Author: Antonian Lara

Debating anti-Semitism in the shadow of Walt, Mearsheimer… and Borat

MICHAL LANDO Jerusalem Post correspondent
THE JERUSALEM POST
Sep. 9, 2007

Abraham Foxman circled the block a couple of times, looking for a side
entrance, before finally entering the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East
Side of New York City, where he spoke Thursday evening, to avoid a
group of protesters who had gathered across the street. Though inside
the conversation revolved around modern day anti-Semitism, following
the publication of Foxman’s new book, The Deadliest Lies: The Israel
Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control, the protesters were there to
demand that Foxman do more to recognize the Armenian genocide.

The ADL’s longstanding refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide came
to the fore in the last two weeks, creating a public rift in the
organization Foxman has led since 1987. Pressure from the Jewish
community in Massachusetts led Foxman to call the massacre of
Armenians "tantamount to genocide," and rehire the head of the New
England chapter after firing him for publicly voicing opposition to
the organization’s previous position.

But some Jews and many Armenians say Foxman didn’t go far enough, and
accused him of trying to play both sides of the coin. His recognition
of the genocide fell short of supporting two congressional bills that
ask the US to make a formal recognition.

The protest organized by the Jewish Web site Jewcy.com, which
published an article several months ago calling on Foxman to be fired
over this very issue, seemed largely to fall on deaf ears. The
majority of people at the Y were there to hear Larry David – the man
behind the popular television series Seinfeld, and more recently Curb
Your Enthusiasm, who was speaking in another auditorium – and many of
them did not seem to know who Foxman was.

And despite attempts to slip a few genocide-related questions into the
conversation between Foxman and Stuart Eizenstat, who served as
president Carter’s chief domestic policy adviser and as president
Clinton’s deputy treasury secretary, the Armenian genocide never made
it through the doors of the Upper East Side institution.

Instead Foxman was asked to respond to another accusation. A recent
profile of Foxman in The New York Times magazine portrayed him as
being hysterical when it comes to the question of anti-Semitism in the
modern world. "Are you hysterical?" asked moderator Thane Rosenbaum, a
celebrated novelist and law professor at Fordham University.

"I think the connotation of hysterical is in the eyes of the
beholder," said Foxman, who proceeded to draw repeated comparisons
between anti-Semitism today and in the 1930s.

"Last time we were not vociferous was in the 1930s, when everybody
said it wasn’t serious," said Foxman. "I think it’s more serious than
it’s ever been since the 30s. Call it what you want, but we have a
duty, an obligation to stand up and say it’s serious."

Later, in answer to a question from the audience, Foxman added that
"The United States is not immune to anti-Semitism… [There are] 40
million Americans who believe you and I are not loyal, are too
powerful, too influential, too this and that. But more disturbing,
which is why I wrote the book, is that one of three Americans think
American Jews are more loyal to the State of Israel than we are to the
US."

While Eizenstat acknowledged the increased threat to Jews, especially
in Europe, he argued that the greatest danger to Diaspora Jewry comes
from within, due to increasing rates of intermarriage and
disaffiliation. "We have to put this in context – it’s 2007 not 1937,"
said Eizenstat.

That argument seemed particularly potent in light of the sold-out,
900-seat auditorium where comedian David was appearing, compared to
the 300-seat room used for the discussion on modern anti-Semitism.

"It’s fair to say the SAT scores of the people in this room are a lot
higher, and our children will get into better colleges," joked
Rosenbaum.

But on a more serious note, Rosenbaum wondered whether on the cultural
front, comedians such as David and Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat fame,
who he said "trivialize" anti-Semitism, are of concern.

Eizenstat said there was no point in laying blame for anti-Semitism on Jews.

Foxman, on the other hand, said "it hurts" when Jews make fun of, or
trivialize Jewish fears and anxieties.

"What Borat does is he makes it acceptable," said Foxman. "You can
laugh about people singing ‘Let’s throw the Jews down the well’ [a
reference to a Borat sketch], but that’s not funny at all."

In a conversation with one of Baron Cohen’s agents, Foxman told the
audience, he agreed to speak to the comedian on the condition that
Baron-Cohen would agree to make a public service announcement on
behalf of ADL saying: "Prejudice is not funny; anti-Semitism is not a
joke."

"I’m still waiting," Foxman said.

The conversation at the 92nd Street Y was scheduled on the heels of
the publication of Foxman’s new book, which he wrote to counteract the
publication of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, an extended
version of the Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer paper that appeared
last year in the London Review of Books.

In his own book, Foxman tackles the academic pair’s arguments on a
point by point basis and argues that, "As history shows us, when
people in the West are sufficiently anxious, fearful, angry and
confused, a familiar scapegoat tends to rise to the surface again and
again: the Jews."

While there was some discussion Thursday about the pair’s
controversial book, more time was spent discussing Jimmy Carter’s
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid best-seller, to the apparent dismay of
the ex-president’s former adviser Eizenstat. "I think it’s unfortunate
we are spending all this time on Carter," he said. "I certainly didn’t
come from Washington to debate the Carter book. There are many more
important issues."

Foxman, in his new book, places Carter "on the couch," and the ADL
head argues that the former president comes from a strain of
Christianity which "has never forgiven the Jews for not accepting
Jesus as the messiah."

Foxman’s analysis elicited the evening’s most tense response from
Eizenstat: "I have to say Abe, stick to running the ADL, and don’t try
to become a psychologist, because you really are dead wrong, if I may
say so."

Source: 575576&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT INAUGURATED

Guardian
Friday September 7, 2007 8:16 PM
UK

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – The former security chief of Nagorno-Karabakh
was sworn in Friday as the new president of the Armenian-controlled
breakaway region.

Bako Saakian, who took 85 percent of the vote in July, headed
Nagorno-Karabakh’s security service since 2001 until he resigned to
run for president.

Saakian pledged to push for full independence of the mountainous
territory inside Azerbaijan, which has run its own affairs without
international recognition since driving out Azerbaijani forces in
the early 1990s.

Azerbaijan has rejected the vote as illegitimate and maintained that
Armenian separatists came to power in the former autonomous region
as a result of ethnic cleansing.

"The so-called inauguration is nothing but a buffoonery," said
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim. "Such actions
and their consequences have no legal meaning. Nagorno-Karabakh is an
inalienable part of Azerbaijan."

Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian and other senior Armenian
officials and lawmakers attended the inauguration ceremony in the
regional capital, Stepanakert. Delegations from Georgia’s breakaway
provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia also attended.

The July vote was the fourth presidential election in the impoverished
territory that has been controlled by Armenian and ethnic Armenian
forces since a shaky 1994 cease-fire ended one of the bloodiest
conflicts that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The six-year war killed 30,000 people and drove more than 1 million
from their homes, including many of the region’s ethnic Azeris. Today,
it remains one of the region’s "frozen" conflicts in the former
Soviet states.

Azerbaijan and Armenia remain locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh
despite more than a decade of coaxing from international mediators led
by the United States, Russia and France to resolve the region’s status.

Speaking at the inauguration, Saakian said Azerbaijan must accept
Nagorno-Karabakh representatives at talks.

"We hope that our opponents will sooner or later come to understanding
that there is no alternative to talks with full-fledged participation
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," Saakian said.

The mostly agricultural region of 146,000 people tied to Armenia by
swaths of Azerbaijani territory also under ethnic Armenian control
has faced a steady brain drain and dire economic problems despite
financial aid from Armenia and its diaspora.

Saakian ran as an independent and replaces Arkady Gukasian, who served
two five-year terms.

KOREAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENT’S SPEAKER

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 5 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr E. Huseynli / World countries are showing
a large interest in Azerbaijan as a state leading in the region,
the President of the Republic of Korea, Roh Moo-Hyun, said at the
meeting with the Speaker of Azerbaijani Parliament, Ogtay Asadov.

According to the Korean President, his country attaches great
importance to cooperation with Azerbaijan in politics, economics,
culture, and other fields.

An official visit of an Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation headed
by the Speaker Asadov to Korea began on 5 September.

The trade turnover between the countries made up $110mln in 2006 and
exceeded $157mln in the first half of 2007, the Speaker said. The
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was also discussed at
the meeting.

Within the framework of the visit Asadov met with the chairman of
the Korean National Assembly, Lim Chae-Jung.

Korea and Azerbaijan have signed thirty-five documents on cooperation.

–Boundary_(ID_xvcloZyHoiW6bASyfi8m8 A)–

WHAT NEWTON DID DURING YOUR SUMMER VACATION
By Chrissie Long and Leslie Friday

Newton TAB, MA
GateHouse News Service
Sept 5 2007

Newton – You may have been off this summer. But the city certainly
wasn’t.

Through the summer heat, construction crews began work preparing for
a new Newton North. They’ve taken down Dickinson Stadium and strung
a green fence around the property.

Taxpayers also received tough news about the project’s estimated cost
– $13 million higher than the mayor’s target. Meanwhile, the school
administration has been busy preparing for parking problems and field
issues, as construction work swallows all the athletic fields and
340 onsite spaces.

While Newton’s firefighters entered their fifth consecutive year
without a contract, battle lines were drawn for this fall’s municipal
elections, with several challengers vowing to put pressure on the
administration to address the stalemate.

And although voters won’t weigh in on the race for mayor until 2009,
one potential challenger to Mayor David Cohen has already emerged.

So that you don’t have to go looking through the now-yellow tinted
TABs that lie on your doorstep, here’s more about these and a few
other stories you may have missed:

Crews break ground at Newton North Just as machines began digging
away at Dickinson Stadium, the price tag for a new Newton North High
School jumped by $13 million.

Contractors now expect the building to cost $154 million – a leap from
the $141 million Mayor David Cohen told voters was his target price.

During a Newton North Design Review Committee meeting last November,
Cohen said, "The area of $141 million is a very important target in
terms of the city’s ability to pay for the project."

Cohen has yet to adjust a finance plan to meet the higher cost.

The construction has pushed North’s athletic teams and parking into
neighboring communities, causing some concern among abutting residents.

The construction has displaced 340 onsite parking spots and, as a
result, only 10 percent of upperclassmen will be granted a space
this year. The Newton North Liaison Committee has helped formulate
a detailed parking plan to prepare for the additional cars.

But neighbors are concerned about more than just cars.

A subcommittee to the liaison group has formulated a no-smoking policy
they hope aldermen will agree on this fall. The policy would create
a 900-foot no-smoking zone around the school, effectively eliminating
Smokers’ Alley. Originally intended to prevent construction crews from
smoking close to the school, the policy is also meant to discourage
smoking among students.

In other news, the asbestos found at the North site in the spring,
which was scheduled to be removed over the summer, is still there.

The substance, which officials say does not present a danger to the
community because it cannot become airborne, is now slated for removal
this month.

Newton considers relationship with No Place for Hate Newton Corner
resident David Boyajian ignited a nationwide debate when he wrote a
letter to the TAB’s sister paper this summer.

His letter to the Watertown TAB & Press called into question
the actions of the tolerance promoting Anti-Defamation League. The
national director of the ADL, Abraham Foxman, refused to recognize the
Armenian massacre by the Turks in the early 20th century as genocide
and lobbied against genocide-recognizing legislation in Congress.

Boyajian brought this to the attention of Watertown officials, who
represent an Armenian-American heavy constituency.

The letter prompted officials in that city to withdraw from the
Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate program. And, the head
of the local ADL branch Andrew Tarsy was later fired for ultimately
agreeing with Watertown’s position.

Cohen also wrote a letter to Foxman, and the Newton Human Rights
Commission decided to postpone a decision about Newton’s relationship
with the ADL.

Tarsy has since been restored and Foxman has revisited his definition
of genocide.

But it is unclear whether that will satisfy members of Newton’s Human
Rights Commission.

The HRC will meet Tuesday, Sept. 11,at 7:30 p.m. at the City Hallto
discuss the city’s affiliation with the program.

School building news In an effort to address the poor condition of many
of the city’s schools, the School Committee has requested state funding
for 17 of the elementary and middle schools. Newton has submitted
more requests than any city or town, aside from Worcester’s 36.

But the state’s School Building Authority wrote back asking the city
to narrow this list to just one priority school. The School Committee
said that was not possible and instead identified the three schools
in most need of repair: Angier, Cabot and Zervas.

In other news, the city of Newton has settled a legal suit over the
completion of the Newton South building. Vertex Engineering Services
will complete the remaining punch list items for $700,000 and Newton
will save $545,290. According to the contract, all punch list items
were expected to be completed before students return this week.

Political happenings Only sixaldermanic races will be contested
this year and just one of the eight seats on the School Committee is
being challenged.

The alderman races include two open seats, after two aldermen decided
not to seek re-election this fall: Ward 1 Alderman at-Large Ben
Weisbuch and Ward 8 at-Large Alderman Richard Lipof. Weisbuch said
he is considering returning to school, and Lipof would like to spend
more time with his family.

In the only preliminary election, Al Cecchinelli, Allan Ciccone,
James Schpeiser and Janet Sterman will challenge incumbent Carleton
Merrill in a citywide race for Ward 1 at large on Sept. 18.

Former Elections Commissioner Peter Karg – a late entry to the Ward
8 race – collected signatures to run but decided to withdraw in
mid-August, saying he did not have enough time to build a campaign
before the preliminary elections. Karg was fired last fall after the
election department’s miscount in a petition regarding the Newton
North site plan.

The other Ward 8 at-large incumbent, Mitch Fischman, will compete
against John Freedman, Myra Tattenbaum and Tom Sheff in that citywide
race.

Greer Tan Swiston is running for a Ward 3 at-large seat, currently
held by incumbents Leslie Burg and Ted Hess-Mahan.

Newton Taxpayers Association President Jeff Seideman is competing for
one of the two Ward 7 at-large seats, currently held by incumbents
Sydra Schniper and Verne Vance.

Voters citywide can have a say in all of the above contests. In
addition, voters in Ward 3 can chose between Anatol Zukerman and
incumbent Anthony Salvucci, and Bill Brandel is competing for the
seat currently held by incumbent Christine Samuelson.

The fall election will also include a citywide rematch from two years
ago over one seat on the School Committee: Geoff Epstein against
incumbent Gail Glick.

School Committee member Anne Larner’s seat will be open this fall
due to term limits. Newcomer Kurt Kusiak is running for that seat
unopposed.

‘Nos’ plague Newton Fire Department July 1 marked the firefighters’
fifth anniversary of working without a new contract. The state’s
Joint Labor Management Committee is ushering the city and union
through the mediation and, if necessary, arbitration process.

One month earlier, union members voiced their frustration over a
number of issues through a resounding no-confidence vote for Chief
Joseph LaCroix, with 121 of 131 local Union 863 members casting their
ballots. The move came after news reached the public of dilapidated
fire stations, insufficient equipment and several firefighter
injuries, including the tragic accident involving Engine 13 that
injured Lt. Richard Geary.

The negative vote did not dent Mayor David Cohen’s support for the
chief, who said he had the "utmost respect and confidence" in the
veteran firefighter.

LaCroix is still on the job, despite the firefighters’ vote.

Setti Warren considers mayoral run More than 2 1/2 years before the
next mayoral election, Newtonville resident Setti Warren said he is
considering a run.

Warren, who is currently Senator John Kerry’s deputy director, has
been talking with several people about a possible campaign, but won’t
make a final decision until after this fall’s municipal election.

"I am really flattered by the encouragement I’ve received from a
number of people about the possibility of running for mayor, and I
am considering it," he told the TAB in late June.

Warren’s foray into politics began early as he served as class
president at Newton North High School and watched his father serve as
the leading adviser to Michael Dukakis’ presidential campaign in 1988.

Warren served in the Clinton White House and was appointed in 2002
to the regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
for New England, before joining Kerry in 2003.

Locally, Warren was a founding member of the Community Preservation
Committee and served on Newton’s Foundation for Racial, Ethnic and
Religious Harmony.

Zoning change may affect Chestnut Hill Square project Several members
of the Board of Aldermen convened over the summer to reassess how
they wanted to see the city develop in light of new behemoth projects,
such as the Chestnut Hill Square complex proposed along Route 9.

The Square, a 240,000-foot project that combines retail space with
226 housing units, could potentially fill the city’s coffers with
$2.8 million-$3 million in property taxes each year.

However, neighbors and city officials are concerned that traffic and
skyscraper-like developments would ruin the Garden City flavor.

To prevent such a scenario, aldermen made suggestions on how to
revise the city’s existing special permit process in dense business
zones. Some of those suggestions include: having the project located
on at least 10 acres, dedicating at least 20 percent of the area to
open space and allowing each project to be a maximum of eight to 14
stories high.

These and many other additions were made to the document, but have
yet to be voted on by members of the Zoning and Planning Committee
and members of the full board.

The committee will hold a public hearing on Sept. 24 for neighbors
and residents to view the changes and voice their opinions.

IRANIAN GAS DELIVERY TO ARMENIA TO START SEPTEMBER 22

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2007 18:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran will launch its gas exports to Armenia
by September 22, said the National Iranian Gas Export Company
(NIGEC) managing director Nasrollah Seifi. "According to the latest
negotiations with Armenia, Iran has completed pipe-laying operations
and Armenia is ready to import gas," he added.

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his Armenian counterpart
Robert Kocharian opened the pipeline’s first section at a ceremony near
the border. Under the first stage of the project, Iran will annually
export some 400 million cubic meters of gas, which will be increased
up to 3.2 billion cubic meters when the 141km link is completed.

The 100km Iranian section runs from Tabriz to Iran-Armenia border. The
Armenian section runs from Meghri region to Sardarian. According
to preliminary estimates, about $90-100 million was allocated for
construction works in Armenia and Iran earmarked about $120 million
for construction activities on its territory.

Pointing to electricity export, he said that the side’s plan is to
increase its capacity for importing power from Iran, MehrNews reported.

The first 40km Meghri-Kajaran sector of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
was put into operation March 19, 2007. Major works will be accomplished
according to the schedule, till the end of 2008. The construction
will cost some $220-250 million.

AZERBAIJAN-EU PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS KARABAKH ISSUE IN BAKU

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2007 18:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The sitting of the Azerbaijan-EU parliamentary
cooperation committee will be held in Baku September 12, the European
Parliament press officer told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. The sitting
participants are expected to discuss the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement.

6 INVESTIGATION BODIES ARE ENVISAGED TO OPERATE IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Sep 4, 2007

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The formation process of
investigation bodies hearing criminal cases will finish in the
Republic of Armenia by December 1. Thus, the function of conducting an
examination will pass on to the police from the prosecutor’s office,
as well as to the investigation bodies being formed in the tax,
customs bodies, and in that of the national security, according
to spheres. The examination on military cases is envisaged to be
implemented by the investigation body to be formed in the system of
the RA Ministry of Defence.

The draft law on creating another investigation body is currently
in circulation in the RA Government. According to this draft law,
this body, which is not in the structure of the government, is to
examine cases of corruptive character of high-ranking officials,
as well as those of the crimes committed by law enforcement bodies,
in particular. In case this draft law is approved by the RA National
Assembly, the activities of the above-mentioned investigation bodies
will be set in the amendments of the Code of the RA Criminal Trial
to be approved by the National Assembly.

WITHIN ONE YEAR, RA FOREIGN NATIONAL DEBT INCREASES BY 98.2M USD AND DOMESTIC DEBT BY 482.2M DRAMS

Noyan Tapan
Sep 4, 2007

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. As of late June, 2007, the RA
foreign debt amounted to 431bn 587m drams or more than 1bn 256.8m
USD. As of late June, 2006, it made nearly 1bn 158.6m USD. Thus, the
RA foreign national debt has increased by 98.2m USD within one year.

According to the data of the RA National Statistical Service, as of
late June, 2007, the RA domestic national debt amounted to 58bn 702m
drams. As of late June, 2006, it totalled 55bn 219.8m drams. The
RA domestic national debt has increased by 3bn 482.2m drams within
one year.

EU SEEKS TO BUILD ENERGY TIES WITH NEIGHBOURS
By Tony Barber in Brussels

FT
September 4 2007 03:00

The European Union yesterday identified closer energy co-operation as
a central -element of its efforts to strengthen ties with more than
a dozen neighbouring states in eastern Europe, north Africa and the
Middle East.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations,
said the European Commission would launch a study into how to make
energy markets in the region work better for consumers, producers
and transit countries.

The EU has become increasingly concerned in the past two years about
Russia’s rising influence over European energy -markets. It hopes to
rebalance Moscow’s role by expanding energy ties with neighbours such
as Algeria and Azerbaijan.

The framework for these initiatives is the EU’s European Neighbourhood
Policy (ENP), which embraces 15 countries, from Georgia and Ukraine
to Lebanon and Tunisia, as well as the Palestinian Authority.

None of the 15 countries is an official candidate for EU membership
but it believes warm relations with them will help reduce instability
on its far-flung borders. It has allocated â~B¬12bn ($16bn, £8.1bn)
for the ENP from 2007 to 2013.

Mrs Ferrero-Waldner suggested the ENP fitted in well with the EU’s
goal of promoting less wasteful energy use because some neighbouring
countries had huge potential in solar and wind power and in biofuels.

"We know our partners are interested in exporting renewable energy to
the EU. And that matches our own interest in finding ways of meeting
our targets on renewable energies," she said.

The commissioner said that the EU had already reached energy agreements
with Azerbaijan, Morocco and Ukraine and was hoping to sign memoranda
of understanding with Algeria and Egypt.

She was speaking in Brussels at the first conference of foreign
ministers and senior officials from the EU’s 27 member states and the
16 neighbours to be held since the EU began its neighbourhood policy
in 2004.

Her emphasis on energy ties reflected the Commission’s desire to
give a sharper focus to the ENP after three years in which it has
come under fire for lacking a clear sense of purpose.

One failing, acknowledged by the Commission in a report last December,
is that the ENP has done little to solve territorial "frozen conflicts"
pitting Russia against Georgia and Moldova.

Another criticism is that the EU, by including countries such as
Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine in the ENP, is not doing justice to the
aspirations of these states to become full EU members in the longer
term. A third criticism is that the ENP is inherently unwieldy.

José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, told the conference
that the ENP worked because EU member states gave neighbours more
support than when they looked at them in isolation.

"No longer is the level of attention paid to one country or region
dependent on the special interest of whatever EU member state happens
to be holding the [EU] presidency at the time," he said.

–Boundary_(ID_z5n0Wr1ateGk/h17pxF1fA)–

APPEARANCE AND COLOR CHANGES OF BUILDING FACETS TO BE REGULATED

Panorama.am
14:55 03/09/2007

"Regulation on protection, repair and renovation of the facets of
buildings under commission" was approved by the mayor’s decision and
is already effective.

Yerevan Chief Architect Samuel Danielyan told reporters today
that according to regulation either the owners of the building
or the persons contractually in charge of the building must bear
responsibility for "any changes in the appearance, color and form." The
mayor or an authorized person is in charge of the total supervision
of the process.