The resolution in Congress branding the 1915 killing of Armenians as “genocide” has me very irritated with those turkeys in Congress. Our national attitude that we are the arbitrators of Good and Evil in the world would be comic if it wasn’t so horribly hypocritical.

If Japan were to pass a resolution condemning Hiroshima as genocide, or Germany to condemn Dresden as genocide, or India to condemn the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as genocide (look that one up, kiddies!) there would be an immediate response, a breaking of political relations, and we’d probably do something absurd like call frankfurters “freedom sausages”

Presumably, to the folks in Congress, this is about Speaking The Truth, and that’s the extent of it. For the folks at Boeing who will lose Turkey’s contract, and for our young men and women in Iraq who will no longer have the support of Turkish soldiers, it’s not about Making A Statement, and Sending A Message.

Something that I appreciate about President Obama is the way that he respects the sovereignty of other nations and treats them (well, mostly) as though they were equals. This resolution undermines that, and calls Turkey a small child that needs to be scolded. Our posture as the Great White Father is no longer convincing (if it ever was) and merely shows us up as ignorant, self-focused, and arrogant.

Furthermore, it was 95 years ago, and done under the authority of the Ottoman Empire, which was overthrown in 1923. That is, the Turkish people have *already* determined, as a nation, that the Ottomans were the Bad Guys, and tossed them out. What do we hope to accomplish that they haven’t already done?