Author: Hovhannisian John

ARMEN ASHOTIAN: SERIOUS PROGRESS WAS RECORDED IN ARMENIA’S FOREIGN POLICY LATELY

NOYAN TAPAN
APRIL 28, 2009
YEREVAN

Dynamic developments are noticed in Armenia’s foreign policy lately,
and no step has been taken against country’s national interests. Armen
Ashotian, a member of the RA NA RPA faction, said at the April 27
press conference. In his words, President Serzh Sargsyan carried out
intensive diplomatic policy with a number of countries, including
the U.S., RF, and IRI.

In A. Ashotian’s opinion, progress was also recorded in the issue of
normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. "From 1993 Turkey has
closed its border with Armenia and showed that it is the supporter of
Azerbaijan in the issue of problem’s solution. Armenia’s diplomatic
success is that the issue of normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations is already separated from the Nagorno Karabakh settlement,"
A. Ashotian said.

Speaking about U.S. President Barack Obama’s April 24 address,
A. Ashotian said that it is obviously a step forward as compared
with former U.S. Presidents’ addresses. In his words, Obama classed
the events of 1915 as Mets Yeghern, which is a synonym of the word
"genocide".

NATO WELCOMES STEPS DIRECTED TOWARDS NORMALIZATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 28, 2009
YEREVAN

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan received today Assistant
of the NATO Secretary General, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero.

Foreign Ministry press service told Armenpress that greeting the
guest Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan noted that Armenia
is planning to consolidate and develop mutually beneficial cooperation
with NATO within the framework of Partnership for Peace program. Edward
Nalbandian underscored Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan
program as a format of effective cooperation. The foreign minister also
noted that Armenia will continue cooperation with NATO in peacekeeping,
fighting against international terrorism, elimination of consequences
of natural disasters and in other directions. C. Bisogniero,
underscoring the development of cooperation with Armenia, said that
North-Atlantic Alliance highly assesses Armenia’s activity and the
results of 2006-2008 IPAP. The NATO official presented to the Armenian
foreign minister the results of the NATO Strasburg Summit.

The guest also said that he is pleased with the progress registered
in the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, pointing out that
NATO welcomes the steps directed towards establishment of relations
between Armenia and Turkey.

STRENGTHENING ARTSAKH-DIASPORA SCIENTIFIC TIES DISCUSSED AT NKR PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

armradio.am
28.04.2009 18:45

On 28 April President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako Sahakyan
met deputy director of the Central Economics and Mathematical Institute
of the Russia Academy of Sciences academician Sergey Ayvazyan Central
Information Department of the Office of the NKR President reported.

Issues related to the development of science and particularly
econometrics in Artsakh as well as strengthening Artsakh-Diaspora
scientific ties were discussed at the meeting.

The Head of the State underlined that the development of science is
a strategic direction for our state and within this context it is
important use great potential of the Diaspora in Artsakh.

Academician Ayvazyan noted that Artsakh youth has a very promising
potential and if properly applied it would be possible to achieve
great results.

NKR minister of education and science Vladik Khachatryan and rector
of the Artsakh State University partook at the meeting.

PanArmenian News, Armenia
April 24 2009

Bernard Fassier has ‘reasonable hopes’ for Karabakh conflict
resolution

25.04.2009 11:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There are reasonable hopes for resolution of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict by the end of this year, OSCE Minsk Group
French Co-chair Bernard Fassier said.

`It seems that during our recent meetings in Baku and Yerevan we
achieved some progress. We are building a house but are not ready to
fix the roof year,’ Fassier said in Baku before leaving for Yerevan.

`But it does not always depend on us. First of all it depends on
parties to conflict, on presidents and other factors,’ he added,
TrendNews reports.

OBAMA: ARMENIAN KILLINGS ‘GREAT ATROCITIES’

Azg
966/
April 24 2009
Armenia

President avoids use of word ‘genocide’ in recalling 1.5 million deaths

President Barack Obama on Friday refrained from branding the massacre
of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey a "genocide," breaking
a campaign promise while contending his views about the 20th century
slaughter had not changed.

he phrasing of Obama’s written statement attracted heightened scrutiny
because of the sensitivity of the issue and because the two countries
are nearing a historic reconciliation after years of tension. The
Obama administration is wary of disturbing that settlement.

Marking the grim anniversary of the start of the killings, the
president referred to them as "one of the great atrocities of the
20th century."

"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and
my view of that history has not changed," Obama said. "My interest
remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of
the facts."

"The best way to advance that goal right now," Obama said, "is for
the Armenian and Turkish people to address the facts of the past as
a part of their efforts to move forward."

For Obama, referring to the killings as genocide could have upended
recent pledges of a closer partnership with Turkey, a vital ally in
a critical region. Steering around the word, however, put him at odds
with his own pledges to recognize the slaughter as genocide.

Obama said the Armenians who were massacred in the final days of the
Ottoman Empire "must live on in our memories." He said unresolved
history can be a heavy weight. "Reckoning with the past holds out
the powerful promise of reconciliation," he said.

"I strongly support efforts by the Turkish and Armenian people to
work through this painful history in a way that is honest, open,
and constructive," he said.

Just on Wednesday, Turkey and Armenia said they were nearing a historic
reconciliation after years of tension. The Obama administration is
trying to be careful not to disturb that agreement.

Genocide scholars widely view the event as the first genocide of the
20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide,
contending the toll has been inflated and that the casualties were
victims of civil war and unrest.

Diplomatic efforts underway

The announcement of progress between Turkey and Armenia appeared
timed to set the stage for Friday’s White House statement. During
a trip to Turkey this month, Obama emphasized U.S. support for the
reconciliation efforts and avoided the term genocide in a speech to
the Turkish parliament. He said in response to an inquiry, however,
that he had not changed his views on the question.

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke by phone with Armenian
President Serge Sarkisian, and a statement from Biden’s office said
the vice president told him he welcomed Wednesday’s announcement.

"The vice president applauded President Sarkisian’s leadership, and
underscored the administration’s firm support for both Armenia and
Turkey in this process," the statement said.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties, and their border has been
closed since 1993 because of a Turkish protest of Armenia’s occupation
of land claimed by Azerbaijan.

In September, Turkish President Abdullah Gul became the first
Turkish leader to visit Armenia, where he and Sarkisian watched
their countries’ football teams play a World Cup qualifying
match. The Armenian government appears to be interested in further
talks. Armenian-American groups and supporters in Congress are focused
on passing a resolution that describes the killings as genocide and
argue that it should not undermine diplomatic efforts.

Gul said Friday in Ankara that he expected Obama to deliver a statement
that would reinforce the reconciliation talks.

"I believe that (Obama’s statement) should be one that is supportive
of our good intentioned efforts," Gul told reporters, according to
Associated Press.

THE LAST SURVIVOR: DENIAL

Huffington Post
-michael-kleiman/the-last-survivor-denial_b_190544 .html
April 22 2009

Michael Pertnoy and Michael Kleiman Filmmakers, The Last Survivor

Archbishop Vicken Aykazian speaking at the "Honor the Past, Act
Now for Darfur" commemoration event in Washington, D.C. on Sunday,
April 19th. Despite, the world’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide of 1915, the Armenian community acts as some of the strongest
advocates for the Darfuri people.

In the 1980s, with her children grown, Hedi Fried, decided to dedicate
her life to Stockholm’s community of Holocaust Survivors of which she
is a part. Now, at 84 years old, she has dedicated her remaining years
to ensuring that the stories of horror that she was made to witness
and experience are passed on to future generations – allowing a new
generation to take on the important responsibility of keeping and
sharing such memories. In Hedi’s view, the degree to which we allow
our memory to fade is tied to directly to the persistence with which
the past will repeat itself. Voices such as Hedi’s are imperative
at a time in which it has become all too common to deny that the
Holocaust ever occurred.

"The first time I heard it, I laughed," Hedi told us, speaking of
her first encounter with such denial. "The second time I heard it,
I realized that this was nothing to laugh at; and the third time,
I realized I had to do something."

Unfortunately, the trend of denial is not relegated to the Holocaust
alone. While deniers in Iran hold conferences that seek to dispute
the facts of the Holocaust, Hutus in Rwanda have insisted that tales
of one million Tutsis slaughtered in 1994 are mere myths. In addition
to the extreme pain such claims undoubtedly bring to Survivors like
Jacqueline, who is reminded daily of the genocide’s reality by the
extreme absence that remains in her life, denial has turned to acts
of violence. In April, the day after a commemoration event in Kigali
that honored the victims of the 1994 genocide, a grenade was thrown
at the city’s genocide memorial – the same horrific incident occurred
last year. And, even as genocide continues in Darfur, governments
across Africa have already launched a widespread campaign of denial –
insisting that claims of genocide are the stuff of Western propaganda.

Indeed, it is more important than ever that champions of truth
speak up to ensure that our collective memory does not fade at the
hands of those who seek to repeat the horrors of the past. However,
in denouncing those who spread variations on history, deviations from
the truth, and all out lies, we must remind ourselves that as a nation,
we too are engaged in this evil movement of denial.

Tomorrow, Armenians around the world will commemorate the horrific
genocide that was carried out against their people. On April 24,
1915, the Ottoman authorities arrested 250 Armenian intellectuals
and community leaders in Istanbul. The execution and deportation
of these Armenians launched a genocide that would claim nearly two
million lives. 94 years later, the Armenian community still waits
for the world to acknowledge this crime.

Nations around the world, including our own, continue to refuse this
simple request.

In Darfur, four million refugees wait for the world to respond to
their continued cries for help. In response, we tell them that there is
little we can do – that it is far too complicated of a situation for
us to get involved. Despite the indifference to evil that saturates
such refusals of intervention, implicit within them is at least an
acknowledgment of the suffering of the Darfuri people – an assertion
that the horror they are experiencing is real and not a delusional
figment of their nightmarish imaginations. While it is rightfully
outweighed by the frustrations of our unwillingness to act, we must
not forget that acknowledgement is indeed a powerful thing. For one
will never seek to stop, what he does not believe to exist.

In Germany, the government is unable to take back their trespasses of
the past. Such impossibilities are a fact of our limitations as mortals
– the movement of history insists that we look forward. Understanding
these restrictions all too well, the German people have done what they
can to ensure that the horror that began in Germany in the 1930s,
does not repeat itself there. They have adopted a firm policy of
Holocaust education in their schools and a newly erected Holocaust
Memorial in downtown Berlin serves as a daily reminder to the German
people of both the atrocious actions undertaken by their nation and the
inhumane silence with which they responded to such actions as citizens.

In comparison to the 11 million lives taken during the Holocaust,
this may seem like a rather small step. Small as it may be, it is
unlikely that the next genocide we witness as a people will be carried
out in Germany.

In Turkey, these small, pertinent steps of acknowledgement are
constantly refused. Such denial is not only a slap in the face of the
Armenian community, it is an affront to all us – an attempt to rob
us of the facts of our collective story of life; an insistent error
in the history of our species; an attempt at tipping the balance of
memory, compelling us to repeat the horrors of the past. As a nation
that values freedom, peace, and truth, it is our responsibility to
speak up to such atrocious lies.

Today, President Obama will speak at our National Holocaust Museum
in Washington, D.C. Undoubtedly, just days following the annual
commemoration of the Holocaust – Yom Hashoa – the President will honor
the memory of those who perished during the Holocaust. What remains
to be seen is whether, on the day preceding the 94th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, he will honor the two millions lives taken in
1915 with the simple action of acknowledgement.

In the aftermath of genocide those who survive are often left with
very little. An indiscriminate killer, genocide claims mothers,
fathers, children, siblings, teachers and friends as its victims. As
it continues it kills a people’s history and traditions. What it
cannot take is the memory of those who come out alive. It is us only
us, the people of posterity, who can commit such an atrocious crime
against those who have already lost so much.

Watch a 20-minute sneak preview our film now and commemorate the
Armenian Genocide along with the five other genocides commemorated
in April by participating in Genocide Prevention Month.

ARMENIA, TURKEY AND SWITZERLAND POSITIVELY ASSESS THE ROAD-MAP SIGNED BETWEEN YEREVAN AND ANKARA

ArmInfo
2009-04-23 08:52:00

ArmInfo. Turkey and Armenia, together with Switzerland as
mediator, have been working intensively with a view to normalizing
their bilateral relations and developing them in a spirit of
good-neighborliness, and mutual respect, and thus to promoting peace,
security and stability in the whole region, the joint statement of
the Armenian and Turkish Foreign Ministry’s and the Swiss Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs says.

The two parties have achieved tangible progress and mutual
understanding in this process and they have agreed on a comprehensive
framework for the normalization of their bilateral relations in a
mutually satisfactory manner. In this context, a road-map has been
identified. This agreed basis provides a positive prospect for the
on-going process.

To recall, a road-map was signed between Armenia and Turkey on April
23 under mediation of Switzerland laying basis for settlement of the
Armenian-Turkish relations having been interrupted in 1993 because
of the events in Nagorno Karabakh. Turkey in this conflict openly
supported Azerbaijan.

ARMENIA’S EXPORTS DECREASE BY HALF IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2009
Messenger Staff

The Messenger
April 22 2009
Georgia

According to current data Armenia’s GDP decreased by 6.1 percent in
January-March 2009 compared to the same period of 2008, being 465.5
billion Drams. The official number of unemployed in Armenia was 78,600
people and the average salary increased to 97.9 Drams (USD 264).

Exports decreased by 47.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009
compared to the first quarter of 2008, being worth just USD 123.4
million. Imports decreased by 22.2 percent but were still five times
greater than exports and worth USD 658.5 million.

SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IS ON AN OFFICIAL VISIT IN WARSAW

National Assembly of RA
April 21 2009

On April 20, 2009 in the evening the Speaker of the Republic
Armenia Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan arrived in Warsaw on an official
visit. Vice-Speaker of the Senate of Poland Mr. Marek Ziolkowski met
him at the airport. The Speaker of the National Assembly had a brief
talk with him in the arrival hall of the high-ranking officials.

On April 21 Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan visited the Parliament of Poland. He
attended the sitting of the Senate, had a working meeting with the
Speaker of the Senate of Poland Mr. Bogdan Borusewicz. During the
talk the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament expressed Armenia’s
gratitude to the authorities of Poland for launching the initiative
of the Eastern Partnership of the European Union. The interlocutors
also touched upon the problems of security and stability of Armenia
and South Caucasus region.

On the same day Speaker of the National Assembly Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan
met with Marshal of the Sejm Mr. Bronislaw Komarowski. The Speaker
of the Armenian Parliament highly assessed the current level of the
Armenian-Polish relations. He noted that the political dialogue had
been reached to high level and proposed to boost the cooperation of
the parliaments of the two countries. In that context he assessed
practical and effective the bilateral contacts within the framework
of international and European structures.

On the same day on April 21 the meeting of the Speaker of the
Republic Armenia Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan with the Prime Minister of
Poland Mr. Donald Tusk will also be held.

MY EXPERIENCE IN THE PRE-"DURBAN II" CONFERENCE IN GENEVA

MidEastYouth.com
nce-in-the-pre-durban-ii-conference-in-geneva/
Apr il 20 2009

I was invited to be a panelist for The Geneva Summit for Human Rights,
and was specifically interested in hearing the outstanding stories from
Burma, Rwanda, Iran, Cuba, Darfur amongst others. I still consider it
to be a great opportunity that I made it here as a speaker at in this
Summit, whose intentions have just been questioned by Parvez Sharma,
director of "Jihad for Love," also a fellow panelist here.

Prior to arriving at the Summit, I was actually aware of the bias,
but didn’t realize how grave it was until certain "experts" began
talking consistently about anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel, with
rarely a mention of anything else! I mean, we got people from Rwanda,
Burma, Darfur, amongst many others and we end up primarily talking
about Israel. What’s going on? I can understand the concern, but not
the obsession.

I tweeted, Facebooked, and spoke with many friends about UN Watch’s
big role in this Summit. I said this:

Not a fan of UN Watch, any organization that equates criticism of
Israel with anti-Semitism makes me ill.

That’s precisely what UN Watch does. Such organizations successfully
muzzled mainstream news and is quickly turning to the UN after its
condemnation of consistent Israeli aggression claiming the UN has
a bias against Israel and is therefore anti-Semitic. This is of
course, a known strategy and is completely false. If anything, the
UN is not harsh enough for what Israel has done, and what we have all
witnessed. Many Israelis and Jews will tell you the same. Some of my
best friends are Israelis. They are absolutely terrified speaking
out for justice in Israel as some have even received death threats
from self-proclaimed "ardent Zionists," such as the former editor of
Jewschool who unfortunately folded after the mounting pressure.

You can’t claim these Israelis and thousands of Jewish people worldwide
are anti-Semites. They are simply concerned for human rights and do
not value their lives more than they value their neighbors’.

On a relevant note, I also tweeted:

So tired of Arab/Muslim/Iranian bad news being used by others to
welcome racism and pity. Thinking of a campaign against this.

Listen, make no mistake, our criticism of Arab governments and
Iran are totally legitimate and justified, and we never fall for
any scapegoats. Any violation of a human rights we see, we target
and act upon immediately. Iran houses a brutal regime committing
horrible atrocities that we are actively highlighting. The Iranian
regime was attacked NOT for oppressing their people in this Summit;
despite these crimes being mentioned, that was barely the focus. They
were attacked for threatening to "destroy Israel," that was the
premise of every criticism against Iran, even though Israel also
threatened to nuke it! "Oh, but that was in retaliation." It’s no
different. Both governments are equally dangerous with an absolute
disregard for human rights. Israel having a liberal "lifestyle"
doesn’t change its corrupt politics that is threatening many of us,
just like Iran is threatening us by funding militant organizations
and violently oppressing anyone opposing it.

We are known here first and foremost for not shying away from
criticizing ourselves. In my panel I also made a comment that
"every single country in the Middle East is censorship-ridden,"
including Israel, where Israelis who criticize their government
find themselves in an extremely uncomfortable spot, as "traitors,
terrorists, anti-Zionists, self-hating spies."

Most of my talks are directed to very diverse audiences with an
emphasis on the strategy we use for our causes. We raise a great deal
of awareness and membership through these things, and as such I accept
any speaking engagement where I bring awareness to MideastYouth.com
to as many people as possible, even critics. However using our work
to empower a political ideology is out of the question, regardless
of what the ideology is, and I’m sorry to say that this is what some
of the panelists were being used for. I witnessed so much anger,
emphasis on anti-Semitism that I was very disturbed even by the usage
of the word "Holocaust" that is attached to one tragic incident,
with a disregard for the many others throughout history.

During lunch break, some volunteers passed out brochures on another
discussion that will take place tomorrow on "Racism, genocide,
and Holocaust denial," notice the wording. My friend turned to me
and asked, "what determines what a Holocaust is?" and we looked it
up. Not to our surprise, amongst the definitions was:

Any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life.

So the Kurds, Bengalis, Rwandans, Darfurians amongst others all have
suffered through Holocausts in their actual lifetime. Not to mention
the Armenian genocide which many deny without issue or legal concern.

Out of frustration I Facebooked it this morning as a status comment:

Obviously what happened was a real tragedy that deserves to be
remembered, but it is the only one that is! There are literally
thousands of films and books about it, memorial days, sites, but
there can’t be a real term that is applied for one tragedy and not the
others. In Bangladesh millions died too, and is 26 years more recent.

"Holocaust denial" is punishable by imprisonment in many countries,
and subject to severe criticism and hatred in the mainstream, but
denying the others is valid as they were merely "civil wars," and
"victims didn’t suffer for centuries." Despite the fact that most
did, and to this day, most ethnic minorities under threat have no
State. Most continue to face violent oppression with no protection
or acknowledgment whatsoever. Denying THEIR holocausts is frankly
way more dangerous and in some ways, even more important to tackle.

In this Summit, did anyone even mention the Kurds, who have
suffered through genocide less than two decades ago and continue
to face aggressive oppression with no state or government to their
rescue. Darfur was a note in passing. Aside from the amazing panelist
himself, Bo Kyi, no one even spoke about Burma, or the Muslim Rohingya
people who suffer massive discrimination there. Despite all of these
massive crimes that all of us have a responsibility to tackle as
decent human beings, the emphasis was on anti-Semitism and "THE"
Holocaust denial, hardly as dangerous as the other issues facing us
today – ask some Israelis within Israel themselves! I challenge you
that some will second this without hesitation.

Freedom of speech, a passion of mine, was a big subject. I focus on
free speech in the entire Middle East including in Israel by allowing
many to use this very platform to express themselves freely. But in
reality free speech doesn’t really exist everywhere and certainly not
even in the USA. Every country has people either abusing this right
or denying it to others.

For example, did you know that I was banned entry to a high school
in Texas in February during my speaking tour, simply because of my
criticism of Israel during the Gaza attacks? I rarely ever mention
Israel/Palestine because I feel that too many people already do so,
millions of people, and hardly anyone was focusing on the other human
rights violations occurring around us and in our name. That doesn’t
mean I don’t care however or that I don’t make an effort to give
Gazans specifically a platform when they didn’t have electricity to
write about what was going on. I published a podcast that was also
featured on CNN and the BBC which caused offense to many.

In my rejection to the high school, I got some hateful comments,
some questioning whether or not I was a "terrorist." Despite some
reports about Israel, we at MEY also provide first hand accounts from
Israelis themselves, no one can argue MEY is biased. We give everyone
a voice, there are even soldiers in this platform. We have no official
political opinion or affiliation and we are proud of that. We have
Israelis in the team and we accept them in all their forms. No one
can rightfully claim we are anti-Semites, but unless you’re a staunch
Israeli nationalist that’s the term people will abuse you with. At
the Summit we saw this happening right in front of us.

I don’t regret coming entirely as I met amazing people from Darfur
who were the highlight of my experience there, as well as an amazing
young man from Belarus who was my co-panelist in a panel about new
media strategies for social change. But otherwise, like I said even
before attending here, the bias is clear. You can’t use us to empower
political ideologies that I personally consider to be inaccurate and
corrupt. Next time, if the topic of obsession will be about Israel,
invite a single Palestinian to at least provide an account of what the
Israeli government puts them through. Invite a human rights activist
from Israel who helps build houses for Palestinians in order to
let THEM explain what is anti-Semitism, and what isn’t, because UN
Watch, and much of the people in the Summit, are confused! Help them
identify it.

Either way, some of the bravest and best panelists were here, and
these are:

Ahmad Ibrahim Ditraige: Former governor of Darfur Ester Murawajo:
Tutsi survivor of the genocide (and holocaust) in Rwanda, founder of
AVEGA Dominique Sopo: President of SOS Racisme Ahmad Batebi: Iranian
dissident, former prisoner of conscience Bo Kyi: Burmese dissident,
former prisoner of conscience Saad Eddin Ibrahim: Egyptian dissident,
former prisoner of conscience Marlon Zakeyo: Zimbabwe Human Rights
Activist Dr. Ashraf El Hagog: Victim of Libyan torture Parvez Sharma:
Producer of the documentary film "Jihad for Love" Pavel Marozau:
Belorussian cyber-dissident and human rights defender (also my
fantastic co-panelist) Kristiyna Valcheva: Bulgarian nurse, victim of
Libyan torture and discrimination These are sincere and brave fighters
for human rights or victims of genocide or oppression. Therefore I am
proud to have met them, but next time, I hope we meet where absolutely
everyone is represented and where there is no bias towards excessively
"anti-Semite" discussions implying that Israel is the biggest victim
of oppression when with no doubt it’s the safest and most funded
country in the Middle East.

If anyone should be scared of Iran, trust me, its the Arab neighboring
countries first, including my home country Bahrain, (FYI we’re not
anti-Semites, this is home to the first Jewish ambassador to serve an
Arab country, and Jewish MPs.) Hopefully soon everywhere we’ll have
Kurdish and Baha’i ones too, representatives of the most persecuted
minorities in the region. Iran is funding militant operations here and
have threatened to reclaim our land, yet we didn’t threaten to nuke
it. Of course, there is no room for discussing that, much of the room
was too busy obsessing about a threat that frankly doesn’t even exist.

So that was my experience; my next post will include a run-through
of what I actually talked about in terms of using new media for
social change.

This post is my opinion on the Summit as a speaker and participant
and not the stance of MEY, where we grant everyone a voice.