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A century after 1.5 million Armenians were killed, a personal story is being told on stage...in Istanbul.
Saturday, 28 October 2017
Friday, 27 October 2017
** FATHER FRANK’S RANTS Rant Number 746 26/10/17 POLYGAMY STORM
IS POLYGAMY BAD? MUSLIMS GET BASHED FOR IT BUT THE BIBLE DOES NOT FORBID IT.
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‘Storm over polygamy site for Muslims’, The Times screams. Silly hyperbole. The popular ‘Secondwife.com’ has unleashed no tornado. Maybe few puffs of secularist hot air. Though it has provided another stick to beat Muslims with. Years ago French Le Monde also foamed about plural beds. Immigrant youths lacking a father figure in the home are more prone to anti-social behaviour, it argued.
How bizarre. It is fatherless monogamous families that are Western society’s bane, if any. Do Gallic liberal media put monogamy on trial when investigating youth delinquency? As to multiple wives, consider the Mormons. Until 1890, when a persecuting US federal government bullied them into forsaking it, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints did practice polygamy. Brigham Young, who succeeded Joseph Smith as leader of the Church, boasted 27 wives - though not all of them alive at the same time - and 56 children. But Brigham’s children never complained of the lack of a father figure. Nor does it appear that polygamy either alienated or caused social unrest amongst Mormon youngsters. On the contrary, LDS youths were and are known as models of conservative citizenship. Hard-working, industrious, honest, law-abiding and chaste. So much for plural marriage necessarily breeding hooligans.
Sociology apart, it’s curious the custom should provoke so much prejudice. There is no divine command against polygamy in the Bible. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon had more than one wife. True, Jesus in St Mark’s Gospel (10:8) lays down that a man and a woman in marriage ‘… shall become one flesh.’ But the thrust of the Lord’s words is directed against divorce, not polygamy. And ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’ are generic terms designating genders. Moreover, the ‘one flesh’ remark harks back to Genesis, the beginning of creation. Clearly, Hebrew writers never interpreted the passage to forbid plural marriage, or Scripture would have castigated the patriarchs for that. As to the New Covenant (I Timothy, 3:2), St Paul notably rules that, amongst a bishop’s qualities, he should be ‘the husband of one wife’. Dig that? Those mitred old goats! What didn’t they get up to! Admittedly, some criticism of polygamous practice is implied there.
Beyond St Paul stands the Messiah himself. Granted that the personal love life of the Lord must forever remain an enigma, all the evidence points to Christ being unmarried. Even Muslim tradition never mentions a Mrs Jesus of Nazareth. (An Anglican panjandrum once quipped that, if such a female ever existed, she would have kept an impossibly low profile.) In that respect, Christ resembles more Buddha than married Prophets like Moses or Muhammad. Accordingly, strict monogamy seems more becoming to followers of a religion founded by a holy celibate than polygamy. The Christian world used to acknowledge as much. Virginity, celibacy and chastity for centuries were its highest ideals. Haven’t noticed bourgeois, permissive papers like The Times and Le Monde praising those virtues lately.
Remarkably, a certain Shia Muslim’s quirky communication to me proffered an extra-reason for Christ’s unmarried status: ‘As you Christians hold that Issa son of Mary is the Son of God, I well understand it’s impossible he could have had a wife. Bad enough to have a son of God – imagine having to reckon with God’s grandchildren! That had to be prevented from happening, I do see it.’ Huh! Intriguing.
As Christianity arose out of Judaism, it’s significant that Jews took time to legislate on the matter. Ashkenazi rabbis did not officially rule out plural beds until about 900 AD. Sephardic Judaism, however, still leaves the possibility open, although 100 rabbis altogether are needed to allow a man to take a second wife. Hmmm… must be pretty rare, I guess.
But why beat about the bush? What liberals and feminists are gunning for are Muslims. Islamic plural beds make not-so-fecund Westerners jittery. Yet, Muslim teaching is complex. The Qur’an does indeed allow a believer as many as four wives (Surah An-Nisah, 3). A number restrictive, note, vis-à-vis the pagan customs of pre-Islamic Arabia, when a man could enjoy an unlimited harem. The Qur’an verse also hedges the permission about with qualifications. Should a man not be able to deal justly with plural wives, for example, because he lacks the means to support them, only one is lawful.
Relevant is also the Sunna, the personal custom and practice of the Prophet, one of the sources of Sharia law. Indeed, you would expect Muhammad to be a normative model for all Muslims. Interesting though that Ibn Tamiya, the famous medieval jurist regarded as a Wahhabi forerunner, was unmarried. And King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, a most pious monarch, had only one wife. African Islam… Can only get anecdotal about my friend Mouftah Baba-Ahamed, an excellent Nigerian. He has two spouses. Trust me: he is the best of fathers.
‘Frank, women view polygamy very differently from men’, a woman I loved once cautioned me. Fair point. They are bound to, I suppose. But surprises are always possible. In 1870 a US congressman had the brilliant idea of abolishing plural beds by granting the vote to women. He assumed that Mormon women would rise up by ballot against polygamy. But when the territorial legislature of Utah granted women the vote – they prompted voted as their husbands did. Funny, isn’t it?
Much to his aching regret, God has not given the priest a wife. Still, hope springs eternal…
Revd Frank Julian Gelli
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Thursday, 26 October 2017
Armenian News... New Phrase... Armenian Atrocities
BBC Radio 4
Toynbee at War
16/10/2017
BBC follows Foreign Office poetical guidance by using the phrase
'Armenian atrocities'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b098h70m
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 16 2017
Aliyev and Sargsyan Tete-a-Tete Meets Low Expectations
by Joshua Kucera
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, during talks in Geneva. It was their first one-to-one meeting in more than a year. (photo: president.am )
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met October 16 for the first time in more than a year to discuss the smoldering conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Expectations for the meeting were low, and the results of the meeting appeared to be meager.
After the meeting in Geneva, the two sides released a joint statement saying that they agreed "to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact." It's not clear what those measures were.
Ahead of the meeting, MP Armen Ashotyan of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia told media that the main goal of the summit would be to “improving the atmosphere” to make more substantive negotiations possible.
At least superficially, the atmosphere did seem to be improved. A photo of the two presidents, Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan showed them both smiling, sitting outside in what appears to be a lovely Swiss fall day.
The mood may still have been good from last week, when the two apparently met informally, along with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, at a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Sochi. According to Lukashenko's account , he was discussing Karabakh with Aliyev. "You will be surprised to hear that the president of Armenia also took part in those discussions, and we all three made jokes at each other," Lukashenko said.
Other observers had had somewhat more optimistic expectations ahead of the talks. Carey Cavanaugh, who was the top United States official working on Karabakh negotiations from 1999-2001, tweeted : "3 easy items to watch for at #Armenia-#Azerbaijan Summit: movement on #Karabakh incidents mechanism; more #OSCE monitors; date 4 next talks." He continued : "2 hard items to watch for at #Armenia-#Azerbaijan Summit: bilateral military CSBMs [confidence- and security-building measures]; steps toward preparing for a future together."
And finally : "Hardest item to watch for at #Armenia-#Azerbaijan Summit: genuine commitment by both presidents to effect political compromise on #Karabakh."
Of the "easy" items, only the "movement on Karabakh incidents mechanism" could be said to have been met, and then only under a generous interpretation.
The dim hopes for any sort of breakthrough were perhaps illustrated by a spat between Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev, and Nairi Petrossian, a foreign policy aide to Sargsyan, in response to Cavanaugh's tweets. Hajiyev insisted that a withdrawal of Armenian forces was the "fundamental issue" and that any technical steps were secondary; Petrossian accused him of "conjecture and speculation."
The last time Aliyev and Sargsyan met was last year, once in May in Vienna and then in June in St. Petersburg. That was just after the worst fighting in more than 20 years in Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but which has been controlled since 1994 by Armenian forces.
At last year's meetings, there did appear to be a real breakthrough, as the two reportedly agreed to strengthen ceasefire monitoring along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact, something Azerbaijan had long resisted. Not long after, though, Aliyev walked back that promise and nothing seems to have come of it.
Still, it should be noted that while nearly everyone predicted that this summer would see a return to fighting in Karabakh, it's now mid-October (knock on wood) and the summer has passed without major incident. An Armenian commander in Karabakh said at the end of September that it was the quietest period he remembered in years.
As for the next diplomatic steps, the negotiators said that they will "organize working sessions with the [foreign] Ministers in the near future."
RFE/RL Report
Mediators `Satisfied' With Armenian-Azeri Summit In Geneva
October 16, 2017
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan reportedly agreed to
intensify the protracted search for a peaceful resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and bolster the ceasefire regime in the
conflict zone when they met in Geneva on Monday.
"The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere," read a joint
statement issued by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers as
well as the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the Minsk Group
after the talks.
"The Presidents [Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev] agreed to take
measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional
steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact," it said.
"The Co-Chairs expressed their satisfaction with these direct talks,
which took place after a long interval # As a next step, the Co-Chairs
will organize working sessions with the Ministers in the near future,"
added the statement.
The talks began at the official residence of Switzerland's permanent
representative to the UN office in Geneva in the presence of the U.S.,
Russian and French mediators. They continued in a tete-a-tete format
about an hour later.
Aliyev and Sarkisian then spoke one-on-one for over 45 minutes,
according to Vladimir Hakobian, the Armenian presidential press
secretary. In a series of tweets, Hakobian also posted a photograph
that showed the two presidents seated around a round table placed in
the courtyard of the Swiss diplomatic compound.
"We have no concrete agreements on variants of resolving the problem,"
Sarkisian told members of Switzerland's Armenian community shortly
after the summit. "But we agreed to take measures to further ease
tensions so that we have no casualties on the frontlines. I must say
that both the president of Azerbaijan and I are deeply interested in
that."
"God willing, [Aliyev] will always think so," Sarkisian said. "He too
realizes the complexity of the problem very well and obviously so do
I, but the problem is such that there will never be an easy solution
to it."
Sarkisian went on to again rule out any solution that would restore
Azerbaijani control over Karabakh. "No Armenian leader will ever take
and implement such a decision," he said.
Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials did not make public statements
immediately after the talks.
Neither Sarkisian nor the joint statement by the two foreign ministers
specified the agreed steps aimed at preventing ceasefire violations
along "the line of contact" around Karabakh and the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The two presidents previously met in May and June last year shortly
after four-day deadly hostilities around Karabakh that nearly
denigrated into an all-out war. The negotiation process again stalled
later in 2016. Aliyev and Sarkisian blamed each other for the deadlock
when they addressed the UN General Assembly in New York last month.
RFE/RL Report
EU Reveals Landmark Deal With Armenia
October 16, 2017
Emil Danielyan
The European Union has publicized an extensive agreement to deepen its
political and economic relations with Armenia which is expected to be
signed during an EU summit next month.
Citing "common values" shared by the two sides, the draft
Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) calls for
"increasing the participation of the Republic of Armenia in policies,
programs and agencies of the European Union." It commits the Armenian
government to implementing political reforms and "approximating"
national economic laws and regulations to those of the EU.
Armenia controversially joined the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union
(EEU) less than two years ago, following an unexpected decision that
was announced by President Serzh Sarkisian in September 2013. The
volte face, widely attributed to Russian pressure, thwarted the
signing of an Armenia-EU Association Agreement which had a
far-reaching free-trade component. Most political provisions of that
ill-fated agreement are thought to have been incorporated into the
CEPA.
"The Parties shall intensify their dialogue and cooperation in the
area of foreign and security policy, including the common security and
defense policy," reads the alternative accord, which is more than 350
pages long. It calls for joint efforts to combat international
terrorism, prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and
promote conflict resolution.
Another stated aim of the accord finalized in March is the
"strengthening of democracy and of political, economic and
institutional stability" in Armenia. The EU is to help the Armenian
authorities prevent human rights abuses and reform Armenia's judicial
and law-enforcement systems.A lack of independent courts and
widespread corruption among judges and law-enforcement officers remain
a serious obstacle to the rule of law in the country.
The CEPA contains much more extensive and specific provisions on
economic matters. Armenia, it says, will "gradually approximate its
economic and financial regulations and policies to those of the
European Union, as appropriate." Yerevan will regularly report to
Brussels on "the progress made with regard to approximation" specified
by several annexes to the agreement.
This "regulatory harmonization" would cover a wide range of areas,
including business regulation, agriculture, transport, environment,
consumer protection and even energy. In particular, the CEPA envisages
EU-Armenia cooperation on "the diversification of energy sources and
routes."
Armenia currently buys nuclear fuel and more than 80 percent of its
natural gas from Russia. These energy resources generate more than
two-thirds of its electricity.
The CEPA also covers bilateral trade. "Each Party shall apply import
duties and charges in accordance with its obligations established
under the [World Trade Organization] Agreement," it says. Each side
must also ensure "most-favored-nation treatment to goods" imported
from the other.
There is no reference to Armenia's membership in the EEU which means
that import duties set by Russia and the five other ex-Soviet states
making up the Russian-led bloc are largely identical.
The EU and Armenia would also seek to ease non-tariff barriers to
their trade such as technical regulations and licensing and labelling
requirements. The CEPA contains even more detailed provisions on the
enforcement of intellectual property rights and mutual recognition of
patents.
The draft agreement further makes clear that the authorities in
Yerevan can count on greater financial assistance from the EU. It
cautions, however, that the scale of extra aid will depend on "the
pace of the reforms" promised by them.
Johannes Hahn, the EU commissioner for European neighborhood policy,
hailed "the groundbreaking new agreement" with Armenia when he visited
Yerevan earlier this month. He said it will not only deepen the EU's
ties with Armenia but also serve as an "example" to other countries.
Speaking after talks with Hahn, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
confirmed that the deal is due to be signed at the EU's November 24
summit in Brussels.
Earlier, President Sarkisian dismissed suggestions that the CEPA, just
like the Association Agreement, may collapse at the last minute. "We
have no reason to not sign that document," he said.
RFE/RL Report
Yerevan May Scrap Plans For New Nuclear Plant
October 17, 2017
Sargis Harutyunyan
The Armenian government may abandon its ambitious plans to build a new
nuclear power station in place of the aging plant at Metsamor, Justice
Minister Davit Harutiunian said on Tuesday.
President Serzh Sarkisian pledged to replace Metsamor, which generates
roughly a third of Armenia's electricity, by a modern facility meeting
safety standards shortly after taking office in 2008. The project
never got off the drawing board as his government failed to attract
billions of dollars in funding needed for the new plant's
construction. The government decided instead to extend the life of
Metsamor's 420-megawatt reactor by 10 years, until 2027.
"We will have a new nuclear plant if it is cost-effective in terms of
[electricity] tariffs," Harutiunian told reporters. "Just imagine a
possibility that it turns out tomorrow that modern technologies can
generate the same amount of energy without a nuclear plant and that
nuclear energy ... is much more expensive for consumers. Which path
should we opt for? Of course, modern technologies."
Asked whether that means the government now does not rule out the
possibility of giving up the idea of a new nuclear plant, Harutiunian
said: "You correctly understand my and my government's position." The
government will closely monitor international energy "trends" and
eventually decide "which model will best suit our consumers," added
the minister.
As recently as in July, Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian
insisted that the government remains committed to the expensive
nuclear project. He said the government has only revised the would-be
plant's design capacity from 1,000 megawatts to 600 megawatts.
Yerevan will commit to "the closure and safe decommissioning" of the
Metsamor plant in an extensive agreement with the European Union which
is due to be signed next month. The draft agreement sets no specific
time frames for the plant's shutdown. It also acknowledges "the need
for its replacement with new capacity to ensure the energy security of
the Republic of Armenia."
iTel.am, Armenia
Oct 16 2017
HIVE: Armenian startups growing faster than ever
Narine Daneghyan
HIVE Summit 2017: Hacking Silicon Valley was held on October 14, Yerevan. The event gathered famous representatives of the American IT market, particularly Silicon Valley.
HIVE, an organization backed by the Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Foundation, is aiming to catalyze the global Armenian tech community through early stage finding and mentorship. HIVE hosted it's third annual Tech Summit at the TUMO Center this past weekend.
HIVE partner Nina Achadjian remarked in a conversation with Itel.am that this event was unprecedented both by the number of participants and invited speakers.
“Our event sold out completely this year, and we brought more speakers from the highest profile companies like Yelp, Ripple, Google, Facebook, Robinhood and top tier VC-s,” she said.
According to Nina Achadjian, Armenian startup ecosystem has registered an unprecedented progress over the last period.
“When we first started HIVE in 2014, we evaluated 50 startups that were investable, while we have already noticed 350 so far this year. So there is pretty amazing growth. I think more people in Armenian tech are willing to take risks to establish startups. There is an excitement of opportunity and actual funding available now,” HIVE partner stressed.
Nina Achadjian noted that PicsArt, ServiceTitan, CodeFights, Teamable, Inapptics, Wakie, IntelinAir and Bazillion Beings are among the most successful Armenian startups.
HIVE will launch a mentorship program for Armenian startups in a next couple of months. HIVE also intends to organize an event in San Francisco with participation of Armenian startups.
A1+
U.S. Embassy joins Ministry of Health to open regional disease prevention labs
October 16,2017 |
Residents in Martuni, Kapan, and Vanadzor are safer today thanks to the construction of laboratories designed to track, monitor, and fight infections. The labs — constructed by the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, provided with new technology, and updated to meet modern seismic safety standards – are part of the Ministry of Health’s National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
On October 16, 2017, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr., joined Minister of Health Levon Altunyan to open the Ministry’s Gegharkunik Marz Laboratory in Martuni. The Gegharkunik facility – one of three laboratories built this year by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) – is a sustainable facility that increases Armenia’s ability to ensure biosafety and biosecurity, protecting people and animals from disease.
“This new facility will allow Armenian scientists to do their job safely and effectively — to respond to any potential infectious disease outbreaks that could threaten Armenia’s citizens, its livestock, its economic livelihood, or national security,” Ambassador Mills said at the opening ceremony.
Along with the facility in Martuni, work was recently completed on two other new regional Ministry of Health laboratories, one in Kapan and another in Vanadzor. They will both open later this week in ceremonies attended by high-level visitors from Washington, DC.
These modern facilities are seismic resistant, often replacing dilapidated Soviet-era facilities that had little modern seismic protection. The program also included purchasing state-of-the-art equipment for the Ministry staff to use in identifying, testing, and treating diseases. The U.S. government invested $9 million to construct, equip, and train laboratory staff from the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Emergency Situations to ensure the new labs meet international guidelines for biosafety.
The recently opened laboratories are part of the National Center of Disease Control and Prevention’s regional network. Having a modern network throughout Armenia allows officials to effectively monitor the spread of disease and supports earlier detection and quicker responses to outbreaks.
The completion of these laboratories represents an important milestone for the cooperation between DTRA and the Ministry of Health. With support from DTRA, Armenia is emerging as a regional leader in biosafety, biosecurity, and research. The completion of this project highlights DTRA’s continued investment in Armenia’s public health sector.
“The ongoing cooperation between the United States and Armenia to improve Armenia’s biosafety capabilities are another example of our two nations cooperating toward achieving better health outcomes,” Ambassador Mills said. “In the 21st century, with increased travel and globalization, a biosecurity lapse in one country can become an immediate threat to the health and economy of others. So the need for continued collaboration, teamwork, and international cooperation in this arena is critical.”
Paylak Sarkissian... Armenian Dance Workshop
Paylak Sarkissian (choreographer for the Armenian State Dance Company) is coming to London for a week in London doing various workshops between 5 and 12 November. I have organised a full day workshop at Cecil Sharp House on 11thNovember and attach the relevant leaflet.
Could you please be kind enough to circulate it to your mailing list? There may be people interested. It is suitable for all abilities.
Many thanks.
Dalila
Dalila Heath
Secretary
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
62 Wilson Street | London | EC2A 2BU
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Our business has grown on referrals so please keep us in mind if any of your contacts could benefit from our services
Secretary
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
62 Wilson Street | London | EC2A 2BU
T: +44 (0)20 7782 0007
F: +44 (0)20 7375 3735
E: dalila@rpgcc.co.uk
W: http://www.rpgcrouchchapman.co.uk
Our business has grown on referrals so please keep us in mind if any of your contacts could benefit from our services
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