THE DAILY BLADE: China Takes A Page From Turkey’s Playbook
President Bush met with the Dalai Lama at the White House on Tuesday, one day before he is to receive a Congressional Gold Medal. Chinese officials warned that the planned ceremony would have "an extremely serious impact" on relations between the countries, reports The New York Times, because China regards the Tibetan spiritual leader as a separatist and said "foreign leaders must stop encouraging his ‘splittist’ mission."
Instead of parroting Chinese propaganda and dispatching his senior cabinet to dissuade Congress from bestowing the honor on the Dalai Lama, President Bush stood his ground and did the right thing – even though China’s cooperation is vital to diffusing the North Korean and Iranian nuclear crises and stopping genocide in Darfur.
When you consider that China is America’s second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade last year of over $330 billion – not to mention the ramifications of China withdrawing its support for the international effort to control North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear ambitions - it’s even more mystifying why Bush doesn’t mind pissing off the Chinese, but is walking on eggshells with Turkey, a has-been NATO ally and a two-faced Iraq War ally.
Editorial Note: Please contact House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and urge her not to allow pressure tactics, intimidation and threats to deter her from sending a message that Americans will not aid and abet Turkey's decades-long campaign of genocide denial.
TSA: Turbans A-OK
Starting Oct. 27th, travelers will no longer have to remove turbans, cowboy hats and other head coverings at security checkpoints. Instead, airport screeners can pat down headwear at the metal detector if a passenger does not want to remove it for religious or personal reasons. In the Sikh religion, for instance, removing one’s turban is akin to disrobing in public. If a screener feels it necessary, a passenger can still be asked to remove the head covering in a private screening area.
Editorial Note: Contrary to a common misconception, a Sikh does not conceal his kirpan – a ceremonial knife – beneath his turban.
The Stiletto Gets Her Groove Back
The Stiletto has been dealing with some pretty heavy subjects lately – Armenian Genocide denial, unaffordable private health insurance, the Yankees not making it to the 2007 World Series - and thinks we could all use a good laugh right about now. Here’s a round-up of some stuff that The Stiletto found laugh-out-loud funny:
† A Mock Columnist, Amok: Stephen Colbert takes over Maureen Dowd’s column in The New York Times this past Sunday and proves he’s way funnier (and when Stanley Fish subbed for her a few weeks back, he proved he’s way smarter). Seriously, Dowd should watch her back:
I’d like to thank Maureen Dowd for permitting/begging me to write her column today. As I type this, she’s watching from an overstuffed divan, petting her prize Abyssinian and sipping a Dirty Cosmotinijito. Which reminds me: Before I get started, I have to take care of one other bit of business:
Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and G-d is gay.
There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too.
† Regrets Only: Henry Alford, "Municipal Bondage" and "Big Kiss" creates a clever pastiche of every sorry apology that every sorry person sorry to be in the position of having to say (s)he is sorry has recently stuttered (footnoted, and everything!). Here are just the first 10:
I want to make it clear that everything you've heard and read is true.(1) I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help.(2) So if you're so thin-skinned that you took offense to a slip of the tongue that I had, then I offer my apology. I am, am sorry that you were offended.(3)
We admit that several members of our organization allowed an internal power struggle to cloud good judgment.(4) We should have done better.(5) I sincerely apologize and hope people realize that conversations can be easily manipulated in print.(6) And I don't care that he's black or green or purple or whatever.(7)
I failed.(8) I acknowledge that mistakes were made here.(9) I'm not a bad person. I'm a good person, but I said a bad thing.(10)
† Killer Cow Emissions: Regular readers of this blog know about The Stiletto’s fondness for fart jokes (third item). But as it turns out, bovine blowback is a serious business:
It's a silent but deadly source of greenhouse gases that contributes more to global warming than the entire world transportation sector, yet politicians almost never discuss it, and environmental lobbyists and other green activist groups seem unaware of its existence.
That may be because it's tough to take cow flatulence seriously. But livestock emissions are no joke.
Most of the national debate about global warming centers on carbon dioxide, the world's most abundant greenhouse gas, and its major sources -- fossil fuels. Seldom mentioned is that cows and other ruminants, such as sheep and goats, are walking gas factories that take in fodder and put out methane and nitrous oxide, two greenhouse gases that are far more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.
† Just Had to Have The Last Word: He’s no Winston Churchill, but historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. wrote his posthumously published "Journals: 1952-2000," with a poisoned-pen. The Washington Post created a quiz from his snarky putdowns that asks you to match the insult to the insulted. For instance, who "swells like a bullfrog and punctuates his speech with a repertoire of sweeping gestures and smug expressions"?
Bonus: The Heel, an Ivy-educated attorney with a prestigious New York firm and occasional contributor to this blog, did his bit to cheer The Stiletto up by e-mailing this article from Real Simple that explains such mysteries as how pointy-toed shoes became a fashion statement; who Mary Janes are named after; and how pumps, stilettos, and sneakers got their names.
President Bush's implicit rebuke of China was carried out because the current Chinese government is responsible for tyranny against Tibet. The President's words and actions could possibly lead to a change in Chinese behavior, particularly since the Olympics are approaching. The Armenian genocide occurred almost 100 years ago under an empire that no longer exists. The current Turkish government does not descend from the Ottoman Empire, so it should not be held responsible or embarrassed for atrocities committed against Armenians. It makes no more sense to condemn the Turks for this than it would to condemn the U.S. government for atrocities committed by British colonial America. Given that the U.S. depends on access to Incirlik Airbase for airlifting supplies to Iraq, Congress should not anger the Turks for a resolution that in the end cannot change anything at all.
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If you read the text of the resolution - The Stiletto includes it in nearly every post on this subject - it is couched entirely in historical terms and makes it clear that the current government and people of Turkey are not the focus.
Why does pragmatism trump principle when it comes to Turkey, but principle trumps pragmatism when it comes to China? Because of the twin nuclear crises we are facing with Iran and North Korea pissing off China has long-term global implications, whereas pissing off Turkey has short-term, regional implications which can be easily and quickly overcome by partitioning Iraq and getting out of there - oh, but that, too, would piss off Turkey. So our soldiers are dying and getting maimed every day so that we don't piss off Turkey.
The Stiletto will address your comment about an an empire that no longer exists in a post tomorrow - keep and eye out for it.
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Your normally lucid analyses appear to be clouded by emotion over this issue. The fact that the resolution is couched in historical context is a difference without a distinction. It condemns the Turks for not acknowledging the genocide and for not honoring the victims -- but as you know, this will be perceived as an insult by the Turks and it certainly will not change their behavior for the better.
You keep stating that the U.S. should act on "principle" to pass this resolution, but I fail to see what principle we would be upholding. It does not benefit the Armenian victimes -- it does not punish those responsible. It does make the U.S. sound judgemental, particularly since some would assert that the U.S. is guilty of its own genocide against the American Indians.
On the other hand, U.S. support of the Dalai Lama and Tibet is both principled and practical. The practical aspect is that U.S. condemnation could lead to a change in Chinese behavior. And it is directed against the government that is at least partially responsible for the repression in Tibet.
Your later article regarding "lies" by Gates and Rice sounds a little shrill. While it is true that the U.S. could find a way around Turkish denial of use of Incirlik AB, it would be difficult and perhaps costly in terms of human life. Just because a single officer is quoted as saying we can easily get around such a loss does not necessarily make it true. I too am a military officer and I tend to agree with Gates and Rice more than the anonymous officer that was quoted.
As for your statement about our failure to partition Iraq, our reason for not executing that option is not due to a fear of pissing of Turkey, but rather because it is unworkable and may well lead to greater instability. The Turks have been fighting the Kurds and the PKK far longer than the current Iraq War, so their actions should be viewed as pursuing their national interest. We need to make it in their national interest not to do so.
I appreciate your research and dedication, but I respectfully submit that your analysis and conclusions are wrong in this case. (In fact, I suspect that the motivation for this resolution is to make trouble for Bush. Given that those behind it are anti-war, they are certainly not overly concerned about the complications it could cause in our effort to win in Iraq.)
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Well, glad to know you think The Stiletto is normally lucid. Will try to address your observations in turn - but Friday's edition of the blog includes two items that are also relevant.
You worry that the Turks will be insulted. What about the insult to the Armenians in the diaspora? To the elderly surviving eyewitnesses? The Armenians were the victims of race hatred so intense that they were very nearly wiped off the face of the earth. Even today, nearly 100 years later family names and lines die out - a specific family's gene pool gone. Extinct. Forever. Not content to wipe out the people, the Turks wiped out all their monument, Churches - everything and anything that bore evidence that a people called "Armenians" once populated that part of the world. That is the true insult. What the Turks are doing is a well-rehearsed play.
It is true that those who committed the crime were not punished. But those who continue to deny the crime was committed share in that guilt. And there is also the issue of the Armenian land and property that the Turks appopriated when they drove Armenians from their villages - forcing them to walk through the desert with no food and water, the women getting raped in front of their children. Germany to this day is returning property stolen from Jews. Justice demands the same for Armenians. But this - and only this - is the real reason the Turkish government will never acknowledge the Genocide. Reparations.
Shrill is such a sexist word. A man making the same argument would have been forceful.
The Stiletto has done a lot of research on the question of partitioning Iraq and has come to believe it is the only viable solution. At some point, there will be a lengthy post on this topic. The Kurds want autonomy - perhaps even their own country. Once Iraq is partitioned, they should expect to have to fight the Turks for it. Every country had to fight another to come into existence. If they lose, they lose. But it should be left between them and the Turks.
Finally, not everyone who is for the Armenian Genocide Resolution is a liberal or anti-war. The New York Sun - arguably Neo-con Central - is very much for recognizing the Genocide regardless of all other considerations, and has supported the Iraq War from the beginning. Jim Pinkerton - hardly a liberal - has been against the Iraq War from the beginning and also sides with the Armenians on this one. Try to get beyond seeig every single issue as pro-Bush or anti-Bush. Bush, himself, is so wobbly a conservative that it is possible to be pro-Bush and anti-Bush at the same time.
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< Shrill is such a sexist word. A man making the same argument would have been forceful.
No sexism was intended. I find almost everything that Howard Dean utters to be shrill.
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Re: Howard Dean - The Stiletto does, too.
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