Lost in the controversy over a potential rift with Turkey driven by House Democrats’ attempt to officially declare an Armenian “genocide”, a rift with China has been forming as a result of the Bush administration and Congress cooperating to officially honor the Dalai Lama. The Congressional honor, attended by President Bush, has resulted in strong official protests and threats of “grave” action by China. Such terminology is diplomatic code for everything from symbolic sanctions to threats of war. With the ever-present potential for a military crisis over Taiwan and with the U.S. financially dependent upon China to fund its massive budget deficits, now is not the time for the U.S. to throw its weight around or mount moral high horses.
Just as operations in Iraq are looking up and relations with key allies are beginning to heal, the United States does not need to be provoking symbolic fights right now. The causes of Tibetan independence and historical recognition towards Armenia may be noble, but U.S. diplomatic accounts are short right now. Taking symbolic poses should wait for less dire times.
Yes. The Chinese own us. Now it’s time to finally act like it.
It seems to me like the Chinese always say this kind of stuff. They don’t like anything the Dalai Lama does.
I think it is a bit more complicated than that. As the old saying goes, if you owe a million dollars to the bank, the bank owns you. If you owe a billion dollars, though, you own the bank. We owe China at least $500 billion and probably closer to a trillion. They can’t use our debt to take us out without destroying their own economy in the process.
Nonetheless, if that was inevitable (i.e. in a major military conflict) or if the sell-off were structured carefully, the amount of damage they could do to the U.S. is absolutely devastating.
Yeah… there is certainly truth to that Jason. But I would still rather be the bank
No it’s not and you pretending that it is doesn’t make it so. There are actually very well respected historians who disagree, yes, even with the person who coined the word ‘genocide.’ He may have thought he knew what had happened to the Armenians, but that doesn’t mean he did.
The subject is up for debate, and I’ve got some of the most distinguished historians agreeing with me.
Edit: Somehow, this post ended up abvoe the post it was a reaction to. Strange but ok.
Unlike Mr. Steck, I believe there is no wrong time to take an active stance against genocide denial.
Genocide is an evil that transcends national boundaries, and all people committed to a world free of crimes against humanity should remain vigilant in the face of denial.
Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish legal scholar who coined the word “genocide”, was the first to recognize the universal aspect of genocidal events, as he saw first-hand how inaction with relation to the Armenian genocide contributed to the Nazi Holocaust. In fact, as illustrated in Samantha Power’s brilliant book on genocide “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide”, Lemkin invented the genocide concept partly on the basis of the extermination of the Armenians in 1915.
Lemkin, who lost 49 members of his family during the Holocaust, said the following in an 1949 interview with CBS on the UN Convention on Genocide:
“I became interested in genocide because it happened to the Armenians; and after[wards] the Armenians got a very rough deal at the Versailles Conference because their criminals were guilty of genocide and were not punished.”
The veracity of the Armenian genocide is not subject to debate; it is settled matter among historians and genocide scholars alike. What’s in flux is the process of introspection by many Turks to re-learn their own history. Hopefully this process will one day lead to recognition of the genocide by the Turkish state.
Relevant link: http://www.theforgotten.org
[...] Jason Steck yesterday argued that now is probably not the best time to take a moral stand by welcoming the Dalai Lama, [...]
Americans committed genocide by destroying the Indians. Look in the mirror before you criticize others.
Americans is the only country that has used the atom bomb on human beings.
The US is paying for the sins committed throughout history. Vietnam - Korea - Iraq - - - ? ? ? and more.
Chinese stop buying dollars - Your life would be a misery.
Instead of criticizing chinese you should thank them for working hard and produce cheaply. The world is benefitting.
Here are some words in the next dictionary:
AMERICIDE: killings carried out by the US in the world to destroy humans by mass.
ALKAiDACIDE: Killings by al kaieda