The Flashlight, Oct. 6-12, 2007
THE FLASHLIGHT, October 6 - 12, 2007
China and Religion
NY Times 10-11. China no longer tries to crush all religions in its territory because religion can be a force for stability. Instead the government is trying to “manage” religion. For example, Order #5 of the State Administration of Religious Affairs:
“The Management Measures for the Reincarnation of Living Buddhism in Tibetan Buddhism” says that monks are prohibited from returning from the dead without government permission. No one outside of China can influence the reincarnation process; only monasteries in China can apply for permission.
US News
The Armenian Genocide Recognition Bill and it Enemies.
NY Times, Guardian 10-11. The US House of Representatives is considering a non-binding bill, which affirms as a genocide the attempt of Turkish government leaders in 1915 to exterminate the Armenian minority in what is now Turkey. 1.5 million Armenians were killed. This resolution was approved by the House Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 27 to 21. A bipartisan majority in the House supports the resolution. The Senate is considering a similar resolution.
Armenian advocacy in the US is especially strong in California, Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, where large Armenian populations reside. The Armenian Assembly of America, one of three Washington based advocacy groups, has a budget this year of $13.6 million for all purposes. The Turkish government has hired three lobbying firms in Washington and has spent about a million dollars this year alone, just on trying to fight this bill.
The current government of Turkey says that if the resolution is approved by the whole House, Turkey would reconsider its support of the war in Iraq. The official Turkish government response: “It is unacceptable that the Turkish nation has been accused of something that never happened in history.” 10-11 CNN. Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to the US in protest.
The White House vigorously opposes the resolution, calling the 1915 events “mass killing” instead of “genocide.” Sec. of Defense Gates said that 70% of air cargo for Iraq passes through or comes from Turkey,
The International Association of Genocide Scholars, 53 non-Armenian ethnic groups and a number of Jewish organizations support the resolution. Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor in Congress, also supports it. He said that Turkey needs the US more than the US needs Turkey.
However, Rahm Emanuel, fourth ranking Democratic House leader, opposes the resolution. So does the Anti-Defamation League, a powerful Jewish lobbying organization led by Abraham Foxman. In Aug. 21 the ADL admitted that the massive number of Armenian deaths was tantamount to genocide, but that the Turkish government did not “intend” to exterminate the Armenians. Furthermore, he called the resolution pending in Congress “a counterproductive diversion.”
In order to understand the prolonged denial of the Armenian Genocide by the government of Israel and some American Jewish leaders, it is necessary to know that Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries which recognizes the state of Israel.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that the resolution will be brought before the whole House before Congress adjourns this year.
The most recent and very well received book on the subject of the Armenian Genocide is written by a Turkish scholar, now living in the US, Taner Acsam. The book is called A Shameful Act; The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. 2007. Paperback, $11.56 from Amazon.com.
Yair Auron, an Israeli professor, has examined Israel’s position in The Banality of Denial; Israel and the Armenian Genocide.
2004, paper, available from Amazon.com.
The Israel Lobby: a Debate
On 10/10 PBS News held a brief debate between John Mearsheimer, co-author of The Israel Lobby, and Abraham Foxham, Director of the Anti-Defamation League. Foxham has just published a book called The Deadliest of Lies an attempted refutation the work of Mearsheimer and Walt.
Foxham said that Mearsheimer exaggerated the power of the Israel Lobby in the US, and the such exaggeration is typical of anti-Semites. Mearsheimer answered that the best evidence of the power of the Israel Lobby is that although all American presidents have condemned the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967, and the planting of illegal Jewish settlements in that territory, not one president has had sufficient power to bring about the evacuation of those Palestinian lands.
Foxman said that Mearsheimer was wrong in blaming the Israel Lobby for starting the current Iraq war. He said, and Mearsheimer admitted, that the great majority of American Jews opposed the war. But Mearsheimer insisted that AIPAC (the American-Israel Political Action Committee) and the neoconservatives (mainly pro-Israel Jews) pushed hard for the war because they thought it was in the interests of Israel. He admitted that oil corporations played some role, but asserted that the Israel Lobby (as distinct from American Jews in general) was the most important cause of the war. He said the same groups were now pushing for an attack on Iran.
Note on the bios of Mearsheimer and Foxman.
Abraham Foxman, born in 1940, survived the Holocaust as a baby cared for by nuns. His parents also survived, but he lost many relatives. He graduated from CCNY with a B.A. and from New York University with a law degree. For details, see his Wiki biography on the Internet.
John Mearsheimer graduated from West Point in 1970, and then switched to political science. He earned his Ph.D from Cornell in 1981, and is a distinguished service professor of government at the University of Chicago.
US Policy on Torture
PBS 10-5. The White House refuses to release two memoranda of May, 2005, which authorized “harsh interrogation techniques” that are actually torture.
NY Times 10-7 Editorial. It said that the Bush Administration has led a systematic campaign to mislead Congress and the American people with regard to torture and abuse at secret prisons. The methods used have been considered torture for decades by civilized nations: simulated drowning, extreme heat and cold, prolonged stress positions, and isolation. The Bush Administration has used legal sophistries to justify these methods.
Comedy Central, Jon Stewart 10-10: We have made the “ultimate sacrifice” of our definitions of “torture” and “cruel,” words that are called up now to serve at the pleasure of the President.
Other US News
Gail Collins on Fred Thompson, new Republican candidate for President:
NY Times 10-11. “Thompson is now a Gucci wearing, Lincoln driving, Perrier drinking, and Grey Poupon spreading millionaire and Washington special interest lobbyist and actor…. He not only isn’t charismatic , he doesn’t even seem pleasant. If Fred is a man of the people, I am Jennifer Lopez.”
PBS 10-8. California is not only the biggest center of stem cell research in the US, and Stanford University is the biggest center in California.
CNN 10-12. Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on global warming.
Doris Lessing has received the Nobel Prize for literature.
China and Religion
NY Times 10-11. China no longer tries to crush all religions in its territory because religion can be a force for stability. Instead the government is trying to “manage” religion. For example, Order #5 of the State Administration of Religious Affairs:
“The Management Measures for the Reincarnation of Living Buddhism in Tibetan Buddhism” says that monks are prohibited from returning from the dead without government permission. No one outside of China can influence the reincarnation process; only monasteries in China can apply for permission.
US News
The Armenian Genocide Recognition Bill and it Enemies.
NY Times, Guardian 10-11. The US House of Representatives is considering a non-binding bill, which affirms as a genocide the attempt of Turkish government leaders in 1915 to exterminate the Armenian minority in what is now Turkey. 1.5 million Armenians were killed. This resolution was approved by the House Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 27 to 21. A bipartisan majority in the House supports the resolution. The Senate is considering a similar resolution.
Armenian advocacy in the US is especially strong in California, Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, where large Armenian populations reside. The Armenian Assembly of America, one of three Washington based advocacy groups, has a budget this year of $13.6 million for all purposes. The Turkish government has hired three lobbying firms in Washington and has spent about a million dollars this year alone, just on trying to fight this bill.
The current government of Turkey says that if the resolution is approved by the whole House, Turkey would reconsider its support of the war in Iraq. The official Turkish government response: “It is unacceptable that the Turkish nation has been accused of something that never happened in history.” 10-11 CNN. Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to the US in protest.
The White House vigorously opposes the resolution, calling the 1915 events “mass killing” instead of “genocide.” Sec. of Defense Gates said that 70% of air cargo for Iraq passes through or comes from Turkey,
The International Association of Genocide Scholars, 53 non-Armenian ethnic groups and a number of Jewish organizations support the resolution. Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor in Congress, also supports it. He said that Turkey needs the US more than the US needs Turkey.
However, Rahm Emanuel, fourth ranking Democratic House leader, opposes the resolution. So does the Anti-Defamation League, a powerful Jewish lobbying organization led by Abraham Foxman. In Aug. 21 the ADL admitted that the massive number of Armenian deaths was tantamount to genocide, but that the Turkish government did not “intend” to exterminate the Armenians. Furthermore, he called the resolution pending in Congress “a counterproductive diversion.”
In order to understand the prolonged denial of the Armenian Genocide by the government of Israel and some American Jewish leaders, it is necessary to know that Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries which recognizes the state of Israel.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that the resolution will be brought before the whole House before Congress adjourns this year.
The most recent and very well received book on the subject of the Armenian Genocide is written by a Turkish scholar, now living in the US, Taner Acsam. The book is called A Shameful Act; The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. 2007. Paperback, $11.56 from Amazon.com.
Yair Auron, an Israeli professor, has examined Israel’s position in The Banality of Denial; Israel and the Armenian Genocide.
2004, paper, available from Amazon.com.
The Israel Lobby: a Debate
On 10/10 PBS News held a brief debate between John Mearsheimer, co-author of The Israel Lobby, and Abraham Foxham, Director of the Anti-Defamation League. Foxham has just published a book called The Deadliest of Lies an attempted refutation the work of Mearsheimer and Walt.
Foxham said that Mearsheimer exaggerated the power of the Israel Lobby in the US, and the such exaggeration is typical of anti-Semites. Mearsheimer answered that the best evidence of the power of the Israel Lobby is that although all American presidents have condemned the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967, and the planting of illegal Jewish settlements in that territory, not one president has had sufficient power to bring about the evacuation of those Palestinian lands.
Foxman said that Mearsheimer was wrong in blaming the Israel Lobby for starting the current Iraq war. He said, and Mearsheimer admitted, that the great majority of American Jews opposed the war. But Mearsheimer insisted that AIPAC (the American-Israel Political Action Committee) and the neoconservatives (mainly pro-Israel Jews) pushed hard for the war because they thought it was in the interests of Israel. He admitted that oil corporations played some role, but asserted that the Israel Lobby (as distinct from American Jews in general) was the most important cause of the war. He said the same groups were now pushing for an attack on Iran.
Note on the bios of Mearsheimer and Foxman.
Abraham Foxman, born in 1940, survived the Holocaust as a baby cared for by nuns. His parents also survived, but he lost many relatives. He graduated from CCNY with a B.A. and from New York University with a law degree. For details, see his Wiki biography on the Internet.
John Mearsheimer graduated from West Point in 1970, and then switched to political science. He earned his Ph.D from Cornell in 1981, and is a distinguished service professor of government at the University of Chicago.
US Policy on Torture
PBS 10-5. The White House refuses to release two memoranda of May, 2005, which authorized “harsh interrogation techniques” that are actually torture.
NY Times 10-7 Editorial. It said that the Bush Administration has led a systematic campaign to mislead Congress and the American people with regard to torture and abuse at secret prisons. The methods used have been considered torture for decades by civilized nations: simulated drowning, extreme heat and cold, prolonged stress positions, and isolation. The Bush Administration has used legal sophistries to justify these methods.
Comedy Central, Jon Stewart 10-10: We have made the “ultimate sacrifice” of our definitions of “torture” and “cruel,” words that are called up now to serve at the pleasure of the President.
Other US News
Gail Collins on Fred Thompson, new Republican candidate for President:
NY Times 10-11. “Thompson is now a Gucci wearing, Lincoln driving, Perrier drinking, and Grey Poupon spreading millionaire and Washington special interest lobbyist and actor…. He not only isn’t charismatic , he doesn’t even seem pleasant. If Fred is a man of the people, I am Jennifer Lopez.”
PBS 10-8. California is not only the biggest center of stem cell research in the US, and Stanford University is the biggest center in California.
CNN 10-12. Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on global warming.
Doris Lessing has received the Nobel Prize for literature.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 6:20 AM
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