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The Obama Team
Moving on to Barack Obama's team, the voter is presented with more coherence as to where his advisors stand.
Anthony Lake is a diplomat and academic who served as National Security Advisor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He considers himself a fighter for the protection of human rights and diligently projects this image to the rest of the world by raising awareness on several contemporary incidents of human rights violations and demanding action to protect groups who suffer and facilitates those who aid them. Interestingly enough, Lake puts some of the blame for not paying enough attention to Rwanda on himself and the Clinton administration.
“We knew how to halt the tragedy through the U.N. and we did not do it”, said Lake in an interview for Frontline Foundation in 2004. Even though he acknowledges that President Bush has done a lot for Darfur, he accuses his administration for treating the Darfur genocide as a neglected tragedy and demands that the President's words be translated into actions.
Having planned the NATO-UN invasion in Yugoslavia, he is considered the mastermind behind Milosevic's fall; nevertheless, he was severely scrutinized by the Intelligence Committee for his failure to tell Congress about President Clinton's tacit approval of Iran's arms shipments to Bosnia's Muslims in 1994.
Barack Obama has also employed Susan Rice, a former Clinton foreign policy advisor. Rice is a specialist in African affairs and serves on the boards of the National Democratic Institute and the Bureau of National Affairs. She also happens to be a member of the Aspen Strategy Group which aforementioned McCain advisor Scowcroft leads. What is more, she is a proponent for humanitarian intervention, even if that includes military use. She has called for humanitarian intervention several times in the past regarding Darfur.
Rice's major concerns include human rights protection, the development of the poorest African states and genocides perpetrated in the 90s and 00s. Her 2006 article for the Washington Post “We saved the Europeans in Kosovo, why not the Africans?” best encompasses her stance that the U.S. must do more to fulfill the responsibility to protect groups, states or nations in danger.
Although neither Ricer nor Lake have expressed a plan or an opinion about the Armenian Cause, both advisors presented are mostly concerned with genocide issues, democratization and the reconstruction of poor states. Under this light, the Armenian community could potentially find a strong supporter for the promotion and handling of its problems and concerns.
Obama's team, however, is completed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, a political scientist and former National Security Advisor for President Carter, whose views are opposed to Armenian interests. The fact that he is on the payroll of Amoco Inc., the largest U.S. investor in Azerbaijan's oilfields, has driven him to take up the task of improving the image of Azerbaijan and its president before the U.S. Congress.
He has been accused of using his post as board member of Freedom House, a non-profit organization about democracy and freedom in the world highly trusted by politicians and academics, in order to win support on Capitol Hill for Azerbaijan so as to increase investments in the country. It is no secret that after assuming this post, Freedom House has become one of Aliyev's most fervent supporters, upgrading Azerbaijan, a dictatorial regime with severe violations of human rights, from the non-free states to the partially free level. Brzezinski aspires to see Azerbaijan and Georgia independent from Russia, so that the U.S. can secure natural gas and oil pipelines.
When it comes to Nagorno Karabakh, he links the solution of the conflict to the access of the region through pipelines that will traverse various countries. According to him, opening up borders and allowing economic relations between Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, etc will greatly help the conflict, as well as meet the need for active mediation--preferably by the U.S.--without taking Armenia's side.
In addition, Brzezinski believes the U.S. should support the construction of pipelines and promote investments in all Caucasus states while simultaneously pursuing strong strategic and political relations with Turkey. Any route through Armenia, he maintains, would first require a peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia recognizing the inviolability of borders.
What's more, when the time came to vote for House Res.106, he told CNN that “HR 106 will exacerbate wounds that could damage US-Turkish relations” and that if he were a Congressman he would probably not vote for it, while he challenged whether it is appropriate for the U.S. Congress to be defining what constitutes genocide since it was set up for lawmakers, not for social advocacy.
Given the fact, though, that Barack Obama is likely to ask Samantha Power to resume her duties as foreign policy advisor or assign her governmental duties if he gets elected, it seems that Brzezinski will have a hard time influencing Sen. Obama's political views on Armenian issues. Samantha Power, who is well known to the Armenian community for her genuine interest in human rights and genocide recognition, is a political scientist dedicated to fighting American politicians' hypocrisy when it comes to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. She has also been a strong advocate for Genocide prevention, urging US lawmakers and policymakers to take powerful positions upon this issue. Her book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide” and her article “Raising the Cost of Genocide” eloquently describe her strong positions on the Armenian Genocide, whereas her current activities include encouraging Armenians to vote for Obama and showing the American-Armenian community how he has backed issues of special interest to Armenians on several occasions.
Obama vs. McCain
The selection of advisors in the Obama campaign, therefore, constitutes a conundrum for the Armenian-American voter. However, when it comes down to simple adding the pros and cons of each side, we are found with one side either totally unsupportive of Armenian issues or with pro-Turkish sentiments and one side divided between advocates for genocide prevention and pro-Azeri plans.
Sen. Obama himself, openly stated on January 19th, that “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides” and that he intends to be that President. In that same statement he called for Congressional passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 & S.Res.106), and pledged that, as president, he will recognize the Armenian Genocide. Furthermore, he reaffirmed his plans regarding U.S.-Armenian cooperation in the security and democracy area, while promising to maintain U.S. assistance to Armenia. He has also pledged to “promote Armenian security by seeking an end to the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades and by working for a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America's founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination.” Armenia's growth and development through expanded trade and targeted aid is also in Sen. Obama's foreign policy agenda, as he has committed to strengthening the commercial, political, military, developmental, and cultural relationships between the U.S. and Armenian governments.
If we look at Obama's track record on Armenian issues, take into consideration talk of Samantha Power assuming a governmental post in case Obama is elected, and acknowledge the candidate's support of Genocide recognition, then we are presented with a strong possibility that an Obama administration will be proactive in addressing issues of concern to the Armenian-American community.
Conversely, given the fact that McCain's September 29th letter to the Armenian-American community continued his long-standing policy of refusing to use the word genocide when describing the events of 1915, and failed to make a coherent statement regarding his plans for U.S.-Armenia relations, the Armenian-American voter is left with a candidate whose stance mimics that of previous presidents that have kowtowed to Turkish pressure. Meanwhile the reality that a great part of his foreign policy team has been explicitly supportive of Turkey and Azerbaijan will make it unlikely that a McCain administration will be receptive to matters of Armenian-American interest.
The conclusion is one; the Armenian-American community has a chance to make a difference through these elections as long as there is a critical number of voters that will demand to be heard.
Moving on to Barack Obama's team, the voter is presented with more coherence as to where his advisors stand.
Anthony Lake is a diplomat and academic who served as National Security Advisor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He considers himself a fighter for the protection of human rights and diligently projects this image to the rest of the world by raising awareness on several contemporary incidents of human rights violations and demanding action to protect groups who suffer and facilitates those who aid them. Interestingly enough, Lake puts some of the blame for not paying enough attention to Rwanda on himself and the Clinton administration.
“We knew how to halt the tragedy through the U.N. and we did not do it”, said Lake in an interview for Frontline Foundation in 2004. Even though he acknowledges that President Bush has done a lot for Darfur, he accuses his administration for treating the Darfur genocide as a neglected tragedy and demands that the President's words be translated into actions.
Having planned the NATO-UN invasion in Yugoslavia, he is considered the mastermind behind Milosevic's fall; nevertheless, he was severely scrutinized by the Intelligence Committee for his failure to tell Congress about President Clinton's tacit approval of Iran's arms shipments to Bosnia's Muslims in 1994.
Barack Obama has also employed Susan Rice, a former Clinton foreign policy advisor. Rice is a specialist in African affairs and serves on the boards of the National Democratic Institute and the Bureau of National Affairs. She also happens to be a member of the Aspen Strategy Group which aforementioned McCain advisor Scowcroft leads. What is more, she is a proponent for humanitarian intervention, even if that includes military use. She has called for humanitarian intervention several times in the past regarding Darfur.
Rice's major concerns include human rights protection, the development of the poorest African states and genocides perpetrated in the 90s and 00s. Her 2006 article for the Washington Post “We saved the Europeans in Kosovo, why not the Africans?” best encompasses her stance that the U.S. must do more to fulfill the responsibility to protect groups, states or nations in danger.
Although neither Ricer nor Lake have expressed a plan or an opinion about the Armenian Cause, both advisors presented are mostly concerned with genocide issues, democratization and the reconstruction of poor states. Under this light, the Armenian community could potentially find a strong supporter for the promotion and handling of its problems and concerns.
Obama's team, however, is completed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, a political scientist and former National Security Advisor for President Carter, whose views are opposed to Armenian interests. The fact that he is on the payroll of Amoco Inc., the largest U.S. investor in Azerbaijan's oilfields, has driven him to take up the task of improving the image of Azerbaijan and its president before the U.S. Congress.
He has been accused of using his post as board member of Freedom House, a non-profit organization about democracy and freedom in the world highly trusted by politicians and academics, in order to win support on Capitol Hill for Azerbaijan so as to increase investments in the country. It is no secret that after assuming this post, Freedom House has become one of Aliyev's most fervent supporters, upgrading Azerbaijan, a dictatorial regime with severe violations of human rights, from the non-free states to the partially free level. Brzezinski aspires to see Azerbaijan and Georgia independent from Russia, so that the U.S. can secure natural gas and oil pipelines.
When it comes to Nagorno Karabakh, he links the solution of the conflict to the access of the region through pipelines that will traverse various countries. According to him, opening up borders and allowing economic relations between Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, etc will greatly help the conflict, as well as meet the need for active mediation--preferably by the U.S.--without taking Armenia's side.
In addition, Brzezinski believes the U.S. should support the construction of pipelines and promote investments in all Caucasus states while simultaneously pursuing strong strategic and political relations with Turkey. Any route through Armenia, he maintains, would first require a peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia recognizing the inviolability of borders.
What's more, when the time came to vote for House Res.106, he told CNN that “HR 106 will exacerbate wounds that could damage US-Turkish relations” and that if he were a Congressman he would probably not vote for it, while he challenged whether it is appropriate for the U.S. Congress to be defining what constitutes genocide since it was set up for lawmakers, not for social advocacy.
Given the fact, though, that Barack Obama is likely to ask Samantha Power to resume her duties as foreign policy advisor or assign her governmental duties if he gets elected, it seems that Brzezinski will have a hard time influencing Sen. Obama's political views on Armenian issues. Samantha Power, who is well known to the Armenian community for her genuine interest in human rights and genocide recognition, is a political scientist dedicated to fighting American politicians' hypocrisy when it comes to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. She has also been a strong advocate for Genocide prevention, urging US lawmakers and policymakers to take powerful positions upon this issue. Her book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide” and her article “Raising the Cost of Genocide” eloquently describe her strong positions on the Armenian Genocide, whereas her current activities include encouraging Armenians to vote for Obama and showing the American-Armenian community how he has backed issues of special interest to Armenians on several occasions.
Obama vs. McCain
The selection of advisors in the Obama campaign, therefore, constitutes a conundrum for the Armenian-American voter. However, when it comes down to simple adding the pros and cons of each side, we are found with one side either totally unsupportive of Armenian issues or with pro-Turkish sentiments and one side divided between advocates for genocide prevention and pro-Azeri plans.
Sen. Obama himself, openly stated on January 19th, that “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides” and that he intends to be that President. In that same statement he called for Congressional passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 & S.Res.106), and pledged that, as president, he will recognize the Armenian Genocide. Furthermore, he reaffirmed his plans regarding U.S.-Armenian cooperation in the security and democracy area, while promising to maintain U.S. assistance to Armenia. He has also pledged to “promote Armenian security by seeking an end to the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades and by working for a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America's founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination.” Armenia's growth and development through expanded trade and targeted aid is also in Sen. Obama's foreign policy agenda, as he has committed to strengthening the commercial, political, military, developmental, and cultural relationships between the U.S. and Armenian governments.
If we look at Obama's track record on Armenian issues, take into consideration talk of Samantha Power assuming a governmental post in case Obama is elected, and acknowledge the candidate's support of Genocide recognition, then we are presented with a strong possibility that an Obama administration will be proactive in addressing issues of concern to the Armenian-American community.
Conversely, given the fact that McCain's September 29th letter to the Armenian-American community continued his long-standing policy of refusing to use the word genocide when describing the events of 1915, and failed to make a coherent statement regarding his plans for U.S.-Armenia relations, the Armenian-American voter is left with a candidate whose stance mimics that of previous presidents that have kowtowed to Turkish pressure. Meanwhile the reality that a great part of his foreign policy team has been explicitly supportive of Turkey and Azerbaijan will make it unlikely that a McCain administration will be receptive to matters of Armenian-American interest.
The conclusion is one; the Armenian-American community has a chance to make a difference through these elections as long as there is a critical number of voters that will demand to be heard.
