PROMISES AND POLITICAL INSTRUCTIONS
Shahan Kandaharian

Aztag Daily
Jan 22 2009
Lebanon

The whole world watched intently the 44rt president of the United
States as he swore into office. The reasons for the curiousity,
expectations, interpretations, as well as the extent and the wave of
sympathy that the election of Barak Obama has created in the masses
are more than one.

First of all, it was the American public who wanted to take part
in the launching ceremony of the practical implementation of the
principle of §change¦; in that way, perhaps, they would have
responded to the start-off of a new era for the United States as well
as they would have been there physically. At the same time, however,
the demand for change implies the rejection of the former system,
and the more elemental is the momentum of the change, the deeper
is the determination to reject the previous state of affairs. These
thoughts were reshaped when at a historic moment the masses that had
gathered in the main districts of Washington gave the impression of
a reinforcing movement than just a popular gathering.

And when we say the former state of affairs, we mean the present awful
crisis created by the country’s economic policy, the oversaturated
military industry, the extraordinary increase of armament, the two
wars waged in an eight-year period as well as the landscape of the
results of the country’s foreign policy.

The acceptance of the office by the first figure of this superpower
had also moved the curiosity of related countries and their populace,
who have been impacted by the consequences of deep crises of this
country. It’s obvious that the economic crisis that broke in the
United States had its fast and destructive domino effect all around
the world. After all the United States has a founding role in the
shaping of the new world order and consequently clear and obvious is
the fact that the interested parties will try to find new situations
to take advantage of.

These were the themes boiling in the American and the international
media, with analyses, interpretations, political forecasts, which
gave sometimes complementary and sometimes opposite opinions about
the events taking place in Washington.

Let’s turn to the Armenian parts of the world. Basically there were
two directions that are noteworthy. First of all, of course, there
are the publications of the American-Armenian public organizations,
the lobbying groups and their political propaganda as well as the
Armenian media. In the case of the first, naturally there were
the reminders of the promises made during pre-election campaigns,
the mention of the previous candidate and now the president elect’s
truly unprecedented and explicit stances, not only with respect to the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, which he finds an imperative,
but also the Karabagh self-determination issue, which he finds an issue
to sit at the round table for. It was mentioned that for the first
time Armenian folkloric groups were participating in the festivals
taking place prior to the ceremony of swearing into office. Also,
that the ambassador of Armenia to the United States was invited to
attend the ceremony. Although this last fact is not worth shedding a
spotlight on, given the fact that all ambassadors are sent invitations
to attend an important official ceremony as such.

The important interpretations published in the Armenian media must have
caught the attention of those who follow closely the Armenian-American
relations §dossier¦.

It’s still too early to predict future events based on signs in
current events. The only tangible evidence is the questioning of the
newly appointed foreign minister by Senator Menendez; the minister’s
answer was not a surprise, understandably and logically.

The election of presidents both for the congress, the country and the
state includes new dynamic factors for the Armenians. It’s right to
express enthusiasm in official stances for the purpose of continuing
lobbying and following up the pre-election promises. However, it’s
obvious that the policy of the new-and-old administration can keep or
break this or that part of the promises only according to the demands
of the political rationale in a given situation.

We hope that the promises of the newly elected president will be in
accordance with the demands of the political rationale during his years
in office. Or better to say, we, as state and public organizations,
must continue working for that purpose.

–Boundary_(ID_kafsdspx+V/0DKym7OOAbA)–