Things Armenian

The Corner reminds us that this is the 88th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. FrontPage magazine provides the best description of the circumstances of the Genocide that I have seen. Of course, growing up in Fresno, I am not unfamiliar with the Genocide, but I had always attributed it to the dying spasms of the Ottoman Empire. The Front Page article makes it clear that the Young Turks were firmly involved, which makes the Jihadist tone of the Genocide somewhat odd.

The reference to the Armenian Genocide, and something else, put in me in a reflective state of mind, so I googled my old High School debate partner who was moving into the radical world of ethnic politics last time I saw him. Apparently, he is still there. He appears to be the author of a book entitled, Amazon.com: Books: "Gha-Ra-Bagh": The Emergence of the National Democratic Movement in Armenia, which is described in one of the Amazon reviews as "a dangerous book" and "full of hatred and false information." Way to go, Mark. [To be fair, other reviews describe the book as fair and objective.]

On the same note, this weekend I saw a review of Bloodvine by Aris Janigian. Aris was one year behind me in High School. I probably will get Aris's book which I am sure captures the unique colors of the Valley Armenian culture. I will probably never get Mark's book, which probably is a thoroughly partisan project of interest only to those with a desire to know the "inside game" of historical grievances. The funny thing is that when we Juniors in High School, Mark was supposed to be the lawyer and I was supposed to be the bitter ethnic partisan.