Astarjian: A Second Xoybun?

In the present turmoil in the Middle East—characterized by massive political upheaval, renewed genocidal military operations, threat of nuclear proliferation, and massive population shifts—the Kurdish Cause occupies a central position of concern to the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and of course us, the Armenians.
The issue is not new; the Kurdish struggle to [...]

Astarjian: Trick or Treat? An Historic Halloween!

It is a historic political Halloween!

It was disappointing, all right: How a nation that has suffered so much by the hands of Europe and the Nazis, that lost six million of its children to the Holocaust, could be so callous as to deny the Armenian Genocide in order to serve its disingenuous policies.

This year a [...]

Astarjian: The Armenian Phoenix

Seldom in history have so many conglomerated opportunities mandated action in such a short time, on such a wide span of geography, to revive such a major cause related to nationhood, statehood, independence, and sovereignty.

The major question is whether we have leaders who have guts, vision, lucidity, and dedication, and are capable of handling the [...]

Astarjian: Our Muslim Brothers

Even after 65 years I can almost feel it: the backhanded slap my father unleashed on me for expressing an opinion that was as sinful as condoning adultery. It hurt, and I carried its psychological scars until very recently. That was not the norm for my father’s authority; I had the utmost freedom to talk [...]

Astarjian: National Inventory and a Roadmap

At the cost of saying I said so, I reiterate my belief that we Armenians, individually and as a nation, are on the wrong track politically, strategically, and tactically to reaching our national goals. We have been so for several decades now!
The idea of exposing Turks and Turkey to the world for the crime of [...]

Astarjian: Tales of Winter (Part II)

I had to stay home. A Nor-Easter had paralyzed Boston except for emergency services; the governor had ordered it so. Billy had plowed some 14 inches of snow from my driveway only an hour before, yet there were two inches on the ground masking the black macadam, blocking passage or making it hazardous to pass [...]

Astarjian: A Geopolitical Trisomy

A tripartite genetic chromosomal derangement otherwise known as Down Syndrome accurately describes the geopolitical entities at play in the Armenian reality today. Armenia, Turkey, and the Armenian Diaspora, separately and in combination, have occupied the political position of Chromosome 21 in the geopolitical cell forming the Trisomy. Their policies are characterized by ineptitude, incompetence, political [...]

Astarjian: Akhtamar: Wrong Church, Wrong Pew!

Once again Turkey is yanking our chain! Once again they have us, the hounds, chasing the plastic rabbit in a dog race—this time, in the form of a church in Akhtamar.
Turkey, in a shrewd move, has allowed an Armenian pilgrimage to the ancient monastery to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. The centuries-old Sourp Khatch Church built [...]

Astarjian: A Broken Compass

Poverty of thought, one manifestation of Alzheimer’s, characterizes the Armenian nation; today we are suffering from it and from global dysfunction of our collective higher mental faculties.
We have lost our orientation to self, time, and place, and we have lost our ability to calculate, deliberate, judge, exercise logic, foresee, and prepare for the future. We [...]

Astarjian: Double Helix Hillary

Both spiral, interwoven, creating conflict; one helix appears to be real and good, the other real but sinister, victimizing Hillary Clinton in the hands of the State Department reactionaries who set the direction of our foreign policies. I feel sorry for her!
This is how Hillary, our Secretary of State, appeared on her most recent visit [...]