Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
August 3, 2004 Tuesday

Can do crew

by Alison Cotes

ARMENIAN cake is not what I usually eat for breakfast, but as it came
out of the oven the scent of toffee and warm nutmeg reached my nose,
and I knew it was exactly what I needed to follow Jim’s savoury mince
on thick buttered toast ($9.50).

This was delicious, although I did have a long discussion with the
waiter at the Oxford Street Deli about what a variable, rather than
classic, dish this was, and how my mother’s savoury mince was made
with thick gravy, chopped tomato and Worcestershire sauce.

The eponymous Jim puts chopped carrots and sweet corn in his, and
uses thin rather than thick gravy, but at least it doesn’t have peas
in it, and once I’d swallowed my prejudices, I liked it a lot.

The armenian cake was something else, with its crunchy
toffee-textured bottom and moist dark body. Llyn Miller told me that
you mix the butter, sugar and some flour on the bottom of the tin,
then pour the wet mixture on top and let it become its own kind of
upside-down cake.

The deli has recently changed owners, so perhaps it was a little
unfair of me to review it on the fifth day of its re-opening, but
even though there were a few hiccups concerning short-staffing and
running out of some popular dishes, the new team has ensured the food
is better than ever.

Take the service, for example. New owner Charles O’Reilly comes out
to greet every customer (and no, he didn’t know who I was), smiles at
people walking past, makes sure you don’t wait more than 30 seconds
for a menu.

And the food, most of which Miller makes on the premises, offers
bright combinations which work well.

Another breakfast dish, for example, is sweet corn loaf with grilled
mushrooms, crisp pancetta and tomato jam from Jimbour — $7.50 for a
delicious low fat meal. There’s also a bacon, egg and potato pie
served with tomato jam, and french-toasted banana bread with
strawberries (both $7.95), as well as the usual Big Breakfast
($12.75/$8.50), with a Personal Training breakfast of three eggs,
steak, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms for $16. You’d need a
big lie-down after that one.

Panini and wraps start at $8.50 — try the ham, spinach and onion
marmalade or the balsamic beef and chutney; and the light meals
include some items from the breakfast menu, including that brilliant
grilled sweet-corn bread with the addition of mixed greens and $1.
There’s a subtle tart of goats cheese, potato and rosemary ($9.50);
some house-made soup of roasted tomatoes, thick and chunky with lots
of smoky flavours served with fresh baguette ($6.50); and toasted
turkish bread with three dips — fetta and wild rocket, eggplant and
pumpkin, and olive tapenade ($7.95).

For lunch another day we shared a $15 platter of hummus, the same
light and tangy olive tapenade, dukkah from Jimbour House, grilled
turkish bread and what was supposed to be whole roasted garlic but
turned out to be a roasted pickled onion because they’d run out of
garlic. That bit didn’t work, so before you order make sure that it
is garlic you’ll be getting — and if you want extra bread, ask in
advance, for we found the four slices weren’t enough to mop up all
the Njoi olive oil and dips.

Another tempting platter for the same price is made up of duck pate,
Jindi camembert, Pyengana cheddar, lavash bread, nuts and tomato jam,
which might be a bit heavy on the protein, so would need some side
salads to lighten it a bit — choose some from the display fridge ($5
each, or three for $9).

Pudding? Of course, because it was again house-made. My mate’s
coconut creme caramel was a welcome variation of the classic version,
while my individual rhubarb and apple crumble, though a generous
dishful, had too much apple in proportion to the rhubarb, and the
crumble top hadn’t been cooked quite long enough.

For children, for $3 there’s fairy bread, vegemite or peanut butter
sandwiches, small fries with tomato sauce, puffy dogs, savoury mince
on toast and fresh fruit salad, with a “kiddychino” thrown in.

OXFORD STREET DELI

Address: 161 Oxford St, Bulimba

Phone: 3399 6222

Hours: open daily, 7am-7pm Sun-Wed, 7am-11pm Thurs-Sat

Liquor status: BYO, corkage $2.50 a person

Prices: breakfast from $6.50 to $16, light meals to $14.95, desserts
and puds $8, children’s meals $3, coffee $3

Owner: Charles O’Reilly

Chef: Llyn Miller

Parking: on-street, but difficult

Wheelchair access: yes

Other: all credit cards except Diners; table service; 15 per cent
surcharge public holidays; air conditioned; shared toilets; noise
level low, ambient piped music

The score

Food: 16

Service: 17

Ambience: 13

Value for money: 16

About the score: 0-5 don’t bother; 6-9 needs serious improvement;
10-12 reasonable; 13-14 good; 15-17 very good; 18-19 exceptional; 20
perfection
From: Baghdasarian

Associated Press Worldstream
August 3, 2004 Tuesday 4:30 PM Eastern Time

Nagorno-Karabakh enclave holds military exercises

YEREVAN, Armenia

Forces in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh enclave on Tuesday began an
annual military exercise designed to test their combat-readiness, a
military official said. The exercise came amid concerns that war
could erupt again in the region a decade after a cease-fire.

A spokesman for the military in the mostly ethnic Armenian enclave,
which has been de facto independent since Azerbaijan’s forces were
driven out in 1994, said live ammunition would be used in the 10-day
exercise involving regular troops and reservists. He said it was also
aimed at improving coordination in “defensive battles and
counterattacks.”

Nagorno-Karabakh is under control of an internationally unrecognized
ethnic Armenian government, and its forces also hold several sectors
of Azerbaijan outside of Nagorno-Karabakh itself. Sporadic firing
takes place across the demilitarized zone that separates the forces.

With no settlement in sight 10 years after a cease-fire ended a war
that killed some 30,000 people and drove about a million from their
homes, there are fears a new armed conflict could erupt. Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliev has expressed frustration with the stagnation
and has raised the prospects of military action.

Agence France Presse — Spanish
August 2, 2004 Monday

Primer secuestrado turco ejecutado, energica condena a atentados
anticristianos

BAGDAD

Turquia anuncio este lunes la muerte de uno de sus ciudadanos,
ejecutado por sus secuestradores en Irak, mientras que las
autoridades religiosas iraquies y el papa Juan Pablo II hicieron
llamados para unirse contra la violencia, al dia siguiente de los
sangrientos atentados anticristianos.

Por primera vez, un turco que era rehen de un grupo armado en Irak
fue ejecutado por sus secuestradores, anuncio este lunes a la AFP un
empleado de la embajada de Turquia en Bagdad.

De otro lado, en la ciudad santa de Nayaf (centro de Irak), las
fuerzas estadounidenses rodearon brevemente este lunes por la noche
la casa del jefe radical chiita Moqtada Sadr, cuyos fieles se
enfrentaron con las tropas extranjeras en pleno barrio, causando la
muerte a una mujer e hiriendo a tres personas, segun el director del
hospital Hakim, Jawad Kazem.

Un video difundido por la cadena de informacion turca NTV muestra a
Murat Yuce, de unos 20 anos, que se presenta en turco, indicando que
es oriundo de Corum (norte de Turquia), delante de tres hombres
armados encapuchados antes de ejecutarlo disparandole tres balazos en
la cabeza, segun el canal.

Dos camioneros turcos tambien fueron tomados como rehenes en Irak por
un grupo armado que amenaza con ejecutarlos si la empresa que los
emplea no se retira de Irak. Otro fue reportado desaparecido, su
familia anuncio el domingo haber perdido el contacto con el hace un
mes.

Como consecuencia de estos hechos, la Asociacion de transportistas
internacionales (UND), que afirma representar a 873 de las 900
empresas turcas especializadas en transporte internacional, anuncio
en un comunicado la interrupcion inmediata de las entregas a las
unidades militares estadounidenses en Irak.

En la crisis de los rehenes extranjeros en Irak, seguia reinando la
incertidumbre sobre la suerte de siete camioneros -tres indios, tres
kenianos y un egipcio – capturados el 21 de julio, dado que
diferentes fuentes dieron informaciones contradictorias sobre su
suerte.

Pero, segun la television Al Jazira de Qatar, un rehen somali va a
ser liberado proximamente.

En total, unos veinte extranjeros han sido secuestrados o estan
desaparecidos en Irak. El lunes, el Comite de Ulemas musulmanes
(sunitas) iraquies insto a “liberar todos los rehenes” secuestrados
en Irak que no tengan vinculos con las fuerzas de ocupacion y que no
hayan atacado al pueblo iraqui.

En otro ambito, varias autoridades religiosas condenaron los
atentados anticristianos que dejaron al menos 10 muertos y 50 heridos
el domingo en Bagdad y Mosul, en el norte, y exhortaron a la union
entre las diferentes comunidades.

“Debemos colaborar, cristianos y musulmanes, por el bien de Irak pues
somos una sola familia”, declaro monsenor Emmanuel Delly a la AFP,
precisando que este llamado estaria contenido en un mensaje que
prepara para enviar al gobierno interino iraqui.

La figura emblematica de los chiitas iraquies, el gran ayatola Ali
Sistani, llamo a “trabajar todos juntos, el gobierno y el pueblo,
para poner fin a los ataques contra los iraquies”.

Horas antes de que su casa de Nayaf fuera rodeada por las fuerzas
estadounidenses, el jefe radical chiita Moqtada Sadr tambien lanzo un
mensaje a traves de un portavoz, condenando estos atentados, “que no
hacen mas que crear divisiones en el seno del pueblo iraqui”.

Por su lado, el Comite de los Ulemas sunitas acuso a “las partes
extranjeras” de estar detras de los atentados “que intentan dividir
el pueblo iraqui y quieren que el caos perdure dentro del interes de
los ocupantes” de Irak.

El papa Juan Pablo II condeno el lunes “las agresiones injustas”
contra los lugares de culto cristianos en Irak, en un mensaje al
patriarca iraqui de los catolicos caldeos, Emmanuel Delly III.

Francia tambien condeno energicamente estos ataques, mientras que el
presidente armenio Robert Kotcharian se manifesto “profundamente
preocupado” por estos atentados, de los cuales uno golpeo una iglesia
armenia.

Los Hermanos Musulmanes estimaron que estos ataques no hacian mas que
“deformar la imagen de la resistencia” iraqui, segun el guia supremo
Mohammed Mehdi Akef, que puso en duda el papel de los servicios
secretos israelies, una tesis que tambien manejo el canciller libanes
Jean Obeid.

En el terreno, un miembro de la guardia nacional iraqui resulto
muerto y tres heridos el lunes en una emboscada al sur de Bagdad,
anuncio un funcionario de esta organizacion.

Pakistan anuncio el lunes que no enviaria tropas a Irak.

El portavoz del ministerio paquistani de relaciones Exteriores,
Masood Jan, indico que la ONU habia consultado a su pais sobre el
envio de militares para garantizar la seguridad de las misiones de la
ONU si eventualmente volvia a instalarse en Bagdad. Pero “no
enviaremos tropas en las circunstancias actuales”, dijo tajante el
ministro.

En el plano diplomatico, Kuwait e Irak acordaron restablecer sus
relaciones, suspendidas hace 14 anos, despues de la invasion del
emirato por las tropas del antiguo regimen iraqui, segun un
comunicado conjunto publicado el lunes en Kuwait.
bur-chp/plh/pb/af

Ha’aretz
Aug 4 2004

Armenian art on the walls of Jerusalem

By Irit Rosenblum

A huge mural made of Armenian tiles featuring the sea, animals,
plants, trees and Noah’s ark will be dedicated next week at 14 Koresh
St., in the heart of Jerusalem. The 4-meter by 6-meter (13-foot by
19.5-foot) mural was designed and made using a unique technique by
Miri Balian, who volunteered her talents to the city. The Balian
family is one of the three Armenian ceramic art families –
Karakashian, Ohannessian and Balian – who settled in Jerusalem in
1919 and have been hand-crafting artistic ceramic tiles in Jerusalem
ever since. Tile murals by Balian can also be viewed in the portico
of the president’s house, in the Malha Mall and in Beit Gavriel in
Tzemach, on the shores of Lake Kinneret. Her works have been
displayed at exhibitions in Washington and in the Eretz Yisrael
Museum in Tel Aviv. The mural was installed by the East Jerusalem
Development Company and financed by the Jerusalem municipality and
the Tourism Ministry.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA NOT TO DEPLOY FOREIGN BASES ON ITS TERRITORY – ENVOY

Interfax news agency
3 Aug 04

Moscow, 3 August: The Armenian ambassador to Russia, Armen Smbatyan,
has confirmed that his country has no plans to allow the establishment
of foreign military bases on its territory.

“The possibility of deploying third countries’ bases in Armenia is out
of the question. There is simply no such issue on Armenia’s foreign
policy agenda,” Smbatyan told Interfax on Tuesday (3 August).

Commenting on observers’ opinions on the rivalry between Russia and
the United States in former Soviet republics, including the Caucasus,
the ambassador said that these allegations lack any sound grounds.

“In my opinion, remarks about a collision of the interests of Russia,
the United States and Europe on the former Soviet territory are
exaggerated. Caucasian countries are primarily guided by their own
interests while developing their policy,” the diplomat said.

Yerevan’s foreign policy is driven by “Armenia’s current interests” as
well, he said.

Commenting on the situation in the CIS, Smbatyan suggested that
integration processes within this organization have been proceeding
slowly, particularly in the economic sphere. “A revision of values
needs to take place. It is necessary to take a new approach to
building relations between the CIS countries, as well as to accelerate
the development of economic relations,” he said.

Smbatyan said he shares Russia’s opinion that “it is necessary to
centre efforts on raising the level of relations between the CIS
nations”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROGER ROBINSON DOESN’T UNDERSTAND “ARMENIAN PUZZLE”

YEREVAN, August 3 (Noyan Tapan). Extensive cooperation of state
structures in the sphere of competition is important, since the
economic growth may decline under the unfavorable competition
environment. Roger Robinson, Director of the Armenian Office of the
World Bank, said about it during the August 3 conference entitled
“Competition Problems in Armenia and Intrastate Cooperation”.

According to Mr. Robinson, researches conducted by the World Bank over
the past four years showed that Armenian businessmen assess the
business environment regulation quality as quite low. Thus, in 2000,
71.5% of responded businessmen considered this to be a problem, in
2001 – 55.5%, in 2002 – 50%, and in 2003 – 60.3%. It is noteworthy
that, in parallel with this, an unprecedented economic growth and
export increase was registered in the country during these years.

R. Robinson called the formed situation the “Armenian puzzle”, which
he is unable to comprehend. According to William E. Cowachek, chief
legal adviser of the US Federal Trade Commission, macro-economic
indices registered during the recent years show that the economic
situation in Armenia is improving. He said that although the State
Committee on Economic Competition Protection was established only
three years ago, Armenia has achieved a noticeable success in this
sphere. He pointed out that the development of the institutional
structures and increasing cooperation between them is of importance in
the sphere of competition. He also noted that it is necessary to
ensure the correct application of the law regulating the competition
and to create a relevant information basis.

According to Hrair Aramian, a member of the Commission, American
specialists visited Armenia with the purpose of sharing their
experience in this sphere.

They will present the mechanisms of cooperation between the intrastate
structures that have been successfully used in the US and the EU
countries. It was also noted that Armenia joined the International
Competition Network whose membership includes more than eighty
countries. The conference was organized by the Trade Law and Economic
Regulation Program of USAID and was aimed at discussing measures to
promote competition in the various spheres of the economy.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

IN ANTELIAS A PAN-DIASPORA CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN EDUCATION STARTS ITS WORK

ANTELIAS, LEBANON – Initiated by His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia
and organized by the Catholicosate of Cilicia, a Pan-Diaspora Conference on
Armenian Education will start its discussion on Thursday morning, 5 August
2004 in the main hall of the Theological Seminary, in Bikfaya, Lebanon. The
theme of the conference is “The Armenian Education today in a Diaspora
situation”. Around one hundred intellectuals and experts almost from all
communities in Diaspora will address this timely issue in different
perspectives and contexts.

The Conference will start with a critical and analytical evaluation of the
present estate of the Armenian Education in Diaspora, and will proceed to
identify the emerging concerns and perspectives. In light of that the
Conference will endeavor to redefine the Armenian Education vis-à-vis the
new challenges and the new realities of the present world. The Conference
will conclude its deliberations by making a declaration, where the major
guidelines and orientations for a new educational policy for the Diaspora
will be outlined.

The minister of Education, the president of the Cultural and Educational
commission of the Parliament and the president of the Union of the Armenian
writers in Armenia will attend this conference.

Because of the unique importance of the Conference and the special
attention that the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia gives to the Armenian
Education, His Holiness Aram I will address the Conference and take part in
its deliberations and actions.

##

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

PRESS RELEASE
Council of Europe Spokesperson and Press Division
Ref: 390b04
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 25 60
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 39 11
[email protected]
internet:

Council of Europe Secretary General: “local self-government elections”
in Nagorno-Karabakh

Strasbourg, 04.08.2004 – Referring to the previous call by Council of
Europe leaders to refrain from staging one-sided “local
self-government elections” in Nagorno-Karabakh(1), Walter Schwimmer,
Secretary General of the 45-nation Council of Europe, regretted that
elections would again be held in the province on 8 August 2004.

“One-sided actions are counter-productive. The future status of
Nagorno-Karabakh must be decided through negotiations”, said Mr
Schwimmer, who confirmed that the Council of Europe fully supports the
efforts undertaken to this end by the “Minsk Conference” under the
auspices of the OSCE. “I further welcome the recently revived contacts
at the highest political level by Armenia and Azerbaijan to find a
peaceful solution to the conflict, as well as the efforts by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to foster
parliamentary co-operation in the region”, added Mr Schwimmer.

(1) Council of Europe urges Nagorno-Karabakh to refrain from “elections”
(press release of 24 August 2001).

Le Secrétaire Général du Conseil de l’Europe à propos des ” élections
locales ” au Haut-Karabakh

Strasbourg, 04.08.2004 – Se référant au précédent appel lancé par les
dirigeants du Conseil de l’Europe de s’abstenir d’organiser unilatéralement
des ” élections locales ” au Haut-Karabakh(1), Walter Schwimmer, Secrétaire
Général du Conseil de l’Europe (les 45) a regretté que des élections soient
à nouveau prévues dans cette province le 8 août 2004.

” Les actions unilatérales sont contre-productives. Le futur statut du
Haut-Karabakh doit se décider par la négociation “, a déclaré M. Schwimmer
qui a confirmé que le Conseil de l’Europe soutenait pleinement les efforts
déployés à cette fin par la ” Conférence de Minsk ” sous les auspices de
l’OSCE. ” Je me félicite par ailleurs de la reprise des contacts au plus
haut niveau politique par l’Arménie et l’Azerbaïdjan afin de trouver une
solution pacifique au conflit, ainsi que des efforts fournis par l’Assemblée
Parlementaire du Conseil de l’Europe pour encourager la coopération
parlementaire dans cette région “, a ajouté M. Schwimmer.

(1) Le Conseil de l’Europe appelle le Haut-Karabakh à ne pas organiser
d’ ” élections ” (Communiqué de presse du 24 août 2001).

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A political organisation set up in 1949, the Council of Europe works to
promote democracy and human rights continent-wide. It also develops common
responses to social, cultural and legal challenges in its 45 member states.

Israel Insider, Israel
Aug 4 2004

Why do they hate us? (and why do we care?)
By Patrick D O’Brien August 4, 2004

Originally published by IsraPundit.

This is a topic that doesn’t relate directly to Israel, although it
does affects people’s attitudes about the morality of Israel’s (as
well as the United States’) defense of its citizens against Islamic
terror. So to preclude any confusion, henceforth when I use the term
“we,” it will be in reference to both Israel and AmericaÑtwo nations
united in democracy and strong western values like freedom, justice,
love of life, and opportunity.

I believe that now more than ever, many Americans are acutely aware
of the special affinity between our nation and Israel. I think that
some Americans are starting to “get it” when it comes to the deadly
menace of Islamofascism which Israel has been up against for decades.
I am somewhat ashamed that it took a cataclysmic event of the
magnitude we saw in the 9/11 attacks, but I honestly feel that many
of us now have a much greater appreciation for what our brothers and
sisters in Israel have been living with for so long.

As human beings, we instinctively think causally. It’s absurd to
assert that anything “just happens.” So, we automatically look for
the causes of the effects we see around us. The stunning effects of
terror cry out deafeningly out for a reason. As far as I’m concerned,
terror is the pinnacle of man’s depravity. As for the definition of
terror, I use Title 22 of the U.S. Code, Section 2656f(d), which
states:

The term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated
violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational
groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an
audience.

The term “international terrorism” means terrorism involving the
territory or the citizens of more than one country.

Ñ The term “terrorist group” means any group that practices, or has
significant subgroups that practice, international terrorism.

When we here in the west are faced with the monstrous nature of
terror, we are forced to somehow make sense of the senseless. We
search for a reason behind this madness; we search for the now
proverbial “root cause.” I think sometimes we naively forget that,
irrespective of grievance or cause, there is no excuse for the
intentional murder of unarmed innocents. Be that as it may, for
practical reasons of academia and governmental policy, terror must be
understood.

The perennial question falling off the lips of many intellectuals
since 9/11 has been, “Why do they hate us?” More often than not, this
query comes from those on the left, because most on the right are
quite beyond trying to understand “root causes” by the time buses are
being blown up and a pregnant woman and her children are being shot
dead in her car. If you think about it, such a question answers
itself as far as the leftist is concerned. If this question is
seriously asked, it is already presupposed that there must be
something we do that enrages these people so greatly that they are
willing to immolate themselves with high explosives in order to kill
us. I personally believe that no one deserves to suffer the demonic
attacks of terror that are increasingly hitting western targets
outside of Israel. Asking this question also erroneously ascribes the
concept of sense and legitimacy to acts of terror. But still, it is a
fair question to ask, since terror doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

One of the most famous caricatures of the western liberal is that of
someone who wants to throw a lot of money at social ills in the hopes
of buying a solution. In register with such thinking, many pundits
and academics on the left have posited that Islamic terror comes from
the desperation of economic deprivation. Many of us here in the west
buy into this idea. I almost did, but thankfully Daniel Pipes saved
me from that folly. Subscribing to this notion says far more about
the western mind than it does about the cause of Islamic terror. It’s
a bit presumptuous of us to think that what the Islamic world needs
and wants is material gain. We are projecting our secular values onto
a quasi-religious problem. Of course everyone likes to eat and to
receive basic medical care, but that is not what this is about.

If you begin looking into just who gets involved in terror groups and
who carries out suicide attacks, you will see that it is not the
disenfranchised and impoverished. It is usually intelligent young men
from middle class (or higher) backgrounds, with college educations
(often at western universities). They are devout Muslims who are well
versed in many aspects of their faith. It’s definitely not about
money. It’s about Islam and its doctrine.

Westerners are flummoxed when they encounter a problem of such
Herculean dimensions that can’t be solved with money. We have become
complacent in secular democracy. We are sometimes unmindful of our
vast freedoms (because we are free to be) and how precious they are.
It is only through our hard-won freedom that we were able to conceive
our western secular democracy which protects these freedoms. It is
the freedom afforded us by secular democracy that has resulted in
great achievements in art, science, technology, and other areas of
human endeavor.

Islam, on the other hand, has contributed nothing to science and
reason in the last millennium due to its static and grindingly
intolerant state. Islam is a totalitarian ideology which affects
every minute aspect of the Muslim’s life from personal hygiene, to
mundane everyday matters, to how man should be governed. The west has
outpaced and surpassed the Islamic world as sensationally as it has
because we have moved on and separated religion from state, thus
effecting a secular environment in which science, the humanities, and
reason may thrive. These priceless assets which many of us take for
granted are impossible under shari’ah.

Additionally, we see here how President Bush’s notion that “they hate
us for our freedoms” was somewhat misguided. Muslims do not want our
“freedom” because it is anathema to them. The most repugnant sin to a
Muslim is what is known as “shirk.” Shirk, while often used to denote
polytheism, really means putting anything on the same footing with
God. Man-made law is shirk, since Muslims were given the revealed
word of God as concerns how they are to be governed. So, no, they
don’t hate us for being free per se, but they do hate us for being
free in an unIslamic way.

Also, Islam causes economic malaise. Before the west taught the Arab
world how to extract and process its oil, the Islamic world was still
back on its heels over the western primacy after the industrial
revolution. The recent phenomenon of Islamic terror began with the
Muslim Brotherhood and the newly enriched Wahhabi/Salafi sects in the
K.S.A. around the same time that Arabian oil fields opened up. It was
further exacerbated during the last oil boom in the seventies.

So, if they don’t hate us over economic disparity or because we’re
free, then why the heck do they hate us? What on Earth could drive
people to detonate bomb vests in a crowded restaurant or bus; or saw
someone’s head off while droning “God is great,” or fly planes full
of passengers into skyscrapers full of people trying to go to work?
Again, justification for such ignoble acts aside, when a Jew watches
someone he loves blown into several hundred bloody pieces before his
eyes, or when a mother watches her son’s severed head or other body
parts being displayed as gruesome trophies for the video camera, or
when a country reels with the deep psychic shock of witnessing its
citizens being murdered en masseÑwhen confronted with such sheer
madness, it is only natural to want to know: Why do they hate us?

Well, I know why they hate us. And it’s not even because we and the
“evil Zionist entity” are complicit in the ongoing “occupation” and
“oppression” of the Palestinians (although this ruse is a useful red
herring to the Arab world). They hate us because according to their
scriptureÑwhich they view to be inerrantÑit is the entitlement of
Muslims to lead all of mankind and to establish God’s kingdom on
Earth (Khilafah); and we have spectacularly robbed them of that
absurd notion with the awesome power of secular, liberal democracy
and capitalism.

Before the west put the capstone on the edifice of capitalism and
industrial power, Muslims were always successful, powerful, and to
their minds, superior. We’ve ruined all that now. Even the oil
doesn’t help them, because until they can effect Khilafah, they will
settle for the devil they know (corrupt, local despots) over the
devil they don’t know (shirk, secular democracy). This provides
another reason to hate us. We are seen to be in league with the
tyrants who oppress and exploit the umma (the Muslim community). We
may secure transitory geopolitical alliances with these thugs (the
shah, Saddam, Mubarak), but to Muslims (and their western enablers),
we’re a big part of the problem, if not the entire problem. We are
Satan to them.

So, it doesn’t really matter what economic stratum a Muslim comes
from. What matters is that it is categorically obligatory for any
able-bodied Muslim male to engage in jihad when jihad is waged. As
for the western Muslims who aren’t out on the field of battle killing
infidels, they are engaged in da’wa (calling the infidels to Islam)
and taqiyya (lying about the faith) here among us. And anyway, I
submit that anyone who doesn’t actively oppose terror is condoning
it, if only tacitly.

A worldwide Islamic state is the goal of Islam. Islam is a dystopian
nightmare, which its adherents think is utopian. So, rich or poor,
when they are met with our flat refusal to accept the notion of their
theocracy, there is conflict, and as we’re beginning to see here in
America, it gets deadly. Muhammad’s hordes, who raged out of the
Arabian Peninsula conquering nations from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, were wealthy menÑvery wealthy. They did if for Islam. They
did it because the Qur’an and the hadith say that it is their right,
and this scripture is God’s revealed word.

Islamic terror is really about the establishment of God’s law on
EarthÑeverywhere on Earth. That is more important to a Muslim than
material comfort. As westerners, we are baffled by such an idea, and
so the more “progressive” among us think that a fusillade of money
might be in order to get those angry young men with that faraway
glint of suicide explosions in their eyes to stop killing us. Because
we deserve it. All the money in the world won’t solve this problem,
though. It’ll only fund more terror. And who wants money when you
have a mission from God? Many wealthy and “westernized” Muslims are
just as convinced that Khilafah is the pinnacle of man’s mission on
Earth as their destitute brethren. They can do their part by
contributing to Muslim “charities.”

When we begin to understand that we are dealing with a
quasi-religious ideology that can take a wealthy and educated
profligate like Osama bin Laden (who once enjoyed sex, drugs, and
rock and roll in the discotheques of Beirut) and turn him into the
scourge of God, then we begin to understand the true power of this
threat.

For Israelis, there is the added dynamic of the virulent
anti-Semitism endemic to Islam and the Arab world. The privations,
pogroms, and humiliation visited upon the Jews living in dhimmitude
in Arab nations is well documented throughout the ages. The Jews are
depicted in the Qur’an and several sunna in an extremely unfavorable
light, which is easily interpreted as grounds to indulge in lurid
hatred and persecution against them. In the Arab press, all manner of
lies and slander about the Jews and Israel are presented as fact. To
the Arab/Muslim sensibilities, it is an affront that not only did the
despised Jew return to claim his homeland, but he additionally
brought democracy and developed the means to defend it. I think the
fact that the Jews can fight back nowÑmore than effectivelyÑbothers a
lot of people, actually.

Alan Dershowitz also reminds us that another “root cause” of terror
is that it works. Our open media are used against us in mass coverage
terror acts. Western governments often respond to terrorist demands,
caving in when pressured by their populace. Any quarter given to
terrorists is exploited as weakness in their cruel calculus. Even
when terror groups do not get what they’ve demanded, they gain much
when the whole world pays attention to what they’ve done. To quote
the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s chief observer at the
United Nations, Zehdi Labib Terzi, “The first several hijackings
aroused the consciousness of the world and awakened the media and the
world opinion much moreÑand more effectivelyÑthan twenty years of
pleading at the United Nations.” So, it is clear that when terrorism
is rewarded, it causes more terror. Any parent of a three-year-old
could tell you as much. The Turkish Armenians and Kurds were ignored
when they tried to use terror to make their case, so you don’t ever
hear about Armenian or Kurdish terror. There’s a reason.
Additionally, you don’t hear too much about Tibetan Buddhists, and
many other groups who have genuinely been wronged, resorting to
terror out of desperation and financial woe.

In the end, I really don’t care why the degenerate Islamic killers
hate us. I happen to think that the United States and Israel are not
what is wrong with this world. But even when there are legitimate
hardships for Muslims, murder is the wrong way to go about expressing
your outrage. As far as I’m concerned, the minute you murder
innocent, unarmed civilians to advance your “cause,” you have shown
me that whatever your grievance was, it is no longer relevant in any
sense. That’s not desperation or fighting for freedom. That is
murder, and it is evil.

Soon the more liberal-minded among us here in the west will get it.
Frankly, they will have no choice. I am sure that it was a bitter
pill to swallow for many leftists in Israel when they had to face the
fact that Islamofascism cannot be appeased. But when murderous fiends
are killing your family, your friends, and your countrymen, despite
your most honest, magnanimous, and lofty efforts, it’s time to face
facts.

No, I don’t care that they hate us. I have an functional moral
compass, and I’m not in thrall to relativism. I know that we’re in
the right here.

Aspen Times, CO
Aug 4 2004

Gulezian’s guitar playing infused with devotion to music’s power

By Stewart Oksenhorn
Aspen Times Staff Writer

The topic of conversation is that subset of contemporary instrumental
music that only an elevator or hotel lobby could love.

But Michael Gulezian has misunderstood my question, and the normally
mild-mannered, spiritual-leaning guitarist has turned into a
fire-breathing beast.

`It’s dreck,’ said Gulezian, using the Yiddish substitute for a word
that no longer can appear in The Aspen Times. `It makes me want to
scream. It’s the audio equivalent of Sominex. It’s wallpaper. If I
hear it in the supermarket, I run out.’

Gulezian thought I had asked what he did when he hears this music,
with its cheesy sounds, formulaic rhythms and empty melodies. But my
actual question was, what does someone like him do that separates his
contemporary instrumental music from the dreck. I explain the
misunderstanding, and Gulezian turns from Anti-Elevator Music Man
back into his humble self.

`Music,’ explained the 47-year-old Nashville resident, `should be an
active, participatory experience, an experience of community, a
common experience of a language that transcends spoken word. To water
that powerful thing down to a formula is shameful, even sinful.’

Gulezian’s music is, in fact, no relation to the simplistic,
synthesized bromide one hears in the hallways of shopping malls. On
albums like `Language of the Flame’ and the forthcoming live
recording `Concert at St. Olaf College,’ Gulezian’s music, mostly
solo guitar work, is inventive and complex; like his heroes of the
finger-style guitar – especially the late Michael Hedges, and John
Fahy, Gulezian’s first major influence – he melds rhythm, melody and
harmony using just one instrument and 10 fingers. The less-humble
side of Gulezian actually boasts that he is `a technical monster.’
But the more artistic side of Gulezian counters that the art is not
about the technique.

`It’s not about the technique,’ said Gulezian, who performs tonight
at Main Street Bakery. `That’s the last thing people should be paying
attention to. It’s about whether I’m transforming something about the
heart and soul to people who are listening. Technically, I can blow
anybody away. But if that’s all you’re going to do, you’re going to
play to an audience of nothing but guitar junkies.’

Though tonight’s concert is his Aspen debut, Gulezian spent his high
school years as a Coloradan, attending a small prep school in Cañon
City, Holy Cross Abbey, run by Benedictine monks. His love of music,
however, was already instilled in him by the time he got to high
school.

Gulezian’s mother, an Armenian born in Syria, sang Armenian folk
songs in a beautiful voice; his father, a New York native also of
Armenian descent, was an ethnomusicologist who transcribed ancient
Egyptian music scrolls for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

`When I say I heard music growing up from other cultures,’ said
Gulezian, `I mean cultures from thousands of years ago. That’s the
environment I grew up in – listening to Motown and the Beatles, and
also traditional classical music from the Middle East and India.’

Gulezian began playing Western classical music on guitar at 7. `But
to be honest, it didn’t resonate in my heart,’ he said. `I practiced
because I was diligent. But nothing really got me until I was 12, 13,
when I heard finger-style players like Doc Watson, and the
Mississippi Delta players like Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt.’

Those blues players got to his heart. But it was Fahy, the pioneering
finger-style guitarist who broke the trail for Leo Kottke and the
like, who got into Gulezian, heart, soul and mind.

`That blew me away,’ said Gulezian. `John Fahy was to steel-string
instrumental guitar music what Andrés Segovia was to classical
guitar. Nobody took classical guitar seriously until Segovia started
playing it.’

For Gulezian, the Maryland-born Fahy opened up a world of
near-infinite possibilities. `He provided the model for someone to be
idiosyncratic and create his own artistic path. I knew I could
express the deepest part of me.’

That seems to get to the heart of the original question. What
separates the contemporary instrumental music played by Gulezian –
and Pierre Bensusan, Kottke, Alex De Grassi and the like – from
elevator sounds is the element of humanity. Gulezian’s music has a
personality, rather than a formula, behind it.

Gulezian concludes: `I guess the answer is I love it so much and
respect it so much and have such awe for the power of music, I treat
it with devotion.’