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Mycroft
Skeptic Friend
USA
427 Posts |
 Posted - 04/26/2009 : 09:45:48
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-genocide25-2009apr25,0,2595139.story
President Barack Obama will not use the word "genocide" today when he issues a statement remembering the slaughter of more than a million Armenians during the last days of the Ottoman Empire.
On the anniversary of the day in 1915 that marked the beginning of the atrocities in Turkey, the president instead will ask for an examination of the past "so that it can be better understood," according to a senior administration official.
Obama still stands by the views he has expressed on the subject in the past, the official said today, speaking in advance of the president's statement on condition of anonymity. As a U.S. senator and a presidential candidate, Obama called for Turkey to acknowledge the genocide -- and promised to do so himself if elected president.
But since moving into the Oval office, Obama has backed away from the pledge out of concern that a furor over it might disrupt delicate diplomatic discussions now going on between Armenia and Turkey. |
How disappointing. I wonder what he believes is the worst that can happen if he doesn't pander to this particular type of denial?
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 10:20:26 [Permalink]
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Mycroft:
How disappointing. I wonder what he believes is the worst that can happen if he doesn't pander to this particular type of denial? |
So are you saying that it's pandering to be pragmatic while negotiations are going on between Armenia and Turkey? Would you torpedo a negotiation for the sake of laying a claim to a moral high ground? Why not take the reason he gave at face value? |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 15:45:41 [Permalink]
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| I'm not an expert in such things, but I agree that this is some delicate stuff and that some approaches may be better than others in the long run, even if it means stuff like this happens. |
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Machi4velli
SFN Regular
USA
854 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 19:22:01 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
Why not take the reason he gave at face value? |
Skepticism. He chose to avoid what he considers truth for political expediency, which is the reason he gave for the distortion. This instance in particular may not be very important, but I can certainly see that some may legitimately fault him for it. |
"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."
-Giordano Bruno
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge."
-Stephen Hawking
"Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable"
-Albert Camus |
| Edited by - Machi4velli on 04/26/2009 19:28:09 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2009 : 22:55:13 [Permalink]
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Machi4velli:
...but I can certainly see that some may legitimately fault him for it. |
And every single president that has come before him.
My guess is that even those who run for that office must face some harsh realities that even they didn't fully comprehend before they got there. What president hasn't take some lumps over campaign promises that were not fulfilled? All in all, I would say that this president has set the bar much higher for himself than the last one, and the one before him. And they managed to stumble too. The last one, disastrously. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 10:00:44 [Permalink]
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It is not denialism as he never pretended that it never happened.
He just chose not to use -publicly- a particular word. That's quite different.
The US are in a delicate situation in Turkey. They need it as many of their operations in the Middle-East are based in the bases they have their. But, at the same time, relationship between the US and Turkey were quite damaged by Bush's politic and douchebaggy attitude.
So Obama deciding to play it self does make a lot of sense. And, he, the genocide happened 94 years ago. It's not like it is any kind of emergency! |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Obama won't use 'genocide' in statement on 1915 Ar
