“OVER the weekend, I had a chat with Shirin Ebadi (pictured), Iran’s Nobel-prize-winning campaigner for women’s rights and democracy. I’d met her before, but a few things she said this time round surprised me. Perhaps the most interesting point from the perspective of American policy is that she simply does not think this government can or will negotiate nuclear issues in good faith with America…”
Congress reconsiders America’s official position on the Armenian genocide
“TWO questions faced an American congressional panel on Thursday March 5th as it considered the mass killings of Armenians during and after the first world war by forces of the Ottoman Empire. First, was it genocide? The historical debate is as hot, and unsettled, as ever. Armenians continue to insist that it was the first genocide of the twentieth century, while Turks call the killings merely part of the chaos of the break-up of empire.
But the second question on the minds of congressmen in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives was more urgent. What is more important, fidelity to history or concern for the present? …”
