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Analysis

The Rising Turkish Threat

5 + 3: Turkic Superstate in Caucasus, Central Asia Under NATO Tutelage
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Erdogan’s-new-Ottoman-empire-advances-in-the-Caucasus-and-Central-Asia-53560.html

It appears that Turkish influence is growing in Central Asia and Russian influence is lessening. This is problematic as is the remarkable lack of support by the Russians for the Armenians during last year’s war with Azerbaijan. The Russians have been giving Turkey a free hand against Armenia.

It is hard to see what the Russians have to gain from this. Turkey is the promotor of jihadism. Ankara is gradually replacing Islamic State as the center of the new Caliphate. The Russians fought to destroy jihadism in Syria but are now tolerating a new from of jihadism being promoted by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The Russians are not the only ones that deserve criticism here. The United States has not exactly done anything to counter Turkey and Azerbaijan. True, the Biden White House recognized the Armenian Genocide but in the aftermath lifted an embargo that had been imposed on Azerbaijan in the early 1990’s. Appeasement of Turkey remains in effect in Washington.

The problem that Greece, Armenia, and Cyprus face is the fact that Turkey’s geostrategic position continues to enthrall both Washington and Moscow. Turkey has benefitted from its borders going back to the Ottoman Empire. Under the Erdogan regime, both Moscow and Washington have been humiliated and slapped around.

The Turks ordered the downing of a Russian plane over Syria in 2015. They supported the enemies of the government in Damascus (Russia’s ally) during the Syrian war. They supported Islamic State which should have enraged both Washington and Moscow. Turkey continues to humiliate both Washington and Moscow both of whom seek the influence of Erdogan.

Turkish influence continues to grow over the Turkish speaking Republics of Central Asia (see the links above) and over the Muslim world, although there are countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates who are resisting Turkey’s expanding influence. Washington and Moscow will come to regret that they both had opportunities to crush and curtail the influence of Erdogan’s Turkey but refused to do so for their own self serving and short term interests.

Greeks also seem to misunderstand the American foreign policy establishment’s commitment to Turkey. American-Turkish ties have been badly strained during the Erdogan era, but American officials have not figured out how to conduct policies in Central Asia and the Middle East without Turkey. Some Greek Americans are under the impression that the Democratic Party will be anti Turkish. Such a belief is based in the realm of fantasy because domestic American politics cannot penetrate the long and committed American policies that have been built up for at least a century based on Turkish support.

On the positive side, American-Turkish relations have deteriorated but that is because of the rise of radical Islam in Turkey and because of Erdogan’s arrogance and megalomania, not because either political party in America has become pro Greek. It appears that the new cold war between Washington and Moscow has benefitted Turkey. The Erdogan government has been very effective in playing the Americans and the Russians off one another.

The reality is that the world is a vicious place dominated by the powerful. Turkey retains a great deal of power and influence. For a brief time as the Cold War was coming to an end, there were signs that America’s use for Turkey was coming to an end. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait however led the US to depend on Turkey for use of the military base at Incerlik.

The Greeks and the Armenians still have strong cases to make but need to work hard in both Washington and Moscow. The Ukrainian Church crisis has complicated Greek relations with both Washington and Moscow. Greece needs for that issue to be resolved even if it means disavowing Patriarch Bartholomew. Greece and Cyprus have other pressing concerns beyond Patriarch Bartholomew’s claims of power over the Orthodox Church.

The Church issue is relevant here because it exposes America as a semi colonial power maintaining an unhealthy influence in Greece. The Church issue is also turning Greeks against Russians. The Church issue must end and then Athens can engage both Washington and Moscow.

There are reasons for optimism. Erdogan has demonstrated a pattern of irrational thought. In 2011, he nearly started a war with Israel after supporting the flotilla attack on the Israelis. In 2015, he shot down the Russian plane, and during the war in Syria invaded the Kurdish region which was then occupied by American forces.

At some point, one has to believe that someone will finally stand up to Turkish bullying and aggression. Turkish influence is on the rise and needs to be countered. The abandonment of the Syrian Kurds by even the Trump administration and the abandonment of Armenia by Russia are truly disappointing.

However, the signs of tension between Turkey and both Washington and Moscow do exist. The challenge for the Greeks is to engage both of them, to remain friendly with both, and to work to convince both of them of the Turkish threat.

Categories
Letters

Letter To Patriots American News

Dear Sir, 

One of the most admirable aspects of the foreign policy of the Trump administration was the former President’s willingness to challenge the Islamic State. That murderous organization was responsible for the genocide of the Christians of Syria and Iraq. The fates of the Christians of Syria and Iraq occurred one century after the Turks perpetrated genocide against millions of Christian Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians in Anatolia. Prominent American officials during that time documented the genocide of the Christians. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau who served in Constantinople was very active in condemning the slaughter of the Christians, as were other American officials such as the American Consul to Smyrna George Horton. Horton wrote a book about the Genocide of the Christians called “The Blight of Asia”. 


Other prominent Americans of the time included Edward Hale Bierstadt who wrote a book called, “The Great Betrayal” documenting how western foreign policy betrayed the Christians and colluded with the murderous Turkish Army of Mustafa Kemal. Horton himself who served in the city of Smyrna documented the deliberate policy of the Turkish Kemalists to massacre the Christian populations. This is important for America today because there is still an opportunity to rescue American foreign policy interests from the Turks who have way too much influence over the foreign policy establishment. 


Turkey is clearly emerging as the jihadist power in the Middle East and is gradually becoming the successor to the now defeated “Caliphate”. Turkey is now directing other jihadist states such as Azerbaijan in its war of aggression against Armenia. The Azerbaijani war against Armenia last year resulted in the occupation of Armenian territory and subsequent atrocities against Armenian soldiers and civilians alike. The rise of both Turkey and Azerbaijan diminishes the defeat of the Islamic State as new jihadist entities are arising in their stead. 


Turkey has been using Syrian jihadists to fight on the Azerbaijani side against the Armenians. This makes Turkey a sponsor of jihadist terrorism. Previous to this, Turkey was a supporter of the Islamic State. Columbia University in New York published an entire report detailing the support that Ankara gave to the Caliphate at the height of its murderous reign. Turkey has also been using Syrian terrorists as proxies in Libya. The latest news on Turkey is that it is using child soldiers in its various military campaigns. Child soldiers have been used repeatedly by jihadist movements including Islamic State and the Taliban. 


In addition to posing a threat toward the Christian nation of Armenia, Turkey poses a significant threat to Greece and Cyprus. Turkey has openly claimed the islands of Greece which have been populated by ethnic Greeks since classical times. In the territories of Cyprus which Turkey has occupied since Ankara invaded that island Republic in 1974, over 200,000 Greek Cypriots were ethnically cleansed and over five hundred and fifty Greek and Armenian Churches and Monasteries have been destroyed. 


The foreign policy establishment has always supported Turkey and continues to back Ankara despite its proven record as a jihadist supporter of terrorism. American foreign policy reform is long overdue. American foreign policy should emphasize the human rights of Christians living in the Near East as well as the security of Christian countries such as Armenia, Cyprus, and Greece. American diplomacy was once served by honorable men such as Henry Morgenthau and George Horton who were advocates for oppressed Christians under the Islamic rule of the Turks. Unfortunately, their moral voices lost out to the anti Christian interests of the establishment which remain in effect up to the present day. 
America has an interest in the survival of Christian communities and homelands from the increasingly aggressive designs of jihadist Turkey and Azerbaijan. 
                           

Theodore G. Karakostas 

Categories
political

The Legacy Of Donald Rumsfeld

Former Secretary of Defense and war criminal Donald Rumsfeld died at the age of eighty eight years old. The policies carried out by Rumsfeld and the administration he served demonstrate what can happen when ideology based on utopian fantasies supplants reality. Rumsfeld served in the administration of George W. Bush, the worst President in American history.

Rumsfeld was brought on board by his friend and sociopathic Vice President Dick Cheney. Rumsfeld was allied with neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and Douglas Feith. After the 9/11 attacks, Cheney and Rumsfeld pushed for an invasion of Iraq, despite the fact that Al Quada was being protected by the government of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Shared responsibility for the destruction of Iraq and the Middle East comes from former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell went before the United Nations to make a case for the invasion of Iraq based on false evidence that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction. Rumsfeld was one of a large number of villains in the Bush administration.

Like the neocons and the rest of the Bush foreign policy team, Rumsfeld was a utopian. The belief existed in the minds of Rumsfeld and the others that Iraq would become a democracy and a model for the Muslim world in the aftermath of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The reality that Iraq was a fractured society of three communities (Sunni, Shiite, Kurds) that despised one another was something that was never understood by the utopians of the Bush-Cheney foreign policy team.

Rumsfeld was instrumental in the adoption of the use of torture. The American system of justice does not permit torture on the grounds that the introduction of such methods could be a slippery slope on the road to dictatorship. Rumsfeld’s Department of Defense was instrumental in the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.

If there was one episode that genuinely demonstrated how utterly deranged the officials of the Bush-Cheney administration were, it was the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. Apparently, the administration believed that stripping Muslim men and forcing them to undergo humiliating treatment and sexual abuse while American women looked on with amusement was a good idea. The Bush administration’s obscene war is accurately symbolized by the pornographic pictures and videos that showed what had taken place at Abu Ghraib.

Middle Eastern experts understood the realities of Iraq. Iraq was an artificial state not easy held together because of the rivalry among the three major communities. Rumsfeld and his associates had no use for reality because ultimately the foreign policy elite in Washington have no understanding of religion or nationalism. George W. Bush may have been born again, but his administration was by no means Christian.

The Iraq war led to a horrific civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. The Iraqi President (a Shiite) encouraged attacks on the Sunni community. Soon the organization known as “Al Quada in Mesopotomia (the forerunner of Islamic State) came into being and began slaughtering Shiites and other opponents.

The Democratic Party had the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the Republican Party but did not do so. The Obama administration stupidly intervened in Libya and Syria. The Islamic State which was able to take over large parts of Iraq because of the invasion of 2003, also took over large parts of Syria.

For the last five years the Democratic Party has been promoting hatred against the Russians. Their fanaticism resembles the fanaticism represented by the likes of Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld and his fellow psychopath Dick Cheney did not understand Iraq. Likewise, the Democrats do not understand Russia.

It is because of the war mongering represented by the likes of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden that Donald Trump began to look good. Both Hillary and Joe incidentally voted in favor of the Iraq invasion in 2003. Both of them also have been provoking Russia.

The neoconservative war in Iraq and the subsequent intervention in Syria can be seen as modern versions of the Crusades. Nearly one thousand years ago, fanatical Europeans believed that invading Palestine and other areas of the Middle East and committing genocide against Muslims and Jews made them good Christians. Likewise, Republican and Democratic administrations today believe that instigating wars of aggression in the name of Democracy will somehow lead the Middle East to become democratic.

The Crusaders were deluded fanatics, and so are the war mongers in both political parties in America today. It was said under the Bush administration that better the war be waged in Iraq than in America. Except, there were further terrorist attacks in America. The bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013 and other attacks on American, British, French, Belgian, and German soil after the rise of the Islamic State.

The Iraq war was a humanitarian failure. From Iraq came Syria. From both wars came refugees who fled the horrors of war and genocide and flooded Europe. The Greek islands were flooded with refugees and migrants which led to the rise of the Neo Nazi Golden Dawn. Likewise, other extremist parties in Europe grew in strength from the events that emanated from the Iraq war.

The Bush-Cheney administration initially invited Russia to join in the Iraq invasion. The Russians wisely declined to participate which triggered the anger of the neoconservatives. Incidentally, the neoconservatives in 2016 began leaving the Republican Party for the Democratic Party. I will always remember being on the island of Rhodes reading an op-ed in the International New York Times by neocon Max Boot endorsing Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.

Bill Krystal and other neocons such as Robert Kagan supported Hillary for President in 2016. The war mongers today are to be found in the Democratic Party. The Republican Party of Donald Trump for all its flaws (and Trump is a deeply flawed individual) is not the party of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and George W. Bush.

Donald Rumsfeld’s legacy will be debated and discussed by historians and academics for many years. Some of us who are opposed to his notorious legacy have made our choice to support the other Donald in order to prevent the rise of further war mongers. The recent fall of Elizabeth Cheney who shares her father’s demented foreign policy views can be credited to the Republicans who continue to support Donald Trump.

Categories
political

Europe Bullies Hungary

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands has openly threatened the sovereign country of Hungary by saying, “My goal is to bring Hungary to its knees on this issue.” The issue is that the Hungarian government has passed laws that prohibit television shows aimed at minors and children from espousing gay and transgender propaganda. The laws also prohibit LGBT propaganda from being taught in Hungarian schools. Because the government in Budapest passed such common sense laws, a wave of anti Hungarian hysteria has been spreading throughout the European Union.

The anti Hungarian hysteria may eventually reach the volume of anti Russian hysteria that has been under way throughout the west for several years now. Back in 2014, the Russian government banned schools from teaching LGBT propaganda to children. This effort by the Russians to protect Christian school children from adult material was certainly a contributing factor to the international hate campaign directed at the Russians.

The Hungarians are guilty of the same crime that the Russians are. They are Christians and want to protect their children from material that is not based in either science or biology, but propaganda. Prime Minister Mark Rutter of the Netherlands has said that Hungary must either leave the European Union or repeal the law. This is another example of what an utterly vile and useless institution the European Union is.

The Republic of Cyprus happens to be a member of the European Union. Turkey invaded Cyprus and has been occupying thirty seven percent of Cyprus since 1974. Turkey refuses to comply with EU law by recognizing Cyprus and Europe does nothing about it. Turkey has been threatening EU member Greece repeatedly and Europe does nothing. Turkish President Erdogan converted the miraculous Cathedral of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque and there has been no reaction from Europe. Turkey has threatened to flood Europe with millions of middle eastern refugees and nothing is done to take action against Turkey.

The European Union is a pathetic monstrosity. The term human rights has become a laughable idea. At a time when people were sane, human rights were about protecting individuals living in dictatorships from torture and murder at the hands of death squads. In this insane age, gay and transgender groups are said to have their human rights violated because governments and Church groups refuse to allow them to indoctrinate children.

The Hungarian government is right to protect its children. The Hungarian government should fight tooth and nail against this insidious and pagan entity called the European Union. Greece itself has been undergoing the process of secularization for decades now as a result of being part of this “European” entity. Gone are the days when the heroic Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens rallied hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Greeks to the streets to resist the anti Christian policies of the European Union and its stooge Costas Simitis.

The Church of Greece today (with the exception of a few honorable bishops and priests) is completely silent. When Prime Minister Tsipras in 2017 legalized gay marriage and transgender ideology in Greece, there was barely a protest by the bishops of Greece. Orthodox Greeks should be emulating the example of their Roman Catholic counterparts in Hungary and should be seeking to overturn the anti Christian laws that have been passed in recent years.

The idea that the European Union supports democratic principles is a lie. Sovereign countries should not have to abandon their Christian faith to accommodate the useless European bureaucracy. Sovereign countries should not be required to allow foreign powers to dictate to them what their children should be taught in schools and what should be shown to them on television.

The Hungarian struggle is a fight against internationalist dictatorship and secularism. Orthodox Christians have an interest in the victory of Hungary. If Hungary succumbs to pressure, all Orthodox countries that are members of the European Union will likewise fall.

Categories
political

Biden And NATO Snub Greece

President Joe Biden attended the NATO summit and did not meet with Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis. Biden paid homage to the NATO alliance and asserted that NATO will protect all of its members. The fact remains however that Greece finds itself as the target of Turkish aggression, and NATO has absolutely refused to intervene on behalf of Greece.

Biden’s silence on Turkish aggression against Greece says much. Despite promises made to the Greek American community, Biden has no intention of supporting Greece. Being in NATO has never been to the benefit of Greece, and is in fact a liability and an obstacle to Greek independence and sovereignty. It should be remembered that the Greek community of Constantinople was ethnically cleansed from Turkey during the 1950’s and 1960’s without any protest or action by NATO.

NATO cannot be considered a defensive alliance. In 1974, NATO member Turkey invaded Cyprus which is not a member of NATO. In 1999, NATO waged an aggressive bombing campaign against Serbia for three months. The targets in Serbia were civilian targets and Serbia was forced to give up the province of Kosovo which was followed by the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian Christian population.

In 1998, Poland, Hungary, and the Czeck Republic joined NATO. A gradual expansion of NATO toward the Russian border began. In no way can NATO’s expansion be considered a defensive act. NATO is a war mongering alliance that should have been dissolved when its original purpose of countering the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact was fulfilled.

NATO stands in the way of Greek independence and sovereignty. Membership in NATO has not only not protected Greece from Turkish aggression, it has blocked Greece from forming alliances with countries outside NATO that might be in Greece’s interests. For example, last fall the Russians expressed support for the right of Greece to extend its nautical miles in the Aegean Sea.

Furthermore, Russia condemned the Turkish plan to open the beach of Varosha in occupied Cyprus to Turkish colonists. A Greek-Russian alliance could be in the interests of Athens but will not happen because Greece is part of NATO which is nothing more than the military arm of the American-European empire supported by liberals like Biden and neoconservatives in the Republican Party.

Greece and Cyprus presently stand against Turkey alone. The failure of Greek leaders to pursue a genuine independent foreign policy could prove destructive for Greece over the long term. Plans for an American Empire and war mongering are not to the benefit of Greece.

Categories
faith

The Archdiocese Again

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has scandalized its own faithful and the rest of Orthodoxy once again. The Archbishop and several other Bishops held a service on the name day of Patriarch Bartholomew at Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York. First, Orthodox bishops and priests are not supposed to hold services in non Orthodox temples. The Orthodox Church considers itself to be the “one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church”.

It is indicative once again of how the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its eparchies are moving gradually outside the mainstream of Orthodoxy. Further problems regarding this service arise from the fact that Episcopolians are really not even Christians anymore, and have not been so for many years. The Episcopalians have become well known for their dismissal of Christian dogma and biblical morality.

The Episcopolians admit women into the priesthood and the episcopacy. They also support homosexuality and gay marriage. They also support the transgender ideology. Rainbow flags that are abhorred by Orthodox Christians as well as traditionalist oriented western Christians were reportedly displayed as these Orthodox bishops entered the Cathedral.

The current Archbishop has previously marched with black lives matter, a Marxist organization that supports the eradication of the nuclear family and supports the transgender ideology. Last summer in Portland, members of black lives matter and Antifa reportedly burned bibles along with the American flag. The Archdiocese continues to be a spiritual mess but it could not have done this without the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate itself.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has without remorse or regret severed ties with the Russian Orthodox Church and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It however continues maintaining friendships with western religious groups that have long disavowed the Christian faith. Ecumenism, the mover toward unity of all “Christians” has been a divisive matter for decades now within the Orthodox Church.

Certainly, a distinction should be made between Roman Catholics and traditionalist Protestant groups on the one hand, and the like of the Episcopolians on the other hand. But even with the Roman Catholics the Orthodox need to maintain a distance. Interfaith prayer between the Ecumenical Patriarch and several Popes has been very divisive and in contravention of the Church’s holy canons.

The Orthodox Church needs to do several things. Relations with the Episcopolians and other such groups need to be abolished outright. Orthodox Christians live in lands that are not Orthodox. It is permissible to maintain friendship and good relations with other Christians such as the Roman Catholics. It should be understood however that the Orthodox Church considers itself the true Church and cannot discuss unification with any other institution.

Orthodox relations with Roman Catholics and Evangelicals should be based upon common stances in opposition to the rise of the new paganism in America and Europe. The LGBT agenda is becoming an increasing threat not only because of the corruptive influence on young people, because this movement seeks the eventual abolition of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. The louder the supporters of this movement become, the less tolerant they became for any and all religious groups who oppose their agenda.

Orthodox participation in an Episcopal temple is deplorable and the failure of Orthodox bishops to recognize the new pagan symbolism that the rainbow flag represents is indicative of how blind they have become. The Russian Orthodox Church, in contrast to the Ecumenical Patriarch recognizes what it taking place in western societies and has moved to protect its own faithful from the spiritual harm of this anti democratic movement that seeks to impose itself on everyone else. Russian Church officials have denounced this movement.

This is at least one reason why the Russian Church is being looked upon for leadership by the whole of the Orthodox world. As the Ukrainian Church crisis continues, the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its exarchs continue doing things that scandalize the Orthodox world. The Russian Church has done absolutely nothing to deprive the Ecumenical Patriarch of his position as “first among equals”. His all holiness is disavowing the traditional honor bestowed on his ecclesiastical office all by himself.

Categories
Letters

Letter To Senator Regarding Armenia, Greece, and Cyprus

Senator Warren and/or members of her staff,


My name is Theodore G. Karakostas and I am writing to express my outrage at the silence from the world toward the aggressive and expansionist designs of Azerbaijan (with the backing of Turkey) which occupies the Armenian town of Susha. All the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Armenia. Azerbaijan and Turkey are aggressive and expansionist promoters of terrorism and genocide. 


The United States should seek to punish Azerbaijan and to demand a withdrawal of every inch of territory that it has seized in the Armenian territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. Furthermore, Turkey should be punished for supporting Azerbaijan and the various other acts of aggressions and provocations it engages in which include threats to Greece and Cyprus. Turkey has demanded the demilitarization of the Greek islands whichare off the coast of Asia Minor. 


Greece does not dare demilitarize the islands because it would leave them and their Hellenic populations to the mercy of the murderous and genocidal Turkish military. The likelihood of a Greek-Turkish war increases with the passage of time as statements and threats made by Turkish officials become more brazen and more irrational. The world has a problem with a country that is a member of NATO and a fake “ally” of the United States. 


Before the United States tries to lecture other countries, perhaps it could begin the process of defanging Turkey, a country that it has appeased for over a century. Turkey and its ally in Azerbaijan are major violators of human rights. As of this writing, the government of Azerbaijan is preparing a sham trial of fourteen Armenian prisoners of war. Azerbaijan must be condemned for its human rights violations and must be pressured to return the land that it has seized from Armenia. 


Likewise, Turkey must be pressured to withdraw all troops from the occupied territories of Cyprus. Cyprus has been occupied since 1974 and now Turkey must be held responsible for the crimes it has committed in that land. American claims of democracy, international law, and human rights cannot be taken seriously until Turkey and Azerbaijan are forced to reverse their acts of aggression and crimes against humanity.

Theodore G. Karakostas 

Categories
Analysis

Which Political Party For Greece And Cyprus?

Recently, I have been involved in discussions surrounding American political parties and Greek issues. It remains my position based on historical and political factors that Greece and Cyprus were better off in the long term under the Trump administration. Trump is not necessarily a Republican.

Historically, both the Republicans and the Democrats have been staunchly pro Turkish because ultimately the foreign policy apparatus dictates to the administrations of both parties what the policies toward Greece and Turkey should be. For example, the Eisenhower administration did nothing to punish Turkey in the aftermath of the anti Greek pogroms of 1955. In fact, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles threatened to cut off aid to Greece if Athens did not back down.

It is also true that the Nixon administration and notorious Secretary of State Henry Kissinger instigated the invasion of Cyprus in 1974. In 2004, the Bush-Cheney administration attempted to pressure Cyprus into accepting the Annan Plan. There we have the record of the Republicans.

With regard to the Democrats. In 1965, the Johnson administration attempted to pressure the Greek government into signing an agreement that would have forced Cyprus to keep a Turkish base on the island and would have forced Greece to cede the island of Castellorizo to the Turks.

In 1978, the Carter administration lifted the Congressional Arms embargo on Turkey that Congress had imposed in 1974. In 1992, Presidential Candidate Bill Clinton promised not recognize the country of FYROM as Macedonia. In early 1994, he broke that promise. On January 31, 1996 Undersecretary of State Richard Holbrooke pressured Greece to withdraw from the islet of Imia that maps showed were part of Greece.

Furthermore, in August 1996 the Turks murdered Solomos Solomou and Tasos Isaac in Cyprus and the Clinton administration did nothing to punish Turkey. Therefore, the idea that the Democrats are pro Greek is pure myth. Democrats make promises to the Greeks that they always break.

President Donald Trump was far from perfect in terms of policies toward Greece and Turkey. However, the America first policies that the former President championed were preferable for Greece because the former President was opposed to further American participation in foreign wars. Trump differed from both Democratic and Republican Presidents because he did not believe in the propaganda that all American Presidents traditionally believe in.

Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden all believe in the myth that America has a mission to spread democracy around the world. The gullibility of the average President has been destructive in terms of the wars it has unleashed. No better example of an ignorant President duped by the foreign policy establishment exists than George W. Bush.

As long as American policymakers are looking to wage more wars, Turkey will increase in strategic importance to the United States. Now the new Democratic administration has made Russia into an enemy. This will inevitably lead to greater American dependence on Turkey.

American pro Turkish policies during the twentieth century were preceded by the pro Ottoman policies of the British Empire during the nineteenth century. Untangling this long entrenched policy may take some time. President Donald Trump’s policies were a start to undoing the historic pro Turkish policies of the west.

To begin with, Trump was pro Russian. It is of extreme importance for Greece and Cyprus that the anti Russian hysteria ends. An America reconciled with Russia will decrease dependence on Turkey. Now, Donald Trump did not campaign in 2016 on a pro Greek plat form. But, his policies were beneficial because his administration unlike virtually all previous administration going back sixty years did not pressure or bully Greece into making concessions to Turkey in any form.

For example, during the summer of 2020 Turkey sent ships to drill for oil near Greek islands. On at least two occasions, Athens successfully chased the Turks away. The New York Times ran an editorial slamming the Trump administration and compared this administration unfavorably to the Clinton administrations mediation during the Imia affair of January 31, 1996.

The Times ignores the fact the Imia “settlement” was reached to the disadvantage of Greece which was pressured to give up an islet that was Greek. For the interests of Greece, the lack of intervention on the part of the Trump administration was to the benefit of Greece as the Greeks were not compelled to renounce their own territorial rights and continue to fight to this day to counter Turkish aggression.

Another way in which the Trump administration was helpful to Greece was in pursuing detente with Russia. In 2015, under the Obama administration Turkey shot down a Russian plane. One has to wonder what would have happened under President Donald Trump? Would the pro Russian Trump sought to protect Turkey or would he with his America first policy have stayed on the sidelines and permitted the Russians to punish Turkey?

As of this writing, the Putin-Biden summit has ended. Some reports indicate that President Biden moderated his stance toward Russia and perhaps will work with the Russians for better relations. Such a stance would be most welcome. If Moscow does not have to fear NATO encroachments on its borders then perhaps the Russians will not be compelled to support Turkey?

Russian and Turkish interests are not compatible. The Russians have admittedly disappointed the Greeks up to now, and they did not support the Armenians after the aggressive war instigated by Azerbaijan. Armenia, Greece, and Cyprus face existential threats and a cold war between Washington and Moscow will put them in greater danger if the two great powers end up competing for Turkey’s support.

The future of Greece and Cyprus should not depend on the support of politicians of either party. Politicians will say whatever they need to get money and votes from the Greek community. The key to getting support for Greece and Cyprus lies with getting support from the foreign policy establishment, and that will be extremely difficult.

What Greece needed was an updated version of the Megali Idea. A political ideology based on the defense of all Greek and Cypriot territory. Greece has failed to exploit the Erdogan government’s collaboration with ISIS and its emergence as the future center of the next Caliphate. The problems that Greece and Cyprus face are immense and will not be solved by participation in mere partisan politics and loyalty to one or another political party.

There is a great deal of thinking to do in how to dislodge the ongoing western support for Turkey. One step is for Greeks to support the anti war movement that has taken hold in the Republican Party. War means being pro Turkish. Anti war means reform of traditional foreign policy.

While there are no guarantees as to what anti war politics would do for Greece and Cyprus, it would likely be better than the ongoing warmongering policies pursued by both the Democrats and the neocon controlled Republican Party in the past.

Categories
political

Biden’s War On Women And Motherhood

In a new budget proposal, the Biden administration has proceeded to eradicate the use of the term “mothers” and has replaced it with the term “birthing people”. This is indicative of the extent to which the Democratic Party has been completely taken over by the transgender lobby. Lunatic left wing organizations such as Planned Parenthood have praised the Biden administration since they believe that “cisgendered” women alone do not give birth.

Those of us who live in reality understand that if a person is capable of giving birth then that person is a woman. Women who give birth are mothers. The trans movement is now declaring war on language in order to make words conform to their delusional beliefs.

Joe Biden is proving to be an utterly contemptible President. It is disgraceful that this man is taking the lunatic views of the most extreme elements of the political left and attempting to shove them down the throats of the American people. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are waging war against biological reality, as well as biblical truth.

There are problems with some aspects of the Republican Party agenda, but the fact of the matter is the Democrats are dangerous because they are taking the far out beliefs of the trans activists who make up less than one percent of the population in America and are forcing them on the rest of us. This is not going to stop anytime soon.

In 2008, news media reported on the infamous “pregnant man”. This was a woman who “transitioned” into a man and became pregnant. In 2015, Time Magazine ran an article written by a woman about her “pregnant brother”. This was the point of no return. Normal thinking people would have realized that people who get pregnant are women.

The ideologues on the left however decided that the ability to get pregnant and give birth matters not if a woman decides she is really a man. This is the most extreme form of narcissism. When the President took office in January he signed the “equality act” which will permit boys to play in girls sports and to use girls locker rooms, restrooms, and showers.

For reasons of morality, propriety, and safety male and female students have traditionally used separate locker rooms and restrooms. Joe Biden and the Democrats have made it clear they have no use for traditional morality of any kind. The administration has declared war on Christian faith and morality.

From my standpoint as a Greek Orthodox Christian, voting for the Democratic Party at this time completely contradicts Christian morality and faith. At worst, if I as a Greek Orthodox Christian had voted Democratic, I would have served as an enabler to the future persecution of Christianity in America. The Trans movement has no tolerance or patience for anyone who disagrees with its war on women and motherhood. The Biden administration is firmly committed to this lunatic movement.

Christians and other normal people of different faiths must refuse to use the terminology that the Biden administration is attempting to impose on the whole of American society. There must be a point in which the madness ceases. The starting point for Christians in America who are interested in addressing this lunacy is to recognize that social activists who control the Democratic Party are the pagans and idolaters of the present era.

Categories
books

A Byzantine Church Remembered

Book Review

The Holy Apostles

A Lost Monument, a Forgotten Project, and the Presentness of the Past.

Margaret Mullett and Robert G. Ousterhout, Editors

Dumberton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

2020.

“The Holy Apostles” is an excellent volume of essays published by scholars focusing on the long destroyed Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. During the centuries of the Byzantine Empire, the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople contained the relics of Apostles, Saints, and Christian Emperors including Constantine and Justinian. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it became for an extremely brief period the Patriarchal Cathedral.

Patriarch Gennadios was permitted to use the Church following the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. The Patriarch subsequently decided to abandon the Church and to move the Patriarchate elsewhere. Large numbers of unfriendly Turkish settlers were moving into the area and there was a body found on the premises which was perceived as a threat. Furthermore, the Patriarchate did not have the funds necessary to maintain and preserve the Church.

Tragically, the Church was destroyed and converted into a Mosque. The Fatih Camii Mosque presently stands on the ruins of the long lost Church. Fortunately, the Church of the Holy Apostles survives in the memory of historians and scholars who have contributed time and effort into examining the Church.

There are excellent and informative essays by scholars who recount the history of the Church and the relevance of the Apostles of Christ (for whom the Church was named) in the theology of the fathers of the Church. Scholars have taken the time to study historic descriptions of the Church and have attempted to give us an idea of what the Church of the Holy Apostles looked like. They have done so by visiting and photographing existing Churches which resemble the descriptions of the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Photographs are produced of the still standing Church of Saint Irene in Constantinople and other Churches that may bear a resemblance to the Church of the Holy Apostles. This text is really an excellent effort undertaken to study the Church of the Holy Apostles. It is very informative and it is good to see that one of the most important Churches in the history of Constantinople has not been forgotten.

At the present time, the condition of Hagia Sophia is steadily worsening. One day, scholars may be working on a project about Hagia Sophia. With Hagia Sophia, there are at least photographs and videos that can be studied to teach future generations of the beauty and splendor of Hagia Sophia.

History never really ends. Five and a half centuries ago, Sultan Mehmet II demolished the Church of the Holy Apostles. Today, President Erdogan of Turkey presides over the ruination of Hagia Sophia.