Author: Vardanian Garo

Boston Globe, United States
Movies

New film follows a witness to history

US ambassador reported genocide of the Armenians

Above: A scene from the documentary ”The Morgenthau Story.” Below:
The film’s director, Apo Torosyan of Peabody, with Henry Morgenthau
III, the grandson of the film’s subject. Photo

By Leslie Brokaw

Globe Correspondent / October 19, 2008

New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is the man best known for
the criminal case he built against Tyco International CEO Dennis
Kozlowski, who was convicted in 2005 of stealing $150 million from the
global manufacturing firm.

After the decision, Morgenthau wrote, "This verdict is an endorsement
of the principle of equal justice under the law. Crimes committed in
corporate offices will be treated according to the same standards as
other crimes."

The concept of equal justice is hardwired into the Morgenthau
bloodline. His grandfather, Henry Morgenthau, was the US ambassador to
the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916, and in that role he was witness
to the rise of nationalism in Turkey and the deportation and massacre
of Armenians. Henry Morgenthau brought news of the genocide to the US
government, which declined to get involved. He published his accounts
in 1918 as "Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story" and dedicated himself to
providing privately funded resettlement help to Armenian and Greek
orphans and other refugees.

Morgenthau is a hero in the Armenian community, and his story has been
given a new telling in the documentary "The Morgenthau Story," by
Peabody filmmaker Apo Torosyan.

Torosyan is a native of Istanbul whose father was Armenian and whose
mother was Greek. He came to Boston in 1968 and launched a visual
design company; he sold the company in 1987 and devoted his full
attention to art – drawing and painting first, then multimedia. He
pulled from his family history: his grandparents, who starved during
the Armenian genocide; his father, who as a 5-year-old child had to
look through garbage cans for food.

In 2003, Torosyan picked up a camera. He visited Edincik, a Turkish
village where his father grew up, and made his first movie, "My
Father’s Village." "Voices" and "Witnesses" followed; both are
collections of interviews with Armenian survivors.

That brought him to Henry Morgenthau’s story, one of the few bright
lights in a sea of darkness.

Interviewed in the 56-minute film are Henry Morgenthau III, born in
1917 and the grandson of Ambassador Morgenthau. He’s a television
producer who spent the later part of his career at WGBH-TV. District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau also appears, as well as Dr. Pamela
Steiner, the ambassador’s great-granddaughter and a senior fellow at
the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and project director of HHI’s
Inter-Communal Violence and Reconciliation Project, where she focuses
on improving the relationship between Turkish and Armenian
populations.

Last month, Torosyan traveled to Athens for the world premiere of his
film at the Cultural Center of Constantinopolitans.

"I felt on top of the world," says Torosyan of the trip. Over 200
people attended the gathering, which included discussions about
Morgenthau and about current reconciliation efforts.

"I told the crowd how proud I was with my Turkish and Kurdish
friends," he says. Their ancestors may have killed his, but people
today are open to talking about the injustice. "Let us hope and not
hate."

"The Morgenthau Story" will screen at a half dozen venues in the
region over the next month including Salem State College on Monday and
Endicott College, in Beverly, on Friday; the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research, in Belmont, on Nov. 6; and Studio
Cinema, in Belmont, on Nov. 10. Visit

NETWORKING EVENT: The Massachusetts Production Coalition holds its
Fall Member Meeting on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Boston University
Photonics Center on St. Mary’s Street. The program includes a
legislative update from state film office executive director Nick
Paleologos and IATSE local 481 manager Chris O’Donnell, a presentation
about the state tax credit by Powderhouse Productions president Tug
Yourgrau, and production insurance info from Jerome Guerard. Details
are at

SILVA ON SCREEN: A lot of the time, Jeff Daniel Silva is on the
planning side of film events: He curates the Balagan Film Series
that’s held at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. But Silva is a filmmaker,
too, and the region is finally getting to see what audiences at MoMA
in New York City got to view last February: his latest work.

"Balkan Rhapsodies" will be at the Harvard Film Archive tomorrow at 7
p.m., with Silva attending. He’ll also present footage from a
work-in-process.

Silva says he was the first US citizen to visit Serbia in the weeks
after the NATO bombing campaign in 1999. The people he met there, he
says, were caught between a rock and a hard place: a government they
didn’t like and bombs that were not making their lives any easier.

The subtitle of his film is "78 Measures of War," a reference to the
78 days of bombings. For more details, call 617-495-4700 or visit

CONVERSATIONS WITH: Mel Stuart, director of the original "Willy Wonka
& the Chocolate Factory," will be at the BU Cinematheque on Thursday
and Friday at 7 both evenings. The talk will be politics, however, not
chocolate. Thursday he’ll be presenting his "Making of the President
1960" (1963), which looked at John Kennedy’s victory over Richard
Nixon, and Friday he’ll be presenting his "Making of the President
1968" (1969), which documented Robert Kennedy’s assassination, the
Chicago riots, and marches against the war in Vietnam. That’s at the
BU College of Communication at 640 Commonwealth Avenue, Room B-05.

German filmmaker Doris Dörrie will be at the Museum of Fine Arts on
Friday and next Sunday, the Wasserman Cinematheque at Brandeis
University on Saturday, and the Goethe-Institut Boston on Oct. 28 as
part of a partial retrospective of her work presented by the
institute. Included are a collection of her comedies and relationship
films from 1985 through this year. Details are at

SCREENING OF NOTE: The Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Europe’s Grand Opera
series, which presents high definition versions of current
productions, usually meets just once a month on a Sunday morning, but
this week there are two chances to see the featured show: "La
Traviata" plays this morning at 11 a.m. and again tomorrow at 7
p.m. The series is co-presented by Boston Lyric Opera. Call
617-734-2500 or go to

Leslie Brokaw can be reached at [email protected].

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Massachusetts Republican Party
85 Merrimac Street, Boston, MA
617-523-5005
[email protected]

Massachusetts Republican State Committeeman Bob Semonian Elected as a
Presidential Elector

Watertown: Bob Semonian of Watertown, Massachusetts, has been elected as a
Presidential elector from the state of Massachusetts. Most recently Semonian
was a delegate to the Republican National Convention held in St. Paul
Minnesota. This marks Semonian’s eighth straight election as a delegate to
the Republican National Convention. Longtime active in Republican politics
on both the state and national level, Semonian has served as State Vice
Chairman for President Ronald Reagan’s campaign in Massachusetts as well as
his state Nationalities Chairman, State Chairman for Pat Robertson for
President, State co-chairman for Bush-Quayle, State Chairman for Pat
Buchanan for President and was on Mitt Romney’s presidential steering
committee. He also has served as Deputy State Chairman of the Massachusetts
Republican Party as well as chairman of the Watertown Republican Town
Committee and was appointed to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Commission by then President Ronald Reagan.

Mr. Semonian graduated from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida
with a B.B.A. in marketing. Semonian is noted for motivating six state
governors to come out with proclamations recognizing the Armenian genocide.
(The states were Idaho, Nebraska, Montana, Tennessee, Louisiana, and
Vermont.) Currently he serves as a State Committeeman of the Massachusetts
Republican Party, having been re-elected to that committee many times. He is
a member of the Board of Trustees of Mass Bay Community College in
Wellesley, Massachusetts (appointed by Governor Mitt Romney) as well as
being on the President’s Evaluation Board and is the Trustee Liaison to the
Foundation Board of the college.

Semonian is also Treasurer and a director of the Improper Bostonian Magazine
as well as a board member of the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance, a member
of the St. James Armenian Church in Watertown, a trustee of the Armenian
Assembly of America and a member of the Knights of Vartan (formerly
secretary and treasurer). He was selected as its Man of the Year in 2007.

Bob Semonian has been in " Who’s Who in the World," "Who’s Who in America,"
"Who’s Who in the East," "Who’s Who in Business and Finance," "Who’s Who in
American Politics," and "Who’s Who Among Armenians".

L’AZERBAIDJAN S’APPRETE A ELIRE LE PRESIDENT SORTANT

Le Monde
14.10.08
France

BAKOU (AZERBAÃ~ODJAN) ENVOYÃ~IE SPÃ~ICIALE

Avec ses gratte-ciel, ses jardins tracés au cordeau, ses
embouteillages, Bakou, la capitale de l’Azerbaïdjan s’affiche comme
la ville la plus prospère du Caucase du sud, un petit Doubaï de la
Caspienne. Grâce au boom du secteur pétrolier, principale source
de revenus du pays, la ville a renoué avec ses fastes du début du
siècle, lorsque les frères Nobel et d’autres se lancèrent dans
l’exploitation de l’or noir. Devenu, grâce a l’argent du pétrole,
un véritable petit émirat, l’Azerbaïdjan s’apprête a élire son
président mercredi 15 octobre.

Sept candidats sont en lice, un seul est donné favori, le
président sortant Ilham Aliev, qui a succédé a son père en
2003. Dépourvue d’enjeux, de débats, de véritable concurrence,
l’élection apparaît comme une simple formalité. "Il s’agit plus
d’un référendum que d’une élection", confirme le politologue Rassim
Mussabaïov. Dépourvus de moyens financiers et de champ d’expression,
les grands partis d’opposition, ont appelé au boycott du scrutin,
qualifié de "pastiche démocratique".

La prospérité du pays, doté d’un des indices de croissance les
plus élevés au monde (25 % en 2007, 18 % en 2008), est largement
mise au compte du clan Aliev, objet d’un véritable culte dans
cette république turcophone, voisine de la Russie, de l’Iran et de
la Turquie.

Comme en Turquie, la république soeur, où les portraits d’Ataturk
trônent chez les commercants du bazar, ceux du président Ilham
Aliev sont affichés dans les boutiques de Bakou. "C’est a lui et
a Gueïdar, son père, que nous devons notre indépendance et notre
richesse", explique Ressoul, un antiquaire de la vieille ville. La
guerre russo-géorgienne de l’été 2008 n’a fait que renforcer
l’aura présidentielle. A l’inverse du remuant président géorgien
Mikheïl Saakachvili, Ilham Aliev mène, aux yeux de sa population,
une politique étrangère prudente, vouée a rapprocher le pays de
l’Occident tout en ménageant le grand voisin russe.

Tout comme la Géorgie, l’Azerbaïdjan voit 20 % de son territoire
échapper a son contrôle. Après une guerre (1988-1994)
avec l’Arménie, Bakou a perdu le contrôle de la région du
Haut-Karabakh, administré par les Arméniens, ainsi que de sept
régions azerbaïdjanaises voisines de l’enclave, convertie en
"zone de sécurité", après avoir été vidées de leurs habitants
(un million de personnes).

Un cessez-le-feu a bien été signé en 1994, mais les
escarmouches sont régulières entre soldats azerbaïdjanais et
Arméniens. Voisines, l’Arménie et l’Azerbaïdjan s’ignorent,
incapables de se mettre d’accord sur le statut de l’enclave. Les
Azerbaïdjanais défendent le principe de l’intégrité territoriale,
les Arméniens du Karabakh, le droit a l’autodétermination.

Ce conflit latent constitue une source majeure d’instabilité dans
cette région stratégique du Caucase du Sud, zone de passage des
hydrocarbures de la Caspienne en route vers les marchés européens. A
Bakou, on ne croit plus en la médiation du groupe de Minsk (Etats
unis, Russie, France) de l’Organisation pour la sécurité et la
coopération (OSCE). "Ils viennent ici, font des déclarations, puis
repartent et rien ne change", déplore Elnur Aslanov, chef du centre
d’analyses a l’administration présidentielle.

Avec un budget militaire en pleine expansion (1 milliard de dollars
en 2007), la tentation est grande de régler le conflit par les
armes. Mais la guerre russo-géorgienne d’aoÃ"t "a refroidi les
ardeurs des radicaux de l’entourage présidentiel qui se préparaient
au scénario d’une guerre au Haut-Karabakh", explique le politologue
Rassim Mussabaïov.

Selon lui, la Russie a plus que jamais intérêt a voir le conflit
se régler, ne serait-ce que parce que "depuis la guerre, Moscou est
coupé de son partenaire stratégique arménien". La base militaire
russe de Gioumri, située a la frontière avec la Turquie, fermée
depuis 1993 par solidarité avec l’Azerbaïdjan, est isolée.

Depuis le mois d’aoÃ"t, aucun équipement, aucun matériel ne peut
transiter par le territoire géorgien. L’espace aérien géorgien lui
étant fermé, Moscou ne peut envoyer ses avions en Arménie. Et en
vertu du blocus azerbaïdjanais de l’Arménie, aucune marchandise ne
peut traverser l’Azerbaïdjan vers ce pays.

Intéressée a dénouer le conflit du Haut-Karabakh, la Russie
encourage la médiation proposée récemment par la Turquie. En
échange de la restitution des régions occupées, la petite Asie
consentirait a rouvrir sa frontière avec l’Arménie et a créer
une commission mixte d’historiens chargés d’étudier la question du
génocide des Arméniens par les Ottomans en 1915.

Les liens entre les deux ennemis historiques se sont réchauffés ces
derniers temps, le président turc Abdullah Gul ayant été convié
a un match de football a Erevan, du jamais vu. Mais la "diplomatie
du football" a ses limites. A Bakou, le plan turc est percu avec
scepticisme. Pour la plupart des analystes, la clé du problème du
Haut-Karabakh se trouve a Moscou.

–Boundary_(ID_kJcLLCX0lmYyj8cyqjctfg)–

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
October 13, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ANCA CHAIRMAN CHALLENGES STATE DEPARTMENT
ATTACK ON NAGORNO KARABAGH

— Speaking before over 900 at Western Region Banquet
Ken Hachikian Confronts Anti-Karabagh Remarks by Matt Bryza

WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
Chairman Ken Hachikian, in remarks delivered yesterday before more
than 900 elected officials and community leaders at the annual
Western Region banquet, publicly and forcefully challenged recent
statements by senior State Department official Matt Bryza that, as
a precondition for peace, Armenia must agree that Nagorno Karabagh
is part of Azerbaijan.

Speaking before a capacity crowd at the the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library, Hachikian sharply condemned the "retreat from
principle" in U.S. policy toward the people and republic of Nagorno
Karabagh – who have strived, at the brutal cost of a generation of
its best sons and daughters – to live up to the fundamentally
American ideal that all people deserve to live free of foreign
tyranny, under a government of their own choosing." He added that,
"just this past week, we saw a senior State Department official,
Matt Bryza, moving farther from even the pretense of supporting
democracy, by saying that Armenia must accept the false proposition
that Nagorno Karabagh is part of Azerbaijan. He’s absolutely
wrong. And we all know it – and so does Baku and Ankara."

In an October 9th interview with the British Broadcasting
Corporation Russian language service, Bryza, who serves as Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State and also the State Department’s
representative to the OSCE Minsk Group talks, stated that Armenia
must agree that Nagorno Karabagh is legally part of Azerbaijan.
His comments follow a series of statements, over the past several
weeks, in which Bryza has demonstrated a pro-Azerbaijani bias by
prioritizing the misapplication of the principle of territorial
integrity to the Nagorno Karabagh issue over the basic right of all
peoples to self-determination.

The full text of Hachikian’s remarks follow.

#####

Ken Hachikian’s Remarks at ANC-WR Banquet
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
October 13, 2008

Archbishop, honorees & friends.

Thank you for coming here tonight and for your ongoing support.

I’d like to share with you a thought today. A very simple20one:

And that’s… the future of the Armenian Cause lies within your
hands.

We are blessed to live in a great nation, a country in which our
voice truly counts.

A republic rich in democratic traditions that provides each and
every one of us the opportunity- in the words of our enduring
Constitution – to petition government for redress of our
grievances.

Because, even as we cherish the rights and gladly shoulder the
responsibilities of American citizenship – whether our families
arrived generations ago or within our own lifetimes – we certainly
do have our share of grievances.

Strong views – informed by our Armenian heritage and driven by our
fundamental American sense of right and wrong.

Views about where our government has taken the wrong path.

Where Washington has fallen so short; failed to meet the high
standard of the American ideal

Nowhere is this starker than in U.S. government’s ongoing
complicity in Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide.

It is painful to me as an Armenian, as it is shameful to all of us
as Americans, that our great nation has, for far too long, caved in
to the Turkish government’s threats and blackmail on this core
question of human rights.

We have let ourselves be bullied and have caved in to foreign
pressure. Allowed a gag rule to be imposed on America.

An indignity visited upon all of us – and all Americans. A moral
outrage.

All the more so in light of Turkey’s attempts to twist the recent
opening of dialogue into an outright attack on Armenian Genocide
recognition – here in the United States and abroad.

Now is the time to show our collective commitment, our rock-solid
devotion to not only the cause of truth, but the sacred cause of
justice for our ancient and proud nation.

For our past, to be sure, to honor our martyrs – but even more so
for our future.

We now see a retreat from principle again in our government’s
recent policy toward the people and republic of Nagorno Karabagh –
who have strived, at the brutal cost of a generation of its best
sons and daughters – to live up to the fundamentally American ideal
that all people deserve to live free of foreign tyranny, under a
government of their own choosing.

Just this past week, we saw a senior State Department official,
Matt Bryza -moving farther from even the pretense of supporting
democracy, by saying that Armenians must accept the false
proposition that Nagorno Karabagh is part of Azerbaijan.

He’s absolutely wrong. And we all know it – and so does Baku and
Ankara. Armenian soldiers – some still boys, others well beyond
their best years – answered forever the question of Karabagh’s
destiny on the battlefields of war.

Countless graves along the front lines of this struggle stand as
testimony to this fact, each silently calling upon us – each and
every one of us – to defend their heroic achievements in the
capitals of the world.

Let us, who are gathered here today, match their "last full measure
of devotion" with our own.

In closing:

Let us seize the freedoms and opportunities we are blessed with as
Americans

Let us build a brighter future for ourselves and generations to
come …

Each and every one of us has a moral obligation to ourselves and
our ancestors to become warriors in this struggle.

I know we will persevere and we will win these battles.

But only with our collective efforts.

In simple yet powerful ways – the Armenian Cause rests within your
hands.

Thank you.

#####

Photo Caption: ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian speaking at the Western
Region Banquet

MCCAIN’S ARMENIA PROBLEM
by Daniel Nichanian

Atlantic Online
October 8, 2008

"In the superheated world of ethnic grievance politics, rarely do
presidential elections feature such a clear contrast between two
candidates. In California, New Jersey, Michigan and Nevada, that
contrast could hurt McCain."

Eight years ago, George W. Bush was battling an
unexpectedly competitive John McCain for the GOP’s presidential
nomination. Scheduled to vote just days after South Carolina, Michigan
suddenly looked decisive–and its substantial Armenian-American
population became an attractive voting block.

Three days before the vote, Governor Bush sent a letter to two
Armenian-American businessmen addressing the Armenian community’s
biggest demand–recognition that the 1915 extermination of Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire was an act of genocide. The Turkish government to
this day denies that any genocide occurred, and no president since
Ronald Reagan has used that term while in office. Bush pledged
to correct that. "The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal
campaign," he wrote. "If elected President, I would ensure that
our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian
people." Bush lost in Michigan, won the presidency … and then bailed
on his pledge. Last fall, the House of Representatives looked set
to adopt a resolution affirming the Armenian genocide. But as Turkey
threatened to disrupt its commercial ties with the United States and
to invade Iraq, President Bush warned that America could not afford
to alienate Turkey and pushed Congress to drop the measure.

Today, Edgar Hagopian, one of the letter’s two recipients, acknowledges
his disappointment. "I have written to President Bush many times
but have not gotten a response," he said, reeling at the remarkable
turnaround that transformed Bush into the biggest obstacle to an
official recognition.

Bush’s record is sure to haunt McCain’s 2008 presidential run, but
it’s not as if the Arizona senator needed any help in alienating
Armenian-Americans. McCain’s own stance against genocide recognition
and his relative indifference toward bilateral relations with Armenia
have been a matter of record since well before George W. Bush emerged
on the national stage. Barack Obama, conversely, looked committed to
the affirmation of the events of 1915 as a genocide long before he
decided on a presidential run. In fact, in the superheated world of
ethnic grievance politics, rarely do presidential elections feature
such a clear contrast between two candidates. In the case of states
with a substantial Armenian-American presence (including California,
New Jersey, Michigan and Nevada) that contrast could hurt McCain.

Historically, neither party has owned the support of
Armenian-Americans. Rather than stake their fortune with one party,
national advocacy groups–starting with the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA) and the Armenian Assembly of America–have pursued
a bipartisan course.

Thanks in part to this strategy, the Armenian-American community
has grown into a highly effective interest group. Cory Welt of
Georgetown’s Eurasian Strategy Project mentions the Armenian lobby’s
strength as an explanation for what he calls the "exceptional" size
of Armenian foreign aid. The Congressional Caucus on Armenian issues
has a bipartisan leadership (it is co-chaired by a Democrat from New
Jersey, Rep. Frank Pallone, and a Republican from Michigan, Rep. Joe
Knollenberg) and a large contingent of 150 members, including 13 of
Michigan’s 15 U.S. Representatives, 38 of California’s 53 and 11 of
New Jersey’s 13.

SYMPHONIC PLAYERS BRING PLEASANT SOUNDS

The Auburn Plainsman
October 9, 2008
USA

The Auburn University Symphonic Band held its first concert of the
fall on Thursday.

The concert, featuring the Symphonic Band, Wind Ensembles and Chamber
Winds, was held at the Opelika Performing Arts Center.

The night began with the entire symphonic band performing "Olympic
Fanfare and Theme" by James Curnow. It followed with Jaromir
Weinberger’s "Polka and Fugue."

After the first two pieces, the band tried a different approach
as they split up into smaller sections for the next four pieces,
featuring guest conductors for all four.

The groups were labeled the Tiger Wind Ensemble and Eagle Wind
Ensemble.

Conductor and Director of Bands Rick Good said the groups were split
right down the middle, adding no one student was better than another.

He said he feels the splitting of the groups helped the overall
performance.

"The small groups put more pressure on the player, and when they do
that, the big groups do better," Good said.

The performances are what Good said he thought made the night a
success, and he would like that to carry on into the spring.

"We have the two wind ensembles getting ready for the spring, because
in the spring we will have a symphonic wind group and we will have a
concert band," Good said. "So that’s what we’re getting the students
prepared for."

Good said the band usually only practices two days a week, but this
fall they were practicing four.

He said he wants to use that kind of work ethic to be able to show
people they have a good symphonic wind and percussion program.

"Some of the schools use it against us that they know our marching band
is good," Good said. "But they think we won’t have a good concert band,
which we really do, and we’re trying to get out there more."

Three graduate assistants were guest conductors for the evening.

Staci Wyland presented Guy Woolfenden’s "Suite Francaise," Allison
Parker presented Malcolm Arnold’s "English Dances Set Two" and Dustin
White presented Clifton William’s "Symphonic Suite."

Associate Director of Bands Corey Spurlin was also a guest conductor.

He presented Vincent Persichetti’s "Serenade No. 1, Op. 1" and was
pleased with how the students performed.

"I felt it went pretty well for the first concert of the year," Spurlin
said. "It’s a class, and we’re constantly involved in learning and
getting better throughout the semester."

Spurlin said he liked the breaking up of the groups because it gave
them a spotlight and teaches them to play more of a solo style of
performance.

"When you break things down into smaller groups, it puts a little bit
more pressure on the players," Spurlin said. "When they get back with
the bigger band, it improves their skill."

One aspect of the concert Spurlin said he enjoyed was the audience
was given a little variety. He said he liked that there were different
groups to listen to so they didn’t have the big group the whole time.

After the guest conductors finished their pieces, Good came back to
close out the night with Richard Wagner’s "Trauersinfonie" and Alfred
Reed’s "Armenian Dances (Part I)."

Emily Maddox, a senior in percussion, said the experience was a new
one, being that they usually don’t do concerts this early.

"This semester is the first time we’ve been having more rehearsals
during the week," Maddox said. "We’ve been splitting up into smaller
groups, which helps us be able to have a concert sooner."

Maddox said splitting up the groups allowed them to explore a lot
and be different.

She agreed with Spurlin that it put more pressure on individual
performers.

"There’s definitely more responsibility when there is one person
to a part as oppose to maybe six other people playing with you,"
Maddox said.

"It ups the level of musicianship."

COMMENTARY: IRRELEVANCE THREATENS ALL OF US
By Joseph J. Honick

HNN Huntingtonnews.net
olumns/081008-honick-columnsirrelevance.html
Oct. 8, 2008
USA

The greatest single danger to America may not be terrorists, housing
foreclosures or the many, many other media reported catastrophes. More
than any of those is the reality of how we are becoming irrelevant
in the minds and decisions of other nations important to us — and
the roles key PR firms and advisers may well be playing in all of this.

Were it not for our wealth, natural resources and military power,
all of which are being squandered at a record pace, it is hard to
believe very many other nations would pay much attention to us with
reference to their own major decisions.

It does not take much to observe realities of key nations virtually
thumbing their noses at us as they form alliances with hardly a
consult with America.

Russia and Iran wind up as nuclear sweethearts and arms partners even
as we publicly try to figure out how or whether we need to think
about attacking Iran in retribution for alleged smuggling of arms
and other help to our enemies in Iraq.

North and South Korea figure out how to cooperate in a manner we could
not work out with our former enemies. Japan says it has had enough
of the Iraq mess and starts the pullout of the cooperation with us
there with cries of "no more American wars." Then North Korea and
Syria are found unabashedly dancing together with apparent nuclear
cooperation until, that is, Israel took action similar to its efforts
in 1981 against Iraq, and knocked out the Syrian site.

We have made common cause in vast commercial investment, diplomatic
and other means with Communist North Vietnam which had killed about
58,000 of our armed forces even as we could not find a path toward
diplomatic relations with Cuba only 90 miles from our shores, now
warning that nation about its means of succession at the top.

But these are only a few examples of how, in only a few years, we have
lost the power and dignity of presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt
to Bill Clinton, including even the disgraced Richard Nixon who, in
his better days, had accomplished significant diplomatic successes
in China and elsewhere.

In short, few if any nations seem to give a tinker’s dam about our
opinions on most any international major concern. One of the more
recent shockers was the report in the reliable Financial Times of
London that China will help out GE by building a research laboratory
in that country.

Our relationships with Turkey have so deteriorated that this nation
has had to determine whether to invade Iraq to beat back Kurdish
agitation, even as some in Congress want to pass a resolution to
condemn allegations of Turkish genocide of Armenians nearly 100 years
ago. However justified or otherwise that charge might be, the timing
once more reveals how fragile national leadership is.

These are only a few examples of the realities. What most Americans
do not think about or even figure on is how so many of these actions
can be accomplished with little or no action by our own leadership
which seem virtually impotent in the face of these events.

It is imperative to determine what all of this implies for the future
no matter who replaces George W. Bush. The question remains: is the
United State still relevant on the horizon of world affairs?

But where will you find this concern framed in the media or political
discourse anywhere. Answer: virtually nowhere.

Much of this is revealed in the direction our economy is taking at
the same time as our dollar takes a nose dive further discouraging
investment from abroad. There was a time, and not very long ago, that
such international disruptions would have to include our leadership in
very profound ways. Today we have our own Secretary of State putting
together enough air miles rotating around the world to develop a
thousand first class flights on all airlines combined — but with
little to no progress at any single and major point.

Underneath all of much of these realities are the results of some of
the world’s largest and most powerful public relations firms or the
work of many former high level operators within the federal government
or the Congress who are influencing events.

For instance, Robert D. Blackwill, once the Iraq director for the
National Security Council, pushed to have a tough, secular Shiite Ayad
Allawi made Prime Minister of the "new" Iraq. That didn’t work out but
has not stopped Blackwill’s efforts to make things tough for Nuri Kamal
al-Maliki,ultimately the victor in free elections. He and his firm,
Barbour Griffith & Rogers, received $1.4 million to promote a nuclear
deal between the United States and India, oil contracts with Kurdistan.

What stands out in the abbreviated array of much broader ventures is
the shadow impact on American foreign policy that not only confuses
that much of the public who actually cares but also our theoretical
friends who are not part of these efforts and, ultimately decide either
to throw up their hands in frustration or simply ignore us altogether.

Among other things, the results of this increasingly profitable public
relations representation for any and all comers with the money to
pay for it raises questions that extend well beyond ordinary limits.

So it should not be at all surprising that the White House propaganda
chief Karen Hughes recites the confusion of nations around the world,
or, as she reportedly told PR Society, "People around the world aren’t
just sitting around to hear from America anymore," especially with
our involvements in an endless war. What she did not say, however,
was how much of the confusion is developed by influences from public
relations firms and former high level American officials.

It is not naive to be raising these points since we all understand
the logic of going after business to help influence opinions that
count for clients. What all of us as professionals and Americans
must understand and calculate very carefully is how this expanding
influence has already contributed to our nation’s irrelevance abroad
even as it may accomplish the ends of international, corporate and
special individual clientele in an increasingly complex world at what
some call the "Tipping Point."

* * *

Honick is president of Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based GMA International
Ltd, the consulting and public relations firm he formed in 1975 to
help companies broaden their business abroad especially in China and
Japan. He also contributes to a variety of publications on public
policy issues. This article was originally published Oct. 31, 2007
in O’Dwyer’s PR Report.

T. SARGSYAN SENDS MESSAGE OF CONDOLENCES TO HIS KYRGYZ COUNTERPART ON EARTHQUAKE WHICH HIT KYRGYZSTAN

ARMENPRESS
Oct 7, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 7, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
sent a message of condolences to his Kyrgyz counterpart Igor Chudinov
connected with the earthquake which hit Kyrgyzstan.

The public relations department of Armenian government told Armenpress
that in his message the Armenian prime minister particularly says,
"Dear Igor Vitalyevich, On behalf of the Armenian government and
personally me accept deep condolences on the earthquake which hit
Kyrgyzstan and caused death of tens of people.

Please convey our deep condolences and sympathies to the relatives
of victims".

Religious Intelligence Ltd, UK

Dutch Christian Democrats welcome Muslim texts

Sunday, 5th October 2008. 1:26pm

By: Nick Mackenzie.

The Dutch Christian Democratic Party has unveiled a new book of
spiritual meditations that include both Christian and Islamic
material.

"It is a common CDA tradition to open meetings with a meditation. But
we noticed that branches sometimes found it difficult to find an
appropriate text," as not all CDA members are Christian. "That is why
we put together the collection," says CDA spokesman Jo-Annes de Bat.

The book, called "Reflections for political meetings," is to be
distributed among the CDA regional branches.

It has been compiled by members of the party, including Roman
Catholics, Protestants, Jews and two Muslims: the current MP Ceskun
Coruz and ex-candidate MP Ayhan Tonca.

For his contribution, Tonca has drawn on poetry of the 14th century
Turkish poet Yunus Emre: "Allah praising and extolling, for his
qualities so unique, with godly reflection time after time, shall I
call on you, Lord, O Lord!" is in his contemplation.

The inclusion of Islamic texts in such a book is a notable development
in the Netherlands as there have been increasing episodes of
anti-Muslim feeling. One of the contributors to this book, Ayhan
Tonca, had to withdraw as a candidate when he failed to recognise the
Armenian genocide by Turkey (1915-1917). He also deemed the Danish
Muhammad cartoons as "unacceptable".

"As CDA, the Bible is our guide, and as members, we find each other in
core values such as justice. But one council member derives
inspiration from the Bible and another from the Koran. We wanted to
give this scope to the authors of the meditations," says De Bat.

Tonca does not find the initiative surprising. "It would rather have
been odd if there was no meditation from a Muslim in it. We want to
create a society as the Creator intended. On that point, Muslims and
Christians can find each other within the CDA."

RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN WELCOMED POLISH DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER ANDREJ KREMER AND DEPUTY MINISTER OF ECONOMY MARCIN KOROLEC

entre_8/official_news_en.php?&date=1222714800
Tuesday, 30th of September, 2008

The Polish officials said they are in Armenia to discuss cooperation
programs with their Armenian counterparts aimed at furthering
economic and political interaction between the two countries,
supposed to bring the two countries closer to each other on the
way to euro-integration, as well as to present the EU Eastern
Partnership Program. They briefed the Prime Minister on the outcomes
of their talks and the arrangements achieved during the contacts
had with their Armenian colleagues which also covered the formation
of an appropriate legal framework for cooperation. In particular,
prioritized were the signing of instruments of economic cooperation,
investment encouragement and mutual protection, collaboration in the
field transport and communications and free trade regime.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan welcomed these discussions by noting
that much of the Armenian-Polish cooperation potential needs developing
ahead. In his words, while about ten enterprises with Polish equity
are currently operating in Armenia, mostly in the commercial sector,
there is a clear need in expanding the mutually beneficial cooperation
into other sectors, too.

In this context, deputy ministers Andrej Kremer and Marcin Korolecz
pointed out a need for Armenia to participate in the annual business
forum held in Poland with the involvement of public and private sector
representatives from different countries. They took the opportunity
to invite the Prime Minister and people from the Armenian business
circles to attend the forum, engage talks with would-be investors
and come to arrangements on the spot.

During the meeting, the RA Prime Minister appreciated the passage by
the Polish Seim of a resolution acknowledging the genocide of Armenians
according to which "the commemoration of victims, the crime committed
and the call on its recognition is a moral duty for the whole mankind,
any people and good-willed individual."

The interlocutors also highlighted the need for engaging in ever
closer cooperation in education, science and culture. An agreement
was said to have been signed to that effect stipulating the drafting
and implementation of short-term projects in these areas.

At the close of this meeting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan asked
the ministers to forward to the Prime Minister of Poland his greetings
and his government’s readiness to cooperation.