomatoes.' They look pretty good. They're actually RED, not orange-red. They even smell like tomatoes instead of some sterile gauze. But of course, some jerk is picking off the `best' ones and avoiding paying for the `massive' excess weight of the stems. You start imagining a shotgun blast turning his head tomato colored... Some drunken fool's stomach decides it can't take any more, and you're treated to the stench and scenery in your building's elevator. Hey, no need to clean up, it's OK. Or, you watch as some other pathetic human barfs all over the floor at Versailles (the palace), yummy... Some rocket-scientist of an Armenian starts `enlightening' those around him/her about perceived defects found among our kind, starting with `You know what I can't stand about Armenians...?' Then of course you hear about an admittedly irritating, though generically human, behavior that is found equally among any grouping from Angles-Saxons-Jutes to Russians to environmentalists to right-wing-whackos. The only reason such pontificators believe their own spoutings is that they live such insular lives that the only significant contact they have is with their own group. Here it is. A good 30 years since major migrations of Armenians to the US commenced, and the notion, `You're not Armenian if you don't speak Armenian' persists. Fortunately, it is now subtler, indicating a weakening of the mythology, and isn't used to demean some of our compatriots. Of course this makes it more insidious. What's worse, some of the yoyos who think this way would sooner eat a burger than kebab, can't tell a shoorch-bar from a highland reel, don't set foot in an Armenian church but for weddings, baptisms, and funerals (`What's a sharagan?' they wonder, `A predatory Armenian fish?'), wouldn't recognize traditional garb if it squeezed them like a boa, and whose idea of maintaining Armenian customs is smoking cigarettes with a queer tilt of the head. Humans exist in this day and age and society who have not yet grasped the merits of bathing. Conversely, we have the water wasting weirdoes who think nothing of showering three or more times a day. But, the real kicker is users of perfumes and colognes. These people think that anointing themselves with extracts of animals' organs soaked in alcohol is pleasing to others' olfactory receptors. Frequently, `the more the merrier' seems to be these folks' approach to using these pungent liquids. Many also seem to think that slathering these expensive concoctions masks body odor rather than yielding a noxious hybrid. There you are, minding your own business, riding the bus on the way to work. Next thing you know, you think you've got tinnitus. Then you realize that annoying pinging sound is just the overflow noise coming from some idiot's headset. You wonder how he/she tolerates such loud noise pumped directly into the ear. But, that's not your business. So you proceed to politely request they turn it down. After the initial uncomprehending stare, if you're lucky, the volume will get reduced, sometimes even attended by an apology. More often, you'll get asked if you can hear it, with a grudging reduction following. Other times you'll get ignored, cursed, get a volume increase, and once even a threatening warning that you should watch your back. All this when radio playing is forbidden on public transit. What about public toilets? There's always some vermin who're afraid to touch the lever and actually flush the toilet or urinal. So we've found a remedy! Yay! But wait, the Law of Unintended Consequences (LUC) has kicked in. The automatic flushers, activated whenever the field of the sensor is disturbed, cause thousands of gallons of wasted water. Walking past a urinal? Flushhhhhhhhhhhh. Stand up at the toilet? Flushhhhhhhhhhhh. But wait, now you've got all that paper in the bowl and you're waving you're hands madly in front of the sensor to get another flush. Of course, it doesn't cooperate. And that's after you got off one of those seats with the tubular plastic cover (Chicago's Ohare Airport has them). But there's LUC again. Sure the seat's protected, as are successive users except... the mechanism that drives the plastic sticks way up from the seat and if you're even slightly larger than what some designer imagined, your rump is pushing right up against that (unprotected) gizmo. Sanitary and swell isn't it? If you're not yet convinced that automation is ill-suited to toilets, how about this: automated taps. Great! Put your hand under it, water runs... well sometimes. Eventually it comes, but beware, move your hands millimeter in the wrong direction and you're dry again. As if that's not frustrating enough, you don't get to choose the temperature of the water. It's preset. How difficult is it to have it be adjustable? What if you don't enjoy having your hands scalded, or just want to splash your face with some cool water after a long flight? Carpool (HOV) lanes? Great idea, right? Except morons get in them who drive under the speed limit so that regular lanes, congested as they are, move faster than you do as you formulate plans for mounting a rocket propelled grenade launcher on your hood for the next time this occurs. Not bad enough? California now allows single occupant hybrids in these lanes, uhhhh, what part of `high occupancy vehicle' connotes the number one? And now, for the hoity-toity art lovers among us, a perspective on the Getty Art Museum. I've had the misfortune of being dragged there thrice. The first time was early in its life when finding parking was a bigger challenge than on Broadway in New York's theatre district on a Friday night. The synagogue across the street had some event, and generally disallows museum parking anyway. I ended up three miles away, near the UCLA campus, looking for parking, then a shuttle bus that no one seemed to know about. By the time I got to the museum, I had lost what little interest I had in being there. Then came the `agh-beeber' of my friends bickering over what time we would leave and docents describing manuscript illumination who'd never heard of the (significant) Armenian contribution the genre. The second Getty trip was with a date who wanted to attend a poetry reading/discussion, oooh, goody, my favorite. Finally, I got dragged to a Gustave Courbet exhibition last weekend. Turns out old Gustave liked to paint nature, among other things, but the pictures look blurry--maybe it's because of the `incredible brush strokes' described by my tormentor. I did notice one fun thing: Courbet, a fat guy, is described in the museum's literature as `robust.' It reminded me of Armenia, where fat folk are referred to as `aroghch'--`healthy,' an interesting coincidence of euphemistic usage. 16) SKEPTIK TAKES ON GOLDBERG By SKEPTIK SINIKIAN In any given week, I receive a dozen or so emails from around the world from various readers. I try to respond to as many as I can but sometimes it will be one of those weeks where I don't get to respond as quickly as I want or to everyone who wrote to me. In fact, I owe some folks from Bulgaria and Hungary apologies for my delays in getting back to them. This was just one of those weeks and on top of everything else, I was forwarded more e-vites (electronic invitations) to different parties or fundraisers than Paris Hilton gets in a month. That's the great thing about being Armenian--you never have to worry about having an empty social calendar. For instance, I received an email the other day from an organization that is raising money for something called the Armenian Cosmic Ray Division (CRD). Now the name Armenian Cosmic Ray Division may sound more like the name of a boy band from Armenia who covers 80s pop hits from groups like Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys than a serious research group. But the CRD is actually a world class scientific organization in Armenia that has made an international impact in the area of cosmic and space weather observation. I don't know what this all means because during Earth Science class in the 8th grade, I was more interested in finding out if Tammy Portafino's hair smelled like strawberries and cream than I was interested in learning about sun-spots and space weather. But lo and behold, Armenia's science community is making an impact in international research and all thanks to this little research facility nestled atop Mount Aragats in Armenia. And their work is important to you as well because many everyday services such as cell phones, weather reports, TV programs, and even safe airline flights and electricity depend on accurate and reliable space weather forecasting. See, I bet you didn't know that. Next time you're chatting it up at Starbucks on your Nokia Razor phone trying to look important for the ladies while talking to your grandmother, remember that your cell phone service relies on a group of Armenian scientists who spend morning eating `khash'* and evenings studying the stars. (*Khash is Armenian menudo--or menudo is Mexican khash depending on your perspective) Anyway, you can learn more about the CRD by visiting Another reader forwarded me an excerpt from an interview with documentary filmmaker Andrew Goldberg and the Kurdish Media in New York, which was published online on May 14, 2006 and can be found at Goldberg was the guy who made the documentary `The Armenian Genocide' that PBS wanted to show followed by a panel discussion/debate with denier propagandists pushing the Turkish agenda and Armenian-American authors and scholars. The idea of having a legitimate documentary on the Genocide followed by folks `debating' a non-debatable issue which remains a sensitive topic because of Turkish proactive denial is reminiscent of a twisted sideshow from a three ring circus. It was such a big deal that PBS received tens of thousands of emails from Armenian Americans and from Turks around the country and the globe. The Armenians were writing to not have the panel aired after the documentary. The Turks were writing to have the documentary pulled entirely. When I read the question in the Kurdish Media interview and Goldberg's response, I felt the need to put in my two cents' worth. Particularly since I actually attended his screening in LA, made a pretty decent contribution for my own meager means and also bought one of the overpriced DVDs (it was selling for 30 bucks but it was for a good cause, right?) Anyway, here's the question and Goldberg's answer: KurdishMedia: `Do you have any future plans to further explore the Armenian genocide or other historical events in the region?' Goldberg: `No. This was a very upsetting experience for me. Seeing PBS get so incredibly assaulted by the whole world--justified or not--was very upsetting to watch. Seeing Congressmen try to stop PBS from showing either the film or the panel, regardless of the value of either, reminded me of Turkey where government controls the media. Terrifying. For the record, I never want to live in a country where the government tells the press what to do. The people can always speak out instead. Our government cannot even build a sidewalk and yet we are [to] take seriously their nonsensical efforts at censorship? Again, no matter how offensive something is--the government cannot be the ones to tell us what we can and cannot say. It must only be the people and the viewers. Going on, being attacked, often with fabrications, by nationalists in the Armenian press in California was very upsetting and uncalled for. In my opinion, it is press like this that only harms efforts at recognition. It divides rather than unites and prevents any consistent voice to speak for the issues. Furthermore, raising money was nearly impossible. I was told by one of our funders that a man named Walter Karabian actually suggested that supporting our efforts was a mistake! But we were able to finish the film and we are very, very proud of what we achieved for journalism and for human rights. As for the Armenian organizations such as ANCA (Armenian National Committee) and the Armenian Assembly? We tried to work with them many times but we found them to be entirely non-responsive. The AGBU [Armenian General Benevolent Union] on the other hand was amazing, outstanding, and incredible. They were truly wonderful to work with and I wish I had such talented and generous people to work with on all our projects.' Mark Twain, one of the sharpest American satirists of all time once said that `It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.' If Goldberg read Twain, then he'd have saved him the embarrassment that I'm about to spank him with. First of all, in the previous part of his interview (which I didn't print due to space limitations but you can read online), Goldberg dishes out a critique that there is not enough research being done by non Armenians on the Genocide. Well DUH!! But there's still work being done by non-Armenians scholars such as Donald Miller and Israel Charney to name a few. But he's right. More can be done. Yet in the same breath he mentions that his film was funded exclusively by Armenians. What I'd like to ask Mr. Goldberg is why he didn't receive any funding from any other sources? Why did the Armenian community have to foot the bill one more time? Was it because we're so generous and hospitable? Well, that can't be the case at all, because as Mr. Goldberg said `As for the Armenian organizations such as ANCA (Armenian National Committee) and the Armenian Assembly? We tried to work with them many times but we found them to be entirely non-responsive.' This was the statement that caught my eye. First of all, let me just say that I do not know of the Assembly's activities, nor do I particularly care. But I do have first hand sources that after reading the Goldberg interview, informed me that the ANCA worked as hard as they could to help him with this screenings in Washington, DC. Yet at the same time, they urged community members and activists to urge PBS to not air the panel following the documentary. They did all this while working on the dozens of other issues they usually work on--Artsakh, aid to Armenia, State Department issues in the Caucasus, etc. I don't know what Goldberg expected from the ANCA? It's not like his documentary was earth-shattering or presented anything new that we hadn't seen before. Every week the ANCA is approached by folks who are working on different projects that require some assistance, and how does a group that's extremely limited in resources decide who and what to help and how much? I don't envy them at all. Not only that, but Goldberg's documentaries remind me of the yellow jacket books that you see at Borders with titles like `Poker for Dummies.' Goldberg's previous works and films on Armenians (although well-shot and edited) usually neglect key elements that do not do justice to the subject matter. I never commented on this before because it was never an issue before and because I didn't know that Goldberg was involved in these previous movies. But here's a BIG example from his past movie about Armenians titled `Armenians: A Story of Survival,' which aired on PBS a few years ago. The movie chronicled the early history of Armenians through Christianity and eventually to modern day Armenia and the struggles in Artsakh. But here's what pissed me off about the movie--it talked about the difficulties Armenia has developing as a democracy and how the Soviet system has embedded a lot of corruption. This was said/implied while showing an image of your classic Yerevan police officer with a huge pot belly waving a baton. Soon after this image, the movie ends. I had issues with this scene and I'll tell you why... Now here's my question to you and my critique of Goldberg. If you're making a documentary about Armenians and survival, what do you think has been the most critical event of the last twenty years that has affected Armenia as a nation? What image of the last twenty years conveys survival more than the war in Artsakh? If you said the 1988 earthquake in Armenia--which killed over 25,000 people and left over half a million people homeless in a country of a population of roughly 3 million--then you should be making documentaries instead of Goldberg. And right after this earthquake, our neighbors--Turkey and Azerbaijan--in violation of US laws, cut off the railway lines and prevented Armenia from receiving any humanitarian aid (that's right... HUMANITARIAN) and still do so today. This led to one of the largest humanitarian aid airlifts in the history of the world, making the Berlin Airlift seem like a Boy Scout Canned Food Drive. And Armenia has been surviving like this since then. SINCE 1989!! But did Goldberg cover this critical, crucial, indispensable portion of Armenia's recent history which still affects its economic development and even drives a few desperate people to desperate measures??? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Instead, he showed a fat Yerevan cop with a fat belly! That's just poor filmmaking and there are no excuses for that. When I met Goldberg at his film's premier in Hollywood, I congratulated him on a job well done. I hadn't made the connection between the two films he'd worked on at the time because I usually don't care much about stuff like this. I'm usually only pissed off for about three hours and then I forget about it. But reading Goldberg's statement blasting Armenian community organizations in Washington DC and then doing some research on my own just brought back the frustration. And it made me realize that sometimes, if you want something done right, I guess you just have to do it yourself. So, I'm going to go buy a video camera today. I'll see you next week. Skeptik Sinikian asks Mr. Goldberg to respond to his article by writing to SkeptikSinikian@aol.com. He promises to publish Goldberg's entire letter response, unedited, on his blog at All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.