vava

If you're referring to the exhibition of the Gubenkian collection, I fail to see any relevance to grass roots consumer decision making. Art should be shared, and it is my understanding that most of the works would be of interest to a Turkish public due to their Islamic nature. Why shouldn't the museums share their collections?

Tigranis, please spare us the condescending remarks. If you're looking for a flame-job, you'll likely get one. You can choose to be a troll, or, on the other hand, you may try to have civilised discourse. I would personally prefer not to see this degenerate into another flame fest. And BTW, there is more to life than advertising and "brand recognition".

Arpa, please chill out dude. It's merely a name. No need to go berserk....

I can't seem to get the site to work - there's an advert in front of the menu buttons (and it won't close when I click the X) Too bad, would have liked to see some pics. Welcome BTW.

Not a big deal anyway - if I really need to figure out my system up-time, I may actually put a few minutes into it

I'm running XP Home SP2 (on this machine )

Hmmmm - doesn't work for me

You are taking my post way out of context. I never accused anyone of fanaticism, nor did I ever mention that those who wish to preserve our culture are fanatics. As a matter of fact, that intention is, in my opinion, quite noble. What is at question in this thread is the degree to which an ethnically 'pure' marriage will be efficient in preserving a said culture, especially within the context of a diffused diasporan community. The issue of fanaticism was brought up by Takouhi, who said: I disagree with this kind of thinking because it presumes the following: 1 - Any offspring of a Armenian-Odar marriage in Diaspora will cease to be an Armenian altogether – he will not be aware of his/her roots, will not speak the language, will not hold any interest/respect for his culture and will not participate in his ethnic community. 2 - Any offspring of an ethnically 'pure' Armenian marriage in Diaspora will automatically (merely by the virtue of being pure of blood) propagate all aspects of Armenian culture and as such, preserve the Armenian race. Active diasporan communities are sometimes less than welcoming towards 'half-Armenians'. It's a sad state of affairs when this is so - many of these children desire to learn their mother tongue, they enjoy the food, the music. They enjoy being part of community and could potentially be great contributors in the future. Many of the famous Armenians we celebrate are, in fact, half-Armenians. And we appreciate their involvement and loyalty to our community. So point number one above does not always hold true. Why automatically exclude someone who only has one Armenian parent? Are they not Armenian? Should we not make efforts to include them in our communities? With the right attitude adjustment, point number one becomes moot. A greater concern to me, is when I see Armenians counting on marriage to propagate their culture. Here in Diaspora, there are immigrant families arriving with young children who become assimilated in a matter of years. Are not both parents of the same ethnicity? Shouldn't they automatically love, cherish and preserve their culture? Strange but it doesn't always happen that way. When speaking of preserving our culture, we need more than just insisting that our youth marry each other - marriage is no guarantee. I disagree with some folks who believe that fanatically pursuing purely Armenian marriages as an end will be some sort of magical cultural preservation cure. In my mind it's the pursuit of a panacea; it could prove to be fruitless - when much effort could be made to integrate a growing portion of our population into our communities. Cultures evolve; cultures grow - especially when they are uprooted from their traditional homes. It's possible to retain the links to our ancestry and teach our youth about their roots, culture and language, without isolationist rhetoric.

Welcome DerOhannesian

Ditto File-share all you want, but let's try to support our Armenian artisits and actually purchase their CDs

Good grief You should be a communist. Everyone 'belongs' to a nationality. And everyone has the right to think/work towards their individual goals. How can you say that globalisation leads to selfishness? Do you have some sort of scientific study that indicates such? Mixed cultures are bad becomes they lead to people "living only for themselves" - but fanatical nationalism will save the world? I'm sorry, but I think you're off your rocker.

The article claims to have been originally published in the National Post - while not exactly the most reputable newspaper in Canada, it is certainly no tabloid. I checked their site and found that it's the front page Headline.... then I also found This Poll about Iran turning into the next Nazi Germany

Intertesting - the actual article is published HERE (New York Times)

France: Armenian-Genocide Bill Put Off (REUTERS) Published: May 19, 2006 Parliament indefinitely postponed a vote on a bill that would make it a crime to deny that the Armenian genocide occurred. Turkish officials had warned France of "irreparable damage" to bilateral ties if the Socialist Party-sponsored bill passed, and Turkey's ambassador to France was temporarily recalled in protest. "We cannot accept this proposed law," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told the lawmakers, adding that it would be "considered as an unfriendly gesture by a large majority of Turks, whether you want this or not." Several countries, including France, have passed resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide. The bill to ban genocide denial would have imposed a prison term of up to five years and fines of more than $50,000.

See article here. By Chris Wattie Republished from the National Post (Canada) New law, inspired by the Nazis, would require badges for Jews and other non-Muslims. Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country’s Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims. “This is reminiscent of the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis.” Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical “standard Islamic garments.” The law, which must still be approved by Iran’s “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims. Iran’s roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth. “There’s no reason to believe they won’t pass this,” said Rabbi Hier. “It will certainly pass unless there’s some sort of international outcry over this.” Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was “stunned” by the measure. “We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again,” he said. “It’s state-sponsored religious discrimination.” Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year. It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims. Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran’s small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities—the country is overwhelmingly Shi’ite Muslim. “They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them,” he said. The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures. “This is nothing to do with anything here,” said a press secretary who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani. “We are not here to answer such questions.” The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure. “The world should not ignore this,” said Rabbi Hier. “The world ignored Hitler for many years—he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he’d never come to power—and we were all wrong.” Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr. Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called “chilling,” and his previous string of anti-Semitic statements. “There are some very frightening parallels here,” he said. “It’s time to start considering how we’re going to deal with this person.” Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis’ “Final Solution.” He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, but Tehran believed by Western nations to be developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties. The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity. --------------- Anyone else here anything about this new law? It sounds pretty ridiculous to me...

Must you mingle with your own "kind" to be Armenian? If I happen not to mingle with my "kind" am I less of an Armenian? Am I cold towards my ethnicity? I don't think so - it's entirely possible have social circles that extend beyond one's ethnicity and yet still retain a measure of loyalty. I have no idea what you're asking here, and what you mean by "adhering". What is there to "adhere" to? Ethnicity is not like glue - there are no "rules" or laws that one must follow to be part of an ethnic group. Protection of one's culture and language does not require self-isolation IMO. It's entirely possible, and desirable perhaps, to be more inclusive with our cultural communities, impart our values to others and grow our populations rather than cut ouselves off from eachother until our eventual demise. What does that mean exactly "stay in your own ethnicity" ? Imagine if everyone thought that way. The divides between cultures would extremely significant... out tendancy these days is towards a more global community, with cultures slowly beginning to understanding eachother. What I think you're advocating is a step backwards for humanity.

You can say the exact same thing about an Armenian partner. How do you know that he/she is going to want to push Armenian culture on your offspring. You don't. And it's certainly possible that a particularly rebellious child will entirely reject his or her heritage. These instances exist - and marrying an Armenian is in no way a guarantee that your children will grow to love and cherish their heritage. You just don't know how it's going to turn out.

HAHAHA! ROTFL!

Nice reminder - I had a similar experience about a year back. Unfortunately I have forgotten the URL anyway it's a good idea to have some contact info before submitting your order. Most CC companies are great about on-line shopping BTW, if you don't get what you ordered/expected, within a reasonable delay you can always charge back the credit card

It's one of these things that makes me almost embarrassed watching it.

ROTFL!!!

Notice this is posted in the humor section - please don't take offence (even the crusaders!) http://www.jesuspan.com/ I think this is a hilarious idea - imagine the face of Jesus on your next grilled cheese.

Sip is truly an enviro-guy re-use AND re-cycle!!

At the rate this is going, you may have a to wait for a few more paychecks before you get your winecellar

I found a rather thorough summaryof local (Canadian) media coverage at HyeLog - from articles supporting the denialist perspective as well as those supporting PM Harper's remarks. Good job Vahe