Many unanswered questions remain in the wake of the barbaric Boston Marathon bombings last week.
In the absence of established facts, it is difficult to reach an informed conclusion and find a motive for the murderous actions of the Tsarnaev brothers—Tamerlan, 26, and Dzhokhar, 19. It is interesting to note that Tamerlan carries the name of a vicious 14th-century Turkic warlord who razed entire cities to the ground and butchered millions of innocent people.
Instead of jumping to unwarranted conclusions and making generalizations about Chechens, Muslims, and the Tsarnaev family, some probing questions are in order:
— Back in 2011, when the Russian intelligence services asked the FBI to investigate Tamerlan’s radical Islamist ties and plans to join underground groups, how thoroughly did the FBI carry out this task? If the FBI agents did a thorough job and found nothing sinister, why did they not follow up a few months later when Tamerlan returned to the U.S. in 2012, having spent six months in the troubled Russian republics of Chechnya and Dagestan? And why did U.S. law enforcement agencies fail to investigate the jihadist videos and links to radical Islamist websites found on Tamerlan’s computer?
— If the Russian tip was not seriously pursued by U.S. officials, was their decision based on political considerations or a proper assessment of the risk of terrorism? Since Chechen insurgents were fighting Russia for independence, did U.S. officials prefer not to meddle in an internal Russian conflict? Did the U.S. view Chechen “terrorists” as “freedom fighters,” concluding that they represented no threat to the United States? More significantly, what role did the anti-Russian stance of influential neo-conservative American circles play in assessing the warnings on Tamerlan?
— Did the Russian intelligence services thoroughly investigate Tamerlan when he fell in their lap while visiting Dagestan and Chechnya for six months, particularly if they were dissatisfied with the FBI’s lukewarm response to their earlier request?
— Would this terrorist act killing 4 Americans and injuring close to 200 now prompt U.S. intelligence agencies to cooperate more fully with their Russian counterparts to jointly combat terrorism regardless of international political concerns?
— Will the U.S. investigate the 10-day visit to Turkey in July 2003 by Tamerlan and three of his family members, as disclosed by Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler? What was the purpose of the Tsarnaevs’ visit to Turkey and who were their contacts?
Turning to Ruslan Tsarni, the talkative uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers, who made controversial and contradictory comments disseminated worldwide by CNN, NBC, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Time magazine, among others. Uncle Tsarni accused an unnamed Armenian convert to Islam from Cambridge, Mass., for radicalizing Tamerlan!
Tsarni, a Maryland resident, told NBC Today that one of his Armenian acquaintances informed him about an “outside influence” on Tamerlan: “He [the acquaintance] said, there is someone who brainwashed him [Tamerlan], some newly convert to Islam. I would like to stress [the acquaintance] was of Armenian descent.”
However, Uncle Tsarni, gave CNN a completely different explanation for the despicable actions of his nephews. He had accused them of being “losers,” claiming that they had brought shame on their family and the Chechen people. But, he later told NBC Today that he had called his nephews “losers” out of anger, and that he was now sure their crime had nothing to do with Russia or Chechnya. Tsarni also contradicted himself on CNN by claiming that the person who had “brainwashed” Tamerlan was the “new convert to Islam of Armenian descent,” not the acquaintance!
The question is, who is Tsarni and why is he accusing an Armenian? A cursory internet search reveals that he has had direct ties to western energy companies involved in the Caspian region. He has worked for Big Sky Energy, Golden Eagle Partners, and Nelson Resources Ltd., all three with direct investments in Caspian Sea energy projects. Could Tsarni’s ties to these energy companies explain his accusation against an Armenian?
Finally, why hasn’t a single Armenian organization or official complained to the news media about their dissemination of Tsarni’s baseless and libelous statements, accusing an Armenian for radicalizing Tamerlan? A similar situation occurred years ago, when an Australian newspaper, the Canberra Times, reported, “Pope Shot by Armenian Gunman.” In reality, Pope John Paul II was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk!
It is high time that Armenians organize an anti-defamation organization that vigorously pursues all those who libel and defame them around the world.
Harut Sassounian
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Our community deserves a fair and complete picture of the actions of those who represent our views and values in the civic arena.
The fact is, as was broadly circulated in real-time on Facebook and Twitter, as soon as the “uncle” story broke, the ANCA set up media@anca.org to crowd-source misleading coverage and, over the course of the next 48 hours, responded directly, quietly, and comprehensively to each and every of the hundreds of instances of unconfirmed reports of an Armenian connection to the Boston bombers. We enlisted many friendly media-watchdogs, Armenian and non-Armenian in this effort. Without public declarations and denials that a team of media professionals advised us would likely only have added fuel to the media fire, we worked non-stop through the weekend to provide relevant facts, challenge poor reporting, and call on journalists to live up to their professional standards.
The results from such efforts, by the ANCA and others, include a public admission, on April 20th, from a top CNN producer, Steve Krakauer, that his network “obviously” doesn’t know if the accusation is true. This admission was then circulated up and down the media food chain. Today, more than 48 hours after the fact, we can see, for a number of reasons – including third-party interventions – that the mainstream media has not recycled this unsubstantiated allegation into its ongoing coverage.
If other sources step forward to corroborate this allegation, we will deal with the constructively with the situation as it develops.
Yahoo News has posted an article with reference to the radicalizer, “Misha,” as being an Armenian convert to Islam. Also while CNN’s anchors haven’t brought up the mysterious radical being an Armenian, they sometimes replay the interview, or clips of the interview where the Uncle mentions that the person was an armenian
http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-suspect-influenced-mysterious-radical-202945456–politics.html
Aram, good work however John Kerry thought the same thing when he “quietly ignored the Swift Boat accusations” that were mostly all false. Lets not underestimate our enemies. Jews wouldn’t keep quiet. Collectively we should call CNN and speak of our displeasure.
here’s a video of him saying it
http://www.today.com/news/uncle-mentors-radicalized-older-boston-bombing-suspect-6C9529666
Thank you for addressing this. I have been wondering why the Uncle would state something like that. The context and language of the accusation struck me as strange. Why would he “like to stress”, that the individual was of Armenian descent? I have a funny feeling that this story has a lot more to it then we will ever know! Your idea for an anti-defamation organization is brilliant; consider me a member!
I had the same reaction and questions when watching this uncle. Seemed over-determined to implicate an Armenian. Sketchy….
I think his comment is currently not receiving any traction. It might not be worth making noise about it. I did not see it on places such as boston.com and NPR. But it would be wise to be prepared to address it, if it comes up again.
As for the Pope assassin, this is the first I’m hearing about the “Armenian” thing. Everyone today knows that the assassin was a Turk. The wiki pages make no mention of this.
So I think this is not a major issue, for now. We don’t even know if such a person exists.
Also, if he or his family knew about such a radicalized mentor, why didn’t they say anything before the bombings?
Just after I posted this, I started seeing news articles about this Armenian convert. Apparently his name is Misha.
Chris where is the evidence for such an outrageous claim?
It seems to me those defeated terrorist Chechens who fought against Armenian forces during NKR war still hate Armenians like their Muslim Axeri brothers, like Tsarnaev brothers uncle…I wonder how much he get paid by Axeri Sultan, who indirectly support terrorist activities with his oil wealth!!
It is very obvious that the uncle was in contact,not with an acquaintance, but Turkish officials,forever eager to tarnish the name of the Armenins,and given a fat paycheck to make such false declarations, right before the Armenian Genocide Commemoration. I think he should be sued for that.
In my opinion, he was in contact with Turkish officials to make such accusations, to tarnish the name of Armenians, just before the Genocide Commemorations.
“It is high time that Armenians organize an anti-defamation organization that vigorously pursues all those who libel and defame them around the world.”
That says it all.
What are we waiting for?
Is there a way to take this guy to the court.
I’d add the following question to the otherwise excellent list from the author. US law enforcement agencies obtained pictures of the suspects on the next day after this horrendous act. They published these pictures three days later, on Thursday, with a plea to the public to identify perpetrators. Assuming as later reported by the Washington Post the face recognition software failed to identify them, there is still a question about FBI agents’ failure to recognize at least one of the brothers given that in 2011 they had interviewed Tamerlan Tsaraev.
Unfortunately, CNN has recirculated this allegation. It is currently stated again in CNNs lead story. Here is the quote from the uncle:
“I said, ‘Listen, do you know what is going on with that family? With my brother’s family?’ Then he says … there is a person, some new convert into Islam of Armenian descent,” Tsarni told CNN’s Shannon Travis. “Armenians, I have no intention to say anything about Armenians. It’s a neighboring region with North Caucasus,” the same area where the Tsarnaev family also hails from.
Most readers unfamiliar with the region and Armenia will assume from this that Armenia resembles Chechnya
I had the displeasure of stopping by CNN while flipping through the channels, and came across Wolf Blitzer interviewing Juliette Kayyem, and now convinced who and what he is. If the story came out as “a Jewish convert” not a single word would be uttered about it by Blitzer or on the so-called “mainstream media”. And this clown on CNN was salivating over “an Armenian named Misha”, and kept repeating it over and over again trying to interview Kayyem, even as she tried to ignore it as such a ridiculous claim, he came back with something like “shouldn’t this Misha the Armenian be investigated?”, until Kayyem finally said there are a lot of inconsistent stories from their family members. Since Blitzer likes investigations so much, perhaps this “Wolf the Zionist” should also be investigated as an enemy combatant, agent or spy, or something since we all know which country he has his allegiance to, and it isn’t the USA.
While it is not the central focus of Sassounian’s article, it is regrettable that he chose to comment on the assailant’s namesake (Tamerlan, or Tamerlane), as though this had anything whatsoever to do with his actions. Ironically, I know an elderly man in rural Armenia named Temur (a derivative of the same name), whom no one would accuse of having anything to do with Tamerlane. I have also met many a man named Nicholas, Alexander, or Ivan, and have never assumed or implied that any of them were named after one of the Tsars. “In the absence of established facts,” let’s leave given names – chosen for us by our parents – out of otherwise important discussions of these events and their perpetrators.
Let’s not stick our heads in the sand. It has gone viral because of CNN’s greed for sensationalism and lack of investigative standards. CBS.com has already picked it up. Was uncle paid for his performance?
There are simply no brakes on this story now. Time for anti-defamation organizing.
I have no doubt in my mind that this cheap bogus accusation was deliberately leaked into the media by the current US administration on the eve of the Armenian Genocide commemoration.
Amazing how you came to this so-sure conclusion with no facts what so ever.
My initial reaction was that Ruslan threw out this Armenian-Mishato say “look it’s not just Chechens”. In his first interview he was quite upset that people would look at all Chechens based on what these two kids did.
Right now, I don’t know what to think. No one has found this Misha yet. Ruslan could just be making stuff up on his own.
I said: I (personally) had no doubt in my (personal) mind that the establishment were behind this bogus story made public immediately before the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. Facts? Why, what they brainwash us in the media are facts? Only because they were aired? Who knows what that Ruslan Tsarni guy has or hasn’t said in reality. Do you know?
uncle is obviously paid, the timing is obviously intentional and so is the “next to chechnya” wording.
ANCA, please please please look into a defamation claim!!!
…will not be surprised to learn that Azeris are involved in this ridiculous information about Misha character, as a result of their multimillion dollar anti Armenian propaganda machine. Misha will never be found because there may not be a such person. In that case I say… follow the money.
Certainly doesn’t sound like a false accusation at this point.
Ruslan’s story has not been independently confirmed yet.
Is this the same RVDV who advances historicism to the effect that poor Turks—Seljuk and Ottoman—were not violent and barbarous until the mid-19th century. They just became such, by miracle. Don’t we, lay people, know that Turks left a trace in the history of the mankind as peaceful and civilized nation? Peacefully and in a civilized manner invaded Asia Minor from the Central Asian steppes. Peacefully and in a civilized manner scotched the native civilizations. Peacefully and in a civilized manner colonized the native inhabitants, heavily taxed them, made them millets, etc. Peacefully and in a civilized manner expanded their filthy empire onto the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Eastern Europe. Then peacefully and in a civilized manner massacred all of the indigenous Christian civilizations: the Greeks, the Assyrians, and most savagely, the Armenians. Does it sound like a false accusation? I hope it doesn’t. Or does it?
“Is this the same RVDV who advances historicism to the effect that poor Turks—Seljuk and Ottoman—were not violent and barbarous until the mid-19th century”
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No. We were violent and barbarous, frequently. That’s how empires were built throughout history. But we were not racist and intolerant to a genocidal degree until the late-19th and early 20th century, and the seeds of this begun with nationalism and hastening decline of the Ottoman state in the mid-19th century. The events before the 19th century were simply the realities of the harsh, cruel, and often unjust world that existed at the time. But not genocide. And, not, I’m afraid, too different from colonial life under other empires. That’s all I’ve ever tried to convey.
Seljuk and Ottoman Turks were violent and barbarous from the start, i.e. from the time of their nomadic terrorizing invasion into Asia Minor. And that is NOT how empires were built throughout history. A great number of other empires, such as the Roman Empire, the Portuguese Empire, the Dutch Empire, the British Empire, the French Empire, the Russian Empire, etc., also brought civilization and enlightment from the metropolis into the peripheries. Turks, on the other hand, stole many civilizational achievements and traits of other nations, Turkified them, and now portray them as theirs. This is the major difference between the colonial life under the Ottoman Empire and the colonial life under other empires.
Nationalism and hastening decline of the Ottoman Empire in the early-19th century could not be the seeds of Turkish racism and intolerance. Racism and intolerance were there throughout the whole period of existence of the Ottoman Empire. A quick glance at how the colonized native populations have been treated under the Ottomans leaves one with no doubts about their racist and intolerant nature. Government-favored supremacy of the Muslim Turks, communal life restrictions of the Christians and the Jews, restrictions on their religious practices, humiliating denigration to the status of millets, legal and physical defenselessness, unbearable taxation, distinctive clothing requirement, to name the few, were all indicative of racism and intolerance that were present in the Ottoman Empire at all times, not just starting from the early-19th century.
“Seljuk and Ottoman Turks were violent and barbarous from the start, i.e. from the time of their nomadic terrorizing invasion into Asia Minor.”
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Kind of what I already said but…
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“And that is NOT how empires were built throughout history.”
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Really? Empires didn’t expand using warfare? Those empires you mentioned didn’t kill resisting armies and armed factions that didn’t want them on their land?
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“Roman Empire, the Portuguese Empire, the Dutch Empire, the British Empire, the French Empire, the Russian Empire, etc., also brought civilization and enlightment from the metropolis into the peripheries.”
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I don’t know too much about Roman and Russian history so I won’t touch up on them too much here. First, you fail to explain HOW these empires came to be in possession of lands that needed “civilizing” and “enlightenment”? Did the locals welcome them with open arms? Or did they take the lands by force through violence and warfare?
Secondly: Regarding civilization and enlightenment. What exactly do you mean? The “white man’s burden?” Civilizing the savages? Forcing people to convert to Christianity? Stripping the land of it’s natural resources before leaving? Creating a modern environment in which those former colonized lands are entirely dependent of the former colonizers? Putting in charge leaders that murdered, oppressed, and stole from their own people but served the interests of the former colonial powers? Making those lands today little more than cash crop producing hellholes? Sorry pal, no commendation to France, Britain, Portugal, or the Netherlands for NOT committing genocide. That doesn’t make them good people with good histories.
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You may want to google the Millet system. Especially in pre-Tanizmat reform era of the Ottoman empire it was not meant to be a racist system. The drawbacks were meant to be offset by the freedom of religion and tolerance (relatively of course, but still a fair amount of religious freedom). I try to be unbiased as possible on these issues, and I have to say, no professor in any upper level history class I have ever taken on the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire has even hinted at the millet system being anything like what you say. They all more or less repeat what I have just said. Surely all of my American history professors can’t be Turcophiles can they?
RVDV: “We [Turks] were violent and barbarous, frequently. That’s how empires were built throughout history.”
Me: “That is not how empires were built throughout history.” Let me explain. Empires цуre built and maintained either as territorial entities via explicit conquest and control with military force or as hegemonic entities of implicit conquest and control with power. The first type of empires did expand using warfare, no one denies the fact. However, only a few empires—Mongol and Ottoman amongst them—were built and maintained using barbarity (‘barbarity’: Oxford English Dictionary, noun 1: ‘absence of culture and civilization’.) And this is exactly what I meant by ‘civilization’ and ‘enlightment’ that most other empires brought from the metropolis to the peripheries, yes, together with all the warfare and disadvantages of the empires. The civilization and enlightment included:
Education and training
Christian missionary work
Improvements to the land
Introduction of technology
Civil law and order
Culture
Trade
Ending poor traditions (e.g. Sati in India) and modernization
None of the above has been introduced by the Ottoman Turks to the native populations they came to colonize. None! Instead, many of these indigenously local features, such as culture, trade, education, and improvements to the land, have been stolen, Turkified, and then portrayed as genuinely Turkish.
For millet system I don’t have to google it, thanks. My bachelor’s was in the Middle Eastern Studies. If a professor concentrates only on advantages of the millet system avoiding its grave disadvantages, then one may rightfully question his or her academic credentials.
Some blemishes of the Ottoman millet system (list is incomplete):
The superiority of Muslim religion and the unrestricted power of the central authorities over their non-Mislim subjects
Strong preference to Muslims in many sections of government, especially in high office
Muslims had far greater rights and responsibilities than the non-Muslims
Restrictions on the personal freedom of non-Muslims
Marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims were illegal (only a Muslim man could marry a Christian woman)
In court, the testimony of the Muslim was always more trustworthy that that of the non-Muslim
Forced conscription of non-Muslim male children for the Ottoman military or civil service known as Devshirme and their forced conversion to Islam
With rare exceptions, none of the non-Muslims had the right to carry weapons
Repressions against Christian communities by the neighboring Muslims and non-intervention of the government
Non-Muslims were imposed with distinct, often unbearable, levies of money and labor. The Balkan Christians still have the memory of the extraordinary levy imposed by the local Turkish pashas, “the levy of the blunted teeth”. Each household visited by the pasha should provide him and his entourage with food, drinks, accommodation and should pay “the levy of the blunted teeth” to the pasha because his teeth were blunted through the hospitality.
The millet system worked relatively smoothly only for the first century or more of the Ottoman colonization, but later, from the 18th century onward, the system led to tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims and the widespread oppression of the Christians. Once the central authorities lost their control over the periphery, local landlords started to rob, harass, plunder, and abduct their Christian neighbors.
Now you tell me how such system was not racist and intolerant. If you can.
You said the system became oppressive in the 18th century. Ok. I can’t put an exact date as to when it became oppressive but that estimate would seem about correct. I never claimed it was all good all the time.
Also. Under civilization and enlightenment you listed Christianity. Nothing against Christianity, but religion and the word enlightenment don’t really go together.
I just read the accusation today. The entire allegation was quite suspicious. I simply haven’t met an Armenian who practices Islam. The chance of him being named Misha is also quite bizarre. If he was a Muslim, he’d adopt a Muslim name not a Christian Russian one. Lastly, he was described as a guy with a “Red Beard.” Armenians don’t have red beards. The description is more of that of a cartoon. What it does reinforce is that Chechens have paired up with Azeri’s and Turks to defame and denigrate Armenians and Christians. The West is too naive and gullible to figure this out. It has abandoned Christian Armenians at the forefront of the struggle against Islamic fundamentalism, which is demolishing Western societies.
There are Armenians who have converted to Islam. Reported cases involve marriage. There are also the descendents of the genocide who survived by converting to Islam (under duress). And they are slowly starting to assert their Armenian heritage in Turkey. I’ve read one story where on converted back to the Armenian church. There are also the Hamshen. They exist. Few in numbers.
A lot of people have a hard time believing there are Muslim Armenians based on narrow view of our Armenian communities.
I’ve also met red-haired Armenians women, but so far no red-haired Armenian men.
Armenians do, in fact, have reddish and (to a greater extent) bronze-reddish beards. Having red hair is not necessarily prerequisite to having a red beard, as hair and beard color are not always directly correlated. For example, I have brown hair and a blonde beard while several of my relatives have brown hair and red beards, or blonde hair and brown beards. There are, furthermore, several red-headed “pure” Armenians. One only need visit the villages of Armenia to bear witness to this fact. And this isn’t something limited to Eastern Armenia. Western Armenians (particularly those from the Van region) also have light features.
I’m tired of people always thinking that the typical Armenian has to have dark, Middle-Eastern features.
Assuming hypothetically that this ridiculous claim is true…
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Unless you are a BIGOT or a RACIST, I don’t see how the Muslim in question “being an Armenian convert” is anything of value or significance. I agree with above, I suspect this was “leaked” on purpose as a wicked gesture against the Armenians on the genocide commemoration day.
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We are easily protesting Turkish consulates, I believe with irresponsible and despicable acts like these, the AYF should also immediately protest in front of these (false) news companies with huge signs accusing them of bigotry and racism for all the world to see. Then watch how quickly the rats will run back into their holes. Perhaps a tiny irrelevant news outlet won’t be affected, but the likes of CNN can’t afford this kind of negative publicity.
Let’s say this Misha is real and is Armenian, does that mean anything? He would be an individual acting on his own. It would mean nothing to me personally. Anyone who is as radicalized as Ruslan claims Misha is, is an idiot.
The only issue I see is idiots in the media making ignorant comments about Armenians. And this could easily become true because of the Armenian population in Watertown.
The thing is, we don’t yet know if this guy is real or not. So far there has been no conclusive evidence for this person’s existence and him being Armenian. All we have is Ruslan’s assertions. Which also means we can’t conclusively say, yet, this accusation is also false.
RVDV: you say, “Certainly doesn’t sound like a false accusation at this point.” I ask: What element of the story persuades you the most that it may true, that it is not false?
What motive is there to tell a lie about the ethnic origin of the person? I see none, however, if Armenians are paranoid enough to think that even this was a stunt pulled off by Turkey to make Armenians look bad….. Furthermore, let’s just accept it as true. What has it proven about Armenians, a 99.9% Christian people? Nothing Will the Western media focus more on the “Armenian” part or the “radical Muslim” part?
I just find it really curious that a Chechen individual, whose ethnic group easily harbors the most fanatical Muslim tendencies in all of the Caucasus, would need to go around his own kinsmen and discover religious extremism via the Bigfoot that is the “radically-Islamized Armenian-American”.
RVDV: Wait, I think we agree. What is the ‘false accusation’ we are talking about? Please clarify.
Armenians are saying that the whole “Armenian named Misha” thing is a false accusation. All I’m saying is why? Why would someone make up such a lie? I see no purpose in such a slanderous statement, leading me to believe that it may, in fact, be true. The only conspiracy theory I can come up with is that someone or group, took advantage of the uncle, and this situation and took a cheap shot at Armenians on the eve of April 24th. Sure it could be possible, but, would it not be more logical just to believe that there was this person named Misha- a radical Islamist-that helped radicalize these men, and this person just happened to be an Armenian convert to Islam? No one is going to remember this “Misha” (if they exist) for being Armenian, they are going to remember them for being a Muslim extremist. And, also, this one person proves nothing about the group as a whole, especially as the “whole” is overwhelming Christian.
I think Misha is a lie for the following reasons:
1. Armenians from Armenia usually have Armenian names–that is where he said he was from.
2. I’ve never met a Muslim Armenian–they are very rare. If they exist, they exist in Turkey becaue of forced conversions.
3. Reporters asked the muslim centers/mosques and NO ONE heard of him!The uncle said he attended the mosque regularly.
4. The family doesn’t want to accept responsibility for their muderering sons so they are creating scapegoats!
“Armenians from Armenia usually have Armenian names–that is where he said he was from.”
Usually, meaning there are some Armenians who have non-Armenian names, like Hamlet. Sergey for example the name of one of the hosts of http://www.armcomedy.com/
Gergagos about the fake story of Misha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOFZgIBKktQ&feature=youtu.be
This is what Geragos said about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOFZgIBKktQ&feature=youtu.be
I watched the uncle’s angry and unimproved interview he gave last week outside of his residence attacking his terrorist nephews, blaming them and ridiculing them for being unable to adapt to life in their adopted country. Then I watched his interview on Today’s show and could not believe my eyes this was the same man who was ranting about his “loser” terrorist nephews. This guy sounds like someone with multiple-personality disorder who should see a shrink and attend anger management session or he is a con man.
I think what he said on the Today’s show claiming an Armenian convert brainwashed his nephews is total nonsense. On his last week’s angry interview with the reporters he was being truthful because he was put on the spot and he never mentioned anything about an alleged mentor, not to mention the mentor being an Armenian convert. The Armenians, the pioneers and the defenders of Christianity, don’t convert to an anti-Christian militant Islam and then mentor and brainwash Chechens, who participated as paid mercenaries in Artsakh war and against whom the Armenians fought, to harm American marathoners. If there was any truth to this story, the Boston police and the FBI would have been all over this fabricated “Misha” guy already. This is a hoax invented post initial interview by the disingenuous uncle and unknown conspirators.
Unfortunately, in America, under the disguise of freedom of speech and with total disregard for the law people say whatever suits them by pointing fingers at imaginary figures to get their terrorist kin off the death penalty and in attempts to denigrate our people with impunity. This uncle should be investigated for fraud and be punished to the fullest extent of the law for misrepresenting facts and attempting to deceive the American public and the law enforcement officials.
Furthermore, The US government should deny entry into the United States all these “devout” Muslims and deport the ones in the country to Saudi Arabia, the most sacred place for these devout Muslims, to live and practice their faith and lets see how long they will last. These frauds take advantage of opportunities in this country and using the freedom given to them they turn against it. Most of these people are free-loading losers who escape turmoil in the country of their birth to seek refuge in the United States by begging for political asylum and refugee status therefore qualifying for welfare, free education, health care and many other social services. As soon as they establish themselves in the country and are up on their own two feet they show their ugly faces and turn against the very same country that took them in with open arms regardless of their ethnic background and religion.
The same thing is happening in Europe. Unlike the strict Middle Eastern laws, the liberal European laws and their liberal politicians, flood Europe with such refugees, house them, feed them, educate them and the thanks they get is terrorism because they are “devout” Muslims. Many of the very same two-faced “devout” Muslim politicians and community leaders who are the first to come out and speak against these terrorists and distance themselves from their acts, are the same hypocrites who not only encourage but promote nationalism and Islamism among these people in their new country of residence. A prime example of this is when Turkish leaders travel to Germany, home to several million Turkish laborers from the 1950s, and they not only encourage but lecture them that above all else they are Turkish and Muslims first.
correction: I watched the uncle’s angry and UNIMPROVISED interview…
To claim an Armenian convert mentored these Chechen terrorists that caused these attacks is no different from claiming a high-ranking Taliban and Al-Qaeda leader discovered Christ and turned in the Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden to the Americans!
Well said Ararat jan…
Armenian origin of “Misha”, whose last name I also know, doesn’t spot all Armenians, like Chechen (on 1/2) origin of Tsarnaev brothers doesn’t spot all Chechens. For some reasons I can’t say details but I’ve been familiar with Tsarnaev family and know that above-mentioned person is unfortunately real.
Alexander, if have info on this guy, please say so. Besides, the FBI wants to talk to this guy. You’re holding back info from a terrorist investigation.
Why should we believe you?
Bravo Mark Geragos! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOFZgIBKktQ
I love Mark Geragos’ strong defense of Christian Armenia, but it is possible that an Armenian named Misha, a Russian nickname for Mikael, converted to Islam. I don’t know if it is true, but it is possible. If it is true, it means nothing about the rest of us. If he ‘radicalized’ Tamerlan Tsarnaev, it only means that he was as twisted in the head as the Tsarnaev brothers. Unfortunately, every group has it’s out-liers, even Armenians.
To Random Armenian: I gave information to competent structures.
Alexander, can you tell us more here? If not why are you posting here?
Chechens are Islamized Russians, where Ottomans forced them to change their religion.. what Turks implement their ancient civilization, the civilized world will get back,like Turkish delights!!
CNN is reporting that the FBI knows the identity of Misha. They have not revealed who this person is however. We’ll find out at some point.
I’m really displeased with Sassounian and Geragos. They’re overreacting before all the facts are in. FBI has been search for this person and have not made any conclusions yet.
There is however contradiction between what the parents of the suspects have been saying vs the uncle. The uncle is claiming this Misha fellow is an extremist and the mother is saying he’s a nice and good person.
This Misha must have “radicalized” his mother as well. Shes a religious fanatic like her sons.
I don’t find this story so unbelievable. In 1920’s the former officials of the first Armenian Republics had meetigs with the former officials of the other Caucasus republics, including Khosrov Bek Sultanov, the butcher of Artsakh, to unite and develop strategy against the Soviets. When you take the Caucasus people away from Caucasus, they can be quite cooperative with each other.
http://armenia-survival.50megs.com/Survival_Ch_9.htm
Maybe this Armenian was angry at America, Russia, and his own parents, and decided to convert.
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I think we should refrain from knee jerk reactions like “it’s an anti-Armenian conspiracy”, since it does not make us look credible. Just before the 2013 Glendale elections, an Armenian candidate was accused of posting obscene comments (I mean, really vile and disgusting). He claimed a conspiracy, and many in the community jumped on his bandwagon. Later he admitted to lying, making much of the community look stupid:
http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2013-04-19/news/tn-gnp-0421-zareh-sinanyan-admits-racist-remarks-expresses-regret_1_zareh-sinanyan-armenians-council-meetings
There are bad apples in every community, and it does not reflect on all of us. But having a knee-jerk reaction in unison does.
I am sure it makes ‘us’ very credible when one of supposedly ‘us’ claims indigenous Armenians of NKR/Artsakh are, quote, separatists: a denialist term routinely used by AzeriTatarTurks.
And I am also sure it makes ‘us’ very credible when one of supposedly ‘us’ falsely accuses Serj Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan of being, quote, ‘Azerbaijani citizens’.
Vahagn,
I see this attitude a lot. To believe something can’t be possible because the world is so black-and-white.
“No Armenian would convert to Islam, and I’ve never met one”. Seriously have you met all Armenians strewn across the world?
Watching Geragos on CNN, I think the other two guys were a little stunned by the overreaction. In 9 out of 10 articles I’ve read about Misha, I haven’t read anyone say bad things about Armenians as a whole. In fact most mention that Armenians are have been Christian, and even mention the genocide.
Seriously, overreacting is not good. And neither is jumping to conspiracy theories. We just don’t have enough facts about this.
The parallels you draw between different epochs and different situations are mind-blowing, Vahagn. Yet, I fail to see the convincing motives behind this Misha-guy’s conversion to Islam besides the one you fantasize (that he might have been “angry at America, Russia, and his own parents”). How many such “angry” Armenians do we know, who voluntarily convert to Islam? I know none, so do all posters here, except for those many cases during the Hamidian massacres and the Armenian Genocide, when “civilized” and “philanthropic” Turks forced the Armenians to do so while brandishing swords over their heads.
It certainly looks like an anti-Armenian conspiracy for two reasons: timing and unnecessary leakage of an unimportant detail to the media during the ongoing investigation. Whoever might have orchestrated this cheap anti-Armenian accusation (and I personally think that all roads lead to the intelligence community acting on orders of behind-the-scene powers) should have known full well that the week the information leaked was the week of the Armenian Genocide commemoration and the President’s April 24th Proclamation from which the Armenian-Americans rightfully expected more than ‘medz yeghern’ linguistic gymnastics. Second, I fail to see any pressing need for the investigation to mention an insignificant detail such as one of the bombers uncle’s religious identity. So-o-o? How does this help the investigation whether the bomber’s uncle was a Christian convert to Islam or Muslim convert to Judaism or Jewish convert to Buddhism, for Christ’s sake? Besides, why didn’t the US media emphasize the fact that the brothers and their families were naturalized US citizens? Why didn’t they raise a fuss over the fact whom this government grants US citizenship to? Don’t tell me the brothers learnt how to activate explosives and engage in subversive activities the night before the Boston Marathon. Do not attempt to insult my intelligence, please.
Regarding Mr. Sinanyan: it is quite predictable for an ‘Armenian’, who calls our brothers and sisters of Artsakh, quote, ‘separatists’, to bring up Mr. Sinanyan’s comments in order to create discord and division in the Armenian community of Glendale. Despite your desperate attempts to divide the Armenian community in Glendale, the community not only did not look, quote, ‘stupid’, but the community rallied and elected Mr. Sinanyan member of Glendale City Council, despite the last minute, desperate attempt to deny Armenian-Americans fair representation by Turkophile agents. Apparently Armenians are expected to be holier than thou. Too bad for Anti-Armenian elements, Glendale electorate recognized the purpose of the dirty tricks and voted for Mr. Sinanyan overwhelmingly. Some years ago, another Council member, Mr. Weaver was accused of ‘money laundering’: yep, money laundering. He was re-elected comfortably by his constituents. Well, it turns out, it was some kind an accounting irregularity. Mr. Weaver paid a $10,000 fine, and went on to be selected Mayor of Glendale. And, yes: Mr. Weaver is Armenian (well, not, really). Another Council member, John Drayman, was indicted on very serious charges, shown below. The interesting part is that, prior to his indictment, for several months, various gadflies, were warning the City Council about suspicious financial activities of Council Member Drayman. The warning were dismissed, and dozens of supporters of Mr. Drayman were at City Council every week defending him. For months. Nobody called them, quote, ‘stupid’. So what are the charges against former Council member Drayman: {Former Councilman John Drayman was indicted Tuesday on charges that he embezzled at least $304,000 from the weekly farmers market in Montrose. In a 28-count grand jury indictment unsealed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, prosecutors also allege that Drayman committed perjury when he excluded earnings sources on Fair Political Practices forms, submitted a bogus credit application in 2010 to a mortgage lender and falsified tax returns to hide the embezzlement, which they say occurred between January 2004 and April 2011.Drayman, who was arraigned on the felony charges at a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, pleaded not guilty. He is accused of: one count of embezzlement, 10 counts of filing false tax returns, five counts of money laundering, three counts of forgery, one count filing a false financial statement and eight counts of perjury by declaration.Los Angeles County Deputy District Atty. Susan Schwartz said in court that the evidence shows Drayman deposited funds he collected from the Montrose Harvest Market into his own bank accounts, and the extent of embezzlement may have reached $880,000.She also alleged that Drayman was uncooperative with authorities during the course of the investigation. “He has consistently lied to them,” Schwartz said.Drayman — who faces 10 years in prison if convicted — was silent and reserved during much of the hearing.} (Glendale News Press May 08, 2012).
It not widely known, but Mr. Dayman is Armenian (well, no, not really).
Another Glendale City Armenian official, former Police Chief Randy Adams (actually Adamsian), falsely claimed disability when he left his post in Glendale to save on taxes. Because of his friendship with District Attorney Steve Cooley, he was not indicted for fraud.
So, apparently responding to hateful Turk and AzeriTatarTurk bloggers who deny the Armenian Genocide and falsely accuse Armenians of all sorts of crimes is a mortal sin – if you are Armenian.
But stealing is not, if you are not Armenian.
john, in his interview Misha says that his family left Baku because of anti-Armenian persecution. If this was a Turko-Azeri conspiracy, I don’t see why they would have an “agent” named “Misha” say something that makes Azeris look bad.
I’m sorry but people are grasping at straws desperately trying to convince *themselves* that this Misha can’t in any way have an Armenian connection.
Islam is a religion like any other and people convert to all sort of religions. Christianity, buddhism and so on, and they do this because it fulfills a personal need. It’s the religious extremism that’s the problem.
Please, let’s grow up a bit and deal with this maturely.
Random, I agree. But I think the problem is not the entire or even the majority of Armenians, but one or two organizations and a few individuals, including the author of this article, who like to keep a monopoly over the Armenian matters, in some cases through intimidation (the infamous “traitor” technique). Most Armenians are open minded individuals who refuse to have a tiny minority impose its ideas on them. This was observed by one of the most objective British historians on Armenia, Christopher Walker, who said:
“Some educated Armenians, however, were critical of Dashnak methods of secrecy and propaganda, and of their tendency to form close alliances with other political groups. This opposition was represented by the Populist, or Zhoghovrdakan, party, made up partly of liberal-minded teachers and doctors.”
“Some educated Armenians, however, were critical of Dashnak methods of secrecy and propaganda, and of their tendency to form close alliances with other political groups. This opposition was represented by the Populist, or Zhoghovrdakan, party, made up partly of liberal-minded teachers and doctors.”
The Sovietisation of Azerbaijan was hardly noticed in that embodiment of the old, America, and yet its impact on Armenia was greater than any number of petitions to Congress, or the utterances of the bellicose and chauvinistic organisation, the American Committee for the Independence of Armenia (ACIA)”
http://armenia-survival.50megs.com/Survival_Ch_8.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_National_Committee_of_America
On the same link, he called ACIA “bellicose” and questioned its effectiveness :
“The Sovietisation of Azerbaijan was hardly noticed in … America, and yet its impact on Armenia was greater than any number of petitions to Congress, or the utterances of the bellicose and chauvinistic organisation, the American Committee for the Independence of Armenia (ACIA).”
Guess what became of ACIA later:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_National_Committee_of_America
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That is why we regular Armenians need to express our opinions freely and loudly to discipline the shortsighted and counter-productive tactics of some of our organizations.
John, the timing of the announcement happened around April 24 because the bombings happened shortly prior to April 24. As usual, conspiracists such as you overlook the obvious explanation and search for fantasies. Unless, of course, you suggest that the entire bombing was organized just so there would be an announcement about an Armenian Muslim on April 24. In which case you enter the realm of some Armenian version of the TV show “24” (my favorite, but still a fiction).
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Just because we have not read about Armenian converts to Islam does not mean they don’t exist, it just means their families would try their hardest to keep it a secret.
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By the way, the U.S. media did report that one of the brothers was naturalized.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-citizenship-ice-boston-20130421,0,154058.story
Again, looks like your and others’ conspiracy theories are based on mistaken beliefs regarding the facts
Regarding Avery’s defense of Sinanyan. Zareh’s biggest sin were not his comments (though for someone who is an attorney and is supposed to be one of our best, publicly using such disgusting terms is beyond immature). His biggest sin was lying to the Armenian community, acting like a coward when faced with the accusations, and trying to rally the community to a crusade just of his personal interest. Only to admit later that he made the comments. Here is his lying and immature behavior prior to the elections:
http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2013-03-12/news/tn-gnp-0313-zareh-sinanyan-keeps-seat-for-now_1_web-of-online-profiles-username-gazanutyun-comments
Here is a major Armenian newspaper declaring that he refuted the allegations:
http://asbarez.com/108768/effort-to-unseat-sinanyan-fails/
Here is Zareh admitting to essentially lying, only after the elections:
http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2013-04-19/news/tn-gnp-0421-zareh-sinanyan-admits-racist-remarks-expresses-regret_1_zareh-sinanyan-armenians-council-meetings
By leading much of the community to loudly support him, and later admitting his lie, he did essentially make his supporters, including a major local newspaper, look quite stupid.
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And by the way, the community did not overwhelmingly elect him. He was barely elected with 7300 votes, just 300 over the next guy, also an Armenian. By comparison, Najarian got 10000 votes. Kassakhian, who ran against a non-Armenian for City clerk, got 12,000. http://www.glendalevotes.org
Much of the community saw through his lie and was simply either to sick to vote or voted against him.
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And by the way, many Armenians have spoken against him, both in City Council chambers and elsewhere. Here is one:
http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2013-04-23/opinion/tn-gnp-0423-residents-have-eyes-on-sinanyan_1_glendale-high-school-zareh-sinanyan-genocide
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I am not sure what Drayman’s and Weaver’s examples are supposed to prove, but just because they make their supporters look stupid does not mean that we have to tolerate it from our leaders.
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And by the way, it is amusing to watch an “Armenian” who posts under a non-Armenian name and blames our Genocide victims for the Genocide suddenly concerned for our community.
Random Armenian, let’s indeed grow up a bit and deal with things maturely. In doing so, where in my comments have you seen my mentioning “a Turko-Azeri conspiracy”? If you try to grow up and deal with things maturely as you suggest others do, the very first question you’d ask yourself would be: why would Chechens organize bombings in one of the largest US cities, not in Russia that they despise? Second, where in my comments have you seen me trying to convince myself that Misha couldn’t in any way have an Armenian connection? The point I raised was about high improbability of an ethnic Armenian voluntarily converting to Islam. The fact that Misha–based on what he (likely) said–is only partly Armenian, supports my point and the points others make in this regard. Yes, people convert to all sorts of religions, but I guess we agree that it is absolutely untypical for the full-blooded Armenians, who have seen forced religious conversion to Islam by Turkish savages, to do so. Last, I never said that in general conversion to other religions was a problem. Before growing up, could we at least take reading comprehension courses?
Vahagn, the Boston Marathon bombing happened on April 15, 2013, i.e. 9 (nine!) days prior to April 24th. Nine days is not a short time, in fact, it’s quite some time in any criminal investigation process.
Next, I’m not a “conspiracist” in the sense that I bet you allude to mockingly. I’m a person who, based on my extensive academic and professional expertise, has a contention that the conspiratorial view of history and politics is the one best supported by the evidence, as opposed to the accidental view which inanely holds that no one really knows why events happen – they just do. For your information, so in the future you be more vigilant in calling people “conspiracts”, conspirology is a science, repeat: a SCIENCE, that studies events based on rational deduction of facts supported by scientific knowledge for explaining the truth. It is comprised of philology, history, psychology, sociology, physiology, theology, and political science. Conspirology also studies evil forces of degenerates, who attempt to reach their absurd goals by means of organized crime and terrorism through kidnapped hypnotized followers who obey blindly, thus endangering the whole society of normal people.
I couldn’t possibly have such deformed imagination as to suggest that the Boston bombing was organized just so there would be an announcement about an Armenian Muslim on April 24. I said that unnecessary leakage of an unimportant detail to the media during the investigation and its timing was no coincidence that suggests an anti-Armenian conspiracy. Add to this the allegation that Misha is a 39-year old man of Armenian-Ukrainian descent. If it is true, doesn’t it seem suspicious that the CNN chose to emphasize his Armenian and not Ukrainian lineage? Why?
Further, “just because we have not read about Armenian converts to Islam does not mean they don’t exist, it just means their families would try their hardest to keep it a secret.” This is an amateur, unscientific statement, and, in a sense, inflammatory, too. You accuse other people of being conspiracists, yet you yourself write about something unsupported by any evidence.
Lastly, the U.S. media did report that one of the brothers was naturalized, but I said “why didn’t the US media raise a fuss over the fact whom this government grants US citizenship to”? Don’t you think that the American people would be much more interested in knowing how a potential terrorist was granted a US citizenship instead of what religion his uncle has converted to?
john, in one of your first posts you said:
“I have no doubt in my mind that this cheap bogus accusation was deliberately leaked into the media by the current US administration on the eve of the Armenian Genocide commemoration.”
You claim here that the accusation is false (bogus = false). And you are convinced of this without any evidence or facts at that point in time. This is knee-jerk reaction. Do you have any evidence that this was leaked the current US administration? Where and how did you get this idea? Evidence please.
Sassounian’s article is also knee-jerk reaction. “False accusation …” What is false? That there is no Misha? That Misha may have some Armenian background? That he is a Muslim convert? Mr. Sassounian, who speaks publicly on our behalf, is saying that Misha and him being Armenian is false, without any evidence or facts. How is that scientific?
And frankly what exactly is the accusation? That Armenians (plural, us, as a people) are connected to the bombings somehow? That even one Armenian might be associated with the marathon bombings indirectly?
Armenian mobs in Armenia are shooting each other in the streets. Armenians killing each other. Oligarchs taking advantage of Armenians. I do not see the same outrage on these as I see with what some emotionally on-edge, possible deranged, Chechen says about one person.
Random, I agree. Some of us overreact and jeopardize our credibility at some idiot mentioning the word “Armenian,” when we should be expressing our outrage for the continued oppression of our people in our homeland.
John, interesting but irrelevant discussion on the term “conspirology.” As for you being a conspiracist, I am not calling you mockingly, I am pointing out the reality. You like conspiracies, so you are a consiracist. If you liked Alpine heights, you would be an alpinist.
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While the Boston bombings happened on April 15, the FBI released the photoes on April 18, and the boys were caught or killed on April 19. The uncle first spoke on April 19, and then on April 20, he spoke about the Armenian Misha. The time-gap, just like your conspiracy theory, is shrinking. The timing of the announcement is easily explained by the timing of the bombing. And the reason the boston bombings and the Armenian genocide happened around the same time is because springtime, after the snow melts, is the best time to run a marathon and massacre a nation. The connections are there in plain sight, not hidden by some convoluted conspiracy.
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Why the CNN emphasized the Armenian half? Because the uncle emphasized it, and the CNN reported it. And the uncle emphasized it because in Caucasus, ethnicity is determined through father’s line.
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As for the immigration ramifications, the Republicans have been very vocal about putting the immigration reform on hold due to the fact that a naturalized citizen was a terrorist.
Nice try, Vahagn, but, still, because you like accidental view of politics and history (the one that holds—most foolishly—that no one knows why events happen–they just do) I don’t call you ‘accidentalist’, right? Or because you like—to the point of obsession—the American democracy, cramming it indiscreetly in every situation and in every remote latrine, I don’t call you ‘obsessionist’, right?
This said, you fail to prove that the timing of the anti-Armenian accusation, which you oddly enough call “announcement”, happened around April 24 because the bombings happened “shortly prior” to April 24. If the FBI released the photos to the public on April 18, then, by all accounts of conventional logic, it means the FBI knew most of the details pertaining to the case—about the bombers, their relatives’ ethnic origin and religious conversion charts—before that date. Otherwise, contrary to your primordial accidental theory, they wouldn’t have found and made “the Uncle” speak as early as April 19. In other words, dirt-throwers have had enough time to set up a vague Armenian connection to the bombings.
Perhaps you formulate accidental theories while listening to Vivaldi’s “Le quattro stagioni”, I don’t know, but September happens to be the month when a beautiful meteorological season, the autumn, begins. Sadly, in this beautiful month, the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened and, shortly after, the accusations that Iraq had had connections to Al Qaeda and was in possession of weapons of mass destruction were made (btw, on a separate subject, has the former US administration found them or they’re still searching?). I mean, two totally unrelated cases happened to coincide—or were made coincidental, to be exact—around the same time. Same with the Boston marathon bombings. Both happening around the same time, the timing of the bombings suggests the timing of the accusation.
The issue with the CNN is not so much with their emphasizing “the Uncle’s” Armenian half, although, like many here have agreed, with the same success the CNN could have emphasized his Ukrainian half or both, but with reporting a totally irrelevant, unrelated, and unnecessary detail. And we don’t know which half “the Uncle” has or has not emphasized or was made to emphasize in reality and why. Do you?
Just because the FBI released the pictures of the suspects on April 18 does not mean that they knew their ethnicity. In fact, they posted the pictures to ask for public’s help. And they did not make the Uncle speak on the 19th, the uncle made a public statement on his own, perhaps trying to throw the blame away from himself. The conventional logic indicates that the “Misha” announcement was made shortly prior to April 24 because the bombings themselves happened shortly prior to April 24. Again, your consipracist views fail in the face the simple, obvious evidence.
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As for CNN, they reported the “totally irrelevant” detail of Misha’s ethnicity because it was reported by the uncle during his Today show interview. CNN is a news organization and they report things, including an interview by a highly newsworthy person, the Uncle.
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The Bush administration used the 9/11 attacks and the public’s anger to justify the invasion to Iraq. That does not mean that 9/11 and the invasion were both part of some conspiracy. Conventional logic has nothing to do with your theories. And to clear up a point, I have noticed that conspiracists such as you tend to distort the views of their opponents as “accidentalist.” It is not that we, the normal people, believe that events happen by accident. It is that we tend to choose the simple and obvious explanations, perhaps in consistency with the age-proven principle of Occam’s razor, and we do not jump to convoluted explanations when there is no necessity. That is the difference between the conpsiracists and the normal people whom the conspiracists foolishly describe as “accidentalists.”
I have not seen any reference to Armenian influence in any of the major Canadian papers. I have, however, seen a great deal about the influence of the mother on her sons’ fanaticism. She says she is still very “proud” of what she has whelped. She continues to claim that they were framed.
As for the Russian uncle Tsarni, here is what today’s (Sunday) Toronto Star says: “But Russian Tsarni, an uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers and Subeidat’s former brother-in-law, said Saturday he believes the mother had a “big-time influence” as her older son increasingly embraced his Muslim faith and decided to quit boxing and school.
The article goes on to say that in 2011: “… the CIA did ask that Tamerlan’s and his mother’s name be entered into a massive US terrorism database. Dzhokhar told FBI interrogators he and his brother were angry over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the deaths of Muslim civilians there.”
He’s real. His name is Mikhail Allakhverdov and he’s part Armenian. However, he says the last time he saw Tamerlan was in 2010 and he denies ever meeting the parents or radicalizing him.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/28/misha_tamerlan_tsarnaev_boston_bombing
Geragos annoyed me in that clip. His and so many other Armenians objections to the uncle’s claims was an appeal to ridicule. Just because it seems ridiculous doesn’t mean it is true. They need to understand that anything is possible.
*doesn’t mean it ISN’T true
this is to answer the question about the ADL. It cannot hirt to ask them directly
http://www.adl.org/about-adl/
The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Now the nation’s premier civil rights/human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all.
I think Geragos has made a very to-the-point statement touching upon the timing of Misha’s claims, if they were real, and bringing to light relevant details about the Armenian Cause. Not an easy thing to do when you have, literally, seconds to make a comment.
No one knows what the bomber’s uncle in reality said or hasn’t said. Foreign Policy is just one of the media outlets controlled by several monolithic corporations and published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (or War?). Their article “Mysterious ‘Misha’ Identified” says that Misha is a “thirty-nine year old man of Armenian-Ukrainian descent”. If it’s true, then why would CNN emphasize his Armenian not Ukrainian lineage and that he is an Armenian convert to Islam? Maybe it was his Ukrainian lineage that tempted him to conversion? Halfzees oftentimes don’t know which shore they seek.
also actively engages in Turcophile denial of the Armenian Genocide.
apparently ‘all’ does not include Armenian-Americans.
The uncle Ruslan Tsarni is married to Samantha Ankara Fuller (middle name not a joke!), daughter of CIA official. This uncle also has ties to Baku and oil companies. It is NO COINCIDENCE that the blame was put on Armenians around April 24th. The real Misha is an operative. The official story was falling apart and Mikael will soon fade away. Fellow Armenians, get ready for more anti-Armenian propaganda as we near the centennial. We should consider these actions as unacceptable; I will leave it at that.
Typo, was* married.
Misha an operative? For whom? Not for Turkey or Azerbaijan. He says that his family left Baku because of anti-Armenian persecution in 90’s. Why would Misha remind the world of the pogroms if he worked for Azerbaijan? On top of that, Misha is supposed to have done this in the name of radicalized Islam. Last time I checked, Turks and Azeris are muslim. This make them and Islam look bad. So two things that don’t make sense about Misha being an operative.
Armenians are not being tied to the marathon bombings through Misha. Please stop being so oversensitive. Sheesh.
james, thank you. Not all is lost. I hope posters who suggest others to grow up and deal with things maturely, read your comment, too.
Agree with James
Turkish and Azeri operatives, but also ordinary brainwashed Turkophiles, have penetrated everywhere and are at work to bring damage to Armenians on the threshold of the Genocide centennial.
Misha is found! See the interview
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/apr/28/tamerlan-tsarnaev-misha-speaks/
I’ve been reading the comments on that page and a bunch of Armenians are going, well frankly, hysterical about this and non-Armenians are making fun of them. It’s embarrassing and reassuring at the same time since this has, so far, not led to any anti-Armenian sentiments.
Regarding Vahagn’s continued attempts to create division within the Armenian communities by being the first poster to bring up the name of Zareh Sinanyan, out of the blue, in a discussion about the Boston bombing: inquiring minds would like to know what might be the motivation, other than the good old divide-and-conquer practiced by our adversaries.
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Regarding the Glendale votes: obviously our advocate for Democracy is a little confused about how the number of votes received is affected by how many candidates run for office, the power of incumbency, etc. Comparing City Clerk’s 12,000 votes to City Council vote tallies is proof of the confusion. Let us see then:
2013
Najarian 10,165
Friedman 8,088
Sinanyan 7,379 (2,000 more than Engel)
Keuroghlian 7,023
Engel 5,074
Fuentes 4,194
2011
Manoukian 10,197
Weaver 9,903
Drayman 9,842
Keuroghlian 7,548
2009
Najarian 9,473
Friedman 9,273
Quintero 8,857
Yousefian 7,427
Philpot 6,996
Keuroghlian 6,836
Gharpetian 3,603
Kassakhian getting 12,000 votes vs 7,400 in a 2 person race is nothing out of norm: in 2009 Ardy ran unopposed and got 13,800 votes.
Rafi Manoukian ran unopposed for City Treasurer in 2013 and got 14,500 votes.
And as shown above, Najarian getting 10,000 votes is nothing extraordinary.
Keuroghlian is a perennial runner and has a core constituency: he gets around 7,000 votes most every election.
He runs for any open seat every election, he siphons off several thousand Armenian votes every time, but has won nothing so far.
The only thing he has succeeded in is fragmenting the Armenian vote and contributing to the loss in several elections for Armenian-American candidates. He is a good man, but a little confused about realpolitics.
The fact that newcomer Sinanyan got 7,379 votes despite a well orchestrated, well timed leaks to derail his run for office is clear proof that the community overwhelmingly supported him: not for what he has written, but to show strength in unity and to demonstrate to Anti Armenian elements that cheap attempts to stop Armenians’ participation in the governing of the City and obtaining political office will not work.
The Sinanyan blogs are about 5 years old. Sinanyan was a City Commissioner for many years: the fact that the blogs became an issue just before the municipal election and not during the years Sinanyan was commissioner is proof of ulterior motives of those who brought it up.
Regarding Weaver and Drayman: what is stupid is being a shrinking violet when it comes to politics. As noted before, many Armenians have been brainwashed into being holier than thou and feeling guilty about every little thing, while our competition, adversaries, enemies have no such compunctions.
Weaver was accused of some serious stuff: his core constituency ignored it and voted very strongly to return him to office. They were mature enough to realize that having their man in office, in a decision making capacity, is more important than what they (his constituents) considered some minor ‘accounting irregularity’.
And that concludes our educational piece about civics, dirty politics, winning elections, power, etc.
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And your desperation in avoiding reality is most amusing: your desperate grasping of the debunked “blame Genocide victims for Genocide” straw to extract yourself from the tar pit of “separatists” and “Azerbaijani citizens” is positively entertaining to behold. Your pathetic straw was debunked more than once, but I will give a snippet for the benefit of our fellow readers:
[Is Turkey’s Consul Unhappy that not All Armenians were Slaughtered like Sheep?](Friday, May 7th, 2010 Posted by Harut Sassounian)
{I am very proud of grandma Gadar, because at a time when more than a million Armenians were being marched to their deaths by the genocidal rulers of Tekin’s ancestors, she and her fellow Zeitountsis — men, women and children — defended themselves valiantly and refused to be slaughtered like sheep}
Oh yeah, Mr. Harut Sassounian, like me, blaming AG victims for the AG.
And we are still waiting for our ‘Armenian’ friend posting under an Armenian name to find another ‘Armenian’ who thinks our indigenous brothers or sisters of Artsakh, are, quote, “separatists”, as he (Vahagn) claims.
And we are still waiting for our ‘Armenian’ friend to provide proof that Serj Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan, are, quote, “Azerbaijani citizens”, as he (Vahagn) claims.
Let’s debunk and educate our resident “patriot” about elections. Zareh was considered a front-runner in the elections:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/03/glendale-candidate-refuses-to-deny-link-to-racist-comments.html
http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2013-03-26/news/tn-gnp-0326-glendale-city-council-candidate-zareh-sinanyans-election-war-chest-grows_1_war-chest-zareh-sinanyan-aram-kazazian
He collected the most contributions, far ahead of any candidates. He spent heavily on advertising. People grew sick of his campaign ads showcasing his four brats, some commenting on TV whether he was the only one to have children. As a front-runner and as someone heavily promoted by a major local Armenian organization, he should have finished first. Instead, he barely squeezed by, just 300 votes more than the next candidate, who lost. When you are a front-runner and gather votes just above the person who loses, you are not elected overwhelmingly. You barely get through.
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And he was actually angry the next day he spoke on TV about the low voter turnaround. According to him, out of 30,000 Armenian registered voters, only 10,000 voted. So, only 24 percent of the registered Armenian voters voted for him. Most likely people were just sick and tired of his cowardly tactics.
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And yes, it is not unusual for Najarian to gather 10,000 votes because he did not act like a coward and a liar on TV, and he did not try to rally the Armenian community to a crusade for his personal gain.
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Politicians and celebrities in the U.S. have lost their positions for far less than the disgusting comments posted by this guy. As for Weaver, did he try to rally his constituents with wild claims of conspiracy and make them look stupid afterwards? If not, then the cases are not even comparable. As I said, Zareh’s biggest sin was lying to the Armenian community and using them in the most shameful way.
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As should have been clear from the original post, the reason his case was brought up was just another example of manipulating part of the community with wild conspiracy theories without any evidence, thus jeopardizing their credibility. It’s quite amusing how our pseudo-“patriot” here is so sensitive about a local corrupt official and yet keeps exposing Zareh’s actions by continuing to discuss his actions at length. That’s what happens what you suffer from obsession.
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It’s also ironic how a self-hating pseudo-“patriot” who refers to our people as “sheep” left and right and blames the Genocide victims for the Genocide tries to compare himself to the likes of Sassounian. Talk about a mosquito comparing itself to an elephant. Sassounian has always showed his sympathy for his people and never blamed the Genocide victims for the Genocide.
Let’s debunk and educate our resident “separatist” about elections, divisiveness, separatism, disinformation, unity, etc again.
Our continuing series of educating our guest agents-provocateur on a variety of diverse subjects. No, Please, don’t thank us: it is our pleasure.
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{“Zareh was considered a front-runner in the elections:”}: someone claiming Sinanyan is a so-called front-runner based on nothing, clearly has an agenda.
How did he get to be considered a ‘front-runner’ ? Were there any pre-election Gallup polls conducted in Glendale ? Of course not.
So some writer at GNP claims he was a, quote, ‘front-runner’ to then build a fake case that Sinanyan lost votes due to his remarks, and did not win the most votes: See how that works buddy boy ?
And obviously you are too consumed by your separatist agenda to see the irony of the link you yourself provided:
Let me put that on the board, so you can see it clearly:
[But large campaign war chests do not necessarily guarantee electoral success. Councilman Rafi Manoukian lost re-election in 2007 even after raising $171,080 as of the second filing period that year.]
Go that sonny boy ?
Sinanyan had $70K on hand and received 7,379 votes.
Manoukian had $170K on hand and received 6,606 votes.
And there were no underhanded attempts to derail Manoukian’s re-election bid: Sinanyan got more votes, a clear demonstration that Armenian-American voters rallied and crushed the attempt by outside provocateurs to divide the community.
Divide-and-Conquer was soundly defeated by Unite-and-Win.
And it’s quite amusing how our resident “separatist” is so concerned about supposedly exposing Sinanyan actions. Reminder, buddy boy: you are the one who brought up Sinanyan in an unrelated thread about Boston bombing by radical Muslim Chechens. Do you see your disconnect with reality ?
—–
And you are not doing too well buddy boy; making too many unforced mistakes (…showing your true agenda):
You call our Artsakhtsi brothers and sisters, quote, “separatists”: a term used by denialist Turks and AzeriTatarTurks.
You falsely claim, and incongruously continue claiming, that Serj Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan are, quote, “Azerbaijani citizens”.
(hint, hint from last semester: “Citizens of USSR” ).
You introduce, out of the blue, in a thread about Boston bombing by radical Muslim Chechens, an unrelated matter about Glendale elections.
(Question: what does the Boston terrorist bombing by two radical Muslim Chechens have to do with the price of eggs at an Armenian grocery store in Glendale ?)
Production line manufacture and dissemination of disinformation cooked up by you to create discord and division within Armenian communities.
Failed utterly: so how many people actually showed up on April 9th to the ‘massive’ protest you and your “separatist” buddies organized in Glendale? 37?
And you still desperately clinging to that strawman sheep you created to try to extract yourself from the tar pit you have stepped into and are thrashing about panic-stricken as you sink deeper and deeper, is positively entertaining to observe.
I love it when the efforts of our enemies to divide us Armenians go down in flames.
Certain posters advising Armenians to, quote, {….refrain from knee jerk reactions like “it’s an anti-Armenian conspiracy”….} are obviously either too naïve to see the obvious, or have ulterior motives in attacking our patriotic sentinels. Let us see about that knee-jerk thing:
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1. the Uncle
The name of Armenians was injected out of the blue into the Boston bombing terrorist attack by some mysterious Uncle who claimed, just around April 24, that the ‘boys’ were influenced by some mysterious ‘Armenian’ convert to Islam. It is being reported that this Misha guy is from Azerbaijan, who has an Armenian father, who has a Ukrainian mother, who escaped from Azerbaijan because of persecution against Armenian Christians, and who voluntarily converted to Islam in USA, and who supposedly radicalized the two originally Muslim Chechens.
Other posters have already noted who this Uncle is, who is he married to, what organizations he has worked for.
But let us ask the non-conspiracadres some questions and see if they can come up with non-conspiratorial explanations:
1a: If this Uncle knew Misha, he must have also known the man is half Armenian and half Ukrainian: why then say “Armenian convert”, and not “Ukrainian covert” ? Or “Armenian Ukrainian convert” ? Isn’t the Anti Armenian agenda obvious ?
1b: Misha supposedly escaped Azerbaijan because of persecution of Armenian Christians in early 1990s: we all know what happened in Baku in early 1990s. So this supposedly Armenian Christian escapes the Anti Armenian massacres in Baku organized and carried out by radical Muslim Musavat fascists, comes to US, and voluntarily converts to Islam ?
In Watertown ? One of the oldest Armenian communities in US ? How plausible is that.
We know that there were large numbers of ethnic AzeriTatarTurks living in Armenia SSR bearing Armenian names. Most AzeriTatarTurks went back to Azerbaijan 1988-1991. But some reportedly immigrated into Armenian Diaspora communities. Who knows who this guy Misha really is: how do we know he is ‘Armenian’ ? Why, because some guy supposedly born in Azerbaijan says he is ? Any authenticated copies of birth certificates from Soviet Union ?
He is supposedly 39, so he was born early 1970s, while USSR was fully functioning. Meticulous records were kept. Let us see who his parents really were. Let us see who the parents of his parents really were.
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2. the Mother.
In his rant to defend Chechens at large and blame some alleged ‘Armenian’ Muslim convert for supposedly radicalizing his impressionable nephews, the Unc conveniently forgot the one person who was closest to the nephews: their mother. Misha has denied ‘radicalizing’ the two Chechen Muslim terrorists: he may or may not be lying: we do not know. There is no evidence against him other than the accusation of the Uncle.
But what we do know is their mother might be a radical Muslim.
Watch this video by Judge Jeanine:
(second part goes on a useless Fox political tangent, but first part is very revealing)
[Judge Jeanine to ‘mother of jihadis’: We don’t want you here]
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2335248124001/judge-jeanine-to-mother-of-jihadis-we-dont-want-you-here/?playlist_id=1621774019001
I will reproduce a relevant passage:
{“My oldest son is killed, I don’t care. I don’t care if my youngest one is going to be killed today.
I want the world to hear this. And I don’t care if I am going to get killed too. OK?
And I will say Allahu Akbar”} (Zubeidat Tsarnaeva CNN April 23)
Spoken like a true non-radical, grieving mother, one of whose sons has just been killed.
Question to non-conspiratorials:
2a: the Uncle who supposedly knew this Misha guy who supposedly ‘radicalized’ his nephews did not know about the radicalized mother and conveniently injected the name ‘Armenian’ in his rant, but conveniently forgot to mention his nephews’ radicalized Muslim Chechen mother ?
How can it not be a deliberate, premeditated attempt to throw dirt at Armenians and at April 24 ?
And no, the bombing was not timed to coincide with April 24 timeframe: but if the opportunity presents itself, why not use it to attack, besmirch, denigrate, libel, insult Armenians, as denialist Turks and AzeriTatarTurks routinely do ?
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Who better than a Muslim Chechen who is a well-connected oil executive who at one point worked for a Halliburton shell company used as a front to obtain oil contracts from Kazakhstan, who changed his name from Tsarnaev to Tsani, who married the daughter of a Turcophile CIA agent (Graham Fuller) whose posting included Turkey and who named his daughter Samantha Ankara ? Ankara !
The same Uncle who incorporated something called Congress of Chechen International Organization in 1995, with a corporate address listing of his father in law’s residence. According to VeteransToday website, several Chechen related ‘aid’ orgs were setup in US and Europe to funnel aid to radical Islamist Chechen terrorists battling Russians in Chechnya and surrounding areas.
And what oil interests are attempting to weaken and eliminate RoA and NKR from the region ?
And what interests in US are working to thwart our efforts of AG recognition by US ?
Any guesses ?
Azerbaijan ? Turkey ? Well-oiled Neocons ?
Avery,
One word: Thank you.
I’ll add to this that whenever the Establishment wants to cover something dirty that it has done, they always stigmatize all those unbrainwashed people as being ‘conspiracists’ and their sober-minded views and arguments as ‘conspiracy theories’.
“What interests in US are working to thwart our efforts of AG recognition? Any guesses? Azerbaijan? Turkey? Well-oiled Neocons?”
My educated guess is Neocons representing the so-called ‘internationalist power elites’: sinister societies of degenerates and sociopaths obsessed with global control, who sit in the US government and act like cowards, behind the scenes, through their cabal—the intelligence community.
john: “One word: Thank you.”
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john, “Thank you” is two words. I usually don’t make grammatical corrections, but this was too much fun. It just shows that you are so wrapped up in your conspiracy theories that you trip before you even start your post.
Avery,
So well said. I will also add the following. What disturbed me even more was the fact that the uncle wanted to stress (his words) that the guy was Armenian. What was he trying to achieve by stressing it? Do you think any other racial or ethnic group would tolerate that? Just imagine stressing that someone you accuse of something is black or a Jew. I am sure you know the reaction you will receieve.
Further, the uncle went on generalizing his example to include Armenians, in general, by saying that he had nothing against Armenians. Why Armenians, in plural? Armenians have nothing to do with the act even if one Armenian was stupid enough to spend time with your relatives. Why refer to Armenians, in general? He, obviously, has major problems with Armenians.
As for his apology, his statements were made very publicly on CNN and that’s where he should go to apologize. I believe, he must be made to apologize on CNN for everyone to hear, not to some Armenians or Armenian organizations. Unless the boneheads get that it’s an eye for an eye they won’t learn their lesson. Yes, I think the uncle must be held responsible for his statements to the point that he truly regrets for ever opening his big mouth and for others like him to realize that they should not dare follow his example.
I usually don’t make behavioral corrections, Vahagn, but do please have a glass of water. And don’t forget to read “A Patriot’s History of the United States” every day before going to bed. You’ll learn a hell lot of accidentalist theories from it.
WELL SAID my friend.. BINGO
The Uncle today apologized to all Armenians.
That rules him and pretty much all Daghestanis out of ever being what ATAA calls “Turkic Americans.” So far, the Navajos and Cree are undecided.
Cancel his free ATAA tote bag, bumper sticker [I heart dead Armenians] and honorary Safarov brand axe as well.
You win the internet for the day sir. Well played.
jda, loved it, loved it…
Nice!!!
JDA.. brilliant..lol loved it.. apres
I just received an email titled “The Armenian Mirror-Spectator: Ruslam Tsarni Apologizes to the Armenian Community”. I would not be surprised if Misha turns out to be Azeri. Neither his name nor his surname is Armenian. He and his family supposedly had escaped Baku, because of ill treatment of Armenians in Azerbaijan. How can anyone, escaping from Muslim atrocities, turn to that religion, and become a fanatic observer of that faith? This doesn’t make sense at all! Unless they had fraudulently paused as Armenians to be accepted to the United States. If the FBI or American authorities are reluctant to look into the truth of the matter, I think Armenians should make their own investigation, and demand that the uncle Ruslan and the Media make stronger public apologies to Armenians.
Well, he probably told himself “The religion of Islam was not responsible for the actions of a few.” Perhaps he just became disillusioned with Christianity and saw Islam as the true religion. None of this is really ridiculous to believe. And I don’t think he is really that fanatic, those were only the words of his uncle and mother and Allakhverdov said himself that he wasn’t his mentor.
CIA and FBI should take that “uncle” and find more about terrorism in US..he hide some information from US authorities..people have right to know about this “uncle” hideouts in the last 20 years!!I hope the truth will come up,that what was his duty in Turkey and Kazakhstan and what was his personal obligation against Armenian Nation!!
Someone please explain something to me. There is speculation that Misha is anti-Armenian operative, and maybe even Azeri. Why would such a person bring up the fact that they escaped anti-Armenian persecution in Azerbaijan? It reminds the world of Azerbaijan’s pogroms against Armenians. Really stupid way of running an anti-Armenian propaganda.
Random, I’m sorry to say this, I really am since you’re a fellow Armenian, but you’ll never get it. Jesus Christ, must it necessarily lead to anti-Armenian sentiments so we understand what’s going on? Is this the range of your and a few (thank God, a few) other posters’ mentality: black or white? Avery above has put it concisely in one sentence: “no, the bombing was not timed to coincide with April 24 timeframe: but if the opportunity presents itself, why not use it to attack, besmirch, denigrate, libel, and insult Armenians?”
Let me give an example. When Mel Gibson’s widely-acclaimed film “The Passion of the Christ” was released, I remember watching an interview with a member of a DC-based Jewish-American organization, who in his response to interviewer’s question whether or not he considered Gibson’s film anti-Semitic, said (literally): “It is not, but it has A POTENTIAL of becoming such”. Never mind that the film was based totally on New Testament gospels describing the last hours of Christ. Still, a Jewish-American saw A POTENTIAL for the film of becoming anti-Semitic simply because it has conveyed a biblical episode in which Pharisees and the crowd of Jews were demanding Jesus’ crucifixion.
Now, here you are telling us: “Sheesh, stop being so oversensitive”. But you wouldn’t tell the same to the Jewish Americans, would you? Then sheesh, stop being hypocritical, OK?
John,
I’m quite aware of the anti-Armenian efforts by both Turkey and Azerbaijan. I follow Armenian news almost daily. I see how Turkish officials talk and bully other countries. I do see Turks counterprotesting on April 24th shouting “You deserved it!”. Which by the way is how Turks will admit to the Genocide in the near future.
Your post regarding the potential of anti-Armenian sentiments is probably the most sensible post you’ve made in this thread. I’ve made references to this early on in this thread. I’ve also read comments to various news articles on Misha to see if people were getting anti-Armenian. I did not see any.
What I do see is quite a bit of hysteria from Armenian quarters.
– Misha is not an Armenian name.
– There are no muslim Armenian.
– There are no red-haired Armenians.
– The uncle’s claims are bogus.
– Ok Misha is not bogus, but this can only mean that he’s an Azeri operative out to trash talk Armenians.
etc…
This is what I have a problem with. Ignorant arguments and conspiracy theories based on little or no facts drive me bonkers.
Just because I don’t jump to the same conspiratorial conclusions as you do, does not mean I am not aware of how much hate there is out there targeting Armenians.
I will say that the media is full of idiots. They did not cover the uncle’s connection to the CIA dude Graham E. Fuller from a previous marriage. This did make me think about something (ok fine, occasionally a conspiracy idea does cross my mind) … did the uncle use Fuller to pull some strings at the CIA to get them off of the brothers tail when they were being investigated?
What I find more upsetting is idiots trying to scam medicare (that causes more damage to our name than this crazy uncle), greedy oligarchs in Armenia and people leaving Armenia.
Random, if you think deeper, you may find that conspiratorial per se was the official story, and not the conclusions that many posters here have come to. If you have basic deductive-analytical capabilities, then the very first question you may ask yourself would be: why even mention some unidentified Misha’s ethnic half (not the other half or both halves) and his choice for religious conversion? How on earth these factors (if they are true) are important for the American society, whose fabric almost totally is made of individuals with mixed ethnic origin and religious convictions? We‘re offered a simplistic explanation: “Misha has said this and CNN has reported”. Duh-duh… Why wouldn’t CNN report that there was a third member of the plot, a US citizen? Why wouldn’t CNN report as to what motives have driven the Chechens to organize bombings in the US, not in Russia? Why wouldn’t CNN report the full story of how the bombers have come to America and how they were granted the US citizenship? Aren’t these questions more important than some imaginative person’s particular ethnic half, for Christ’s sake? What is “conspiratorial” in this line of thinking?
john, you completely missed Random’s point. He never said we should not be alert to anti-Armenian statements. He was merely saying that we should do it without sounding stupid by making irrational conspiratorial claims (like “Misha must be an Azeri”). Jews did not claim that the movie “Passion of Christ” was some kind of world conspiracy against them. They just point out that Mel Gibson was probably an anti-Semite, which was kinda proven later by his own words while drunk.
I don’t know who made irrational conspiratorial claims like “Misha must be an Azeri”, but it certainly wasn’t me. If you believe it was me, then you must have completely missed—or conveniently omitted—my point (timing and reporting of an unnecessary detail by the media), which was evidential and not conspiratorial in essence, a term that you must have learnt recently and loved it so much as to repeat it over and over again in every post. It’s a routine—and primordial–method of accidentalist view holders for covering up the official propaganda. Plain and simple: whoever raises doubts based on evidence about the mainstream interpretation of an event is automatically denounced as “conspiracist”. This is how the Establishment defends the disinformation it spreads.
And please do not twist the substance of overreaction by Jewish-Americans. In the interview that I myself watched they didn’t “point out that Mel Gibson was probably an anti-Semite”. They said that his film—not his person—had the potential of becoming anti-Semitic—an unfounded claim and sheer overreaction, because the film depicted nothing but the last hours of Christ based on gospels. In the Jewish case it wasn’t an overreaction, but in the Armenian case it is an “irrational conspiracy”. Lovely…
Yes, after an attempt to throw dirt at Armenian-Americans prior to the April 24th President’s proclamation was made, from which Armenian-Americans rightfully expected the US President to keep his promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide, now ‘the Uncle’ was instructed to ease the tension and apologize to all Armenians.
The gravest mistake these behind-the-scene dirt-throwing manipulators make is that they believe that so-called ‘lay people’ graze not think. Perhaps many graze, but there has always been, is, and will always be a qualitative minority of people who will deduct and denounce their cheap and primitive tricks.
Perhaps Ruslan didn’t know Allakhverdov long enough to know that he was part Ukrainian or Allakhverdov just never brought it up. I kind of understand because I’m part Greek but I used to identify myself as just Armenian because it just stuck out to me more. The reason why the media reported him being Armenian is because reporting an Armenian convert to Islam would generate more of a buzz than reporting him as a Ukrainian convert. There is no reason to believe this all part of an anti-Armenian conspiracy, especially now with Ruslan apalogizing.
Luke jan.. of course .. you hit the nail in the head..
Throwing “ARMENIAN convert to Islam” OBSOLUTELY will bring in more ratings because it is one thing that will create the most buzz.. knowing very well majority of the Armenians are Christians and our long fight against Turkey’s denial of the killings of our people..
Few here argue against have all this staged.. but they refuse to see how each of these things connect the dots and the end result is this:.. deliberate accusations to smear the name of an Armenian.. especially when April 24th was approaching..
Right John: his handlers started getting nervous, because Anti Anti-Armenians pushed back and started digging. Too many shadowy connections were being put out for public view. Too many people were asking too many questions. Suddenly people are talking about a Turcophile CIA father in law, a daughter/wife incongruously named Samantha Ankara (!), Kazakhstan, Halliburton, oil connections: too messy. Handlers do not like spotlights shining on them: they operate best in the shadows, behind layers of plausible deniability.
Time to pull the plug.
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Ring, Ring.
“Xallo ?”
“ Ruslan, you know who this is, Yes ?”
“Yes”
“Yes, what ?”
“Yes, Sir”
“That’s better. Now, this Armenian-thing is getting out of hand….
…..I want you to call one of the local Armenian newspapers and say whatever you have to say to make this headache go away. Now”
“Yes, Sir. But, but, …”
“Do it. Otherwise we will find a way to connect you to the bombing. And then you will be disappeared. Clear ?”
“Yes Sir, crystal clear. I will do it, but…”
Click
“Sir ? Sir ?…”
—–
Kudos to our patriotic sentinels, infowar ‘First Responders’: ANCA Aram Hamparian, Harut Sassounian, Mark Geragos.
That’s the way to do it: hit back and hit back hard. Keep hitting until they cry “Uncle”.
Let them prove beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt that their allegations against Armenians are true.
They accuse: call them liars; make them prove it.
They play dirty, we will play dirtier. Then dirtier still.
Too many Armenians think that we have to prove ourselves innocent.
As soon as we are accused, some of us start shrinking into a corner.
The heck with that: “They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue…” (The Untouchables).
Attack the attackers.
Let the Anti-Armenians learn that there is a price to pay for attacking Armenians at large.
We can’t win’em all, but if you let them step on your toe and not scream bloody murder, you’ll next find’em walking all over you.
We shall not go looking for trouble, but if they attack us, restraints must come off.
(Note: all references to ‘hitting’, ‘morgue’, ‘attack’, etc are in the literary sense: we come in Peace).
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And as Gina noted above, I too do not accept the supposed ‘apology’ made to a local Armenian news site.
We need to keep on top of this for a while. “Ruslan” calling a local Armenian newspaper in Mass and not CNN is a little suspicious.
They want to get away cheap. And it may not even be Ruslan: all we know is The Armenian Mirror-Spectator has verified it was his cell phone.
Hopefully Armenian-American orgs can needle CNN and the like some more: cause them some pain, so next time they ask questions before spreading Anti-Armenian disinformation.
Avery jan.. you said it my friend…
“You better do something to get this Armenian thing dissapear…”
“But sir…”
” Don’t sir me you idiot… because of your stupidity now I have to do extra work.. you dumb idiot…”
Case in point:
One of the 3 suspects that has been arrested for helping – after the fact – the 2 radical Muslim Chechen terrorist bombers is one Robel Phillipos, 19.
For several days after the 3 were arrested the pictures of the 2 other suspects were prominently displayed.
Yet for some strange reason, the picture of the 3rd suspect was ‘not available’.
Then the real reason for the strange reason came out: the young man looks African-American.
And then in the articles describing him, in the end, you see very obscurely describing him as being born in Ethiopia and having an Ethiopian mother.
None of headlines screamed that the 3rd suspect arrested on suspicion of assisting the two radical Muslim Chechen terrorist bombers is African-American.
Now let’s get this clear: the alleged Armenian (not Ukrainian or Ukrainian-Armenian) Misha was accused by the infamous Muslim Chechen uncle Ruslan, and only the uncle, of supposedly influencing the impressionable nephews, and suddenly all over CNN and other mouthpieces they are screaming: “Boston Bombing,… Armenian Misha,… Boston Bombing,… Armenian Misha,…. Boston…..”
Yet when FBI arrests an adult man on suspicion of actually helping the radical Muslim Chechen terrorists dispose of evidence of a terrorist crime, did we hear: “African-American linked to Boston bombing,…. Ethiopian linked to Boston bombing,….. Black-American linked to Boston bombing…..” ?
Q.E.D.
One wonders my friend Avery… why do we Armenians get such exposure when something like this or in any situation that an Armenian name is thrown in.. media goes frantic.. yet they never get frantic when the real story gets out.. like the example where a body was found in the LA area and automatically the news leaked that the victim was Armenian and whoever killed him could be Armenian too.. without any preliminary tests and findings..
yet media never goes frantic of anything positive the Armenian communities and individuals have done and continue to do..
Pissses me off to see how media is bias against Armenians..
Uncle Ruslan Tsarni’s apology to Armenians is welcome but hardly sufficient for correcting the smear job he attempted when he so over-anxiously stressed the nationality of Misha, the alleged Islamic radicalizer. I watched his initial rant to the press and was struck by his determination that “a new convert to Islam of Armenian nationality” be heard by all. I got the impression that he was not only trying to make sure to distance himself from the acts of his nephews, but decided that it was an opportune time to sling feces at Armenians. His employment and marital history suggest that he may have had multiple motivations to defame Armenians.
His retraction should be made on CNN and repeated at least two times for each time it was reported by them! (Has it been?)
Whether or not Misha was responsible for radicalizing the Tsarnaev brothers is yet to be determined. Let’s not be small-minded. It is really not so uncommon that an Armenian from any former Soviet Republic be known by a Russian nickname. Also, a half Armenian-half Ukrainian, Orthodox Christian converting to Islam because for some reason he considers it a superior faith may be hard to believe given the fact that his family fled the Azeri pogroms against Armenians, but it is no crime and doesn’t automatically make him a ‘radical.’ He may be a sincere ‘seeker’ and Uncle Ruslan may have a self-serving agenda. Consider the source and get the facts.