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wilyem · 23 Apr 09, 05:02

JPost.com » Opinion » Columnists » Article
SHMULEY BOTEACH SHMULEY BOTEACH
Apr 20, 2009 21:52 | Updated Apr 22, 2009 20:24
No Holds Barred: Why does Obama smile at dictators?
By SHMULEY BOTEACH [Recent columns]
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The picture of the president of the United States smiling broadly as he met President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela startled me. Our president is a nice guy. Chavez is anything but.
US President Barack Obama,...

US President Barack Obama, left, shakes hands with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Friday.
Photo: AP

The State Department maintains that Chávez has attacked democratic traditions and has put Venezuelan democracy on life support with unchecked concentration of power, political persecution, and intimidation. Foreign Affairs magazine says that Chávez is a power-hungry dictator with autocratic and megalomaniacal tendencies whose authoritarian vision and policies are a serious threat to his people. In testimony before the US Senate, the South American project director for the Center for Strategic International Studies said that Chavez's government engages in "arresting opposition leaders, torturing some members of the opposition (according to human rights organizations) and encouraging, if not directing, its squads of Bolivarian Circles to beat up members of Congress and intimidate voters-all with impunity."

In spite of a presidential term limit of six years, Chávez has suggested that he would like to remain in power for 25 years. Hmmm. An autocratic dictator who abuses human rights and undermines democracy being warmly embraced by the American president. There's something wrong with that picture.

Then there was the incident of President Barack Obama seeming to bow before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G-20 summit in London. The president's people denied it was a bow, but it certainly was a sign of great deference from the American president to the dictator of a country who just six weeks ago sentenced a 75-year-old woman to 40 lashes for having been secluded with her nephew after he delivered bread to her home. This is the same Abdullah whom, when asked why Saudi Arabia prohibits the public practice of religions other than Islam, said, "It is absurd to impose on an individual or a society rights that are alien to its beliefs or principles."

Obama is also pursuing a renewed relationship with Cuba, a country which engages in systemic human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials and extrajudicial executions. Censorship is so extensive that Cubans face five-year prison sentences for connecting to the Internet illegally. And not only is emigration illegal, but even discussing it carries a six-month prison sentence.

WATCHING ALL THIS, I was wondering what the new standards were. How oppressive must a leader be before we determine that he has not merited a hug by the democratic standard-bearer of the free world, the president of the United States? Yes, I get it. We have to speak to our enemies, and America has to push "reset" on its relationship with many of these countries. We should try and change them through charm. But who said the president himself, rather than a lower-level diplomat, must do so?

And if Obama feels that he has to be the one to greet a man like Chavez, must it be with the kind of ear-to-ear grin that one might show girl scouts selling cookies? It must surely be disheartening for those who suffer oppression in countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Saudi Arabia to see the American president backslapping their oppressors when these victims have always looked up to the United States as their champions.

In Turkey, Obama boldly declared that "the United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam." But the person who was at war with Islam, Saddam Hussein, the man who killed nearly one million Muslims, was removed by a country which has already paid with the lives of 4,500 of its servicemen and women. The same is true of the Taliban, another group whom the Obama administration is considering talking to, who beat Muslim women in the streets of Afghanistan. Yet the president seems reluctant to publicly identify these real enemies of Islam.

LIKE MANY AMERICANS, I have been awed by our president's capacity to draw those who hate us near. He is a man of considerable charm and grace. But I have to admit that I am increasingly troubled by his seeming inability to call out rogue dictators.

While he was campaigning for the presidency, Obama promised, "As president I will recognize the Armenian genocide." But in a press conference in Ankara with President Abdullah Gul, he refused to use the word "genocide" when challenged by a reporter on the issue. Yet, it was Obama's early foreign policy adviser Samantha Power of Harvard who wrote A Problem from Hell, the definitive book on the American non-intervention in repeated 20th-century genocides, beginning with the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks which killed 1.5 million between the years of 1915 and 1923. When I read the book it changed my life.

As a Jew who does not want the world to forget the Holocaust, I can only imagine the pain of the Armenian community as it struggles to have modern Turkey acknowledge the crime. And why should modern Turkey not oblige? No one is blaming it for something that happened 90 years ago. It is not today's generation which is at fault. But nations must come to terms with their own history. Could any of us imagine what kind of country the US would be if it denied that it was ever responsible for the abomination of African-American slavery and segregation?

ALL THIS LEADS to one important question. Suppose Obama succeeds in building friendships with Chavez, Castro, Ahmadinejad and the Taliban. What then? Does America still get to feel that it stands for something? Will we still be the beacon of liberty and freedom to the rest of the world, or will we have sold out in the name of political expediency? And do any of us seriously believe that presidential friendship is going to get a megalomaniac like Hugo Chavez to ease up on the levers of power, or are we just feeding his ego by showing him he can be a tyrant and still have a beer with the president of the United States? Will the Iranians really stop enriching uranium through diplomacy rather than economic sanctions?

voter · 23 Apr 09, 13:12

Երեկ երեկոյան Հայաստանի ու Թուրքիայի ԱԳՆ ներն տարածել են հայտարարություն փոխադարձ հարաբերությունների կարգավորման մասին։

Հայաստանը եւ Թուրքիան համաձայնության են հանգել

Ինչքան էլ, սա արված է Եղեռնի տարեդարձի նախօրեին, զարմանալի կլինի, եթե Թուրքիան զուտ Օբամայի Ցեղասպանություն բառը չարտասանելու համար այս ամենը կազմակերպած լինի։

Այստեղ հեռուն գնացող նպատակ է երևում։

Հավանաբար նոր Բեռլինյան պատ է ստեղծվում ԱՄՆի ու Ռուսասատանի միջև Կովկասում։ Այդ պատը լինելու է Հայաստանը, որտեղ և ԱՄՆն և Ռուսաստանն ներկա են լինելու։

Պատի մի կողմում լինելու է Վրաստանը, մյուս կողմում Ադրբեջանը։ Թուրքիային հավանաբար առաջարկվել է հրաժարվել պատի այն կողմում հայտնվելիք Ռուսաստանյան ադրբեջանի նկատմամբ նկրտումներից ու հարաբերություններ հաստատել Հայաստանի հետ։

Ցեղասպանության ճանաչումը Թուրքիայի գլխին առավել ևս Երդողանի ու Գյուլի կուսակցության գլխին կախված չի եղել։ Այն միայն Ռազմական աթաթուրքիան անձի պաշտամունքով ապրող «սեկուլյարիստների» գլխին է պատուհաս։

Իսլամական կուսակցությունները ինչպիսիք Էրդողանի ու Գյուլի կուսակցությունն է, Թուրքիայում միայն կշահեն Ցեղասպանության ճանաչումից, քանի որ արաբական երկրներն նույնպես Օսմանյան տիրակալությունը քաղցր խոսքով չեն հիշում, իսկ Թուրքիային ԱՄՆի կողմից վերապահված է իսլամի հետ համագործակցության մունետիկի դերը։

Այդ դերը տանելը Օսմանյան կայսրության գովերգումը շարունակելով ու այն որպես անարատ տարիներ ոչ թուրքերի համար ներկայացնելով, ոչ մի կերպ չի նպաստի արաբների ու մյուս իսլամական ժողովուրդների հետ թուրքիայի հարաբերությունների հաստատմանը։

Հրաժարվել ԱՄՆի առաջարկից Թուրքիան չի կարող, քանի որ կկորցնի ամեն ինչ...

voter · 23 Apr 09, 16:29

Молчание Грузин на том же уровне, что Армяне молчат относительно событий развивающихся вокруг делёжки сфер влияния на кавказе между США и Россией.

Это говорит о том, что они по всей вероятности получили от США предложения, от которых не возможно отказаться.

Турция также думаю получила крупное предложение, стать главным посредником для США и Европы с Исламским миром, но они ещё и пытаються по мелкому немного мелочей урвать, типа отстрочка признания Геноцида в США и Европе.

Остаёться вопрос, что Азерам от России ждать. Сегодняшний визит Саркисяна в Москву, по всей вероятности предназначен для выяснения условий торгов, что дают Россия и Армения Азербайджану в замен России разрешает делать Армении с США в лице их посредника Турции, всё что угодно.

Как уже говорил, по всей вероятности придёться приИранские районы Физули и Джебраил отдать под контроль России в замен получив признание статуса КВО не независимости а лишь фактическое согласие для существования Арцаха под контролем Армении.

То что всех всё устраивает и остались, только азеры говорит и заявление Хилари клинтона про вопрос Арцаха: говорит мы в последние дни несколько представителей госдепа отправляли в Баку. Типа с ними ведёться разъяснительная работа, чтоб согласились.

brat_eu · 24 Apr 09, 02:33

Тут по интереснее мне кажется....

/ http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=278388

Azeri · 24 Apr 09, 13:59

[B][I][B][I]Qarabag bizimdir. Azərbaycanın!!!

Karabakh is our.
Azerbaycan=Qarabag
Qarabag=Azerbaycan

voter · 24 Apr 09, 16:54

Azeri Karabach is those who is living there. It is not forbidden to live there being non armenian. The only question is, why one need a azeri-turk governing Karabach and Armenians living there, like it was before, and not Armenians governing Karabach and azeri-turks just living there.

Being ready to live under governance of russians, germans, persians or arabs, but not under governance of Armenians is sinple rasit paranoidism.

Just apply for living permit in Karabach if you want to live there, work there and pay taxes being a citizen of Karabach.

voter · 24 Apr 09, 16:57

По теме - Хилари Клинтон выразило мнение, что до мая будет решение проблемы Арцаха http://www.armenialiberty.org/articl...w/1613960.html.

Это надо понимать как ультиматум Армении и Азербайджану, решить проблему до Мая, так как Россия и США договорились о совместном использовании ресурсов Кавказа и ближневосточного региона от Израеля до Ирана- чтай поделили регион и им всякие нерешённые конфликты не нужны.

Если не договорятся Армения с Азербайджаном, за место них договорятся США и Россия, а остальным останется лишь согласиться.

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23 Apr 09, 05:02	#8 (permalink)
wilyem Top VIP VIP Ultra Club Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 5,261 Rep Power: 22	Re: Карабах, российские базы и армяно-турецкие отношения – интервью JPost.com » Opinion » Columnists » Article SHMULEY BOTEACH SHMULEY BOTEACH Apr 20, 2009 21:52 \| Updated Apr 22, 2009 20:24 No Holds Barred: Why does Obama smile at dictators? By SHMULEY BOTEACH [Recent columns] Print Subscribe E-mail Toolbar + Recommend: facebook del.icio.us reddit newsvine fark What's this? The picture of the president of the United States smiling broadly as he met President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela startled me. Our president is a nice guy. Chavez is anything but. US President Barack Obama,... US President Barack Obama, left, shakes hands with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Friday. Photo: AP The State Department maintains that Chávez has attacked democratic traditions and has put Venezuelan democracy on life support with unchecked concentration of power, political persecution, and intimidation. Foreign Affairs magazine says that Chávez is a power-hungry dictator with autocratic and megalomaniacal tendencies whose authoritarian vision and policies are a serious threat to his people. In testimony before the US Senate, the South American project director for the Center for Strategic International Studies said that Chavez's government engages in "arresting opposition leaders, torturing some members of the opposition (according to human rights organizations) and encouraging, if not directing, its squads of Bolivarian Circles to beat up members of Congress and intimidate voters-all with impunity." In spite of a presidential term limit of six years, Chávez has suggested that he would like to remain in power for 25 years. Hmmm. An autocratic dictator who abuses human rights and undermines democracy being warmly embraced by the American president. There's something wrong with that picture. Then there was the incident of President Barack Obama seeming to bow before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G-20 summit in London. The president's people denied it was a bow, but it certainly was a sign of great deference from the American president to the dictator of a country who just six weeks ago sentenced a 75-year-old woman to 40 lashes for having been secluded with her nephew after he delivered bread to her home. This is the same Abdullah whom, when asked why Saudi Arabia prohibits the public practice of religions other than Islam, said, "It is absurd to impose on an individual or a society rights that are alien to its beliefs or principles." Obama is also pursuing a renewed relationship with Cuba, a country which engages in systemic human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials and extrajudicial executions. Censorship is so extensive that Cubans face five-year prison sentences for connecting to the Internet illegally. And not only is emigration illegal, but even discussing it carries a six-month prison sentence. WATCHING ALL THIS, I was wondering what the new standards were. How oppressive must a leader be before we determine that he has not merited a hug by the democratic standard-bearer of the free world, the president of the United States? Yes, I get it. We have to speak to our enemies, and America has to push "reset" on its relationship with many of these countries. We should try and change them through charm. But who said the president himself, rather than a lower-level diplomat, must do so? And if Obama feels that he has to be the one to greet a man like Chavez, must it be with the kind of ear-to-ear grin that one might show girl scouts selling cookies? It must surely be disheartening for those who suffer oppression in countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Saudi Arabia to see the American president backslapping their oppressors when these victims have always looked up to the United States as their champions. In Turkey, Obama boldly declared that "the United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam." But the person who was at war with Islam, Saddam Hussein, the man who killed nearly one million Muslims, was removed by a country which has already paid with the lives of 4,500 of its servicemen and women. The same is true of the Taliban, another group whom the Obama administration is considering talking to, who beat Muslim women in the streets of Afghanistan. Yet the president seems reluctant to publicly identify these real enemies of Islam. LIKE MANY AMERICANS, I have been awed by our president's capacity to draw those who hate us near. He is a man of considerable charm and grace. But I have to admit that I am increasingly troubled by his seeming inability to call out rogue dictators. While he was campaigning for the presidency, Obama promised, "As president I will recognize the Armenian genocide." But in a press conference in Ankara with President Abdullah Gul, he refused to use the word "genocide" when challenged by a reporter on the issue. Yet, it was Obama's early foreign policy adviser Samantha Power of Harvard who wrote A Problem from Hell, the definitive book on the American non-intervention in repeated 20th-century genocides, beginning with the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks which killed 1.5 million between the years of 1915 and 1923. When I read the book it changed my life. As a Jew who does not want the world to forget the Holocaust, I can only imagine the pain of the Armenian community as it struggles to have modern Turkey acknowledge the crime. And why should modern Turkey not oblige? No one is blaming it for something that happened 90 years ago. It is not today's generation which is at fault. But nations must come to terms with their own history. Could any of us imagine what kind of country the US would be if it denied that it was ever responsible for the abomination of African-American slavery and segregation? ALL THIS LEADS to one important question. Suppose Obama succeeds in building friendships with Chavez, Castro, Ahmadinejad and the Taliban. What then? Does America still get to feel that it stands for something? Will we still be the beacon of liberty and freedom to the rest of the world, or will we have sold out in the name of political expediency? And do any of us seriously believe that presidential friendship is going to get a megalomaniac like Hugo Chavez to ease up on the levers of power, or are we just feeding his ego by showing him he can be a tyrant and still have a beer with the president of the United States? Will the Iranians really stop enriching uranium through diplomacy rather than economic sanctions?
	__________________ Дух один и тело одно так же, как и одна надежда, к которой вы были призваны. Один Господь, одна вера, одно крещение, 6 один Бог и Отец всех. Он стоит надо всем и действует через всё и во всём.

24 Apr 09, 02:33	#11 (permalink)
brat_eu justice managements VIP Ultra Club Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: germany Posts: 11,769 Blog Entries: 74 Rep Power: 28	Re: Карабах, российские базы и армяно-турецкие отношения – интервью Тут по интереснее мне кажется.... / http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=278388
	__________________ bleib mal cool...

24 Apr 09, 13:59	#12 (permalink)
Azeri Persona grata Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Re: Карабах, российские базы и армяно-турецкие отношения – интервью [B][I][B][I]Qarabag bizimdir. Azərbaycanın!!! Karabakh is our. Azerbaycan=Qarabag Qarabag=Azerbaycan Last edited by voter; 24 Apr 09 at 17:05.. Count of Censored words: Незензурными словами не выражаться.

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