Scoop: White House directed block of Armenian genocide resolution

[demmiblue]

Source: Axios

...

What happened next, which has not been previously reported: As Graham was leaving the Oval Office, senior White House staff asked him to return to the Senate and block the Armenian genocide resolution — a measure that would have infuriated Erdoğan.

Graham confirmed this in a phone interview on Saturday.

"After the meeting, we kind of huddled up and talked about what happened," he said. A White House legislative affairs official told Graham that Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was going to bring up his Armenian genocide resolution and asked if Graham could "please object."

"I said sure," Graham said. "The only reason I did it is because he [Erdoğan] was still in town. ... That would've been poor timing. I'm trying to salvage the relationship if possible."

Read more: https://www.axios.com/white-house-lindsey-graham-armenian-genocide-b3886afb-c626-476b-8a44-6d7197acd963.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twsocialshare&utm_campaign=organic

[Botany]

1. Erdogan owns Trump.

"This source claims that Turkish intelligence obtained an intercept of the call between Kushner and MBS. And President Erdogan used it to get Trump to roll over and pull American troops out of northern Syria before the Turks invaded."

https://spectator.us/seven-whistleblowers-jared-kushner-bin-salman/

[jpak]

2. Genocide normalizer fucktwits

Vile scum

Yup

[Evolve Dammit]

3. "trying to salvage the relationship" with a fucking dictator. Wish McCain were alive to kick your as

[Igel]

6. It's the same old thing. This isn't new.

There was a resolution in 2007 that wasn't put to a vote in the House because of a lack of support (pulled by Madame Speaker). The 2015 version was actively campaigned against by the president's administration--hundredth anniversary of the genocide, President Obama mentioned the massacre, but resisted public calls to call it a "genocide" because, his aides said, it would piss off Erdogan. His aides, new reports said, were "sorry" they hadn't supported it.

It's nice for people to grow and change their minds, but it should be acknowledged to be a change and not "the side of eternal good finally triumphing." It likely passed not because of great support for the resolution itself but because it would screw Trump and Erdogan. In other words, there was a negative reason for it and it was just a tool; there wasn't obviously support for it for its own sake.

It wasn't even unanimous. One hold out had a "white lives matter" moment.

I thought the 1975 version was a good idea and wanted it to pass then. When I was 16, and obviously more in favor of recognizing genocide publicly and unabashedly than many were in 2015. Even if it does impinge on foreign policy and makes Realpolitik (which I still rather like, clothespin-on-nose style, for setting and achieving goals without all the virtuous posturing and posing that's become fashionable ... foreign policy as Instagram, counting those likes).

[Evolve Dammit]

7. Thanks for the perspective. I keep hoping we will evolve, but am painfully aware of the status quo.

When we accept genocide, we are truly a soul-less culture, and certainly not Christ-like, despite the spin of the "Christians".
Our backing of these monsters is disgusting.

[McKim]

4. The Armenian Genocide Is Real and it Forshadowed the Extermination of Jews

The Armenian Genocide was a tragedy and many looked the other way. It is rumored that when someone in leadership objected to the holocaust because their might be objections, Hitler is said to reply: “Who cared about the Armenians!” Human Right violations anywhere are a threat to Human Rights everywhere!!!

[Igel]

5. The Armenian genocide was one part of a larger set of genocides.

Greeks, Armenians, various Xian sects in S/SE Turkey. It was all one. We hear about the Armenians, we don't hear about the Greek ethnic cleansing because the Greeks did their own anti-Turkish cleansing. We don't hear about the Syriac Xians and others because nobody cares about them--they're no mainstream Western Xians, so Xians don't care; they're Xians, so most others don't care. Armenians kept making noise and people finally heard. (It was also the most publicized at the time.)

[DBoon]

9. We hear about the Jewish holocaust, but not that of the Romany

The Romany were almost completely eliminated under the 3rd Reich.

We need to understand all victims of genocide, even the ones who are unable to garner public support.

[DinahMoeHum]

8. "Turkey's Tyrant Eats A White House Turkey"

Editorial column from the NY Times of November 15.

And from Bret Stephens at that.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/opinion/trump-turkey-erdogan.html

[Marcuse]

10. This could affect the Kardashian/trump reality tv coalition.