JUST CURIOUS (RE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VOTE)
The Atlantic Online
Oct 16 2007
Before leaving China, I hadn’t heard about the House of
Representatives’ vote on a resolution condemning Turkey for the
Armenian genocide of the World War I era.
Now that I’ve heard about it, I find that it leads naturally to
this question:
Is America insane??????
To be more precise: have the Congressional Democratic leaders lost
their minds in not finding a way to bottle up this destructive and
self-righteously posturing measure?
Maybe they think that the U.S. has so many friends in the Islamic
world, especially in countries bordering Iraq, that it should go out
of its way to make new enemies?
Or — and this is truly appalling possibility — perhaps they think
that America’s moral standing is so high at the moment that we will
be admired and thanked worldwide for delivering condemnations of sins
committed in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire?
Why not go all the way? How about a resolution condemning China for
the millions who suffered in the Cultural Revolution and the tens
of millions starved during the Great Leap Forward – right as we’re
seeking China’s help on Burma, North Korea, the environment, etc? I
mean, for each Armenian the Ottoman Turks slaughtered, at least ten
Chinese citizens perished at the hands of the regime whose successors
still rule the country. And the government’s official stance of denial
is just about as strong. So, why not just tell them they were evil? The
timing would be especially nice during China’s current Party Congress.
I’m sure we could get a unanimous vote for a resolution condemning
North Korea for any of a hundred grievous offenses; that would
be a good complement to the recent nuclear deal. Why not one
denouncing Russia for the Czarist pogroms, to accompany efforts to
reason with/rein in Putin? Maybe another condemning England for its
subjugation and slaughter of the Scots, to say nothing of the Irish –
while also asking Gordon Brown to stay the course in Iraq? What about
Australia for its historic treatment of the Aborigines? Or the current
nations of West Africa for their role in the slave trade?
The Armenian genocide was real; many Turks pretend it wasn’t. They
are wrong, and we should stand for what’s right. But it’s hard to
think of a more willfully self-indulgent step than lecturing Turkey’s
current government and people 90 years late.
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