Obama's only "Dear Friend" Abroad

 Today President Nicholas Sarkozy picked the sort of Washington D.C exacta that tourists dream of:  a half-smoke for lunch at the iconic Ben's Chili Bowl and with dinner with the Obama's in the Presidential Quarter's in the White House 

While the relationship between the two men has certainly cooled since both men's presidency's were being described as "historic" (Sarkozy's parents were Polish immigrants and the first such President of France). Like it or not "Sarko" or "Le Americaine" if you prefer is Obama's only best friend abroad.

Compare: Obama's relationship  with Gordon Brown has a times been curt. His relatively close to Mubarak but this may prove a liability, distant with the Saudis, impatient with the Japanese over military bases, tough on Netanyahu over settlements, not tough enough on Karzai , at times neutral with Erdogan, mysterious with Merkel. Through it all Sarko has been faithful but after him whose Barrak's next closest friend Berlusconi? You know this guy.

Of course my favorite moment in the Obama-Sarko relationship was when Christine Amanpour, dropped a bomb on Sarkozy during a media sesson.

Ex-General implies that Gay Dutch soldiers responsible for Srebrenica

My only response is to quote the great conservative thinker Barry Goldwater on the topic of gays in the military "you don't need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight. "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/19/gay-dutch-soldiers-srebrenica

Kicking off Young America/Young Turkey at Logan's Tavern

So the first meeting of the Istanbul Policy Center  and Atlantic Council's Young Turkey/Young America
program

Occurred at that venerable center of power in D.C the well-heeled watering hole
In this case the bar in question was Logan Tavern where we were wined-and-dined(as opposed to Turkey where I assume I will be Turkish Coffee-and-dined) on the Atlantic Council’s dime.

After a few horus of pleasantries we broke into disscussion about the presseing issue in American-Turkish relationship? Energy? Iraq? Iran? Afpak? The Eu? Ofcourse not! the most pressing issue in U.S -Turkish relations in March 2010 are the events of 1915, The Armenian Genocide.

 A horrible crime that took place long before myself, my parents or any of the senators who voted on the issue in the Senate Committe of Foregin Relations were born.

I asked my Turkish colleagues why does Modern Turkey feeel the need to wallow in the Ottoman Empire? Wouldn't it be easier to just accept the Genocide as the crime of a elite clique of Turkish nationalists bent on hijacking the compartive tolerance of the Ottoman Empire in the name of Turkish nationalism?

Oncur Sen responded that in this part of the world Greece, Turkey, Armenia insults are not forgotten so easily.

For this reason the Armenian Genocide resolution in the Senate recived live television coverage in Turkey. Fulya Ozerkan  a reporter with the Turkish Hurriyet(Freedom) newspaper told us that the paper didn’t go to bed until the vote was finished. The issue was huge in Turkey.

The Americans at my table were quick to point out that in the U.S know one really followed it the BBC was the first to break the story.

“You say Turkey in the United States and most people will think of some fond Thanksgiving memory” I told my colleagues. A frank comment that drew laughs from both the Americans and Turks.

A World of Hurt

http://collegetimes.us/oscar-predictions-2010-the-david-v-goliath-story/

My former MUN teammate John Wie is all about the movies these days. Writing from London where he is attending the prestigious London School of Economics, Wie picked the Hurt Locker to nab the Oscar for best picture. Though his personal favorite was "Up In the Air"

At first I was all about the Hurt Locker. A decent, small budget Middle East picture with some Arabic language dialogue. ("Imshi, Imshi!" the soldier yells while hurling a water at a boy in a car). Plus, the movie was filmed in some of the same areas I used to roam through in Amman! My friends joked you could See Reem Shwarma in the background!

  My first grumblings about the picture came when I read and interview where it was claimed that the film was filmed "Miles from the Iraqi Border."  The border is actually few hours away. Living in Amman one could get confused there are road signs for Iraq where everywhere but, Amman is still 500 miles from Bagdhad. I decided to let that one side. 

Then I read in the Los Angeles Times accusations that the makers of the Hurt Locker decided to create an "angry crowd" scene by driving a Humvee into a Palestinan refugee Camp. Other allegations emerged that the story was lifted

More on the Armenian votes

Since most people might prefer that historical issues be left to historians and that government stay out of such issues here is a BBC debate between two Historians on the issue.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7042209.stm

Guenter Lewy cites in his rebuttal Bernard Lewis who is a true Dragoman in the linguistic sense of the word and a former advisor to the W. Bush White House. As was pointed out in a graduate school disscussion, Bernard Lewis is one of those academics who initially referred to the events of 1915 in his 1961 book The Emergence of Modern Turkey as a "terrible holocaust." Subsequently  changed his mind conveniently around this time he started to recieve assistance and better archival access from Turkish sources so I hear. Coincidence I'm sure.


I have a good friend who is at present in Armenia so I'm waiting to here from her on the Armenian reaction to today's vote.

Armenian Deja Vu All Over Again: US Congress plays Historian once again

American Coverage
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/03/turkey-recalls-envoy-after-house-vote-on-armenian-genocide/1

Turkish Coverage
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=same-genocide-movie-playing-in-theaters-again-2010-03-0


The U.S Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution today on the events of 1915. The strongly worded resolution among other things commanded that the President of the United States (POTUS) refer to the events of 1915 as a "genocide." The vote was razor close (23-22).

Current President Barrack Obama used the term "genocide" as recently as January 2008. Since assuming office Obama, like Bush and Clinton has avoided using the term. The vote is likely to spark more anti-Americanism in Turkey where opinions of the U.S are already quite low.

The vote is a replay of the events of 2007 when a similar resolution was passed in committee and never made it to the floor. Turkey recalled its ambassador immediately after the vote. The passing of this resolution is serious set-back for U.S-Turkey relations. Clearly the high-water mark in U.S Turkish relations was the 1991 Gulf War when both nations worked together against Saddam. Following these events, Turkish-American relations were in a long decline before the events of today.

The Committee vote will despite being in the "Foreign " Relations committee has far more to do with domestic concerns than foreign ones. The vote will set up a further round of competition between the powerful lobby of Armenian-Americans who are well organized vs. a far less well organized group of Big Defense interests who have ties to Turkey.

Either way the timing could not have been worse for the U.S and the risk involved is high.

Gullah has Arabic loanwords?

I have stated that I want to include some discussion of linguistics in this blog and her is the first of such discussions: a look at the Arabic influence on Gullah

Gullah or Geeche is a creole language spoken by around 250,000 African Americans in the offshore islands in South Carolina and Georgia. Famous Americans with Gullah roots include Michelle Obama, Jim Brown, and Joe Frazier. In 2005, the Gullah community completed at 20 year work on a translation of the Bible.

A 1949 research article by Professor Lorenzeo Dow Turner recorded several words with Arabic roots and many more from Western African languages like Wolof and Bambara. Here is a list of some Arabic words in classical Gullah.

Sali: "To pray" from the Arabic Salat
Saraka: a traditional offering from the Arabic Sadaka
Anebi: "Prophet" From the Arabic Nabi for prophet
Alama: The Arabic word for "A sign" is exactly the same: علامة
Araba: "Wednesday" from the Arabic word for the number four
Alansaro: From the Arabic Al Asr "the three o'clock prayer time."
Al-Kama: "Wheat or grain" Al Kama is the Arabic word for Wheat: القمح
Alura:  The Arabic word for needle is "لسع"  Something completely different
 so I'm not sure what the origin could be for this word.

However, the language has change signifigantly since 1949.  Many of these Arabic words have disappeared. For example, Gullah speakers have borrowed the English word "God" and no longer use "Ala" from Arabic as Lorenzo reported. A review of the 2005 Gullah Bible will clearly show this transition.

 Gullah also have many words which have been loaned into American English such as "juju" for an evil thig or witchcraft. I recall in High School a friend referring to a Snapple I was drinking as "Bad juju." Other examples include "jukebox" which has roots in a Wolof word. Mojo is another word in English of possible Gullah origin.

Gullah may also be the origin of the English verb "to tote" as in "to carry" according to this  Los Angeles Times article. Though others hold the verb "to tote" may also be of Swahili origins, another language heavily influenced by Arabic. Interestingly Swahili like classical Gullah uses the word "Nabi" for prophet as well. Though the two languages have no common lineage.