IRAQI MILITANTS DEMAND $1M FOR ARMENIAN CAPTIVE
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 27 2005
Baku, September 26, AssA-Irada
Iraqi militants demand $1 million for the ethnically-Armenian
businessman they recently captured, Russian ITAR-TASS news agency
reported.
The deadline on the ransom for the release of Karapet Zhan
Jeckerdzhian, a 40-year old citizen of Cyprus and Lebanon engaged in
selling drinks and food in Iraq to order of Jetco company, expires
Monday.
The company suspended its activity in Iraq a week ago on a demand of
the kidnappers.
Reports released last week suggested that the militants demanded $2
million for Jeckerdzhian’s release but lowered the figure to $500,000
later. According to latest reports, the kidnappers are demanding a
$1 million ransom,. *

GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT ARMENIA
Pan Armenian News
26.09.2005 09:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 29 Georgian delegation headed by
Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli will arrive in Armenia on a 2-day
visit to participate in the 4-th sitting of the Armenian-Georgian
intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. Energy Minister
Nikoloz Gilauri, Deputy Foreign Minister Georgi Gugunishvili, Deputy
Minister of Finance Dmitry Gvindadze, Deputies to the Minister
of Economic development David Tsiklauri and Genrikh Muradian,
Deputy Minister of Labor, Health and Social Protection Levan Judeli,
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mirian Dekonoidze, Deputy Minister of
Environment and Natural Resources Jaal Lomtadze, Deputy Minister of
Education and Science Teymuraz Samadashvili, Head of Customs Department
Zurab Antelidze, Commercial Director of Georgian Railways Ramaz
Giorgadze, Head of the Transport Department Alexander Chkhikvadze,
Advisors to the Georgian Prime Minister and other officials will
serve on the delegation.
Before the opening of the meeting the Prime Ministers of Georgia
and Armenia will hold a tete-a-tete meeting. Separate meetings
of the working commissions will be also held. The agenda includes
issues referring to the contractual-legal basis, trade and economic
relations, tourism, etc. After the final sitting the participants will
sign documents and render a joint press conference. During the visit
Zurab Nogaideli will attend the depository of ancient manuscripts
of Matenadaran and meet with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and
Chairman of the National Assembly Artur Baghdassaryan.

V. OSKANIAN: EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY BRINGS ARMENIA BACK HOME
Pan Armenian News
26.09.2005 08:19
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian-Italian connections are based on rich
and ancient traditions, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
stated when receiving the Grosso d’Oro Veneziano award. “It was in
Italy in 1512, that Hakob Meghapart published the first book ever in
Armenian. The Urbatagirk (or Book of Days) was followed in 1513 with
the first published Armenian calendar.
The renowned Briton, Lord Byron, referred to the Venetian island of
San Lazaro as a fortress of Armenian independence, since the Armenian
monks of the Order of Mekhitar had found refuge there in the early
1700s. For the last three centuries, that haven has turned into a
scientific and cultural locus. Today, if you ask the Mekhitarist
fathers whether they are Venetian, they will say yes. If you ask
them whether they are Armenian, they will say yes. One can say that
they were pioneers in establishing a common European identity,
about which we speak proudly, yet with some apprehension. If it
used to be religion that bound Europe together a millennium ago, it
certainly isn’t any longer. Nor is it the economic advancement that
was specific to Europe two centuries ago. It isn’t ideology either,
which was both adhesive and encumbrance for decades in the last
century. Europe is more than its common history, more than geography,
more than a club for members. All those who’ve said Europe is an
idea are right. It is the idea of a Europe that is the common, if
unattainable ideal. Even those living outside this space have imagined
and desired a Europe which can be addressed collectively, a partner
which can be enlisted conveniently, a Europe to which they yearn to
belong. Armenia is Europe. This is a fact, it’s not a response to a
question. The collapse of the USSR brought us to a point of economic
and political crisis. I remember our discussions in Armenia, before
our entry into the Council of Europe. There were many questions about
the choice of path to take. Dante once said that the hottest places in
hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain
their neutrality. I’m happy to say I won’t be going there because I
was among the loudest advocates of the European path. The choice was
clear. Armenians believe in the values of the European enlightenment,
of European civilization. The moral, ethical and existential choices
that bring individuals and societies to select democracy over other
forms of government, rule of law over rule of man, human rights over
selective rights ­ those choices have been made. A people who have
lived under subjugation, have seen ethnic cleansing and genocide even
before the terms existed, have lived as a minority without rights,
now belong to a world where warring neighbors have found that they
can accept new borders based on realities on the ground and move
on. Europe’s nation-states have found that they can transcend borders,
without diminishing or ignoring cultural spaces, without expecting
historical identities to vanish. The European Neighborhood Policy
brings Armenia back home since Armenia’s foreign policy priority is
the gradual integration of Armenia into European institutions. The
double digit GDP growth, which Armenia achieved each of the last five
years, the successful admission into the WTO, the spirit of the free
enterprise, the changing political system and society are promising
signs that we are on the right track. However, it is too early to say
that the European standard is round the corner. It is not as close
yet as Europe itself, as Venice, as Verona, as the shared cultural
and religious values of the past and present.
To highlight and share those values, we will be launching a two-month
long Days of Italy in Armenia, beginning in early October. This project
has received the blessing and patronage of President Ciampi, President
Kocharian and Governor Galan. The centerpiece of these important events
will be an exhibition of the riches from the Isla Armena. In light of
all this, then, the Fondazione Masi has, in bestowing upon me this
award, put a great stamp of approval on Armenia, its foreign policy
directions, its European orientation, its future. I am privileged
to receive this prestigious award, il Grosso d’Oro Veneziano. This
is a special day for me. And this is, of course, a special place,
a special foundation and a special family with a glorious history of
650 years stretching all the way back to one of the greatest poets of
all times, Dante Alighieri. Dante’s descendants valued their heritage
and helped pass on his legacy. This legacy clearly manifests itself
in modern Italy and the Region of Veneto. Italy and Veneto also share
a legacy with Armenians. There is much symbolism in the fact that
Armenia’s coming back to Europe is being noted and celebrated here,
in Italy,” the Minister said.
–Boundary_(ID_x4pzqllqlg/RQ0Y4brxNlg)–

SYSTEM OF A DOWN FIGHT FOR THE FORE-FATHERS
by Eve Jenkin
Undercover Music News, Australia
Sept 27 2005
Armenian American band System Of A Down are proud of their heritage,
and have always fought to raise awareness of the Armenian genocide
of 1915-1923, in which approximately 1.5 Armenians were destroyed
by Turkey.
In a bid to gain official acknowledgement of this injustice, SOAD –
along with their fans, the Armenian National Committee of America,
Axis of Justice and the Armenian Youth Federation – will attempt to
sway the pending Armenian Genocide legislation.
By visiting the Batavia office of Representative Dennis Hastert, the
convoy will proceed to ask him to keep his word and hold a vote on
the upcoming legislation. As a member of the House of International
Relations Committee, Hastert has twice prevented the Armenian Genocide
legislation from coming to a full vote in the House despite have
expressed great enthusiasm for the measure since 2000.
If successful and the Speaker votes “Yes” to the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, he will allow the House’s 435 US members to cast their
ballots on the human rights movement. Ultimately, this will repay
for injustices victims of the genocide have suffered.
Serj Tankian, who along with his fellow SOAD members lost family to
the genocide, had this to say on the matter:
“Dennis, do the right thing…I just visited my 97- year-old
grandfather, my only link to the far past, and promised him that I
would go and try to talk to Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House,
and make sure that he takes this opportunity to bring up the Armenian
Genocide Resolution to the floor of the House of Representatives.
This is a personal issue to me and System.”

OSCE MEDIATORS TO MEET IN VIENNA
Baku Today
Sept 27 2005
The next meeting of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs mediating the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict is due in Vienna on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov was informed of the date for the meeting during the UN
General Assembly’s 60th session held in New York.
Mammadyarov said the venue and format of the next round of talks on
the conflict settlement should be determined at the meeting.
“Then it will become clear whether we will meet on the level of
foreign ministers or the co-chairs will visit Baku and Yerevan.”
Touching on prospects for the peace talks, Mammadyarov said there are
still opportunities to continue the negotiating process. Azerbaijan
should continue the talks while strengthening its military power,
he said.
“The stronger Azerbaijan’s economy, policy and army are, the more
beneficial it is for the country.”
Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers
agreed to keep the proposals that were not approved in the previous
Moscow and Kazan meetings confidential.
“Baku’s position of principle is to grant the highest status of
autonomy to Karabakh provided that Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
is protected,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DEPUTY FM CLARIFIES RUSSIAN MEDIATOR’S STATEMENTS
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 27 2005
Baku, September 26, AssA-Irada
Deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov told journalists on Monday that
there are no grounds for Yuri Merzlyakov, Russian co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper Garabagh conflict,
to be concerned over the increase in Azerbaijan’s military expenses.
Such statements mean interference in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs,
Azimov said. “The increase in the budget is normal. The budget will
be raised as much as needed.”
The deputy foreign minister said the move is based on Azerbaijan’s
national interests.
“This is Azerbaijan’s internal affair. The decision was made by the
country’s leadership and government agencies and no one is allowed
to meddle in this”, he said.*

HISTORY CAN NOT BE FOOLED AROUND WITH, BECAUSE IT MIGHT COME BACK TO HAUNT US
VHeadline.com, IL
Sept 27 2005
“History can be always be distorted or manipulated to suit the ends
of those who want to put forward their erroneous viewpoints”
Oscar Heck’s story of the conversation with an Haitian Taxi-driver
and his call for reparations by the White or European colonial powers
needs a rebuttal, which will at at the very least brings to the fore
all of the issues concerned.
That story of President Hugo Rafael Chavez of Venezuela being in real
danger and the overthrow of President Bertrand Aristide of Haiti,
got me thinking enough to do my research and point out the many facets
of the issue.
If we go back in biblical times and even before that, slavery has
been the normal attitude of conquerors. If we go back to beginning
of the Islamic period, we will note that slavery began in earnest
after 632 A.D. When an Arabian Caliph sent an agent named Mohammed
Ali to Africa to capture and bring back slaves to Arabia soon after
the 7th century. The Arabs did not consider Africans as humans,
but only as chattel
The beginnings of slavery date back to the period of the Muslim
conquest and forced conversion of Assyrian Christian Mesopotamia,
Zoroastrian Persia, the Christian Kingdoms in Aram (Lebanon and Syria),
Asia Minor, Jewish Palestine, Coptic Christian Egypt, Christian Nubia
(Sudan), Algeria, Morocco, Christian Carthage (Tunisia) and Libya,
and reached into the heart of darkest Africa, through the lands of
the Tauregs and into Timbuktu, Nigeria, Musabenbeque (Mozambique),
Zanzibar (which came under the Al-Busaid dynasty of Oman till January
1964), Somaliland, Cote d’Ivoire and into Uganda.
If we go even further, the countless Muslim invasions of Hindustan
(India), the first by Mahmud of Ghazni from Afghanistan into the
territory of Raja Dahir, followed by the Moghal (Mongol) invader
Taimur-the-Lame into Hindustan where they forced the conversion to
Islam of thousands upon thousands of Hindus there, does not speak
well of Islam.
It was in Africa that all the big Arab slave markets began, and they
traded with Portugal, Spain, Holland, France and Britain. On the
South-East African coast the biggest slave trader was a Principe
Henri of Pondoland, an African Christian who traded in slaves with
the Portuguese. The U.S. came into the slave trade much later after
its independence in 1783. Even in the case of New France, the Governor
Louis de Buade, sieur de Frontenac, comte de Palluau et Forest was the
first to bring African slaves to far North America in November 1689,
which was considered a great triumph of France. In most of Africa
Tribal Chiefs did big business by capturing neighboring tribes and
selling them as slaves to Arabs or Europeans.
This has been the bugbear of the unknown Africa, and has been denied by
many of today’s Africans themselves, but there is historical data that
can prove all of this to be true. Arab Dhows can still be found hugging
the East African coast in search of slaves in this very day and age.
There never has been any doubt that Spain created the Amerindian
slaves in the Americas, and later brought in African slaves to work
in the gold mines of the Spanish colonies in America.
Nor is there any doubt that the British and other colonial powers
brought African slaves to the Americas and the Caribbean, having
bought them from Muslim (Arab) slave-traders on the West African coast,
but the British also brought in indentured slaves from India.
These were people who were kidnapped and brought to Demarara (later
British Guiana) and Trinidad & Tobago. Go to Java, and other parts of
Indonesia and see the many Buddhist Temples, which are now derelict
because of the Islamic conquests and forced conversion to Islam. It
should be noted that no history book on Asia and Africa blames the
Arabs outright for their enslavement of the African people. The
reasons are evident. Many of the African and Asian countries are
Muslim, or have alliances with Islamic states and it would not serve
their interests to expose it.
Thus the blame for slavery is conveniently laid at the feet of the
European colonial powers.
It was Islamic conquests after the 7th century that brought about a
great influx of slavery. Of course it was Salau-ud-Din (Saladin) the
Kurd who captured 20,000 Christian men, women and children pilgrims
on their way to the Holy Land and sold them into slavery.
Salau-ud-Din also invaded Nubia and forced Christian monks to convert
to Islam or die. While most converted, one named Maurice would not,
and he was skinned alive on orders of Salau-ud-Din that is the Black
St. Maurice whose statue graces the Cologne Cathedral. Is this not
the great Salau-ud-Din who Muslims think of as an Islamic warrior?
Remember along the coasts of the Maghreb (North Africa) the Corsairs
did a thriving slave trade by attacking European and American shipping,
capturing the crews, which they then sold as slaves. But it was
Stephen Decatur of the U.S. Navy that foiled the Corsair raiders
and soundly defeated them. Then there is the Othman Turks whose
fleets attacking the Mediterranean coast of Europe captured and sold
thousands of Europeans into slavery. There was a big slave markets
in Tripoli, Libya, in Meknes, Morocco, in Tunis, Tunisia (Carthage),
Algiers, Algeria, all countries conquered and colonized by Arab from
the Islamic invasion of the 7th century. Also the capture by Muslim
pirates of the niece of the Empress Josephine (Beauharnois) of France,
who was returning from a convent in Martinique who later sold her to
the Sultan of Othman Turkey. Slavery was part and parcel of Islamic
society and we cannot get away from it. A perfect example of this,
is the Holy City of Meknes in Morocco, within whose walls were buried
alive some 20,000 white Christian slaves.
Neither Islamic society nor those who support them want these truths
to be known.
There are still slave markets in Arab countries, where one can bid
and buy a slave of any nationality. The present forced conversion
Christians to Islam in the Sudan by the Arab regime in Khartoum is
an on-going affair. In Marseilles, France alone every year almost
4,000 girls disappear. This is where there are gangs operating the
slave markets from Arab and African countries. To talk of European
colonialism of the past and forget the slavery of the present is to
be duplicitous.
We can only deal with the present, because there is not much of the
past that we can really remember.
We see no cry for justice and reparations asking Muslim countries
to make reparations for their enslavement of Europeans and others,
from those that now expect the former European colonial powers to
pay for their past sins. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia,
Morocco, Algeria and other Islamic states are just as guilty of the
enslavement of millions of people, if not more so than all the European
colonial powers put together. Are we to overlook Arab slavery, while
we only make it a point to remember the sins of Europe? No country
conquered by an Islamic force can ever remember its history beyond
the Islamic period. This is the religious brainwashing that has gone
on for centuries in the Middle East, Maghreb (North Africa), darkest
Africa and the Balkans.
Perhaps it is worth remembering that even the Othman Turks were past
masters at religious brainwashing, more so than all the communists
in Europe.
It is time to take serious overview of past history to get an honest
judgment of its reality vis-a-vis the Moors in Spain, the Arabs in
all of the present day Middle East and Africa, the Othman Turks in the
Balkans. Of course the Turks were in occupation of Bulgaria, Rumania,
Albania, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary for centuries and forced people to
convert to Islam or die. Why do think there is a Muslim Albania, Bosnia
and Herzegovina today, but by Turkish Islamic conquest centuries ago.
Do not forget the Turks still occupy Constantinople, which is part
of the Greek nation. Let’s not forget the Armenian genocide of 1915
-21 by Othman Turkey in which 1,500,000 people died. There is also
the Abyssinian genocide carried out by Italy in the mid1930s, both
of which have been conveniently forgotten by historians.
We cannot therefore judge the European colonial powers, if we do not
include Islamic invasions and slavery.
If we do not, then we cannot arrive at an honest judgment of all the
issues involved. We can deliberately pretend forgetfulness or omit
the facts that expose the reality of our time by selective amnesia,
but sooner or later it will catch up with us.
History can not be fooled around with, because it might come back to
haunt us.

THE “CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS” PARADIGM AND ITS CRITICS: A FINAL APPRAISAL
by Professor Michael C. Geokas
Hellenic News of America
Sept 27 2005
April 1, 1995 [PUBLISHED IN: Balkan News (Athens) May7-13, 1995]
>>From Samuel Huntington, one of the most distinguished and well-known
authorities on the State and its interests, we have seen “The Clash
of Civilizations,” an elaborate post-Cold War paradigm. Huntington
asserts that civilizations (defined by language, history, religion,
customs, institutions and by the self identification of people),
are both real and important, and that the differences among them,
which have been solidified through the centuries, are more fundamental
and enduring, than ideological or economic differences, as causes of
future conflict. Thus, civilizational conflict he states, is destined
to be the latest and inescapable phase of conflict in the modern world.
Additionally, whereas nation states, will continue to be powerful
actors in the affairs of the world, the clash between civilizations
will in effect dominate global politics and the (cultural) fault
lines between them, will constitute the battle lines of the future.
Some of Huntington’s critics (the magnificent seven) have been
vigorous in their attempts to discredit the civilization paradigm,
by insisting that the pervasive power of modernity and the inherent
weakness and inevitable erosion of tradition, will soon culminate
into a universal civilization, as the final and dominant determining
factor in global affairs. Professor Fouad Ajami has offered the most
brilliant, most eloquent and the most compelling “scalpel dissection”
of Huntington’s paradigm.
For this writer, Huntington’s civilizational paradigm is an ambitious
construct. However, it contains at least two very significant
classification errors, as well as the intriguing omission of a
monumental factor which promises to be overwhelming ingredient
in determining the future course in world affairs well into the
21st century and beyond: the population explosion in Asia, Africa
and Latin America. Most importantly, Huntington’s paradigm cannot
serve as a model or guide to help us comprehend post-Cold War global
political events.
ERRATA First, Huntington failed to realize and properly record that a
“Clash of Civilizations” has already been inaugurated by the conflict
between the Confucian and the Japanese civilizations, in the ‘China
Incident,” and between the Japanese, and Confucian plus Western
Civilizations, in the “Pacific Rim,” as part of World War II. As
expected from a civilizational conflict, involving sharply defined
cultural fault lines, the latter clash started with spectacular fury,
with an abrupt, surreal, unprovoked and devastating attack from the
air, at Pearl Harbor. This conflict was subsequently fought with
electrifying and ferocious naval and air battles, which included the
spectacle of the notorious kamikaze attacks, unique in the annals of
modern warfare. It included dogfights with Japanese pilots wearing
no parachutes, because it was considered disgraceful for them to
be captured alive by the enemy. The conflict was also fought with
enormous ferocity from island to island in the Pacific, with the
Japanese garrisons fighting against all odds, until the bitter end,
with very few survivors each time.
Even the Japanese civilian non-combatants, refused to surrender
and fell to their deaths from seaside elevations. Finally, when the
end came, it was from the air and was “unimaginable, irresistible,
[and] mushroom shaped.” Thus, the “Pacific Rim” conflicts before and
during the World War II, involved the clash of three civilizations,
the Confucian, Japanese and Western, especially its North American
subdivision. Even “the China Incident” was fought with great ferocity
(rape of Nanking and the indiscriminate bombardment of civilians) as
befitting to civilizational clash of arms. However, despite the fact
that the “Pacific Rim” conflicts fit Samuel Huntington’s paradigm
as the “right key in a door lock,” both of them were in effect
wars between nation states, that happened to belong to different
civilizations and not the other way around. These nation states fought
for their calculated crude interests.
The second significant error of Samuel Huntington’s is found in his
classification of contemporary civilizations, when he contradicts
his own obligatory definition. If indeed a civilization is defined
by common objective elements such as: language, history, religion,
customs, and institutions and subjectively, by the people’s
self-identification, then especially the Greeks, do not belong to
the Slavic-Orthodox-Moslem, civilization.
Orthodox-Christians they are, but Slavic people, they are definitely
not, and their differences from Islam, are too blatantly obvious to
deserve mentioning. But even the line of demarcation between Western
and Orthodox Christianity plus Islam, as suggested by William Wallace
(Map I), is fallacious, artificial and unsupported by the facts. This
line is also prejudicial, because it is based on the unresolved
Schism of Christianity, less than a millennium ago. On this issue
Jeanne Kirkpatrick is right on target. To exclude Russia and other
Orthodox Christians from Western Culture and to lump them together
with Islam, is to fly in the face of reality. Thus, instead of being
perpendicular, this demarcation line should be almost horizontal
(Map II), extending from the Black Sea to North Korea, separating
Christian people (including the Armenians) from those of the Islamic
and Confucian Civilizations.
THE GREEK CONNECTION History has already classified Greece as a
Western subcivilization, albeit with a special twist, due to her
exotic language, the non-Catholic branch of its Church and other
striking elements. Greece is in effect an outpost of Western Europe,
closely adjacent to the World’s most notorious cultural fault line,
that between Europe and Islam. In addition, Greece is the acclaimed
birthplace of Western democracy. Only in the city state of ancient
Athens and in the United States so far, has democracy lasted for as
much as two hundred years.
With a population of about 250,000, Athens produced works of
literature, sculpture and architecture that stand as models,
inspiration and wonder to this day. There is a superbly valid reason,
why the torch for the Olympic games originates in Olympia in the
Peloponessus and why the Greek Olympic team, holding that striking
blue and white flag, is always the first to enter the stadium, for
the Olympic opening ceremonies.
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 followed by almost 400 years of
Ottoman rule, eclipsed the normal evolution of a nation state. With
the revolution of 1821, promulgated mainly by Greeks of diaspora
living in Europe, a nation state was born about 170 years ago and
has been under parliamentary rule for 140 years of its existence,
in very sharp contrast to its neighbors to the east of the fault line.
During the “Western Civil Wars,” World War I and II and the Cold
War, Greece sided persistently and unequivocally with the victorious
members of the Western family of nations. Specifically, the Greeks
were celebrated participants in World War II, who fought in Greece,
in El Alamein, and in Italy. They enjoy the enviable distinction of
having defeated one of the fascist partners in 1940, of contributing
to the defeat of the second and of having defeated the Communists as
well, under the Truman doctrine, which was highly symbolic for the
Birthplace of Democracy.
Linguistically, the Greeks are unique indeed because their language
has only enriched other European languages. Thus, a cornucopia of
nomenclature of Greek derivation is found in Western dictionaries
and at least 68 per cent of the terms in Medicine are of Greek
derivation. The exotic nature of the Greek language is the reason
for the phrase, “its all Greek to me.”
There has never been a “kin country” syndrome among the Greeks, because
religion alone is not enough of a factor of kinship. The Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate is not the “Vatican” of Orthodox Christendom. As the
Turks have found to their sharp disappointment with the 150 million
fellow Muslim Turkic-speakers beyond their northern border, they
could not be their cultural Mecca, and they even failed to be their
“privileged partners.”
Most importantly, in complete alignment with the rest of Europe, Greece
has made the second demographic transition, with a low fertility rate
(1.4) and low natural increase of her population (0.1% annually), and
has embraced similar family planning methods, again in contrast, to her
Middle-Eastern neighbors on the other site of the fault line. Turkey
and other nations of the Middle East, have high fertility rates,
from 2.9 to 7.9,and natural increase from 1.5 to 5.0.
The Western character and strong subjective identification of the
Greeks is aptly illustrated by the Greek origin people in diaspora
(about 4 million), who voting with their feet, have settled mainly in
the West (US, Canada, Australia, European Continent). They are known
to adjust splendidly and to blend easily into the Western environment.
The Greek people have been adherents to the Orthodox Church since the
split of Christianity into its two main branches. The Greeks spread
Orthodoxy to the Slavic people. Religion is the only similarity between
them. All other objective elements such as language, history, customs,
institutions, culture, traditions are completely different.
Thus, it is absurd and inappropriate, to classify the Greeks into the
Slavic-Orthodox civilization just because they are not Catholics, or
Protestants. It is as absurd as classifying Suni and Shiite Moslems,
into separate Civilizations.
Thus, Greece is a part of Western civilization albeit with a special
twist: that of a magnificent language system, (for those who can read
the Iliad as well as Nikos Kazantzakis), a fierce individuality of
its people, and a great political and cultural heritage, which is
distinctly separate from that of the Slavic and Islamic peoples.
Greece it not even a “Torn Country.” It is a Western nation and a
European outpost at that.
THE DEMOGRAPHIC IMPERATIVE However, the most stupendous omission of
Samuel Huntington’s and of his critics (except Kishore Mahbubani),
concerns the overwhelming role that the demographic changes of the
world population, (projected for the 21st century), will undoubtedly
have on future world affairs.
The population explosion (vide infra) and brisk urbanization will
further erode tradition, and will boost modernity and the power of the
nation state. By 2015 nearly 56 per cent of the global population will
be urban, and there will be by 2010, 26 mega-cities with more than
10 million, most of them in developing countries. This significant
omission is understandable. We live in a world of intense and pervasive
specialization in science, and political scientists and professors
of government are no exception, in having difficulties to handle an
issue that necessitates a genuine multidisciplinary approach. Thus,
with one exception, the entire group of discussants, have neglected
the most crucial factor, that will determine to a significant degree,
the course of world affairs, in the next century.
Huntington refers to demographic changes only in passing and does not
seem to grasp their overwhelming impact on any post-cold War paradigm,
including his own.
POPULATION PROJECTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES.
Europe’s population (minus the previous USSR) will grow very little
by 2025, from 513 (1993) to 524 million (2025) and 18.4 of that
population will be over 65.
The population of the Middle Eastern countries and territories (Gaza
and West Bank) of 264,715 million in 1993, is projected to be about
576,426 million in 2025 (high estimate).
The Islamic nations included 980 million people in 1989 and are
expected to nearly double to 1.9 billion by 2020, accounting for 23
per cent of the world’s total.
The population of Africa was 677 million in 1993 and is projected to
be 1,552 million at 2025.
Asia’s population of 3,257 million in 1993 is projected to reach 4,946
million in 2025. China alone with 1,178.5 in 1993, is projected at
1,546.3 million for 2025.
North America’s (US and Canada) population of 287 million in 1993 is
projected at 371 million at 2025.
Latin America’s population of 460 million in 1993,is projected to be
682 million at 2025.
Former USSR’s population was 285 in 1993 and is projected at 321
million, at 2025.
Oceania’s 28 million people in 1993 are projected at 39 million
at 2025.
Thus the Western countries (Europe and North America) are projected
to have about 887 million people by 2025, (20 per cent of them over
65) whereas Africa, Asia and Latin America combined, are projected
to have 7,761 million, and a much younger population at that. This
enormous population imbalance between Western and non-Western nations,
will impart fundamental changes in the world arena.
The demographic forces now in motion will yield a world where
the US and other Western nations will no longer be able to shape
the political agenda, the culture or the direction of the global
community. Inescapably, the center of political, economic and
military power will move to a new non-Western area, bringing with
it an assertiveness of wide scope and significance. The mammoth
differences in demographic power will have serious consequences
for Western countries. Moreover, this population imbalance coupled
with differences in religion, culture, history, and traditions, will
provide the stage for a possible conflict between nation states or
groups of states, of the same or different civilizations.
The potentially controlling role of the demographic forces has been
appreciated by Kishore Mahbubani, who states that “simple arithmetic
demonstrates Western folly.” The West has 800 million people, and
the rest make up 4.7 billion.
In the national arena no Western society would accept a situation
where 15 per cent of its population legislated for the remaining 85
per cent. But this is what the West is trying to do globally.”
Kishore Mahbubani’s population arithmetic adjusted for the year 2025,
will be even more compelling for the emerging power of the non-Western
civilizations.
There can be no amount of exclusive technology or alliance that will
help a static and aging Western society, with 20 per cent of its
population over 65, (with its enormous expenses for health care and
other demands of its welfare policies), that will compensate for such
remarkable differences in sheer numbers and vitality of populations.
It is the demographic imperative, of population explosion and
urbanization (in addition to the modernizing imperative of Jeane J.
Kirkpatrick), coupled with the steady weakening of the Western
Societies through their own folly, that will facilitate conflict.
The West is caught into a self-made web of: low fertility rates,
excessive egalitarianism and radical interpretation of democracy, an
overwhelming emphasis on individualism, which translates into profound
selfishness (and away from altruism and childbearing), and palpable
arrogance, (even among intelligentsias); excessive liberalism and
permissiveness with almost total lack of discipline, especially among
the young, (who receive an abundance of contradictory signals from
their societies), a rigid and inflexible constitutionalism, flagrant
consumerism and hedonism and drug abuse; an incessant hollow call for
respect of human rights despite its miserable failure to protect its
own citizens from criminals and from other elements of social decay.
Whereas the “Western Ideas,” in Samuel Huntington’s litany of
“individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, human rights, equality,
liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets,” sound magnificent,
the demographic forces now at work and on track and their predictable
consequences, will make the West less and less relevant, by sheer
population volume, by the global redistribution of economic power,
and by technology transfer. For instance, the rapidly increasing
economic power of the East Asian States, including China, and their
huge populations and internal markets, will eventually lead to
enhanced military power (including an atomic arsenal and the means
to deliver it), to cultural assertiveness and to profound political
influence. The only partial exception to this scenario will most
probably be the United States, due to strong credentials as part
of the Pacific Rim family of nations and due to the volume and high
quality of brain power and high technological standing.
ISLAM >>From all civilizations, Islam represents a special case and
stands out alone. Islam is much more than a religion. Indeed, it is
a complete way of life. The Sharia governs virtually every aspect of
human life and Moslems believe that the word of God was given word
by word to Muhammad 1400 years ago, who in turn copied it in the Koran.
Furthermore, Islam is an expanding faith and the maintenance of a
worldwide Muslim community is one of the goals of Islamic life. A
specific example of this is the pilgrimage to Mecca, which serves to
demonstrate to each pilgrim the vast reach of Islam and the communality
of its adherents. Many Westerners believe that Islam represents the
only veritable ideological competitor of the West at the end of the
20th century and beyond. Here again the demographic imperative appears
to be controlling, especially in the southern and eastern perimeter
of Europe, where the Europeans sense [the] Islamic ideology on the
march, in what is called Islamic fundamentalism.
The seven countries of North Africa including Egypt, had 155 million
people in 1993 and are projected at 280 million at 2025, with a
doubling population time of 28 years. Moreover, the 15 countries of the
Middle East (including Egypt and Israel) will surpass an aging Europe,
with their youthful population. Thus, the fear of population decline
in “Fortress Europe,” which has been debated in France for decades
is now coming into a sharp focus. Many Europeans have justified fear
that migration from developing countries, including North Africa and
the Middle East, will increase to unacceptable levels.
It seems that population, like nature abhors a vacuum and is compelled
to move from high-growth to low-growth areas, especially if there is a
pull factor of economic advantage. At the G-7 meeting in Tokyo in 1993,
it was stated that uncontrolled migration may be more threatening and
destabilizing than terrorism or the spread of nuclear weapons. Whereas
nobody would anticipate a holy war of Muslim countries from North
Africa and Middle East, as a crusade in reverse, this time by the
Muslim crescent, the potential for great upheaval and disorder at
Europe’s interface with Islam is real.
HAVE A BETTER IDEA? YES I DO.
The “Clash of Civilizations” post-cold War paradigm cannot serve as
the model to help us understand central developments in the future
of world politics. Instead, the nation states, old and new, will
continue to be the main actors in world affairs, with their “acting”
having at times, a civilizational component.
Conflict between (and within) nation states of the same or of different
civilizations will continue to occur as a result of various factors
acting alone or in combination such as: ubiquitous nationalism,
simmering land disputes, competition for scarce water and energy
resources, age-old tribal frictions, religious fundamentalism,
regional and international terrorism, attempts for regional hegemony,
pressures from refugee populations and from large waves of migrants
towards developed countries.
However, the most powerful, all pervasive underlying factor for future
conflict, will be the demographic forces of population growth and
urbanization. This will bring the gradual, inexorable translocation
of economic, political and military power (and the ability to risk
military conflict and to tolerate combat losses), away from Western
societies and toward the nation states of the Islamic, Hindu and
Confucian civilizations. The aging populations of the Western powers,
and their inability to accept large combat losses in serious conflict,
(except in dire need of self-defense), will be in sharp contrast with
the exploding and youthful people of other civilizations.
Edward Luttwak has recently provided us with a brilliant analysis on
the existing impotence of the great Western powers to influence the
course of world events through intimidation, backed up with military
action if necessary, due to the demographic imperative of one, two
and three child families. He discusses “the War of all Mothers” and
the Italian “mamismo” (mothering) and their political consequences,
in the form of a powerful constraint in the use of force, by the low
fertility Western powers.
He emphasizes that in the future, only nation states with a high
fertility rate and large families will be able to initiate and to
sustain conflict and to tolerate significant combat losses. The West
he says, will have to rely more and more on volunteer armies and on
robotic weapons and will delay and avoid conflict, as much as possible,
because of the new family demography.
On the other hand, atomic weapons (and the means of delivering them)
are expected to proliferate among some high fertility rate nation
states and their deterrent effect will be lost for the West. Thus,
the emerging picture for the future of world politics is complicated
and largely unpredictable, due to a mosaic of labile factors,
but specifically because of the looming consequences of population
explosion and urbanization, coupled with the information explosion,
in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
In my view, an all-embracing post-Cold War guiding paradigm based
on civilizational fault lines, is unrealistic. Instead, the “tug of
war” between tradition and modernity will continue inexorably, in
a large number of global locations. The nation states shall remain
the key actors in world affairs, albeit in a new order dictated by
demographic forces.
Finally, the International Conference on Population and Development,
in Cairo, last year, was indeed a valiant attempt to slow down the
projected population explosion within the 21st century, through family
planning and other measures, from 5.67 billion today, to a sustainable
7.27 billion by 2015. Most probably however, the long-term outcomes
of this effort, will be modest at best, due to the fact that Western
countries have long completed their second demographic transition,
whereas nation states of Islamic and some of the other non-Western
civilizations, have a long way to go, in achieving their own
demographic transition and population control.
Michael C. Geokas, M. D., M. Sc., Ph.D.(McGill), Emeritus Professor
of Medicine and Biological Chemistry, University of California, Davis.
SOURCES:
1. Huntington S.P. The Clash of Civilizations. Foreign Affairs,
72(3):22, 1993;
2. Huntington S. P. If not Civilizations What? Foreign Affairs
72(5):186, 1993;
3. Ajami Fouad. The Summoning, But they Said, We Will not Hearken.
Foreign Affairs 72(4): 2, 1993;
4. Kirkpatrick Jeane J. and others. The Modernizing Imperative,
Tradition and Change. Foreign Affairs 72(4):22, 1993;
5. Mabbubani K. The Dangers of Decadence, What the Rest Can Teach
the West, Foreign Affairs, 72(4): 10, 1993;
6. Kagan D. Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, New York:
Free Press, 1991;
7. Rouleau E. Challenges to Turkey. Foreign Affairs 72(5):110, 1993;
8. 1993, World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau,
Inc. Washington D.C.;
9. Beedham B. Islam and the West, Economist, 332(7875), August 6,
1994:44.
10. Luttwak E. Where are the Great Powers? Home With the Kids.
Foreign Affairs, 73(4):23, 1994;
11. Inoguchi T. The Coming Pacific Century? Current History 93(579):25,
1995;
12. Conelly M. and Kennedy P. Must It Be the Rest against the West?
The Atlantic Monthly, 274(6): 61-91,December 1994.

PRIMATE, CHURCH LEADERS VISIT ARMENIA
Solange De Santis
Staff Writer
Anglican Journal
Sept 27 2005
Looking for support and greater dialogue with Canadian churches,
the Canadian diocese of the Armenian Orthodox Church invited a group
of church leaders, including the Anglican primate, Archbishop Andrew
Hutchison, to visit Armenia in late August.
Throughout 70 years of Soviet rule, the Armenian Orthodox Church was
repressed and it is now “trying to rebuild,” said Archbishop Hutchison
in an interview, noting that the trip was completely sponsored by
the Armenian church.
“The church survived and a core of the faithful survived. It is a
Christian country surrounded by Muslim countries. The borders to
Azerbaijan and Turkey are closed and the border with Georgia is not
as free-flowing as it might be,” said Archbishop Hutchison.
In Canada, he pointed out, the Anglican church has aided Armenian
churches by providing space for new Armenian congregations and
Archbishop George Carey visited Armenia when he was Archbishop of
Canterbury.
The delegation also included Archbishop Brendan O’Brien, president
of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops; Archbishop Sotirios,
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Canada; and Richard Schneider, president
of the Canadian Council of Churches.
The hosts were Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, primate of the Armenian
church in Canada, and his assistant, Deacon Hagop Arslanian.
While in Armenia from August 24-31, the group met with His Holiness
Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, at the
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, a cathedral complex near the capital
of Yerevan that is the center of authority for the worldwide church.
Last year, the Canadian parliament acknowledged the genocide of 1915,
during which 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Turkish forces,
and “that means a great deal to them,” said Archbishop Hutchison,
who participated in a wreath-laying at a memorial for genocide victims.
The visit coincided with the 90th anniversary of the genocide and the
1600th anniversary of the invention of the Armenian alphabet, he noted.
The group also met with political leaders and visited major historic
and religious sites.
The primate discussed with the Armenian church two possible projects
for the Anglican Church of Canada: a bursary to support a theological
student studying in Canada and advice from Canada’s well-developed
military chaplaincy to support a new chaplaincy in Armenia.

SO DID THE ARMENIAN CONFERENCE HURT OUR COUNTRY’S INTERESTS?
The New Anatolian
Sept 27 2005
View: Ilnur Cevik
The controversy-riddled Armenian conference was held over the weekend
despite all kinds of obstacles. No one expected any earth-shattering
results, but even the fact that such a conference could be held in
Turkey and the quality of the debate, even though a bit fiery at times,
shows our country is edging towards accepting free debate as part of
our culture.
The court order demanding the cancellation of the conference was
by-passed with the help of Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, with
organizers switching the venue from Bogazici to Bilgi University .
This was a purely academic occasion yet it was turned into a political
controversy thanks to Turkey ‘s ultranationalist conservative
establishment.
The conference was entitled “The Ottoman Armenians During the Collapse
of the Empire,” but in essence it was designed to debate what had
really happened in eastern Anatolia on Ottoman Empire territory just
before and during World War I. It was designed to make an academic
evaluation of what really happened; to filter the facts from the myth.
Did the Armenians collaborate with invading Russian forces? Did
they set up militia groups to attack Turkish villages and
commit atrocities? Did Turkish bands attack Armenian villages in
retaliation? Were the Armenians forced out of their settlements and
made to migrate to other parts of the empire? What happened to them
during this exodus? Did tens of thousands of Armenians perish in the
process? And, above all, who’s responsible for all this?
Bogazici, Bilgi, and Sabanci universities and their academic
staff should be praised for supporting the organization of such a
conference. This isn’t only because the Armenian issue should be
discussed in earnest, without the usual nationalist slogans, but
also because they served the cause of freedom of speech and showed
how things are starting to change for the better in Turkey despite
efforts by the conservative establishment to turn the clocks back.
It also served to show to academics at universities what liberals like
us (the International Herald Tribune on Sept. 22 described me as a
“liberal voice”) suffer when they want to bring out the truths on many
issues, not only on the Armenian claims but also on the Kurdish issue,
domestic corruption, and irregularities.
The tomatoes and eggs thrown at journalist and columnist Cengiz
Candar and former Deputy Prime Minister Erdal Inonu by a handful of
ultranationalists and ultra “left-wing” militants of the Workers Party
(IP) while they were departing from the conference, was the least
that these people could do to us liberals.
Turkey ‘s liberals are making headway thanks to Turkey ‘s quest to
join the European Union. If it weren’t for the EU accession talks,
scheduled to start on Oct. 3, even the government may not have opposed
the court ruling to block the conference. We hope the freedom-loving
and liberal-minded people of Europe realize this. We also hope that
they also realize what could happen to liberals in Turkey if we fail
to make progress for full EU membership. Tomato attacks by such mobs
would be the least of our worries.
Turkey hasn’t lost anything but has gained from this Armenian
conference. We’ve shown that we have nothing to hide and most of us
can face the challenges of history in a mature manner. The cat is
now out of the bag and we all have to start debating these issues
in earnest without falling into any nationalist pits. Let’s hope
those who had the courage to organize this conference also show the
courage to debate Turkey ‘s Kurds and its domestic corruption and
irregularities with the same boldness.