Shahan Araradian

Interesting biography of Vartan Gregorian (from Wikipedia)...

Indeed, joining the ruling elite is definitely possible... You'll find Vartan Gregorian (President, Carnegie Corporation) at 56:15 in the movie.

So.... You have been fooled by American media into thinking the U.S.A. is a democracy? (or ANY country for that matter?) You live in Iran, Syria, Egypt, or Armenia and are dying to come to the U.S. because your sister or cousin are sending you their smiling pictures with their kids in Disneyland, Chuck E Cheese, or next to their pool of the $800K home bought on a 30-year indentured servitude. Consider this documentary before making your choice... http://www.theamericanrulingclass.org/inde...on=4&page=0 It is a big game. A game to create discord in your country, to get you to come to the U.S., to increase the human capital (labor pool of the U.S.), to turn you into debt/wage slaves, and to turn your countries into their debt slaves. Of course, if you do come to the U.S. you do have the "opportunity" to join "them" -- the American (and global) ruling elite... But few actually do. The rest end up as the non-elite. Download the whole thing (to "preview") from here: http://torrentspy.com/torrent/880854/The_A..._DVDRip_XviD_XV (You'll need a bittorrent client such as Azureus to download, a compression tool such as 7-zip to extract, and a media player with the Xvid codec -- such as VLC player -- to view.)

This is a controversial topic, but I agree. Turkey contains part of our homeland. Armenians must remain in the historic homeland!!! Armenian tourists from Armenia can be explained by the fact that politicians can't enforce the freedom of movement of its citizens. Even though organizations such as the ARF and others oppose such actions, individual Armenians who might not be as nationalistic do these things without realizing... Great point. It's unclear to me what percentage of them are there by force by their Armenian madams/pimps. Yes, the amount of Turkish goods in Armenia today is amazing. Even the mattress I slept on at my hotel last time was made in Turkey... Actually, it is Turkey who refuses to open the borders, even if Armenia wanted open borders... Armenia is ALREADY importing from Turkey de facto (as you said above).

Do you know any Turkish Armenians personally that you say that?

Do you mean http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070723&s=crowley072307 ? K Street Cashes In On The 1915 Armenian Genocide by Michael Crowley The New Republic, USA July 23, 2007 Final Resolution As a rising St. Louis politician in the mid-1970s, Richard Gephardt was among a dynamic group of aldermen dubbed "The Young Turks." So perhaps it's not surprising that, 30 years later, the former Democratic minority leader of the House of Representatives has aged into an Old Turk. This spring, Gephardt has been busy promoting his new favorite cause--not universal health care or Iraq, but the Republic of Turkey, which now pays his lobbying firm, DLA Piper, $100,000 per month for his services. Thus far, Gephardt's achievements have included arranging high-level meetings for Turkish dignitaries, among them one between members of the Turkish parliament and House Democratic leaders James Clayburn and Rahm Emanuel; helping Turkey's U.S. ambassador win an audience with a skeptical Nancy Pelosi; and, finally, circulating a slim paperback volume, titled "An Appeal to Reason," that denies the existence of the Armenian genocide of 1915. Few people would place the Armenian genocide on their top ten--or even top 1,000--list of the day's pressing issues. In fact, many Americans would likely be at a loss to explain who or what the Armenians are, much less what happened to them 90 years ago. Not so in Washington. For the past several years, U.S. representatives, lobbyists, and foreign emissaries have been locked in a vicious struggle over a resolution in Congress that would officially deem as genocide the massacre of up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish government has fought this effort with the zeal of Ataturk--enlisting a multimillion-dollar brigade of former congressmen and slick flacks, as well as a coterie of American Jews surprisingly willing to downplay talk of genocide. But the Armenian-American community has impressive political clout--enough that a majority of House members have now co-sponsored the resolution. And that means a ferocious final showdown is looming, one so charged that this arcane historical dispute could even interfere with the war in Iraq. Even more striking than the historic Turkish-Armenian hatred festering in the halls of Congress, however, is the way Washington's political elites are cashing in on it. Take Gephardt. While the Turks and Armenians have a long historical memory, Gephardt has an exceedingly short one. A few years ago, he was a working-class populist who cast himself as a tribune of the underdog--including the Armenians. Back in 1998, Gephardt attended a memorial event hosted by the Armenian National Committee of America at which, according to a spokeswoman for the group, "he spoke about the importance of recognizing the genocide." Two years later, Gephardt was one of three House Democrats who co-signed a letter to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert urging Hastert to schedule an immediate vote on a genocide resolution. "We implore you," the letter read, arguing that Armenian-Americans "have waited long enough for Congress to recognize the horrible genocide." Today, few people are doing more than Gephardt to ensure that the genocide bill goes nowhere. It's one thing to flip-flop on, say, tax cuts or asbestos reform. But, when it comes to genocide, you would hope for high principle to carry the day. In Washington, however, the Armenian genocide industry is in full bloom. And Dick Gephardt's shilling isn't even the half of it. Representative Adam Schiff may be the first person elected to Congress through the politics of the Armenian genocide. Back in 2000, Schiff was a California state senator challenging Republican incumbent Jim Rogan. The Burbank-area district is home to 75,000 Armenian-Americans, or about 10 percent of the population, many of them desperate to see Washington brand the Turks as genocide artists. In September of that year, Hastert paid a campaign visit to the district and delighted Armenians by vowing to call a vote on a genocide resolution (which Rogan had co-sponsored). It's possible Hastert was stirred by questions of historical guilt. But, as one GOP campaign official admitted, the vote would also happen to offer Rogan "a very tangible debating point" against Schiff. Mass murder may be strange fodder for a debating point. But in America's tight-knit Armenian community, it can seem that people want to debate little else. Most Armenian-Americans are descended from survivors of the slaughter and grew up listening to stories about how the Turks, suspecting the Orthodox Christian Armenians of collaborating with their fellow Orthodox Christian Russians during World War I, led their grandparents on death marches, massacred entire villages, and, in one signature tactic, nailed horseshoes to their victims' feet. (The "horseshoe master of Bashkale," the Ottoman provincial governor Jevdet Bey was called.) Turkey's refusal to acknowledge the guilt of their Ottoman forbears infuriates Armenians, leaving them feeling cheated of the sacred status awarded to Jewish Holocaust survivors. It wasn't until the mid-1970s that the Armenian community, which today numbers up to 1.4 million, grew active enough to press its case in Washington. At first, few people here took them seriously. After a fruitless House debate about the genocide in 1985, for instance, one Republican scoffed at "the most mischief-making piece of legislation in all my experience in Congress." But the cause gained traction in the 1990s, thanks largely to then-Senate Republican leader Bob Dole, who never forgot the Armenian doctor who treated him after he was severely wounded in World War II. With Rogan's seat on the line in 2000, a first-ever vote on a genocide resolution seemed a sure thing--that is, until the Turkish government mobilized its lobbying team, led by former Republican House Speaker Bob Livingston, its $700,000 man in the field. In a state of affairs one furious Republican described to Roll Call as "ridiculous," Livingston found himself battling a measure meant to protect the very House majority he had briefly presided over just two years earlier. A Turkish threat to cancel military contracts, including a $4.5 billion helicopter deal with a Fort Worth-based company, ensured the opposition of powerful Texas Republicans like Tom DeLay. Hastert was cornered. But he found cover in Bill Clinton, who warned that Turkey might shut down its American-run Incirlik air base, from which the United States patrolled the no-fly zone over northern Iraq. Citing Clinton's objections, Hastert pulled the bill. Rogan tried to accuse Clinton of playing politics, and someone sent out a last-minute mailer featuring Schiff next to a Turkish flag. But it wasn't enough, and Schiff beat Rogan by nine percentage points. The episode--by showcasing crass partisan politics, expensive access-peddling, sleazy political attacks, corporate lucre, and the specter of geostrategic calamity--opened a new era in Armenian genocide politics. "That was sort of the first introduction to how aggressive the Turks are," says one former Republican congressman. For the next six years, Turkish lobbying mostly kept the Armenian genocide resolution off the Washington agenda. Then came a calamity for the Turks: the 2006 midterm elections. Suddenly, Democrats, who had always been more supportive than Republicans of the Armenian cause, were in power. Even worse, California Democrats with Armenian-American constituencies ascended to senior leadership positions. Among them was the new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who, with thousands of Armenian-Americans in her Bay Area district, has spoken passionately on the subject. "This Armenian genocide is a challenge to the conscience of our country and the conscience of the world. We will not rest until we have recognition of it," she declared in 2001. Likewise, one of Pelosi's closest confidantes, California Democrat Anna Eshoo, is the granddaughter of an Armenian who resents the notion that her grandma's memories of genocide amount to "a fairy tale." And even Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean, not previously known for his interest in Transcaucasian affairs, paid a recent visit to the Armenian capital of Yerevan and toured a national genocide memorial, where he declared that "[t]he facts are that a genocide occurred." It's little wonder, then, that proponents of the genocide resolution like Adam Schiff have never been so optimistic. "This is the best opportunity we've had for a decade," the tanned and mild-mannered Harvard Law graduate told me in his Capitol Hill office recently. Which is also why, warns Schiff, "we're seeing the strongest pushback from the Turkish lobby that I've ever seen." A few weeks ago, I called the Turkish Embassy to request an interview. A couple of days later, I heard back--not from the embassy, but from an American p.r. consultant employed by the Turks. He suggested we meet the next day at a Starbucks. I found him in a corner behind a glowing white iBook. He had long slicked-back hair, a, seersucker suit, and a blinking Bluetooth earpiece, and looked ready for a power lunch with the sharky agent Ari Gold from "Entourage." He informed me our conversation would be off the record, before launching his well-honed argument against the genocide resolution. My Starbucks contact wasn't the only Turkish emissary who prefers to operate in the shadows. Another D.C.-based operative, who spoke to me from a hotel room in Ankara, where he was chaperoning a very prominent Democrat, also insisted that the substance of our conversation be off the record. He asked that I not even reveal his identity. "I don't have a dog in this hunt," he insisted, despite his place on the Turkish payroll. "My only hunt is for truth." The truth, as the Turks see it, is simple: There was no genocide. The Armenian death toll is exaggerated, and most died from exposure or rogue marauders during mass relocations. (One Turkish activist even cheerily assured me that, after the relocations, "everyone was invited back.") The Turks say that the G-word implies an intent that can't be proved. This stance is more than just a matter of fierce national pride. The Turks are terrified at the prospect of huge financial and territorial reparations for the Armenians.("Cash," drools one Armenian nationalist blogger, "lots of cash.") So, instead of doling out lots of cash to the Armenians, Turkey showers Washington with political operators more than happy to argue their case--for the right price. Few niches of Washington lobbying are as lucrative as the foreign racket, which explains why more than 1,800 lobbyists are currently registered to represent more than 660 overseas clients. Thus the Turks have found no shortage of willing pitchmen. Turkey currently maintains expensive contracts with at least four different Washington lobbying and p.r. firms. The result is that unsuspecting congressmen and staffers frequently find themselves badgered by well-heeled Turkish emissaries. Not long ago, one lobbyist invited a senior congressional aide to dinner at his suburban mansion. When he arrived, the aide was surprised to find himself surrounded by Turks keenly interested in his views on the genocide bill. (This time, the hard sell backfired; the staffer indignantly retorted that he believed a genocide had taken place, causing the lobbyist's face to go "ashen.") The Turks insist that they need these expensive fixers and aggressive tactics to counter America's relentless Armenian grassroots lobby. In addition to Gephardt (who did not respond to a request for comment), Turkey contracts the services of David Mercer, a connected Democratic fund-raiser and protege of the late Democratic Party chairman Ron Brown. The Turks also pay $50,000 monthly to the Glover Park Group, a powerhouse Democratic firm stocked with connected former Clinton White House aides Joe Lockhart and Joel Johnson, for p.r. services. That work included advice on shaping an April full-page New York Times advertisement, which called for a new historical commission (which the Armenians call a sham) and urged Washington to "support efforts to examine history, not legislate it." But the kingpin of Turkish advocacy is Bob Livingston, whose lobbying firm, the Livingston Group, has hauled in roughly $13 million in Turkish lucre since 2000. Livingston, best remembered for his comically brief stint as House Speaker-elect at the height of the Clinton impeachment debacle (before he tearfully admitted his own extramarital affair and resigned from Congress in disgrace), has lobbied on a range of issues dear to Turkey's heart. But it's his tireless fight against the genocide resolution that makes him a hero in Ankara. Back in 2000, Livingston's team personally contacted 141 different members of Congress in the five-week run-up to the aborted vote. And on October 19, the day the vote was canceled, Livingston met personally with Hastert to ensure its demise. Mission accomplished. Likewise, when Adam Schiff tried to pass a symbolic House amendment related to the genocide in 2004, Livingston's firm again sprang into action. As detailed in a recent Public Citizen study of foreign-agent public lobbying records, the firm immediately barraged GOP leaders like DeLay and Hastert with e-mails and faxes. Its team also badgered everyone from top House aides to officials at the National Security Council, the State Department, the Pentagon, and Vice President Dick Cheney's office. Livingston's office even called the House parliamentarian, apparently hoping to throw a procedural wrench into Schiff's gears. Against this onslaught, Schiff's puny amendment didn't stand a chance. For its work in 2004, Turkey paid the Livingston Group $1.8 million. But, while Bob Livingston may be the winner of the Turkish lobbying lottery, the prize for biggest hypocrite is still up for grabs. Dick Gephardt isn't the only lobbyist who has flip-flopped on the genocide (though he gets points for having his firm distribute "An Appeal to Reason," the genocide-denying pamphlet that offers a strangely postmodern assessment of the imprecise nature of history--a convenient stance if your forbears committed mass murder--including a quotation attributed to philosopher Karl Popper, contending that "our knowledge is always incomplete"). There's also former Democratic representative Steve Solarz of New York. Solarz was one of the first backers of a genocide resolution way back in 1975. By 2000, he was working with Livingston to defeat it, raking in $400,000 for his efforts. It's not just the lobbyists whose stance on the genocide seems suspiciously malleable, however. Seven House members who have co-sponsored the resolution this year have already changed their positions. One is Louisiana Republican Bobby Jindal, who on January 31 added his name to the co-sponsor list--but then withdrew his support the same day. Lobbying records show that, also on January 31, Livingston called Jindal and spoke to him about the resolution. (Jindal's office didn't respond to requests for comment.) Others have seemingly positioned themselves less on the basis of historical or moral considerations than on good old pork politics. Gunay Evinch, a representative of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, recalls how one House resolution supporter privately explained his position: "I don't believe it was technically genocide," the congressman said. "But I need highway funds." Earning a special commendation for dubious behavior is Washington's Jewish-American lobby. In one of this tale's strangest twists, the Turks have convinced prominent Jewish groups, not typically indifferent to charges of genocide, to mute their opinions. In February, Turkey's foreign minister convened a meeting at a Washington hotel with more than a dozen leaders of major Jewish groups. Most prominent groups now take no official position on the resolution, including B'nai B'rith, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (aipac), and the American Jewish Committee. The issue "belongs to historians and not a resolution in Congress," explains Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman, who outright opposes the resolution. "It will resolve nothing." But it's also clear that Turkey's status as Israel's lone Muslim ally counts for a lot, too. "I think a lot of Israelis agree," Foxman told me. (One person involved in the fight offers a more cynical explanation: "Jewish groups don't want to give up their ownership of the term 'genocide.'") The Turks have also conspicuously hired some lobbyists with strong Jewish ties. Their payroll includes a Washington firm called Southfive Strategies, which bills itself as "a Washington D.C. consulting boutique with access to the White House, congressional leadership, and influential media organizations." Southfive is run by Jason Epstein, a former Capitol Hill lobbyist for B'nai B'rith, and Lenny Ben-David, an Israeli-born former deputy chief of mission at Israel's Washington embassy and a longtime aipac staffer whose previous firm, IsraelConsult, also worked for Turkey. Some Jewish leaders, to be sure, find such realpolitik less than tasteful. "It is obscene for us, of all people, to quibble about definitions," one prominent California rabbi recently told the Jewish Journal. But, when I asked one Jewish-American aligned with the Turks whether he truly believes that genocide didn't take place, he stammered that "the verdict" is not in, before adding, "If you're asking do I sleep at night, I do." Strange as it may be to find a World War I massacre on the 2007 Washington agenda, even more bizarre is the possibility that it may precipitate an international crisis. At one March House subcommittee hearing, Adam Schiff got a rare opportunity to grill Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Angry over the Bush administration's opposition to the Armenian genocide resolution, Schiff pressed Rice: "Is there any doubt in your mind that the murder of a million and a half Armenians between 1915 and 1923 constituted genocide?" Schiff even pointedly appealed to Rice's background in "academia." But the ever-disciplined Rice wouldn't bite. "Congressman, I come out of academia. But I'm secretary of state now. And I think that the best way to have this proceed is for ... the Turks and the Armenians to come to their own terms about this." What Rice didn't say is that the Turks, should their lobbying firepower fail to stop the genocide bill from moving forward, have an even mightier weapon to brandish: the war in Iraq. As they did in 2000, the Turks are hinting they will shut down Incirlik, a far more dire threat now that Incirlik supplies U.S. forces occupying Iraq. Administration officials also fear Turkey might close the Habur Gate, a border point through which U.S. supplies flow into northern Iraq. In an April letter to congressional leaders, Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly warned that a House resolution "could harm American troops in the field [and] constrain our ability to supply our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." That prospect may even be dragging U.S. troops themselves into the Turkish counteroffensive. Or so says Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat and lead co-sponsor of the genocide resolution. "[The Turks] have had American soldiers call members of Congress and say, 'Don't vote for this, because I am going to be threatened in Iraq,'" Pallone says. (A Turkish embassy spokesman denied knowledge of this.) The Turks also warn that branding them as Hitleresque is sure to enrage Turkish nationalists and heighten tensions on the closed Turkish-Armenian border. If the resolution is passed, "it's going to be a heavy, heavy blow," says Murat Lutem, a Turkish embassy official. "The upheaval will be so significant that the government won't be able to say, 'Let it be.'" That's one reason some Turkish newspapers, with their sudden interest in Capitol Hill politics, have recently read like Ottoman versions of Roll Call. The Turks are especially fixated on the Armenian ally Nancy Pelosi, whom one Turkish columnist disdained as "an uncompromising iron lady." Faced with such intense Turkish opposition, however, Pelosi may prove less iron lady than diplomat. Democratic aides say the potential for geostrategic mayhem weighs heavily on her--never mind her 2005 declaration that "Turkey's strategic location is not a license to kill." And after she rebuffed earlier meeting requests from such Turkish dignitaries as Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, her recent willingness to meet the Turkish ambassador may be revealing. Still, senior Democratic aides say Pelosi could press ahead--possibly in early fall. Meanwhile, a Senate counterpart to the House bill already has 30 co-sponsors, including Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton. And so Dick Gephardt has his work cut out for him. But not without a growing toll on his reputation. Even in modern Washington, where it's taken for granted that everyone has their price, flip-flopping on genocide has the ability to shock. One person dismayed by Gephardt's reversal is Anna Eshoo. Eshoo says she was recently in an airport with former Connecticut Representative Sam Gejdenson, one of the three co-signers on Gephardt's 2000 pro-resolution letter to Hastert, when the pair spotted Gephardt. "Look who's here!" Eshoo mockingly exclaimed. "Hey Dick, the Kurds are looking for you!" Gejdenson sardonically chimed in--referring to another foe of Gephardt's Turkish client. Eshoo says it was just teasing among old friends. But, she pointedly adds of the former House Democratic leader: "Clearly this is not a principle of his. This is business."

Armenia has no benevolent friends. Let's not make the same mistake our forefathers made between 1890-1915 in relying to be "saved" by others; that is for cartoons and fairytales. Israel is now depending on the oil from Azerbaijan through the pipeline that is connecting the Ceyhan oil terminus (of the Baku-Ceyhan line). This route completely bypasses all oil from Arab land. Armenia is more than big enough today for 2 million Armenians. Must focus on growing human capital, economy, and military. Political and social revolution required along national and economic lines! The power elite in Armenia must be replaced! (for a more democratic and open society)

Yeah. I'm not surprised. If you read "By Way of Deception" by Ostrovsky, you will find that Mossad is a self-funded organization. The way they fund themselves is through the covert sales of arms all over the world; the arms are produced by the Israeli arms industries. (They also run some legitimate businesses in the "import-export business" just to make it look like their agents are ordinary folks in the host country.) For example, during the 70s, they were training the Sri Lankan gov't army in Israel and supplying PT boats to them, while they were training Tamil tigers and selling them anti-PT boat missiles in the SAME army bases in Israel. War is big business!!! So they arm Turkey as well as arm their enemies. It's classic Mossad... by way of deception...

Ara, you are hallucinating as you get older. Who pays you to write articles that seek to demoralize Armenians? Either of two things are possible: 1) you are on the payroll of Turkish/Israeli intelligence -- knowingly or unknowingly; or 2) you are a quack I would put 75% of my money on #2. If you want to have any credibility, instead of speaking in general terms like "the Sultan still lives" (etc.) why don't you give some CONCRETE examples, NAMES, and DATES so that normal people can take you seriously. Otherwise, you're just throwing stuff out without backing up ANYTHING that you say! Clearly you are not a trained lawyer. What is your profession anyway? Or are you a part of the "ownership society"? Who pays your bills? You clearly aren't part of ANY Armenian community.

Նախընտրելի է կէս կեանք մը ազա՛տ ապրիլ, Քան թէ ամբողջ կեանք մը ստրկութեան մէջ Ամերիկայ կամ Քանադայ կամ Անգլիայ կամ Ֆրանսայ: Թող պարտքերնին (ամերիկացիներուն) իրենց մնայ: Ես $800 հազարի տնակի մը պէտք չ'ունիմ: Ոչ ալ իրենց նիւթապաշտ մշակոյթին: Կը նախընտրեմ միջերկրականի ազատ կեանքը... Ուր դեռ այդ պարտքի տակ ապրելակերպը չէ տարածուած, ուր մարդիկ դե՛ռ կը մտածեն, ուր մամուլը դե՛ռ ազատ է, ուր դե՛ռ ժողովուրդը «նորմալ» է... (կը կարծեմ) Մինչ այդ ամերիկայի «power elite»ը իր ժողովուրդին գրպանը դրած է, եւ ժողովուրդը ուրախ-ուրախ պարտքով կը ծախսէ ու տխուր-տխուրդ ամէն օր ժամը 7ին կ'արթննայ գործի երդալու, առանց վարկեան մը մտածելու թէ ինչ է իր կեանքի իսկական որակը... Մարդկութիւնը որ Ամերիկայ կը մեծնայ հօտ մը ոչխարի պէս դարձուցած են քանի որ... Ես պարզ կեանքը կը նախընտրեմ:

«Տասնչորսս» միշտ վրաս է արդէն

YES! Awesome! And what a turn out! I liked the juxtaposition of so many different styles of Armenian music... They were all great, but Element band was my favorite. The vocalist I think is worth meeting LOL... Andy! (That guy really stands out in a crowd ) Hope to see this again next year, or in 6 months. Not much on YouTube yet except this short clip showing that ARMY of Armenian dancers!

I thought he meant you might die young...

Hey Ara, That wasn't me But I do recall someone pointing fingers at a guy with the screenname "phantom". I don't think I've got any royal blood in me, though, other than Հայկ նահապետ

I don't get it Yervant. My brain must not be functioning today.

This is a topic I've been thinking about much in the last 2 years, and I think it's a very important decision in one's life. I would like to live in Lebanon eventually. Why? 1) Society - Lebanese are very friendly and cordial people - Great Armenian community with 2 out of 3 catholicossates in Lebanon; it is the hub of Western Armenian culture; great schools and community organizations - Beautiful people [esp. women] 2) Food - Organic food! What you pay a premium for in the U.S. and UK, people in Lebanon eat everyday... That is, fruit that tastes like fruit, and eggs with orange yolk - Excellent Lebanese and Armenian cuisine (Lebanese and Mediterranean food in general are the most evolved cuisines in the world...) - Very affordable 3) Beautiful nature - Access to the Mediterranean sea - Access to greenery and forest - Access to snow and skiiing - Go camping, fishing, or hunting whenever and wherever you want (friendly land owners) 4) Affordable housing - For $100K you'll get a VERY nice apartment - For $200K you'll build a nice home in the mountains - For $500K you can build whatever you want 5) Lifestyle - Fun-loving lifestyle of Lebanese society - The beach and resort lifestyle during the summer (like you're in Miami) including beach parties - Skiing and winter resorts during the winter - Lounges, night-clubs, and restaurants year-round So... all of this and it doesn't take millions of $$ to enjoy. Retire early, retire young, retire in Lebanon What more do you want in life?

"A method of representing the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols" Basically a combination of alphabet and spelling rules.

Անահիտ, չ'արժէր խենթերու հետ չափուիլ: Instead of complaining 24/7, he should join the community in building it. After all, the best way to teach is by EXAMPLE. Ara is a confused man. He doesn't know what he wants neither for his own life nor for the Armenian community (nor for humanity, for that matter). There are always people like this in the world: People for whom the sky is always falling every day of the year. The reality is that NATIONALISM is what created Armenia. Armenia is not the U.S.A. Armenia is the homeland of a particular ETHNICITY, a particular RACE. Without nationalism, Armenia will disintegrate, as it is the basis of its founding. 70 years of Communist rule wreaked havoc on a fledgling nation. It's now our generation's turn to build the Armenian nation from scratch, and to continue and build upon the vision of its original founding. The old saying goes "When seeking advice, choose your advisers wisely." Do you think I'd ask a man who's not involved in building the Armenian community advice on how to build an Armenian community? That's why Ara's not a good adviser if you seek this type of knowledge. Ara lives in his own mind; and I'm not sure in which century...

English has a very convoluted orthography. The Ը letter in Armenian is the schwa. See this article in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa The following is directly from Wikipedia: Schwa is the most common vowel sound in English, a reduced vowel in many unstressed syllables, * like the 'a' in about /əˈbaʊt/ * like the 'e' in taken /ˈteɪkən/ and the /ðə/ (if before a consonant) * like the 'i' in pencil /ˈpensəl/ * like the 'o' in eloquent /ˈeləkwənt/ * like the 'u' in circus /ˈsɜː(ɹ)kəs/ * like the 'y' in sibyl /ˈsɪbəl/ So it's interesting that you can write the sound produced by the Armenian Ը in ANY of the English vowels! (Of course, depending on its context...) That's why I love Armenian orthography: write as you speak it... (for the most part)

Well, you may start pronouncing all <Թ>s as /θ/ (as "th" in "thin" and not "th" as in "this") in EA/WA as Mashdots had intended this letter to be pronounced So the word "թռչուն" becomes "thurchoon"...

It's not obvious, but half of the above actually do exist in English: Ը: the name "Earl" Ց (and Ձ as well for Western Armenian): "Tsar" Ճ (for Western Armenian): "Jack" But it's a good point that NONE of the ejective consonants that appear in Eastern Armenian occur in English. Indeed, in ALL of Europe and Asia, the only place where you find ejective consonants (they are ծ, կ, ճ, պ, տ in EA) in a language are in the Caucasus (Georgian, Circassian, Dagestani, and Eastern Armenian). Note that neither Western Armenian nor Classical Armenian contain any ejective consonants.

Էլիա, In classical Armenian the Armenian letter <թ> stands for the sound /θ/ -- a Voiceless dental fricative -- which is "th" as in "thin". (Note that in English "th" is used for two different but similar sounds. The other sound "th" is used for is for example in the word "this" which stands for /ð/ -- a Voiced dental fricative) For example, Thaddeus is written Թադէոս which is pronounced [θɑdɛos] in Classical Armenian, [tʰɑdɛos] in Eastern Armenian, and [tʰɑtʰɛos] in Western Armenian. Another example is that Bartholomaios (transliterated from Greek Βαρθολομαίος; Bartholomew in English) is written Բարթողիմէոս. Note two things here: 1. <թ> is equivalent to the greek θ, and /θ/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet 2. <ղ> in Classical Armenian was some sort of L sound. (Another example of this is how Lazarus is spelled Ղազարօս in Armenian.) Yet another is example is your own name, Elia. In Classical Armenian, it is spelled Եղիա. But that would be incorrectly pronounced in Eastern and Western Armenian, hence your choice of spelling your name Էլիա. Unlike Classical Armenian, in Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, there is no letter corresponding to the sound "th". It's interesting how languages -- in this case phonology -- evolve over time, isn't it?

Literature is simply man's thoughts in writing. There are truthful thoughts, and there are non-truthful thoughts. Literature in itself doesn't imply "the pursuit of truth." Are you in lalaland? Many writers HAVE BEEN politicians. (Ever heard of Sarkis Zeitlian?) There is no correlation between politicians and enemies of writers. That is simply a figment of your imagination in order to explain your own life. I think what has happened in your life is that you've tried to be a part of an Armenian organization and lead others, but you were incapable of doing so; then, you didn't want to "follow" other leaders who you deemed them to be "lower" than you since they weren't academically smart. But what they DID do right (and better than you) is know how to COMMUNICATE with others and work well in TEAMS. You chose NOT to learn this very important and CRITICAL skill in life, that would have elevated you to the level of a great leader: intelligent, with morals, and able to communicate. You most likely had some sort of communication/social problem when speaking face-to-face and even more likely it was that you didn't have the RESOLVE to be a leader and didn't quite know what you wanted in life... Hence, your only means to ease your heart is to write and to "bash" our Armenian leaders and our Armenian organizations. A sane person can see right through your writings, Ara. This is your reality. But I'm not saying that is your fate. At ANY age you can learn to communicate better and even get your thoughts together... decide what you WANT in life (and perhaps for your Armenian community). As to what you call "politics," it is our community organizations and the ARF that has done a fine job of sustaining and maintaining our Armenian communities; and it is through continued community participation -- mostly by volunteers -- that ensures the quality of our community. These organizations are open to ALL, so instead of bashing, join your fellow Armenians in creating thriving and sustainable Armenian communities in the Diaspora.

There is POWER in organization. You never seemed to have learned this in life. ...And in ALL organization there is a human social hierarchy, a power structure. That's the way the world is. That's the asymmetry of the world: some can lead more effectively than others, some can communicate better with others, some are wondering what's going on, others don't care, others follow entrusting the decision-making to their friends and they're complacent in fighting in the trenches. Without organization, Armenia would never have existed. Without organization, we'd neither have Armenian schools nor any community events nor any community publications nor any community LIFE. Being part of an Armenian organization is the essence of being an Armenian, especially in the Armenian Diaspora. An "-ian" and "-yan" don't qualify a person to being an Armenian. To be a part of the Armenian nation, one needs to be a part of an Armenian organization. Would you like it if I said that writers want to get other people to do work for them? Don't take it personally, and this is just a question: Why doesn't a writer such as yourself become the leader of Armenians? Or at least a particular portion of Armenians, say starting with a group of 2-3 people? Wouldn't this be a more effective use of your time? A more efficient means to your ends? (Assuming that your ends are the well-being of Armenians around the world.) But you are proposing that Armenians have no organizations (hence, no leadership). And I claim that without organizations, you get individuals. Disparate individuals. And disparate individuals have no power. In fact, disparate individuals are the EASIEST to manipulate. (as an aside, that's how American corporations control the masses of Americans: they've glued everyone to watching their OWN TV. Each American household today has more TVs than occupants... It's really a beautiful system...)

Luckily I figured out what CNN and the stock market are BEFORE I gave any money to them which means I never did... That's a lie. I did, but I made a couple hundred before pulling out, never to do it again (Note: except investing in pre-IPO stocks, of course, which I HIGHLY recommend if you are able to). Ազատութիւն, բնութիւն, հայութիւն, ընկերութիւն, եւ իգութիւն