THE LEBANON WAR EXPOSES STRANGE RELIGIOUS BEDFELLOWS
CounterPunch, CA
Aug. 7, 2006
A New Kind of Bigotry
By GEORGE BERES
I’ve not been a target of religious prejudice during my 73 years–
except today, as I identify with growing tragedy in the Middle East.
“Are you Jewish,” I’m asked.
No.
“Are you Arabic?”
No.
The questions, natural and obvious, point up the problem: a hidden
religious prejudice. It has less to do with bigotry than with simple
historic and religious illiteracy among Americans. The impact on
me grows because I was born and raised in this country as a Greek
Orthodox Christian. I left the institutional church because of its
patriarchal prejudices. I’ve come to recognize something even more
destructive common to almost all faith-based sects: the belief they
are god’s chosen people– having a direct line to what “god” tells them
(or that they tell him?) is the truth.
Few in the evangelical church are free of such misconceptions. If
they choose to be what I view as delusional, that’s their privilege
in free societies. When it is forced on others, it becomes dangerous
and unjust.
Victims of such attitudes today are vulnerable Christian minorities
in Lebanon and Palestine, where entire societies are being attacked by
Israel armed by the United States. Over the centuries, these minorities
got benign treatment for their religious faith from Ottoman overlords
during a long period of Islamic dominance. There is nothing benign
about their contemporary mistreatment at the hands of what they see
as Western religion: Christianity with a fundamentalist jaundice,
and Judaism colored by Zionist extremism.
It’s a misconception to assume Lebanon and Palestine are exclusively
Islamic. More than 30 percent of Lebanon is Christian, virtually
all of the Eastern Orthodox faith. Most of Palestine’s four million
people are Islamic. 50,000 are Eastern Orthodox, 25,000 Roman Catholic,
25,000 Protestant and 1,000 Armenian Orthodox.
It has reached the point where the normally uninvolved Archbishop
of Greece’s Orthodox Church, Christodoulos, said in early August:
“Israel’s actions within its right to self-defense have long exceeded
any rational limit . . . This is not in Israel’s interest. Fear
God’s wrath.”
He failed to acknowledge what makes possible such “excessive” actions
by Israel: unstinting support from the United States. That is what
justifies– in fact, demands– I speak out.
The enmity of Arabic peoples toward Judaism dates from antiquity, the
days of the pharaohs. That with Christianity is more recent, inspired
by the Medieval Crusades, when Knights of Christendon used the cross
as a symbol to justify pillage and rape of Muslims defending Jerusalem.
Islam was not the only victim. Eastern Orthodox clergy were slaughtered
and their churches looted by Western armies identified more with
ambitions of war than goals of Christianity. That does not make it
easier for me to understand how avowed Christians from the U.S., with
their Israeli allies, can today freely victimize Orthodox Christians
as if they did not realize they exist in Islamic lands.
The true tragedy is Israeli policy, approved if not fomented by the
United States, that results in death for Lebanese and Palestinian
civilians, and in retaliation, death for innocent Israelis. Myopia of
the U.S., which identifies itself as Christian, is apparent in many
Christians being killed, even if Americans callously assume targets
are exclusively Muslim.
Though I’m of Greek heritage, I’ve long valued and interacted with
Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians. They were members of St. George
Anticochian Orthodox Church, which my family attended in Oak Park,
suburb of Chicago. Some of those close friends now face each day with
fear for relatives living in Beirut.
Such fear is not rooted in threats from Muslims, although that
reailty grows as civil war begins to engulf Lebanon and Iraq. Its
true source fuels my identity with the victims, and a sense that I
must speak out against actions of my country. My anger and suspicions
are directed toward leaders of my country and of Israel who devastate
many with preemptive war. Their actions suggest bigotry that threatens
me personally.
Irony of this destructive collaboration is that Israel welcomes support
of Christian fundamentalists for short-term advantages it offers. All
the while, Jews are familiar with historic betrayal at the hands of
Christians who have found various ways to disguise their hatred of
the so-called “Christ-killers.”
Most Jews know that in the long term, their evangalist benefactors are
interested only in setting the stage for what they see as the second
coming of Christ. That, they believe, can occur only when Israel gains
full control of Jerusalem. On that day of “rapture” in the Christian
lexicon, the church will offer Jews a choice. As a minister of a church
in Eugene, Ore., was quoted earlier this summer (The Register-Guard):
“Jews will have a chance to convert to Christianity and be saved with
us. If they refuse, they will be condemned with all other unbelievers.”
Few in America realizes how the Eastern Church, along with innocent
Muslims, is under attack in Lebanon and Palestine by this rare alliance
between Judaism and fundamentalist Christianity. I also am a target,
and am overdue in speaking out.
George Beres, retired in Eugene, Ore., once was executive director
of the Hellenic Foundation in Chicago in the mid-1970s. He can be
reached at: [email protected]
res08072006.html

GILLESPIE GAINS FITNESS FOR ARMENIA MATCH
Sports Network
Aug. 7, 2006
Belfast, Ireland (Sports Network) – Keith Gillespie has been ruled
fit for Northern Ireland as they get set to face Armenia on Wednesday
in a EURO 2004 qualifier.
Gillespie suffered a hamstring injury in the closing minutes of
Saturday’s scoreless draw against Ukraine. He could not leave the
pitch as manager Sammy McIlroy had already made his final substitution.
The Leicester winger, of the English Premiership, received treatment
upon his return to Northern Ireland’s headquarters and will be ready
for Armenia on Wednesday. It’s a must win match for his country who
have not scored a goal in their last 10-plus matches.
“We have now got to be looking to beat Armenia after the way we played
in Ukraine,” said Gillespie. “It was a great performance and now we
have to take it a step further and get our first win in the group.”
Northern Ireland is the only team without a win in the Group 6
standings and sit 12 points behind first-place Greece.
Midfielder Michael Hughes will be out against Armenia after receiving
a yellow card against Ukraine.
McIlroy should have Roy Carroll and Colin Murdock, who were not with
the club on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Armenia has been accused of attempting to bribe Greek
officials more than $1 million for the match on Saturday. Greek
officials denied those reports.

KOCHARIAN-ALIYEV-PUTIN MEET IN KAZAKHSTAN
ArmeniaDiaspora, Armenia
Aug. 7, 2006
Yesterday in the capital city of Kazakhstan, Astana, a meeting between
the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, took place. The
meeting lasted for two hours. Prior to that President Kocharian
held a separate meeting with the president of Azerbaijan,Ilham
Aliyev. After the Kocharian-Aliyev-Putin meeting the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan held a meeting with the cochairmen of the OSCE
Minsk group. The main topic of discussion was the settlement of the
conflict of Nagorno-Karabagh.

OREGON CONGRESSMAN EARL BLUMENAUER JOINS ARMENIAN CAUCUS
ArmeniaDiaspora, Armenia
Aug. 7, 2006
Washington, DC – The Armenian Assembly welcomed the official
announcement today that Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) has joined
the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, bringing the total to
133. The news follows an August 10 district meeting with the Armenian
Assembly held August 10 in Portland, Oregon.
“As the congressional representative of many Armenians in Portland,
I’m proud to be the latest member of the Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues, an ever-growing group of those of us in Congress
who want to give these issues the attention they deserve,” said
Congressman Blumenauer.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues and the members of
the Armenian community in my home town and around the world on
issues of importance to Armenians,” he continued. Assembly Western
Office Director Lena Kaimian, who led this week’s meeting, said: “We
welcome Congressmen Blumenauer’s membership to the Armenian Caucus. He
brings experience, enthusiasm and commitment to the Caucus and we
look forward to working with him and his congressional colleagues on
issues pertinent to the community.”
“Assembly supporters worked closely with our Los Angeles staff
to encourage the Congressman’s membership to the Caucus,” Kaimian
continued. “I would especially like to thank activists Greg Geokjian
and Les Margosian for participating in this meeting and advocating
on behalf of our issues.”
Congressman Blumenauer, who has represented Oregon’s Third
Congressional District since 1996, is a well-known supporter of
Armenian-American issues. As such, he has urged President George W.
Bush to appropriately acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, voted to
maintain Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act and supported the
Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act.
The Congressman also serves on the International Relations Committee
and is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
He joins fellow Oregon lawmaker, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley (D-OR)
in representing Armenian-American interests on the Caucus.

EIGHT ARMENIANS SENT BACK HOME
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
Aug. 7, 2006
Illegal immigrants believed to use pose as members of sports clubs to
get visas more easily
The Finnish Guard sent eight Armenian citizens back to their country
on Friday. They had arrived in Finland along with a sports team, and
the Guard says that they had entered Finland on false premises.
The group had been granted visas to take part in the young
people’s Delfin Basket basketball tournament in Tampere.
However, eight of the members were caught on a passenger ship
from Turku to Sweden. Officials suspect that the group were trying to
get to Sweden, and from there, to other parts of Europe.
Seven members of the group were not actually members of the
team, and never showed up in Tampere. They included a mother with two
daughters more than ten years of age, an 11-year-old girl with her
grandmother, and two unaccompanied girls aged 14 and 16.
One of those who was caught and returned was the leader of the
team, who also had the money for the basketball team. The money was
returned to the players who stayed with the tournament.
Esa Korpi of the Southeast Border Guard notes that it is difficult
for citizens of former Soviet countries to get visas to the Schengen
countries, which is why local travel agencies often work together
with sports clubs.
“The visas are arranged through the sports club. Two of the
girls who were sent back said that they had bought their trips
through a local Armenian travel agency.”
The real purpose of the trip remained something of a mystery
for the Border Guard. However, all participants insisted that they
planned to return home.
Korpi says that the Armenian team, which has taken part in several
basketball tournaments, has been under scrutiny for a some time now.
In previous years, some of those who accompanied the team on foreign
travel have later been found in other parts of Europe.
In 2003, during the FIFA Under-17 World Championships in
Finland, 13 players of Sierra Leone’s national football team and
their supervisors applied for asylum while they were in Finland.
In the same tournament, 150 visa applications came from
Nigerian football fans. Finnish officials rejected 130 of them on
suspicion of potential misuse.

FINLAND’S BORDER GUARD APPREHENDS EIGHT ARMENIANS BOUND FOR SWEDEN
Newsroom Finland, Finland
Aug. 7, 2006
The Finnish Border Guard apprehended eight Armenians who were
attempting to travel to Sweden through Finland, provincial daily
Aamulehti reported Sunday. Those apprehended were sent back to Armenia
on Friday.
According to the paper, the Armenians had been granted visas for a
basketball tournament in Tampere. One of the Armenians apprehended
while attempting to take a ferry to Sweden was the leader of the
girls’ basketball team and was carrying the team’s money for the
tournament. The seven other Armenians were not part of the team.
The team leader told the Border Guard the group was simply intending
to pop over into Sweden before returning to Tampere. The Border Guard
suspected the group was heading further south into Europe.

IBERIAN RESOURCES PREPARES FOR PRODUCTION IN ARMENIA AND PORTUGAL
Australian Stock Exchange
August 7, 2006 Monday
Iberian Resources Ltd expects to produce first gold at its Lichkvaz
gold project in Armenia in the coming months, while a pre-feasibility
study on its Montemor gold project in Portugal supports the presence
of a robust gold project.
The Armenian project carries a JORC estimate of 8.86Mt at 3.78g/t Au,
23.9g/t Ag, 0.31 per cent Cu for approximately 1.4 million ounces
of gold equivalent. A scoping study is currently being carried out
to determine if gold production targets can be increased to 150,000
per annum.
Over 25 kilometres of underground development was completed by a
Soviet exploration team over 20 years ago, equating to a saving of
$US25 million ($A32.6 million) in development expenditure.
The company’s Portuguese tenures cover 1,380sqm, or 1.5 per cent of
the country. The Montemor gold project pre-feasibility study forecast
400,000t at more than 4g/t gold per year for an initial four years
at 50,000 ounces per year at a cost of less than $US300 per ounce.
Between the Armenian and Portuguese projects, Iberian Resources’
attributable resource base exceeds 1.75 million ounces of contained
gold equivalent, a 480 per cent increase on the resources base since
the company listed on the ASX on November 17, 2004.
STOCK DASHBOARD: AUGUST 4, 2006
IBERIAN RESOURCES
Closing Price: 61.5c Price change from previous trading day:
+1.65% Relative Strength (6 months percentile rank): 22.4 Market
capitalisation: $43.91 million Turnover volume: 145,116 Volume Index
(1 is average): 0.9 Turnover value: $89,103 Turnover period: 424 days
Value of $1,000 invested 1 year ago: $1,577 Source:

CALIFORNIA LIKELY TO CELEBRATE ARMENIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.08.2006 17:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As the Republic of Armenia prepares to celebrate
15 years of independence next month, the Assembly today welcomed a
decision by California State Senators Charles Poochigian (R-Fresno)
and Joseph Simitian (D-Palo Alto) to introduce a resolution in the
State Senate designating September 21, 2006 as “Armenian Independence
Day.” A similar resolution will also be introduced in the State
Assembly by Majority Leader Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) and Assembly
Member Greg Aghazarian (R-Stockton), making California the first
state to mark the anniversary of Armenia’s independence, reported
the Armenian Assembly of America.
Both resolutions recognize September 21, as “A Day of Celebration
of the California-Armenia Relationship,” and encourage the people
of California to recognize the many talents, achievements, and
contributions that Californians of Armenian heritage make. The
resolutions also note that California is home to the largest population
of Armenians in the U.S., and state, “those citizens have enriched
California through leadership in the fields of academia, medicine,
business, agriculture, government, and the arts, and are proud
patriotic practitioners of the American citizenship.”

ARMENIA RANKS 79 IN FREE COUNTRIES INDEX
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.08.2006 17:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The 2006 State of World Liberty Index ranks countries
from most to least libertarian by compiling information from four
freedom indices into one single index. The indices used were: The
Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal, the Frasier Institute/Cato
Institute, Freedom House, Reporters without Borders. The countries
were broken into three criteria: individual freedom, economic freedom
and government size/taxation and averaged.
According to the index, the freest region is Europe whole the freest
country is Estonia. “The world is not free,” the experts say. The
world receives a failing score of 56.9% out of 100.
The mangled corpse of the Soviet Union is stretched across the list,
with the Baltic states of Estonia (#1), Lithuania (#16) and Latvia
(#21) all making the top 25 after embracing free market liberalism,
while their neighbor Belarus (#153) and the Asian countries
Turkmenistan (#154) and Uzbekistan (#152) dangle in the bottom
ten. Armenia (#79), Russia (#124), Kazakhstan (#132), Tajikistan (#141)
and Azerbaijan (#137) are also struggling in a post-Soviet world.
North Korea is at the bottom of this list, with a score of 6.2%.

IN AZERBAIJAN TALKS ON PARTICIPANTS OF STATUS REFERENDUM AND PROBABLE SHIFTING OF CO-CHAIRS
AZG Armenian Daily #148, 08/08/2006
Neighbors
“For a successful continuation of democratic process of Karabakh issue
it is necessary that the Azerbaijanis return to Nagorno Karabakh,”
commenting on probability of Azerbaijani population in status
referendum Azeri foreign minister Elmar Mamediarov said. According
to Azerbaijani news agencies, Mamediarov said that “the Azerbaijanis
that were displaced from their native land also belong to the people
of Karabakh and it is necessary that they return there.”
Curiously enough the Azeri FM speaks of the status referendum not
from the position of negation but from a participant’s position.
Special representative of Azerbaijani president on Karabakh issue,
deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov, was quoted by Mediamax agency
as saying that it is not excluded that the OSCE Minsk Group’s Russian
and French co-chairs will also be replaced following the shifting of
the American one.