U.S. Diplomatic nominee refuses to call Armenian killings genocide

Appeasing Turkey - but maybe the US might find that this is too big an ego to stroke - as the Turkish are very much geared towards Empire - and this oil game is almost over.

It will be difficult to force the people to remain on oil in the future - there are just so many factors working against oil at the moment - which are not likely to let up any time soon - 1) access to information - people can readily access information - that means information is no longer controlled by the few commercial or corporate outlets; 2) The high cost of energy trapping the oil lobby in a position that doesn't allow it to exert its power over the alternative market; 3) the alternatives once installed and the initial expense is covered - means that the energy thereafter is essentially free. 4) Security we are funding those who wish - even with the greatest degree of respect - i.e. with no ill intent - wish to see the western way of life over taken by an Islamic one - and they are paying an awful lot of money to achieve this - Islamization.

The deck is stacked against Turkey's importance in relation to energy - in the long term - for this reason there is no real incentive for Europe to appease Turkey in this way - and fair is fair – if Turkey wishes to join Europe as it states - if Germany admitted its crimes then the Turkish should do so as well. It is doubtful that Turkey will get in without admitting this.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. diplomat nominated to be ambassador to Armenia came under intense questioning Thursday at her confirmation hearing over the U.S. policy not to label as genocide the World War I-era killings of huge numbers of Armenians.

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, who blocked the Bush administration's previous nominee over the issue, told The Associated Press that he had not decided whether also to block career diplomat Marie Yovanovitch.

Menendez questioned Yovanovitch in prosecutorial style during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the facts surrounding the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Yovanovitch, current ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic, explained administration policy, but would not comment whether she believed genocide had occurred.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

"It is a shame that career foreign service officers have to be brought before the committee and find difficulty in acknowledging historical facts," Menendez said. "It is a ridiculous dance that the administration is doing over the use of the term genocide."

The administration has warned that even a congressional debate on the genocide question could damage relations with Turkey, a moderate Muslim nation that is a NATO member and an important strategic ally.

In August, the White House withdrew its nomination of career diplomat Richard Hoagland after Menendez held up his confirmation through a Senate procedure.

Hoagland's predecessor, John Evans, reportedly had his tour of duty in Armenia cut short by the administration because, in a social setting, he referred to the killings as genocide.

Source: Foxs News