Armenia's cold war

Armenia is one of those places we hear little of, somewhere far off somewhere in the east. It is also one the great nations of the world, an ancient nation, an ancient race of people who have a history that would intimidate many others.

Armenia was a great kingdom in the time of Christ, it was the first nation in the world to establish Christianity as it's religion, it has been a nation that has risen and fallen many times, and a nation that seems to have migrated over hundreds of miles in that time.

Perhaps only the Jews can compare with the Armenians in their antiquity and the integrity of their culture and religion. When other races have faded or mixed with newer ones, the Armenians kept themselves whole, through massacres, conquest and genocide they survived and managed somehow to thrive.

Above: St. Stepanos church

When the Soviet Union began it's dissolution in the late 80s and early 90s, Armenia reclaimed itself once again and their brothers in the Kharabagh proclaimed their union with Armenia proper. Muslim Azerbaijan (in which Kharabagh is situated) declared this illegal, even though they themselves had just declared independence from the USSR.

When Stalin had been the Nationalities Commissar under Lenin, he had drawn the borders of the republics of the Soviet Union, in places he deliberately drew borders that divided peoples and ancient nations as a tool with which to divide the locals who would then look to Moscow.

Above: Yerevan - Armenia's capital

Kharabagh and Naxcivan, although majority Armenian, were handed over to Azerbaijan, in the years that followed Naxcivan was de-Armenianised, so was Kharabagh, but it was less successful in Kharabagh.

Above: The Tatev monastery

In response to a referendum in Kharabagh which decided on independence, Azerbaijan launched a war on the Kharabagh and the Armenian peoples. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians fled from Azerbaijan and Naxcivan, hundreds of thousands of Azeri's also fled from Armenia, the Kharabagh and the territories that Armenia would occupy in the war.

Unfortunately, as is the case in Bosnia and Kosovo and other places, this conflict was frozen. Armenia won this war, but they have been unable to end this war as the 'international community' refuses to recognise reality and the will of the Armenian peoples.

Above: Khor Virap monastery, with Mount Ararat

Not that I trust the will of any peoples, but surely if anyone has the right to this little slice of land, it is this ancient Christian race?

The Azeri's already have a large nation, one enriched with oil and allied to Turkey and Iran. Armenia is a small nation, the Kharabagh even smaller, Azerbaijan could well do without this small impoverished province.

I have a great deal of respect for this ancient Christian people, their faith, their churches and monasteries, their sheer survival over time is enough to inspire.

Above:The Armenian Holy See in Echmiadzin is built over a pagan (fire) temple

Their suffering is also humbling, a small group of highly cultured people, people who know how to make money and thrive, have been the scape goats for many less able and jealous races, most famously the Turks who came close to annihilating them in the Great War.

Let us hope the Armenians can continue to inspire, let us hope they hold fast to their faith!

Serbia's betrayal

It is done, Kosovo is now 'independent' from Serbia, Those United States, Britain, France and Germany have recognised this statelet as an equal!

Serbia has finally been dismembered.

I remember the bombing of Serbia in 1999, I also remember the earlier bombing of the Serbs in Bosnia in 1995 and feeling that the Serbs had been turned into bogey men by the media. The press, as is so often the case, need a good story, Bosia became the story of the good Muslims and the bad Serbs, is it not interesting how Christians always end up as the bad guys? Think of the Christians in Lebanon or the Spanish civil war.

Whilst I so not condone murder of any kind, and am suspicious of all wars and the insigators of those wars, the wars in the Balkans were none of our business. The desire to help the unfortunate victims is an admirable one, the desire to send money and relief a natural response to suffering, but the demand to bomb one side implies that they are the 'baddies'.

The Serbs may have been involved in terrible crimes, they may have sinned grievously, but this is for them and their consciences, not us and our bombs! The Serbs were not the only ones to commit crimes in those conflicts, the Muslims imported Hisbollah and other Islamic radicals who massacred Christians and beheaded their enemy, the Muslim militias were as violent and merciless as any Serb, as were the Croats!

But for our media, that would not do, the story had to be simple and understandable to the audience, so, Serbs = bad, Muslims = victims.

In Kosovo, the KLA has been waging a guerilla war for months before the Serbian army went in to root them out, people fled as they do in war, and so the press decided to rehash the same story of Serb = bad, Muslim = victim for this new story.

Then the Serbs were bombed again, their nation left in ruins, humiliated and vilified, isolated in the world for trying to defend their country against what would now be described as 'terrorists'.

In fact what is the difference between what those United States has done in Afghanistan and what is continues to do and what Serbia did in Kosovo?

Well, Kosovo is Serbian soil, and Albanian terrorists were atacking police stations and ethnically cleansing Serbs from their own homes. Kosovo has been the centre of the ancient Serbian kingdoms for centuries, as recently as the 1940s, the Serbs were a majority in Kosovo, but higher birth rates and migration from Albania meant that by the late 1990s the Serbs were a minority. This is when the Albanians decided to make a bid for power.

The KLA is a criminal orginisation, it runs prostitution rings around Europe, is the main supplier of heroin in Europe and also smuggles guns to other criminal orginisations. These are the same people the west allied itself to in 1999.

In contrast Afghanistan has never been American, and although it hosted Al Qaida, has never actually attacked those United States, yet the Americans continue to kill Afghans and drop bombs and mines, but thats ok because Americans are not nasty Serbs, right?

Never mind the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed by the 'nice, unlike the Serbs, Americans'.

Hypocricy knows no humilty

I believe that this action by the west has further alienated Russia and eastern Christendom from the west, from the criminal sacking of Constantinople in 1204, to the abandonment of our Christian brothers to the Turks in later centuries, to the sneering contempt for Russia, we in the west have earned suspicion and distrust from the east, this reckless action will just continue this unfortunate and avoidable schism.

Today the west has empowered Islam once again, we have alienated the Orthodox and probably instigated a new cold war, it seems our foolishness and selfishness know no bounds!

Perhaps some day we will grow up?

Carpe Diem

Seize the day, live as if this is your last day alive! Carpe Diem!

This was something I used to think, it was something I have uttered inanely whilst drunk! It is the attitude of the Universities, the press, our whole culture! Carpe Diem!

It was only a few days ago when I pondered the meaning of this, 'live for the day', what can it mean? For those who have faith it can mean something quite different from the unbeliever, for this world, it means have sex when you want, with whom you want, whenever you want. It means eat, eat and eat until you turn into a 20 stone blob of living lard! It means swear and curse those who get in your way or who irritate you, it means never forgive, never forget, it means lie if it gets you what you want, it means deceive, cheat and betray if this suits you!

If people really 'lived for the day', what would it look like?

Like some of our city centres on a Saturday night! If one truly lived for the day and you had no faith it would mean one would rape a woman that took one's fancy, it would mean steal instead of work, it would mean murder those whom you hate, it would mean betray those one loved, it would mean chaos, it would look like hell!

The truth is most people don't really believe Carpe Diem, decent people work! Why work? Not for amusement, people work so they can pay their bills, buy a house, support their family and enjoy their lives. Most people remain faithful to their spouse most of the time, why? Love.

Criminals are the people who most closely follow this 'live for the day' lark, and with out God, more do so all the time.

A better phrase would be 'live for tomorrow', for this is what we should be aiming for, we should be bettering ourselves, investing in our families, friends and neighbours. We know from scripture that God hates theft, almost as much as he hates murder, we also know he loves righteousness, but what is righteousness? It is not an absence of theft and murder, it is something positive, it is a litany of good actions that build up to make us who we are, humility in little actions every day, decency toward others, generosity, kindness, faith.

It seems to me that we become who we are; this happens over time, good people are those who do lots of little seemingly irrelevant good things over time, bad people are those who do lots of bad things over time. Selfishness seems to be the root of this and Carpe Diem if taken seriously implies selfishness on a grand scale.

There are of course times when we are presented with an opportunity, which would be foolish to turn down, but this is not the same as self absorbed attitude that we should 'live for the day', this is just part of the wider attitude in the degraded society of ours, that we owe no allegiance to anyone or anything, that we should endulge every desire and damn the consequences.

Sin has consequences, so too does righteousness, we deserve most of the good or bad things that come our way, they are as a result of earlier deeds, its karma!

So forget about Carpe Diem, think Carpe Crastinum!

Sharia and the Archbishop

The furor surrounding Dr Rowan Williams' speech the other day seems a bit hysterical and unrealistic to me, the whole point of his speech, it seems to me, was that we need to face up to reality and understand that Sharia is already in Britain and much of Europe, although informal at the moment, and that it will spread and become entrenched.

I am not much of an admirer of Islam, something that seems to me to be a heretical Judeo-Christian sect. For many years I have opposed the establishment of mosques and Islamic immigration into Europe and especially Ireland as a matter of principle.

However it seems clear to me that the people who govern us are determined to ignore us, and worse to oppose our quite moderate, in my view, and sensible views on immigration and Islam.

They seem to be determined to place large groups of Muslims in all our cities and to change the ethnic makeup of Europe.

We can't stop this, we can protest, we can write letters, we can complain, we can vote for another party, but none of this will make the slightest difference to what is happening.

Therefore, we must make our peace with reality, and that reality is that we will see large Islamic minorities in all western European nations in the near future.

Those who cheer on this ever increasing tide of immigrants are the very people who would suffer under Sharia law, the leftist revolutionaries, the feminists, the criminals, the degenerate etc, it is not the conservatives or the Christian who will feel the immediate wrath of Sharia, it is the former.

So, if we are unable to stop this, if we are to be under the jurisdiction of Islamic Law, then let those who made it possible feel it's wrath first.

Dr Williams was only doing what any responsible leader in such circumstances would do, he is preparing for the future, a more Islamicised future.

Please don't think me a traitor or a defeatist, I am wearied of worrying about Islam and it's followers, let them have their law, let them do as they please, and let those who made all this possible suffer the consequences of their acts, as they should!

Monarchy versus the Republic

Peter Hitchens, once again makes a good argument for monarchy, he contrasts it to the dreadful non-stop election that is American public life!

'The Land of the Free is a lot less free than Britain's ancient monarchy. There is nothing like a dive into American politics to remind you that even the most successful republic in human history has its drawbacks.'

Read the rest here.