Jews, Scots, Armenians, Dutch
by Gary North

Lew Rockwell, CA
Nov 13 2004

You have heard this phrase: “He can buy from a [ ], sell to a [ ],
and make a profit.

Here are the most likely choices:

Jew
Scot
Dutchman
Armenian

Why? What do these seemingly disparate groups have in common, other
than money?

Let’s begin with the least known group.

THE ARMENIANS

In 1962, I had a Jewish roommate, Roger Hartman. I didn’t know much
about Judaism back then. Roger had grown up in the area around
Fresno, California – not exactly a cosmopolitan region. His family
had later moved to San Francisco, as I recall. He told me why: “When
the Armenians moved in, the Jews moved out.” I don’t know if he
really meant this specifically about his own family, but the phrase
was obviously common among Jews in the area. Armenians are highly
competitive in commerce. They are famous as rug merchants, but their
skills go way beyond importing rugs.

I knew less about Armenians in 1962 than I do now. I’m now married to
one. But I never did forget Roger’s comment. There was, and is, a
large Armenian population in the Fresno area. The most famous
Armenian-American author, William Saroyan, was born in Fresno in
1908. My father-in-law grew up in Kingsburg, not far from Fresno.

Side note: Armenians are easily identified by their names – more
easily than any other national group. Their names usually end in -ian
or -yan. My father-in-law was an exception: Rushdoony, not
Rushdoonian. He told me why. His family had roots back to royalty in
Armenia. When the Turks conquered the country nine centuries ago,
they forced a name change on everyone, so that they could be easily
identified. They added the -ian sound. My father-in-law’s family
escaped the restriction because of the family’s royal lineage.
Anyway, that’s what he told me. As someone who read a book a day for
60 years, he knew about such things.

The Armenians are the entrepreneurs of Western Asia. This has been
true for centuries. I found it interesting that in the old “Upstairs,
Downstairs” series, when the script writers wanted to portray a rich,
aggressive, unscrupulous, social-climbing businessman, they chose an
Armenian. It may have been too politically incorrect to select a Jew,
but the decision was nevertheless believable. The character was
looked down on by the upper crust. They referred to him as a Jew, he
said. This upset him; he was proud of his Armenian heritage.

In the Soviet Union, Armenians were called the Christian Jews. There
was considerable hostility and discrimination in Moscow against
members of both groups. But, like Jews, Armenians climbed their way
to the top of the Communist Party’s hierarchy. Anastas Mikoyan was
the most prominent of them. He was the Commissar of Food Supply and
then Minister of Trade under Stalin. He was elected president in
1964, a ceremonial post. He survived. He never missed a trick. He
introduced Eskimo Pie into the USSR – one of the more productive
things ever done by a senior Soviet bureaucrat. His brother Artem
designed the MiG jet fighters. Under Gorbachev, Abel Aganbegyan
served as senior economic advisor. Yet Armenia was the smallest of
the Soviet republics, both in population and geography.

There is another shared feature with Jews. In 1915, the Turks
committed the first genocide of the twentieth century. They killed
about a million Armenians. This policy was systematic. Most people
have never heard of this event. (On the persecution, see the great
but little-known 1963 movie by Elia Kazan, America, America.)

Because World War I was going on, the Armenian genocide received
little publicity. It was concealed because the Germans and the Turks
were allies. Word did not get out, except for survivors’ accounts.
War news dominated the Western press. Also, Turkey was crucial
internationally because Turks controlled the Dardanelles, the narrow
access to the Black Sea. The Turks could seal off access from the
Russian Navy’s only warm water port. British foreign policy had long
been favorable to the Turks because of this geography: the balance of
power. So, there was no outcry from the West after the War, despite
Turkey’s former alliance with the Germans. The lesson was not lost on
Hitler, who wrote:

I have issued the command – and I’ll have anybody who utters but one
word of criticism executed by a firing squad – that our war aim does
not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical
destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head
formations in readiness – for the present only in the East – with
orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion,
men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus
shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after
all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?

The famous British historian Arnold Toynbee did much of the research
on the Armenian genocide for Lord Bryce’s 1916 collection of
survivors’ accounts. My wife’s grandfather, who had a photographic
memory, has two articles in the book. It was an official publication
of the British government, but it had no political effect.

THE DUTCH

When we think of the Dutch, we think of “Dutch Treat.” This term
applies to dates in which the woman pays her share of the evening’s
expenses. Whether the practice originated in Dutch-American circles,
I do not know, but the phrase has stuck.

The Dutch are frugal. They are legendary for this frugality. They are
good farmers, especially dairymen. They are not equally famous in
commerce, although there are highly successful Dutch-affiliated
companies. The Herman Miller Company is dominant in business chair
manufacture. The Dutch are regional: Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an
urban enclave.

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch rivaled the British in world
trade, yet their country was tiny, dug out of the sea by means of
dikes and windmills. They had money, and they had great artists. They
were also ruthless colonialists in Indonesia. They took no guff. They
fought a naval war with Cromwell’s England: two Calvinist powers
going at each other with fleets. The war continued under Charles II.
New Amsterdam became New York City in 1664.

It is one of those historical anomalies that they arrived, seemingly
out of nowhere, in the early seventeenth century. They were masters
of commerce. Their central bank actually preceded the Bank of England
(1694). They had a well organized stock exchange. They also had help
from Jews, who had been kicked out of Spain by Queen Isabella in
1492, and had fled to Antwerp and Amsterdam, where there was greater
religious liberty for them.

The Dutch reputation for frugality as consumers is an extension of
their former reputation as hard-bargaining traders. The same
legendary frugality is associated with the Scots.

THE SCOTS

In the eighteenth century, the Scots replaced the Dutch as the
world’s traders. While the English gained this reputation, the Scots
had the edge. Union with England came in 1707. From then on, the
Scots took advantage of the British colonial empire. Again, like the
Dutch a century earlier, they came out of nowhere. In 1650, Scotland
was poor, a backwater of Europe. By 1750, the Scots dominated trade
and philosophy. David Hume, Lord Kames, Adam Smith were Scots. By
1850, Scots around the world dominated invention and
entrepreneurship. From James Watt to Andrew Carnegie, the Scots
pioneered manufacturing and mass production. Arthur Herman’s book,
How the Scots Invented the Modern World (2001), tells this remarkable
story.

By 1950, the Scots were still influential as individuals, but not as
a self-conscious, well-connected group. Ronald Reagan was one of
them, and he attended a traditional Presbyterian Church, as a good
lowland Scotsman should. But we do not think of Reagan as a Scot.
While Sean Connery represents them, they are not organized
sufficiently to be represented.

THE JEWS

Like the Dutch in 1600 and the Scots in 1700, Jews in 1900 came out
of nowhere – or its cultural equivalents, Russia and Eastern Europe –
to dominate the movie industry and radio in the first half of the
century, and the economy in the second half.

The Rothschilds made their fortune under Napoleon, and other banking
houses of the late nineteenth century were Jewish-owned. But the
Morgan network was dominant in America in 1890, not Jewish investment
banks. The Rockefellers became competitors by 1910. Kuhn Loeb was not
in this league. The only Jewish-owned commercial bank of any
consequence in New York City was the Bank of the United States, which
went bankrupt in the Great Depression when the gentile bankers who
ran the Federal Reserve System refused to bail it out. The other big
banks were protected.

Jews are not legendary as tight-fisted consumers. They are not Scots
or Dutchmen. Jewish extravagance has in fact elicited envy in Europe,
especially before and after World War I. Two phrases tell the story:

“He Jewed me down.”

“A Jewish brother-in-law deal.”

Both phrases reflect retailing. “He Jewed me down” is the complaint
of a gentile wholesaler trying to sell to a Jewish retailer. “A
Jewish brother-in-law deal” reflects the consumer’s quest for a
discount. Thus, we return to the original phrase: “A Jew can buy from
a [ ] and sell to a [ ], and make a profit.”

If someone said, “He Jewed me up,” it would sound strange. That would
be the complaint of a consumer against a retailer who charged too
much. But Jews are not famous for charging too much. They are famous
for the Jewish brother-in-law deal.

Here, we see the entrepreneurial flair at work: “Buy low, sell
higher, but lower than the competition.” Recently, I bought a new
Sony digital voice recorder from Abe’s of Maine. The shipping box had
a New York City return address. Now, Abe may be a clever gentile
cashing in on a group reputation, but when it’s Abe’s of Maine, the
public gets the idea that wherever you go, you can get a Jewish
brother-in-law deal. Except in Fresno.

Jews are prominent in academia, law, and medicine. This has long been
the case in medicine. Jews for centuries served as physicians for
Christian and Muslim rulers. “My son, the doctor” was basic to Jewish
family advancement and even survival. Similarly, when the Czar opened
up residence in Moscow to members of the state’s symphony orchestra,
Jewish children all over Russia were seen carrying violins. A violin
was the ticket out of the ghetto.

Jews are famous for comedy. This is an odd fact about modern Jews.
Humor was frowned on in Orthodox Jewish circles for many centuries.
(“Orthodox” was a pejorative term applied to Talmudic Jews by liberal
and secular Jews in the early nineteenth century. A Talmudic rabbi
and scholar, Samson R. Hirsch, decided to accept the term and run
with it in the mid-nineteenth century.) Yet by the days of
vaudeville, Jews were prominent comedians. The most famous Russian
comic in America, Yakov Smirnoff, is a Jew. But he did not know he
was Jewish until his parents told him, when he was 13, in 1964. They
were afraid of persecution. (“What a rotten country!”) They emigrated
in 1977. Somehow, in less than half a century, Jews became
professional comics. I have never seen a book on how and why this
happened. It was as if Jews have a humor gene that had to be
suppressed by the rabbis, and when the rabbis’ influence waned, Jews
started making people laugh.

By the way, in the collection called The World’s Shortest Books,
Famous Jewish Farmers has to be included, right next to Famous
Gentile Violinists.

WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?

Half a century earlier in each case, it would have been impossible to
predict the group’s imminent dominance.

All four groups have this in common: a strong sense of the covenant.
The covenant is an Old Testament idea: Abraham’s covenant with God,
marked by circumcision. Membership in the religious community is
basic to the survival of the group.

Family and cultural ties are common to most groups, especially prior
to the Industrial Revolution. But the covenant ideal meant that God
had singled out a group to represent Him, and that He promises to
make it prosper if members obey Him. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28
are the central passages.

The lowland Scots after 1550 were Presbyterian Calvinists if they
were anything. This meant the doctrine of predestination and also a
vision of world expansion, a theology called postmillennialism. But
it took 150 years for this outlook to produce the Scottish
transformation. Why so long? I have no idea. Herman’s book begins in
1697, which is too late to answer the question.

The Dutch did not call themselves Presbyterians, but the church
structure and the theologies are so similar that it takes a
specialist to distinguish them. In the seventeenth century, there
were more Dutch postmillennialists than there are today (i.e., more
than none).

Both theologies rested on the idea of God’s covenant, which
encompasses family, church, and state. Both theologies produced an
outlook of “them vs. us, and we can beat them.”

One of the best short books on business leadership is Max DuPree’s
Leadership is an Art (1989). DuPree ran the Herman Miller Company for
many years. His father founded it. DuPree actually uses the word
“covenant” to describe the business’s key factor. He does not mean
contract. While I think the use of “covenant” is misused here,
because covenants in the Bible relate to family, church, and state,
his main point is correct: contracts are not enough.

Covenantal relationships enable participation to be practiced and
inclusive groups to be formed. The differences between covenants and
contracts appear in detail in “Intimacy” (p. 25).

The Armenians are not covenant theologians. Their tradition is that
of Eastern Orthodoxy – more mystical than judicial. Armenia was the
first nation to adopt Christianity, in either 301 or 303. They were a
warrior people for a long time, standing in the gap in 451 A.D. to
repel the Persians. The battle of Avarier is not as famous as an
anti-Persian battle in the way that Thermopylae is, but it was
important. They were invaded again and again, and they lived for 900
years under the Turks, except for the thirteenth century under the
Mongols. (My father-in-law told me that his father told him that in
the margin of the community’s heirloom Bible, there was a notation:
“Today, the Mongols passed through.”) Persecution held them together.
They have had a sense of religious solidarity, and this persisted
even after they arrived in Protestant-secular America.

Their economic success is more difficult to explain than the success
of the other three groups. This may be for lack of interest on the
part of historians and economists: fewer books on them.

The Jews were traders for centuries. Religious ties made possible a
network of international communications and transactions. They also
had their own courts and legal precedents, called “responsa.” Owning
land was difficult except in separate communities. Capital in
diamonds or gold was portable, unlike land.

The Dutch had to learn other European languages in order to trade.
They also became skilled sailors. The country is tiny. It has few
natural resources. If they wanted to prosper, they had to trade. They
did. But they had a sense of destiny about them, which led them to
fight the Spanish in the late sixteenth century, gaining independence
in the early seventeenth. In 1689, after their defeat by the British
Navy, one of their rulers, William III, became the king of England.
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” His wife inherited England for
him. Maybe this was the original Dutch Treat.

There is another factor: separation. This means cultural separation,
but it can also mean confessional. In America, the Dutch still set up
parent-run private schools that are formally Calvinistic. When I
lived in the border town of Lynden, Washington, in 1976, there were
more children enrolled in the Christian schools than in the public
schools. The Dutch pay for their cultural and confessional
separation. Theology was sufficiently well defined that, at the
border on Sunday morning, you would see Dutch-American Calvinists
heading to Canada to worship, and Dutch-Canadian Calvinists heading
for the U.S. They were polite, hard-working, well-fed people on both
sides of the border. And on both sides, we “gentiles” labeled their
mentality: “If you aren’t Dutch, you aren’t much.” On neither side
was it wise to mow your lawn on Sunday. On the American side, only
one gas station was open for business, on a rotating basis with the
competition, to serve the needs of gentile tourists.

CONFIDENCE ABOUT THE FUTURE

Members of all four groups have seen themselves as hand-picked by God
to dominate trade. They have regarded themselves as possessing an
advantage over everyone else, either in brains, trade, or the ability
to prosper under the radar. This outlook came earliest to Jews, then
the Armenians, then the Dutch, then the Scots. Their sense of group
solidarity was not unique, but their sense of participation in a
covenant that promises economic success has been unique.

The Dutch and the Scots have lost their sense of inevitable
covenantal victory, but not their sense of frugality. They have
transferred to thrift what they once attributed to God’s covenant.
Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations (1776) as a manifesto of this
theological shift.

Innovation, uncertainty, cost-cutting, new markets, profit and loss:
here is the program of personal success for the entrepreneur. When
you belong to a group that will help you when you fall, which will
provide start-up capital to get you going, you have an advantage. The
Koreans have this outlook and group support in the United States. The
Koreans, more than any Asian immigrant group, are Christians:
specifically, Presbyterians. It is interesting that the dairy farming
Dutch in Southern California have sold their land to developers, who
in turn sold new homes to the Korean children of the family-run,
drive-through dairy stores of 1960. The Dutch then moved to Lynden.
That relocation process has been going on for three decades.

Without confidence in the future, the entrepreneur cannot function.
He becomes at best an investor in bonds or other fixed-income
ventures. He accepts statistically insurable risk in place of
unpredictable uncertainty. He becomes frugal, advancing himself by
means of the steady excess of income over outflow. He does not change
society through innovation.

CONCLUSION

If you can buy from a [ ], sell to a [ ], and make a profit, your
future is secure. Most people can’t.

As the free market erodes family ties, group solidarity, and
persecution, members of many groups can get in on the cornucopia. It
is clear that the Japanese have a similar mindset as the four groups,
but without the doctrine of the covenant. The Chinese are now
adopting it. The freedom to compete breaks down the barriers to
entry. But, as the free market moves westward, those who belong to
subgroups that have the same outlook as the Big Four enjoy an initial
advantage. Group solidarity fades in the face of open competition,
but this takes time. When an innovator has confidence in the future,
which includes confidence in the safety net of his family or his
confessional group, he has an advantage: less fear of failure.

Faith is then transferred to the free market itself. In Europe and
America, faith in the twentieth century was transferred from the free
market to the welfare state. The reverse process is true in Asia.
This is why Asia now has an advantage over the West: social and
racial solidarity coupled with increasing faith in the free market
and declining faith in the state, whether Communist or Fabian
socialist.

In the interim period, in between the coming of the free market and
the erosion of social and racial solidarity, confidence is on the
side of the family-based small enterprise. Asia is booming because of
this. China seems to have the unique combination. We shall see what
happens when the boom turns into recession after China’s central bank
stops creating fiat money like a drunken (non-Dutch) sailor.

November 13, 2004

Gary North [send him mail] is the author of Mises on Money. Visit

Eradicating terrorism among Russia’s priorities in Caucasus

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Nov 13 2004

VENICE, November 13 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s State Duma first deputy
speaker Lyubov Sliska said the eradication of terrorism and extremism
was Moscow’s priority in the Caucasus.

Speaking at a session of NATO’s parliamentary assembly on regional
security in the Transcaucasia on Friday, Sliska said, “Russian society
is watching events in the Caucasus with apprehension. … The resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian
conflicts is also among Russia’s priorities.”

“The elections in Abkhazia are important for Russia primarily in
terms of their impact on further negotiations,” she added.

Sliska urged NATO officials not to focus on the legitimacy of the
elections in Abkhazia. “It is necessary to prepare for continued
negotiations with the new leadership to be elected in this unrecognised
republic. Russia will move in this direction together with the United
Nations,” she said.

On the situation in South Ossetia, the first deputy speaker expressed
concern about the growing number of attacks on peacekeepers in this
republic.

Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, she stressed, “The main
role in this process belongs to the OSCE”.

“It is necessary to make a full use of the existing negotiating
mechanism and the mediation of the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk
Group on Nagorno-Karabakh,” she said.

In her words, “Other co-chairmen of the Group – the United States
and France — share this approach”.

Russia hopes that after the latest meeting between Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev in Astana,
Kazakhstan, the sides will continue negotiations and use the positive
arrangements made during four rounds of ministerial consultations,
Sliska said.

“We hope that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly will support the
peacemaking efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen,” she said.

Sliska also urged NATO policymakers to exercise “extremely cautious
policies in the Trans-Caucasian area” and to establish “transparent
cooperation with Russia there”.

She warned the alliance, saying: “Any actions of such a powerful
political bloc are risky in that they can stir up old conflicts there”.

“The situation in the Caucasus, a region with a high risk of conflicts,
requires maximum caution and carefulness,” she said.

Sliska indicated at the same time that Russia could not but watch
with concern the direction that its NATO partners would channel their
efforts into.

“We advocate stability and peace in the Caucasus and oppose revisions
of the strategic balance of forces there, nothing to say of the
attempts to compel us to withdraw from that region,” Sliska said,
adding that Russia is open to cooperation with all states and
international organizations seeking peace settlement in Northern
Caucasus, too.

She called on NATO and Russia to establish the contacts marked by
credibility and account for the interests of all countries.

“It’s essential that our cooperation with NATO in the Caucasus be
transparent and predictable,” Sliska said.

–Boundary_(ID_wo9xSGAflzLsObOoEcK7Ww)–

Richmond Times Dispatch, VA
Nov 13 2004

Diplomats discuss efforts to end terrorism
Envoys from 5 Eastern European nations speak at VSU event

BY OSITA IROEGBU
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 13, 2004

ETTRICK – One student at an international conference on terrorism at
Virginia State University yesterday wanted to know why certain acts
are considered terrorism and others are not.

“Why is it that any mention of terrorism involves focusing on bombs
being strapped to someone’s body who wants to blow something up but
someone going in a room and shooting at a whole family or school
isn’t?” the VSU senior asked a group of foreign diplomats.

The auditorium thundered with applause as the student urged the
speakers to treat any act of violence as a threat.

Five ambassadors from newly formed Eastern European nations didn’t
answer the student’s question directly, but the panelists discussed
their resolve to end terrorism.

Ambassadors from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Moldova
all addressed their countries’ diplomatic and military efforts to
fight terrorism during an international conference at Virginia State
University yesterday.

This was the first time VSU had hosted such a discussion on global
affairs and terrorism. University officials said it is important to
inform the student body about what some call “an unfamiliar part of
Eastern Europe” and the global war on terror.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the region struggled to
form independent democracies and enact economic and political reform.

Fifteen newly independent countries that emerged from the Soviet
Union’s dissolution are now fighting to end international terrorism.

Some ambassadors said factors such as high-density population and
high unemployment rates could serve as a breeding ground for radical
thoughts and separatist groups.

“In order to stop terrorism, we have to get to the root of the
problem,” said Hafiz M. Pashayev, ambassador from the Republic of
Azerbaijan to the United States. “Radicalism may lead to groups and
factions to achieve terrorism goals.”

Pashayev said issues such as economic strife could lead to increased
terrorists acts and weapons-trafficking throughout Eastern Europe.

“We are striving to eliminate unemployment and keep the inflation
rate low,” he said.

The diplomats called for more diplomatic attention from international
groups such as the United Nations, NATO and the European Union to
curb the formation of terrorist groups in the new nations.

“There is a strong fight against aggression in my country but the
international community must turn their attention to international
aggression,” Pashayev said.

Arman Kirakossian, Armenian ambassador to the United States, said
the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the terrorists attacks that
followed a decade later in the United States created a new situation
in his region.

“The events of Sept. 11 dramatically reformed our direction,”
Kirakossian said. “We must develop an action plan” to fight terrorism.

The ambassadors said they hope to continue partnerships with the
United States to combat terrorism. For instance, some of the countries,
such as Georgia and Armenia, have deployed troops to Iraq, they said.

Levan Mikeladze, Georgian ambassador to the United States, said
that region wants to help fight the threat of terrorism and the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

“We must build a political system and government that is based on the
grass roots of democracy,” he said. “The U.S. has played a critical
role in strengthening Georgia’s security and we will continue to
fight corruption.”

Panelists, including former U.S. Ambassador to Moldova Pamela Hyde
Smith, urged Russia to help with the fight.

“One key is Russia’s engagement as part of the solution instead of
part of the problem,” Smith said, calling the formation of the new
independent countries “one of the most important areas of interest
in the post Cold-War period.”

Ceslav Ciobanu, a VSU scholar and professor, served as ambassador
to the United States from Moldova. Ciobanu and other officials urged
students to increase their interest in foreign and world affairs.

Calling the conference a “milestone” event at VSU, Weldon Hill, dean
of VSU’s School of Liberal Arts and Education, said “It is absolutely
necessary for our students to be globally astute, particularly during
this era of substantive shifts in world affairs, including the war
on terror and political change.”

Grand Junction Sentinel, CO
Nov 13 2004

Family buys time i n asylum attempt
By GARY HARMON
The Daily Sentinel

Four members of an Armenian family hoping to avoid deportation have
filed for visas as victims of trafficking, a move that forestalled
any immediate action to return them to their native country.

The four, however, remain in custody in a federal holding center in
Aurora, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau.

The four members of the Sargsyan family — Hayk, a senior at Ridgway
High School; his brother, Gevork, a chemical-engineering student at
the University of Colorado; their sister Meri; and father, Ruben —
were taken into custody last week after an immigration hearing in
Denver.

The eldest sister of the family, Nvart Indinyan, said she feared that
her brothers were due to be deported immediately because their
photographs had been taken while they have been in custody.

The applications for so-called “T visas” freezes the process until a
decision is made, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

Decisions on T visas are made out of the agency’s Vermont service
center, said Sharon Rummery of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, another Homeland Security agency, and there is no deadline
for them to act.

T visas were established in 2000 for victims of human trafficking;
they allow victims to remain in the United States if they are deemed
to be in danger of extreme hardship or severe harm if they’re
returned to their home countries.

They also are expected to cooperate with investigations into the
trafficking that resulted in their arrival in the United States.

Victims of human trafficking may apply for permanent residency after
three years.

Indinyan said she feared her family would be harmed in Armenia by
people there who were defrauded by her ex-husband.

Other avenues for the Sargsyan family have been exhausted, Kice said.

They arrived in the United States on student visas and no longer have
the right to remain in the country, she said.

Taking the family members into custody was necessary, she said. There
are 350,000 to 400,000 people in the country who simply ignored their
final-removal orders, Kice said.

“It’s a serious problem,” she said.

The Sargsyan family’s popularity in Ouray County is admirable, but
not a factor in whether they should be allowed to remain, Kice said.

“This is not a popularity contest,” she said. “No one is above the
law. Everyone wants to see the law enforced, except when it comes to
someone they know.”

Other Armenians have waited a long time to get to the United States
by legal means, Kice said, and those cases also should be remembered,
she said.

Ridgway High School students planned to demonstrate today in Denver
in support of the their classmate and his family.

Boutique lets you shop for goodies, help Balkan kids

San Ramon Valley Times, CA
Nov 13 2004

CANDY CANE BOUTIQUE TODAY. It’s never too early to shop for the
holidays … so, while you’re out and about today, stop by the
Creekside Community Church in Alamo and stock up on collectibles,
gift baskets, dolls, toys, jewelry and more.

You’ll find lots of wonderful items at the Candy Cane Boutique and
leave knowing that you’ve also helped the people in the Balkans.

Baked goods will also be available for purchase along with raffle
prizes. I spoke with Dee Thompson, who explained that the boutique
will benefit the Macedonian Outreach, a nonprofit Christian charitable
organization to help the children of the Balkans.

Vula and Haig Rushdoony head up the Macedonian Outreach. They started
it 15 years ago after their children were grown and they were ready
to retire. The Rushdoonys live on the Alamo and Danville border and
run the program out of their home, stocking up on supplies to send
to the children of Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Macedonia. They
have family, and other personal ties, in Greece.

I spoke with Vula, who came to America from Greece at the age of 16.
She recalls what it was like to be cold and hungry.

“My father was killed in the war when I was 5 and my mother had no
income. We barely survived,” Vula said. “However, there were days when
we had a slice of raisin bread and a cup of hot chocolate provided
to us through the Marshall Plan the United States set up after World
War II,” Vula said.

She explained that the civil war continued in Greece, and America
continued to help the Greek people. She sent her mother money and
finally sent for her seven years later to join her in America.

Haig’s family survived the massacre of Armenia at the turn of the
century and fled to America, where Haig was born.

When the Rushdoonys retired, they decided to reach out and help,
just as America had helped their countries.

“We felt that America had done so much for us and Haig and I wanted
to give back some of the blessing this country had given us,” Vula
told me. “The greatest thing for Haig and me is freedom. When I hear
people talk against this country I become a lioness. I earned the
right to be an American. We are lucky to live here.”

She said the Outreach has been highly successful, and that people
from all over the community participate in gathering supplies for
Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and the former Yugoslavian states
of Bosnia, Croatia, the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and
Serbia-Montenegro. Vula and Haig travel each year, along with other
volunteers, to deliver the much-needed goods to the Balkan Peninsula.

When they began this mission, Vula decided to sell some of her china
and jewelry, and urged friends and neighbors to do the same. Thus
the Candy Cane Boutique was born.

Each year the boutique offers lots of interesting “vintage” items,
as well as numerous new gifts for the holidays. Vula said the gift
baskets and baked goods are “over the top” fabulous.

The boutique is located at 1350 Danville Blvd., and runs from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Dee told me that the boutique is a success because of the
generosity of the community and efforts of the volunteers.

Since 1992, the Macedonian Outreach has also brought more than 50
children with life-threatening medical problems to the United States
or Europe for treatment. The organization also provides food, clothing,
monetary aid and spiritual guidance.

Vula explained that although the unemployment rate is high, and people
are cold and hungry, she has been told time and again that they would
rather be in this condition because it means they are free.

For more information about the Macedonian Outreach, visit their
Web site at or call Vula and Haig at
925-820-4107. See you at the boutique.

Have a great week!

An Amaras Art Alliance program

Hovanness Badalian Music Fund
P.O.Box 733,
Watertown, MA 02471
Phone: 617-331-0426
Email: [email protected]

For immediate release
November 11, 2004
Contact person:
Tatoul Badalian, Program Director

The first annual banquet of the Hovanness Badalian Music Fund (HBMF)
will be held on December 4, 2004 at the Hellenic Cultural Center,
Watertown, MA. H. E. Arman Kirakossian, Armeniaâ~@~Ys ambassador to US,
will be in attendance and composer Konstantin Petrosian of Providence,
RI will be the MC. Among the highlights of the evening: first US
appearance of young and talented folk singer Artur Anushavanian;
soprano Nune Karapetian performing with pianist Nune Hakopian and
recognizing Bostonâ~@~Ys own Arev Armenian Folk Ensemble with an
Appreciation Award.

HBMF was established in early 2004 to celebrate the life of the
singer who made songs such as Hayastani Karmir Ginin, Yes Im Anoosh
Hayastani and Mayres Mahes Chimana famous. The goal of the Fund is
to provide merit-based scholarships, worldwide, to children enrolled
in Armenian music education programs. The Fund will also provide
assistance to individuals and organizations that create material and
training programs for children.

Beloved singer Hovanness Badalian played a significant role in
educating Armenian children and young adults. Through his songs he
spread the spirit of the Armenian culture around the world, helping
bond the Diaspora and Armenia. Upon his passing in 2001 composer
Vardan Ajemian said, â~@~We lost a great artist. He was the father
of Armenian folk songs. We lost a very honest man. I am shocked.â~@~]

In October of this year Armenia celebrated Badalianâ~@~Ys 80th birthday
at the National Opera in Yerevan with the participation of prominent
artists including his daughter, opera singer Nuneh Badalian. Fifty
of his students led by pedagogue Arsen Grigorian came on stage
singing together and watching the great Maestro sing â~@~Yes Im
Anoush Hayastaniâ~@~] on the screen, representing not only the past,
but inspiring hope for the future. â~@~Badalianâ~@~Ys dedication and
unrelenting work will always be an enduring reminder to his devotion
to his art and ultimately to his people,â~@~] said Aram Gharabegian,
Artistic director and conductor of the National Chamber Orchestra of
Armenia, and a key organizer of the event.

HBMF is organized under the charter of Amaras Art Alliance, a not for
profit organization. For the past ten years Amaras has been an active
member of the Boston, MA cultural scene, presenting jazz concerts,
solo performances, art exhibits and organizing student trips to
Armenia. Amaras has co-organized major events such as the multi-venue
celebration of composer Aram Khachaturianâ~@~Ys Centennial in 2003.

The December 4th banquet promises to be a memorable event for all those
who love Hovanness. For information and to make a contribution to the
Fund please call 617 331-0426, send an email to [email protected]_
(mailto:[email protected]) or write to HBMF, P O Box 733,
Watertown, MA 02471. HBMF programs will be available on the Fundâ~@~Ys
website to be launched in early 2005.

–Boundary_(ID_0f+Wsd1XCyaVDN6WKMjxhA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Manifestazione degli armeni di Francia

La Padania, Italia
Nov 12 2004

PARIGI – Gli armeni di Francia manifesteranno il prossimo 17 novembre
per richiedere il riconoscimento del genocidio armeno da parte della
Turchia. Per 18 ore saranno a Marsiglia, al porto vecchio, e a Parigi,
davanti all’Assemblea nazionale (la camera dei deputati francese). Nel
corso della manifestazione i deputati francesi saranno invitati a
esprimere un proprio voto, simbolico, per dire sì o no all’entrata
della Turchia nell’Unione Europea.

–Boundary_(ID_eHKWKPMX8xzNJvnEvk9UzA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Dutch Raid Kurdish Training Camp, Arrest 38
By Christopher Borowski

2T171259Z_01_L1268271
6_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-TURKEY-DUTC H-PKK-DC.html

Nov 12, 12:12 PM (ET)

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch authorities on Friday raided a camp
suspected of training Kurdish guerrillas for “terrorist attacks”
in Turkey and arrested 38 people, prosecutors said.

Around 200 police swooped on locations across the south of the
Netherlands, including a farmyard campsite in the village of Liempde
where they seized night vision equipment, instructions, passports
and a gun, prosecutors said in a statement.

“In the farmyard campsite in Liempde it appeared around 20 people
were receiving training to prepare them for the armed struggle of
the PKK in Turkey, including terrorist attacks,” prosecutors said.

The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, has been fighting for 20 years
for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey, a conflict that has killed
more than 30,000 people, mostly ethnic Kurds.

Prosecutors said the recruits were learning about “waging a special
war” in training that was “dedicated to PKK martyrs.” They added
there were indications the group would be sent to join PKK militants
in Armenia. The European Union classifies the PKK as a “terrorist
organization.”

A prosecutors’ spokesman said there was no connection between the
raid and investigations into suspected Islamic militants following
last week’s murder of outspoken Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

“This was a result of a year-long investigation,” the prosecution
spokesman said.

The 29 arrested at the campsite included 23 suspected PKK members,
aged 15 to 33, among them five women. Police detained a further eight
people elsewhere and searched 10 homes. Another suspect was arrested
at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport late on Thursday.

Prosecutors said the suspects had given their nationality as Kurdish,
but were probably Turkish nationals.

FIGHT FOR KURDISH HOMELAND

Prosecutors also said three men and a woman, bound for the Middle
East after training at the camp, had been arrested at Schiphol two
weeks ago. A local mayor told Dutch television the suspected camp was
used for “theory training” and likely did not involve weapons training.

“The arrests were made for endangering society,” said Jan van Homelen,
mayor of Boxtel district.

Earlier this week, a Dutch court blocked the extradition of Nuriye
Kesbir, a PKK leader, accused by Turkey of organizing and taking part
in attacks between 1993 and 1995.

It ruled that it was not certain she would receive a fair trial
in Turkey.

The violence in southeastern Turkey dropped off sharply with the
capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 and most guerrillas
withdrew to northern Iraq.

The Turkish community is the largest minority community in the
Netherlands, numbering about 350,000. Dutch news agency ANP said the
number of Kurds living in the country is estimated at between 40,000
and 100,000, but the figure is difficult to calculate because they
hold various nationalities.

KARABAK’S RUSSIAN COMMUNITY CALLS FOR MOSCOW NOT TO YIELD BAKU’S PROVOCATIONS

Azg/arm
13 Nov 04

Galina Somova, leader of Karabakhâ~@~Ys Russian community, expressed
her bewilderment concerning the statement made by Yuri Kaplun,
employee of Moscow City Administration. He said that “no one invited
the Karabakhâ~@~Ys separatists” to the Regional Forum of the Russian
Communities in Caucasus held on November 11-13 in Krasnodar. In
the interview to Regnum agency Somova expressed bewilderment with
the position of the Russian embassies that yield the provocations
of Azeri official circles instead of defending the interest of their
compatriots abroad according to “Protection of the Rights and Interests
of the Compatriots Abroad” program signed by RF President.

“Russians remain Russians everywhere, notwithstanding the status of
the state they live in. At least, it is not correct to call brothers
“separatists,” Somova said. She said emphasizing that it is not
the first case when their community wasnâ~@~Yt invited to such
regional forums. Somova said that the Russian community of Nagorno
Karabakh got strengthened thanks to the support of Karabakhâ~@~Ys
and Armeniaâ~@~Ys state and public structures, particularly, thanks
to NKR Foreign Ministry. At present, the community has 300 members
from all the five regions of the republic. The community includes not
only Russians but also representatives of other Slavonic nationalities.

–Boundary_(ID_TKp2NMxID+GfpYq2Bnd5cA)–

YASSER ARAFAT: WE STRUGGLE FOR THE WORLD NOT TO FORGET US AS IT FORGOT ARMENIANS

Azg/arm
13 Nov 04

In 1965 while the Armenians all over the world were calling for
commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Genocide, the Palestine
Liberation Organization started in Egypt and Jordan, and the son of one
of the most respected Palestinian families, Yasser Arafat, became its
head till his demise. In fact, he became the successor of Palestinian
hero and eventually martyr Abd Al-Qadir Hussein, whose movement broke
off in 1948, when the latter died in the first Arab-Israeli war.

Yasser Arafat was well acquainted with the Armenians who have their
shrines and churches in Palestine, most famous one of which is the
church of St. Jacob in Jerusalem, on the Mount Zionâ~@¦ Armenians
were among those who suffered great losses during the war of
1946-1948. Most of them left Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem for Lebanon,
Syria and Armenia. The second flow of Armenians left Palestine after
the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 but this time for Canada and America.

As a result of defeat (not without the help of the West and
Arab states) in the wars of 1947-48 and 1967, millions of
Palestinians turned into homeless refugees in Lebanon, Palestine
and Syria. Recalling Armenian Genocide of 1915 and Sanjag-Alexandret
tragedy of 1937-38, Yasser Arafat stated in 1967 explaining why they
took the path of armed struggle: “We struggle for the world not to
forget us as it forgot Armeniansâ~@¦”

In 1968 Petros Terzian and Hakob Garayan, editorial staff members of
Yeritasard Hye (young Armenian) magazine of Beirut, visited the centers
of Palestinian revolution in Jordan where they met with Arafat, George
Habash, Najef Havatme, Abu Ali Iyyad and other leaders. Later on papers
were published and stuck on the streets of Beirut. They were depicting
Armenian and Palestinian freedom fighters with a banner above reading
“Long Live Scarred Fidayi” (freedom fighter).

A year later, in 1969, when Jordan king Husseinâ~@~Ys troops together
with Israeli army attacked Palestinian refugees, Abu Ali Iyyad, the
right hand of Arafat was killed. Death of one of the great supporters
of the Arabian national movement, Egyptâ~@~Ys President Gamal Abd
Naser, was the second heavy blow for Palestinians.

After the Arab-Israeli war in 1973 and the civil war in Lebanon,
the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and
the Front of Liberation of Western Armenia started by the help of
the PLO. Soon after Kurdish, Arab, Greek, Assyrian and Turkish left
movements (PKK, TAKP, Isinin Sesi, TKP-Leninçiler, Devrimi Yol)
who found refuge in Turkey and Syria in 1980 joined them. They were
agitating against Kenan Evrenâ~@~Ys junta in Lebanon, Turkey, France,
England, Belgium, Germany and elsewhere. Agitating literature, films,
newspapers pulled off Turkish “democracyâ~@~Ys” false mask that had
organized genocides of Armenians, Kurds, Greeks and Assyrians and had
executed its own progressive intelligentsia. Without the military,
financial, moral support of Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, Abu Ajad,
Abu Shaker Bsiso, Abu Al-Hol, George Habash, Najef Havatme, Abu-Al
Abbas, Dalad Yagub and others it would be impossible to put before
the international community all the just requests of all the nations
suffered under Turkeyâ~@~Ys yoke.

Decades after, when Yasser Arafat changed his armed struggle for
diplomatic one, USAâ~@~Ys and Israelâ~@~Ys attempts to isolate and
to discredit the Palestinian figurehead ended up in Islamic extremism
which had turned from left Marxist ideology to medieval fundamentalism
in the person of bin Laden, the “savior”. Those terrorists today use
the same means of manslaughter that were once used by their enemies.

The man who passed through inconceivable trials of life is no
more. Death of the father of 9-year-old Zahwa and all the Palestinian
orphans leaves the Middle East in uncertainty heaped up with unsolved
issues. As he put it once: “Where to be born – is a big issue for a
Palestinian but even bigger is â~@~S where to be buriedâ~@¦”

By Hamo Moskofian

–Boundary_(ID_nd3tyAxGwpQavHoTJAJhkQ)–