Author: Vardanian Garo

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 11 2007

Azerbaijan is a model for religious liberty in the world,
US-published Jewish journal writes

[ 11 Jan 2008 14:27 ]

Gabriel Lerner, editor of La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language
newspaper in Los Angeles, published an article `Azeri Jews: Centuries
of coexistence in Azerbaijan’ in Los Angeles Jewish Journal, APA’s US
bureau reports.

The article writes that unlike other countries Jews are represented
in the highest level in Azerbaijan.
`Maybe 12,000 in a population of 8 million — their presence is known
and acknowledged, especially that of the Jews of Quba,’ the author
writes.
Gabriel Lerner notes that Jewish cemetery in Quba is very clean and
Jews live in splendid houses. The author met with Yevda Abramov, the
Jewish member of the Azerbaijani Parliament.
"Our rabbi, butcher, mohel, chazzan — all were educated in Israel."
Yevda Abramov said.
According to Abramov, his country is a model for religious liberty in
the world, "especially compared to Armenia," he emphasizes, where
"there are not even 10 Jewish families today."
If there is a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan," Abramov says,
"many Jews will die. In the war for Karabakh, the first fallen hero
was Jewish Albert Aqarunov.
Yevda Abramov took the American journalist to a "recently discovered
mass grave" – the remains of hundreds of Azeris slaughtered by
Armenians in 1918 in Quba.
Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan Arthur Lenk also said that
Azerbaijan serves as an example to Muslims states.
`Their relationship with Israel, in business, energy and regional
interests, is a compelling example of tolerance and coexistence. They
are an important partner of Israel; here, we buy one-sixth of our
oil." Arthur Lenk says.
In his article Gabriel Lerner also presented his interviews with
Nazim Ibrahimov, chief of State Committee on Work with Azerbaijanis
Living Abroad and Hidayat Orujov, chief of State Committee for
Religious Affairs. The journalist touches on Nagorno Karabakh
conflict and writes that one million Azerbaijanis have been displaced
as a result of Armenian aggression.
This is the second article about Azerbaijan published in Los Angeles
Jewish Journal the circulation of which is 150,000. The first article
was the interview with Azerbaijani Consul General to Los Angeles Elin
Suleymanov. /APA/

TURKISH MEDIA HAIL GUL’S VISIT AS CONSOLIDATING NEW ERA IN U.S.-TURKISH TIES BUT UNCERTAINTY REMAINS ABOUT ITS LONGEVITY
By Gareth Jenkins

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Jan 9 2008

The Turkish media have hailed the five-day visit of President Abdullah
Gul to the United States as consolidating a new era in ties between
the two countries. But some commentators remain uncertain about how
long-lived the new rapprochement is likely to be.

Reports of Gul’s January 8 meeting in the White House with President
George W. Bush dominated the headlines on January 9, with most
newspapers focusing on Bush repeating his previous condemnation of the
violent insurgency being waged in Turkey by the Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK). Several columnists contrasted the current warmth in
U.S.-Turkish ties with the tensions of recent years, particularly
over Washington’s refusal to move against the PKK’s main camps in the
Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq or to allow Turkey to do so. All
are unanimous in attributing the recent change in the relationship to
the meeting between Bush and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in
Washington on November 5, 2007, at which the United States agreed to
provide Turkey with actionable intelligence on the PKK in northern
Iraq in return for Ankara promising to restrict military action to
air strikes and short-lived, targeted incursions (see EDM, November
6, 2007). However, there is less agreement on whether, in the longer
term, it is the current rapprochement or the previous tensions that
are likely to prove the aberration in U.S.-Turkish ties.

Writing in the moderate Islamist Yeni Safak, Fehmi Koru, a long-time
supporter of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and a
friend of Gul since their days as graduate students in the United
Kingdom, maintained that the fundamental reason for the improvement
in the relationship was that Washington had finally accepted the
validity of the arguments that Turkey had been making for years and
that, such as the importance that the United States now attaches to
Turkey, Bush had wanted to learn Turkey’s opinions before departing
on his tour of the Middle East. Koru dismissed suggestions that Gul
should have postponed his visit pending the outcome of the forthcoming
U.S. presidential elections and claimed that the greater importance
given to Turkey had now become U.S. state policy and would remain
unchanged whomever subsequently occupied the White House (Yeni Safak,
January 9).

Murat Yetkin, a columnist at the liberal daily Radikal, agreed that the
improvement in ties was likely to be long lasting and quoted an unnamed
U.S. official as dismissing concerns that the situation might change
after the next U.S. presidential election. Yetkin predicted that the
new cooperation against the PKK could extend into coordinated action
in other strategic areas, such as energy, the Balkans, and the Caucasus
(Radikal, January 8).

Ergun Babahan in the center-right daily Sabah also regarded Gul’s
visit as marking a long-term change in U.S. attitudes toward Turkey
and interpreted it as demonstrating a new awareness in Washington of
Turkey’s importance as a regional actor in the Middle East. However, he
cautioned that, although Turkey was important to the United States, the
fact that it was the world’s sole remaining superpower and occupying
one of Turkey’s neighbors meant that a good U.S.-Turkish relationship
was even more important to Ankara than it was to Washington (Sabah,
January 9).

Beril Dedeoglu, a columnist for Today’s Zaman, which is run by
supporters of the exiled Islamist preacher Fetullah Gulen, also
discussed prospects for cooperation between Turkey and the United
States in the Caucasus and the Balkans. She noted that Washington
would regard stronger relationships between Turkey and countries such
as Pakistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine as having a stabilizing
and moderating influence that would ultimately serve U.S. interests.

However, she added that the same could not be said of Turkish policy
toward countries such as Iran, where Ankara’s strategy of engagement
and closer political and economic ties was diametrically opposed to
Washington’s efforts to isolate the Iranian regime (Today’s Zaman,
January 9).

Ilnur Cevik, the editor-in-chief of the New Anatolian, who has
extensive business interests in northern Iraq and has long called for
increased dialogue between Ankara and the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG), argued that the U.S. and Turkey were "natural allies." He
cited the efforts of the Bush administration last fall not only to
accommodate Turkish concerns over the PKK despite opposition from
the KRG, but also to prevent a resolution recognizing the Armenian
genocide from coming before the U.S. House of Representatives as
evidence of the importance that Washington attached to Turkey. But
he warned against unrealistic expectations, commenting that it would
be wrong to "think that the Americans have turned their backs on the
Kurds of Iraq or that the Armenian resolution will not be revived"
(New Anatolian, January 8)

Perhaps predictably, the ultranationalist Yeni Cag took a more
cynical view of the recent rapprochement. After contrasting Gul’s
effusive description on January 6 of the United States as Turkey’s
"most important ally" with the hostility he has often used in the
past, Yeni Cag listed a number of incidents that it claimed revealed
the true attitude of the U.S. stance toward Turkey. It culminated
with the incident on July 4, 2003, when U.S. troops in Iraq detained,
hooded, and interrogated a unit of Turkish Special Forces on suspicion
of planning to assassinate a local Kurdish official. The incident
was widely regarded in Turkey, particularly in the armed forces,
as a national humiliation and, for Turkish nationalists at least,
the photographs of Gul and Bush smiling together during their January
8 meeting at the White House have done nothing to erase that memory
(Yeni Cag, January 9).

GEORGIA: OPPOSITION THREATENS TO OVERTURN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AMID GROWING INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE RESULTS
By Vladimir Socor

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Jan 9 2008

On January 8 the runner-up presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze
(with 27% of the votes cast, according to the provisional final
returns) headed a group of opposition leaders that burst into Central
Electoral Commission (CEC) offices and encircled CEC chairman Levan
Tarkhnishvili. They threatened to evict Tarkhnishvili physically and
— in Gachechiladze’s words — to "punish" him as a "criminal" if
the opposition comes to power. Leaders of the nine groups supporting
Gachechiladze joined him in the jostling and shouting. Gachechiladze
resorted to obscenities not for the first time. The incident occurred
in the presence of journalists (Civil Georgia, EurasiaNet, Rustavi-2,
January 8).

Opposition leaders accuse the CEC of "rigging" the January
5 presidential election. They are threatening to call protest
demonstrations unless the CEC and the courts invalidate or revise the
election’s results. Western observers — present in record-high numbers
throughout the country — have validated the election, the provisional
final returns of which show Mikheil Saakashvili winning re-election
with close to 53% of the votes cast. The remainder is divided among
six other candidates. However, opposition leaders reject the Western
observers’ essentially positive assessment of the election and are
calling for a runoff or a rerun.

Meanwhile, many institutions and groups of international observers are
validating the election, alongside the four main observer delegations
— OSCE/ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights),
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE), and European Parliament — which did so jointly on January 6
(see EDM, January 7). All of these institutions and groups are urging
the opposition to recognize the legitimacy of the election just held.

The European Union’s Presidency — held by Slovenia since January
1 — supports the Western observers’ conclusion that "the election
was in essence consistent with most of the OSCE and Council of
Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections." It also
expects Georgia to "address the shortcomings that were identified"
(EU Presidency press release, January 7).

The Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) and
International Republican Institute (IRI) have issued basically positive
assessments of the election. Significantly, both institutes have for
many years been working with opposition parties in Georgia and continue
to do so. According to NDI’s preliminary conclusion, the election
"met basic democratic principles," while problems encountered in the
process of balloting were irregularities, not rigging and not affecting
the expression of people’s will (Rustavi-2, January 7). The IRI, which
led an international delegation of observers, similarly concluded,
"The election broadly met international standards. However, technical
problems continue to affect the electoral process" (IRI press release,
January 6). Both institutes are recommending to the government and
opposition to work cooperatively to resolve these issues.

Presidents Toomas Ilves of Estonia, Valdis Zatlers of Latvia, Lech
Kaczynski of Poland, Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, Ilham Aliyev
of Azerbaijan, Robert Kocharian of Armenia, Nursultan Nazarbayev
of Kazakhstan, and Nicolas Sarkozy of France as well as Ukrainian
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko have variously telephoned or written
to Saakashvili with congratulations on his reelection. Ilves also
cited the Western observers’ recommendations to Georgia to correct
remaining flaws and continually improve the quality of the electoral
process. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited Ukrainian and
international observers saying that the openness of the voting and
large presence of observers made it impossible to rig the election
(BNS, UNIAN, January 6, 7, 8; Turan, Agence France Presse, January
8). Estonian observers (including 10 members of parliament) and
Lithuanian delegation (totaling 131 members, the largest delegation
proportionate to the nation’s size) supported the Western positive
assessment of the election, despite "minor irregularities that do not
influence the outcome." Latvia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued
a similar opinion, citing the Latvian delegation of observers.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack and NATO spokesman James
Appathurai each issued statements endorsing the Western observers’
validation of the election (press releases, January 7, 8).

At the moment, the EU in Brussels seems rather disengaged from
the ongoing Georgian events. The EU’s High Representative for the
Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, issued a brief,
vague statement, recognizing at least that the Georgian election was
"truly competitive." The EU’s External Affairs and Neighborhood Policy
Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, issued a belated statement on
January 8 in which she cited the international observers’ essentially
positive evaluation of the election, urged the Georgian government
to address the shortcomings quickly, and called on the opposition
to use only peaceful and legal means (Council of the European Union
and European Commission press releases, January 7, 8). Solana and
Ferrero-Waldner are about to finish their terms of office. The EU’s
envoy for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, apparently could not
take a position on the Georgian elections in the absence of a clear
message from the top level in Brussels. Such a weak engagement in
Brussels reflects the broader inadequacies of the EU’s Neighborhood
Policy generally and in this region particularly.

Gachechiladze and the other presidential contenders cannot
realistically hope to overturn the election’s outcome. Their moves
seem designed at this stage simply to prolong the uncertainty and
look for new tactical openings. Some of them may also look for a
face-saving solution, after staking so heavily on toppling Saakashvili
and the government. Their main demand, before and during the election
campaign, was a Georgia without Saakashvili. Program and tactics were
subordinated to that goal.

The Gachechiladze camp’s Mephisto bargain with billionaire Badri
Patarkatsishvili showed that this camp was prepared to destabilize
the country for the sake of toppling the president. The other
presidential contenders stopped short of making that bargain for
funds, but used the same brinkmanship tactics. At the moment, they
all seem to be preparing to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of
the re-elected president and possibly boycotting him in the run-up
to the April parliamentary elections. Such a development could
bring with it another political crisis, fraught with artificially
induced polarization. Unburdened by the responsibilities of governing
and untrained for such responsibilities, the leaders of these small
parties see their chance of gaining de facto political influence in
a climate of political confrontation.

‘I’M A UKRAINIAN. I’M A POLE’
Micha³ Kubicki

Polish Radio External Service
artykul73216_Im_a_Ukrainian__Im_a_Pole_.html
Jan 9 2008
Poland

‘I’m a Ukrainian. I’m a Pole’ – billboards with captions of this kind
have appeared all over Warsaw and in several large Polish cities. The
campaign is part of an EU project ‘Equal opportunities for all’.

Hundreds of billboards have been put up in Warsaw, Gdansk on the
Baltic coast, the Silesian city of Katowice, £odz and several other
towns. They feature photographs of people of various walks of life and
various nationalities. They are all Polish citizens. On one there is
a middle-aged couple, a lawyer and a tourist agent. The caption reads
‘We are Armenians. We are Poles.’ The other shows Ania, a Polish
Jew who works as a dance teacher. The caption says: ‘I’m a Jew. I
am a Pole’. There are also billboards introducing Germans, Romanis,
Karaims and Ukrainians living in Poland.

Mike Urbaniak, who’s in charge of the campaign, explains its goals.

‘The main goal is to show to the Polish society that there are
actually ethnic and national minorities in our country. There’s a
need to get to know different minorities. Remember that we’ve joined
the Schengen zone, so there are no borders and people are travelling
freely. It’s very important to show to Poles that there are people
of different background and that they are a vital part of Polish and
European society.’

Most observers of the Polish scene agree that there is a need to
promote the concept of the so-called double national identity.

Stanislaw Janecki, editor of the weekly Wprost, welcomes the campaign
as a step towards preparing Poles for a multinational society.

‘I’m afraid we are too homogenous a society and Poles think that
there are no minorities. It’s a mistake because multicultural and
multinational society is developing fast. We will confront the great
wave of different ethnic groups because Poland is in the European
Union and will be open widely to minorities. It could cause a kind
of ethnic clash.’

The campaign has been devised by the Jewish community in Poland and is
a part of a wide-ranging ‘Equal opportunities’ project which involves
many EU countries. Mike Urbaniak again.

‘It was a huge programme introduced by the EU at the beginning of
2007. We planned to do this a few months ago but we had parliamentary
elections so we had to switch it off and we started our campaign at
the beginning of 2008.’

The campaign is held under the honorary patronage of Poland’s First
Lady Maria Kaczyñska.

–Boundary_(ID_qFwibY7hZzVQEdjqP3 oUZQ)–

RESERVOIRS OF YEREVANIAN LAKE AND KECHUT RESTORED

Noyan Tapan
Jan 8, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Reconstruction of the reservoirs
of Yerevanian Lake and Kechut has been completed. Karen Grigorian,
engineer of the RA Irrigation Systems Restoration Program
Implementation Office, told NT correspondent that the work on
restoration of bulwarks has been implemented under the World
Bank-financed second credit program on safety of irrigation bulwarks.

He said that 77 million 363 thousand drams (about 235 thousand USD)
was spent on restoration of Yerevanian Lake’s bulwark, as a result of
which the concrete of the bulwark’s upper slope was reconstructed, the
mechanical equipment of the waterworks facility and the power supply
of the bulwark’s nodes were restored. Control-measuring equipment
was installed. The construction work was done by Construction of
Hydropower Plants company.

About 532 million 210 thousand drams was spent on reconstruction of
Kechut reservoir, as a result of which the upper and lower slopes,
the shower cascade, the irrigation tap, and the entrance No 1 of
Arpa-Sevan tunnel were reconstructed.

To recap, the bulwark of Yerevanian Lake was built on the Hrazdan
River in 1966, its total volume is 5 million cubic meters, the maximum
height is 30 meters. The Kechut reservoir is in Vayots Dzor marz. It
was built in 1981, its total volume is 23 million cuic meters.

ARMENIAN GRAND MASTERS TO PARTAKE IN AN INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT IN HOLLAND

armradio.am
08.01.2008 17:13

January 11-27 a traditional international chess tournament will be
held in the city of Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. Armenian Grand
Master Levon Aronyan is included in the strongest group.

Gabriel Sargsyan of Armenia and Sergey Movsisyan of Slovenia are
included in Group B. Each group consists of 14 Grand Masters.

EXPO AND THE ISLAMOPHOBES

Global Politician, NY
971&cid=3&sid=102
Jan 7 2008

The Swedish far-left, anti-racist organization expo recently released
a publication ( PDF, in Swedish) entitled "kriget mot islam," "the
war against islam," in which they worried about an increasing trend
towards "organized islamophobia" in the west. according to them,
"Parallel with the growth of SIOE, a new anti-Islamic network of
academics, bloggers and politicians is taking shape. The network has
no formal name, but meets at so-called anti-Jihad conferences. The
first known meeting was in Copenhagen on the 14th of April this year.

Behind the event was the network Center for Vigilant Freedom (CVF)."

As the publication says: "According to one of the most influential
bloggers in the anti-Islamic blogosphere, Baron Bodissey, CVF functions
as a ‘network of networks. The idea is to gather all counter-Jihad
groups under one umbrella to ease the gathering of information and
experiences.’" The publication mentions the Brussels meeting in
October, and states that "among those attending were a number of
well-known right-wing extremists." An example of these "right-wing
extremists" is Israeli politician Arieh Eldad. Expo also talks
about Danish journalist Lars Hedegaard and author Robert Spencer,
the founder of Jihad Watch.

The text continues: "During the Cold War the extreme Right joined
in on the anti-Communist rhetoric. In connection with the increased
immigration to Europe it was suddenly Multiculturalism that made
up the external threat. In the aftermath of the War on Terror and
increasing distrust of Muslims, now suddenly it is the anti-Islamic
rhetoric that makes up the new platform for the extreme Right. But
there is a problem: Despite the fact that there is great acceptance for
xenophobic parties within the anti-Islamic networks, they don’t want to
be dirtied by having too clear attachments to openly Fascist groups."

Notice how Expo compares the criticism of the "extreme Right" regarding
Communism, which threatened world peace for generations, to today’s
criticism of Islam. I suppose former US President Ronald Reagan,
who called the Soviet Union the "Evil Empire" and helped bring down
the Berlin Wall, is among these right-wing extremists?

Expo’s founder Stieg Larsson was a long-time Communist who met his
future wife during a support meeting for the FNL, the pro-Communist
National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam. It’s interesting
that they think Multiculturalism has now taken the place which
Communism used to occupy. Some of us have been arguing this before,
but with a different emphasis.

Expo again: "The anti-Islamic bloggers and activists see themselves
as defenders of European values. Nazi, Fascist and homophobic groups
simply do not fit into this self-image. But with a promise of respect
for human rights and a clear pro-Israeli policy, right-wing populists
and right-wing extremists are welcomed into the fold."

So, these alleged "right-wing extremists" have a clear pro-Israeli
policy. That’s good to know.

"Out of the 45 [Islamophobic] websites and blogs Expo has discovered,
more than half have been created during the past two years. Put
together, these websites have created a new Islamophobic universe
where visitors are quickly drawn into a world of frightening images of
suicide bombers and cartoons mocking women wearing veils. Texts that
should be banned, about how Muslims cannot adjust [to our societies]
and how politicians are doing Islam’s bidding, are being published
daily." Moreover, "Expo’s investigations show that 22 of the 45
anti-Islamic websites are run by persons who have chosen to remain
anonymous."

Yes, they have. And has Expo reflected on exactly why so many people in
their "free" country now dare not use their own name? Is it possible
that Expo and their comrades have contributed to this repressive
political climate?

Expo again: "Anti-Islamic blogs and websites exploit the legitimate
debate about extreme Islamism. They use the religious fundamentalism
as proof that all of Islam and/or all of the world’s Muslims are a
threat to democracy, to freedom of speech, to ‘our’ ( i.e.

non-Muslims’) very existence." They mention Swedish journalist and
blogger Kurt Lundgren as well as the Danish blog Snaphanen as examples
of Islamophobic websites.

"Among the Nordic states, Denmark is the country where Islamophobia
has gained the strongest roots. The Danish People’s Party have, with
the demagogue Pia Kjærsgaard in a leading role, [verbally] harassed
Muslims for years. Just like in Sweden, a number of extreme Rightist
and openly Nazi groups spreading Islamophobic propaganda exists." In
Sweden, "it’s the equivalent of the Danish People’s Party, the Sweden
Democrats, who have made Islamophobia into politics."

Expo is worried about the international connections of these
sites: "The Swedish bloggers gain inspiration from their foreign
counterparts. Little Green Footballs was among the first who,
depending upon your viewpoint, warned against extreme Islamism or
started spreading modern Islamophobia. Lately, however, the site’s
criticism of Islam has turned into pure hatred of Muslims. The
journalist RJ Smith of Los Angeles Magazine for instance wrote in
an article last year that Little Green Footballs is a ‘dysfunctional
mix of beautiful photos that [blogger Charles] Johnson takes during
his bicycling trips and constitutionally protected hate speech’ which
‘assumes all Muslims to be terrorists until proven otherwise.’"

Expo also states that Gates of Vienna is another leading and frequently
cited English language blog, which just like LGF fronts conspiracy
theories and prejudice against Islam.

One of the co-founders of Expo, Tobias Hubinette, wrote in 1996 (Creol
no 1 1996 and "Svartvitt"): "To feel and even think that the white
race is inferior in every conceivable way is natural with regards
to its history and current actions. Let the Western countries of the
white race perish in blood and suffering. Long live the multicultural,
racially mixed and classless ecological society! Long live anarchy!"

– – – – – – – – – I found several references to this quote online and
asked Swedish blogger Kurt Lundgren if he could get his readers to
check out the original, written source. One of them did, and could
confirm that the quote was authentic. He posted an image of the
original text from 1996. According to his own CV, Tobias Hubinette
worked for Expo until at least 1997. In other words, he continued
doing research for this "anti-racist" organization after having
publicly advocated the extermination of the white race and the violent
destruction of an entire civilization. Nobody seemed to mind. During
this time period he did research about "Nazis." He has openly defended
the use of violence for political reasons, even against children and
the elderly, and has also been convicted of violence.

Meanwhile, the left-wing extremist group Antifascistisk Aktion
has for years made numerous attacks against immigration-skeptics,
including members of the Sweden Democrats which Expo has published
a critical book about, with near-impunity from the authorities and
the media. Members of AFA marched alongside senior members of the
Swedish police, the government and the media during Gay Pride Parade
in 2007 in Stockholm, and beat up a couple of people they deemed to
be insufficiently tolerant.

Hubinette has been controversial for some of his views, for instance
comparing Western adoptions of Korean children (he is of Korean
origin) to the transatlantic slave trade. However, in traditionally
and still majority white Sweden, calling for the majority, indigenous
population to perish in blood and suffering is not enough to halt your
career. Hubinette has continued promoting "Multiculturalism," even
received awards, and is currently working for the The Multicultural
Centre of Botkyrka, Sweden.

The founder and editor of Expo magazine from 1995 until his death in
November 2004, Stieg Larsson, worked with Hubinette for years, but
was apparently never negatively affected by this collaboration with
a person calling for genocide against his people. Larsson has been
cited as a credible source regarding the extreme Right, and Expo’s
material has been reprinted by leading newspapers Expressen and
Aftonbladet. Larsson left behind three unpublished thrillers, which
have proceeded to become major bestsellers in Sweden after his death.

Upon writing this, I came to think of a mandatory University of
Delaware program in the United States requiring students to acknowledge
that "all whites are racist," offering them "treatment" for incorrect
attitudes regarding class, gender, religion or culture.

A civil rights group cited excerpts from the university’s Office of
Residence Life Diversity Education Training documents, including the
statement: "A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on
the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term
applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living
in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture
or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists,
because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power
to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination."

The education program also notes that "reverse racism" is "a term
created and used by white people to deny their white privilege."

I’ve been trying to understand exactly what this "white privilege"
consists of. In Sweden, if you are a native and in the mildest
terms possible object to uncontrolled mass immigration which
is sure to render the natives a minority in their own country
within a few decades, you will immediately be branded a racist and
vilified. Most likely, your career will be over. But "anti-racist
Multiculturalists" can collaborate closely with persons calling for
the destruction of Western civilization and the annihilation of the
white indigenous population, and it doesn’t even register in the
eyes of the political establishment. The situation is only slightly
less extreme in other countries in Western Europe, where the natives
are de facto disenfranchised and are supposed to meekly fund their
own colonization and applaud their cultural eradication. If this is
"privilege", then privilege is vastly overrated these days.

It is more than a little ironic that Tobias Hubinette claims to be an
"anti-Nazi" at the same time as he advocates the violent destruction
of hundreds of millions of people. It is a strong indication that
the term "Nazi" has by now become seriously distorted.

Most of the political violence in Europe, both verbal and physical,
comes from Muslims and their supporters on the Left. The first
political murders in the Netherlands for centuries were either
committed by a Muslim, in the case of Theo van Gogh, or a Leftist
supporter of Muslims, in the case of Pim Fortuyn. Some members of
the Western Left support the suppression of free speech, the use of
street violence against rivals, systematic demonization not just of
political opponents but of entire groups who are branded as evil,
should have their assets stripped away from them, and if necessary
be eliminated. In all of these cases, many of the left-wing comrades
of Expo are closer to Nazism than Islamophobes like me, but they get
away with this because they are Leftists, and left-wingers and good,
right-wingers are evil; a powerful demonstration of the fact that
Socialists never truly lost the Cold War. "Nazism" is reduced to
simply having a white, European background and refusing to surrender
your land and your culture to outsiders.

In this text, Expo casually mentions racism, anti-Semitism,
Islamophobia and homophobia in the same sentence, and conveniently
forgets to point out that the recent increase in anti-Semitism in
Europe is intimately linked to Muslim immigration and the pro-Islamic
policies of the European Union, that most of the street violence
targets native Europeans and that a sharp rise in violence against
gays is caused by mass immigration of Muslims in particular.

Expo also resorts to blatant distortions regarding the nature of
Islamic oppression of non-Muslims: "Centuries ago, a dhimmi was the
non-Muslim inhabitant of a state run according to sharia law, where
non-Muslims had fewer rights than Muslims. The anti-Islamic blogs
believe Islam’s expansion in Europe needs to be halted, otherwise we
risk ending up in the same situation once more."

The dhimmi system is an integral part of sharia, Islamic law, which is
timeless according to Islamic theology because it has been instituted
by Allah. It wasn’t valid only "centuries ago," it remains valid today
and will do so for all eternity. The Armenian genocide by Turkish and
Kurdish Muslims took place only a few generations ago. It happened
precisely because Armenians, as did other Balkan Christians, rebelled
against the Islamic apartheid system and the status as semi-slaves
they have been granted according to sharia. Muslims responded by
Jihadist massacres, as they should according to Islamic doctrines.

This massacre is still forbidden by law to discuss in Turkey. Several
murders of the few Christians still left in a country that was once
predominantly Christian proves that Christianophobia is very much
alive there. Expo talks about opposition to Turkish membership in the
European Union as a sign of extremism. Do they agree with the current
Islamist Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has
stated that Islamophobia should be treated as a crime against humanity?

In December, 2007, a university professor named Fuat Deniz was murdered
in the town of Orebro, the first time that a lecturer has been killed
at a university anywhere in Sweden. Deniz wrote and lectured on the
Ottoman Turkish genocide of their Christian subjects.

Other researchers working in the field have been threatened, according
to David Gaunt at Sodertorn University College. "On several occasions
at our seminars people would attend claiming to be journalists only
to then walk around photographing delegates," Gaunt told Svenska
Dagbladet. It is reported that researchers have been harassed, received
death threats and been labeled terrorists. Gaunt reports having been
followed by security police on trips to Turkey and describes being
subjected to a smear campaign by a Turkish newspaper. "All those
interested in Christian minorities in Turkey are considered a threat."

A Dutch scientist who wishes to remain anonymous confirms this. "I
felt the eyes of Turkish spies on my back during a couple of lectures
I gave in Holland." He fears that he, too, is at risk, and therefore
publicly speaks as little as possible about the genocide in public.

The investigation of the murder of Fuat Deniz has been remarkably
sloppy. It is tempting to view it as an extension of the global Jihad
and the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, which is now
slowly spreading to Western Europe.

At the same time that Muslims are colonizing Western nations
while complaining about Islamophobia, the few remaining non-Muslim
communities in the Middle East are being systematically eradicated.

As Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch writes in his book Religion of
Peace?: Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t , "Christian communities
throughout the Middle East that date back to the dawn of Christianity
are decreasing so much that they are on the verge of disappearing
from the area altogether. In Iraq half of the nation’s prewar 700,000
Christians have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Overall the Middle Eastern Christian population has dropped from 20
percent in 1900 to less than 2 percent today."

How come left-wing organizations are so concerned about "Islamophobia"
in the West, but care so little about Muslim infidelophobia? Is it
because the extreme Left sees this as a continuation of their struggle
against their own civilization, of which Christianity is a part?

As we speak, Muslims are driving Christians out of the birthplace
of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem, but Western media choose to blame this
on the Jewish state of Israel, a fellow victim of Jihad. Some of
this persecution of Christians – and Jews – committed by Arabs is
done by Hamas, the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Members
of the MB have inspired or founded many of the most violent Islamic
organizations in recent decades, among them Sayyid Qutb, the spiritual
father of Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders.

The largest party on the political Left in Sweden, the Social
Democrats, have announced their cooperation with members of the
Muslim Brotherhood, for the mutual benefit of both, but the left-wing
organization Expo sees nothing wrong in this. They concentrate their
fire on those who want limit mass immigration and thus impede Socialist
efforts to import voters from abroad.

The Swedish Social Democrats were pro-Fascist and pro-Nazi during
the 1930s and 40s, and appeased the Communists during the Cold
War. Now they forge an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood, another
organization with close ideological ties to the Fascist and Nazi
movements. The Social Democrats agree to continue allowing Muslims
to colonize the country in exchange for their votes. In the old
days this would be called treason. Now it’s called tolerance. Two
Fascist-inspired movements cooperate on exploiting the native
population of a country, force them to fund and applaud their own
colonization and denounce them as bigots, racists and Fascists if
they resist. The strategy is as clever as it is evil.

Sweden has witnessed an explosion in rapes and all kinds of
violent crime in the past decades. This is a direct result of mass
immigration. Malmo, their third largest city, will soon become the
first Scandinavian city with a Muslim majority. Native Swedes are
fleeing while gangs of Muslim immigrants openly brag about waging a
war against Swedes, and leading academics are now talking about the
end of the Swedish nation state as a likely result of the ongoing
immigration. The fact that Expo in this situation chooses to focus on
"Islamophobia" speaks volumes about where their loyalty lies.

Moreover, if the far-Left organization Expo labels somebody as
"Islamophobes," which to many apparently is the same as racists,
members of a more violent far-Left organization, AFA, could take this
as a licence to harass these individuals. When Kurt Lundgren, who
runs one of the most popular political blogs in Sweden, is labelled an
"Islamophobe," this is thus indirectly a warning to him about possible
future harassment.

I once heard a blog reader point out that there is no good form of
Socialism: While the "hard" Socialism earlier championed in Eastern
Europe turns society homicidal, the "soft" Socialism of the West turns
society suicidal. Sweden certainly demonstrates the truth in this: It
has no colonial history, and its current disintegration thus cannot
be blamed on any "post-colonial guilt complex." It is caused purely
by ideology. Sweden, which views itself as an ideological beacon
for mankind, happily embraced the new post-Western paradigm where
anti-nationalism was the order of the day, and its leaders decided
to excel at it.

Expo is, in my view, a symbol of the forces that have turned Sweden
into perhaps the most totalitarian and politically repressive country
in the Western world. Let it serve as a warning to others about
what happens when Multiculturalism, Socialism and anti-nationalism
gain power.

Fjordman is a noted Norwegian blogger who has written for many
conservative web sites. He used to have his own Fjordman Blog in the
past, but it is no longer active.

–Boundary_(ID_ZhVZHEb3JF7yb4NaDpgQow)–

Kashkashian Finds Her Voice in the Viola

Id=17679279
Listen Now
[9 min 15 sec]

Julien Jourdes
Kim Kashkashian says violists are "missionaries for new music."
Songs from the CD
Granados: ‘El Majo olvidado’

Weekend Edition Sunday
< undown.php?prgId=10> , December
30, 2007 – Growing up in Detroit, Kim Kashkashian listened to her
father’s booming baritone voice singing the folk songs of her family’s
Armenian heritage. His enthusiasm for communicating through singing made
a deep impression on her.
"That’s a thing that remains with me as a very powerful, visceral image,
and I hear it still," she says. It made her want to sing, too: "The fact
that I had a string instrument instead of a voice – I guess I’m still
trying to sing with that instrument all the time."
It’s what she tells her viola students, also: "If you’re not vocalizing,
something’s missing," she says.
At the age of 8, when it came time to choose an instrument at school,
Kashkashian had her heart set on taking clarinet lessons, but her family
couldn’t afford to rent a clarinet. She started out playing the violin
that her cousin had abandoned the previous year, "because it was still
in their closet." When she was 12, she switched to viola at the
Interlochen Academy.
Today, Kashkashian is one of only a few violists with an international
solo career. Her mastery of the rich-toned cousin of the flashier violin
has led to many collaborations with composers and arrangers.
Kashkashian’s new album, Asturiana, finds her working with pianist
Robert Levin, with whom she performs their own transcriptions of songs
by composers such as Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados and Alberto
Ginastera.
Kashkashian, whose new CD is rooted in the folk tradition of Spain and
Argentina, admits that violists are always looking for ways to increase
what’s available for their instrument to play. "We all are, in a sense,
missionaries for new music, and most of us are also thieves, because we
have to and want to take repertoire from other instruments."

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Dec 30 2007

Putin congratulates CIS heads of state on coming New Year.

30.12.2007, 11.48

MOSCOW, December 30 (Itar-Tass) – Russian President Vladimir Putin
congratulated heads of state and government of foreign countries on
the coming New Year, the presidential press service reported on
Sunday.

The Russian head of state expressed conviction in the congratulatory
message to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev that `the line (aimed at
a long-term perspective) on all-round strengthening of strategic
partnership, fruitful and mutually advantageous joint work as well as
on consolidation of traditional friendship meets the interests of
peoples of our countries and makes an important contribution to
strengthening regional stability and security’.

The message to Armenian President Robert Kocharyan notes that the
year 2007 `has become an important stage in developing further
diversified Russian-Armenian strategic partnership, as well as
expanding cooperation in the economic and humanitarian spheres’. The
Russian president also praised the vigorous activities of his
Armenian counterpart in consolidating bilateral allied relations.

Congratulating Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Russian
chief executive emphasised that `the development of
Russian-Belarusian integration cooperation continued in the outgoing
year’. The countries `have been successfully implementing the line
for raising its effectiveness and creating firm market mechanisms of
partnership’. `Resolute steps were made to improve the economic
foundation of cooperation. I’m sure that the upbuilding of mutually
advantageous and pragmatic relations in this sphere will be a
rock-firm basis for raising social and economic stability in the two
countries as well as living standards and well-being of our nations,’
the message also noted.

Addressing Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Russian leader
expressed conviction that `the outgoing year confirmed a truly
strategic nature of Russian-Kazakh partnership, was distinguished for
efficient join work on promising projects in the fuel and energy
sphere in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, expansion of
border relations as well as effective cooperation in the
international arena, in integration structures and in the Caspian’.
`I’m sure that fruitful cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan
will play, in future too, an important role in consolidating
stability in the Euro-Asian space,’ the Russian head of state
stressed.

The message to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev notes that `Russia
holds dear traditionally close relations with Kyrgyzstan, based on
principles of allied relations and strategic partnership’. Putin also
expressed confidence that `our joint efforts will continue the course
for strengthening further diversified Russian-Kyrgyz relationship,
serving reliably the interests of our states and security as well as
stability in Central Asia’.

Congratulating Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, the Russian chief
executive called attention to the fact that `the outgoing year was
noteworthy for active and constructive work, aimed at deepening
Russian-Moldovan cooperation’ and expressed certainty that `the
coming Moscow meeting will give an additional impetus to developing
further diversified cooperation and partnership between Russia and
Moldova’.

The congratulatory message to Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon notes
with satisfaction that `the past year showed again rock-firm
traditions of friendship and mutually advantageous cooperation,
strategic partnership and allied relations between Russia and
Tajikistan’. The Russian president also expressed conviction that
Russian-Tajik partnership would dynamically develop, in future too,
on the principles of mutual trust and respect, which fully reflects
the desire of the two peoples to live in friendship and accord.

Addressing Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the Russian
head of state underlined that `the main result of the outgoing year
has become further consolidation of mutually advantageous cooperation
between Russia and Turkmenistan as well as filling it with specific
deeds, above all in the energy sphere’.

Praising the established trustworthy dialogue between the leaders of
the two countries, Putin expressed confidence that it will be
possible in future to boost positive and dynamic development of
relations between Russia and Turkmenistan thanks to joint efforts and
to bring all-round Russian-Turkmen relationship to a higher level in
the interests of the peoples of the two countries as well as stronger
stability and security in Central Asia.

The congratulatory message to Uzbek President Islam Karimov notes
that `the past year was distinguished for important events in the
development of Russian-Uzbek relations, based on principles of
strategic partnership and allied relations’. `I praise our
trustworthy dialogue and frank exchange of opinions on regional and
international issues. Hope for its continuation in future,’ Putin
stressed.

The message to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says, inter
alia, the following: `I’m sure that the peoples of Russia and
Ukraine, united by deep historic roots as well as centuries-long
spiritual and cultural relations, should preserve and multiply all
positive things that have been achieved in the joint history’ and
also expressed confidence that `Russian- Ukrainian cooperation will
develop (thanks to mutual efforts) in the spirit of good-neighbourly
relations, based on pragmatism and mutual advantage, since precisely
this course reflects the desire of citizens of our countries to live
in friendship and accord’.

Panorama.am

18:00 27/12/2007

20 PERCENT OF 6500 PARTICIPANTS HAVE LOW KNOWLEDGE

Active public organizations are needed to make the
voice of the society heard at the government and other
sectors, Manvel Badalyan, president of Civil Service
Council, shared this opinion with reporters today.
”We are always for public activity and our doors are
open to public organization. We must tackle all our
problems with the help of cooperation,” Badalyan
said.

Every year the organization enables representatives of
public organizations and citizens to take part in
vacant positions. Badalyan said, the organization has
announced vacant posts for more than 6500 employees.
More than 10,000 civil servants have received
attestation and 35,000 and more citizens have taken
part in the processes.

However, Badalyan believes the knowledge abilities of
the citizens are not up to the level to perform
certain works. ”Twenty percent of 6500 participants
had low level of knowledge and could not find work,”
he said.

Source: Panorama.am